In some cultures, the new year begins in the autumn.

There is something to be said for that idea.

Looking back at posts from Septembers previous, a theme emerges, one of busyness, preparing, cleansing, always at the coming of fall. This year is no different, except perhaps in its extremity. This year the need to declutter, to shed, to cut away takes the helm in every aspect of life. Maybe it Mercury’s retrograde. Maybe there is something to the idea of the new year coming in the autumn. Maybe I am just exhausted with aged excess bullshit. Eh.

This last spring and summer were rife with sometimes painful retrospection and other times overwhelming prospect necessitated by a Janus mix of confronting what’s behind and forward momentum, by the one thing after the other that had been stacking at the door finally busting through and spilling all over the forward path, by the old ghosts showing up for a final conversation before we move on. In the wake, the urge to shed old skin became more than an urge, it has become a must. The removal of all things unnecessary, all things pointlessly tedious, all those old wounds took the forefront as the instinctual knowledge that by October a new period will begin, one with limited room for luggage.

And so has my time been preoccupied. But preoccupied or not time marches on and whether a new year or not the fall is at the door. And today it has been three years since this project began. In those three years the focus and styling of Dharma Anchor has shifted, sometimes extremely, others subtly. That’s life and art imitates as the man says.

Currently, in light of this year’s great shedding, this project is undergoing a final shift toward the intended vision for it. And yes, I’ve been riding, when time allows. And yes, I’ve been writing, when I allow. And yes, I suppose there were days I could’ve prepared a post. But some days I just stared at the mess on the floor and wasn’t sure where to start the clean up, much less what to say to the old ghost sitting at the table. Other days, the days with gumption, the days I could handle creating anew, my inclination was geared toward the preludes required for upcoming prospects. Besides, three years on, no half assed entry would do as my vision of Dharma Anchor, like everything else, inclines toward perfectionist and three years on there is plenty of room for perfectionism.

Most of the last year’s writing will never be posted here but others, those with a timeless nature who needn’t be chronological, will be slipped in here or there. In the meantime three others from the last three months of silence predicating the three year anniversary (yes, I notice strange things like that and do not believe in coincidences) will be posted here over the next week, a sort of goodbye to the warmer months, an homage to the end of another cycle, a goodbye to the third year as we shift into the fourth.

From year three, a few great rides:

 

07 Sep This entry was published on September 7, 2016 at 23:45. It’s filed under Motorcycles, Oklahoma, Roadside Photography, Route 66 and tagged Abandoned, America, Americana, Architecture, Art, Biker, Camping, Destinations, Eureka Springs, Gas Station, Ghost town, High Plains, Hiking, Historic, History, Kansas, Meditations, Motorcycle, Motorcycles, mountains, mt scott, nature, OKC, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Old West, Ozarks, Photography, Riding, Road Trip, Route 66, The Mother Road, travel, wichita mountains. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.