What have I been doing since I got back from the Camino? The first week was pretty much just catching up on work, both my jobs. I visited Kieran and Kourtney in their new house in Yuba City. It is such a lovely, light filled, positive feeling space. Kieran has a huge workshop in the back, they have plenty of room to park all their cars and his work truck, and room for Bentley to run around in the backyard. It’s a nice, quiet street. I’m happy for them, and they found a friend who’s going to be renting out their other house, so that’s all working out. I also looked after Winston while Emmy and Garrett were at another wedding.
The next Saturday I volunteered at Slide Ranch, which I had done a few months earlier, and I figured we’d probably be helping in the garden again, maybe I’d get another opportunity to milk one of the goats. There were about 15 volunteers, most of them a group of 20-something friends from SF who were there to celebrate one friend’s 26th birthday (I love that idea!). Because we had such a big group we ended up shoveling out the goat barn, which had many layers of hay, used to absorb all the goat pee and poo! It went down a couple of feet, and as we got deeper down, it was very wet and pungent. Everybody was good sports though and within a couple of hours, we had it cleaned out, a new compost pile created, and fresh straw put down. I felt a real feeling of accomplishment, considering I was the oldest one there! It was a beautiful day to hike over and back on the Owl trail.
I took a much needed shower after that before heading to The Junction, a local pizza place where we were holding my 40th high school reunion (it is crazy to think it’s been 40 years!). I chatted with many people I had not seen since high school. It was a weird experience being around folks that I had spent a good amount of time with, mainly in middle school and high school, but then have not been connected with for literally 40 years. Some of us had things in common – grown kids, living in other countries, et cetera. I had some of the oldest kids there, many still had children in college or just getting started in their careers, and they were a decent number who had kids in high school. I can’t imagine that, considering we’re all in our late 50s now. It was a mixed evening – some laughter and stories – also realizing some people were just as jerky as they were in high school! I’m glad I went, and it has inspired me to reach out to friends who weren’t there that I would like to catch up with. The day after I had a couple of my high school friends over for brunch, it was nice to be able to talk more intimately, and they’re ones that I see on a more regular basis anyway.
I’ve been busy getting grants submitted for one job, and handling a variety of different things for the other one. I took my mom to a meeting at the local community center to talk about road safety improvements on Marin Avenue. It is a two lane roadway, with blind curves in some parts, little extra space for bike lanes, and some areas even missing sidewalks. It was an interesting discussion. A few people were very rude and negative toward the consultant, who has no stake in the outcome, except to provide information. One guy at the end decided that he was important enough that he should speak twice, and the second time he walked to the front of the room to speak, like he was part of the committee, and mansplained what he apparently thought nobody else understood about the project. Not surprisingly, many people got up and either left the meeting or went and looked at the poster boards around the room when he was speaking. I understand where the people who may lose some of the gardens that they had established in front of their homes are coming from. But that is actually public property that they have encroached on over the years. To me it’s a safety issue, especially on a very busy stretch of road where lots of people walk their dogs, push kids in strollers, where kids and whole families ride their bikes. One person in the audience who is in a wheelchair talked about his experience taking his kids to school. Cars are driving very fast because it is a main thoroughfare.
I got to go on a fantastic camping trip with my friend Julie out at Slide Ranch with the Bay Area Ridge Trail and the No Worries Amigos Hiking Club. It was a fundraiser for the Ridge Trail, and it felt like a spa vacation (except for the fact that we had to bring our own camping gear, and hike it in a third of a mile!). But the food was all prepared for us, on a beautifully laid out table. REI sponsored one of the meals and made up a welcome mocktail. It was gorgeous and unexpectedly 80 degree weather, camping on a bluff site. We enjoyed a sunset sound bath the first night, and an evening meditation the next night. We went for a lovely hike, had great food, and met wonderful people. Such a relaxing, beautiful time.
Last week was another busy one at work, we had delicious Filipino food for lunch one day. I gave blood one day after work and got together with my friend Stacy. Oh, I’ve also been celebrating the Golden State Valkyries. They swept the semifinals after getting a playoff berth, and are in the WNBA finals and it’s only their 2nd year as a team! It was so exciting to watch their first finals game where they won at home. They lost the next two games, which were heartbreakers, especially how much they lost in the second game which Stacy and I watched at a sports bar. Sports bars are not places I normally go, but I found a great Irish pub in Walnut Creek. Getting there at 5:30 was a good time, because I was definitely one of the youngest, if not the youngest person there. It was a good spot to watch the game, not too noisy, but there were people cheering them on. By the time we left at 8 o’clock, the demographic had changed, and we were now the oldest people there!
I’ve been doing an art project I got from a reuse place in Petaluma – a bag of scrap fabric with a pattern in it for making a fabric basket. I ended up having enough fabric to make five baskets! Hand stitching was so relaxing, something I could do while watching TV with mom or listening to an audiobook, I’m so thrilled with how they look – unique and different. I volunteered at SPARE, it was great to be back with the folks there, and the satisfaction of sorting through boxes of donations and making some order.
Yesterday I volunteered at a fundraising hike for the Marin Agricultural Land Trust. I met some great people at a beautiful ranch in Point Reyes. My volunteer job was to scoop and give out free Strauss family ice cream! I also got to participate in wonderful guided meditation. It made me realize how I do not spend enough time just stopping what I’m doing and observing what’s around. I saw little spider webs floating in the breeze, and beautiful outlines of an old eucalyptus tree backlit by the sun. I smelled the sweet honey scent of recently mown hay in the sunshine. It was just lovely. I didn’t get any cell reception there, so I was anxiously waiting to hear about the latest Valkyries game, and was so thrilled to hear that they were ahead the whole time and won!! So now the series is tied two to two – I can’t wait for Monday’s game which is back at Ballhalla.
I am loving the fact that the weather’s turning colder, the leaves are changing, the sky is cloudy (amazing sunrises!) and we’ve had a little bit of rain. It was really cozy driving home from work the other day in the rain. It was nice being in my warm, dry car, and looking out at the rain, knowing how much we needed it. Hopefully, we’ll be getting more, it’s already late October and we’ve had very little rain.
.I’m so surprised it’s already been three weeks since we’ve been back from our Camino trip. It feels like the time has gone so fast. I guess it has because I’ve been busy, getting back into the swing of things with work and readjusting to being home, and having stuff to do every weekend, though luckily not, too much. I do want to do another trip like the Camino, though I was surprised when Julie and I did an eight mile hike at the Ridge Trail event, and my feet were sooo tired.