Zion

Zion National Park in southwest Utah is incredibly beautiful. This is my and John's first time exploring the area. We're at that phase in our vacation where we are fully in our environment and are able to let go of what was or what will be. We took a drive through one of the scenic routes this morning. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

Hwy 9 takes you through the park.

Virgin River runs through the Canyon.

All the trees are bear now. I wonder what it's like with leaves?

Here's wishing you a beautiful day wherever you are.

Death Valley Shots

This is Sunday night and I'm sitting on my bed in The Jazz while John soaks in the spa at the Circus Circus KOA in Las Vegas (Nevada) where we've spent the last two days. We stayed here about twenty-two years ago not long after we married. It has aged and so have we. In fact, we think we have aged out of the Las Vegas scene.

That said, we're leaving tomorrow to head back into nature. We had spent several days in Death Valley National Park (California) at the Furnace Creek Campground before arriving in Las Vegas for a grocery and laundry stop. Here are some of my favorite shots from our time in Death Valley.

Leaving Artist's Drive at sunset.

Along Artist's Drive.

Artist's Pallete.

Original 20 Mule Team wagons. This is where Borax was mined.

John said that he really started coming alive in Death Valley. What about you. Do you prefer Death Valley to Las Vegas?

Four Days After Blast Off…

Yesterday was day four of John’s and my three-week outing. After he left the employer he’d worked for for seventeen months, he was ready for a vacation. We off-loaded the unnecessary then provisioned The Jazz for the road.

Our first few days, we drove from the coast of California east into Central California. Visalia, Tulare, Fresno. Orchards of pink, yellow and white blooming plum and almond trees. We munched our usual start-of-vacation junk foods - cheddar cheese potato chips, mixed nuts and cookies. The San Joaquin Valley triggered memories. I shared the story of being twenty-two years old and getting fired from Carnation Company Headquarters (in Los Angeles) for not carrying coffee to my bosses. Carnation Company had many offices throughout the Valley. I explained to John how the experience had devastated me at the time. It hadn’t made sense to me. I had tried to do my very best secretarial work for the middle-aged men that sat in offices surrounding a sea of desks with women operating the earliest electric typewriters.

By the time we’d reached the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada's on day three, new territory for both John and I, my focus had turned from the past to talk about the possibilities ahead for us as we enter yet another phase of our already two-and-a-half years long “California Odyssey.”

With my stuff – camera, cell phone, jacket, maps, bottled water and journal - scattered around me on the passenger side of the truck, we listened to Bob Dylan, Carole King and Pure Prairie League. We exclaimed at the sight of snow on mountain tops, dried-up Owens Lake and the too-many boarded businesses along Highway 395. Mono Lake was our day three destination. Both John and I have wanted to visit Mono Lake for decades.

Less than thirty miles from Mono Lake as our excitement built, it began to snow. A blinking sign told us that chains and snow tires were required to travel further. I gripped my seat as the snow became thicker with no turn-around lane in sight. Two very long minutes passed before we finally came to a place where we could double back south towards Bishop. It was mid-afternoon by then and we were tired. We’d been on the road over six hours by then. Disappointment. We had come so close to reaching our decades-old dream of visiting Mono Lake.

As we drove back down the mountain in silence, I recalled the hot springs resort with RV camping that we passed on our way up. “Let’s go to Keough.” I didn’t have to do much convincing as hot springs are one of John’s favorite experiences. Within forty-five minutes, we were setting up and looking forward to soothing aching bodies. It snowed at Keough too before daylight was gone yesterday. And it was nice.

Yesterday morning, we explored around Bishop. We had a great breakfast of waffles, eggs and sausage patties at Jack’s Restaurant and Bakery. (I definitely recommend them!) Afterwards, with the sun shining and any snow from the night before melted, we took Line Avenue into Inyo National Forest. When we reached 6,500 feet, we got out and played in the snow. Gingee was able to run free a bit. (It was her first experience of snow.)

Gingee's first snow!

John loves taking pics with his Android phone.

Gingee loved having a little free time and I loved experiencing the snow.

With renewed spirits we headed back to camp. It really is true that every day provides a new chance to create happiness.  What happy thing will you create today?

How Does Liberation Smell?

Today is the second day that John has been out of work. He ended seventeen months of "temporary" employment for Monterey County (Central Coast California) on Tuesday. During his seventeen months of employment in the California building services world, I performed live-on volunteer duties first at Pfeifer Big Sur State Park, then at two Monterey County parks - Laguna Seca and Manzanita.

I had forgotten how comforting it is to have John around during the day during a "regular workweek." We rise in the morning, take care of Gingee's needs and head out to breakfast at McDonalds. This morning I had oatmeal and a small non-fat cappuccino while John and I calmly talked about what's next for us.

So what is next for us? We don't know. We can remain as volunteers at Manzanita Park through the end of July - another five months from now. That is comforting. We love this park and are familiar with all that is required to live here rent-free in The Jazz.

John wants to take a vacation before he begins to earnestly pursue work again. He hasn't had a vacation for over a year and a half. So we may head out for a few weeks, if we are allowed to take off by current supervising Ranger Kenny. If not, we'll make the most of where we are until our direction becomes clear.

Months ago, I completed immigration papers for Canada and today we'll mail them off. We're opening up the options again. I go for my immigration physical in San Francisco tomorrow - which is about a two-hour drive.

You may be asking what happened to John's job. Over his seventeen months of employment, he had four new bosses. (Does that give you an idea of the environment that he was working in?) His latest boss ended John's job by taking away all of the responsibilities he was hired to fulfill. The message was pretty clear. So on Tuesday, John surrendered to the fact that he was no longer needed there.

A day and a half of "new freedom" confirms for both of us that this juncture is timely and desirable. We'd hung on to the other path to living and working on the Central California Coast as long as we could. We gave it more than a fair chance to be the path to our dream.

I don't know what tomorrow holds. Frankly, I'm not even sure what I want anymore. But I do know that life is good in this exact moment. And I do know that I'm going to enjoy this daily opportunity to spend time with a more-relaxed John for as long as we can sustain it before starting another more demanding period where we work hard to make money to prepare for full "retirement".

For those who are full-timers or aspiring to be, when did you know that living on the road was the lifestyle for you?

Love Pushups...

Personal Coach Trish Lay got me started on love pushups last year. At first I practiced faithfully. I completed the following statements until I purged everything my mind could come up with.

• I love me because ...
• I am so happy and grateful now that ...
• I am (here I named the roles that are important for me to maintain in my life) ...

Of late, I've gotten away from doing these love pushups and I have to tell you my peace of mind has suffered. I've found it hard to be in the moment, to love my now, to love me. I find myself criticizing myself mercilessly at times and I have spells of nothing seeming right.

So today, I reinstituted the love pushups.

• I love me because I am caring.
• I love me because I am strong.
• I love me because I am flexible.
• and on and on and on...
• I am life partner.
• I am aunt.
• I am student of life.
• and on and on and on...
• I am so happy and grateful now for my freedom.
• I am so happy and grateful now for our prosperity.
• I am so happy and grateful now for my family and friends.
• and on and on and on...

It will take a while to feel the benefits of these love pushups but I know that one day before too long, I'll wake up feeling these things down to my core and for that knowledge I am genuinely so happy and grateful.

How's your winter progressing?

Capture Your History While You Can Talk and Remember!

Hi  Blog World Friends and Family!

I am so excited! I spent the last year building the foundation for my personal history business, ©Capture Your History.

The expression "You can't take it with you" is wrong when it comes to memories and knowledge. Unless those memories and knowledge have been captured in some way, we do take them with us when we leave this earth.

Each one of us has stories that we would love to pass along to family and friends. I am so proud and pleased to spend the rest of my work life helping people make their stories tangible in the form of books, transcripts, audio and video recordings.

Whose story do you want to see captured? Take a moment please to think about the lives of your friends and family members. Who comes to mind? Will you talk with that person about the idea of capturing their history for posterity? Please don't hesitate to contact me or pass my name along for a free consultation to talk about the process of making a personal history.

Thanks so much for your friendship! Here's to spending time together this year!

Levonne

Levonne Gaddy, M.S.W., Personal Historian

Member Association of Personal Historians

Working in Central Coast California, Tucson and Los Angeles

(520) 306-7329

Home Found Once Again...

It's funny. As John and I searched throughout Monterey County (Central Coast California) for a house to make into a home over the previous month, I became increasingly stressed. I didn't get too concerned about it though as I have learned many times before that even good change results in stress. So I wrote the stress off to "change."

The Jazz at Manzanita Park

But after looking and only finding houses in our price range that would require lots of time and money to make liveable, we decided to hold off on the search for now. Within days I was feeling calmer, quieter, happier. I was enjoying the peacefulness of Manzanita Park and The Jazz once again. I was enjoying the company of my Gingee Girl more fully. I have concluded that for whatever reasons, buying a house NOW is not the right thing for us to be doing.



Miss Gingee

I've decided that I want to write the history of Manzanita Park over the coming months as I continue my volunteer work in the park and as I begin to build my personal history business. I want to knit, to take pictures, to write, to walk, to enjoy the moment, my husband, my doggie and my friends. Life is good - if I (we) let it be.

What a whirlwind of a month was January! How was your first month of 2012?

The Hunt for Home

Miss Gingee

Another day of lying around in the car while Mom goes in to look at houses. I'm not altogether sure how I feel about this whole business of "settling down." I am sure that the business of finding and looking at houses is stressing Mom out! I hope they get it settled soon so we can have more fun!

The Amazing Adventures of A Personal Historian

What an amazing weekend I had! Not only did I get to celebrate my ninety-year-old friend Virginia's birthday, but I shared the personal history dvd that I created about her life with sixteen of her closest friends and family. Here is the first half of her personal history movie. It is about fifteen minutes long. You'll quickly see that Virginia is not old.

Over the weekend, I also shared Virginia's personal history book that I produced. Family members were so happy to receive Virginia's written words.

The work of being a personal historian, helping others capture their history is just about the most rewarding work that I've ever done. It is true that one thing that people take with them when they leave this earth is their memories and knowledge of their own lives, unless they have found a way to capture it and leave it behind. What an honor and a gift for me to do this work.

Another amazing thing for me this past weekend was that I learned to knit. Yes knit! I can't believe I'm knitting! But I became enchanted with the scarves that my friend Nicole was knitting and had to have her teach me how to make them. I'm working on my first one now. What a very great way to work with color and texture! Thank you Nicole.

My first knitting project! A wool scarf. I love the colors!

What have you been up to this past week?

Yes Virginia you will be ninety tomorrow!

I finished  my ninety-year-old friend Virginia's personal history project. She now has a book and a film documenting important parts of her life. It was fun and I can't wait to show the film at her birthday party on Saturday!

Here's a link to her book -  Virginia.



Virginia this past summer with Gingee.