Saturday, August 22, 2009

yeyahhu

Hello friends

Wow, in my new form of travels where I visit with old friends and wander around my old living environments I have become detached from the blog, my deepest apologizes! But all has been going very well. I have been floating on the good vibes of the Michigan Womyn’s Festival where I became so empowered in my own personal strength, in my sisterhood, and in the possibilities of the world. In Ohio I have been doing lots of that too! I stopped in Toledo and visited with my buddy Boo and her wonderful family. They took me in, fed my belly, and let me do my laundry! Boo and I had wonderful adventures full of bike riding, aqua jogging and silly games that entertain our competitive selves in silly fashions. Boo and I headed south and continued the visits with friends in Columbus and Athens. Our other college roommate came down and we had more fun adventures. After Boo and Jen headed home I met up with my travel sister Wormz and we found good ways to get into trouble in Athens, enjoying some of the finest eats and treats in town! I am continuing to wander around the greater southeastern Ohio area by visiting Columbus, Yellow Springs and more! I am most excited for the wedding this afternoon which will be a reunion of many great Athens people! I’m here till Sunday when I do the last leg of the drive to my folks house.

My nephew Avery Layson has been born, and is now 10 days old. I can’t wait to go visit him. My mom is there now and says he is adorable, woohooo!

I am grateful for this time to visit with friends, explore health, music, food, and people. My biggest challenge/focus? Staying present. I am very excited to get back to SF and put my roots back into the water there, and am trying to set my intentions without being too distracted from being right here, right now. I am attempting to incorporate what I learn in this moment, towards what I want for the future, but momentum, expectations, and patterns always challenge that, but I bet you know that.


As i mentioned before i am hosting a We are here and we are all older party in SF at Dolores Park on Saturday afternoon (1 or 2 ish?) the 29th, please bring a dish to share, a game to play, and a smile!


And in other cool news, a room is opening up in my Apt, oct 1(or sept 15th if nec) i live with two guys and two cats, in a small, quiet apt in Nopa. If you want to join our family, lemme know if will give you more details. rent is cheap, the place is small, but the potential is HUGE, we are going to establish community, respect, and communication, this is a perfect time to join and create with us!

Winding down

Hello friends

Wow, in my new form of travels where I visit with old friends and wander around my old living environments I have become detached from the blog, my deepest apologizes! But all has been going very well. I have been floating on the good vibes of the Michigan Womyn’s Festival where I became so empowered in my own personal strength, in my sisterhood, and in the possibilities of the world. In Ohio I have been doing lots of that too! I stopped in Toledo and visited with my buddy Boo and her wonderful family. They took me in, fed my belly, and let me do my laundry! Boo and I had wonderful adventures full of bike riding, aqua jogging and silly games that entertain our competitive selves in silly fashions. Boo and I headed south and continued the visits with friends in Columbus and Athens. Our other college roommate came down and we had more fun adventures. After Boo and Jen headed home I met up with my travel sister Wormz and we found good ways to get into trouble in Athens, enjoying some of the finest eats and treats in town! I am continuing to wander around the greater southeastern Ohio area by visiting Columbus, Yellow Springs and more! I am most excited for the wedding this afternoon which will be a reunion of many great Athens people! I’m here till Sunday when I do the last leg of the drive to my folks house.

My nephew Avery Layson has been born, and is now 10 days old. I can’t wait to go visit him. My mom is there now and says he is adorable, woohooo!

I am grateful for this time to visit with friends, explore health, music, food, and people. My biggest challenge/focus? Staying present. I am very excited to get back to SF and put my roots back into the water there, and am trying to set my intentions without being too distracted from being right here, right now. I am attempting to incorporate what I learn in this moment, towards what I want for the future, but momentum, expectations, and patterns always challenge that, but I bet you know that.


As i mentioned before i am hosting a We are here and we are all older party in SF at Dolores Park on Saturday afternoon (1 or 2 ish?) the 29th, please bring a dish to share, a game to play, and a smile!


And in other cool news, a room is opening up in my Apt, oct 1(or sept 15th if nec) i live with two guys and two cats, in a small, quiet apt in Nopa. If you want to join our family, lemme know if will give you more details. rent is cheap, the place is small, but the potential is HUGE, we are going to establish community, respect, and communication, this is a perfect time to join and create with us!


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

And yet again I "pause"

Of course I would like to believe that pausing is what I have been doing for the past 40 days. I can’t say that is 100% true, but I’ve been trying, and I suppose that is all we can do.

I have been so blessed, loved, and am overwhelming grateful for the experiences, conversations, exchanges, and smiles I have had along this journey.

Where am I?
Where am I coming from?
Where am I going?

I am in Toledo visiting my bestie from college and her family. As an out of state roommate, Boo and her family consistently took me into their home, fed me, and offered support throughout my time in Ohio, it is heart warming to be back in their home for a pool side visit:)

I am coming off of a week in the woods with 4,000 womyn. A gathering in the state of Michigan, one that offers music, workshops, communal vegetarian meals, and a one of a kind of living experience has officially stolen my heart. I could write pages and pages of my experience, but I will try to brief. I have been exploring the festival scene for a few years, looking for myself inside of these cultural events, attempting to conceptualize what it means to be festive, to retreat, to get our feet off of the ground. Witnessing the community and connection of annual festival goers at each festival, I have finally found myself inside of this one. Communal meals, participation (each person is expected to volunteer for two work shifts), ultimate Frisbees, flirting, hugs, smiles, connection, oh woman oh womyn friends, my heart bubbles with joy as I recall the happiness, blessing, comfort, and fluidity I found on that land. I will do everything in my powers to return next year, and I will gladly bring friends if you wish to join:)

Where am I going? Gosh I don’t even know. I mean I know where I am going physically, but in side of my heart, I just don’t even know, and I am so excited!

Physically, I’m gunna enjoy the bumming around with boo (who is on a summer vay-kay from law school/internship) and then head down to south eastern Ohio for the next two weeks. Visiting Columbus, Athens, the hocking hills and then a wedding in yellow springs! From there I head to my parents house for a few days of recovery before I head back to SF. (I return Aug. 27th. Meet me at Dolores park on august 29th for a b day picnic potluck!) Also, in other SF news, I have a room opening in my apt and we plan on creating a meditative, communal, warm home, with reasonable rent (a major perk) if you are interested, please let me know!

My friends, I cannot even begin to describe the joy I have discovered on this journey. In the past I was able to produce these really intense e-mail updates, about my internal processes, my struggles, the pain in my heart. I was probably pretty discrete about it, but travel hurt my heart, it's solitude, it's unknown, the fear, doubt, and reliance on the universe, but on this journey I am finding so much fluidity with all of that, my heart is melting with love for myself, for others, and for the human experience, for the ability to share, communicate, grow, help, exist. Every day I am blown away by the curiosity I find with each new experience, I didn't realize this continued to happen, that I was going to grow in this direction, but its happening and I am so ridiculously GRATEFUL! I left with the goal of doing it alone and finding a way to have fun with myself, to find that joy and peace in solitude I couldn’t find as a child, and I am flirting with the discovery of presence, curiosity, belief, and truth. Thank you for all of your help along the way.

I will give you all some fun stats from the past 40 days:

Nights slept in a tent: 31
"Rent" (all camp sites and hotel costs): 160 (40 being the one time I stayed in a hotel with friends)
Days where FBI (full body immersion (into water (and sometimes rain or rowboats counted☺) was successful: at least 27
Miles: 3500+
Smiles shared: 1 million and counting
Number of PBJs consumed: 14
Miles on bike: 127
Ok the last few stats were simply educated guesses.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

What's next?

So what’s next you ask? Well I am headed back into the woods, this time, not alone. No I don’t think much more of my trip will be alone. I have friend dates up the wazoo for the next month. On Sunday I meet up with California friends in Hart, Michigan. We (4,000 or so Womyn) will all be attending the Michigan Womyn’s fest, a high light/purpose for this “detour” through Michigan. On the 10th I meet up with my best friend from college, Boo, and we will bike tour some part of Michigan, probably Sleepy Bear Sand Dunes on Lake Michigan. Then on down to Athens, where we learned how to drink, I mean learned about important stuff and majored in it, and meet up with our old roommate, teammate and great buddy, Jen, and live up the nostalgia of our old college town! I will do some more Ohio friend visiting in Columbus and stop off in Yellow Springs to help celebrate the love of two wonderful friends of mine, Michelle and Brian as they get married in the Little Miami. Not on it, not by it, but IN the river. I can’t wait. This is the same river where I took a handful of leaders in training ( 8th grade girls from Camp Oty Okwa) on a canoe trip my first session as a summer camp counselor many years ago. The place holds many other important memories from me, and I look forward to visiting an old home and heart (hart) friends.

and awaaayyy we gooooo, awaaayyy wee goooo




Hello wonderful friends.

Blessed with the beauty and peace of hiking, camping, and swimming, I am smacked in the face when I return to civilization to deal with computers that don’t stay powered without being plugged in and bankcard issues. You don’t know how much I wish I could run back to the woods. Not this time. From my huddled spot by the wall outlet, I will attempt to document the beauty of the past four days. If I can’t cover it in words, I will try pictures.

I departed Minneapolis, Minnesota on Tuesday morning, pausing at the Honda dealership to get an oil change. While waiting for them to clean out the rocks from the tires, which had been making a peculiar clicking sound, I was scouring the map for my next destination. I spotted a pretty looking green patch on the northern part of Wisconsin titled “Apostle Islands National Lake Shore.” Being a National Park junkie (and a NP map collector), you know you can count me in! I headed that way, taking my time to talk up visitor center employees and other locals throughout my journey. I also hit up the St. Croix national river/scenic high way, which was a bonus, and also came with a map!

My goal was to get dropped off on an island for a few days with just my backpack and guitar. It didn’t quite work out that way, the ferries only run so often, and I only wanted to stay for a few days, so I rocked a kayak day tour, enjoyed a lakeside walk in campsite, and made myself at home. I made a few friends on the tour, and shared s’mores with them one night. From there I headed to Pictured Rock National Lake Shore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This spot has been on the map for weeks, and boy did it stand up to its expectations. I started the tour off with a 3 hour boat tour (not as sexy as Gilligan’s island unfortunately, but geologically stunning for sure)! The rock cliffs are spectacular and their colors are so unique! After the Glacier retreating, certain land masses shot out of the ground ( I love it when geological talk sounds quick) to make these drastic cliffs which are decorated by different minerals (and colors) being forced out of the rock via underground water channels, it’s pretty breath taking. I was most excited about this park because of its back packing trails! The lake provides a clean water source (filter needed), stunning beaches, and chilly, but beautiful, swimming.

I signed up for a backcountry site about 3 miles out from a parking lot. Not too much distance, but I haven’t been backpacking in years, and wasn’t sure what I could handle. The hike was relatively flat, beautiful, woodsy, but man am I out of back packing shape. It was difficult to carry all my stuff, plus without filter, I carried two days of water, and I drink a lot of water!

It was amazing to be out there, it took me back to the backpacking days I miss so much! There is something so magical inside of my heart when I walk through the trails and am so far from cars, banks, and telephones. It’s challenging, rewarding, and peaceful! There were a few others out there, going in different directions, sharing a campfire, and I was lucky enough to borrow a water filter for a few minutes. I am so grateful for this moment because it took me down to the beach, and it was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever shared in nature. The water was calmly bouncing against the beach, the sun was still lighting the sky from where it has just set, and the colors of evening were spectacular. I had heard that lake superior was stunning, but not until this moment had I really seen its beauty.

The am was spent hiding out in the tent, waiting for the morning showers to pass, a short swim in the chilly waters, and book and journal time!

On my hike back to the car I talked to a few folks that seemed surprised that I was doing this adventure solo. It’s funny how apparent it is that I am by myself when I am walking through the woods with everything on my back. Less so when I run into a gas station to buy a coffee. I suppose my partner in crime could easily be waiting in the car. I have been thinking a lot about the solitude as of late. Finding quite a bit of comfort in it really. Now that I have gotten used to the fears of sleeping alone, the responsibility of solo decision making, and the feelings of wanting a familiar face to understand who I am and where I am coming from. I have come to find a lot of joy in my current way of life. I am able to do whatever I want. From sandy feet in the tent, lots of raw garlic in my meals, and ability to get up and go, or stick around for a while, I rarely get too cranky with my travel partner;)

I have traveled alone in the past. Each time gets easier and easier, but always, always, always challenging! I never thought I would be a solo traveler. I know I won’t always be. I look forward to sharing these experiences with a companion(s). And I get to, from time to time, fellow travelers, or locals, welcome me into their lives and we are able to share stories, walks, or pints of ice cream along the way. So when people ask me if I am alone, I answer first with yes, second with, I am never alone, and third with yes, and I eat as much garlic as I choose!

When it comes down to it, as far as my reality reaches at such a young age, it appears that life is all about the relationships we hold. And relationships are time spent with something, quality and quantity combined. And in order to have the beautiful relationships I have been blessed with in my life, I must spend this time with my self. Paying close attention to how I choose to live, how I treat myself, and how I experience this world. I think, hope, intend for it to, make me a better partner, friend, and community member.

In love, in awe, in smiles,
Rose

Visual documentation:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2355476&id=12301287&l=990330cec4