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It can all change in one hot second. One hot, sticky Florida second.
There I was… and here I am. In Florida with mum who took a tumble and needs some supervision. She’s ok but in pain, when she doesn’t take her pain meds. She hates pain meds and that’s how I know she’s in serious pain, because she’s actually taking them.
I’m at the library because internet and phone are both sketchy at her place and I like this library. I used to come here when I was pregnant with The Wild Woman. She was born here, not in the library, but in a Birthing Room across the street from the hospital, 22 years ago this very month.

Today’s temperature 87
RealFeel 98. No lie.

The image is of a quilt I made a few years ago.

Om Shanti

Holding fast as time washes around me…

This looks like a good idea….
I don’t have the oxen but Lu is pretty strong…

sure she doesn’t like doing much besides laying in the sun but dangle some chicken in front of her and she can move pretty fast.
So these are the options I’m considering. I have sold the White Dragon and am now on the hunt for my third Bug Out vehicle. I have one in my sights.  Not the one shown above, tempting as it may be. The one I’m looking at has a mechanical engine and all the amenities of home. An actual home on wheels. I am positively ready to go! I am packed! 
I read this on Writers Almanac this morning…

Still Life

by Carl Dennis

Now’s a good time, before the night comes on,
To praise the loyalty of the vase of flowers
Gracing the parlor table, and the bowl of oranges,
And the book with freckled pages resting on the tablecloth.
To remark how these items aren’t conspiring
To pack their bags and move to a place
Where stillness appears to more advantage.
No plan for a heaven above, beyond, or within,
Whose ever-blooming bushes are rustling
In a sea breeze at this very moment.
These things are focusing all their attention
On holding fast as time washes around them.
The flowers in the vase won’t come again.
The page of the book beside it, the edge turned down,
Will never be read again for the first time.
The light from the window’s angled.
The sun’s moving on. That’s why the people
Who live in the house are missing.
They’re all outside enjoying the light that’s left them.
Lucky for them to find when they return
These silent things just as they were.
Night’s coming on and they haven’t been frightened off.
They haven’t once dreamed of going anywhere.

It’ that time again. Time to fire up the Om Mobile and hit the road. Not sure exactly where yet. Stay tuned.

The plum harvest continues. The plum crumble was great but the plum cashew tart missed the mark. Today I’m thinking, plum chutney. I had a fig chutney and melted brie sandwich on foccacia bread here the other day that would have knocked my socks off had I been wearing any. I think the plums will make an excellent chutney and I can certainly pack away a jar or two for the road.

Take off is set for Monday.

namaste

The plums are here.
My neighbor gave me a box of tiny ones, the size of cherries and I picked about a dozen from our tree so it’s time to eat plums.

plum tarts
plum crumbles
plum cakes
plum pies
plum soups
plum fricassees
plum ice cream
plum stir fry
plum sandwiches
plum kabobs
plum risottos
plum salads
plum ala kings
plum kimchi
plum pasta
plums and chips

If I left anything out please let me know.

I have a plum tart with a walnut and date crust and cashew cream chilling in the fridge and a raw plum crumble setting in the freezer. I have high hopes even though I have abandoned hope in a general sense.

I found a dead cat yesterday and I’m feeling a bit loopy today though I don’t blame that on the cat. It’s just a floating kind of loopiness not attached to anything in particular.

You know.

I had lunch today with my songbird friend. On the way home I stopped into her house to hear a new song she wrote. It was beautiful, she has written some beautiful songs. In This House, Wounded Heart, Hearts in Armor, to name a few. I sat there listening, looking around marveling at the many years I’ve spent listening to songs in that house. The countless meals and all that wine and the girls in their fairy costumes and wings flitting in and around us.  It didn’t break my heart like these things sometimes do.

After that I went to the market and bought some vegetables and a woman in a wheelchair was whispering something to me. I recognized her from a few weeks ago when she was selling pens on the corner of Burton Drive.  She needed a quarter to buy a couple of cucumbers for someone having their period because cucumbers are good for blood clots. That’s what she was whispering about. Indelicate female issues. I gave her what change I had and picked out some cucumbers for her. It broke my heart a little.
When I left the market there was a young man wearing a filthy toga sitting on the curb talking to himself. Or maybe he was on the phone. How does one tell anymore?

I drove home and I’m roasting the vegetables, soon I’ll go pick up Mr Chips Ahoy and bring him home and squeeze him and kiss the back of his neck and he might let me though sometimes he swats me away like a fly but sometimes he laughs.

See if this don’t break your heart a little…..

Bees, Biting, Broken Cups…..

Little Chips has a biting problem. or I should say, those of us within biting distance of chips, have a biting problem? He’s just feeling things. With his teeth.

I dropped my favorite coffee cup, the one with the bee on it, slammed it hard against the tile countertop but it didn’t break. Until I had it filled with hot delicious coffee and it was tilted to my lip, dangling over my beautiful bowl of Irish oatmeal topped with white peaches and walnuts and drizzled with organic blue agave syrup. That’s when the handle gave out and again it came slamming down, this time onto me, my oatmeal, the table and floor.

                                                                 
                                                  RIP Bee Cup from World Market July 2013

A few days ago Chips was out studying the lambs ear growing wild in the yard. The bees love it there and he spends a little time each day watching their shenanigans. He managed to catch one in his little hand and he stood stunned for a moment before the screaming began. Now he goes out and stands by the lambs ear with a stick and beats about the bush instead of trying to catch them.

Here he is eating the first ripe-ish plum from our tree and studying on the bees.

The continuous fabric of the mind, the firing patterns of billions of neurons, the irregular and natural movements of the respiratory diaphragm, drinking cider, losing what we hold dear, sending e-mails to friends, all flow seamlessly into one unique life. This is our life.
Let’s not miss it.

Michael Stone
Awake in the World

Om Shanti

I am home. Though I made a quick and dirty escape this morning. Ran some errands and then headed to Kreuzeberg’s coffee house in San Luis Obispo. My favorite secret hide out spot. Good coffee, delectable looking pastries, nice ambiance and upside down hanging lamps. Also great artwork and old comfy leather sofas.




Afterwards I picked up my sunny husband and went to lunch @ the Smiling Dog Cafe
A sweet little lunch spot and yoga studio.

My time in the woods of Arizona is over but not forgotten. I miss all the nomads I met and am happy to follow along via blogs and such. I’m so grateful for that opportunity to meet them all and learn from the masters how to live off the grid. It helped to refine my own take on the matter and I am already planning my next adventure. It will be a bit tamer and probably shorter.

Home and family are all well. Little man has turned feral, he’d probably do well out in the wilderness. He’s got this sort of Watch OUt World! sort of stance that is a little frightening.  I pick him up in a couple of hours for the really scary part of the day where he not only shows his fangs but sometimes uses them.


Be afraid, but do it anyway.

More Notes From Camp

It’s gotten crazy hot here the last couple of days. Flagstaff is having record high temps. I drove into
 town yesterday for stuff and coolness which I found in a place called Bookman’s Entertainment Exchange where I had an iced chai soy latte and some greek dolmas with a dill dipping sauce. Gross combination you might say, but au contraire mon frere, it was just the thing. Sweet and sour. I also bought a one cup drip coffee maker to make my dishwashing life a little easier. That makes 3 coffee making devices I now have on board.
New people arrive, others leave.  The core group is leaving on Sunday and though I considered following along I think I may bust out on my own tomorrow. I spied some lovely creekside camping on the road to Sedona that may be just the thing and I think they have showers!!! I miss that. I also miss Mr Chips Ahoy! I’m having Chips Ahoy withdrawal!

Bookman’s…

love the bright red shelving and comfy reading chairs.

The Dragon/Ommobile

I’ve got it almost just right. The bed is surprisingly comfy and that bed table is one of my favorite things. As with all things, it is a process, a never ending adjusting and fine tuning and re-arranging of things.

Namaste

Notes from Camp…

It’s been a week, definitely time for laundry. I’m learning about water conservation and just how much I can get by with. I marvel at those who use only a gallon a day! It can be done and I’m learning from the pros. 
Being here with this amazing group of people is an experience I will treasure for always. The open, generous and joyous atmosphere is so uplifting and rejuvenating.  I wouldn’t trade it for a stay at a spa for anything. 
Yesterday a couple of us drove to Sedona. It was a spectacular drive through sharp switchbacks and steep cliff sides and then it opens out into a valley surrounded by steep red rock cliffs. There is a small tourist strip with all kinds of fanciness but the landscape is what it’s all about. Stunning.
This morning I had a fellow nomad come and help me make my van even more awesome. Thank you Dave!
                                                                         Thank you.
                                                                               Namaste
yesterday i went into town for provisions and to pick up my inverter adaptor for my chromebook. a nifty little device that lets me charge via battery via solar panel. i have no idea what I’m doing but it’s working for the moment and i am grateful for these enormous gifts! POWER! i love thee.
the adaptor was delivered to me via General Delivery to the Flagstaff PO. I had no idea you could get mail wherever the hell you want to.
After wandering old town Flagstaff, funky old bookstore, an Australian Happy Herb shop (not that kind of happy), little dress boutique and all manner of restaurants, I chose a funky old diner to have some food before heading back to camp.  Unfortunately I forgot one of the most important things, water, so I will have to go back sooner than I’d planned.
Behold my camp….

It has changed a little bit each day as I move things around for sun or shade but this morning I finally figured out my awning situation and since it involves being tied to trees, it’s not going anywhere until I absolutely have to take it down. It’s bitchin. I am now a feral beast.

namaste

looking out the back doors…

It’s been pretty freakin’ awesome.
this place is remote, beautiful, comfortable and I’m learning how to just sit. I don’t ever do that. I’ve always got something for my hands to do, always doing. Just being is new to me. 
It’s only been two nights and I’ve moved camp a few times already, nothing major, a few feet, just adjusting for sun and shade, trying to find my perfect spot and today I tore the inside of the van apart and re-arranged everything after visiting a fellow nomad and being inspired by his rig. Okay, so I’m NOT just sitting all the time! The other nomads are an eclectic bunch of very nice people from all over the country.  We get together for morning and evening walks but mostly everyone is doing their own thing. My internet connection is good but I still don’t have a way to charge my notebook and it’s slowly losing power and the pad crashes even when you sweet talk it and treat it right. It’s old and a little grumpy, like it’s owner. I will have to take a trip into town to dump trash and get water, maybe tomorrow or Saturday. 
Namaste everybody.

everything i do gonna be kinda funky, from now on…

was the first song that played on the radio on my way across the desert yesterday.

it’s a long hot drive. like one really long hot flash.
I pulled over and slept in a parking lot when I got tired and in the morning drove a few miles and was suddenly in Nevada. wtw? Laughlin Nevada, a smaller gentler Las Vegas. 
Because I didn’t want to pull out my coleman stove and start my oatmeal and make my coffee in that parking lot, I decided Starbucks had to be around somewhere, hence my little detour into Nevada.
I had to walk through the Golden Nugget casino to get there and at 7 am, there weren’t many of us around. I don’t know if it was my chic older woman needing a morning latte look that alerted the casino employee or if he took one look at the crumpled bleary eye old hippie and knew instantly where he needed to direct me. Bless his heart.
After that it was just another endless drive through the desert again to Flagstaff where I am now at the safeway, stocking up on supplies before I head out to the Nomad camp where I hope to learn how to do this boondocking thing in style. 
Among the many things I hope to learn is how to get on the internet out in the middle of nowhere.
Keep your fingers crossed.

Fathers and Sons and Grandsons

Happy Fathers Day 
to the two sweet and loving Fathers that live in this house.
These last two days the little boy in this house has invited me to lay in the hammock with him. We lay in there snuggled against each other and look up into the blazing red leaves of the maple tree and he has a lot to say about that! We gaze out at all the butterflies and bees visiting the lavender and lamb’s ear and the bubbles floating from across the street up into the clear blue sky. We talk about that too. We laugh at the rooster who doesn’t realize the sun has been up for hours dude! He laughs at me imitating the rooster and the jays and he holds my hand and sometimes he signs (yes, he signs!) that he’s pooped and I know it’s not true because he’s not wearing a diaper and I would definitely know if it were true. 
I can’t even breath when I think about how much I’ll miss him.
Packing is almost finished, I’ll be off in the morning if all goes as planned.

Doing My Happy Dance

I’ve spent the last few days arranging and re-arranging  the Dragon aka The Ommobile. I think I’ve pared down as much as I can. For now. Everything has it’s place all within easy reach.  I am ready except I have a couple more babysitting days and one Father’s Day to go before take off.  I can spend the rest of today playing with Monsieur Chips.

I’m fixing to break out of this cage soon.

I’ve been outfitting the Dragon slowly by slowly, day by day. I even slept in it one night to test out the new to me mattress. My first trip, from Florida was pretty hit or miss. I had a terrible sleeping pad that made my hips ache and all my stuff was higgledy piggledy packed and stashed. It was a good learning trip, as this one I’m planning now will certainly be but with more stuff.
I have spent alot of time thinking about what I’ll need and/or want but it’s hard to know. I know about the really need stuff like food and clothes but the rest of it….

I don’t know what it will feel like to not have anything to do or anyone to care for. I don’t remember what that feels like.
The plan is to leave on Monday and head east.

to be continued…

ps image is from humansofnewyork.com