Nesting into the chilly days

I am blessed to be house and dog sitting for a friend in Fairfax for a few weeks. The crows and finches keep me company during the alternating days of sun and mist. Afternoons in fall are dear to my heart, especially in Marin County where I first experienced and explored this season. Everything seems content, all of the color changing leaves, the bohemian houses, the neighborhood moms going about their daily pathways. It is all comfortable to me, yet I cherish it all at an odd arms length. I observe the tranquility of the safely decorated porches and conveniently warm coffee shops as if I am looking into a perfect catalog. Don't get me wrong. I love it all with a blanket of gratitude so thick it is sometimes painful. It's just that it is all so incredible, this world. That people and their communities live with such different resources and realities all around the world is a fact that often dumbfounds me. I have only seen a handful of the streets and boroughs around the globe, but I've seen a varied group of them, from unassuming palaces to urine soaked temple steps to homegrown squatted cooperatives. Lately, I have felt sort of stricken with a silence based on all of the input into my mind. What do I say about all of it? Why do I have such an urge to keep seeing and experiencing these different faces of the planet, and more importantly, what is the purpose of my exploration? Compelled to make something of what I have collected in my psyche, to collage together the gifts I have been given in this life, I ask these questions to the universe and to myself.