The Hike I Really Wanted (didn't do last year)

 

Fly

#1 - We rarely have dessert with meals here (you can buy ice cream at a separate building), so tonight it was a special treat to have both a delicious orange poke cake and cherries!

#2 - How spending a bit of time in the creek cools down your body temperature in a way that lasts for a while afterwards, and having a fellow staff member who enthusiastically said, "Yes!" when I asked if she'd walk a mile down to the spot where it's deep enough to briefly swim.

#3 - I don't know if I made the "right" decision to skip my camping trip tonight/tomorrow night.  First it looked the hottest it has been this summer.  Then I thought with the 40% thunderstorms for tomorrow night, maybe I could just camp 1 night.  But then there is a "red flag" warning until 9pm for potential fire conditions etc.  So far, it looks like it would have been fine to go today, but even if I made the "wrong" decision, I'm glad these types of "wrong" decisions really do not matter.

#4 - I requested an "out" (basically vacation) day for the above.  So now I have 3 days off in a row, which on one hand I kind of wasted, but on the other hand I wouldn't have taken a day off beyond my weekends otherwise.

#5 - These photos are the result of me sitting outside for a brief amount of time this afternoon and swatting the flies that landed on me.  I am very grateful to have indoor spaces to go when I can't take it anymore (like at dinner today, even though I usually eat outside). I am watching some people walk by my window as I write this and slap the air around their heads.

 

Lake Chelan

#1 - Today I started at 6:45AM leading a Morning Walk with Gentle Stretching class, a 2 mile round trip with a stretching break in the middle.  The class was "full" and I had to turn a couple people away because it was on a forest service trail that limits group sizes to 12.

#2 - Later in the morning one of the directors contacted me to put up some signage about a trail closure, so I did that walk again.  4 miles of beautiful walking during my "work day."

#3 - Then a thru hiker came by and asked if there was a food box like is used on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail).  He said he's been eating more than he planned.  I said, "No, but..." and then I got this random vacuum sealed package that said, "red beans" on it that has sat in my office and I didn't know what to do with, "I have this."

"Great!" he, "I will add this to my food tonight!"

#4 - My 4th gratitude is for the U.S. Government.  

Yes at this precise moment I'm feeling incredibly grateful for the government.

Last summer, when I arrived at this retreat center there was a fire burning across the lake in the top photo.  I thought we should evacuate immediately, because the only ways out of this village are:

A. That road down to a ferry

B. A long ass hike

C. A helicopter 

By the time I left the end of the summer the fire had only reached the top of this lake and was never anywhere near a threat to us, how ridiculous it would have been to follow my advice and evacuate the village.

So this summer when a lightning strike fire started 10 miles south, 2 days after my arrival, I reserved judgement.

Since we are the closest inhabitants to the fire, after a few weeks of spread a reconnaissance fire crew arrived by helicopter to access our situation.  And after that a bunch of hot shots to clear brush and trees around the village. This is why I had to post a trail closed sign today.

I feel so grateful and so safe with them here.

They are not here to fight the current fire in any way, but rather to make the village safer to protect now and in the future. And they are doing hard work. 

In fact it is the 10 year anniversary of when a fire last swept thru this valley. The current fire chief (?) here is the one that directed the back burn etc. that saved the village (after the people were evacuated).

When I mentioned this to my supervisor today, who grew up in this area and is more familiar and comfortable with fire, she said, "Who knows what would happen if this were next year though," because the state department/forest service budget is slashed.

#5 - Finally I almost deleted this photo from my camping trip last week, because after I took it I immediately saw it was too dark and took another.  This is the first time I opened it up on a computer and the energy I get from myself in it is the same energy I get from myself when standing next to someone I love.

I have practiced a love for trees and nature for a long time, and looking at this I feel it.  So much so that it eliminated (for now) my frustration that Microsoft wouldn't let me into my email today and said to try on a different device or network.  I have used this device and network multiple times since arriving here so that made zero sense and was frustrating...but look at this.

 

Snippets of My Day

#1 – I read Wendell Berry's Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front during my Monday 6:30 am Copper Falls Poetry Hike. I said after how that poem has been an important one for me for over 20 years and that his line, “Be joyful though you have considered all the facts,” was one I especially needed to hear in my 20's. A woman on the hike asked for the author and name of the poem again because her son is really pessimistic about the world and she wanted to share it with him.

#2 – I have a lot of flexibility in my position at this retreat center, and so I was able to rearrange my class times last week before I submitted my schedule so I could attend the faculty yoga session from 9-10 am. The instructor was here last year and someone I knew I enjoyed. She said there are so many people now who are teaching asana (physical postures), that she now focuses on the philosophy and other aspects along with it.

This I love. We did a little singing/chanting, some postures and then she talked about the wider yoga philosophy.

#3 – I cheered on a few staff after they returned from a multi-night hike. They said they were just talking about me and that the hiker sign out board wasn't kept up the first summer they were here.

#4 – In the afternoon I taught my “Meditative Doodling” class. At the end when I asked people how they felt, a woman shared she was trying to watercolor earlier that day and had been frustrated by not being able to create what she had in mind. She said this on the other hand was freeing.

#5 – I'm leading a Sitting and Walking Meditation class tomorrow morning. The location where we are to meet got put on the schedule incorrectly. This has led me to adjust the class and do something different than I usually do, which I am looking forward to trying.

Back in the Village

#1 - I have been having a fairly frequent experience the last few months of waking up around 3 in the morning and then being awake for an hour or so.  My doctor said it is normal to have sleep or wake cycles and we just often don't notice them as much when we are young.  She told me to get out of bed and go in a different room and do something quiet, like read or a puzzle, and then when I'm tired again go back to bed.

I've been away from home a little over 2 weeks and last night was the first night I woke up and was awake for a bit.  Most nights I have been sleeping straight thru.  And even last night it wasn't frustrating at all.  

I have been sleeping well.

#2 - There is such a range of hiking experience here.  I just saw a staff member walking by that did an overnight by herself last night over 10 miles away, so over a 20 mile walk.  I'm in awe.  At the same time I asked another staffer today about a hike and she said it was the first hike she had taken in her life.

Each Sunday here I have a "hike haus open house" to answer questions and get people familiar with the place.  I had my first one today and I love it.  There was a large church group that had never been here before so I think I recruited many of them to the short 6:30AM poetry hike I lead on Monday mornings.

(There were only small patches of snow at the end of this hike, but it was fun to see because I did this hike a little later last year and the snow was gone).

#3 - I also had my first dish team of the summer today and it is great to just be able to jump in and help/to know what I am doing.

#4 - Another staff member sent out a message to have a lodge cleaning meeting on Tuesday.  I am super grateful someone else is taking the lead to organize this!

#5 - I picked up Seven Years in Tibet at the library here Friday and I'm already on page 200.  I realized that the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday falls on a Sunday, which is perfect because I often lead a sitting and walking meditation class on Sunday mornings. I can dedicate that class to him and use some of his quotes (as part of my job)!

 

A Few More From Oregon

 

P.S. I didn't get sick.

A Week In Oregon

I wasn't thrilled to be returning to the city (I'll post some more Oregon coast pictures later), however I joined the Portland Market drum jam with some shakers they had for people to grab and had a great time today.

I got a sore throat last night, and now I'm a bit anxious, hopefully it is just a sore throat, people do just get sore throats right?  However

A. I got Co-Vid when I traveled last year, and maybe the year prior as well (I took the test too early).

B. I have someone I knew 20 years ago that I was going to meet up with tomorrow that lives in the Portland area and she just emailed that she tested positive for Co-Vid. (I knew she wasn't feeling well a few days ago but figured she'd be better by tomorrow).

So I guess I should pick up a test tomorrow but wait until later in the day for 48 hours after symptoms onset.

Sigh.

I hope I feel better as opposed to worse in the morning.