Deliver Me from Normal


 

I ventured out of my valley to Cimarron State Park on Saturday March 6, 2021. I had time to kill, as it were, before my 12:30 pm appointment for my second Moderna Vaccine shot. On Saturday 20 March 2021 I will be able to meet face to face sans masks with others who have reached the same milestone.

I have been keeping track of my friends on the same vaccination adventure. We have become or are becoming a safe POD. Yesterday my garden club had a Zoom meeting and we are planning an in person meeting, outdoors and safely spaced, in May. It has been a long time coming. I hope we make it. At the moment Texas is on spring break and they are here. Houston alone has five variants. And at least two of the big companies are working on booster shots.

We talked about all the extra slots on our vaccination records, and why not a good idea to laminate them. All of us had photographed them with our smart phones for a handy record we could whip out if asked. Obviously we see the world ahead a bit different than the one we left behind. 

A lot happened in March 2020. I traded Big Blue for my new-to-me Explorer, Spock. He is a good ride. And going to Cimarron State Park was a celebration of that. I tried to renew my New Mexico State Park Passport but the visitor's center was closed. I plan on a lot more trips to the state parks which are currently open at last! And spring is just around the corner. Snow is melting and muddy water everywhere. Especially on Llano Vista Road where the county never got around to replacing the culverts the neighbor on the hill destroyed last spring at this very time. There is a lake just past my driveway on the road.

Because of the seed crisis last year I ordered early and currently have all the seeds to be planted this year in my gardening efforts. In fact I have started sprouting some for seedlings to go in the hoop house in May. And hope is springing up too now that I am vaccinated and so are very many of my friends. The apartment is well on its way to being an AirB&B on the Ides of March (post on that in near future). My studio is now hosting my Fabric Arts by Jacqui venture. My sister is currently also fully vaccinated and cancer free for the time being. No guarantees just like with the pandemic or the next waiting in the wings.

Which brings me to the photograph above. The thin bit of rock poised on the ledge close to the apex of the palisade is called the Thumb. To me it has always looked like a priest standing before the alter of some pagan god. At this moment I have more faith in that then in our country or the citizens in it. I do not want to return to normal.

I want new. I want a renaissance. 


Comments

  1. Ien in the KootenaysMarch 9, 2021 at 7:53 AM

    Great to see you are back and hopeful. I am so glad your sister is cancer free. That is a big blessing. All of life is temporary. I am always in awe of your prodigious productivity and multi skilling.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JBinford-BellMarch 10, 2021 at 4:36 AM

    Since I am banned from Facebook lots of extra time. Look for me here. Or on Messenger. The good news is I can still see the newsfeed of Facebook but do not have the freedom to post like the January 6 insurrectionists.

    ReplyDelete

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