July morning , the jaguar and the crow stone

Mr. Lee and I went out briefly this morning and visited with some friends. I'm not complaining about having to lay low while me knee heals. Perhaps I am enjoying it too much so it was definitely good for me to get of the house for a bit. It's been almost 2 weeks since the surgery and in that time, spring has been very busy pushing everything out and up. Might as well push me too. A time lapse view of the most ordinary place always amazes me.

One thing I've really missed is the lavender explosion. On summer solstice eve I first noticed some of the flowers were going to open in the morning but I missed it all. I had surgery and the bees got everything. I'm happy for them. Imagine all the lovely lavender honey they're socking away. Mr. Lee tells me they are positively, face down drunk in the flowers. I'll have to get a photo but everything is such a big deal on crutches, or perhaps I am just terribly lazy. Mr. Lee tells me I am perhaps the laziest person he has ever met in his entire life. Of course that's not true. I am merely very selective about how and where I direct the fulcrum of my raw, to some terrifying, energy. Today, I photographed the crow stone and the jaguar and converted the July Early Morning AVI into an MPEG for your viewing pleasure. Yes, yes, it's under 30 seconds.


But before the film, a bit of background on the jaguar. Mr. Lee bought him for me last fall when we were in the Yucatan. We were kind of hijacked into spending the night with a Mayan family who lived in the jungle along the road to Bonampak, a fabulous but once extremely bloody Mayan pyramid and city. I say hijacked because their hospitality was mainly a way to hold customers hostage for the night. It was really awkward because the adults just wouldn't let up. They kept bring out more and more stuff for us to buy. We bought a lot. The kids were great, especially the beautiful Leonardo. He was about five and really wanted to communicate with me. He and I stood by the jeep for hours making signs and faces, talking with our hands, drawing pictures for each other and trying out our few words and finding and reading them from my handy, pock-size translation book. He did somersaults for me and climbed up and picked oranges for us to share and I gave him one of my favorite pens and notebook and all the other kids who were standing around staring at me, energy bars.

Once we felt we had let the adults work us over enough, we thanked them profusely and got up into our tent like monkeys scampering up a tree. The tent is on the top of the jeep. We left before they could get at us in the morning. But I love the jaguar. One the adults carved it from balsa wood. Those are eyes on his body. He sits under my monitor and I think of them often, especially Leonardo who is so talented and so trapped. They didn't even realize that they are counted as Mexican citizens. They are Mayan but they have a giant satellite dish on the top on their home and love watching soap operas on television. I think, in certain ways we are more primitive then they are. At least we threw our tv away about 4 years ago so we have wrestled ourselves partially free from the state brain drain. I posted one of Mr. Lee's letters on my blog back then if you'd like to see a photo of Leonardo if you'd like to read more about it.

Now, on with show...

First off, the short I promised the other day. As you might guess, it's an early morning view from my window. (:30)

2nd of July...

And now
the moment you've all been waiting for

Ladies and Gentlemen
Girls and Boys
and
Children of all ages...

Now....

from the ancient, lost inland sea
and mysterious mountains of the Great Basin
The Invisible Theatre is proud to present
The Touchstone of the Gods
Seer and knower
of all secrets.

It puts to test
the heart and mind
of all who dare
to gaze upon it.

It has the power to
HEAL
or
DESTROY
whatever it touches.

Now...
...for a short time only...

on very limited loan from the
Crows

I give you
the One
the Only
the Magnificent....

CROW STONE!!!

mayan yucatan daily life crows july morning