What Are You Waiting For?

©2012 Danise Codekas

Strange time for many of you. Glad to see I am not alone in these transitions taking place in my life, and mind. My ideas about myself are changing.

My reactions to situations, have changed in the last 3 months, as my life moves forward, even though to some, my life appears to be stalled in a cosmic paradigm, they cannot relate to. A parting of the ways for many of us now, yes? 2012, huh?

It was never going to be the end of the physical world. It is an end time, as written about,  and predicted in numerous indigenous cultures, in futuristic prophecy, and religious writings.

(photo credit-Great Salt Lake,Scott Stringham)

What I was not prepared for, and perhaps you, too,  was that our beliefs about ourselves, our work, families, friends, geographic locations on the planet, have been challenged, removed as possibilities or realities, in my case, and replaced by deep, personal introspection which leads to actions, unexpected, and upheaval, to that which was the norm of our lives.

There are moments when I do not know what to do, so I wait for those moments to pass. It is not a time to hold back your wishes and desires until the right time. The time is now to fulfill them, seek them out. Create our new lives. This moment in universal evolution is for us to kick off the old skins, and blast , physically, into the unimaginable wonder of our desires.

I put my head down, close my eyes and take a breath. Sitting here at the Flying Star, opening my eyes, realizing I am here for a non-profit event for the Corrales Library Fund. 10% of all our dinner purchases, tonight, are donated to the library.

What I like about the Corrales Library is that it is self-supporting, funded by the residents of Corrales, NM. It is not part of the county or state library system. A private library, located in a wonderful, Southwestern, architectural conformation, which has been through a number of design enhancements, as the years pass.

Independence is a highly respected and rampant demeanor  demonstrated by the neighbors of Corrales, NM. The way the community supports one another, in the artists’ ability to survive and their studios, and the way business is conducted, whether purchasing a pottery business, started decades ago, or selling property, which is mostly farm land, ranches, wineries and adobe homes.

I did find a wonderful ranch/home in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, when I got lost driving to the Albuquerque Museum of Art. And the bonus of getting lost in the villiage of Los Ranchos was finding out that their Lavender Festival is this weekend, along with the dinner dance and auction, Friday night. Lavender Festival Los Ranchos de Albuquerque.

Lavender farming, and production  is one of my passions,  and I travel to France  to spend time in the fields, of Grasse and Eze, to learn about the different uses and growing methods,  and observe perfume production. My next trip to Europe will include a sojourn to Corsica, to live and learn about organic, lavender farming,  for a few weeks. Corsica has a high number of flower and herb farms, and organic growers populate the island off the coast of Nice.

I lived about 100 miles , SE of Sequim, WA. which is the largest, lavender production farm area, in the US. This proximity to the farms, over the past years, has helped me to observe and learn a little about lavender farming.

The Sequim Lavender Festival is next weekend, July 20-22, 2012:  http://www.lavenderfestival.com/lavenderfest.html .

There may be no hotels available, as people come in from all over the world, to see new production equipment, observe growing methods, and discuss the politics of farming, water and government restrictions around the world.

Anything you can imagine using organic lavender for, including coffee, ice cream and wine is there for sale at the farms,with great bands, and some of the best crab in the world. Dungeness is a few miles west of Sequim. Yes, Dungeness Crab!

Sequim also has many organic wineries in the area. It is a ferry ride away from Victoria, BC., and sits at the base of the Olympic National Park. Here are some festival pics, http://www.lavenderfestival.com/maingallery

The discordance of the blog, today, I don’t apologize for, as there is a point. Wherever I go, in the world, there is always someone I meet along the way, or an event that is happening, which puts me in touch with myself, and restores a sense of balance to my solo travelling show. Finding out that lavender farming is here, and thriving, leads me to believe that there is another reason I am visiting this area, that was totally unexpected. Lavender connects me to earth. This earth.

“Good girls like myself need subversion. Being solemn, I aspire to comedy. Being a novelist, I aspire to the musical. Being organized, I aspire to luminous chaos. Loving the power of grammar and the fine distinctions of language, I seek the part of the mind I didn't know was there, the part 'sheer,' 'no-man fathomed,' 'cliffs of fall.” --― Janet Burroway

At this time in my life, this is what I am doing. I am living in the Santa Fe area, meeting people, writing, spending time capturing nature and art in photos, and trying to find some great people to work with, while I am here.

Footloose, would be the correct description, yet I am more in tune with my heart and my work, than ever before. Writing becomes impossible to ignore, for one day. One of my favorite quotes about writing:

“Writing isn’t hard; not writing is hard.”—Janet Burroway. Andre Dubus III appends, “that is only true if you’re a writer.”

So, I hope you understand what I need to do now. You will, if you are feeling like walking out that door, jumping in the car or a plane seat,and going where you a dreaming of now.

You can visit if you feel like heading this way. We can have dinner and watch the Sandia Mountains fade into the moonlight.

“Don't dread. Do.”-Janet Burroway