Far Out!

I guess I'd better post something today so that we can all forget yesterday's Halloween post...

Mr. CfP and I just spent four days in the mountains at a quaint little dog-friendly getaway destination in Frisco.

Scene:  Quaint, little dog-friendly, wooden complex of buildings with giant mountain backdrop.  A dusting of snow remains from the previous weekend's snowstorm.  Mr. CfP gets out of the car to go into the office.  A man who appears to be in his late 50s/early 60s walks up to Mr. CfP.

Man:  Are you here to check in?
Mr. CfP:  Yes.
Man:  Right on!

Right on!!!  I LOVE it!  Haven't heard that since the early 70s when I used to hang out at the park wearing my bell bottoms and playing Frisbee. 

Whooohooooo!!!!  Honey, I'm home!

It was LOVELY.  Other than exploring the area by walking among the aspens and pines every day, we were kind of lazy.  Well, actually, that would be VERY lazy.  It was renewing.

I didn't even take a single photo!  Lugged the camera up there and left it in its case.

But we did watch the Rally for Sanity and/or Fear.  (Which couldn't have happened at home, considering the television here is solely for videos and has no cable or dish or any of that other stuff hooked up to it.)

The highlights for me:

Yusuf Islam (because I love the man)
Kid Rock's new song, "Care"
Jon Stewart's closing speech


Since I don't have any photos from our little trip, I'll just have to post a photo of a piece of one of our homegrown beets. 

I dedicate this beet photo to the DUDE at the quaint little dog-friendly getaway destination.  I think he'd like its tie-dyed look.

Adventures into the Unknown

Lighthouse as seen from the top of the Mackinac Island house that owns the beautiful flower gardens up there in my blog banner.

Mackinac Bridge at Sunset

From the outside, it would look as though my travels were about visiting a friend and sightseeing. But most of what truly happened, happened within me. I didn't know when I left home that I was taking off on a ride that would change the way I perceive the world in many ways.

I learned a lot about love.

I saw how much I tend to close down when faced with the unknown, AND I learned how to open to those scary, unknown things, only to find out that my ideas about them were much worse than reality.

I experienced and practiced total acceptance of others and myself. For the first time, I lovingly accepted this body and this being.

I stayed an evening and a night with a family that lives with love, respect, excellent boundaries, and the ability to truly enjoy each other as friends. So alive! So refreshing! I can't necessarily have that, but I can be that.

During much of my trip, I felt as though I was stepping off into thin air. I felt a tiny bit wiggly, but I found that I was 100% safe. That was empowering.

Why do I feel like crying as I read over what I just wrote? I think because the experience was so dear, so valuable. I am thankful for it all. I feel like the "real me" (whatever that is) was awakened. I feel freer, lighter.

We are all capable of being free from our ideas of who we are. They are only ideas, after all. Not facts.

Sometimes it takes a wonderful friend who lives a different life to help nudge us a little past our imagined safety net that we think we hide behind. The thing is, there is no safety net and we are always free-falling in this wonderful, beautiful life. We only need to open our eyes and hearts to enjoy it.

Protecting Playful Piping Plovers

The Piping Plover is a threatened species. A part of Duxbury Beach is closed off in order to protect these birds.

Mr. Carol For Peace & I arrived on the beach yesterday morning and as we walked on the bay side, we saw a mom Plover and her three darling little babies, about three inches tall, running around on the sand. They had strayed away from their protected area - there's always a renegade in the bunch, isn't there? Mom P didn't like the fact that we were close to her babies, so she did her best to distract us. Out of respect for the family's privacy, we turned back.

Later, I, in my big, black hat, and Mr. CFP in his non-hat, stood with about 100 others at the beach as a part of the Hands Across the Sand world-wide gathering to make a statement regarding our need for clean energy.




We didn't change the world through this action, but it was a joy to take a moment to join together with people who care.

The Further Adventures

So.

I went to the dermatologist two days before I left to come to the Cape. Being of the fair type, I was lucky enough to warrant the removal of FIVE little "blemishes" on my face. The doctor told me that I would be fine in time for FAMILY FOTOS 7 days later, which has now become tomorrow. She was wrong. I look like I fell on my face. For a week I've been doing my best at being humble. But today I bought some kind of make-up cover-up stuff and, well, I wish that I would have done it a long time ago. From a distance, I almost look like myself.

Oh the things we do...

So.

I opened up Facebook two days ago, only to read the top message, which was posted by Mr. Son House-sitter. It said, and I quote:

Parents dog got sprayed by a skunk at 230 in the morning. The smell is still hanging around, since I unwittingly let him in the house. Never really smelled it that intensely before. I hope febreeze works as well as I hear (for the house, not the dog).

Lovely.

WHO LETS THEIR DOG OUT AT 2:30 IN THE MORNING???

Good luck with it all Mr. Son...


So.

Today Mr. CfP and I ventured out to Provincetown, but on the way, we did some investigating of the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

Mr. Turtle at the Wildlife Sanctuary

In Provincetown, Massachusetts
The gaudiest buildings in town. I had to go get me some Shop Therapy (whatever that is).

The anniversary celebrations begin tomorrow. (Up to now, we've just been practicing.)

So Happy Together

We had barely arrived in the town where we will be staying this week when Mr. CFP and I came upon this big dark gray thing on the road. It took a few seconds to register in my brain that it was a HUGE snapping turtle. How do you write the sound of the squealing of brakes applied with urgency? I say it something like ErrrrErrrrErrrr! But I don't know how to write it. We pulled over and checked out this mini-dinosaur-looking creature.

Later, we took our first beach walk/hat test. The breeze kept trying to steal my hat.

No schedule for today yet. After all, it's vacation time!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

Lord, I Was Born a Travel'in (Wo)Man

Here I am. On the East Coast. Where the air is heavy, where I actually SWEAT in the shade, and where I hear the sounds of birds whose names I don't know. We haven't landed on the Cape yet, but we're on our way.

I miss my Buddha dog. He always knows what those big blue things mean - the things that his mom and dad get out of the garage and fill full of their stuff before THEY LEAVE HIM. As we walk out the door and tell him we'll be gone awhile, but we'll be back, as we tell him that his favorite step-brother will be there with him, he barely makes eye contact and he pouts to make us feel as guilty as possible. He is in good hands, though. My favorite man, next to Mr. CFP, will be staying there with him.

After we arrived last night, I got to meet my newest niece, an almost two-year-old who already knows a thing or two about a thing or two. When it was time for her to leave, she wasn't at a point where she would give me a hug yet, but I did get a high five (completely her idea). I hope that I don't fall in love. If I fall in love with a young'un, it's too hard to leave because I miss being around to see all the growing and changing. But then again, it does a heart good to keep falling in love. I think I'll risk it.

I am loved.

The night before we left, my two favoritest young people took us out to dinner.