After Tuesday’s long day of driving around Yellowstone, I decided to stick closer to home the rest of the week. Enjoyed having time to read, meditate, hike and spend time walking the labyrinth. Every afternoon there are thunderstorms and it is so much fun to sit outside listening to the booming thunder, watching lightning forks and rain sheeting down. It is such a thrill to watch, the best nature show there is and I’m so grateful that I get to be here and enjoy it.
On Wednesday night the Cody library hosted a show called The Legacy of Wyoming. A group of four musicians played a variety of instruments – guitars, a couple of different types of banjos, violin, bass ukulele. They sang songs and told stories about the history of Wyoming with an accompanying slideshow. It was really enjoyable, very interactive, and I learned a lot. I knew that Wyoming had our nation’s first national park in Yellowstone. But I didn’t realize that Wyoming was the first state to give women the right to vote, in 1869, many decades before women’s suffrage was granted throughout the entire country. Wyoming was also the first state to allow women to serve on juries and elected the first female Governor. Very impressive, especially for a state that comes across as very cowboy and masculine. I was curious about Wyoming’s size both in terms of population and land mass. There are just over 575,000 residents, Cheyenne the capital is the biggest city with just over 63,000 residents. I compared that to Contra Costa where the population is pretty much double that for the entire state of Wyoming, wow! Wyoming is the least populous state, but the 10th largest in terms of landmass. No wonder people were up in arms when houses were being built on 20 acre lots and they called it suburban sprawl. Everyone is used to a lot more space around here!
I’ve done a variety of chores this week – watered plants, weeded the labyrinth, helped take apart and store the raised bed screens, cleared out the old hay, cleaned bathrooms, dusted shelves, made beds, folded sheets and pillowcases. It’s usually been less than 2 hours of work a day, not bad in exchange for a free place to stay in a beautiful location.
Erin and I found a jigsaw puzzle in one of the houses the other day and laid it out on our dining room table. We’ve spent the last three nights intently, and often silently, working away at the puzzle, with the occasional exclamation of ‘Yes!’ when pieces come together. It’s a similar style of puzzle to the ones I did when I was stuck inside for Covid, but instead of featuring flowers or birds, this has cacti, very appropriate for where we are. It’s been a lot of fun to have someone around who enjoys many of the same things that I do.
Today we were joined by a new work-awayer, Lisa, a young woman in her mid-20s from Germany. She’s been traveling to different parts of the world for the last year, most recently spending time in Oklahoma and Texas. She is very happy to be back to an area that has mountains, as she grew up in a small mountain town near Cologne. She has had several work away experiences, many at places that rescue horses, which is her passion. I am looking forward to getting to know her while she’s here. It’s fun having that different kind of energy that you get from young people. God, I sound like an old fogey!
I tend to be a more solitary person, I enjoy time to myself, I like many solitary activities, I love to travel by myself and make my own schedule. But I also like spending time with other people and I know I need to do it more often. I have to push myself out of my comfort zone and the make an effort to be more social.
I reached out on social media late last week, asking people to connect me to to older women who have made significant changes in their lives so I can talk to them about their experiences. I’m contemplating writing a book, but mainly I am just interested in learning from them and talking to them about what they’ve done, how they did it and what impact those changes have made on their lives. It has been so wonderful to reconnect with folks and the support I have received has been incredible. I am looking forward to seeing many folks in person when I get back to the Bay Area.
