Please RSVP

I respectfully decline the invitation to join your hallucination. ~Anon.

Finally! A phrase I can use. I cannot tell you how many people I wish I had told this to or how many will hear it now. Some people live in a rose colored fog. Swirling with pretenses and fabrications of their mind. I, well, I prefer to not harsh my mellow and rather like to presume my standard M.O. is more like a somewhat down to earth opaque mist. I'm not afraid to admit that my skies are not totally clear. However, there are plenty of delusionals around and now I have a polite way of avoiding the entrance of their mindtrap. I'm happy here in my little world. Not every day is good, not every day is chill. Some days the planets are just not in alignment and the whole universe is out of whack. But more often than not, I sit in a happy medium. Content and thankful for NOW. I will not be burdoned by missteps of the past or fail to appreciate lessons learned. Nor will I lose sleep over future unknowns (I like to sleep too much). So, sorry, but I won't be joining the madness.

Princess Shoes

Miss Ruby turned 4 last Wednesday. In honor of her birthday, her parents threw a little sha-bang complete with bbq'd hot dogs, cake and berries smothered in cool whip, a kiddie pool and 8 rambunctious little munchkins - including a set of triplet girls. Luckily for the parents and adults, a cooler full of micro-brews were provided along with Jenny's famous potatoe dish. As we adults chatted and got our buzzes on, the kids ditched their clothes and took dips in the pool alternating sliding down the slide with their naked little butts. Finally dad called them in, made them get dressed (only some complied), and fed them dinner.

After cake, it was time for presents. Of course Ruby delighted in each and every present. But who knew that at a 4 year old's little girl's birthday party that Princess Shoes would be the hit of the night. Ruby opened that last present - a large flat box that contained an eight-pack of princess slippers. I always thought only beer and cigarettes came in packs. Once the word got out what resided in that box, every little girl and the one little boy snatched up a pair of slippers and ran inside to try them on with Ruby's little collection of princess dresses. Soon all the girls were parading through the house in full on princess gear. Even little Trey got into it. Who said little boys can't be princesses! Apparently, it's quite natural when there's a big sister in the family that the little brother adores dressing up and wearing pink.

While the munchkins were in princess land, the backyard now devoid of kids became adult playland. Well, ok, more like man land. The pool was dumped, toys put away and the yard was cleared. In place was a rigged basketball court - a plastic kids basketball hoop mounted atop the kids jungle gym. The men were all lined up around the 'court', tossing a small soccer ball into the net, hootin and hollarin as they played horse.

I know now, how to properly entertain kids and men. Rule of thumb - be sure you always have an 8-pack of princess slippers in the house and plastic basketball hoop in the backyard. Don't worry about a ball, the guys will figure something out.

You Do Not Have To Have Teeth To Camp

Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong. ~George Carlin

It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent. ~Dave Barry

So, I'm telling you, the campsite we reserved for this weekend was the crappiest campsite we've ever seen. We got site 13, lucky number right? Wrong. Very unlucky indeed. Site 13 is one of 31 sites at this campground that was smack dab in the middle of 30 back country toothless campers on hiatus from the backwoods. The sites were so close together you could watch your neighbor sleep from your tent. To make matters worse, when we checked in, the large motumbo woman with the raspy voice and lisp from missing teeth, told us 'not to be afraid of the bunnies. They love it here. In fact, the store across the street even sells packages of bunny food but of course, they are happy to eat anything we give them.' My heart sank. How were we going to quietly set up camp and chill while our 3 dogs were murdering the camp friendly bunnies one by one?

Instead, we opted to head to the beach for a few hours and forget about the nasty little campsite we had awaiting us. We took a little snoozer on the beach while the dogs, tied on long tethers to a large piece of driftwood, tried to dig to China in the sand and had contests on who could mark on the driftwood the most. Then after a long walk down the beach, we went for a drive. On a whim we drove by our favorite little motel about 2 miles away where we found new owners and after a bit of chat with them, discovered to our delight they had 3 empty campsites behind the motel, complete with grass, wood, fire pit, bathrooms and showers - and no bunnies. Without hesitation we paid for the site and began setting up camp - to heck with the other joint! We tethered the dogs and let them roam the grass and chew on the firewood. We did end up getting one neighbor camper family next to us - definitely from the backwoods and missing a few teeth. But they were friendly enough and kept their distance. Funny thing was, we only had a two-man hiker tent - not big enough for 2 humans and 3 big dogs. We had borrowed our friend's two-man tent so we set up both tents next to eachother and split up at night, each of us with a dog or two.

When we arrived back in town, it was unusually hot and muggy, unlike the cool breeziness from the beach. Well, why not extend the fun so we set up the tent in the backyard, complete with a fire, beer and music. We fell asleep late with the dogs resting peacefully just outside the tent. A few hours late into the night I woke up to raindrops falling through the tent skylight. We scrambled to put the cover on and went back to sleep only to wake up a couple hours later in the blistering suffocating sun. Our bodies and sleeping bags were drenched in sweat. So much for the leisurely morning we had planned with a fire, coffee and breakfast in the backyard. We scooped up our gear and fled for the inside of the house where we turned on the A/C and sat in front of the fans to cool off.

When you think about it, camping is a funny thing. It's ironic that we leave our comfortable urban lives to eat hotdogs and chili, use smelly latrines, and sleep a few nights outside on the hard bumpy ground. That's one way to look at it. Another would be that we temporarily trade in the comforts of home because we crave peace, slowed pace and a closeness to nature - our roots. Camping forces us to slow down, breath in fresh air, play games, talk to eachother and forget about the rat race. It may be hard working prepping to go and quite a drive to get there but once the tent is set up, the fire is going and the beers are open, you know it was worth all that effort. I think from now on we are going to fore-go the national park seen. They book for the whole season 9 months in advance of the summer. We may also fore-go the county campground scene as the impression it left on me is still digesting. I'm going to pull out my long lost book called 'Free campsites in Oregon and Washington' and start researching. We'll see how that pans out. Either way it happens, it's still camping even though we'll without a doubt eventually encounter the toothless back-countrymen again. And that is ok, just as long as there are no bunnies.

Miracles Seriously Do Happen Sometimes

So, last month we just celebrated our 11th year together and tomorrow is our 7th wedding anniversary. Cool huh. Well, we usually hit the beach and camp on our anniversary. This year, however, we were a little late in making plans and the campgrounds on the Oregon Coast here fill up 9 months in advance. So after calling all the sites and searching online for a whole evening, I gave up and rented us a hotel room, lower level, with a private balcony that opened right out to the sandy beach. THE only hotel that would allow 3 dogs to accompany us. Yes, that is right, this year we are bringing the dogs with us instead of dropping them off at the dog ranch beforehand.

After the hotel was reserved, I forgot about everything for a few weeks. But something was nagging at me - the cost of the hotel. It was under $160 for one night including pet fees but it WAS a beachfront room. Still it was a lot of money to spend for just one night. We're trying to be a little more thrifty during these lean times. Finally I got tired of agonizing over it and canceled the reservation. We'd just drive up to the beach for the day, run the dogs, grab some fish n chips in town, watch the sun go down, have a fire on the beach then drive home. That was fine with us. Basically we just wanted to get out of town anyway.

So today, I'm at work and a co-worker hears of our change of plans. She tells me about a campground that she just made reservations at a week ago. County campgrounds apparently do not fill up as fast as state campgrounds. I call and the host tells me they are completely booked. We chat awhile about the campground and the area and talk about how it's our anniversary. Ah well, no big deal, it was worth the try. Mental note for next time!

After work I'm walking to my car and my phone rings. It's the campground host. She says it's my lucky day, a campsite just became available. Now check this out, when I talked to her earlier nothing was spoken about a cancellation list or a call back. After thanking her profusely, I booked the sight, we packed our camping gear and are ready to hit the beach tomorrow. Miracles do happen. Things just work out sometimes. Very cool!

Nugget

Meet Nugget. Nugget Renker, soon to be a soul on a human journey. Nugget decided that the time was right and that Barb and Daryl would be it's human parents. These parents-to-be have yet to encounter the utmost beauty of a soul being born, of teaching it human existence all the while nurturing it's soul. Nugget has a reason for coming into their lives. It is going to teach us all something.

My sister Barb, in her happy place

7 weeks or so from now, Barb will be giving birth. For Barb's sake, let's just say 7 weeks and no later! My other two sisters and I will be there to assist with her first birth and to rescusitate Daryl when he passes out. Beginning next month, we will all pack a 'hospital to go' bag that will accompany us everywhere. When word comes that Nugget has decided to arrive, we will step back from our busy lives, say a prayer, grab our bags, hope for light traffic and drive down the I-5 for three hours. When the three of us reach the hospital and begin our march toward the birthing unit, we will transform from wives and mothers into tribal sisters, joining our laboring sister, all banded together by a fierce unbreakable bond of perfect synergy. Nugget will be born into the sister tribe. Nugget knew what it was doing, not only when it decided on who it's parents would be, but also who it's Aunties would be. We welcome you to the tribe, Nugget, and we are very excited to meet you.

Today, I Pray For Grace

Why must I feel like this today
I'm a soldier but afraid sometimes
To face the things that may
Block the sun from shinin' rays
And fill my life with shades of grey
But still I long to find a way
So today I pray for grace

~Michael Franti

The Hula Hula

Hula hooping is a natural skill of children. After a few tries, you get it; after a few more, you master it; after a few more, you add another hula to the hoopin'; and after a few more, you could actually join a traveling circus act with your adept hula skills.

As the sands of time fall, those youthful skills are washed away with the tides. But this weekend, high tide came and went, leaving the shore awash with hula hoops. Our family gathered them up and ever so slowly the ancient tribal dance was revived. The Hula Hula.