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I have been silent again. With all the upheaval in this country, I have been feeling like my pretty pictures and small gratitudes are frivolous. MKL reminded me that perhaps they are more necessary than ever. So fewer words, even though I have many thoughts.
Topsail Beach, North Carolina.
Quote of the day: “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Daily gratitudes:
Home cooking
Snuggly cats
Writing deadlines
Introspection
My Washington children
We did not make it here for dinner or sunset, but I thought our short stop here was beautiful nonetheless. Hope you think so too. It has been so hard to come back to chill winds, long work nights, and having to scrape my truck windshield in the mornings. Memories and dreams can keep me warm for now.
Catchafire, Great Exuma, Bahamas.
Quote of the day: “Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it’s yours.” — Ayn Rand
Daily gratitudes:
Two Bichon Frise sightings
MKL and a lovely date night
Mr. Man’s paw on my hand
My comfy couch on a day I’m not feeling good
The movie “Gravity”
My new zebra frying pan
And on a sad note, please say a prayer for the family and friends of one of Kelsea’s friends who passed away on Friday. 17 is always too young.
I’m back and I had an awesome time, and you will all get to see and hear all about it! Here’s a taste..
Over the Bahamas.
Quote of the day: “Love is like..waves.. you ride one in to the beach, and it’s the most amazing thing you’ve ever felt. but at some point the water goes back out, it has to. and maybe you’re lucky–maybe you’re both too busy to do anything drastic. maybe you’re good as friends, so you stay. and then something happens–maybe it’s something as big as a baby, or as small as him unloading the dishwasher–and the wave comes back in again. and it does that, over and over. i just thinksometimes people forget to wait.” — Erica Bauermeister
Daily gratitudes:
That we didn’t quite miss fall
That Mr. Man missed us
Hawks
Butternut squash soup
My shower
I have books brewing in my head, three of them, and I started work again on my first novel, so I’m excited. I told Kelsea that each book would pay for one year of college. So I’d better get on with it. I had forgotten that when I am in writing mode, I lose track of everything else. I got lost walking down a city block today. Fortunately, I was holding MKL’s hand, so he kept me from getting run over or covered in paint from the workers on scaffolding.
Topsail Beach, North Carolina.
Quote of the day: “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” — William Wordsworth
Daily gratitudes:
The man with the turquoise tennis shoes on the bench this morning
Swirls and spurts of creativity
Inspirations
Good hair days
Pink
No, not actual flames. We’ve seen enough of those in Colorado this year. These are flames of sunset, sparking through the clouds over the Intercoastal Waterway. There may be buildings in the way of our view of the Sound and its sunsets, but they have come to be old friends in our line of vision, and the end of the day would not be as lovely without them.
Topsail Beach, North Carolina.
Quote of the day: “You want proof there’s a God? Look outside, watch a sunset.” — Frank Peritti
Daily gratitudes:
Mr. Man snuggling and snuffling
Pork green chile so hot it makes me cry
Thunder
That I never get sick enough to be sick – just under the weather
Clothilde’s new little sidekick
One of our happy things to do on our summer visits to Steamboat Springs is to attend the PRCA Rodeo. It’s an outdoor arena, so if it’s been raining, it stadium is awesomely muddy. But still, everyone tries to get their eight!
Steamboat Springs, Colorado,
Quote of the day: “I plan on growing old much later in life, or maybe not at all.” — Patty Carey (Rodeo Rider, 1913)
Daily gratitudes:
Pretty evening clouds
My almost-better-than-sex soup
Having MKL home
Talks with Kender
That Lindsay Lohan got out of rehab today (which made Kelsea happy)
Philosophical conversations that skirt the edge of madness
She’s a she, not a he, and hence, no antlers. But I don’t care. It’s been a lifelong goal of mine to see a moose. To the extent that, as a child, my imaginary friend was a moose (named Bruce, no less). So on our return from Steamboat Springs, I was super excited when Kelsea and I entered the Moose County of Colorado, complete with Moose X-ing signs. It was dangerously pouring rain, when Kelsea swore she spied TWO of them out her window, in a copse of trees. We steered down a side road nearby hoping that I could catch a glimpse, but they, in their elusive mooseness, had vanished. I was glad she had seen them, but I was sorry for myself. She tried in vain to cheer me up by saying that really she was only 98% sure that they had actually been there, and not just a moose hallucination, as we have had previously. I was just bemoaning the fact that here I am, an animal shaman, for heaven’s sake, and I can’t even summon a moose, when there she was. I veered off the road so sharply that I almost hit a random pole and am surprised that she didn’t run away. But she didn’t. She calmly drank rainwater from a puddle, lifted her head and observed things in general, and casually trip-trapped into some aspens, thinking perhaps that they were an excellent disguise. I was so happy that I cried. Honestly, I wept with joy. I’m glad I got to share the experience with Kelsea.
(To give credit where credit is due, Kelsea took this shot. I was busy trying not to kill us.)
Highway 14, near Gould, Colorado.
Quote of the day: ““Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it. ” — Henry David Thoreau
Daily gratitudes:
Flippy skirts
Seeing MKL after a few days absence which make the heart grow fonder
When work is a workout
Lisa’s chocolate chip cookies
Foggy mornings
I’ve been quiet, haven’t I? Sorry. Just pondering life. And working a lot. And trying to make Mr. Man feel at home. But I’m back now, and ready to share some images from the last roadtrip.
Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Quote of the Day: “It was amazing how you could get so far from where you’d planned, and yet find it was exactly were you needed to be.” — Sarah Dessen
Daily gratitudes:
A cooler day
Walking home from the bus
Thunder and lightning
Gardens
Simplicity
Mr. Man coming to greet me when I get home (so happy to have a cat again)
I was hoping to share pictures of our weekend in Steamboat Springs, but haven’t had a chance to download them yet. Suffice it to say, Kelsea and I had a wonderful time. It was filled with balloons, and mountain hurricanes, and new people, and pretty shops, and muddy rodeo riders, and trashy TV late night marathons, and crack pizza. AND A MOOSE.
So instead of pictures of all of those things, we will retun to a beloved spot: the sea. Enjoy!
White Bay, Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands.
Quote of the day: “All stories are love stories.” — Robert McLiam Wilson
Daily gratitudes:
That there’s a bus stop close enough for me to catch another bus when mine leaves early
Mr. Man snuggling with my feet
Watching one of my favorite movies from when I was five years old
Seafoam
Healing scars
Can you guess where we’re heading this weekend? Yup, up to Steamboat Springs for the Hot Air Balloon Rodeo (and the PRCA Rodeo). It’s super pre-storm windy here tonight, and Mr. Man is next to me on the bed. He’s not eating and not peeing, though he is drinking some, but that concerns me. It may just be that his gums are really sore from the dental work (and he did pee in the truck on the way home). I hate leaving him so soon. At any rate, the helpers will be keeping an eye on him, and I may ask one of them to get him some baby food. I remember doing that with my Boo when she was in her last month and couldn’t eat. He’s a darling. But with such a thick coat of fur, I’ll bet he’s looking forward to winter. Oh, and by the way, “Up we go” was how Kelsea used to ask to be picked up when she was a toddler.
Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Quote of the Day: “Books. Cats. Life is good.” — Edward Gorey
Daily gratitudes:
Getting things done
Thunder at night
Febreze
Breakfast for dinner
Cool showers
