It’s hot (110) and everybody is just looking for a cool siesta. The cat woke up, and seemed to say, “Oh, alright. But can’t you two-leggeds bloody well leave a cat to her sleep? Sheesh.” She was not about to be hurried, but she never took her eyes off us til she was out the gate, and then walked very, very, slowly across the road.

bobcat in the neighbors' courtyard

slowly, sl-o-o-o-o-wly walking across the road

Still, it’s fun to share the neighborhood with so much wildlife. We had to install gates in our courtyard area to keep the plants we love most from being snacked on. But since then we’ve been enjoying the periodic incursions more. Apparently the back part of the property is a sort of javelina highway. Woo-hoo!

Hello there!

Sharp tusks.

It was a special treat to see a gila monster (even though we wish we’d had the better camera, oh well – in the glare it was hard to tell if we were even getting it). They are the largest land lizards found in the U.S. They spend 95% of their time underground. It’s mating season, though. I’m surprised the gila monster seemed as interested in us as we were in it, all from a polite distance. Camera-schmamera, we loved it, and felt quite honored. Hope you find that special someone, GM.

Los Alamos National Labs

Today is the 65th anniversary of the first successful atomic explosion, in the in section of the southern New Mexico desert known as Jornada del Muerto, “Journey of the Dead Man,” or more precisely, day’s journey through the landscape of death.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Trinity Project and father of the A-Bomb, is supposed to have quoted the Bhagavad Gita as he witnessed the explosion: “I am become death the destroyer of worlds.” More likely, his actual words on the dead man’s ground were “It worked.” (The Trinity Test Director, physicist Kenneth Bainbridge, is supposed to have remarked, “Now we are all sons of bitches.”)

J. Robert Oppenheimer, public domain.

The quotation from the Gita was a retrospective word-shaping during an interview afterwards, perhaps the only way for this erudite man to express the power of the singular experience. That these words were uttered in the Jornada del Muerto now a modern-era myth — and an apt one. Making myths is an ongoing human psychic activity, and has a name: mythopoiesis, meaning “myth-making.” The more exact etymology to the Greek words from which the term was coined in the 19th century would be: “mouth-making” — the creation of inspired, memorable and therefore powerful words. All the vedas are about powerful word-making, the poetry of creation and, even before vision, the powerful primacy of sound, of vibration, of energy waves.

Virat Swarup is the Sanskrit term meaning divine appearance of the god, in unimaginable power. It appears in the Bhagavad Gita, which is a long dialogue between the hero Arjuna and his charioteer and friend, Krishna, who is an avatar of the supreme god Vishnu, both creator and destroyer. Arjuna is questioning the ethics of his participation in so much killing in the long and bloody family war that is the center of the massive epic Mahabharata. At the climax of their extended dialogue, Krishna reveals himself in his exalted god-form. The message in the Gita is that we all have the responsibility to act in accordance with our gifts  — Arjuna was the best killer — within the context of the unimaginably huge tapestry, where each of are destinies are but a single yet significant thread. Yet, mythopoeisis is divinely inspired as well, nor is Arjuna’s story quite so simple as his decision in that moment to honor the commitment to kill. Nor are any of our stories….

Simurgh by Cheryl De Ciantis

No. 1

No. 2

No. 3

Here’s one by Ellen Pierce, who Photoshop collaged it with one of her sky photos. Fabulous!

Here’s the image that started this little crazy-saguaro-storm, my favorite of all. I’m an inveterate Photoshopper and didn’t believe this was even real until I saw others. (Regrettably, I do not know the source. If it’s yours and you will allow me to place a link for you, just let me know!) WOW!