Happy summer dear friends. What a glorious time of year! The plants are humming with life.
The skies are painted with billowy clouds. We walk barefoot on warm Earth. We swat life-sucking and life-giving mosquitoes. We listen to bird song. Insect song. The last of the frog song. Our hearts sing with joy and soak up all the goodness and richness of this intense season. These 3.5 acres are filled with more life than we ever imagined and we are lucky enough to witness the return of diversity. The Cup Plants are in full bloom and welcomed us home after a sojourn out in the world soaking up ecosystems other than our homeland.
What felt like drudgery, now feels like ease. Sometimes, that mighty reset button needs smacked in the biggest most forceful way and we did just that. We left.
The flowers. The kitties. The persimmons. The showers. The easy water access. We left the ease of home life and found wild water.
Nesting White-crowned Sparrows singing their local dialects.
We walked through heavy and prolonged rain storms and crossed streams without trying to keep our feet dry and then savored any and all sunshine and wolfed down food like it mattered, because it did.
We dunked in lakes and rivers at every opportunity. Some water was warm. Some was cool. Some was COLD. It all felt life giving.
Most places we camped had no cell service and what a gift. The loss of that tether offered freedom with the birds and the pikas and insects. No distractions. Yes, we experienced some annoyances in the form of mosquitoes, horseflies and flies. They all found us to continue their own lives, but we also found glaciers, wetlands, wetland wildflowers, hundreds if not thousands of elk and a forgotten piece of ourselves.
We heard over and over again and finally saw a bawling Bobcat (or Lynx, dang it for not knowing tail patterns better). We changed our clothes in open air when no one was around. We traveled through empty campgrounds and busy campgrounds. We slept. We couldn't sleep. We hiked.
They guide me forward and remind me that reentry into home life doesn't have to be more than it has to be. Much of what we experience in this life is a human/societal construct and we can pick and let the chaff fly free. Only do what is necessary and life giving. Skip everything else. Don't waste this life.
Seeing the kitties upon our return made our hearts so happy. We wish we would carry them with us and that they would like it.
Filling up the Berkey water filter feels easy now; the water so delicious. The first night home I said we are never leaving again and Steve said ok. The very next day Steve was researching highline trails for us. The untethering of our spirits from shoulds and coulds coupled with the giant drink of life from wild places and respite from human constructed craziness is a pull we cannot ignore for apparently more than one day.
Recently I read some thoughts from George Monbiot pieced together here: "To be at peace with a troubled world: this is not a reasonable aim. If you don't fit in, if you feel at odds with the world, if your identity is frayed, if you feel lost and ashamed it could be because you have retained the human values you were supposed to have discarded. You are a deviant. Be proud." I have no more illusions about saving the world. It's impossible to do alone. There are many of us working in our own small ways and that gives me hope. I am not optimistic in terms of humanity, but I am hopeful. I am completely optimistic and hopeful in terms of the Earth. Life will change and we accept that now. In this brief moment where we exist on this beautiful planet, we will be kind and work towards good. We will do our best to love and remember our place in nature.
