Booty

River booty. I am river rafting down the Salmon River. The perfect trip. My husband, three of my four children, solitude, nature and someone else cooking the meals. One of the river guides is a muscular, handsome sixteen year old whom my six year old daughter has attached her self to. When given the chance, she snatches from his head a wonderful faded, khaki, safari hat. Perfectly worn, the combination of sun, water and wear, I understand why she goes for the hat. Or is it really theboy? Last day of the trip, we are docked, unloading and saying good-bye. My six year old is wearing the worn khaki safari hat. "Hey," I say, "give that back to John." John hears me but he wants her to have it. I insist that he take it back, but off he paddles, "It's river booty."

Beach booty. There is a long stretch of isolated California beach between two points of civilization, high-priced condominiums and a campground. One morning, a patch of turquoise blue catches my eye while running the beach. I turn around and pick up the sand encrusted bag. I wipe it off and find a soft suede pouch that reads Tiffanys. No way. Savoring the possibility of its contents, I keep running as fast as my imagination. Is it a large diamond, an emerald studded bracelet? A scorned lover's note is inside; she has reclaimed her independence by tossing his gift into the sea. There's a beautiful bracelet inside but the real jewel is the note.

Road booty. One morning I am home with a project of stapling six hundred pages. I don't have time for this but it has to be done. My first whack at the stapler and the staple emerges crooked and weak and the stapler is jammed. I pry it open to discover there are no staples. Still in my pajamas, 7:45 in themorning, I am driving my daughter to school. I pass in the road a shiny object that looks like a…no it couldn't be. I back up and closer to the shiny object, open the car door and lift with awe and reverence an office quality, brand new stapler full of staples. It's hard to imagine how a stapler landed here this morning; someone will miss it but if I leave it in the street it will be smashed unusable to anyone.

Give-Back Booty-Another beach walk, another day. I find a cap, dirty, filled with sand, Cayman Islands is embroidered on the front. I lovingly wash the sand out. It fits my head perfectly and has been worn to perfect softness. It is my favorite hat for years. One day, on a boat ride off the coast of Belize, the boat unexpectedly picks up speed and the hat is whipped from my head. I watch it fade into the wake. Easy come--easy go; hopefully, someone is feeling lucky.

The Discovery Channel--Live!

As we left the overly-abundant opulence of Hearst Castle, we made an unexpected discovery. There are no advertisements, no discount tickets, just a fascinating brush with nature. On Pacific Coast Highway 1, just 7.7 miles from San Simeon is a small stretch of beach named the Piedras Blancas Seal Rookery. It is a year round home to California’s enormous, Dr. Seuss looking, elephant seals.

Our arrival was mid-July; my husband and I were drawn to the northern California coast to drop our daughter off at EFY Santa Barbara, do some ocean kayaking and visit friends in Santa Cruz.

We pulled off the highway, enticed by a small sign announcing the rookery. Would we really be able to see, in their natural environment, a herd of elephant seals? We were joyously greeted with the sight and smell of hundreds of these sometimes-5000 pound beasts.

The Northern Elephant Seal or Mirounga angustirostris migrates thousands of miles twice a year to this small stretch of protected beach. Yet, there is year round activity and like all courses of nature, there are seasons for breeding, birthing, molting and even a male-dominance contest season. Our mid-July discovery was molting season, yet there were seals of all sizes including pups. We witnessed several sea battles though they seemed to be practice sessions.

Unless you are a die hard, wild animal-nature lover, the Piedras Blancas is not a Disneyland, a fabulous beach destination,-- nor a drawing card of its own. But it is one part of several that make a great vacation. Next: Santa Cruz Island or Channel Islands National Park.

Honestly, everytime I open up a well packaged box and find foam and cardboard used to protect the merchandise, I get a thrill.
My thoughts are, "This would make a great Barbie bathtub!" Look at the photo above: it looks like a faux stone barbie garden bench. The photo below would make a great hot tub!

Every Man Is Still A Little Boy

Little Thoughts on a Sunday Morning

Sunday morning on NPR there was an interview with evangelist Jim Wallis. I was moved by his quote, "hope is believing when there is no evidence and watching the evidence change." (It may be paraphrased). I am thankful for thoughts that provoke my contemplation. I realized that the evidence may not be what changes but our perception or our mind and heart's willingness to accept the previous unacceptable.

As I drove down the hill Sunday morning, I remembered the snowstorm the day before when my car couldn't make it up the hill. I didn't have the necessary 4-wheel drive to make it. My life is like climbing hills and my lack of 4-wheel drive was a moment of clarity that made me want to always have the right tools to climb the steep hills. Some of those tools are: prayer, scripture reading, love, humility...

A Donkey In The Kitchen Cupboard

My generous mother and father had the woodcarver make this nativity set. The last few years it has sat on the living room coffee table. My two and then three year old grandson would go into the living room and play with the pieces. I emphasized that he needed to be gentle with the woodcarvings and his nature was to comply. The set is so large that I wouldn't have noticed if a piece was missing, but weeks after my grandson played with the set, I opened a kitchen cupboard and found the donkey. I giggled and giggled and told everyone about it. What was his little mind thinking?
It's been two years and besides being a beautiful work of art, the nativity set has tremendous value because, 1) it is a treasured gift from my parents and 2) my continual delight from the memory of my grandson putting the donkey in the kitchen cupboard.
Only once or twice, but admitted with shame, I tried to clean up the clutter in a daughter's bedroom without her. I was indiscriminate as to what had to go and what stayed. I didn't take into account what objects had value because of my daughter's experience with the object: where or whom it came from, or how it came into her possession. When I tackled clutter with my daughters, I was always surprised what was allowed to stay or go.
This came full circle when I visited an aquantance's new home. The woman has a beautiful new home that she has decorated with objects that are old, worthless and distracting from the decor of the home. But it was what she values-neither I nor any visitor to her home understands the story behind the plaque or the dime-store painting. I finally understood that beauty is indeed in the eye and the heart of the beholder.

Imaginary Christmas Gifts

Inspired by Christmas lights this evening, I was taken back to Christmas 2004. Our gift to our family was ten days on Anini Beach, Kauai. It was understood that presents would not be exchanged.

On the eve of Christmas, we roasted hot dogs and s'mores on the beach, decorated a fallen branch and hung stockings (anklets and sports socks) around the coffee table. Each person was instructed to give each other two gifts that would be described on simple squares of paper. The first gift was something you could buy but was unlimited by cost. You could give a gift worth millions or even billions. Some of these gifts were: a fleet of airplanes for a business, unlimited travel to any and all destinations, an island, etc. The second gift could have no physical constraints and was something that could not be purchased with money: a cure for diabetes, healthy curly haired children, a gift of scripture knowledge, peace and contentedness, etc.

Were traditional gifts missed? No. Not on a Hawaiian beach. We learned what we value and what our family members value. Preeminent was that we valued each other.