End of the Year

December has been a happening month. We visited my aunt and uncle in the Santa Rosa area, visited a friend in the Chico area, and then hosted Jack's folks for the Christmas holiday. Now, with New Year's Eve on the horizon, we're possibly hosting some trail crew friends but will otherwise keep it pretty low-key. Jack has said no visitors in January, and I'm actually looking forward to having a bit of a social break. Although no visitors doesn't mean no traveling, and some of that may happen.

These last few days it has been beautiful and sunny, but there's snow predicted in the forecast for early next week. If it happens, we'll have been lucky enough to be in Crescent City for a rare event. Depending on who you talk to, it sounds like the last time there was snow on the beach was around a decade ago. Figures that this winter would be so cold the year I decide to buy a bunch of winter garden plants. ::sigh:: At least I mulched, and so far only a couple things have wilted.

I can't help but get extra retrospective right now since we recently had the life-changing job offer from Stanislaus National Forest and that means we will be moving come April. We drive around town and view everything as if it could be the last time - elk in the meadow by our house, sunsets over the ocean, roads with very little traffic. Yet I'm also starting to get excited dreaming about what may come. What will my new job be like, what kind of home will we live in next, what new trails will I be able to hike? I think I am most excited about the relative closeness of my former life in the Eastern Sierra. I am already planning a meet-up with one of my many friends for a hike, and I'm sure I will make it over to Bodie at least once or twice over the course of the summer.

Things are about to get very busy for me. Now that I have a student position, the goal is to finish my degree as quickly as possible so that I can hopefully get converted to permanent and then be able to start moving on with my career. That means that instead of doing one course at a time, I will now be taking two. Not too big a deal during the winter, but come summer that will certainly require me to be extra focused with my time. At least for the brief two months that is the summer semester.

In some ways I regret shaking things up so badly - when I applied for this position I really didn't think I would get it. On the other hand, I feel a wave of relief because getting this position has helped to rid myself of that horrible stuck feeling that I've had this year. As hard as it is to move after being in a place for 2 1/2 years, I really think that this should be a good thing for us overall.

Alright, I'd better get to bed - I've been trying to get to bed on time and workout plenty (and in a variety of ways - gym, yoga, swimming, walking, skating, depending on the weather), plus reading and other free-timey things while I'm on break between semesters. In mid-January things are going to pick up for me again and then it will be school and moving and transitioning to a new job... hopefully it all goes well! But for now, it's good night.

Until next time!

One trip down, one in progress

Fallen leaves atop a stream.

October is a month of travel for me. In the entire 31 days I will have been home for 7 and some change. First was a visit at the end of September and beginning of October to Sequoia to visit Jack and catch up with Trail Crew family and other parkie friends. It was the perfect time to be there: the weather was fine and autumnal, the tourist levels were relatively low, and the fall colors were filling the canyons with extra beauty.

I did a little bit of hiking, though perhaps not as much as I had planned. I took a short hike up the Tokopah Falls Trail and saw a little water in the falls yet, and took a dip in that fork of the Kaweah river (Marble Fork, I think).

Ants in a chunk of bee hive.

 My other hike was a good haul up to Crystal Lake in Mineral King - about 11 miles roundtrip, and lots of uphill! It was a beautiful fall morning, and sunny, but unfortunately after I took a dip in the lake an autumn breeze kicked up and froze my hair into icicles. Oops. I started hiking right away to keep warm but definitely felt it! I suppose October is a bit late to be swimming in alpine lakes over 8000 ft in elevation. Mineral King Valley is one of the places where there's aspens - it's actually a lot more like the Eastern Sierra in the way it looks. And those aspens were golden and glowing in the sun when I was up there - absolutely beautiful.

Crystal Lake

Mineral King Valley

Mineral King Valley

Hole in the Wall

 One of the days Jack and I went to Kings Canyon to Hole in the Wall, where the trail crew there has their home base, and he cooked dinner while I hung out and played music with the folks there. We slept out under the stars (so beautiful) and I woke up to the sunlight spreading over Hole in the Wall - a beautiful and peaceful sight.

At the end of Tokopah Falls Trail

 And now I'm in Moab, after a very brief stint home, and apparently I got a bit overstretched because the two nights of less-than-optimal sleep during travel out here nipped me in the butt and I came down with some sort of flu as soon as I got here. So again, not as much hiking as I hoped, but I'm enjoying just being in Moab and exploring around town. The library here is gorgeous, and there's lots of cool bike/hike trails that go under the roads so you can pop up in different places around town. There's a pool in her neighborhood and I've gone swimming a couple times; there's a rock wall traverse right around the corner and I've climbed around on that a couple times. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be up to a little longer hike(/bike combo?) where Alyssa drops me somewhere on her way to work at Arches.

Which, yeah, I haven't seen yet. Hahaha! Hopefully I'm feeling more energetic soon that I can explore the famous arches before I leave! Eek!

But honestly the biggest goal in all of this is to not get Alyssa sick. I'm pretty much quarantined to my room (and private bathroom) and one chair in the living room. I'm not allowed in the kitchen at all. She's taking immune boosters and regularly wiping down things that she's touching, and I'm taking immune boosters and regularly wiping down things that I'm touching. Hopefully all this caution works out or it's gonna be a total flop of a visit!

I'm here until next Friday and then I start my trip home. On Wed/Thu we're going to go to Alyssa's house and do some hot springing (so excited!), and Friday I take a bus to Green River and twiddle for several hours until the train leaves for Reno.

Autumn Heat

I was up at 3 in the morning today. The moon and stars were beautiful outside. Got out of bed at half-past, finished packing, and hit the road by 4:30. It wasn't enough. 30 minutes later than I'd hoped, plus a 30-minute cat nap at a rest area around 7:30 and I had lost all my advantage. I drove through the first several construction zones with no or little delay, but I hit several big waits further down. By the time I got to Redding I was a full hour behind schedule. And the day was already getting hot.

Hot air, plus a hot truck with no air conditioning, with a poorly sealed clutch area that spews hot air on your legs as you drive. I tried to stop that last bit by wrapping a blanket around the gasket... it sorta worked. For awhile, at least. But the real deal-breaker was when I realized that my flouncy thin cotton skirt didn't make it into the bag. And I was in jeans. Talk about overheating.

Fifteen minutes north of Sacramento I messaged my cousin Amanda and asked if she would mind having me over. She is amazing and has always said yes and been the best host ever. This time was no exception. I really hope we can return the favor someday. Stockton was just another 1.25 hours of hot driving down the road. I stretched it to 2 hours with a quick run to Trader Joe's for some food (I never had a decent meal all day), and asked my cashier where the nearest thrift store was. In spite of scanty directions, I found it just a little ways down the street in the milieu of the city and walked in, found the skirts, found a cute, lightweight cotton skirt in my size, tried it on (just in case), wore it to the register, and purchased. It was half off. I was outta there in 5 minutes.

Now I'm enjoying the cool of Amanda and Jared's home. They're not here yet, but will be soon. The sociable cat is eying me from its perch; the scaredy cat I think I caught a glimpse of a little bit ago. I am sipping watered down limeade from Trader Joe's and have a pack of TJ's sushi in my belly. There's a salad in the fridge for later, and dark chocolate honey mints (my new favorite thing). Amanda said she's going to pick up some ice cream for us tonight. :) I think it's practically tradition that we have ice cream whenever I'm over here. Amy and I are gonna watch the presidential smackdown... I mean, debates... this evening and chill and catch up. Pretty sure it was roughly a year since I've been here. I'm curious to see how big Kyle is now!

Alright, I think I will go rinse off in the shower before Amanda gets home.

On my way up to see Jack for a week or so! I can hardly wait to see him! I'll be up in the mountains tomorrow and out of this heat, but I won't get to roll in my sweet baby's arms 'til Wednesday. I'm so looking forward to it, though, and I know he is too. Hopefully we both stay safe on those crazy mountain roads.

Until next time!

It's been a summer

Well, I clearly haven't been keeping up on my blog, and I can very much blame that on Facebook. And life in general. I've certainly been busy. Between school and work and play, watching the first two seasons of Vikings online, plus binging on wasted hours of Facebook, I simply haven't found the time to post on this blog.

So now the end is near - the end of the summer season, that is. Weather has turned fall here - much more sunshine (although none at the moment that I'm typing this), the river has gotten much chillier, and the nights are cold enough that I'm only keeping one of the two bedroom windows open when I sleep. The elk are rutting and I hear them whistling while I lay in bed in the mornings and at night.

I have some travel plans coming up. First, I'll be going to visit Jack in Sequoia National Park - something we are both looking forward to very much. We'll also be going up to a wedding for our friends Ryan and Jenna, where we'll rub shoulders with a bunch of Bodie family for the weekend. I'm looking forward to that very much, and I'm sure Jack will play along. ;P

After I get back from Sequoia, I'll be readying for a trip to Arches National Park, where a friend of mine is working. I'm taking the train there, always a pleasure, and we'll spend the better part of two weeks hiking, biking, adventuring, and who-knows-what. I have been trying to workout more - hiking, endurance/strength training, etc., so that I'll be in-shape enough to keep up like old times. ;) I'm so looking forward to time with my adventure buddy, though! It's been too long!

Speaking of buddies: it took me a year and a half, but I finally have found a friend here in Crescent City. Her name is Lihi, she's from Israel, she lives off-the-grid in a beautiful A-frame on top of a mountain outside of town. She's down for adventure (although she's not the type to hike mad miles) and we do all sorts of fun stuff around the area. She's a real go-getter, carving a life out for herself and making ends meet with an amazing and inspiring tenacity. Just the sort of awesome friend I need.

Which throws a bit of a stick into the wheel of my train of thought from the last post. I have such mixed feelings about this place. I definitely feel that I am ready to finish my time at this park, but I am finally starting to find people and places that I like in this area, which makes it harder to just pack up and go. I think next year is going to be an experiment in carving my own way, and I have a few ideas of what that could mean, but I'm not positive yet. I have a feeling we'll at least be here for one more year, though, while I experiment some other ways to make up my part of our household income. Wish me luck!

Until next time!

Restless

I believe that I have come to the conclusion that I am not happy here. My life does not feel fulfilling in this place. My work does not quicken me, and in fact I am appalled by my distaste for my surroundings. I've been having an increasingly difficult time answering repetitive questions here, and I came to an important realization: the reason that I don't like answering repetitive questions is because I don't love the things that they are asking about. My heart doesn't sing when I drive through a tree, so I try to hold back the stupidity I feel while I explain which exit to get off and how much they charge. I don't find Stout Grove to be anything overly spectacular, so I am holding myself back from rolling my eyes when people freak out that they can't get there with their motorhomes. On the other hand, I actually like Mill Creek Trail - lots of private swimming holes! - so when folks are interested in that, I am glad to tell them the tricks to find the trailhead. Boy Scout Tree Trail is halfway decent, with some pretty remarkable trees, so I'm alright answering those questions too.

So I have come to the conclusion that where there is no love for the resource, there is less regard for the visitor's love for the resource. That is to say that we don't have the same love in common. Conversely, when people show distaste for that which you love, it's hard not to take it personally. And that is why I was able to last three years at Bodie and one season at Sequoia. It's why I probably shouldn't have done a second season here at Redwood.

What now? I'm working on that, but I really don't think that we can stay here much longer.

Until next time!

A rough start...

I've been working for about a month and a half at this point, and I have to say that things have gotten off to a bit of a rough start. There have been a few issues with scheduling, there's been some issues with visitors already, and there's been two times now that my poor left knee has gotten banged up so bad that I was temporarily disabled.

Jack hasn't faired much better, I'm afraid. Limited communication with his crew lead, losing important items (his iPod got knocked into the trash by someone!), and a late start to the backcountry portion of his season. He finally got to go into the backcountry this week - good for him, bummer for me as we get very limited conversation now.

What a pair we make.

Twenty weeks to go until Jack's season comes to an end, and they can't go by fast enough for me. In the meantime, I'm busy. Busy with work, busy with school, busy with keeping house, busy with tending the garden, busy with social activities. At the moment, busy with icing my knee after it got banged up on a rock today at work. And busy reading Tending the Wild - an excellent book - much too fast so that I can write a paper on it by the end of this week. I see lots of potential in reading about Native American land management practices for my senior thesis ideas. I am thinking I will write about the changes in National Park, Forest Service, and other public lands managers' policies to reincorporate Native American cultural practices in their resource policies. My plan is to focus on this area, since I am here, and the Yurok and Tolowa tribes, and possibly the Hupa as well. It's all down the road a ways, but I can see it taking shape as I'm reading this book. It's definitely justifying a lot of the feelings that I had on the topic.

Anyhow, I'm resting tonight, since the doctor told me to take tomorrow off and rest and ice my knee. I'll have all day tomorrow to read the last 30 pages and start writing my paper, plus after work on Saturday and Sunday. For now, I'm updating this, and I'm listening to the audio theater rendition of The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien. Maybe I'll put on a movie in a little bit and go to bed.

Yes, the summer is off to a rough start. Or perhaps the winter is off to a bitter end? After all, summer doesn't really start until Tuesday... ;) Perhaps there's hope for us yet.

Until next time!

Bizzy Bee

I've been very busy lately.

Yes, it's true, I got a Facebook account again and so I haven't been posting much partly because of that. But partly not.

I finished my first semester of graduate school - got an A in my class. It's great to be learning again. In the midst of finals week, I went back to work for the summer. During my little break between semesters, I found myself working 9 days straight so that I could get 4 days off in a row in which to visit Jack. We had an excellent (albeit short) stay at a beautiful AirBnB (privately owned rental) in a little cottage on an organic farm outside the old mining town of Nevada City. It was beautiful, peaceful, love-ful, and was well worth the trip. But it was all over to fast, and then I worked a six-day week while my schedule adjusted to what will now be my usual days off.

Monday and Tuesday. Back to the same old same old.

But there are changes afoot. The lead for our district, hired on partway through last summer, has really taken her stride here and has made numerous positive and exciting changes. We now each get an awesome Osprey-brand backpack to use for roving all summer (we will return them at the end of the season). She is promoting getting us out of the office and into the woods more, more more! All the things I want to do. Today, her, Brad, and I brainstormed some of the issues we'd had with our kayak programs last year and came up with some rocking solutions. We are all pretty thrilled about giving the tours again this year, and hoping that our proposed changes will prove as awesome as we think they will be.

The garden is going fairly well. I had numerous starts that were ready to go in the ground but, after I returned from my little 4-day weekend with Jack, they all got eaten to the ground by some vicious creature. I've now started several new seeds - INDOORS. What is already in the ground though, is doing swell. I've got numerous lettuce plants that have really taken off, peas (snow and sugar), strawberries, raspberries, turnips, all harvestable right now, and all delicious! The rest of my plants are doing well: the potatoes are a jungle, the artichoke is putting on lots of big leaves.  Overall, I'm continuing to feel pretty good about the garden this year.

What else? I performed as "The Vulture", my musical alter-ego (thanks to Jack for the name which, purposefully, doesn't fit me), and have now started selling a bootleg of my debut performance online. And it's actually selling. Well, I've maybe sold 8 albums. But still! That's pretty amazing to me. I'm tickled that people like my music and that they are willing to buy it. Maybe this is the start of something viable... or maybe it'll just be a fun little creative outlet that brings in some spending money on the side. Either way, I'm excited to see where it will lead. I've been asked to play at the local brewery, so I'm working on a set list to play for them in the near future. Hopefully I can get out there before the end of the month.

I've also been going out of my comfort zone this summer. Last summer I spent so much of my time at home indoors. Well, I'm now a part of something called the "Moon Tribe Social Circle" - basically an umbrella group that my friend created to connect people who wanted to do different events with people who might want to come to them. I've gone to a couple parties, and I'm hosting "The Great Read-Out" next Tuesday, where we will read outside of the library for the entire open hours of the library, occupying this beautiful little plaza that gets very little notice in Crescent City. Hopefully we get a good turnout. This, and other ideas, I have thrown around for a long time, but now I'm taking it upon myself to see these things become reality. Staying at home in my little comfort zone bubble for so much of last summer definitely didn't make me happy, so I'm trying to bust out a bit more this summer. I don't go everywhere, and I don't go to everything, but I'm definitely a lot more socially active than I was last year, and I feel that I'm much better off for it.

Roller derby? I've been going about half the time. Between travels, school, work, and social activities, I haven't been giving it priority lately. Since we aren't bouting right now, I just don't find it super compelling to risk my body 4+ hours a week. But I can't stay away, either. I love jamming, and I want to keep up on my game so that, when I do get a chance to jam in a bout, I'm ready to rock it! :)

And well, I feel like that's about all of it - for now at least. The summer is off to a busy, busy start! Hopefully now that I've started my second semester (two months long, mercifully), and I'm on a regular work schedule again, things will fall into place and I'll get into a groove. But hopefully the fun and shenanigans with friends will continue at random throughout the months to come!

Until next time!

Spring has sprung!

It's been unseasonably warm here of late. We're still getting the odd rain shower or two, but we've been enjoying the sure signs of spring: fogless, sunny days. If the pattern holds, we'll get the summer fogs soon and I'll be wishing these sunny days back. So I've been taking advantage of it as much as possible. This week, especially, I've decided it's time to kick it into high gear and get as much done garden-wise as I possibly can. The results have been very gratifying.

Last week (or was it two weeks ago now?) I planted the first row of our vegetable garden (from left to right): sugar snap peas, walla walla sweet onions, garlic, red onion, shallot, green lettuce, purple lettuce, green beans, san marzano tomato (like a roma), mini bok choy, sun gold cherry tomato, more garlic, another sun gold cherry tomato, swiss chard, and snow peas. Phew! This was a big task, but it looks swell and I'm very excited to see things taking root and leafing out! But there's so much more to do...

The garden has begun!

I felled the kale trees this week. The four kale plants were almost as tall as I am, and had thick, woody roots balls. Their trunks were a couple inches in diameter at the base! Wow! I harvested the last of the leaves (those that weren't covered in silver aphids, anyhow), and made my first batch of dehydrator kale chips. They turned out very good - though a bit on the salty side (oops). Nice to know that I've got something else I can make when my kale grows up like crazy this year.

Kale Chips!

There was a pet project that I'd been mulling over in my brain for months: removing the herbs from the vegetable garden and scalping a little 4x5 section between the back porch and the unused propane tank base. Well yesterday, I finally did it. I scalped the grass and weeds, cut back and dug out stray blackberries (a big problem around here), mixed in some soil and amendment, and put down a few pavers for easy access to the spigot as well as the herbs. This morning, having let the soil rest overnight, I planted the many herb starts I'd collected recently (Crescent City mint, lemon thyme, sweet marjoram, sweet basil, chives, parsley) and dug up and transplanted the herbs that had been residing in the veggie garden (oregano, sage, rosemary, and thyme). It looks so swell! Not to mention that it will make for more room to grow veggies and easier access to herbs, while also giving me a little more room to plant a greater variety of herbs! I've got some seeds for green onion, dill, and fenugreek that I hope to start and plant in my new spice garden.

Herb garden!

On a side note, I've got TONS of thyme (that giant bush in the bottom right above), which I plan to cut back and dry en masse this week so that I can have it on hand and probably give it to interested friends, too.

The other big project today was creating a raised bed in one section of the garden. I cleared a spot for it a couple days ago, and today Jack helped me pick out the necessary supplies to make it happen. We brought them home and I put the frame together, Jack helped me get it level in the ground, and I filled it with some of the compost from our pile, grass clippings from the lawn, two bags of organic soil (a large percentage of which is wood chips and makes me reminisce about playing on the playground and digging in the wood chips in elementary school), and a half a wheelbarrow full of dirt gathered from the various gopher piles left around the yard - waste not, want not! I'll be letting that sit a day or two and then planting it with root vegetables. I've got seeds for beets, rutabagas, carrots, and purple-topped turnips. Hopefully planting them in the raised bed will make this year's harvest to include more long and skinny carrots than short and fat like they were last year. ;)

Raised Bed - Ready for Root Veggies!

What else? Tons of weeding to be done, and then I've got to get the rest of the garden tilled and planted. With what? Not quite sure yet... more lettuces, I'm thinking. There's some potatoes that eyed out and need to get planted before they start to mouldering. Hopefully some squashes - maybe even a golden-fleshed watermelon! I got a lot of neat, unique seeds from a friend of mine, so I've got lots of options. I definitely need to pick up a new red cabbage start - that did so fantastic last year! Plus, I'm entertaining the possibility of planting corn. I've got seeds, just have to decide if I've got the space or not to make it viable. Well, I've got plenty of indoor tasks that I want to get done today, so I'd better get back to work. It's a bit on the warm side today (a whopping 70*), so I decided to stay indoors for a couple hours and then I can go back outside when it starts to cool off again to work on the weeding.

Turning towards spring

The weather here is definitely starting to shift. Granted, we're still having plenty of rainy days, and the temperature has still taken a turn toward the colder end of the spectrum from time to time. But the sunlight is lasting longer each day, and the overall temperature seems to be gradually warming, even as the overall sunniness of the days seems to be increasing bit by bit.

I have taken a temporary "Leave of Absence" from roller derby: to work on my graduate studies, to spend time with my husband, and to work on my personal life. To that last effect, I have made several new friends, have started doing yoga with folks outside of my home, and have enjoyed hanging out with like-minded, outdoorsy people with whom I feel I am clicking quite well. It's very exciting, and bodes well for this coming summer that I will not feel quite so alone when Jack goes back to work. We got his start date: 18 April this year. Less than two months to go. It saddens me to think of it, but I am grateful for all the time we have together, and I am hoping that the summer will be positive and full of life and love regardless. Not to mention that I know it will make his homecoming that much more sweet once again.

The permanent job at Redwood NP flew at the end of January and I applied, but I haven't heard if I'm on the list yet, let alone any further information. I keep waiting with my fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Especially now that I have made some new friends, I find myself that much more eager to have a permanent position here and settle down. I really do feel that we could make Crescent City our home if we had the means.

Checking in on my goals:

1. Be happy: new friends = giant increase in my happiness level. Among other things, I feel like my base level of happiness has increased, overall, and that's a very encouraging thought.

2. Waste less: I don't know that there's anything to report here. We have been trying to use up the canned goods that I jarred over the course of the summer instead of purchasing things from the store, so I suppose that's a type of waste avoided.

3. Create more: I've been knitting up a storm, as well as crocheting, and more recently: I started working on my book again. You know, that "one" that I've been trying to write for at least a couple years now. The Bodie section was holding me up, and I finally realized that I was struggling because I couldn't separate my story from my nature writing. So I went back, deleted the whole section, and started rewriting it, beginning with an admission that I was having a hard time with this part of the book. Since then, I've written several pages and made some great progress, I believe, in the book. There are so many drafts floating around - I will have to at some point go through and verify that I have everything I want in there, but for now I have chosen the draft on my computer and have reformatted it and started adding on from there. I figure that the painstaking work of comparing drafts would only set me back at this point: I need to write while I have the inspiration. Hopefully I will be able to make a good plug toward the finish. At this point, I have over 60 pages of writing and still the rest of my "West" section (Bodie, with additions of Arizona and other western travels possibly in the mix), and my "Desert" section (exclusively Big Bend). I'll be pleased if I can get up to 100 pages with my current formatting. Once I'm done, I'll read through side-by-side drafts and see if there's anything else I need to include (or reinclude) before reading through the single draft as a whole. It's kind of exciting to realize that I'm beyond the halfway point with this book, and there's so much potential that I might finish it if I keep plugging away at it this year. Possibly there's still time enough that I could finish the rough draft before I go back to work this summer! Wouldn't that be a hoot?

4. Make a record: still on hold. I have begun to think about where I might find studio time, but I'm starting to think that maybe it would be best to hold off until next off-season. (Although, if I get a permanent position there will be no such thing...) The thought being that maybe I should get a little bit of a following by playing around town and whatnot and then introduce my album and hopefully get better sales that way. Strategy. ;P

5. Be a good student: so far, so good! I do have my first exam due by the end of this week, but so far my first paper and my discussion posts have all garnered good grades!

6. Read more: definitely a lot of reading going on with school. But I have managed last week and this week to read a little more of 1491 (not a required course reading), so that's been good. I also started reading my Edward Abbey books (starting with "Desert Solitaire") for my final paper. Granted, they're technically for school. But... they are also a wily way that I have gotten my school reading and my personal interest reading to combine. :)

7. Embrace movement: some days are better than others. I definitely cut back on a lot of movement by taking a break from twice weekly roller derby practices. But I have gone skating on my own around the neighborhood, and I have been fairly regular with yoga (both at home and with friends). I even went for a couple hikes. Hopefully I will keep taking advantage of the sunny days when they happen and I won't let myself lose the momentum that I've been garnering. Actually, reminding myself that this is one of my 2016 goals through typing up this blog post has rekindled my desire to get out there and achieve! :)

Look at all those smiley faces... I am definitely making progress on goal number 1. :)

Until next time!

End of the Month Check-in

We're home again after a week-and-a-half trip to SoCal to find a car for Jack and collect (most of) his stuff that was still down there. We were successful on both accounts. I got to visit with my friends Cecile and Roger (and their new puppy Cornelia), and I attended derby practices for a team in my in-laws' town and in L.A. area. The former was really awesome - 18 people skated practice and we were doing drills and did a quickie scrimmage at the end. So much fun! It reminded me what I like about derby. The L.A. one was a drag - apparently a newbie practice, and without any real drills or anything happening. I guess most of them weren't full contact, so there was no practicing anything that involved hitting. They didn't even bother to lay out a track... so I didn't stay long, and I regretted wasting my time/gas driving out there when I could've gone to a different team's practice that I'm pretty sure would've been legit. Oh well. I just wish they would've communicated to me that this was a newbie learn-to-skate deal instead of a real practice for full-contact skaters - but then again, the chick who was running the show kept talking to me like I wasn't full contact, so maybe that's why they didn't bother to tell me.

I also got to go to a skate shop in the Valley that had tons of selection and I bought some outdoor wheels so that I can skate outside now... well, when it's not raining, anyway.

It feels good to be home. Jack is deep-cleaning the kitchen. I am trying to tidy up the other spaces in the house, and alternating with doing my homework assignments - lots of reading! I'll have to write my first paper by the end of next week, then I'll really feel like I'm back in the student realms again!

Derby practices here have reminded me of everything I dislike about derby, unfortunately. Largely, I am losing my interest in our practices. So few people are coming we can barely do any real drills, I feel like my skill level is going nowhere fast, and I'm sick of just going around and around and around in circles with no real goal in mind. I miss having a coach, I miss having eight people or more at a practice. I can't help but feel like I invested all this time and money towards reaching a goal, and now that I'm ready to grab it, it's just gone. Everybody else has good memories of bouts and teams to fall back on. I don't have any of that, just a dwindling hope that maybe I'll get to play in a bout someday before I die. I've already sustained two injuries that have proved to have long-term consequences, I've spent probably around $300 on gear, and paid my monthly dues for 10 months - another $200. For that much I could've just bought that mountain bike I'd been wanting and be tearing it up on the old logging roads and minding my own business. I had hoped, too, that derby would lead to hanging out with new friends. I don't know what the deal is, but the few times I've tried I've been flaked on, and I don't have the energy to try more than a few times. So needless to say, that hope has been pretty well dashed too.

So I'm considering putting The Rogue Ranger to rest for awhile. Maybe she'll come out again if we move to a place with an actual, functional team. Or if NCRD has some miraculous recruitment and gets back up to a realistic number again. But I honestly don't know how many more weeks of this I can take.

On a bright note - as Jack reminded me - I get to go to my Friday crafting group for the first time since I started work last summer! I'm so excited to see those ladies again. I'll have to wear the cardigan I made for the wedding, and maybe I ought to put a few wedding photos on my phone to share. I'm going to knit myself a pair of new slippers because all of mine are falling apart right now. I just ordered yarn for a sweet cardigan pattern, too, so that'll be the next project and judging by the pattern it'll be tricky enough to keep me entertained for awhile! I just finished knitting a pair of fingerless gloves (for the first time!) for Jack - he likes them and will supposedly wear them to keep warm, but I guess the weather's too fine tonight because I can see them sitting on the chair across the living room. ;) Anyway, they turned out real cute and I'll have to put up a picture of them when I get a chance.

Well, the night is wearing on, and I ought to shower. I skated 50 laps at my solo practice tonight and then did Day 19 of Yoga Camp. I've fallen very far behind in that, but hopefully will get back on track now that we're home and not moving around so much. I'd like to finally check out one of the local yoga studios next week, too. It's been so long since I've had an instructor-led class - October in Sequoia I went to one of my friend Tara's classes, but the last one aside from that was probably last January... eesh.

How are my goals doing so far? Create more is definitely thriving; so far I'm being a good student; embrace movement has been doing so-so, but hopefully will iron out now that we're home from our trip; read more is being consumed by grad school reading assignments; and be happier is doing alright overall, but as you can tell is hitting a bit of a road block with regards to derby at the moment, so we'll see where that goes. Waste less is so-so, and make a record? Well, I've been giving a lot of thought to which songs... but I'm definitely feeling like that's on the back burner now that I've started grad school. We'll see if I can carve out some time for that next week since (as I keep saying) we're not traveling anymore for awhile.

Until next time!

Goals for 2016

Happy new year!

I haven't updated in awhile. Over a month. My bad. But have no fear, things are going well. It's just been busy - the wedding, the holidays, hosting friends and family. I have been feeling a bit swept up lately, though, and I figured I ought to take the time to reflect and make some goals for 2016.

1. Be happier. Straight forward enough - perhaps it should say "be content". I did a lot of pining over the summer last year, not to mention I was all moody during the previous winter... so this year my number one goal is to be happier with what is and accepting of it. After all, my life is pretty awesome, even when my husband is far away with only a sat phone and letters to keep us connected. I've also noticed that my patience was wearing a bit thin in 2015 - I definitely need to cultivate a thicker skin (equanimity, a quiet spirit) this year.

2. Waste less. Particularly with regards to food. I've been doing better, but I still would like to be more on top of using things before they go bad.

3. Create more. During the summer my art was definitely on the back burner. I want to make sure that I set aside time each week, if not each day, for some sort of creative activity, be that sewing, painting, knitting, writing, music, or whatever else I can come up with. And speaking of music...

4. Make a record. That's right: I think this is the year. This off-season, I want to get serious about getting into a studio and getting an album made. I've got some good stuff, and enough of it, and I want to get it out there.

5. Be a good student. Why? Because I'm going back to school! I've never really not been a good student, but since I haven't done it in awhile, I figured it would be prudent to put that on my goals.

6. Read more. Isn't this always on my list? I suppose it comes and goes in spurts - in an equal and opposite reaction to my computer usage, to be sure. I did alright last year, but I'd like to tackle a lot more pages in 2016. Of course, I will be starting masters courses in history, so that'll probably evoke a lot of reading on its own. But I'm hoping I'll be able to continue my personal reading besides to keep things interesting!

7. Embrace movement. 2015 involved a lot of sitting around. Too much, really. In order to achieve everything I've already listed, I need to get off my butt and get moving! Not just sitting in front of my computer (or that blasted iphone that Jack convinced me to buy) and getting nothing done. In particular, I'd really like to get in the habit of doing yoga every day (or most days, anyhow) and also of going for a walk most days. At least in the summer when it's nice out. Not having park lands right outside my door (because 1.5 miles is sooo far...) has really cut back on the amount of time I spend walking around in the great outdoors. I want to get out more, hike, bike, swim in the river, and whatever else this summer! For the winter: I definitely need to be doing yoga every day, and taking advantage of sunny days when they come.

So there you have it: my goals for the new year. I'll try to check in on them periodically and let you know how I'm doing.

For No. 7, Embrace Movement, I've signed up for #Yogacamp with Yoga with Adriene for 30 days of free yoga videos to kick off the new year. I did this last year too, and I definitely kept up with my yoga for awhile. Hopefully this year I'll keep up with it even longer.

For No. 3, Create More, I bought a new watercolor journal and started my first painting of the new year today. It's got a ways to go, but it's starting to look like something... :)

For No. 1, Be Happier, I am continuing reading "Jesus Calling", the daily devotional that I purchased over the summer, and I'm considering doing some sort of "fruit of the spirit" plan (either that I find online or that I design myself) to help me strengthen some of those more positive aspects that I feel have been a bit wimpy in my life this past year.

For No. 6, Read More, I think I'll finish typing this blog post and go pick up my copy of "1491" and do just that.

Until next time!