Moving Meditation

Staining-the-Deck-Railing-at-KayBlue Meditation

Begin in Silence

Early morning

Before full sun can compromise outcome

Admire weathered wood waiting for renewal

Breathe

Windless silence

Dip the unused brush in liquid brown

Brush dragging, gliding

Long rhythmic strokes

Breathe

Silence

Full meditative attention:

Every knot hole, every bump, every crack

Smooth, brown posts appear

Breathe

Treetop leaf rustles without felt wind

Breathe

Crow caws "Good morning!"

Breathe

Wind chime offers one tiny "ting"

Breathe

Timeless time passes

Bucket slowly empties

Breathe

Sun's rays signal meditation's end

Step back

Admire the freshness; the gift of beauty

It is good

Breathe

                                                -- MEW 8/20/2013

Day 14 - Goodbye, Seattle; Hello, LeRoy!

Time to go home. Goodbye, Seattle! Take the bus... 

to the train...

to the plane to Denver. Ozzy the Orca.

Then with Trixie the Red Fox Cub from Denver to Grand Rapids, MI.

And finally home way past midnight Michigan time. I'm not sure it's you after two weeks away. Smells like you; looks like you.

Yeah, it's you. Now I can just settle in. Mom's home.

I'm grateful for the time away, time with family, for all who helped make it possible, and to be home.
I'm grateful, too, for all of you who read and enjoy my blog. Thanks for joining me on my adventure. I will be taking a blogging sabbatical for a while. I'll let you know when I post again.

Day 13 - Ocean and Mountains

Out of the tents and into clothes. A quick delicious camp breakfast and off to the Pacific Ocean!

We were headed for Hole-in-the-Wall, a spot you can only go through during low tide. It was about a mile walk on the beach.

Have you ever seen drift wood like this? That's Todd with Katelyn on his shoulders next to it!
There's the hole, way down the beach.

As we approached, we saw marvelous things... Here are two starfish. Check out the colors!

In another tide pool, bright green anemones, brilliant orange seaweed, and white shelled clams;

and black shelled clams and fuchsia seaweed in a third. We even saw an octopus in one of the tide pools, but couldn't get a good picture.

Here we are at the Hole-in-the-Wall!

How big is it? Kinda big...

Everything was "kinda big"!!

This is only my second visit to the Pacific Ocean. The first was when I was 8 years old. I had to get wet even if my feet were numb after one good dunking.

We played a long time in the little tide pools, choosing just the prettiest rocks to add to each one.

When we stopped at a restaurant on the way home, Katelyn drew these tide pools. She said one was all water. And you can see the green anemones and orange starfish too.

After the beach, we had lunch and proceeded to Hurricane Ridge...from zero elevation to 5242 feet...on a very wind-y, scary road. This picture is after I laid on the ground and burped numerous times to settle my stomach. Karen said I was already looking much less green.

So what is there to see from Hurricane Ridge? The Olympic Wilderness!

Carrie Glacier, the triangle in the center. It is significantly smaller than it was 100 years ago. Lillian Glacier is now gone.

Snow in August

Majestic Sitka Spruce and breathtaking landscapes

And Black-tailed deer here, there, and everywhere!

We headed home very tired.

But it was so worth it! Thank you so much Todd, Karen, and Katelyn for a fabulous camping adventure!

Day 12 - GaMary, we camping!

And we're off! Sunday morning, we're all packed and ready for an adventure!

Katelyn is scoping out good campsites. I think Mom and Dad have already decided where we are staying.

To the ferry to cross Puget Sound.

Yep, me on a ferry...me who wears sea-bands to combat motion sickness even in the car. It actually was very smooth with no tummy upsets. The previous time I was on a boat with Karen and Todd was a whale watching misadventure in Boston where Todd and I were so sick...I had wished I was dead at the same time I was willing the vessel to reach land.

And two non-paying passengers. They were jabbering back and forth before we set sail then lifted off themselves and flew along with the ferry.

Good-bye, Seattle. We'll be back Monday.

I think everyone except the driver took a nap, and like magic, here we are. We camped at Mora Park, just a few minutes away from the beach on the Pacific Ocean.

Here is the first fauna to greet me at our campsite. A Banana Slug! I never saw a slug so BIG!!!

Time to set up the tents. Todd showed us how to start, and my helper and I got most of it done ourselves. I get my own tent! (Thank goodness!)

A pretty good job, right?

Then time for a kale chip snack. I can make a kale beard!

Well, Katelyn did me one better with a kale mustache!

After getting everything set up, we took off for Hoh Rain Forest. What a magical place!

Giant trees!

Two of my hiking buddies...

A rare shot of Karen, Katelyn, and Todd all in one picture!

Think about it...trees as wide as I am tall. Okay, so I'm only 5 foot 3 and 1/4 inches, but that's still really wide! And this broken piece was 190 feet long, but that was only about 2/3rds of the whole trunk!

After another nap in the car, we arrived back to our campsite to make dinner. We had prepared a load of veggies last night, then filled our packets and added a little ground buffalo and some spice. Nice!

Our chief cook, Todd, made sure they cooked perfectly. Yum!

While at the picnic table, Katelyn grabbed my arm with both her hands and started pumping it up and down while her whole body bounced, "GaMary, we camping! We CAMPing! GaMary, CAMPING!!!"

Well, and after dinner, what camping adventure would be complete without S'mores?!?

And now the tents rest quietly as the sun slowly sets...except that Katelyn is supposed to be going to sleep. Sure! From inside the tent we hear loud singing, stories from her books, playing with her doll, Baby, and multiple requests to go to the potty one more time. Then back into the tent. We could hear her bouncing from one air mattress to another.

We sat by the campfire until after dark whispering. Later we heard, "Mommy, I not seeping yet!" "Yeh, Katelyn, we know!" (Sigh!) I thought we would all bust a gut trying not to laugh out loud.

And then just as suddenly, silence. Good night, Little Camper. Dream of the ocean and mountains for tomorrow.