Where is it?

When I showed Mom the tipi photo from today's earlier posting, she harumphed. "So where is this place, anyhow!!??!!"

Encountered this dashing fellow — I call him StoneTurban Sheik —

 on a walking break from campsite meditation.

THANKS, Mom, for reminding me that not everybody knows Utah so here's a map: 

wish I had included it in first posting, and more photos are coming - but not today!

The Professor Valley is about 1/2 way along the road marked in red, east of Castle Valley but not as far along as Fisher Towers.

Similar terrain - stunning! - all the way. 

Canyonlands Field Institute

October 2011

Pretty good place to practice being silent, doncha think?

Dining "room" view

view from deck of meditation yurt  - almost sunset

from pit toilet area looking toward Manti la-Sal Mountains

from pit toilet area toward meditation&kitchen yurts. 

I slept in the cream-colored tipi at photo-center.

Yes, you are looking at somebody washing up - only cold-water at that sink!

from pit toilets toward monoliths enclosing the Professor Valley,  named after Sylvester Richardson. Professor by nickname only, Richardson added to Moab's colorful history - you can read a tidbit here or the whole story while you sit in the john at Canyonlands Field Institute.

no words needed by now

Blogging Backwards
a bit behind~times from Professor Valley, Utah

October 2011

Crescent moon flecks dawnrise over tipis at Canyonlands Field Institute on Bijou Creek.

That lunar smile readied me for departure after a weeklong retreat led by favorite dharma teachers, Susie Harrington and Eric Kolvig. The time was right for leaving those red rocks I embrace as second home. Truly awesome place - more photos soon.

Pre-winter chill can't fend off sun's warmth. But, oh, it was cold in late October's frosty dark with no campfire to warm my first-ever tipi sleepover. I was grateful to have an extra sleeping bag to fend off nightime's near-freezing temperatures.  No cold could still my midnight mind-walks -  wild dreams careened far outside this double-down cocoon.

Sitting meditation along creek or walking meditation among silent stone deepened my practice, and I'm back on the cushion again - almost every day. Awareness opened to new dimensions that are best shared in person. If you want to know more, let's talk soon about mops and ants and awareness that might just be infinite.

Must admit that my body welcomed return home:  to savor long shower, hot tub soak, and root-deep hairwash after eight days in near-wilderness.

Sent loving-kindness (metta) far and wide while on retreat - maybe you caught some?

Annual family camp-meeting in high Sierras - south fork of San Joaquin River and Infant Buttes set backdrop for lots of fishing, hiking, Scrabble, cribbage, and conversation.

Baltic birds soar, swim, sup, and strut their stuff.

We watched and listened to massive flocks of lesser white-fronted geese travelling to summer feeding areas. Two scout-geese led the vees to safe ground. From what we saw, we would never have guessed that these geese are considered an endangered species. Nearby, storks guarded their nests which were perched atop utility poles. We guessed that one might be sitting on eggs as it spent most of its time with only its head visible above the nest's rim. After lunch at Altja Kõrts, we walked along the beach and watched swans preen and feed in the Baltic waters.

Michael, Barbara, and Peter in the watchtower - bog in the background.

Bog-walking is a natural park pastime at Lahemmaa National Park, not far from Tallinn. Peter was good enough to find us a lengthy bit of bog with a boardwalk and a watchtower -- no need for special racket-bog shoes or a guided tour. If we wanted to feel the bog underfoot, we merely stepped off the boardwalk to bounce on the drier mounds. In the background, you can see Peter's shoe sinking into the moist vegetation that varies from trampoline bouncy to super-soaked sponge. At some places, we tiptoed on boards that seemed to float on crystalline clear water, touted to be some of the cleanest in the world. Estonia ranks right up there with Finland as one of the boggiest lands in the world. Lovely at this time of year, but maybe not so pleasant after a mosquito hatch!

Barb waves, "Hasta la Vista," to Helsinki.

Mix color and light with drab and dark, and you've got our 24 hours in Finland's capital.  We left feeling glad we had gone but in no hurry to return.