Home, Sweet Home!

It's nice to be home! We left Ghost Ranch exactly at 10, without waiting for the Sunday morning meeting for worship (the closing meeting had been Saturday afternoon). I guess we were meant to do that; we came upon two Friends broken down beside the road about six miles up the highway. Together, and with input from a bicyclist who stopped, we got them escorted back to Ghost Ranch, where it seemed likely that a simple repair could be made and where they would be safe until that could be accomplished. Then we started the journey again.

Going back to Saturday, it started coolly but warmed up to about 90 degrees during the day, with heightened gnat activity. Still, as the next-to-bottom picture shows, it's always a dramatic landscape. That evening was the annual, much-awaited talent show, and the bottom picture illustrates what happens when compassionate listening (the theme of our annual gathering) breaks down.

For me, this Yearly Meeting was SO much enhanced by the presence of a large number of Young Friends of all young ages. I was quite nostalgic for the years when I was attending with my kids ... the picture of two Young Friends trudging barefoot arm-in-arm to breakfast, wrapped in blankets after watching the sunrise from atop the mesa, made me remember so many similar mornings when Drayton and Noi were doing the same thing.

On the way home, we did some exploring ... seeing with the lenses of our eyes and cameras. The little roadside shrine, "La Virgin Maria" said the sign, spoke of so many stories we'll never know ... tiny teddy bears, pictures of weddings, flowers, etc. Clearly a place that is very alive in many hearts.

We went up the San Juan River on a dusty road that takes off at Chromo. Beautiful pastures of green grass, filled with cows basking in the sun. Quite a few gated homes and communities of homes ... starter castles, in a few cases. Further up, we took a two-track down to the river ... which was running full and a bit muddy. Stopped at a log structure beside a field, with the southern San Juans beyond. I'd been there two years ago; there won't be much left after another winter like the last.

So many side roads to explore ... maybe we'll get them all in 20-30 years! ;-}  tv