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Back Alley Abundance


The abundance of summer never ceases to amaze me. Over the fourth of July weekend I took a trip into the deep woods of Mendocino County, down a dusty 20 mile dirt road to my family’s rustic ranch house on the Eel River with my youngest son, Benjamin, and a delightful gaggle of other extended family members. It was a great joy to be washed clean by the river, warmed through by the sun and sung to by a choir of crickets, bullfrogs, red tail hawks and even the occasional warning song of the rattlesnake.

Upon return, it was surreal to find myself back at work in Menlo Park in front of my computer for hours, my body and soul longing for the nourishment of nature. Determined to keep a balance of the real and the virtual worlds, I headed out for a midday walk.

Back Alley Abundance

As I trod down the paved sidewalk, slowly my body came alive again — like a black and white portrait of myself being colored in with each step.

That’s when the back alley caught my eye. How surprising to see, tucked in between the tightly fitted houses, a generous dirt road, as if from another time.

How surprising still to find an abundance of nature sprouting up all around me in the midst of the city as I walked down the dirt road.

Roses growing alongside recycling cans, sunflowers bravely standing alone in the middle of the road, peaches hanging their unruly and laden branches over the edges of fences, blackberry bushes extending their prickly tendrils past the bounds of their bush -all in a brave statement of untamable aliveness and abundance despite all attempts at containment.

So, on this warm July day, my wish for you is unruly abundance. In the face of your computer or your work day, may you just get up and head outwards and see what catches your eye, or nose, or ear…

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