One of my favorite morning walks to go on with Lila is a trail in Tilden Park close to Grizzly Peak Boulevard in Berkeley.  After you pass a cluster of redwood trees there is an old cement foundation on the left.  For awhile, someone hauled in a green metal park bench.  Lila and I would sit on it sometimes and take the sun.  The bench mysteriously moves around the area and I haven’t seen it in awhile.

Now, instead of a place to sit, there is a place to walk within a walk.  Over time, small rocks, debris, stones and twigs have been collected and shaped into a cross between a labyrinth and a spiral.

There are other more well known and precise ones in the East Bay yet this one is humble.  No grand plan, precise placement of lines, or concern for the poison oak that rims much of the concrete.  I like it.

I look forward to this walk and force myself to take the time to walk in, pause and walk out; a reminder that I have control over my time.  A path inward towards reflection and outwards in expansion.  Breathing.

I’ve started putting the stones and bricks back in place when they begin to loose their direction and shape.  Maybe other people do this too.  Invisible appreciative hands taking care for an idea turned into action.

Paying it forward.

Humbleness follows me into the studio.

XOXO,

Francesca