June 24, less than a week remains for my time on the coast

Well, this has been a very good learning experience. It’s an adventure, a journey, a pilgrimage. As much as I didn’t want to be in the rain so much, it turned into being what I needed at the beginning of this trip. Time to do some more self inquiry, to look for answers to questions I know that lie within my heart. Is this an adventure? 

A way seeking journey? Or an escape, a running away? Each day it feels like a different piece of those questions. And I embrace each one as it presents itself.

face rock in the distance

Another thing this has helped with is some pain in my left hip. Walking, easeful hikes, gently yoga and rest seems to have been also what I needed. As it is drying out here I am able to get my TRX strap out and begin to do more resistance training and that’s when I noticed more mobility and that the pain is mostly gone. Kind of funny how things work out without overthinking or trying so hard to fix them.

It’s also been a good reminder that things don’t always go according to the plans I make and to remain flexible with things as they change. Not always an easy thing to do.

Today, the thing I dreaded most, I discovered when I peeled the sheets off for laundry day. Mold!! Only on one end of the mattress, the foot end, and maybe that’s why. There is where the extra blankets end up and maybe trapped more moisture in than the head end where my pillows get fluffed and aired daily. Even though today is sunny and windy, there’s still a lot of humidity in the air and it’s difficult to get things dry. I did the best I can in these conditions and made some other changes that will hopefully help keep things dryer.

I did have great joy at being able to spend time with a dear friend from Green Valley. She and I met at a meditation group shortly after I moved there, and then our friendship grew when I started teaching yoga at La Posada where she lives.

Even though she is my elder, and a scholar, I believe we are mentors to each other as we move through this phase of our lives. Her dear sweet husband recently passed from this human existence. Their relationship was one of true love, kindness and compassion for each other. 

She and a friend were spending a few days in Bandon, about a 2 hour drive from my digs and she asked if we could get together. It worked out perfectly that my days off coincided with her visit. We met at Bastendorff beach and it was so cloudy, foggy, windy that you could barely make out the surf from the parking area and it was just a few hundred yards away. We put on windbreakers and headed out for a short walk just to say we did it, then turned back to the cars. We decided to try Sunset Bay, just a few miles south and more protected to see if we could have our picnic there. It was perfect, still cloudy, but much more protected from the open ocean. 

rock fish, taste better than they look

After that we made our way to the bustling seaport of Bandon for some ice cream at the Face Rock Creamery. They serve up Umpqua Dairy ice cream but they do make their own cheese. She and her friend invited me to stay for dinner with them at their accommodation on the bluff. I accepted and it was so nice just to sit and relax with good friends, in the sun watching the waves and feeling the wind. We are both in a place of transition in our lives and it was nice to have a conversation with her about that. Even at 85 she is wondering what to do with this wild and wonderful life she has to live. Are we human beings having a spiritual experience, or are we spiritual beings having a human experience? 

After a simple dinner of fresh rockfish, fresh greens from her friends garden and quinoa with squash it was time for me to head back. There were no goodbyes, as we will see each other again soon. To share stories of our summertime journeys and what we have learned along the way. 

Down the trail,

Through the mist

Ocean wide appears…..