Morning after morning I am missing photo opportunities with these impossibly perfect mountains.
Evening after evening I am laughing so hard my head hurts and missing even more photos of these impossilby perfect mountains.
Im going to change that one of these mornings.
I still rise before everyone else in the house (5:30-6:30) and have my coffee in silence and have time to be online , but one of these mornings Im dragging jillian by the leg to some high point and taking some photos.
I have met some drummers, a photographer, and many belly dancers in just a few days.
I have forgotten what it was like to have PEOPLE around. Forgot what it was like to have someone to CALL because I want to. To have a reason to put your best foot forward in the kitchen, a reason to keep your house clean and an explination for side pains in the morning . I have not laughed this much in a long time. My home, in comparison feels like a cave. I crave this kind of 'life' around me.. these kinds of people.. this kind of busy-ness that I only seem to have in this state.
I have lived long enough in Austin to have developed some kind of friendships, and though I have, the culture, the people, the undercurrent.. never ever feels this free. This ...open.. this... friendly.
Even though, I see many changes in my little mountain home..
The greatest example!
Driving down the freeway. I used to be able to always see mountains either straight on, or out of the corner of my eye and I could never be lost because of it. Mountains = east. Period. The grid of the city is such that I knew just by address number if I had to drive away from the mountains or not. I could not get lost.
Now, when I drive on the highway, all I see is stucco wall with a cheap impression in it that is supposed to LOOK like mountains. Squiggly lines and ugly brown paint. The beauty, the vast open sky, the matching buildings... GONE . Completely gone. It is isolating in its feeling and I dispise it. Once you get off the highway, your vision is back and thats good.. but .. the view when you are driving is what makes this place.. wonderful. It is what makes people calmer I think. You always have this view of something real, something larger then your self, and since the mountains form almost a lip to the bowl thats albuquerque, it almost feels embracing..
No longer.
The drivers show it too , to a certain extent.
I used to KNOW that the moment I brake that line of mountains and see Juan tabo avenue, I could lay off the gas, roll down my windows and just BE... I could stop having to drive in highway mode, and just drive to get some where.
What the hell has happened?
I want to call this driving change aggressive, but living and driving in Austin ....... I know better.. but compared to how this place used to operate, it is aggressive. No one pays complete attiontion to the road rules anymore either. You used to be able to cruise in the middle lane, and use the right lane to pass. No longer. Your slower traffic has moved everywhere and your speedracers dont care where they are.
it wouldnt bother me so much if I did not remember this city differently, but .. wowser..
Im blaming it on california. Just like everyone else does
California.. just the word mind you...holds the meaning of too many outsiders moving in bringing with them everything they are trying to move away from. Too much tourist money and too many permanent tourists have upset this natural soft wave .
Even the amounts of eye contact you get here has changed.
People used to look at you, greet you, and other wise just accept and acknowledge. It isnt that way anymore. Granted, you still get the cozy smile and wave from strangers on a semi regular basis.. but you can tell right away it is only from locals. And now the LOCALS stick out like a sore thumb.
Im not complaining....just noticing my home (sniff) is growing up..
