I’ll just come out and say it, I’m in love. Wild, happy love. The kind of love that stops your breath in moments throughout the day when you find yourself overwhelmed with emotion. I’m in love with my life.
I am feeling a bit behind on this blog, the past month has been crazy. Crazy busy. I had a post ready for last week but it’s connected to an E-book that is coming out. Said E-book was supposed to launch Memorial Day. Said E-book was delayed and thus that post was delayed.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 5 months since I started writing here. Time flies!
I have started a multitude of drafts for posts but they are piling up, up, up as I can’t seem to stay on top of everything that is happening right now. Soooo, I thought I would just do an “update” kind of post filled with LOTS of pictures (in no particular order) and just tell you what is going on with me in this amazing, happy life I have.
A life filled with uncertainty and change. A life I am absolutely in love with. Are things perfect or without complications? Of course not. I should probably be more worried about how I’m going to pay my bills or where I am headed. But words can barely describe how much joy I am experiencing by pursuing my passions and putting the things that are important to ME first. It paints a glow over my life that helps me ride out any bumps along the way.
I have three more days of work. Three. Well, at my full time job anyway. My part time gig with the City of Everett parks and rec dept will continue a few days a month as it has the last 11 years. But now begins my normal season of full time hiking and being outdoors. I just don’t have a job to come back to in the fall. Wahoo!
I have been making posts over at Trailjournals as that seems appropriate, when I am not sharing a recipe or pondering life here. Mostly about my preparations for a section hike of the PCT and adding trail work as another way to give back to the trails.
I start finishing up what I have left to hike on the PCT in Oregon in a few weeks and I am looking forward to carpooling down there with a fellow hiker who is hiking northbound from Crater Lake as I am hiking southbound…
The picture posting is easy on Facebook, Instagram, etc but sitting down to write AND make time for other important things in my life (yes, I do more than hike) is a constant balancing act. Let’s just say, the weeds and laundry are out of control. I’m lucky if I just get the dishes done most days.
This last week I was able to get out for 4 hikes, all of them with some pretty impressive views. The snow is melting fast and the rising temperatures make me realize how much I do prefer hiking in cooler weather.
Although, I am kinda done with the snow for now.
I spent a weekend car camping and day hiking in the southern part of the state around Randle, WA on HWY 12 towards White Pass. We would have loved to have been up in the Goats Rocks Wilderness but the roads and trails still have a lot of snow on them so we settled for the foothills.
I say foothills, but you can still get up to over 5000ft with some pretty impressive views of the major mountain players: Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and even Mt. Hood in Oregon. It was fun to climb each summit or ridge and see the peaks and valleys from different angles and points of view.
One day the mountain was showing just a taste of it’s glory and the next it was on full display.
The busier I get also means I don’t spend as much time prepping food at home and end up relying on food in the freezer and easy-to-grab-at-the-store snacks. Lately I have been happy if I just have eggs and vegetables on hand to sustain me.
Yes, the dehydrator is going but I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY try to save all the dehydrated fruit and goodies for when I am actually hiking. My knees get to complaining about any extra weight! This is the time of the year when half my fridge is backpacking or hiking food.
I washed out my used ziplocs in preparation for my dehydrated meals, freezing the produce I pick and for storage in my pack this summer.
My tent is showing it’s age so I have had to do some repairs and hope it makes it one more season.
Sometimes, I just need to sit and relax by a river, whether it’s quiet or raging.
I met with my friend Melinda from church who also blogs and she suggested we form a relaxed group of women writers and connect periodically. My pastor, Jenny, is in the group and she suggested the book “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert (of Eat, Love, Pray) and I devoured the book during my car camping trip. It had a ton of empowering tidbits all about pursuing creativity and passion.
Did I mention I have started TWO other blogs for writing about non hiking and eating topics? I’m out of control!
I am typing all this with two of the fingers on my right hand taped together as I woke Monday morning with what feels and looks like a jammed finger. I don’t know how you just wake up with a jammed finger, but somehow I managed to do that. I have absolutely NO recollection of going to bed with anything wrong. It is making writing (typing) a bit more challenging.
Maybe my body knows I am about to be unemployed and uninsured and will now begin to incur spontaneous injuries?
I twisted wrong while plunge stepping down from this view at the beginning of May, injuring my knee somehow. It’s a month later and it is still not happy. I’m really trying to take it easy, really I am.
Speaking of insurance, I decided there were a few things to do while I still had it so…
…I broke down and got glasses at the age of 45. Mostly because I couldn’t tell if my pictures are in focus on my iPhone or not.
My son has now asked to move back in at the end of his lease. He has picked up a second job but is finding life out is much more expensive when you don’t live with your mom. Who knew? He says he misses the cat. His return will happen at the end of September, baring any other curves life throws his way. So much for my empty nest.
I finally got tired of all the pop-up reminders, gave in and updated to Windows 10. Now I have to figure out where everything went on my computer.
The program that I work for did receive a new grant and will continue so that is good for the little kiddos. My job is still not in that new grant but that is a good thing, too.
My backyard jungle is beginning to provide it’s summer bounty: rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries and an assortment of herbs. Coming home after work means heading out back to sample the ripe fruit.
And last but not least, after 16 years of singlehood my universe finally collided eight months ago with another universe belonging to the man of my dreams. That soulmate stuff? Totally true.
I won’t bore you with the details (that’s for another blog) but pretty much he is the answer to my prayers and everything I could hope to find in a partner. He’s one amazing man. God knew what was in my heart even better than I did.
It’s a wonder I’m getting anything done, but perfect that he loves the outdoors as much as I do.
I have never been so content and I can’t imagine my life without him.
So, sorry if things are a little disorganized or scattered for awhile as I figure out how to make this blog thing work with all that will be going on this summer and beyond. I am still trying to decide where my daily trail journaling will go and how to balance all that is my evolving life. You may find me more on Facebook (almost 400 followers so far and only 111 are my friends!) or over at my PCT trail journal.
Wow, that was a long post but now you are pretty much up-to-date. Thank you for keeping up with me and my adventures!
You will find more information on the hikes I mention in the following links:
Marmot Pass to Buckhorn Mountain
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