Walking up the steeply winding slope, I pull away from the city’s warm embrace and into an ethereal world

I’ve been thinking about East and West in this dream world of ours; about the fading cultural influence of the Classical and Christian traditions and of the space for Buddhism amidst such a forgetful time.

It’s so quiet. There’s something about a southern Californian afternoon that can catch you by surprise and have you almost falling through a space where time resonates at a different frequency altogether.

It’s been a quietly special time here in Los Angeles, punctuated yesterday by a trip to the movies to see A Complete Unknown.

It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the USA. I sit in our tiny garden spilling over with flowers and watch the hummingbirds hovering on their jewelled wings of speed.

Shifting sands move under our feet as we find ourselves back on the beach. The scene sharpens and we talk through the landscape of a gathering evening.

We flew home into the blue of beyond two weeks ago. In a few days we will catch a plane to the tomorrow of a southern French sun.

There’s a Bob Dylan song that‘s been rolling along the tracks of my mind for some time. Even now, as I’m walking on a slowly sunny Los Angeles afternoon with the hound, I can hear it.

I found myself  on an eye wateringly early flight home to Los Angeles this morning after a wonderful few days in Mexico City.

I’m always on the look out for resonances which return me to the truth of the dream-like nature of our experience. It’s why I love Inception, Christopher Nolan’s exquisite creation from 2010.

It began with Keats. Walking through the enchanted world of Ode to a Nightingale I left the beaten track, mesmerized by a summons from the favorite American writer of my youth.