Now that the driveway had been plowed again, I was able to get out and went for a longer walk on the Paul Stock Trail, seeing lots of birds, including a bald eagle! The weather had warmed up considerably – I think it got as high as the low 30s, which made for very comfortable walking. In fact, some of the other people that I passed commented on how warm it felt. Lol, I guess we’d all gotten used to the negative and single digit temperatures!
On Friday night, I went to hear some live music at the Chamberlain Inn, and adorable local B&B. I had a warm and yummy spiced hot chocolate and listened to wonderful music by a very talented young woman who had been in the art class I took on Wednesday night! I didn’t recognize many of the songs as they were mostly country tunes, though she did an excellent version of Walk on the Wild Side as well as Take It Easy. I was particularly touched by the song Mercy Now by Mary Gauthier, even though it came out 20 years ago it is very relevant for today. I chatted with the couple sitting next to me as they seemed to be enjoying the music as much as I was and found out they are relatively recent transplants to Wyoming having moved from Minnesota to be closer to their only daughter who now is married and has six-month-old identical twin boys. They encouraged me to come back on other live music nights as they said that the entertainment is always excellent. It is such a treat to find things like this in a small town like Cody.
On Saturday, I checked out the local farmers market, during the winter it’s held inside the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. A good thing since it snowed Saturday morning, I’m sure people would not have wanted to set up their wares outside. As it was, it sounds like turnout was relatively low from the comments I heard from the vendors. There were only a couple of people actually selling vegetables, most of the rest had canned or baked goods, some crafts. I ended up getting a delicious sourdough doughnut and some homemade cookies. From there, I headed to Rawhide Coffee for the weekly music jam. I shared a table with a young couple for a while, and then when they left, I went to shift to the corner of the table, but was invited to join a larger group of older folks sitting nearby. They were all very friendly, wanting to know if I was new to Cody and what brought me there. Half of them had grown up in Cody or nearby, and the others were transplants who had been living in the area for 40 years or more. One woman in fact had lived in Mill Valley! Such a small world. I only had one person make a somewhat snide remark about California, I was used to that from my last visit in the spring of 2023 when the tourist season was starting to heat up. Overall, I have found everyone to be very friendly and welcoming. They all encouraged me to come back the next Saturday and sit with them again. I am hoping to do so as that will be my last Saturday in Cody. I cannot get over how quickly the time has gone. On my way out I checked out the little library in the back and was happy to see books by Irma Bombeck and Jan Caron.
For lunch, I picked up a delicious shawarma sandwich at Sitti’s Table, a beloved restaurant/grocery store in town. They are expanding into the site next-door and are going to be closed the last week I’m here so I wanted to get in and treat myself to their delicious food. I spent the afternoon getting some work done, then, having been inspired by a podcast I listened to earlier in the day, I watched the 80s movie Say Anything. Surprisingly, this was the first time I had watched the movie, even though I knew a lot about it, especially the iconic scene of John Cusack‘s character holding up a boombox playing Peter Gabriel‘s In Your Eyes. The movie came out while I was in college, and I didn’t end up seeing a lot of first run movies then unless they happen to be playing at the theater in Isla Vista, so I guess it’s no wonder I missed it. It was really cool to be transported back to high school. Cameron Crowe really captured what high school was like in the 80s. The graduation scene was eerily similar to mine, the amphitheater being almost exactly like the one at my high school. The graduation party, the outfits, the hairstyles, so many things brought back memories. Even though Ione Sky’s acting was a little stiff, I thought John Cusack nailed the emotions and ups and downs of a first love. It was a fun nostalgia trip.
I stayed at the retreat center on Sunday, playing with water coloring, then watching the first half of a movie based on Ibram X Kendi’s book Stamped From the Beginning. It is a powerful documentary about the history of how black Americans have been portrayed. I especially liked that all of the historians and other experts featured in the documentary were African-American women who so often are silenced. There was a discussion after the first half of the film, which brought forward some interesting insights. I learned about some important but not well-known African-American women slaves, one who wrote poetry and another who was the first woman slave to chronicle her experiences. I’m looking forward to watching the second half of the film and learning more.
When I was doing some work on my gap year guide in the afternoon, I glanced out the window and saw that I had several four legged visitors! This is the closest I had been to the deer who often frequent the retreat center land, they all looked pretty young and had their shaggy winter coats on. When I was doing my late afternoon walk around the labyrinth I saw the deer crossing the driveway and heading into the pastures next-door. I am really going to miss views like this.
Here are some of my thoughts during one of my labyrinth walks:
Snow sparkling on the labyrinth as the sun peaks out behind the clouds – a few snowflakes gently floating down. How I wish I could capture that sparkle in a picture, but it’s all in my eyes, the camera can’t see it. So I have to absorb and remember it myself, be out in it, rejoice. We only had maybe two inches of snow. It’s very light. but it covered up the paths in the labyrinth, and while some areas were easy to discern, others were not and I got off course a few times, blundered around, tried to figure it out, and then finally moved myself over to where the path was clearer and walked that until I got to the center. Then, having defined other parts of the path, I was able to look and see where I had gone wrong and go over and make those changes that made the path clearer. No problem, a few little bumps here and there, but I know where I’m going. I feel like I’ve got it memorized and then the next day it snows and the path is covered up again. It’s not clear and I feel lost and stumble and take wrong turns, make mistakes. But that’s okay, I tell myself, it’s all part of learning. so I now know to look for the path I can recognize and take that until I find my way or I keep moving forward and see where it takes me. I can look back and see where I made a wrong turn, sometimes I discover the turn I needed to make. Maybe it’s better that I went that different way, the unexpected path. That’s what helps us create a world full of surprises and challenges and beauty – all these different things we are trying. It shows others that there’s a different path you can take. Maybe it’s totally different from the journey I took. We’ve all got our own variation and version on the path. Nobody walks exactly the same one as anybody else. By taking a break to stop and see where we’re going, what we need to do right now, how we need to take care of ourselves and the other people who are part of our journey (which eventually includes the entire world). It’s not all about plowing ahead on what YOU want to do, even if it is something that may benefit the entire world. The journey needs to be something that you do with others, include others. That is the challenge.
