Good Morning! It's noon here, so I guess Good Afternoon is better!
I'm about to throw everyone a curve, but this is about me - right? So when you get into that subject it becomes complicated because there are quite a few things that help me to be creative, and the main thing is the beauty that moves me. 26 years ago, I had a very profound experience. We vacationed in Durango, Colorado where my ancestors (great grandparents - on) were from. I had heard about it growing up, and in the 50's I was enchanted by the Westerns on TV, such as Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, etc.
So to make a long story short, I am writing a book.
What I am posting is not the first part of the book.
It is what I call a "sketch" that I sat down and wrote one night at midnight describing what happened to me when I first saw it. I have about 22 pages of the first part started, but this is the part I wish to share. It's going to probably take me about 2 years to finish it, and the story will revolve around my family from 1886 to present in Durango, Colorado. The story will have a lot of Durango history, so I have a ton of research to do....gaps to fill, etc. I know a lot, but need to go home and meet with the town historian to fill in the gaps.
I don't know how many people out there have had actual "MIRACLES" happen to them, but if you have, I'd sure like to hear about them. This is where you can let your hair down because that's what I'm doing now. Miracles are not always recognized as such when they happen. Sometimes it takes years to step back and understand what happened to you. This is where my heart is and always will be. When describing this to a friend the other night, I said: "I am Colorado".
It's a switch, but I hope you all like it!
SKETCHES:
Although I had felt it in my heart for all of those years, it had been set aside as an unconscious part of what constitutes a human beings make-up. Unthought-of as life went along with the daily attempt to struggle and survive with two young children to raise and a family to support. It never occurred to me that not many people experienced what was about to happen to me.
Being placed within it went to the depths of my soul as though I had just been born and brought into a world filled with beauty beyond my wildest imagination. It immediately became a vital part of my life force and individuality, touching every part of all of my senses. A passion for living rose within me that I had never experienced before. The sky was bluer. So blue that I looked up at it in wonder, expecting it to fade. The scent of the pines, like a sensual perfume, drew me into it with every breath that I took, and as I walked a path in the magnificent forest, I inhaled deeply, believing that my soul would remember it forever. Food had a new flavor, and the silence brought a sense of peace beyond comprehension. The roaring sound of white water was the exemplification of the most primitive excitement I had ever felt and everything else, before this time paled in comparison. The majesty of the mountains was everywhere, rugged, with colors imbedded into them that were harmonious on any palette. The rich iron ore stood out, its intense rusty orange spilling down the sides of peaks unveiling the stories of a mining history, long since past. A brief rain shower brought a double rainbow afterward, and I recalled a painting I had seen as a child in one of my books that had looked the same. It was a fantasy then, but now a reality, and the sight brought a rush of emotion as I reached for a handkerchief to dry the tears that spilled from my eyes as the shower had done before the rainbow.
The wildlife that I encountered on that first visit held me spellbound as even the birds looked totally unique. Red Tailed Hawks circled above, and the timid Stellar Jays with their tufts, and touches of white among cobalt and navy feathers flew from branch to branch in the Ponderosa pines. Even the smallest of creatures intrigued me. The tiny chipmunks and squirrels that lived in the trees, rather than in the ground with long fluffy hair extending from their small ears, and tails than enveloped them when they wished not to be disturbed. It was a land of enchantment that could not be completely captured on film or canvas. I had been placed inside of a magnificent postcard that was embossed with peace and beauty.
I never really knew who I was until that summer of 1984, but I knew now, and I became one with every particle that I could behold or feel. With this revelation I knew that I was one with all of it. I became my environment, and a sense of freedom overwhelmed me. I had never really been free before, and I was setting myself free with whatever enveloped me. As an artist, the palette of colors before me in every direction gave me a new sense of creativity, and I wanted to capture it artistically. The need to lock it in my mind forever created a fervor within me. Money no longer mattered, nor did I question how I would manage to spend the rest of my life in this land that had been a part of me, hidden for so long, unseen until now. Nothing else mattered except being in the place where I knew that I belonged. This was where I had to spend the rest of my life, and this was where I knew that I had to be when I left the earthly part of my journey behind me.
It held secrets that were behind a hidden door that would unfold as I stepped into this new world, and whatever came my way I was ready to accept it.
It's a switch, but I hope you all like it!
SKETCHES:
Although I had felt it in my heart for all of those years, it had been set aside as an unconscious part of what constitutes a human beings make-up. Unthought-of as life went along with the daily attempt to struggle and survive with two young children to raise and a family to support. It never occurred to me that not many people experienced what was about to happen to me.
Being placed within it went to the depths of my soul as though I had just been born and brought into a world filled with beauty beyond my wildest imagination. It immediately became a vital part of my life force and individuality, touching every part of all of my senses. A passion for living rose within me that I had never experienced before. The sky was bluer. So blue that I looked up at it in wonder, expecting it to fade. The scent of the pines, like a sensual perfume, drew me into it with every breath that I took, and as I walked a path in the magnificent forest, I inhaled deeply, believing that my soul would remember it forever. Food had a new flavor, and the silence brought a sense of peace beyond comprehension. The roaring sound of white water was the exemplification of the most primitive excitement I had ever felt and everything else, before this time paled in comparison. The majesty of the mountains was everywhere, rugged, with colors imbedded into them that were harmonious on any palette. The rich iron ore stood out, its intense rusty orange spilling down the sides of peaks unveiling the stories of a mining history, long since past. A brief rain shower brought a double rainbow afterward, and I recalled a painting I had seen as a child in one of my books that had looked the same. It was a fantasy then, but now a reality, and the sight brought a rush of emotion as I reached for a handkerchief to dry the tears that spilled from my eyes as the shower had done before the rainbow.
The wildlife that I encountered on that first visit held me spellbound as even the birds looked totally unique. Red Tailed Hawks circled above, and the timid Stellar Jays with their tufts, and touches of white among cobalt and navy feathers flew from branch to branch in the Ponderosa pines. Even the smallest of creatures intrigued me. The tiny chipmunks and squirrels that lived in the trees, rather than in the ground with long fluffy hair extending from their small ears, and tails than enveloped them when they wished not to be disturbed. It was a land of enchantment that could not be completely captured on film or canvas. I had been placed inside of a magnificent postcard that was embossed with peace and beauty.
I never really knew who I was until that summer of 1984, but I knew now, and I became one with every particle that I could behold or feel. With this revelation I knew that I was one with all of it. I became my environment, and a sense of freedom overwhelmed me. I had never really been free before, and I was setting myself free with whatever enveloped me. As an artist, the palette of colors before me in every direction gave me a new sense of creativity, and I wanted to capture it artistically. The need to lock it in my mind forever created a fervor within me. Money no longer mattered, nor did I question how I would manage to spend the rest of my life in this land that had been a part of me, hidden for so long, unseen until now. Nothing else mattered except being in the place where I knew that I belonged. This was where I had to spend the rest of my life, and this was where I knew that I had to be when I left the earthly part of my journey behind me.
It held secrets that were behind a hidden door that would unfold as I stepped into this new world, and whatever came my way I was ready to accept it.
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