Only the Good Friday August 7, 2009

I've been away from these pages for quite a while. Traveling for weeks at a time does that, keeps you away from routine. I was sitting at the computer this morning, reading, catching up on blog posts of writers I admire. I remember it's Friday. I remember that it is the day we write only about good things. Good stories today. Find the good. Make it good. Amidst so much trouble and pain in the world, thinking people aware of it hardly know how to deal with the economy, war, hunger, racism, et al. But there is good out there as well. And it's not that we disregard the things that pain us, but rather we embrace some good and hold it.

The best thing that comes to mind today is the blog of a gal who calls herself Whimsy. She writes a blog called The Creamery. Seems like she hails from the Pacific Northwest. She is a young mother and writes about her child and her child and husband in her life. She is rather whimsical and I really like her a lot. Recently, she has been writing about the fact that she was adopted and recently got to meet her blood brother and father. This story, which is ongoing and sort of chapter-like, makes me happy and therefore is good and appropriate for Only the Good Friday, the brainstorm of Shelly Tucker, a storyteller her own self, from Texas.

Pay Whimsy a visit. Read for yourself about the family reunited. You can also find good at Mel's place. I haven't been going over there for very long. But I saw Mel's name on comments at other folks I frequent, so I went over there and find these regular "Fairy Thoughts". Her blog is called Mel's Dream. These are lessons on life. Seems like if I have something on my mind, the fairy thought of the day is right on and very helpful. Besides, I like fairies. I think they are cute and sexy. This one has all of that and is wise too. Smarter than me. And when Mel has come over to my place and read my stories and looked at the pictures of my trip out west, she comments with such genuine enthusiasm it just makes me feel good. So that's my connection to Mel and her blog and Only the Good Friday.

I didn't have to look for much. It's all right there. In fact, the Good is all around if we want it. And it's okay to look for and hang onto Good while other crap is going on. The Good takes the edge off the bad stuff. Takes your mind off of the problems. It doesn't make the problems go away, but it tempers those depressing thoughts, that is, if you want to suppress them for moments at a time. I feel thinking about something else for a spell is a good thing in and of itself. Change the course of my thoughts. Get my mind believing that there is a whole world out there and everyone in it has a story, has some bad, but also has some Good.

More Good things are my Grand kids. When I came out of the fog during my last heart surgery in 2003, I asked my Higher Power what was it all about. Why am I here? The answer was fuzzy, but here is the answer(s) I got a few years later. These great children to share the rest of my life with. These are Good things these children. And I can say they are not only Good for Friday, but they are the best for me and my life.


One of the activities Yoody likes to do when she hangs out in Spadoville.


The "D" Man, growing up way too fast.


Gracie Jayne. Goodness all around.


Anna B. We'll be spending a lot of time together next week.


Lastly, a Good thing that has happened for me is Zeke. Zeke is a dog that has come to live with us. He is a five year old Husky. He was too big to be a race dog, the path that he was bred for, so he never ran a race. He was saved from the owner/breeders gun and became a pet. He lost a leg in a car accident. Here I thought he was rustlin' some farmers chickens and got shot. I guess he was runnin' from the henhouse and got runned over. Anyhoo, like my friend Batmo says, he has one front leg, lays around a lot and he runs in the yard. He hardly ever barks and he seems to like me, at least he comes to me when I call or whistle. That is Good, to be liked and accepted. Nothing like a friend licking your hand. Another Good thing on Only the Good Friday, having a Zeke to love.


My new friend, Zeke.

Peace.

A Few Vignettes

A bunch of happy campers.

I could have entitled this post, "Things that happened on the trip". Or I could call it the "Yoody Emergency Room Tour, 2009". Yoody is her nickname. My five year old Grand daughter. A Taurus, like me, (our birthdays are a week apart and we have celebrated them together for the past 3 years), and independent to the max! She loves life as I see it and jumps into living with both feet, fears nothing and trusts us as Grand parents totally.

It was hot, we were in Grand Junction, Colorado visiting a friend. The kids needed some relief from the heat and swimming was the answer. We headed out to Highline Lake. A man made affair west of Grand Junction near the small hamlet of Fruita. We got there and with only a little bit of fanfare set up two of those $7.88 collapsible chairs in a small spot of shade and let the kids have at the cooling water. We were there only ten minutes or so. The older two were in the water, sitting on the rope that divides the deep and shallow water. Yoody was near me as I was sitting on one of the chairs. Barb had walked toward a trash can to make a deposit.

Yoody ran towards the water. I heard a noise that gives me shivers even now to think of it. It was a "Konk" noise. I looked and saw Yoody, face down and completely prone, her head on the cement boardwalk that divides the sandy beach from the grassy picnic grounds. She rose up quickly, spotted her Grand mother a few feet away and ran to her arms. She started crying, crying hard. Grandma, or Na as she is called, picked her up and began the comforting. Barb walked with her in her arms to the empty chair next to me and sat down. All this happened so fast, I never did get up, but just watched. Once she was in the arms of her Grandma, there wasn't much I needed to do.

When they sat down, I said that I had heard a loud Konk and I wondered where and/or what she struck. She was still crying, and still crying hard. After a moment, she sputtered out the words, "My forehead". We brushed the hair away and saw this huge red egg that had formed. It scared me shitless. I couldn't believe Yoody didn't get knocked unconscious.

The crying settled quickly. I looked for ice. Barb went to buy a cold can of soda to use on the bump. We decided to gather up our stuff and take her to the hospital emergency room. I couldn't believe anyone could hit their head so hard, to make such a noise, and not have broken something or done more serious damage. A park ranger saw us and with his first aid experience, looked for dilation in the eyes and asked the concussion questions. We quickly stashed the chairs and other kids into the van and took off for Grand Junction and the hospital, about 15 miles away.

On the way TO the lake, I was stopped by the Colorado Highway Patrol. I was speeding, 72 in a 55. The trooper asked for registration, license and insurance proof. He checked things out. I was sure I was going to get a ticket, but he returned to my van with my papers in hand and just said, "Slow down". I didn't get a ticket that I certainly deserved. Now, I had an injured little kid in the car and I was scared. I once again drove over the speed limit. Luckily, this trip back to Grand Junction, I saw no troopers.


Yoody and Eggbert

We got to the emergency room and had Yoody checked out. There was absolutely no injury that could be found with the innards of her head. The doctor asked if we saw something or if the child exhibited some behavior that was unusual, or were we just taking precautions by bringing her into the hospital. Barb told her the latter and she said Yoody would get some black eyes. The hematoma on her forehead was the size of a silver dollar. When Yoody raised her eyebrows, the hematoma showed a place where blood came to the surface and it looked exactly like a smiley face. Yoody named her new bruise "Eggbert", in honor of us calling it an egg on her head.

Eggbert lasted for a week or so before turning into a small scar. We called Eggbert's name every time we did roll call right along with everyone else's name. She never showed signs of any pain or discomfort from Eggbert other than to cry hard when it happened. I still shiver when I hear that sound. And I am so grateful that the higher power or whatever force that governs these things allowed her to be okay.

That happened on Sunday, July 12th. On Friday, July 24th, I was sitting on a lawn chair with my friend Tony at his house up in Carlotta, CA. We were gazing into a roaring fire and talking. He heard a noise. I didn't hear what he heard. I looked in the direction he was looking and saw my son-in-law speaking to one of the kids. Next thing I know, said son-in-law, John, was in front of us asking Tony for a container to put the broken glass in. He was cleaning up after Yoody had ran through a sliding door.

We sprang into action. Yoody was okay, we were told, but had a few cuts that they were attending to. I went into the bathroom and there was a compress on her little five year old foot. She also had a small cut on her arm and another behind her ear. I went with my daughter and Yoody to the emergency room at the hospital in Fortuna, CA, about 15 miles away.

That emergency room trip lasted from 10:00 p.m. To three O’clock in the morning before we finally got home. The hospital staff x-rayed the foot to see that there was no glass embedded under the skin. All looked good, it was bandaged and with a durabond bandage and instructions for care and cleanliness, we were sent home. The other cuts were superficial and would be fine with a small band aid.

Seems Yoody was carrying her Micky Mouse Star Wars Light Sabre, and when she ran up the ramp, she went right through the sliding glass door. The sabre must have hit first, for she walked right through the opening made in the glass by the sabre. She was standing there and crying because she thought she would be scolded for breaking the glass.

After a little comforting and attending to the bleeding foot, she was fine. She slept all the way to and during the hospital visit. I caught a few hours sleep and when we got up, started a day of activity on the ocean in Northern California. Yoody was running in the sand and getting her feet into the ocean often with no discomfort. Another bullet dodged as I thought sure she injured herself worse than she had.


Yoody swimming at Crane Crystal Hot Springs, Crane, OR

In between these two events, Yoody got lost while we were at Disneyland. For about five minutes, she was no where to be seen. We had split into three groups of getting refreshment or looking at something. When we all gathered together and saw she was missing, we didn’t panic, but rather started discussing our plan of action. It was moment later that a kind woman was escorting a crying child. The child bolted from her grasp and wrapped her arms around my leg. The woman said, “She must have found her family.”, and walked away.

Yoody used up a few lives on this adventure. We’re sure glad and fortunate that she didn’t get hurt worse than she did. I think back while writing this and can't understand our good fortune. Things could have been so much worse.

She’s pretty darn tough for a five year old, and handles obvious pain very well. No complaining or whining at all. I still hear that Konk sound and my legs shiver. Oh, and she named the cut on her foot too. Larry Laceration. We had to call his name at roll call too, every time.

A Whirlwind Trip

A foggy Golden Gate


We returned home on Friday, about 8:30 p.m. We drove straight through from Idaho. Did an all-nighter, three hours of sleep in the inclined front seat in a rest stop in Montana sometime during the wee hours of Friday morning. But what a trip. When we started home, we all had seen enough scenery and stopped at enough sites to give us plenty of stories to tell. We created so many memories.

I told the kids that I was with them 24/7 for 22 days and I wasn't even tired of them. I asked them what they were going to do when they got home. None of them knew, but the oldest, Anna, told me she wasn't going to stay over for three weeks. They are all here and spent the night last night with Anna creeping into my bed and sleeping with us. I am just thrilled that I have these kids as friends.

The trip itself went on for a little over 6600 miles and as I mentioned, 22 days. The 2000 E-150 Ford van averaged a shade over 15 miles per gallon. We paid as high as $3.09 and as low as $2.39 for gas. Then there was the complete brake job in San Francisco for $901.00, (that was an oil change and tire rotation too). We used a credit card. I don't have that kind of money laying around in ready cash.

But every cent was worth it. The closeness we shared priceless. The fun, adventure and memories we created were also priceless. Like the two emergency room visits which both turned out to be cautionary, or the visits with close friends that we don't get to see regularly in Grand Junction, CO, Redondo Beach, CA and up north near Eureka, CA. I also had phone contact with some of the folks that I met last year while on The Longest Walk. Many of them were together doing another walk in the bay area. I talkedon the phone with them, but never could get my group to their gathering point.

We also stopped in Mendocino and met up with a blogger friend that I had met once before at the same coffee shop. Last night, while relating this part of the trip to a friend, I was reminded that I forgot to ask Aiko Annie about her upcoming trip to Burning Man!

We got to the gems of our country. The Rocky Mountains, where we played amongst the snow packs up above 12,000 feet. We did the Colorado National Monument, Moab, Utah's slick rock, and Arches National Park. Grand Canyon's North rim and Zion National Park. We drove El Cajon into Los Angeles and played in and on the ocean, went on a trip in a beautiful boat and went to Disneyland. We even took in a Dodgers game.

Traveling up north, we stopped in San Francisco and rode the cable car and the streetcar.It was just too cold and foggty for a boat ride, so we saw the Golden Gate Bridge on foot and Alcatraz through binoculars. We toured Berkely and showed real Hippies to the kids. The giant redwood trees were fabulous as was swimming in the Van Duzen River and visiting three separate beaches in Humboldt County while staying with friends nearby. I hauled home at least thirty pounds of rocks!

Even the trip home had us at Crane Crystal hot springs in Oregon and Carters of the Moon National monument near Arco, Idaho. Crane is where I've been not one month before with my motorcycle. I love that place! And the Craters park, we visited a few years ago as well. My own goal was to show my Grand children some of the places that I've seen on my travels of the past. I got to see their faces as they gazed upon the natural wonders up close or through the car windows and camera lens.

Last summer, we had taken them to Washington DC for the end of The Longest Walk. It was then that I told DJ, my then eight year old Grand son, that I would take him to Oregon and he would swim in the Pacific Ocean. I fulfilled that promise and he remembered that I had made it! I just wish money was of no concern. I think we still would have had all those peanut butter and jelly sandwich picnics along the highways at the roadside tables and small town city parks. We still would have camped out like we did when we weren't staying with friends at their homes. The motels we did stay at were planned and quite comfortable in the searing 100 plus degree heat, (not to mention the swimming pools). More ready cash would have been spent in any event if we had it.

In the future, I'll tell some specific stories. About how Yoody fell down and whacked her forehead on a cement boardwalk in Colorado or the plate glass incident. Oh, did I mention she was lost at Disneyland for all of five minutes? She sure gave us some freaked out moments. She's one very tough little girl. I'll tell you about getting stopped by the State Patrol in Colorado and sent off with a warning to slow down, and the parking tickets at Hermosa Beach. Then, of course, there will have to be a post on our restaurant stops. Our favorites and the worst eating experience ever. We tried to stay out of the corporate fast food chains, but for convenience and identifiableness, (is that a word?), we did see Jack in the Box and Sonic on our menu, but NO MICKEY D's. Jack is well known in my household for 2 tacos for 99 cents. Feeding a crew was inexpensive, (I know that IS a word). Sonic was a novelty with the cute gals on roller skates taking and delivering the orders.

My son-in-law, who has never seen the coast, seemed to really like the trip. My daughter and he, along with two year old Gracie, flew into L.A. and traveled with us for 11 days up the coast. Yesterday, he described the beach visit in southern California to . "Bay Watch, without the commercial interruptions." He liked visiting Chavez Ravine, home of the first place Dodgers for a game and the surface street tour we took back from the ball park. My other daughter flew into and out of L.A. and joined us for a weekend.

I'll close this for now. I certainly could write for days since we were on the road for days. I'll post some pictures down below. As soon as I get a chance, I'll edit the video footage and post some YouTube action too. It's good to be home, but it sure was a great trip and I'm glad and fortunate that we were able to pull this one off.

Peace to you all. Enjoy the pics.


Yoody with Eggbert the Hematoma, (on her forehead)


An overlook at the Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction.


In one of the lava tunnels at Craters of the Moon National Monument.


Monkey Business.


KOA Kamper Kabin, Richfield, Utah


Chef Joe, ready to cook for the masses in Redondo Beach.


Checking out the landscape with binoculars



"DJ Rocks" until the tide comes in.


Dumbo at Disneyland


We are proud of our Jack in the Box antenna topper


Yoody in the van after playing in the snow at 12,000 feet


Gracie not sure what to make of the ocean


We made Oregon, as promised


Spadoman his own self, sitting by the hot springs at Crane Crystal


Humboldt County Redwoods


Seals, or Sea Lions?


Sonic Drive-In


Trinidad, at the College Cove

Out of Town

So this is it for a while again. I'm going to be very very busy today packing and getting the van ready for this trip. We're leaving first thing tomorrow morning. That will one of the "Good" things that's happening for Shelly's "Only the Good Friday", as I'm so full of anxiety my stress level is tighter than a gnats ass stretched over a beer barrel! I'm just as excited as the kids. They were here last night and we celebrated Anna's eleventh birthday. I made them blog names and added them as co-authors of our new blog that we will use to report about our trip.

They got to choose their names, and I wrote pretty much what they said when I asked them about the trip. DJ is Socool, (So Cool), Anna is Janet, (Janet Jackson, who knew?), Lilly is Squinteye, (for Squint Eye Yoody, her Pirate name) and Barb is on board as Na, (That's what the kids call her). Of course, as commander of the ship, I keep my own moniker of Spadoman.

It's called Bonin/Spado Road Trip 2009. The kids already posted comments on it and now they are registered and can access the blog and post. We bought them pretty good quality cameras last Christmas. Barb charged up the batteries and checked their SD cards, so, they'll post pictures. In places where we don't have service, they can use the word processing program to write their story and cut 'n paste it to the blog later, Besides, that old Mac laptop will do triple duty as it will be playing DVD's, MP3's and used as our computer. Hope it makes it through the trip!

I'll be gone for a few weeks. And now I see August is shaping up to be a busy time with more travel. Many of you fine folks have made me feel really good about my future here on Blogger with your e-mails and comments on the post below this one. Thanks for that. Much appreciated, believe me. I get into these little funks now and again. Thanks for helping me through them.

Earlier this summer, when I left town, I posted a special story, usually a long one, for people to read when they are passing through The Round Circle. I'll just leave it be this time and tell you that I'll miss you and I'll see you back here later. In the meantime;

Peace is always in fashion, and I'll add some love in there along with compassion, honesty, openmindedness and the willingness to accept others as they are. We're off on the adventure of a lifetime.

Getting Ready for Another Trip

Just a nice picture of serenity to lead off the post.

I want to write, really I do. But I guess I am just too anxious about a trip we have upcoming and just can't concentrate. This Friday, July 10th, we are loading up the van and taking off. Mrs. Spadoman and myself will take the three oldest Grandkids with us and road trip to California via Colorado, the Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon and a couple of the beautiful National Parks of Southern Utah. Our destination is Los Angeles where we will stay at our friend's home in Redondo Beach.


Bubbling tar.

While we visit for about six days, we'll certainly get to ride in the boat and see some sites. Eleven year old Anna wants to see the LaBrea Tar Pits. I know where they are and will take her. Both my daughters will fly out to meet us there for a long weekend. Son-in-law and two year old Gracie will fly too. Gracie is just too young to do the road trip portion. Besides, she'd drive me nuts. Maybe it's because I'm too old for her to be with us on the road trip portion. LOL


At The Wall, July 2008.

Last summer, we traveled to Washington DC and the kids were at my side when I carried the POW/MIA Flag into the Nation's Capitol at the end of The Longest Walk II. We went to the Vietnam Memorial Wall and I pointed out the name of a brother who's name is there. We swam in the Atlantic Ocean and I promised a trip to the Pacific this year. I'm following through with my end of the bargain.


Kids in the Atlantic.

Youngest daughter Jayne will fly home from LA, and Alyssa, her husband and Gracie will join us as we travel up the West coast to Eureka and the Redwoods. We'll visit more friends there and then the additional passengers will fly home from San Francisco before the original car group heads for home. It will be a total of three full weeks away from home. I am blessed and fortunate to be able to do this with my children and Grand children. We never know when we will have chances like this ever again. Now is the time.

I will have the laptop with me, but I don't plan on e-mailing friends and running the usual routine while away. I intend on setting up a new blog before I go and post pictures and stories right from the mouths of the kids while on this special journey.
In fact, the blog is set up and you can find it either on my sidebar, at the top, entitled Bonin/Spado road Trip, or right HERE
I hope you'll join us now and again on our trip.

In Other News:

Yesterday morning, I wrote a post and after reading my own words, I deleted it. If you read it, so be it, if not, you didn't miss anything spectacular. The idea I wanted to get across was that I know of so many fine writers out there blogging and doing art work, creating stories, travelogues and poetry that there is no way I can get to them all on a regular basis. I feel bad as every one of you deserve the attention as your work is fabulous. I have a hard time trying to keep up and just admitted that I can't. I guess I'm asking that you understand that I want to read and comment every day but there just aren't enough hours to accomplish the task. Forgive me for this.

Check out the blogs on my side bar. So much talent and creativity. You won't be sorry.

I got home late Monday night from the sixth time I attended the Sundance ceremony. I saw friends that have been coming for years. I sat at the big drum and sang, helping there, as the same helpers that stayed up all night to keep the fire also beat out the dance rhythms and sang many hours each of the four days that the dancers were in the arbor. My voice was welcomed not because it sounded good, but because it was another fresh, not worn and scratchy voice, that could call out the first lines of the song and carry more needed vocables as the dancers could hardly hear, what by this time, had become whispers. I woke up whispering yesterday, but have regained my voice today. (Yes, I talked to myself, that's how I know my voice is back, HA!)


The sky at 5:19 a.m. from the Spadoville deck, July 8, 2009, today.

And Lastly:

I'll leave this post with an excerpt from an e-mail I received from an old elementary/High school chum that I had as a friend back in the late 50's. early 60's. His name is Marc and we hung around together. He reminded me of some shenanigans at school and a conversation we had one day when he was over and we were sitting in the kitchen. Here's the excerpt:

I always remembered you as fun to be with, and quite mischievous. Do you recall our sitting in the very back of class, you on one side of the room, I on the other? We rolled marbles across the floor between us, flipped pencils across the room, and bounced spring-loaded bobby pins.

One day I was over at your home in the kitchen with you. You were trying to convince me that anything was possible. So, I bet you to (I think) jump through the ceiling (something like that). You were about to cut a hole in the ceiling with a saw, but I chickened out of the bet.

I wanted my blog family to get a glimpse of my past. Most of you have known me only over the past few years, and in some cases, only a few weeks. Marc knew me as a child and teen. I guess I was impressed to read his remark about the conversation in the kitchen as I believe I never gave up the idea that I could do anything and most of my life I did. I also wanted you to see what kind of a kid I was. I hope I still show the marble rolling, pencil flipping and bobbie pin springing side of me as I tease, flirt and generally try to have fun in life. Thanks for letting me share this with you. Thanks for coming to the Round Circle.

Peace

The sky at 5:20 a.m. from the Spadoville deck, July 8, 2009, today.

Only the Good Friday, July 3, 2009

I miss seeing first hand the sunrise over the Great Lake Superior.


It’s Friday already. I was hoping to leave the last post up so folks can take a look at the neato video we shot while on a recent day trip up North. Oh well, I just mentioned it here, so go have a look if you want to, or if I’ve guilted you into it. I have no shame you know? And that’s a “Good” thing.

Speaking of “Good” things. I made a pledge to only post “Good” things on Fridays in honor of Only the Good Friday theme set forth by Shelly at This Eclectic Life. I think folks are reading it pretty regularly. I get a lot out of doing it as it puts a positive spin on things while writing it and while checking on the progress while it is posted.

I’ve had some “Good” things happen in the past few days. I was reading the comments on my blog post and found an entry from an old friend. He left me his number and asked me to call him and I did. Sure was great to connect. It has been over four years since we last talked. He is a younger man compared to my old salt. He was a boyfriend of one of my daughters. I think he wanted to be a boyfriend of two of my daughters!

Anyhoo:-), like my friend Batmo says, I talked with Drew, (his name is Andrew, but he likes to be called Drew Danger), and he is doing “Good”. It felt so “Good” to be remembered. Friendship is like that and is a “Good” thing. We mentioned the fact that even though we lost contact for a while, we can pick up right where we left off at any given moment.

Speaking of Batmo, or Betmo as she is usually known, she’s back from a trip to Puerto Rico. I e-mailed her and I want information about the food. I hope she had something good to eat that she can tell me about. A Latin recipe would be a “Good” thing. Maybe something hot and spicy to help break a sweat to keep me cool in these hot summer months.

Then again, it hasn’t been too hot around here this summer. Actually, not around anywhere I’ve been. That’s “Good” when it comes to the A/C running day and night and the subsequent electric bill, but the environment is changing rapidly and that’s not so good. I still want a new recipe. My blog friend Beth, over at Beth’s Blog, posts recipes regularly on her site. I’ve tried a few of them. I always wondered about starting a site with exchanges of recipes. I actually did start one a while ago, but I lost interest.

My idea was to write a story about making some dish, not just an ingredient list and instructions. I was telling about the trip to the store to fetch this or that to make the desired concoction. I had asked others to do the same. Maybe a concept that wasn’t ready in this time. That’s okay. I just cook and don’t write about it. It’s still “Good”.

That reminds me that going with the flow is a “Good” thing too. Accept what’s laid before you. Too much worry about the past is useless, after all, it is in the past and cannot be changed or altered in any way, shape or form. Worry about the future is useless as even though you may know what and how a situation might play out, there are so many things that can make it different, so why worry and stress. To keep my own self in a “Good” state of mind, I try to live in the now, so to speak, and do it One Day at a Time. Even One Moment at a Time if that makes it work better. That's how I stayed sane through the death of my old car.


Goldie, the newest member of the Spadoville stable.

Yep, the 2000 Ford Focus died while I was away. I was hoping to wait a while before having to replace it, but we found ourselves in many situations where we needed reliable transportation, so we bought a new car. It's another Ford Focus. This one is gold in color and has a stick shift, (rare, I know), and that's what we had before. We wanted another manual tranny, better mileage I think. That's "Good" too. For the environment and for the pocketbook.

And that’s a “Good” thing. I hope you have a “Good” day today, and everyday. I hope peace finds you. I’ll send positive things out there. Grab them if you see them, they’ll be “Good”.

Peace.

Solon Springs Water Run

Summertime fun at Lake Sissabagama near Stone Lake, Wisconsin.

Sitting at the computer this morning, I glanced outside to see an overcast day. Not the sunny 75 degree affair the NOAA told us about last night. The weather forecast changes rapidly, especially the long term deal where they look at what will be happening, meteorologically speaking, for the next seven days. I take another look at the NOAA and see that the rain that was expected for the weekend, a slight chance, (20%), of precipitation is cancelled and there is going to be sunshine for the next week!

While on the motorcycle ride, I came up with a new way to look at the weather. I want to start a new trend in my own life and not say things like “Bad” or “Good” weather. It will be what it will be and I can do nothing to change it. I came away from the two weeks of riding actually liking the idea of riding in the rain. Not every mile of every day mind you, but that it is okay when it happens and I can enjoy it. So maybe some days I’ll have a little more of a challenge to do what I was planning to do. Say like Monday when I took the older two Grand kids and we went to fill water bottles with spring water up North near Solon Springs, WI.


A cloudy overcast day was at hand on Monday here in the Northland.

The day was blustery and cloudy. Cool for a day late in June. These are the days that are usually hot in the morning and hotter later in the day with humidity enough to make you drip while standing in the shade of an old oak tree. But Monday was cool and windy and when we got to the spring nearby the Upper Lake St. Croix in Douglas County, the kids were bummed as they were hoping to take a swim. There is a boat launch and a picnic area and the spring is located right smack dab in the middle of the place. There is a sandy bottom and an area right next to the boat dock that looks like my Grand kids wouldn’t be the first ones to take a dip.

Anna flipped off her flip flops and waded out into the water. “It’s warm!”, she exclaimed.

The wind made the 65 degrees feel like 50 and the water, warmed from the sun of the days before, was warmer than the air temperature. DJ checked out this fact after he took off his shoes and socks and rolled up his pants legs. It was only a moment later when they decided that the weather be damned, they came with me to help out with the water bottles and go swimming. So they did. DJ went back to the van and changed into a bathing suit. Anna followed a millisecond later.


The map shows you just where Douglas County is in Wisconsin. I live about 100 miles South.

They frolicked around in the water and jumped off the boat dock after checking the depth of the water near the end. The wind blew and they stayed in the warm water instead of exposing themselves to the arctic like blasts. It started to rain a bit, just a drizzle. I moved to a vantage point under a large pine and saw the sappy pine tar dripping from a few places. Careful not to lean against the sticky life blood of the balsam, I stayed dry as the kids swam. The wind picked up and I started getting wet. I asked the kids to come on in and that the swimming period was over for this trip. They came in out of the water, shivering, grabbed their towels and headed for the van.

They changed into dry clothes and asked me to take them to Tremblay's candy store in nearby Hayward, WI, a tourist town filled with people from Chicago.

I hesitated an immediate answer, but didn’t say “No”.

I decided to take them and let them each fill a bag with candy treats as long as they also filled a bag for the other kids left at home. They certainly agreed and we took a route through forest and lakes that I sighted as a place to come back to and ride the motorcycle through the twisting curves and undulating rises and falls of the two lane.

After spending almost $40.00 on bags of candy, which included the biggest malted milk balls I’d ever seen that I bought for myself, we headed for home. The kids had helped me get the chore of filling water bottles done. These five gallon plastic containers weigh in at about 40 pounds when full. Since I had nine of them and more bottles and jugs of various sizes, I was counting on some kind of help from them to get them filled and loaded into the van. They came up with a real novel idea, on their own, and it was of the greatest of help for a tired old man like me. Watch the video and you’ll see how they managed to save me a lot of work. Our water bottles were filled, the kids had swam and we had spent valuable time together as a partial family.

The kids had no rules this day. They could talk about pee and poop all they wanted with no reprimand from Papa. They got to swim as they had hoped and go to a candy store and get whatever they wanted, including the three inch diameter jaw breaker that Anna started gnawing on as soon as she returned to the van. How could anyone say the weather or any part of this day was bad?

In my past, I dreamed of days like this. Me and the Grandkids, just hangin’ out, havin’ fun and playing. I was powerless for quite some time against doing such a simple pleasant task as this. The brain waves fought me at every turn. PTSD did that to me, made me think that way. And now, I was able to do it and rid myself of the anxiety and fear and just be alive and living in a moment, this moment, this wonderful moment, feeling loved and needed and wanted and worthy.

There is no bad weather.

This video is a little over seven minutes long. It is like watching a home movie. This one is from my home to yours and features a couple of my Grand children with voice over by yours truly. It also will show you some of Northern Wisconsin’s beautiful scenery. I hope you watch it.

Peace to you all, peace in your hearts and your lives. Peace all around you. And if it is hard to find or to see it, then the power and energy to make it be for yourselves.