Intrepid

The next time you convince yourself you just can't do something, remember this intrepid little guy and think again. 

The tiniest green bud has broken through the thick, rough bark of a 70 foot evergreen tree determined to serve as a nesting place for birds, a playground for squirrels and shade for our hammock.  It couldn't have been easy.  Undaunted by the older and larger branches, it popped through and found a place in the sun.

It gives new meaning to the quote hanging above my desk, "What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?"  

Is It Just Me?

The rusty metal pieces sticking out of this bank at the beach are actually box springs.  Yes, very old box springs twisted and warped from time, weather and waves.

They are laying horizontally about three feet above the sand and six feet below street level.  Two-thirds of each frame is still embedded in the bank.

Why,  or maybe more importantly, how did they get there?  How long ago? Where did they come from?  Was it planned or an abandoned hotel?

How, or maybe more importantly, why am I constantly surprised by the discoveries I make at the Oregon Coast?

Some people engage in crossword puzzles, others test their mental ability with sudoku, I apparently gaze around and ponder this crazy world of ours.  I heard today that Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes fame is leaving the show.  His opening line, "Do you ever wonder why...?" has always resonated with me because I do wonder why...a lot.  Businessman Bob is encouraging me to apply for his position so I can make oodles of cash for what is already swirling around in my mind.

Celebrate Art

"Nature is the art of God."

 - Thomas Browne, 1635

Bloomin' Crazy

In May, I brought this orchid plant to Saltair Station.  It basks in the sun in a window facing the ocean and drinks in the humidity and salt air.  I water it every couple of weeks and otherwise my only job is to admire its incredible beauty.

Here it is the end of September.  Not only have none of the original flowers dropped off, just this week two more buds have developed and opened into full blooms. Since the plants arrival, it has a total of seven additional blooms.

Now I realize this is a nourishing, happy place, but WOW! 

A Lesson From My Garden

The garden is filled with healing plants like one of my favorites is this sweet Echinacea known for it's positive effect on the body's immune system.  The breeze here is filled with the healing qualities of the salt air and the beauty of nature surrounds me.  Is it any wonder why I am drawn to this place?

I seem to be drawn to all types of healing: my teachings as a Reiki Master; continuing course work in energetic and Whole Hearted healing; and the Tai chi practices I love, all a part of my life and my learning.  Even my professional work where I spend my days trying to move an industry to leave less of a footprint upon the Earth.

Until this very moment, writing this blog, I had seen these as very separate aspects of my life, not as the focus of my soul.  Ahhh, all of the pieces of the puzzle fall together and wisdom is gained.  Amazing!

"And then the day came when the risk to remain in a tight bud 

was more painful than the risk it took to blossom"  

- Anais Nin

Cowabunga!

There it is!  The town cow has been found wandering around a lumber yard in Tillamook.  As you might remember from earlier blog posts this poor cow statue has no place to call home.  According to the loading dock worker at the yard, it is temporarily staying here until a suitable location in Tillamook County can be found.  The good news is, there is now a person gainfully employed to move it around.

Rumor has it, the cow will be moved to Nehalem--the worker's hometown.  He isn't too excited about the prospect.  

What a delightful scavenger hunt this has become for me though!

Late Summer Sunshine

"Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower."  

~Alan C. Kay, American Computer Pioneer

Watch That First Step

It is so thoughtful of the local school district to install a new handicapped parking area.  I am not sure how you would get your car/van up on to this parking pad.  If successful, you would need to be very careful walking around the vehicle to make sure you didn't fall off and say, twist an ankle and end up handicapped.

Easily Motivated

It is much easier to get up, put on your shoes and head out the door for a morning walk when this is the view.  Just sayin'...

It Is Yes Day

When the kids were little, my girlfriend and I used to take them camping each summer in the mountains right next to a picturesque lake.  Just two women and four children under the age of 8.  Each day during our week-long trips we would have a different theme such as:

Backwards Day where everyone wore the clothes backwards, talked backwards,we served dinner for breakfast and so on.

Parade Day where the kids decorated the bikes and themselves with whatever they could find or make and then merrily parade around the campground enrolling all the other children.

On Color Day we drew a color out of a hat in the morning and then we all had to find clothes that same color to wear, make food that color, create posters and use the word whenever possible.

But the favorite day of all was YES Day.  On YES Day,  "the mothers" had to say yes to anything the kids asked.  We never announced this day, but when all of their requests were granted they would usually figure it out by noon.  It was pretty safe as they were young and their requests were things like no vegetables at dinner, eating candy all day not just at the evening campfire and playing in their tents instead of outdoors.  It is a vacation story they still tell often.

These memories came flooding back to me yesterday.  Camper Bob and I were sitting outside, basking  in the sun and quietly listening to the ocean    When all at once he blurted out,  "Is it YES Day?"  Apparently he had heard the stories and was interested in reviving the tradition!

America's Got Talent

Speaking of Labor Day, Rockaway throws a "Carnival in the Park" the last weekend before school starts each year. The 2011 entertainment consisted of these four ladies, The All American Cloggers.  They clogged routines to taped music and took rest breaks between each song to catch their breath.

Really, you can't make this stuff up!

Don't Believe Everything You Read

Written on a hot dog wrapper, this sign posted on the outside of the "Purple Trailer" (aka, the hot dog stand) points to the fact that Labor Day has come and gone and the tourist season is over.

Kettlecorn salesman, Jerry Garcia, continues to sell, sell, sell, not willing to believe summer has come to an end.  If the weather has anything to say about it, he is absolutely right!  Just for the record, we don't believe the rumor either.

Rejuvenation

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, 

and to have my senses put in order."   

--John Burroughs

Time Traveler

The smell of the mahogany immediately transports me back in time.  I am a young child sitting in my grandfather’s shop watching him build a boat from lumber and nails.  Glancing around the room at the piles of sawdust and machines, I see the screws and nails sorted into containers which earlier had served as my baby food jars.  My grandpa is a man of few words, so we quietly enjoy each other’s company as he crafts the wood into a sleek runabout.

I run my hand along the varnish and hear my parents tell me not to step on it until I have washed off my sandy little feet.  I sit washing my feet in the river and look out across the water.  My grandmother  is floating along with a big grin on her face, waving at me.

The tow rope hook on the stern takes me to the “endless summer” just before I became a teenager when I was trying desperately to learn to water ski.  Neck deep in water, skis out in front of me, hands cramped around the rope’s handle, I have been dragged behind the boat like this for months with no luck.   This time something is different when the engine engages, I suddenly find myself popping out of the water looking down with surprise at those big red skis as they cut across the waves.   I look up at my dad driving the boat and his face tells me he is clearly as excited as I am.  Instantly, I love the feeling of zooming along atop the water.

Inside the boat I spot one of my daughter’s “floaties” she wore when learning to swim and I am once again a young mother.  I hold Kate up while she splishes and splashes about in the river and then we get in the boat so I can dry her off.  Her wet bathing suit leaks through the towel to make a damp spot on my clothes as she sits on my lap for the trip back to the dock.  Her braid whips around in the wind and tickles my face.

Then I travel back to the present, a mature woman at Saltair Station where my loving husband has just unloaded  that same precious boat built by my grandfather all those years ago.   Here in Bob’s wood shop,  my grandfather is with me and the circle is complete.

Changes in Latitudes...Changes in Attitudes...

Jimmy Buffett is singing my song as I end my work week and head for a vacation filled with Cheeseburgers in Paradise.  Yes, Come Monday, my Son Of A Sailor and I will be sipping our Boat Drinks, keeping a lookout for Fins To The Left and Fins To The Right.  Saltair Station is just a few stops from Margaritaville and that is where this Hula Girl At Heart will be dancing the Last Mango In Paris for the foreseeable future!