I lived in an old inn
whose balconied stories
rode the heaving surf of the hillside
like a tall ship with many masts,
square-rigged,
riding at anchor
above the valley floor.
Old-fashioned windows hinged
like wings you could shove open
to the winking moonlight. Gables
gave portholes to the ragged roofline,
and there was something in the way
the bow breached the air
over the hill that made the old
home seem to hove to and rock
in the wind. Hundred year old
Washington Palms rattled
their dry skirts and slid their slim
gray hips from side to side
like old hula dancers
who never forgot their moves.
A pair of white owls flew
up out of the dark, perched
on the top balcony’s high
rigging, then sailed off, their twin
faces holding the moon.
In those days, I often
kept the dawn watch,
that still, dark hour when the cool
mountain breeze flowed downhill
and rocked the great ship in its arms,
before the sun struck my windowpane
with its hammer blows of gold.
–Sandy Jensen
Ah yes, Glen Ivy. Very current with us, running like a psychic background hum. You bring forward memories of Glen Ivy and I speak to people who live there several times a month. I will travel there and stay for several days in April during the Attunement Guild gathering. I will revisit the eucalyptus tress and finally paint them as they have begged for me to do for so many years. What is trying still to happen there? What is it that our family holds for those people and that sacred, particular landscape. The weaving of past, our father’s death there, the many years you lived there, my many jouneys in recent years. The attunement tone. What is trying to happen at Glen Ivy?
Cheryl
Sandy and Cheryl, you write so well!! Thank you. Don't quite know/recall how I happened upon your blog, but I'm glad I did. A very warm hello from a friend from the past…those EDL days…I'm finding a handful of old friends appearing these days.
Mickey contacted me …hmmm..must be nearly 2 years ago now….on facebook I think. Must say hello to her.
Just returned from several months in Mexico, enjoyed a lengthy, heartfelt visit with Michael Exeter at Starbucks in Ashland as I drove back to BC…and this note comes to you from Jon le Baron's farm on Denman Island, where I'm parked in my motorhome for awhile.
Yes, Cheryl, what is trying to happen at Glen Ivy, at Sunrise, with us old friends re-connecting. It's very good.
I offer some of my observations and insight at http://www.thecosmicalarmclock.com .
namaste dear sisters,
David Thatcher