hey!

happy winter solstice season, and all the holidays that occur during this time! my blog is nearing a year old, and what a year! i have been getting lots of nudges about the lack of posts, and i am going to alternately blog about current stuff, and flashback to some of the adventures of the last few months.

one of the most significant happenings was the acquisition of my first kayak. kayaking was something that fascinated me for the last few years, ever since Signe, my son's mentor in adventure school, told me i was born to be in a kayak. but finances were tight, what with a kid to raise and subsequent medical bills for cancer treatment........like many of my dreams, owning a kayak was shelved as "not possible in my lifetime".

well, one of the other significant happenings to me this year was meeting a new friend. an avid kayaker, he introduced me to the powerful zen of paddling on quiet waters, and helped make my dream a reality. the peace and centered-ness i feel on the water is one of the greatest gifts i have ever been given.....second only to the realization that the universe holds infinite possibilities, if we only just reach for them.

so the pic above is sorta like my christmas card to you all. now that the holidays are over and i can catch my breath, i need to decide my next direction. there are so many possibilities, and so many invitations, that deciding is difficult. i trust i'll know the right answer when i see it.....i can tell you it will involve a van, a dog, a kayak, and some of the many new friends i have made this year.......

later!

meet deanna

i am so psyched to be going to this next weekend. this is one of those very cool things that keep serendipitously popping up on this trip. (yesterday, mike's granny asked me "what is your itinerary?" and i answered honestly " i haven't got a clue" !)

anyhow, mike found this on tara's blog, and asked if i wanted to go to it. i think i was in oregon at the time, headed for 10k ways. i had had vague thoughts of going to eugene and portland after the campout, but hadn't planned on going to washington. but this "knitting thingy" , as mike calls it, was too interesting to pass up. mike then offered his driveway as a layover until the 30th, and that sealed the deal. i was on my way north.

and i am so glad i did. original plans had mike and i meeting "face to face" for the first time at the 10k ways gathering in southern oregon (although we knew each other already from the yahoo group "vandwellers"). heavy smoke from the california fires that were concentrated over jacksonville, oregon put an end to that.

heidi from vandwellers had been teasing mike about learning to knit. now, real men are up to any challenge, and since the only thing mike doesn't know how to do, apparently, is knit....well, there you have a recipe for a new direction for my roadtrip. i am blessed to by here at mike's surrounded by his warm and wonderful family, and getting to know him so much better.

so back to deanna, and her "knitting thingy". turns out deanna knew me through my blog, and was excited to have mike and mutt and i there. i am so excited and honored! she gets it that knitting needles are just one more sharp thing in my arsenal, and i wanna learn how to fight off cougars! i have been wondering, though, if i should switch some of my bamboo circulars in for some sturdier heavy metal ones :-) i will let you know what she says after next weekend.....

here is the link to her very cool blog:
http://www.whoaphotos.com/blog/2008/07/26/knit-n-nature/

or click on the blog title "meet deanna" above....

mendocino and points north

mutt at camp outside crescent city ca.
the rondyvan in the redwoods
camp in the mountains of southern oregon. what a treat to spread out and have running water and a hot meal. i am going to try to do this more often.
i emptied out the van and gave it a good scrubbing. note the lazy dog napping on the furthest right side of the photo. he was off-leash for two days and never left camp.
camped in the redwood forest for 2 nights. this was my view out the van window from the cot when i woke up one morning.......first thing you see.......
mutt's new friend at the fort bragg dog park.the funny part of the shot i missed was when mutt looked upwards to try to make eye contact. then he just did the sniffing thing.
mutt on the pomo bluffs. i love it there, and do alot of knitting there.
mutt running from a wave at noyo beach in fort bragg.
mutt hiding from the waves at pt. reyes national seashore. he has since actually let a wave touch him.
sunset on the trinidad bay.
couldn't decide which i liked best, so you got both. i tend to travel rather impulsively. trinidad is where i landed one evening after pushing up the coast til it "felt right". ended up sleeping at a casino parking lot. i miss the more vandweller friendly mendocino coast.
elk....... bruce and keith and mike z......eat your hearts out!
this past week we have been moving north up the california coast headed towards the 10kways gathering in southern oregon. the redwood forests are just amazing. here is mutt inside a tree.
my dear sweet jonna wanted to see redwoods. well, here ya go sweety!
a path through the forest. it is so silent and peaceful here. didn't hike far because dogs aren't allowed on the trail.
this is mutt with his new hairdo on the humbolt co. coast. his whole life is about sniffing.
i love this sign. haven't seen any horses anywhere in the city limits. but on my next trip out here i am doing the horseback thing on the beach north of fort bragg. way up on the list!

san francisco part 1

here ya go, heidi! ya wanted a pic......you got two!!!! i tried for an hour to put a pic on myspace< but it wouldn't go. so i put them here. happy now :-) ?

carrots

******this is a copy of a post i made at vandwellers******


okay, so I live on magical bluffs overlooking the ocean, and a beach where the
rainbow family has an encampment. I love it here :-)

i'm eating a can of carrots for supper. Straight out of the can. I adore canned
carrots, and i'm too lazy to cook, so this works for me. I had a huge lunch of
ramen noodles and clams and red and green bell peppers and garlic, so there is
nothing pathetic about eating a can of carrots for supper.

I look up from my carrots to see a $20 bill being held out by some guy.

now, my first inclination is to stab him with something, because I think he
wants a sexual favor, and by god a sexual favor from me is gonna cost you a lot
more than $20......like maybe your life, or at least a private part. Then I see
that this is a really old guy with a nice smile on his face saying "i want you
to have this".

he's looking compassionately at my can of carrots.

So I try to explain that I love carrots and i'm very happy with carrots because
I had a feast for lunch, and thank-you very much but I don't need your money but
he stops me and says "i've never seen anyone so contented eating carrots
before". I laugh out loud because he's so sincere and because he's right.

He hands me the money and says "you can share it with your friends" and waves an
arm out over the harbor to the beach where the rainbow family is camped around
their smokey driftwood fires, and I suddenly get it......he thinks I am one of
the rainbow kids, on a break from panhandling at the mcdonalds on ocean drive.

So I am gonna check the rearview mirror.....do I look that funky?.....and then
drive over to the mcd's and surprise some of the kids with a little windfall $20
bill.

Life gets better and better every day :-)

the west coast!!!

I MADE IT!!!! on tuesday, july 8th, i made it to the pacific ocean. i cried as i drove down ocean drive towards the pomo bluffs, right at the intersection of highways 20 and 1.
the view out of the back hatch of the van.......