Spring profusion, and amazing people
4/29/23
You all… my dreams are coming true. I am living the life I love!!
Challenges and obstacles are present. They always will be.
But things are flowing. And I love how I’m living. And this spring weather, OMG!!! It just makes everything look and feel right.
And, I keep meeting amazing people—including via my What Is Your Dream events—whom I’ll write more about below. This is such a big part of my dream life!
But first, some fun photos of what’s been going on around here this past week.
I moved out from Coconut the cat’s peaceful Milwaukie abode yesterday, after a pleasant and restful two weeks there. I moved in for a short stay—just two nights—with this SE Portland supermodel, Toshe. He is regal, and he owns it!
While I was still in Milwaukie, I had a doctor’s appointment in Gresham. Although the early hour wasn’t my cup of tea, it gave me the opportunity to bicycle the whole way—more than an hour—almost entirely on car-free bike paths. And in the morning light with the dazzling dew, too. I loved it.
After the appointment, I took the opportunity to go back to Gresham’s Tsuru Island Japanese Garden and nearby Japanese plaza. The light was beautiful in those places, too.
In the plaza, I sat on a shady bench on a warm sunny day (one of my favorite things to do, as I identified in my past year’s travels) while pale pink cherry petals swirled gently down around me.
Doesn’t get much better than that.
But then on my way back to Milwaukie on the bike path, I decided to visit the Leach Botanical Garden. I hadn’t been since before the pandemic, and during that time they did quite a bit of construction, adding a beautiful tree walk.
The camellias were out in full force, and the light through the trees remained beautiful for my visit there.
Having slogged through yet one more Portland winter, it is such a balm for my soul to reap the rewards of a springtime and summer season here again.
My last evening in Milwaukie, I took an evening bike ride out to the grocery store, and stopped on the way back for a snack in a new-to-me park, to savor the warmth and late pre-sunset hour. Getting back to the house afterward took me through a beautiful short, steep unpaved path. Everything was glowing.
Meanwhile, I have continued my What Is Your Dream/Free Listening events. After my first one last Saturday, I did one on Tuesday, and another today—Saturday—both back in the same spot on the Eastbank Esplanade, alongside the river.
In all cases, I have had one “taker” per two-hour stint… and I’m finding that that suits me just fine. Today I found myself beaming, as I realized that once again I was sitting in a shady seat on a beautiful warm sunny day, with a blossoming magnolia tree right by me. I was physically comfortable, and doing something that feels like contributing my best gifts to the world. I don’t need a lot of takers; the signs speak for themselves, and hopefully spark something within anyone who sees them. And the few conversations I do have feel meaningful.
On Tuesday, I met a Polish artist named Aleks. (Here is an article about some of her work.) She said she could see my event as a sort of performance-art piece: something to provoke a response in onlookers. I could see that perspective once she pointed it out, and it tickled me. We talked about her visions for helping people, especially children, to get connected to tending land, growing food, expressing themselves artistically, and connecting with each other in community.
We added each other on Instagram; I hope we can keep in touch.
Today, I spoke with a man who told me that he is just a few days away from embarking on his longest-ever solo bike tour, which will be for 90 days, and will cover much of the western United States, including a total of 55,000 feet of elevation gain(!!!) My hat is off to him, and I’m so excited for his adventures.
Meanwhile, I’ve had a cool Facebook connection with a woman who is blowing my mind right now, Liz Pomeroy. We had friended each other at some point during my year of travels, because we were both in some Facebook groups for bicycle traveing women.
She has an amazing story, and I won’t detail it all here, but I hope you will click through to her crowdfunding link to read the details. (And send a bit of money her way if you can, and/or consider sharing the link to your networks so that others may be inspired to do so.)
In a nutshell, she is an Irish-born musician based in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) living a zero-waste lifestyle. Despite (or maybe because of?) being in recovery from addiction, she has already once bicycled all the way across Canada, to promote her last album, and she is now is planning to go to Europe and tour by bicycle there! (That top photo is her, of course. Photo credit: Matty McKechnie.)
Like me, she prefers to keep her carbon footprint as low as possible by minimizing flying and auto travel, and she also—clearly—enjoys challenging herself in dramatic ways. I so admire her courage, and can’t wait to see her succeed. One excerpt from her bio:
“On Earth Day 2022, I embarked on an epic cycling tour across Canada to promote Freefall, the first mini album from Pendulum State. I carried all of my gear, including my guitar, tent and solar panel, on a rig that weighed 192 lbs and cycled 5,400 km over the course of 5.5 months.”
WOW.
These are the kinds of people I love connecting with. That—and traveling, and living in beautiful spaces in beautiful climates—is my dream. And I’m living it!!
Heartfelt thanks, again, to all of you for following along, and cheering me on!
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