*bailey*

Farewell Soon, Key West

When my mother, Ruthie, passed away, I left our home and made my way out west from Clearwater, Florida. Time was of no importance. There  was no one to look after and  "...no one's future to decide..."  I rode on waves of grief and joy, lone gypsy with camera and a .357 Magnum. I camped along the way, stayed in mom and pop motels, slept in my car, wandered back roads and blue highways.

Six months out  I headed back to Florida. When I landed in Key West, a sense of providence jolting me with the immediate connection with two women, one new to me, and the other a friend I hadn't seen since we were in our twenties. It was their kindness, generosity and shamanistic spirit that in great part made it possible for me to remain in Key West as long as I have.

I will forever be grateful for what this island has given me as an artist. Some of my best work was born here and with what I take with me, I know the best is ahead.

Next week I will be heading up to Clearwater, in the Tampa Bay Area.
I'll be staying with friends Patti and David while I get sorted out. [Thank you McAvoys]

I will be minutes away from Bay Pines VA Med Ctr...much easier to bear than the six hour roundtrip to Miami VA Hospital.

Things are coming together to convince me I'm heading to the right place at the right time.

Distance is an illusion. I will  ever be at the corner of prospect and refuge.

"orchids peak"

"just before the rain"

"just before the rain"

"embrace of being"

Three years silent

no hint of spike

and then...

"mini phalaenopsis"

Budding, unfolding, full-blooming...at home in a branch of a schefflera tree.

"purple walking iris"

"purple walking iris"

"palms in rain"

"palms in rain"

"cascade"

The elegant hibiscus pours from its center like a gentle waterfall.

"washington street bougainvillea"

Just one of my favorite streets in Key West to wander with camera. 

Bougainvillea never fails to capture my attention.

"koi shade"

koi shade

water lily

pad and bloom

shadowed carp

at scorching noon

"zephyr lily"

"zephyr lily"

Also known as Zephyranthes. 

Zephyrus: god of the west wind. Anthos: flower.

"Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?

Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot

in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself continually?

Who will behold the inner chamber who has not observed

with admiration, even with rapture, the outer stone?

Well, there is time left --

fields everywhere invite you into them."

from Mary Oliver's West Wind

"night calls"

It was almost midnight. I received a phone call from a friend, "Get over here as soon as you can, the cereus is blooming!" I grabbed my camera and hurried to my friend's garden. The cactus was pregnant with buds and blooms. So delicate. So beautiful. Cycle of life exampled once again.

A few days later I had breakfast with another friend. We talked about my session with the night-bloomer. She was reminded of a poem by Thomas Merton.

Excerpt from Merton's Night-Flowering Cactus:

I neither show my truth nor conceal it

My innocence is described dimly

Only by divine gift

As a white cavern without explanation.

The last few lines told the story of that night:

Have you seen it? Then though my mirth has quickly ended

You live forever in its echo:

You will never be the same.

I saw. I will never be the same.



*post dedicated to Monica Dahl and Jane Worth.

*pieces of the giving tree*

Michele R. Strüb

All Rights Reserved

27 January 2014

[photographs taken in front of Shel Silverstein estate in Key West]