Shooting Stars under a Joshua Tree.
Joshua Tree National Park by day.
I woke up at 2.32 am and slipped out into the night, the ground felt warm underfoot. It took my eyes a while to adjust and as I scanned the charcoal sky two shooting stars zoomed by at rocket speed. yes, thank you universe Bill stirred from slumber when I went back into the casita and within 10 minutes we were on our way to Joshua tree to gaze at the Meteor showers that happen this time every year. With the top down in the warm summer night I drove like the bat out of hell toward the mountain pass that would take us through Yucca valley and then Joshua Tree. As the night sky became darker with the absence of lights, the stars twinkled in the black space. lets go to Pioneer Town instead Bill said, and star 
gaze from there.
Desert Beauty
So I turned off the road and headed up through the hills, not a soul crossed our path on the twisty road. When we reached the sleeping Pioneer Town and infamous Pappy and Harriets saloon that was dark and closed for the night, I pulled off the side of the road, opened the trunk and got the blankets out. We lay there and snuggled up covered in a warm blanket and watched the universe explode in a dazzling display of shooting falling stars that tapered for miles. We oohed and aahed ever time we spotted one then became silent and just observed. Are our ancestors stars again I wondered? My mother and father now gone from this earth passed by in a shift of a breeze and the air held a chill. The fragrant musky scent of the wild Creosote desert shrub, filled my senses and took me back to a few years ago when we moved here. On this night in August we drove up to Joshua Tree with our friend Celia. We were The Three Musketeers for that summer. We lay on the rug draped in a fuzzy blanket in a campground with huge rock formations’ and within minutes Bill and C were asleep. I watched and waited and took in the whole sparkling cosmos. It inspired the painting you see in the image here.
The Three Musketeers
I love the desert and the magical Joshua trees with their awkward looking branches, they stand tall reaching for the life beyond the pale of this earth.
Joshua Tree by day.
Day and night it’s climate contrasts helps me connect to the land and cosmos. With nothing to do but be I am one with it all.
Keep on dreaming I whisper to this human form I wear and step out of your comfort zone more often, for great adventures and new friends are to be found around every corner.
