Friday, July 13, 2007

Dustdevils

It was the evening of the many dust devils. Some wide and loose, others straight and narrow, and one traveling with me for well over 5 minutes at about 40 miles an hour. The evening had to be good with so many free Indian spirits dancing. I was invited for dinner and Itchyfoot had brought moose from her latest trip to Alaska, served as a delicious stew with lots of vegetables and a homemade strawberry cake with wiped cream as the ultimate sin to end this meal. The talk was about travel, contentment versus happiness, places and people. Itchyfoot’s mam is near 85 and just back from a trip through Holland and Belgium, showing me the book with pictures she made on her computer… It warms my heart. She plans the next trip, in autumn to Maine and her restless daughter is planning China with the train ride from Beijing to Tibet. When I am in the southwest I always forget to readjust my mental map of the world: the Far East is the Near West here, too near with all the cheap stuff we find in Wall-mart… and far enough to draw on one’s imagination. Tonight’s lesson is, you’re never too old to travel and learn and enjoy it.

4 comments:

  1. Was it a bad are a good 'dust devill' that walked with you?

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  2. Good, to me there are only good dust devils ;-)
    Zij zijn de vrije geest van indianen die dansen...

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  3. I had a dust devil hit my house so hard that my running vent fan began to spin the other way. Being against the mountain, we get the dustless dust devils. It's eerie to see them advance through the brush, and head into town to scare the natives. Chuckle.

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  4. I heard the tag end of a story on NPR tonight about atom replacement in our bodies. Did you know that throughout your life only a few atoms of the "you" you came into the world as will remain? The survivors, deep in your brain, heart, and teeth (!), must have some strong affinity to ... each other? In order to cohere So Strongly. Meanwhile, all the other atoms drift off and are replaced, perhaps by dust devils whizzing by...

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