” You do not pass through this life, it passes through you.”

(photo by Catherine Massaro)

To make a photograph, you have to be there.

(featured image- photograph by Catherine Massaro of Sand Mountain Recreation Area in Nevada)

Boy there was a great write up in the Sunday New York Times travel section on the beautiful Texas Hill Country. It’s filled with many of my favorite places around the area, but with only 36 hours and lots of roads to discover, many left out. Fredericksburg, in the hill country, happens to be the location of my winter home/studio. I don’t do winters anymore as it  seems I’ve spent a lifetime escaping winter. If New Mexico had no winter, I’d surely still be there, but Texas is where I would rather be when it gets cold. So around December in Reno, NV, I pack up and head to what Jeannie Ralston refers to:

“the Hill Country—being Texas at it’s finest—is like nowhere else in the world.”

Amen to that , sister.

(featured image – HILL COUNTRY HOMAGE , canvas collage by Catherine Massaro)

TAURUS (April 20- May 20)

Take a deep breath and a sigh of relief. The sun and ruler Venus have left your solar 12th house of gestation and moved into the first house of rebirth. As planets align, put your best foot forward. As you initiate a fresh , personal solar year, remember you are also in the first phase of a 12-year recurring year Jupiter cycle of expansion and growth. Explore and discover .

—————-

This is my horoscope for the month of May. I just celebrated my  59th year  of rambling around our planet. So far so good. And I’m excited about this horoscope as it highlights two subjects I am very fond of – exploring and discovering. The rebirth part is particularly exciting for me and it looks like I’ve got a running start on what appears to be a 12 year cycle of expansion and growth.

If I think about all the things I want to do in whatever time is left, it’s sad to realize I’ll never get to it all. I have wished for alot of things in my life, and learned from the old adage – be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

I laugh when I hear young people talking about their ‘bucket lists’. You can’t have a bucket list if you are young. Young people  should have ‘wish lists’. Bucket lists are for people at least half way through life. That means 50 plus, after you have had a chance to make mistakes, have some real life adventures, discover some truths through experience and seen how time passes. My sister sent me a collapsible canvas bucket that has it’s own carrying case for my birthday. I’ve decided to prop it up in the corner of my room and toss articles on exotic travel, pictures of ridiculous things that would be fun to have that I will never bother buying, and any other random fantasy idea that comes along.  Maybe I’ll get to it, maybe I won’t. An official bucket list container. The real deal. I think this is a great idea for a birthday gift . Again, only for the 50 and older set.

The rest of you … get a wish bone!

My son, his wife and my almost 4 year old granddaughter recently moved to Ecuador. They are looking for a simpler , different cultural lifestyle, not just for themselves, but for Grace.

I receive marvelous pictures on an almost daily basis, and we Skype, of course. They are only a click away. Pictures of Grace getting a Shaman blessing in the market place. Herbs and oils applied to agitate the bad energy and spirits. Then a cleanse to restore the good energy and spirits back to the body. All for $2! You can’t beat that.

And healing mud baths. Just look at that elation. I think that was the first time in her little life she was ever allowed to get that dirty!

I like to think the pioneer spirit we Americans have allow us to seek out these new life changing adventures, whether it’s in our own country or abroad. Aldous Huxley said, “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”

“The winds of grace blow all the time. All you need do is set your sails. ”
(Ramakrishna 1863-1886)

(featured image – photograph by Dominic Alvord)