IMG_3669, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

Hello friends! A thought for you:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one…wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket–safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
~C.S. Lewis

chameleon, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

A photo of John in a tree. He was sitting up there checking his email on his Treo. Just for me he stood up and posed a bit 🙂

Looking forward to meeting up with John again tonite when he joins me in SLC. Yay!

IMG_3671, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

Do you ever have a day where things are just rosy? Well that’s been my day (and it’s not over yet!!).

Lots of fun conversations with old and new friends, especially feeling the familiarity of Salt Lake City (a place that as home to us for several years). Breathing deeply and just letting it all wash over me. 🙂

On another note: as I sat in a writing workshop this morning I realized just how much my laptop has become an extension of myself. When I sit with it on my lap I seem much more able to interface with my world. I was a bit troubled by that realization–took it out and examined it for a moment. Wondered if I was missing out on some intimacy by always needing to have my computer (and wireless!) at hand. I may have to experiment with disconnecting myself sometime. But not now (hmmm….do I sound addicted or what?). In some ways I feel as if junebug (my affectionate name for my laptop) has become a kind of prosthetic extension of my self. This blog, too, is a part of that. A way of creating myself through images and text that is wholly me at the same time that it is wholly separate from me….

eggplant, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

This lovely little eggplant will make some mighty-fine ratatouille. 🙂

yellow dianthus, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

I don’t know why exactly, but gazing into the sworl of petals on this pale yellow dianthus flower makes me feel so peaceful and relaxed. Serene. And cool.

fingers, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

So CatGirl came to me with a worried look on her brow. She held out her finger towards me.

“It’s a leaf cut–like a paper cut, but from the edge of a leaf.”

Sure enough, I could see a small cut at the joint of her second finger. She squeezed it a bit and a bright smear of blood showed.

“It really burns.”

“Ok, we’ll leave for home soon. It’s getting dark anyways…”

I resumed my gardening task and CG went up to the spigot to wash her hand.

She returned a few moments later, so proud of her garden bandage: a soft ‘cloth’ of lambsear tied with a sprig of Mexican sage.

“It feels better now.”

dark chocolate is sexy, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

It occurred to me yesterday morning, as I was squealing with delight at the absolute perfect ‘strawberry-ness’ of a fresh strawberry that I was eating after washing it off with the garden hose, that I wish I could have the whole world in my garden tasting berries along with me. I can’t imagine that hate and war could continue in the face of such goodness.

Ditto for a good bar of super dark chocolate….

sunflower, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

I’m just enjoying my sunflowers so much this year! I took this photo at dusk yesterday just as my camera was running out of battery power, which resulted in the rather odd lighting, I think.

sultry love on a steamy afternoon, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

To say that it was steamy this afternoon would be an understatement. You can tell by the hair plastered to our foreheads in this photo that lunch at a steamy ramen shop might not have seemed the smartest choice for a mushi atsui SoCal afternoon.