Dam

  

  We returned last week from spending time at the cabin, a place I go and visit in my head at least a few times a week, and as often as we can in "reality". 

  

  The cabin is the place that I ground myself to like no other. I have visited here many, many times since my first visit in 1961...when I was just a little bitty girl. 

  

  We share this very special place with several family members, so we all try to 'book' our times around each other's schedules. How was I to know, way back in January, that the world would be an entirely different place in June? I assumed back then that we would be in Umbria for the spring, return to work for awhile, and take off again for a week at the cabin... before settling into a busy summer at the gallery. Ha ha. What a hoot. 

  We decided to go anyway, just to connect with this special place, and have a different 'view' on this crazy Covid 19 life we are living. It was a very perfect thing to do, I must say.

  We had many wonderful experiences in our way too short time there, including hikes, reading for hours, bbq's, sleeping under the stars, seeing a coyote and a bear in the same day, playing gorilla badminton while enjoying Campari and soda....man, it was great.

  But...my all time favorite thing to do when I am at the cabin is to play in the nearby creek and build a dam with river rocks. It's great way to stay cool, get some upper body exercise, and get the hell outta my head for a couple of hours.

  Perfection. Absolute perfection.

  I've built many a dam on this particular creek, and it never, ever gets old.

  In past years I've gotten creative by using only pink or red hued rocks, to create a special effect:

  

Up close it was really cool...
2016

...and even from way above, I was pretty proud of it.

  Many, many years ago, I gave a nod to Andy Goldsworthy, by creating an 18' diameter circle of stones just under the surface of the stream. It took me 3 days, and I couldn't get over how perfect it came out:

2008

  This trip, I just wanted to enjoy the feeling of being in the cool water, using my aging body to move stones, and just get lost in the work. We went to this spot 4 days in a row, at around 3pm, and stayed for a couple of hours, until it got chilly and the sun was low in the sky.

  Johnny brings a beach chair and a book...I just want to be in the water. We brought a bottle of wine and snacks, and enjoyed the sounds of the natural world. So different from our daily life of noisy cars, sirens, dogs barking, etc....It was/is heaven.  

  Our Grandma Dottie always called this area 'God's Country'. I'm down with that.

  The water was wicked cold at first, but I got used to it really fast, and loved being right there in the middle of the creek, doing my thing.

  This time, I made a jig-jag sort of dam, just going with the flow of the water. I wan't trying to stop the river, just make some sort of 'pools' along the way....

  

  First off, the water isn't deep at all, it's just fast moving, so I had to be careful not to slip on the stones and fall. Of course I did, several times, and have the bruises to prove it. You fall hard on river rocks, and it's painful!

  I wanted to make a spot that I could actually get down into and swim a bit. This would be my dam- making goal for the week.

I'm so glad Johnny was taking photos. I had no idea.

  

  So, here's the thing. I worry about everything. It's a constant noise in my head. Like someone busted open a yellow jacket nest in my brain. Buzz, buzz, buzz...all the bloody time.

  What can I say? It's a big part of who I am, and I try to work hard to make it go away. Not easy.

  But, when I was in that water, it all went away. All the stress, anxiety, worry...gone. All I thought about was finding the next rock to put in place. That, and not slipping and falling in the water.

  It was just the therapy I needed. It is the therapy I always crave. Me, the water and the rocks. Basta. 

  I need nothing else. I want to bottle this remedy to take everyday, somehow.

  (note to self: bottle that remedy and take it everyday...don't ask, just figure it the f^#* out!)

Getting some sunshine was pretty sweet, too.

I ended up with three little 'pools'.

  I worked at it until I thought it was time to take a dip, and so I did...

  I decided to add more rocks here and there, and then it was pretty damn perfect.

One more here, another one there, and we be done!

Just deep enough to swim in!

  Though I was able to swim, actually swim, the current was so fast, it was an upstream battle royale. You can't tell from these photos how deep or how fast the water was. I did get a big old kick out of getting myself 'all in', though, and laughed my ass off in the process. 

  I made a good dam, man!

 

Sun heading down, end of the work day.

  It was a real good lesson for me. Do what makes you happy, girl. Get dirty, get wet, get exhausted while you're at it. Enjoy a glass of wine while you revel in what you've created. Afterwards, sleep under the stars you remember sleeping under all your life.

  Wake up the next day and do it all over again.

  And...for god's sake...don't forget the child within.

  (p.s. stop worrying so much!!)

In God's Country: The Cabin, 2016

  My Dear Readers, both near and far....This post will be long. 

  Lots of photos, and probably lots of waxing poetic, or at least attempting to...

  No mention of Italy(whoops...), just a long love letter to a place which I hold very close to my inner being...She that is always 10 years old, with bandaids on her elbows and knees, with dirt under her fingernails and between her toes...the girl who smells like smoke and pine pitch...the little sprite that is the color of a toasted walnut all summer long....

  I love this kid.

  This post is for we who love 'Camp Coyote', and who dream of it regularly....Adults now who want to be kids again, running through the woods and meadows, climbing the mountain, freezing our fannies off in the creek, sunning ourselves on the sandy banks of said creek, until we burn...Kids who ride bikes or walk to the store for ice creams after supper...who then sleep on the deck, under the stars, afraid that Yaki may come and steal us away one warm night. We awake to the wonderful perfume of smoke from the wood stove and coffee....

  

  As adults we have a new appreciation of the subtler offerings: The sounds of birds, the luxury of time spent doing absolutely nothing, the ever present drone of the watery creek down below us, the gentle movement of the pine trees in the wind...

  Then we stop. 

  We gaze upward and thank our lucky stars that we have this to come home to.

  We breathe and breathe and breathe some more.

  

The Cabin.
Grandma Dottie always referred to this as
God's Country".

  Though it has changed some over the years, including a new bedroom addition downstairs, The Cabin is still the same. 

  It's so much more than a structure.

  I wrote a post about The Cabin several years ago, promising to return soon.

  

  Thing is, I have to visit The Cabin every once in the while. I need to touch base with my young girl soul, and this is by far the best place on earth to do it. 

  

Sitting here at my desk, I swear I can hear the creek.

  Well, we just returned from a week at The Cabin. Finally....

  This is the first time in eight years that we have spent more than a day there. 

  Lately, the only time I've spent there is to help 'open' or 'close' it, which takes a couple of hours...always rushing to get back home asap to get back to work. Jeez.

  As I say every time on our return...

  What took so long?

  Life has gotten busy and complicated. It's hard to justify taking more time off when we have such a long get-away in the spring (ok, Italy is being referred to).

  We promised ourselves back in October, after Johnny helped Dad 'close'  The Cabin for winter, that we would go. Just make it happen.

  Go figure...we actually did. We booked the second week of June.

  Almost backed out, too. It's busy here at the gallery...lots of challenges facing us, and we'd just returned from 'you know where'  three weeks ago. What were we thinking?!? We can't leave again so soon!

  But .....but. Life is short, times are, ummm, wacky.....and who wanted to be around those days leading up to the Primaries? There were over twenty political messages on our machine when we got back!

  Run away! Run away!

  So we did. And we liked it!

  This is going to be a long post.

  So.

  

  After waking up at an ungodly hour, we zoomed our way up North in record time. I wasn't speeding, we just made a very smart choice to leave on Sunday morning, crack-o-dawn.  No traffic. Sweet. 

  Once there, we unpacked, walked around touching everything that is all important to touch, put stuff in the fridge, and settled right in.

  First things first, a quick trip to town for some vittles, etc. Then back home to spend the first evening relaxing with a glass of wine right here:

  

Sigh. Big old sigh.

  For the following days away, our routine was pretty much like this:

  Wake up early to see the sunrise, enjoy a cup of coffee in bed while reading a book, take a long morning walk, come back to get some cleaning and other chores done, have a nice bite to eat, take another shorter stroll here or there, come back to take a nap, go to the river in the hot afternoon, do a few more chores....

  Then wine, some street badminton, dinner and another walk...lastly reading and bed. And sleep like the dead.

  Ahhhhhhhh. I could get used to it, I'll tell you what.

Sunrise.
You have to imagine the sounds of a zillion birds waking up.
And the creek raging below.

  As you know, we love our morning walks, and at The Cabin, they are quite lovely.

This road. Oh, this road.
You know what I'm talking about, dear ones....

Walking past "The Water Pipe".

'Natural Landscaping' at it's best.

More natural landscaping...wow.

Mountain meadows near Hanna's Ranch.

Hanna's Ranch.

This grass knocked me out.

After turning around at the stop sign, we head on back.
Another beautiful morning walk in my life.

  Heading back that first morning, I noticed that there were loads of new trees coming up, with lots of fresh, tender growth. So nice to see this after all the years of drought.

  Both Lassen and especially Shasta, had lots of snow. Shasta is covered...all white. Yes! This is good for the forest's baby trees.....

Stumps are all around, but it's great to see
all the new trees coming along.

More babies in the forest.

Wonderful new growth!

  The last few times we have visited The Cabin, and spent actual time, it was in September. Always September. Usually for Mr. J's birthday. It's a gorgeous time to be in the mountains, and there aren't many people around.

  This time we chose to come in June, because the first two weeks of June are slow here at the gallery, and the autumn is our busy time.

  Anyway, the big surprise were all the wildflowers! Of course..it's still late spring at five thousand feet above sea level...

  Spotted on our walks:

What we call Snow Flowers are actually
'Sarcodes Sanquinea'

Meadows filled with I don't know what, but they sure are pretty.

Native Columbine make a nice picture.

This native white flowering ceanothus was everywhere...

  There was always one smoking rock dude, now there are two. These guys are big, too.

The original 'Smoking Rock'.....

...and his Jabba -the- Hut look alike brother.
I'll admit, I am responsible for this one....

  There is plenty of wildlife, though most I am unable to capture with my camera...

Always deer coming around.
There are about five or six that come by each day.

I've never seen these large and quite vocal
birds. There were these parents and two young ones.

This funny fellow puffed himself all up to scare me off.
Sorry little guy, I played with snakes and lizards all my young life.

  What a surprise to see about two or three hundred cows go by one morning!

  They do this cattle drive every year about this time...I remember seeing this once when I was a kid. The moms and babies and two rather frightening bulls took about an hour to move on through. What fun! I can't believe I was so totally entertained watching this...

  They were making a pretty good racket, too. Lots of bellowing.

  And poop. Lots and lots of poop.

Moooovin' on by, baby.

The cowboys were cowgirls. Very cool.

  And then there was Johnny….. 

  My most dear husband is not known for his great love of the wilderness...he doesn't swim, doesn't ever wear shorts or even short sleeved shirts... no way would you catch him in a bathing suit...Not a big fan of getting all funky in the woods. But bless his heart, he went right along and was game for almost anything I wanted to do.

  Had it been up to him, we would have just kicked back with books all the live long day. 

  I get it, I just tend to revert to my ten-year-old self at The Cabin, which means..

  Go, go, go!

  Then read books when it's wine o'clock.

  So, enjoy these shots, because these don't happen often!

Umm, yes, those are Crocks.
They belong to someone else, of course.
Ranger Apodaca!

Please don't fall in, love...you don't swim.

Oh, yes he did.

Ahhhh. Now this is more like it!

He does enjoy the BBQ, thankfully.

  So, yeah, we do bring it down a notch come evening. We like to relax after a game of street badminton with a glass of wine and just enjoy the sounds of the forest.

  Dinner is done outside, on the grill.

  Vegetarian, of course.

Freeform pizza. Oh joy!.

Margherita. Tasty.

Dinner with a view.

Another night, another pizza..
This one is grilled red onions and mushrooms, with zucchini and fontina.

Sides of grilled scallions and romaine.
Oh, yes please.

Grilled corn, zucchini and red onion salad
with avocado bread and grilled seitan.

Why we walk miles and miles every day.

  

  

 We eat, we walk, we do some chores, and then we play at the creek. 

  Although it's really a river in June, I must say. Wicked fast and wicked cold.

That's Mt. Lassen back there.

When we were kids, we'd fish for trout in these nearby rivers.

Another view I dream of, often.

  There are lots of spring bloomers at the creek, too.

  Who knew?

  I was just cruising along when I came across this odd and fascinating scene, below….

  Look close at the near bottom center of this shot. I've never seen this before.

Ooooooh!
Just dancing in the wind.

  Because I'm me, and I like to play in the water (even when it's freezing because it instantly cools you down), I find things to create. This time it was another 'Red Damn', ala Andy Goldsworthy.

  I had to stay in the shallows, because the creek was big and fast and cold.

  It's fun to look for rocks along the banks that will show red when they are wet. Then it's just a matter of spending a few hours putting them together in a nice way.

  Plus, it's a great way to stay cool in the hottest part of the day.

  And try to get a little nut color going on my pearly white legs.

Finito!
 This will only last a moment, but maybe my brother Rich and family will see it before it's gone.

 




Well, what else can I say. I love The Cabin. I love all it stands for, which is fifty plus years of memories for me, and I will try my best to get back sooner this time.
  Which is what I always say, but never seem to do.
  Maybe now is the time.....

Watching the sun go down.

Looking up at the trees I have looked up at for decades.

  I mean, if right here and right now isn't the perfect time to just decompress at The Cabin, I don't know when is.
  I'd say we'll be back before the year is out.
  Who wouldn't want this?

  Peace Out for now, Dear Cabin.