Sunny Mountain Day

Th

at's Mt. Shuksan in the background and that's David--I didn't realize he was so tall. We are looking at Mt. Baker, just finishing up a hike along Ptarmigan Ridge. You know the Ptarmigan is brown grouse-like and turns white this time of year. A camo for the winter months. We didn't see any, unfortuately.

We hiked about four miles, which is very short for David, for me--well, I'm getting used to longer hikes. I'm finding with any of these traveling hardships: sore muscles, bad weather, heavy pack, wet socks, you have to grin and bear it. Dad always said that to me as a kid, but I thought it was wrong. I've felt for some time we need to feel all our feelings. Of course, that's true when doing healing work from years of abuse, but in general, I think I've needed more of an attitude shift than anything. Yes, just not thinking about the suffering makes for less suffering. If this is true with all suffering, perhaps the goal of not thinking is what makes Buddhism work. Just meditate and keep going.

Well, just blabbing here as usual; I'm doing Pilates twice a week, probably mentioned that before, but strengthening the shoulder girdle has helped me to carry a pack and when I fell on the trail--my feet went out from under me on a slippery gravely place, I ended up in bridge pose, catching myself with one hand. I was impressed, not a sore muscle resulted from this fall. Strong core, strong shoulders, strong back--well worth the days I'd come home and flop on the couch, exhausted.

Hard work is tiring--perhaps I was just allergic to the hard work. Maybe my mama, from the south you see, taught me to be prime and proper and prissy. She would hardly venture outdoors, let alone walk in the woods where flies and mosquitoes might bite. Me, I'm an adventure girl now and I've got an adventure boy, and he doesn't stop--so either I keep up or I'm going to sit home and whine about my flabby condition. Voting for staying in shape here at 58. How about you?

We had another adventure after this one. Out in the San Juan Islands. More about that later.

Peace,

Traveling Nan