I’ve been real busy revising my manuscript and preparing it
for a last review. It looks like it will be published in mid to late November.
I will announce it’s availability then. In the meantime, the majority of the
work has been done and now it’s just a matter of fine tuning.
Nevertheless thought I would share the cover now.
We have been having a real fine rainy season here in The
East Cape this summer. No hurricanes but two or three consistent rains, one
with a bit of wind that rocked the trailer, that have literally transformed the
desert. I know that this will come with the rains, that’s a given, but this
year it has been truly extraordinary! I have never seen so much life return to
this often parched region.
This is a pic taken from the road approaching my village
(dead center) coming north from Los Barriles.
And this is a pic of the center of the village and the
church. Looks like we are in The Tropics instead of the Sonoran Desert, eh?
Speaking of the grandeur and beauty of new life, I want to
introduce you to Ixmael, the first born of my dear friends Peter and Jessica in
San Jose del Cabo.
When I look in those eyes, I see everything that is good,
gentle, intelligent and questing. A new soul to start his journey. Que les vaya
bien, little one!
I can’t but follow that with this quote from a conversation
between Alice and The Cheshire Cat. Please note, it is not included as a sign
of cynicism:
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice
remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat:
"we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't
have come here."
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go
from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get
to," said the Cat.
"I don’t much care where--" said Alice.
"Then it doesn’t matter which way you go" said the
Cat.
"--so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an
explanation.
"Oh, you’re sure to do that," said the Cat,
"if you only walk long enough."
Here’s another way of looking at it, eh? Carpe Diem, no?
Near the end of last month I got in some really excellent kayaking. Many days with no wind at all and clear water. One morning I went out (its August so no whales right) and there was a whale coming from the north and cruising slowly towards me. I couldn’t tell for sure if it was a humpback, it was real good sized, not a blue or a sperm, so I paddled hard and got within about 200 feet and discovered it to be either a Bryde’s whale or a fin whale. It was really huge. I was unable to track it efficiently so I let it swim off into the horizon. It sure was nice to be near a member of “The Whale People” again.
Another day I went out it was so quiet out there I found
myself slipping into that very special place where the internal dialogue stops
because you have to LISTEN to “The Sound of The Great Unknown” (Harvey Manx
quote). Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!! On the way in I had a short
conversation with a sea turtle and then realized that there were hundreds of
thousands of Yellow Mimosa butterflies streaming by. They are smaller than a
Monarch, BRIGHT yellow and a delight to see. Once again I have never seen so
many butterflies…..millions!!!
Two Yellow Mimosa butterflies in my yard.....of thousands!
Had yet another great day in the kayak in early September.
After my usual trip out to The WZ I swam in over the reef and the waters were
teeming with life too. I had never seen so many fish and of all kinds and then
five Panamic Green Moray Eels appeared just below me. Seeing one is cool, two
at the same time is special…..five at once, HOOHAH!
Panamic Green Moray Eel photo: Lance Allan
The Mariposa de la muerta moth has returned. They have been
here for about the last three weeks but once again, NEVER in these numbers,
they are everywhere. The Catholic priests that accompanied The Conquistadores
here to Mexico declared them a sign of death and bad omen. All you have to do
is create fear in The People and you can get them to do anything right! I mean
who in their right mind would choose to be a slave on a mission? The indigenos
of course saw it as something else entirely. If you had one in the home it was
GOOD LUCK. To have one in each corner of the house, REAL GOOD LUCK. I have
three living on various parts of the trailer. I don’t let them in because they will
die but the luck holds I’m sure. Oh, BTW: they were also named The Black Witch
by the same misguided priesthood.
I leave you with this video clip. You must see it to the
end. It is an actual commentary on a sailing race at the recent Olympics by two
Irishmen.
And be happy and secure in this:
