What an absolute gift these two plus Sugar the dog are to this earth. I was so lucky to be invited to stay at Kelly and Christopher’s beautiful property for two nights in Joshua Tree. My friend Kim and I did a ton of motorcycle riding through the park, and in between rides we gratefully received the gift of their hospitality. One evening we got home after a long ride after dark, and they had made us a lovely vegan dinner-catering to our dietary preference, which was as kind as it was delicious.

I woke up with the sun both days and admired the colors of the desert at sunrise, hoping to catch a glimpse of a coyote. We did get to see one in the park at sunset on one of our motorcycle rides. Magestic Creatures. Rumor has it, Sugar the dog who is just about as sweet as it gets, fearlessly chased a coyote away.

Kelly took us on a morning walk with coffee around their property to see a tortoise den. I carefully stepped over the little desert flowers that were sprouting all over the ground. We admired the art and the plants, many pretty details decorated and painted by Christopher. They have a tree named Abigail. There are pieces from other artists and a few pretty things left behind as gifts from friends all around the property.

Delicate stained glass windows throw rainbow light around the room inside their home. Their home is full of beautiful art, , books, photographs, everything with a story behind it. I was even in love with their coffee mugs. A home where everything you touch is full of beauty and love. This place has great calming energy to it.

I looked through Christopher’s photography and painting books(full of his own artwork), and asked him a question about the wonderful design or “hex” that I saw all over the property. Even Sugar’s dog collar sports it. It’s a design that means Circle Rock Ranch, but there is much to uncover. This question sparked a long one hour conversation about the history of hexes - like you see on barns and such. Looks pagan to me!

And he even gave me a book on it.

I was completely inspired as an artist myself to look deeper into everything I do. Christopher is a true artist- I could see that Kelly had the gift inside of her as well. She also has the gift of helping people in her career.

This little photo session felt more like sunrise walk with coffee and a couple of friends, as it should be. And Sugar was the cherry on top.

I asked if they would mind telling me a little about their story, and I will let Christopher take it away from here, his words less clunky than mine and I appreciate the poetic nature of his being.

Christopher Cole

On Hexes

If you delve into Serious Nonsense, it won't say much about hexes. it really gives a portrait of the people who practice these traditions and their attitudes towards becoming Americans while maintaining deep ancient traditions uniquely their own. their groundhog ceremony is a fine example - they annually make reverent ceremony with the Grundsow as their central object of worship. But, this is clearly done as a way to poke fun at the habits of being overly religious or pompous, when in fact there are crops to tend and life processes far more spiritual than any glorified icons.

it is this sense of humour, the ability to laugh at our habits - all the while holding the thread of dedication and curiosity towards mystery that energizes us all,,,

to me, this speaks to a needed life skill set amongst artists, we fringe-dwellers looking to coney ideas and observations to the wider world

(* yes, it may be a stretch, perhaps one worth making...., that the 'ways' of the Pennsylvania Dutch can be immediately useful attitudes for artists to adopt. Synthesized into a simpler take - I find the barn paintings infinitely inspirational, even as I lack a full comprehension of their meaning and power - I believe in them.)

Circle Rock Ranch:

No one could be more surprised than Kelly or myself, to have found ourselves homeowners, shepherds

of these acres. Heat to stun a person silent, winds offered to freely redistribute one's atoms, this often intense place,

for us, is holy space. Respite offered, in kind, is monumental, stars to carry one far beyond earthly worries,

mountains forming an immense distant shrouding embrace. Remote and sparse, being here compels us to shed,

grow clear and, as verdant souls, connect sincerely, daily improving at being humans - as the wide world is

never really far away (and there is much work for us to do together, all.)

We have been delighted like children to arrive at a first useful batch of garden compost. Having endured

the required patient period of slowly passed months, mounting gathered decay, to finally crescendo fertile. It is

a lesson of the circle, ominous and delightful in promise - never ending, always replenishing, growing clear

even as bits slough and fade. Part of the prepared compost has gone towards feeding our few trees this Spring,

as we inch towards harmonious ways, aspiring to celebrate always, every step.

Endeavoring to shape a space where friends can readily come, and easily sense the voices of their

highest callings, naturally emerging.

The Lovey Part:

Our paths crossed once near the turn of the century, to gaze longingly, at reflections in the moon.

Walking on, over a decade later, surer footed, we would begin to laugh and cry out loud together, at last.

We arranged monthly visits in Sedona or Joshua Tee. At the first planned visit, Kelly requested to hike,

by moonlight. Choosing a trail that led through ancient Joshua Trees to the edge of bajadas overlooking a

distant valley, we set out.

A silent walk through the elders brought us to a precipice, overlooking faraway glimmers of low desert

towns. We sat. Not a moment later, a sight gently emerged. Neon flowers unfolded in darkness, followed

by low thudding sounds. To our astonishment, we were witnessing fireworks, viewed 3500 feet below.

We never learned what holiday was being celebrated, hearts sensing the gravity of rekindling.

These early visits were flush with such unexplained magic, setting the tone for Us. Ever-present

unquestioned affection of musky familiar details AND delight in unexpected unfolding, sharing a sincere

craving to witness growth and change in each other as much as in ourselves.

We walk with steady feet, accepting mystery as certain - knowing the walk will be filled with humbling grace

and the most delightfully appearing magic.

Sugar:

In the grittiness of life, she often appears as a mirage, this magnanimous tumbleweed of love. A gesture of

pure instinct, I once threw my body on the ground, face-to-face with a rattlesnake to keep her safe - not even

knowing I was capable of such behavior. A story for another day. May we long share the bliss of her elegance.

Art notes:

the most useful way to look into art activities would be through this link:

(a retrospective book that archives a large swath of creative output)

https://www.blurb.com/books/919636-dirty-greasy-golden-light

Kelly's music:

During tough silent years between our rekindling, there was a kind of gentle eternal benchmark that Kelly had planted.

It formed as some almost wordless mantra woven through me - that anything could be endured, of the challenges of being alive,

if only to hear her sing at the end of a day. This feeling persists. Though she does not choose to sing every night, any

time she practices her music, truth is being heard, a gift to witness.

I think she mentioned having been in an accident while on tour with a band. She didn't describe how an amplifier crashed through
the windshield before she was thrown out of the van, sparing her from being shredded by glass. Altogether, I think the experience

reconfigured much of her essential life equation.

Though I would not describe her as private about her music, she rarely plays by request. She plays largely as it compels her,

as many things of truth and beauty, difficult to predict or compare.

I would encourage you to ask her to say more about her music process. But I can't promise when or how or IF she will respond.

as it goes, this year we set about moving plants from their nursery barrels into the ground. the striped planters were made to keep

plants safe from chompers. local wisdom suggests many plants become undesirable to critters once they have matured a year

or two. it's lovely that we can now look to your photographs, as an archive from 'before' times. funny, the tall planters had come to

feel like such fixtures, but plants are responding so happily to being in the ground now. and the barrels, though carefully painted and

meant to situate well in the landscape - feel a bit cartoonish in their posture. the learning curves of being in a Place. to my thinking, it

wasn't at all a failed gesture - but it does invite a more sensitive approach to HOW we intervene in the landscape. some choices can

clearly be seen to perform more harmoniously than others - sheesh

a pleasure to share with you,

Christopher Cole

Joshua Tree Photographer — Sculpture at sunrise by *SCOTTROSSSTUDIO* *(instagram link)*

Kelly showed me to her office that Chris built for her =off of the back patio of their house. A beautiful green and wooden gorgeous little she shed. On the wall next to her computer hung a note that read “Anywhere, anytime, with you” and it was signed Christopher.

Everywhere you look there is art and there is story. And within the art there is a big beautiful story. Everything has meaning, beauty, and depth.

And so I merged their land with their bones because it is such an extension of them. It has a life of it’s own and evolves and changes with the light and with the seasons, and with the new stories. I can’t wait to visit again, I was so lucky to be invited, and to be invited back. Thank you Kelly, Sugar and Christopher Cole. Your love is a creation.