The Gypsy on Adventure

T.I.M.E. and other concerns of the day

This Summer has been rough...I read an email from ToniandKim.com today and this was near the end of it, and I thought it was thought provoking and needed today.

As humans, we are all a work in progress. Life right now is extremely complicated. There is no manual for it.

1. Examine your daily life right now. What brings you joy? How can you add a little bit more of that feeling into your day?
2. What is one thing that you can remove from your day that will make it even just 1% more enjoyable? (For me, it was Facebook!)
3. Put your hand on your heart and close your eyes. Breathe in and out, slowly, 5 times. Ask your heart: What part of you needs tenderness right now? What exactly does it need? What is one thing you can do to nurture it?

1. Ah, what brings me joy? That would be my partner! He is amazing and loving, and adores me. And looking out my window to see all the wild life at our home. And what brings me joy is feeding the birds. We both make sure that there is enough water for the foxes, rabbits, wild turkey's and deer that come through our yard every day. That brings us both such joy.

2. What is the one thing I can remove from my day? Several. Remove the Doom-scrolling, not listen to the news every single day, and minimize time on Facebook, literally shut the window of Facebook down so I don't get any notifications. 

3. What needs tenderness?  I need to exercise, and my choice of exercise is usually walking, in Covid isolation I stopped walking, and a month ago when all the wildfire smoke invaded our ridge, I stopped walking...so now I seriously have to fix this part of my life. Movement. 

I was listening to Jay Shetty today on Amanpour and Company, how to cultivate a monk mindset. How he was speaking today was simple, using the word TIME to remember what you need to do every day.

Thankfulness:  Not just journal about it, but follow through and tell someone that you are grateful for them in your life. Express it to a person. Share that thankfulness.

Inspiration/Insight:  Read something that you are learning from, or that favorite quote out of a book. For me recently it has been Mary Oliver poems, and Rumi.

Meditation:  Be present in the body and mind. Communicate with your body and mind at the same time, centering yourself.

Exercise:  Sex, Yoga, Dance, Tai Chi, Walk...bedrock of the practice is movement.

(Today I walked more than I have in weeks, so I am starting the journey again)

Practice my breathe. Breathe is with us from the moment we are born until the second we die. Breathe and our emotions are interconnected. When we have something good happen to us it takes our breathe away. When something bad is happening we stop breathing for a moment. Connect to your body and breathe, hand to heart and breathe in for 5 seconds.

Then Jay said to ask yourself every day, "Have I made Time?" 

So simple, right? Then you would think more of us would be doing this. Today I am starting my simple practice. I think this sounds profound and life opening. I think it will help me not to be so judge-y in my life and focus on the things that expand my life. In this anxiety ridden political climate smack dab in the middle of Covid isolation, civil unrest, and the passing of RBG is too much. I have to stop doom-scrolling...I have to let it flow through me like water and not let it all stick to me. I catch myself breathing shallow or holding my breathe. I need to work on this.

The beautiful Sphynx cat that we found on our property yesterday, update. We got up, and brought the cage into the kitchen, fed her again, talked to her, played with her. At 10:30 we went to our appointment at Mother Lode to see if she had a chip. No chip. I was getting worried...we were going to take her to Sammies no kill shelter 5 minutes but the owner saw our flyer and called WGB!!! The family two doors down from us, SO happy he contacted us!! And his little girl was happy to have Mousey back! So stinkin cute! I tried not to be judge-y when he told us they let her outside every day, since she could be a nice snack for those big turkey vultures or the coyotes, foxes and big cats we have around. I hope this scared them enough to keep her inside. Mousey is a sweet, sweet soul.

 

 

 

 

 

And the bad air quality came back today. I was SO joyful yesterday with blue skies nad no smoke smell. I feel a little more sad today, I cannot take days of the gloom again! But the injured Jay bird is still getting stronger, she lays down funny on my deck though. But she is so pretty. I have fallen in love with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally took photos of my recent Hobonichi pages before I journal in them:

Storming and facing Grief...Trigger warning

In the class I am taking, Moonshine, the Tarot card pulled for the month of April was the 3 of Swords. Another reminder that I am NOT facing all of my grief. The biggest fear is that I won't be able to bear it. Which is stupid because my entire life has been about bearing grief. I have a right to my pain. I have a right to make decisions based on the VERY REAL reality of things that were done to me. I have a right to self-care and I make VERY SOUND decisions, I weigh things out, I research, I put an inner light on any issues. I CAN TRUST MY DECISIONS.  You may want to bypass reading this, I am basically writing it out to work it out again.

5 of Cups Reversed

Goals being slain!

I followed through with pulling a Tarot Card everyday last month! I am keeping it up and gleaning some powerful imagery and relating the cards to what is deeply going on in my life. Reading over the March entries, there is a bit of oh that is creepy, but more of that is SO amazing, resonating so strong with the struggles I am dealing with. It was all about my Grief, from my brother's death to wounds from family members.

My last card pulled for March was the 5 of Cups Reversed. Oooooof….all about moving forward from what was lost! Use grief as a force for good feelings of deep compassion and empathy. Thrust into a sacrid realm where the healing  capacity of emotions is allowed to work.  Use the force of grief as a force for GOOD. The cup is carved deeper by emotion which tears at the heart of your being, creating more space then to hold wonder, joy and grace. Deep compassion and empathy.

In my life, when I have dealt with deep soul cutting grief, I have always made the conscience decision to be "Better rather than Bitter". I am "better" for the disasters that have happened in my life. Molding me pliable for deep compassion and empathy for others going through what I have in my life. I believe if we share our stories of pain and how we have overcome it, it does give hope to others in the trenches of that kind of pain. 

Empathy. Ooof… I am an empath. It is painful and hard to be one. Some times I just cut off the chatter of it...other times I listen and move through it. It is exhausting and hard sometimes to feel my own shit because of it. It is the absolute reason why I hate being in big cities and love being more in the country. I don't have all of the bombardment of people hammering at me. Still learning how to ground myself and not be so hypervigilant of what is going on around me. I suppose I am still in denial of it...it was more astounding when I was a kid through the teen years, but I put it away when I had to be more conservative navigating my career years. So it is popping up more and more in my retirement. I could always feel a ripple in the universe and KNOW that something was going on with family members or those close to me...

Montana Adventure begins

I must say that we did get up early, had breakfast at the hotel, I must say I still get self conscience around people, and I don't know why I get so intimidated by strangers! Especially when they stare at me.  I wish I was more like WGB who doesn't care and believes he belongs every where and that he is just as good as everyone else. STILL working on that...so I grabbed my food and went to my room. WGB says it is because I dress and look different from them and they probably want to be brave enough to dress and be like I am. (Ok...I will try to be more like him and not so damn freaked about my weight).

I was a little grumpy this morning because it was so busy around the Starbucks I didn't get my coffee for on the road and I had the shitty coffee from the hotel. My fault...should have made my good coffee!

We found out what I thought would happen, at some points WGBs GPS on his google phone  does not work, and when I said I told you I should have brought my garmin, he looked at me like I had 3 heads! And said I didn't tell you not to bring it....and ehem, yes he did! LOL  So a little grumpiness occurred when we couldn't find the bank in Bozeman! To be expected, but still hard when you have the space of the cab in the truck and are with each other 24/7.

This is all a learning curve for traveling ...

I must say we kept in front of the rain most of the time. Which is good since my stuff is getting wet! Ha! Ah...my stuff...I pared down and not enough...such a friggin learning curve as to what you can bring and be comfortable! We did find a Starbucks and bought a traveling mug and had a white chocolate mocha! NEEDED that!

We pulled into Big Timber MT about 4:30 pm...yup, gas, nerves, smile...ready!

On the move and making time

Today we got through the rest of Oregon, scooted through Washington, but didn't stop, it wasn't that far to Idaho. Trying to drink more water on the road, because yesterday was brutal I didn't drink anything because I didn't want to be stopping every 30 minutes! but I don't need the headache I get from not drinking water! So today I did better! One thing I can say is Idaho is beautiful in good weather! We were driving through Coeur d'Alene we saw from the Freeway, while we passed it an old Mission...when I said I would love to have seen it, we turned around! Mission of the Sacred Heart.

Coeur d' Alene's Old Mission. What a beautiful State Park they turned it into!  I know you all know how much I love Catholic Icons and relics! I was in history heaven! When standing too long in the Mission and taking photos, WGB said come on honey, enough Catholic Guilt! I laughed and continued to take photos! Seriously a beautiful space...and easy to meditate and think about history and what occurred here.

To the right on the blog you will find the photo album...on the road it is way to hard to include the photos in the body of the post.

We finished driving through Idaho and made it as far as Missoula Montana...stopped at a Best Western for the night...did I say it was raining? Yup my stuff in the back of the truck is getting wet...I will be glad to get that topper on the truck that we ordered in Oregon! But that is not for a few weeks...

We ate at a really horrible pizza place near the hotel...it was just too spicy for me so WGB ordered us a couple of salads to get by with...eating on the road is hard...I am going back to plain...nothing fancy! Tomorrow we head into Big Timber MT!

Up for sale...

Glad we came so we could see the house in all of its glory! They have put it up on the market if you are interested.

I so wanted WGB to see this beautiful place before they sold it. Bob has done a fantastic job in the garden! Wow we were SO lucky to come while it was all blooming. AND they have so many birds!

After lunch Pallie and I went to her studio and made a purse for my sketchbook and phone! OOOOOoh I love it so much...I had fun but I think Pallie was frustrated because we didn't do it from a pattern.

   

Sharing our lives

We spent the day just sharing our lives. Catching up and telling stories. I was able to journal as well. It was a really nice day! Pallie cooked a pork loin and it was yummy! WGB really loves talking to Bob he said Bob is a hidden national treasure! So glad he got to meet him and see their house. They are in the process of selling this beautiful place. Asked if we could stay another night...just to be able to enjoy them!

This is a really nice way to start our adventure!

"We are all in this together"

 

Exploring Oregon

We left the resort and drove the back roads to Crate Lake, unfortunately we forgot it was a holiday weekend!!! (My freedom weekend!) there was SO much traffic we couldn't wait or we would reach Pallie and Bob's place after dark! So when the traffic started to move again we drove straight though instead of turning to go to the crater...we will be back to see it though!

  One long as road!

It was a beautiful drive even if we hit a ton of bugs and had to remember we can't pump or own gas! LOL 

We had a little of a hard time finding the house...we found it and I thought it was the wrong house! But the color was changed and SO much garden I didn't recognize it!

We had a really nice dinner and conversation with Pallie and Bob. WGB loved talking to Bob! he really enjoyed the conversation! I always tell him he needs smart friends! We de-stressed from the road, looking at the river can help calm a soul and didn't get t bed until after 1130pm...so worth it!

Another night!

We were able to get another night to be able to stay we just had to move rooms. It is so beautiful here, and they had a salon so I went in and asked if I could get the under cut redone, so the lady was able to shave the undercut for $15. It helps me to stay cooler...and I have been super hot lately!

We went into town to the grocery store, bought dinner, and breakfast. We BBQ hamburgers and salad. Took a nap, played on the computer and watched movies.  Had a nice evening even though WGB hurt his back...he says from my luggage. Sigh.  It was a nice day...grateful for Chris and Brian!

 

 

Trying to figure it out

Here is the tough thing about learning how to travel when you really have never traveled before...I brought too much, I pared down, and pared down again...I am still having trouble finding things I need and where the hell to put it all. Today WGB and I went to the stores to try to find a Patio Storage Bin, we found one so WGB and Vernon put it together when we got back to his place and it fits perfect in the back of the truck. We were getting some rain so some things needed to be covered...And while they were putting it together I played with Twinkle.

We had a ton of food left over from the party last night so no cooking!!! Giggle

We went to the Skate Park for a little while to get out of the house and let the dog go play!

           

Enjoying Twinkle before we take off. She was SO cute, she took me on a tour of her room and wanted to play with me!