A Message

the breeze crept in

and touched my skin

just now

carrying with it

a message

from the universe

a message reminding me

to stop

to look up

to listen

to breathe

to appreciate

to enjoy

to let go

to lift up

to elevate

to pray

to be

 (thank you)

Feeling Small

 there’s nothing like a giant sequoia tree to make you feel small...

 or standing at the edge of one of america’s most daunting canyons (king’s canyon national park)...

 or – one of my absolute favorite things to do when we are lucky enough to find  a remote forest campsite -  lying on my back on the ground, snuggled in my cozy wearable blanket, watching the stars appear as darkness falls....

 

as i was doing this last week, it hit me again – the mystery and magnitude of it all – knowing that although i feel small and infinitesimal, i have a light inside of me that is connected to the light of those stars – that we are all in this together – the tree, the canyon, the stars and, yes, me too!  owning this... maybe i'm not so small after all... or, better yet,  maybe my smallness is of very little importance....

 

Off the Grid

it’s not something i would voluntarily choose.  i mean i like my little stream of email, blog comments, updating with facebook and the fairly constant distraction of instagram..... 

but when you’re off the grid – no wifi, cell service or electricty, well, there’s no choice in the matter.  that’s how i spent much of the last few weeks.

 in the back of my mind, i know i’m getting “behind” with everyone, but since there is no choice, there really is no pressure either....

i’m forced to forget about it and concentrate on other things....

like really experiencing and documenting my surroundings.....

 

and details...

lots of lovely details....

i'm back now, but glad that i had those opportunities!

(and i will catch up..... eventually..... our next trip (another reunion) is just 2 weeks away, overwhelmed a bit and trying to go with the flow....)

On the Road Again....

 

by time you read this, we should be hurdling along the highway, heading north. (thank goodness - this heat has been doing me in!)  we will be camping in the forest north of lake tahoe and then spending some time at the lake with family before a much-anticipated reunion for stu.  right at this moment i feel completely overwhelmed, unsure how i will ever get everything done on my list before it is time to go...... but somehow it happens!

First Captain

My passenger position  (looks like that shoe needs a little Shoe Goo!)

once we get on the road it takes my brain at least a couple of days to disengage from all the craziness and unwind.  looking forward to that change in mentality.....

i am sometimes so amazed that 3 years into it, i am still forging ahead with my little blog, using it to share my thoughts and ideas, as well as my photos, and that my faithful readers (though the list has evolved) are still here, encouraging me on my journey.  i am humbled and completely blown away by this.... who knew???  so THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!!!!!  catch you on the other side....

Looking forward to the trails!

Blackberry Eating

Blackberry Eating

I love to go out in late September

among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries

to eat blackberries for breakfast,

the stalks very prickly, a penalty

they earn for knowing the black art

of blackberry making; and as I stand among them

lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries

fall almost unbidden to my tongue,

as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words

like strengths or squinched, or broughamed,

many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps,

which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well

in the silent, startled, icy, black language

of blackberry eating in late September.

Galway Kinnell

i ran across this poem recently and it occurred to me that i had a whole series of blackberry images from last summer in oregon that i hadn't shared....

 when we camped along the rouge river, they were EVERYWHERE!  plump, juicy and ripe for the picking.

  big bags of them ended up in our little motorhome freezer - the best kind of souvenir!

 oh, the joys of summer....