« August 2007 | Main | October 2007 »
Long story short, we were cleaning under the kitchen sink in the big house at the school and we decided to replace the old linoleum with new. When we removed it, underneath we found my most loathed enemy. Mold. Stinky, alive, offensive mold. I'm so very allergic to it. Suffice it to say, I took a severe right hook. Hives everywhere. Swollen lip....
After a good dose of Benadryl, all was well.
I'm so in line with the Waldorf concept of the less electronic communication the better. I struggle with the fact that I have gotten into email as a very simple form of communication. I order things online so that I have a larger shopping area, I look things up online instead of going to the library. All this technology keeps me from some of my favorite places: bookstores, libraries, stationery stores. I have not made peace within myself, that I have succumbed to the electronic world in many ways.
While driving home from getting my morning coffee today, I had the realization that blogging, though electronic, has supported my "living in the moment" existence. Since I have been blogging I have become so much more aware of the small details of life. I look around myself with greater intention. I look with the desire to share instead of judge. I am more generous with my kind thoughts because I know that I will be sharing some of them with an unknown, diverse audience. I'm more cautious with my complaining, because I actually have quite a lovely life when I look at it through the eyes of others.
For so many years I did journal, but blogging has saved me from the poison pen I carried to my journal. I've realized that I can get lost in darkness quite easily. I could become the victim within the privacy of my secret pages at the drop of a hat. Blogging has opened doors for me that I didn't realize were there. I know myself as a more joyful person. And when I get responses to my posts it makes my heart sing...that my words, my days, as simple as they may have been, have amused another human being. And...even if I don't get comments, I still feel better in my belly. I have found enlightenment in blogging. Who wouldda thunk?
Really this is the pizza brochure from my trip. But it made me grin.
My life has been rich and sweet. I really don't know where to begin. Each day I think about what I'd love to share with Blogland and before I know it I have a collection of days needing to be shared.
Last post, I was going to dye silks with Jane. What an undertaking that was. We started out so particular about not getting the colors mixed, wearing gloves to keep our hands undyed and getting a good selection of colors. Well, the base colors recommended to me by the woman at Dharma Trading Company were ALL wrong. At least for out taste anyway. I guess I need to take responsibility. I mean, I should have known to question the color choices of a woman who was my same age (in fact, once while looking at my ID she told me we share an exact birthday) with purple hair. So our first few trys were psychadelic bright. Consequently, we blended and dipped randomly, deciding we wanted some good autumn colors and whatever else we got was OK. here are some photos of the process, and Jane, and the final product:
That night both grandsons spent the night and the following morning I served pancakes in Traintown" (complete with the loud waitress/conductor (me) calling "WHOOOO! WHOOO!":
The next day I left for my trip to the hot springs up north. The week was all that I had hoped. I got my first Ipod and stayed up until 2 am the night before I left, spending a $50.00 gift certificate, filling it with all of my oldie but goodies. That ride was the best of my life, as far as rides to the tip top of the state of California goes. It seemed to fly by. The weather was in the hundreds and I was VERY VERY excited that my hair was finally long enough for Camille to French braid before I left. That has been my goal since I let it go gray a couple of years ago.
Eight hours later, as I took the turn off from Highway 5, the land was pristine, golden. Horses grazing to my left and cows to my right.
Quickly the terrain turned mountainous and shaded. The air smelled of pine and cedar and got a bit cooler. When I drove through the big wooden gates of Stewart Hot Springs, this is what I saw:
And this:
And then my new home for the week:
I moved right into my cabin and enjoyed a week of quiet meditation, mineral baths, massage, browsing in bookstores that smelled of brewed coffee and displayed a good selection of books about local lore and self work, and the most quaint yarn/fabric store, "Weston's", straight out of the olden days (but with excellent wares), and eating from the natural food deli and market (the resort's restaurant was closed). On 9/11 they had a "Peace Dance" folks of all ages dancing to drumming.
On the way home, I explored all the way to the top pf Mount Shasta. In all my life of living in California, I had yet to do that. I cannot put the experience into words. But I can tell you that the temp was 73 degrees
at the bottom of the mountain and 48 degrees at the top. The quiet rang in my ears. The air was thin and cold. The world seemed so far away.
There's a lot I want to learn about this mountain. A lot of respect to be offered to its glory. It has been the solace and inspiration for many spiritual leaders. It is said to have a whole civilization living within. It is said to be a visiting place for UFO's. So much, I read, is said about this mountain. So much, I say, I felt. Somehow I found the peace I was looking for this week.
I'm off to spend the day with my friend, Jane, mama of Tucker. Since we have both left the school to start our own playgargens, it is so good to be connected. Today we are going to dye silks, in kettles outdoors, for the children of our schools. Natural textiles are such great playthings. It is unbelievable what children can imagine within a piece of billowy, silky, flowing cloth.
And then I'm going to buy a bike rack for my car so I can bring the purlescent pink cruiser with me on my trip. And, "oh, what a trip it's been."
What song was that? Who sang it?
The weather has turned cold. It's so amazing that 2 nights ago, I was lying in bed with Satchel, timing his breaths with the crickets and frogs outside my open window. And last night as I washed the dinner dishes in front of the open kitchen window I felt the chill and smelled Autumn in the air. It was exhilerating.
I hope to have some beautiful photos to post tonight. Happy Saturday.
So I just got back from the mechanic. Shannon and Ike came over to give my car a jump start and follow me to give me a ride home. I walked into the garage with a bounce in my step, happy that things would work out with my car in time for my vacation next week. The office, stinking of rubber, grease and dust, was sweltering. Shannon and Ike walked across the street to get cookies at the deli while I did the necessary paperwork. Before I knew it, I heard them coming back.
"Busha, what are you doing Busha?"
And this is how it went from there...
"I'm getting my car fixed Ikey. What are you doing?"
"I have a cookie. See Busha? Mama, I have to go pee."
Mama: "Do you have a bathroom?"
Mechanic: "It's at the gas station."
Mama: "Can he pee outside?"
Mechanic: "Yeah, back behind the tires. That's where we all go." Bright red blush.
Me: "Teaching him how to be a man."
They're gone.
Three minutes later...
"Busha I go pee outside. Busha doesn't like weiners."
Mama: "Busha likes weiners fine. You just need to be polite with weiners."
"Mama, I have to poop. Can I poop outside?"
Laughter everywhere.
Mama: "No Ikey. Can't you wait until we get home? That gas station bathroom is dirty."
Ikey: "Yeah."
"Busha likes nice weiners."
So now every time anyone from the mechanics sees me driving the car down the road, they are going to giggle about the lady with the potty talk grandson.
the grandsons chased the grandma
the grandma chased her aged mom
POP goes the grandma.
It's been a week of my mom and grandsons. While I LOVE the boys to death, after the intense work of getting my school ready for inspection, I am pooped and I've decided to take a vacation.
101 uses for the free Peds at the shoe store by bored great grandsons
Yeah, about that kind of building up, expetation, chasing....answering a million phone calls, getting grief for not answering a million and one, waiting for licensing, calling licensing everyday....trying to take mom out as much as possible, getting grief for not being there every minute.... getting on a first name basis with the AAA driver, getting my car in to have it fixed...getting a call from my school "landlord" that the rent hasn't come in the mail yet, even though I have a one week grace period (it was mailed on Sunday right after she told me she wanted it by mail, it was a holiday weekend, DUH)I'm done for now. Everything is on hold, my part's done, and I made reservations at a funky little hot springs for 4 days and then a nice hotel for two. Me. Alone. Luxuriating in these quiet moments of self-serving behavior.
Sorry about this rambling post. I am too excited to be settled. I'm so looking forward to this break.
