The Hills Above Mal Paso

There must be a story  why the road is named Mal Paso. Perhaps some dark and dreary things took place to early travelers or settlers... 

Or perhaps it was named by someone struggling with the steep ascent up from the ocean...

Or maybe it is very literal, after all the road does not go all the way through to the east...Maybe it should be called  No Paso...but it was just the walk I needed...to be startled by beautiful flowers ...

I had not seen these bloom before ...I thought someone had perhaps had a can of spray paint...but no

this is now they grow and bloom...undoubtedly in the giant aloe family.

And these fungi, at least eight inches across, they also caught my eye.  It  was comforting to see them  popping out of the earth, just as they should be when conditions are right.
To walk, to hear birds, to watch the clouds, to stop and listen to the mushrooms and the pine needles...
to feel the pace of earth time, is healing.

Senseless acts, vicious, cruel acts,  take place in our beautiful world....Whether  you and I  are thinking of the same senseless acts
doesn't matter...there are more than enough to go around.  Even on the extreme periphery  we become a witness...and it can stun us...and rob in reverberating circles ...but perhaps we should lean into the good and beautiful all the further...

Yes....let me show you the lovely little mountains from one more angle...