Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A Lovely Desert Garden

Today I would like to share one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen in the desert.  Sam and Dane Augustine have just such a garden, as it is their garden I am sharing with you.  They are the kindest, most gentle souls.  Let me let their garden speak to you of their love, and the love they share with the community!

BLOGGERS NEW PHOTO UPLOAD WITH PICASSA STINKS!

Blogger changed the new photo upload system and it is absolutely horrid! It takes three times as long to upload, you have to now save it on a picassa album which of course I don't need a picassa album, and I couldn't upload 4 out of the 6 photos I waited to upload onto the blog.  Blogger what have you done. If this is the way the system is going to work I might have to go elsewhere....What about all of you other bloggers? Pictures are the main frame and if it takes twenty minutes to upload 6 pictures and you get 2 of them on your blog there is a problem...Please change the photo upload to the old system...please! HELP!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Forging New Trails...

At times my walks represent to me new trails that I will be taking..Today is one such walk.  At first I screamed, then sang, then prayed for new beginnings.  For todays' walk was all about new beginnings. I am not sure where this inner turmoil started but it is in full swing. I am ready to release it or find release as the pressure seems about to explode.  I feel as if I am being stuffed, and contorted.

Walks have always been a way for me to find release.  Maybe it is the repetitive steps that feel almost like a meditation, maybe it is just the beauty that lies before me, to the side of me, to the back of me, and above me-The Navajo beauty way prayer always with me.  Walks always seem to help me find the strength to endure life's curve balls whether they are imagined, interior, or all around me.

May you find peace and solace in a  walk today.  May the beauty way surround you, as we each forge our own new paths....

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Roses

Roses, Roses, glorious roses...My husband brought me some roses...and they were so beautiful.  Now they have died and I still can not part with them.  So I decided that I would make them into rose water.
Here is a recipe for you to try.
Take the rose petals off the stalk, and spread out in a gallon bucket of water. Distilled water is best. Let sit in the water for a few days, stir often.  Strain out the petals into a funnel into glass or aluminum bottles. Add spray tops and spray on your body. Not only does it cool you , you smell wonderful, and your skin will smile!!
Try some yourself. Good luck!

Another thing I love to do is to dry the roses..Just hang them upside down until they are dry! A year round arrangement.

Friday, April 16, 2010

The Humble Prickly Pear Cactus


The Humble Prickly Pear Cactus loves the Big Bend...there are the Pink Prickly pear, the engelmans Prickly Pear, the Cows Tongue Prickly Pear, the White Thorned, the Brown Thorned, and the Blind prickly pear...Oh so many prickly pears...They prsoper here in the Big Bend with our desert climate.  I love the way you can propagate them by just placing a pad in our clayey, sandy soil and wha la as if magic another prickly pear plant will begin to grow.  And the flowers are sooo amazing...Just take a peek...



So so many things you can do with the prickly pear as well...here are some recipes for your dining pleasure...
Fried Nopalitos
1 cup nopalitos(the small baby cactus pads)
1/3 cup wheat flour
2/3 cup cornemal
1 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper totaste
vegetable oil

place flour, cornmeal and spices in a small bag, shake bag to mix. Drop in noplaitos and shake until well coated. heat oil in a skillet and fry till golden brown...Enjoy


In the summer after these incredible blooms have fallen, or have been picked and placed them in a bud vase..you can pick the fruits and make them into a jelly;
15 fruits
lemon or lime juice
powdered pectin
sugar to taste, about a cup to a cup and a  half
use only ripe fruits!
remove spines or you will get a mouth full of thorns. I Usually use rocks to take off the thorns.  Mash the fruit then follow the directions from the back of the pectin box.  Good luck

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Walk With Me

Take a walk with me to Wild horse mountain....there are Javelina...well..javelina tracks and pooh...then on to see some organic shapes, colors in the muted palette of the desert, permisson trees in knarled shapes, and the rocks..the boulders...please take a walk with me....oh look at the prickly pear cactus..their blooms over there...Look.....and ocotillo blossoms in scarlet red...oh look over there.....

Rain in the Big Bend

Glorious Rain...Drip,pour, drop.....Rain in the big bend usually comes in buckets, gushers, and in a rampage...Last night by our home it came in a steady stream of glorious drops...We got about an inch last night and I am hugely grateful...
In the Big Bend we pray for rain as we maybe get 12" for the year, the rest of the time we are bucket watering our plants, collecting what rain comes our way in cisterns and catchment systems.  Always praying for more.
Last night Margot and I walked our labryinth in prayers for rain..The dark clouds circled above, and we were just hoping for an opening in the clouds...we were blessed with just that...

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

a desert pilgrimage color palatte

The desert flows with both extremely bright colors and more muted weather worn colors.  It is the weather worn colors that speak to me now...I see muted, washed and glazed tones...