Aug09
Posted on Aug 9 by Ruth Davis
I am in Baywood Park, parked in the wide lot next to where the vendors are setting up for today’s Farmer’s Market. Pop-ups are being raised, truck beds unloaded, fruits and flowers and crocheted hats are being laid out on cloth covered tables. A cool eucalyptus scented breeze blows through the window, giving me goose bumps. While I wait for the market to officially open, I am writing and checking email, thanks to free wifi from the Merrimaker Market across the street. Before here, we parked along the bay trail on the dead end road next to Pecho By the Bay. What a perfect leash-free walk along the sandy trail that curves around the cuesta inlet. Laddy met a younger dog with similar markings. They sniffed and smelled and I can tell that Laddy is getting more comfortable with these random meetings. He romped down the bluff and waded into the water, chest high and happy. He sniffed the succulents and rubbed his face in the plants, keeping up with me the entire walk and coming every time I...
Aug09
Posted on Aug 9 by Ruth Davis
We took our first beach walk this morning. For a big girl who barely walks any distance, it was a hard, heavy breathing effort across the soft sand to the beach. But I took my time, pausing to toss the Frisbee far enough so that Laddy could retrieve it without jumping for it. After several rounds of play, I had a moment of being ready to turn around, but I reminded myself that I had all the time in the world and I could stop and rest as often as I needed to. I leashed Laddy and we continued the strenuous trek to the water. We stopped several times, to notice where we had entered the beach, to read the signs that cordoned off the dunes for the nesting snowy plovers, to pep talk my exploding calves that I could, indeed make it to the water. The sand at the water line was hard-packed and so easy to walk on, even with the clumps of sand that had gotten into my mesh water shoes and filled the area around...
Aug08
Posted on Aug 8 by Ruth Davis
I pulled out of Marika’s driveway on Wednesday morning, August 1 and arrived at Country Hills RV Park, my overnight destination in Beaumont, California seven hours later. It was a long day but relatively easy driving across the desert. I met up with my friend Kathi who lives near Beaumont and we enjoyed some delicious Thai food and catch-up conversations. Bedtime came early and Laddy and I both slept long and deep. In the morning we took a walk through the high desert, ate our breakfasts outside while we watched hummingbirds and I readied the RV for the drive the rest of the way to Morro Bay. But as I sat there in the quiet of the morning, I realized I just wasn’t up for a second day of freeways and mountain passes and six more hours behind the wheel. So I changed the plan. I decided to drive only half the way and stay overnight in Ventura where my friend Leslie lives. I had planned to camp at the nearby state park, but Leslie said I could...
Aug01
Posted on Aug 1 by Ruth Davis
I am driving today. headed west and north until I reach the Pacific Ocean and the central California coastal town of Morro Bay. Here’s a reprint of an article that is as true today as when I first wrote it. We all have bad days. You know, when everybody bugs you, when nothing anyone does is good enough, when you wish you could run away for a while, even from yourself. In an ideal world we could retreat from the world and wait for the moodiness to pass. But in this real world, how do you find your way back to your own center? I was dangerously grouchy with the world this morning. I was annoyed at the school boy riding his bike on the sidewalk instead of in the bike lane. I was short with the woman at the grocery store for talking with the previous customer when it was clearly my turn. I grumbled at the way my neighbor crookedly parked, making it difficult for me to back out. I felt like I should have had...
Jul25
Posted on Jul 25 by Ruth Davis
A week from today I will be pulling out in my 24 foot Class C motor home, headed west to explore and create the next chapter of my life. You’d think that this would be easy. I have no children, no spouse, no mortgage, no employer, no ill and elderly parent that I need to care for. There is nothing to hold me back, tie me down, nothing to keep me from living my dream. Except my own self. The only thing that can stop me are my fears, my doubts, but mostly my rules. Many people think I am spontaneous, flexible and adventurous. They think I live like a free-spirit, easily exploring new places and embracing new experiences. They are surprised to learn how structured and regimented my life really is. I wake up at the same time every day and immediately jump into the shower. It wakes me up, refreshes me, readies me for the day. I get dressed and take the dogs for a walk, pressing the on button for the coffee maker when we...
Jul18
Posted on Jul 18 by Ruth Davis
There is a space between letting go and saying yes to the next thing, between one rung on the monkey bar and the next. Often that space feels unsure, emotional, maybe even terrifying. If we breathe through it, really lean into it, yes awaits us on the other side. I feel like I’ve been treading water. In the big ocean of relocating, I’ve been in a holding pattern, getting my bearings, regulating my breathing, building muscles, stamina, waiting for the right moment to begin swimming again. I suppose I’ve needed this time to move from the uncomfortable and disappointments and frustrations of the past three months. I’ve needed space and time to unwind, regroup, to NOT make any decisions. I’ve been sleeping well, dinnering with friends at favorite restaurants and swimming every day. I’ve been catching up on a lot of behind the scenes upgrading on the Mac to School website and I’ve recorded and edited twelve new training videos that are scheduled for release in the Virtual Classroom over the next three months. And I’ve been scanning Craigslist...
