Taking The Long Way Home

A rainy morning in Newport, Oregon, following a rainy night. It's the Oregon coast for goodnessakes. What did I expect? Well... sunshine, actually. I always expect sunshine. And when I don't get it, I move on. Growing up in California, I guess I associate sunshine with happiness, goodness, and all things wonderful. Light is the key ingredient. It lightens the psychic load and tends to make us feel happy. Most of us anyway. Not that I mind the rain. We need it. I know that. I even enjoy the occasional sleepy day spent indoors by the fire, reading, knitting, eating and drinking whatever comforts me and makes me feel warm... and sunny. But for the most part, actual sunshine is what I want and expect from life. Similarly, and not surprisingly, light is also what I want and expect from people . I surround myself with people who radiate that little light from within. Why on earth would I want to hang out with whiny, bummer, black hole people? Here comes October, and it's time to ...

WARNING! I am about to use a Bad Word here. I intend to use it many times in the course of this entry. If you are a delicate creature who does not tolerate profanity well, or have children you wish to protect from the realities of life on planet earth, consider yourself duly advised... The word is shit . Not the worst of cuss words, but one of my favorites because it covers so much territory and has so many subtle meanings, aside from the obvious literal definition. I've been meaning to talk about this since we set out on this trip. It's been almost three months on the road now, and I think I can speak with some authority, on a practical as well as spiritual level, when I tell you will all earnestness, We all have to deal with our own shit . Practically speaking, living in a trailer means we need to be in constant awareness of things like fresh water, gray water, black water, and storage tanks in various stages of being filled and emptied. We didn't give all this a lot of t...

Sometimes I'm traveling, and sometimes I'm thinking deep thoughts - at least for me. Today I'm doing a little bit of both. We're camped in Jim & Lani's driveway, next to their wonderful purple house. The place is happy and chaotic and welcoming, and it's clear that creatively generous people live here. We all went to see the movie Julie & Julia last night, which I've been looking forward to for weeks. And while I loved it as much as I expected to, at some point I began to find it sort of... discouraging. The little green envy demon crept into my head and started whispering, Where's my publisher/agent/book deal/movie? Hmm? Haven't I been working hard at this? Don't I write some pretty good stuff sometimes? Don't all faithful bloggers deserve to hit the big time and reap fat rewards for their efforts? Well, obviously not, same as not all musicians or painters or actors or singers or baseball players will go to their prospective big le...

What could be better than a couple of hours on the beach with a dear, long-time friend, followed by a three-hour lunch in a shady garden restaurant, tended to by darling Italian waiters? Sure, I "should" have been working, but it would have been just another work day, a few more dollars (maybe - no guarantees), and I would have missed a really, really good time. Life is short, the road is long. Whatever that means, more and more I know that it's important to do as much of the fun stuff as we can. I had planned to ride the ferry over to Bainbridge Island with Rick today, to meet up with his own dear friend, Lance. I've been looking forward to a ferry ride for weeks, and somehow it just isn't happening for me. The roadblock this time is our little Miss Heidi, who seems to have developed some serious abandonment issues. While we were out yesterday, and she was home in the trailer like she's done many times before, she freaked out and shredded one of the window sc...

Lauren took me out kayaking today. My first time ever, and I'm in love. We had a little lunch first, and then hopped in our rented kayaks and paddled around in Lake Union, looking at the big boats, bridges, and sparkling water, on this unusually hot and sunny first day of autumn. Oh man, what a treat. Right this minute, I wish I could buy a houseboat on the lake, so I could live right there on the crazy urban waterfront and kayak every day. More realistically, I want to look into a cheap beginner kayak, so I can paddle at my leisure wherever I find some nice calm water as we travel. I do not have the photos to prove I did this, although I do have beginner blisters on my thumbs. I took my very small, very old Canon Elph camera along, thinking it would not be the end of the world if it went for a swim, since it was about to die anyway. I forgot to specify to it that it should not die until after I took some nice pictures while kayaking. I didn't get a single shot. The poor dear j...

I've let this get away from me. Too much fun going on to sit and write about it. Besides, it's all family stuff, so not that interesting to most of you anyway. In a nutshell, we're having a great time in Seattle, but it's clear as the big blue sky overhead (at the moment) that this is not Home. We did the city thing before, and it really doesn't suit us. We already knew that though. Still, when we wander through the different neighborhoods, I find myself trying them on for size. If I had to live in Seattle, I think I'd choose Fremont. It's quirky and hip and always entertaining. There's the ever popular Fremont Market - which is where I first started selling beads, way back when - loads of restaurants, cafes, and pubs, water and boats, a very nice draw bridge, a troll under another bridge (really), and a great tattoo place, for those days when a girl just needs a little more embellishment. If I lived here, I'd want to live in this building... ... whi...

We had dinner with the kids last night, which is always nice, and it's rare to have all five of us together. Not a lot to say about family time like that, except that we really do enjoy each other, and it's good to see them all doing so well. What lovely adults our children have become. It was a good, but inexpensive, dinner at a Seattle classic, Ivar's , which has a terrific view of Lake Union, and also happens to be right next door to Dale Chihuly's studio. No Dale sightings though. My lotus bead necklace was the only art glass around, which was good, because his is way cooler... Later we went to Danny's favorite German beer place, "The Stube". Yes, those Germans do make a superior brew. Dropping the kids back at their apartment, we went downstairs to see Danny's famous (in the NW Volvo world at least) Volvo wagon. It's really very adorable. And last stop, up to the roof. What a view. I do enjoy a good view. I don't want to live in Seattle a...

Weddings... some people hate them. I happen to love them. Heck, I've had two of my own... We went to Wenatchee, Washington for the weekend, to attend Matt and Megan's wedding, and this, my friends, was one great celebration. Most of Rick's family was there, and while there aren't a lot of us, we take up extra space with our happy, buoyant energy. Megan's family is quite a bit larger, so the seats were filled from end to end with lovely folks from far and wide, I think just over 100 of us in all. Those of us with trailers camped at Confluence State Park, which is where the Columbia and Wenatchee rivers meet. Beautiful spot. And the campground is ideal, with wide open sites and green, green lawn covering the place like carpet. Rick and I were enlisted to help with the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. It was a lot of fun, and we were happy to make ourselves useful. (Matt looks about twelve here, but he's actually 34 - old enough to know what he wants, and he picke...

Wonder what's going on. I don't feel much like writing, or making beads - two things which normally make my heart sing. I'm waiting for new inspiration, and I know it will come, because it always does. I just don't know when or what. That part is not my job to figure out. I'm enjoying Seattle, and the sun is coming out often enough that I'm not mad at the weather yet. I'm most enjoying having all this time with my kids. We really do need to live closer to them, and we will. It's fun hanging out with grown up kids. I don't have to keep track of them, and we can go out for a beer now instead of to Chuck E Cheese... Well, the Chuck E Cheese years were fun too, but I'm happy to be where we all are now... Wandering away from beads this week, I pulled out some fine silver wire and started banging on it. I love hammers, and they don't work particularly well with glass, so it's a good thing I know a little bit about playing with metal too. Maybe ...

Lauren took me shopping on Sunday, for something to wear to the wedding. It was a bit of a rough start, finding little that either of us liked. We persisted though, and eventually found a terrific dress at Banana Republic, which surprised us both. Now I need to make a necklace to go with - quick! That night Rick and I went to Charlie and Mary's for dinner. Charlie is the elder brother of the family, and he and Mary are not only great cooks, but also knowledgeable wine enthusiasts. We had amazing homemade pasta with a killer mushroom ragout, and some of the best wine I've had in a long time, being on the Poor Artist's Budget for a few years now. Joni was there too, and brought along the most adorable tiny cupcakes for dessert. I ate entirely too much, and am a little bit worried about the dress situation... The weather on Monday left Lauren and I uninspired to go to Bumbershoot, which is an outdoor music festival. It probably wasn't the best weekend ever for the craft ve...

I'm not so blabby when I'm sitting still. Things don't happen as fast as they do when we're flying down the road to a new place every other day, but at the moment, thats OK. We're in Seattle now, or more accurately, Bellevue, which is across Lake Washington from Seattle, and we've only made the hop across once. So far, everyone is coming to us, which pleases me in a queenly sort of way. I refuse to drive here. Good thing I have Rick as my personal chauffeur, but I prefer to stay off the roads all together. It's crazy here. Traffic was one of the things that ran us off eight years ago, and now it seems to be twice as bad as it was back then. I've got myself settled into my little barn studio, and it's a good place to spend the days. It's surprising how little I need, and nice to be able to spread it all out and leave it this way for a while. The only thing I thought I might be missing was music, and I do need some entertainment/inspiration/compan...

We listened to La Traviata yesterday, as we drove across central Washington. It was perfect. The golden fields, waiting for their winter wheat crops to be planted, the rolling green alfalfa fields and gentle yellow acres of mustard, the farm houses, barns, streams, and ponds, all looked that much more beautiful set to the opera. I never considered classical music or opera to be good road companions. But now, while I'm no expert, I'm certainly a believer. We stopped at the Columbia River overlook for a little break. It's a pretty spectacular river, and only one of so many we've seen these last few days. I'm always trying to get Rick to allow himself the time to do some fishing, but now I think maybe I'm really talking to myself here. I'm thinking of taking up fly fishing. Not because I want the fish. I'd probably let them go. But spending some good chunks of time in a sexy pair of waders, learning to cast that line and land that little hand-tied fly just...

My apologies for this rather long "cluster post". When we asked where the closest internet could be found, thinking we could tap into a good WiFi signal at one of the Yellowstone lodges, the friendly woman at the gift counter giggled and said, "Cody", which meant nowhere near here . This is wilderness, and they like it that way. So here's the entire Yellowstone entry collection, sent to you from somewhere near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It's been a three-state day - Wyoming, Montana, Idaho - and we're spitting distance from Washington. More when we get settled in Seattle... (For all the pictures, visit Facebook: Page 1 , Page 2 , Page 3 ) Aug.30, 2009 We are in Yellowstone now, and I'm writing, of course, off line. If this does happen to get posted today, it will be because I found a lodge with WiFi somewhere here in the park. No matter, really. We'll catch up when we catch up. We left Dubois yesterday morning, and made the pretty drive to Grand ...