Pacific Specifics

Why don't we listen? Why aren't we listening to ourselves?  It wasn't until after my year of travel and coming back to settle down (for a moment?) in the little village of Samara that it really strikes me. I left it all behind! I  spent my whole life being programmed. By parents,  sibling/relatives, the TV and it's ridiculous commercials (which so many people watch for hours every day). By friends, religion, government, and health care providers. We are programmed to follow, and not listen to our true selves and that inner voice gets squashed in the process, with only brief moments of awareness. I ran around doing things that didn't make me happy, just relieved they are over with. Things I am told I HAVE to do, so I tell myself I must do it.  I see it all around me, and it comes in many forms. Through strong opinions and condemnation, through bossiness, commandments, indifference when no one listens to what I am saying. Through false or conflicting media, fostere...

Do you love doing the dishes? If you don't, I have some suggestions. First, reorganize your sink area. Buy bright pink scrubbers if that will help. Then put some essential oil in your dish soap. I like lots of different kinds but both lemon and cinnamon are anti-depressants. So they are pro-mood improvers. Then make the area as interesting as possible. Music is good. A window is good, if you have one. If you don't like doing the dishes maybe you need a different color and pattern that make you smile. Get some new dish towels that are your favorite kind of colorful. Put some plants by the sink, where possible. Get creative. Plus, if they are by the sink, it's easier to remember to water them, right? If you have a window, what do you see? Is the window sill full of dusty clutter that can be transformed? Do you have a view out the window? Can you improve the view? Wash the window inside and out. Maybe set up a bird feeder. I love doing the dishes because here we have d...

9 days ago was Day 1 of 8 days travel to get to Samara in Costa Rica. 3 days ago was Day 1 of being back in Costa Rica. 2 days ago was Day 1 back on familiar turf in the tropics, in Samara on the Pacific coast. Now I'm ready for Day 3! 1 Day before Christmas, and how much more jingle can I put in this month? Good question for someone who likes a challenge. Day 1 in Costa Rica was a whole hour long. The flight was late and then it was after 10pm to pick up the car rental and find the hotel. Whew. I have the whole 8 days of travel to talk about, but how much do I tell? Why are the embarrassing stories the funniest?? Human nature is a strange thing. Laughter is weird. The gift of being ticklish is also the worst torture. Life is a strange and wonderful thing. When we first got here it was amazing. 4 months of the U.S. and now back to visit with my Mom. There was the drive from the airport to the tiny town with only a few paved streets (Mom's street is not paved). I missed ...

"Cat eared"?? What does that even mean? Well, I have some pictures to explain. This is what happens when you take a trip back to your home land (sounds cool, even if it's Canada) to see long lost friends from your crazier younger days. It's a direct result of wanting to recapture some of the sweet silliness of days gone by. I was thinking of getting matching tiaras, but when we came to that section of the store we both knew we had to get the cat ears. They really represent the memorable days of 1989. Man, we sat at her kitchen table that first night for 7 hours, catching up an telling old stories to my husband. I didn't want to have the ears and then put them on a shelf! So I decided I would take pictures with them for my friend, to show that the fun lives on. Like on the ferry ride home. I was not giving up, and I was not giving in: I kept them in my purse after that. A month later we were going to a restaurant and one of the waitresses had cat ears on. I thou...

Life is so exciting these days. There are no iguanas or parks full of statues, but there is great adventure in my living room right now. The adventure found in a few boxes of pictures and papers. I traveled to 3 countries to see my living relatives. Now I'm spending some quality time with ones that are long gone for the next world. My Grandma Szpradowski loved me. Of this I am sure. She called me Precious. Long before any over used Lord of the Ring references. I lived mostly with my Grandma for 6 years in a old Victorian kind of house a block from a huge park in Victoria, British Columbia in Canada. She watched over me and she loved me. It's an honor to say: I made her smile. She makes me smile still, 25 years after she left this earthly experience. I have the privilege right now of reading her journal when she was in her later years and took a trip to Poland. I'm not sure, it may have been her first and last trip. I still have to finish reading the journal. I'm tak...

  One week in Costa Rica. Back to all of my favorite things! The tidal moment was being in the waves an hour before sunset. Standing waist deep and waves coming neck deep. Such a glorious thing. Looking over the horizon across the water again. I tried to look at the beach, but I had to keep an eye on the waves, some were over my head, or crashing as it reached me.   Being in the water and defying gravity, and sharing the energy of the endless waves, it was so fun. Then a bike ride back home to rinse off and eat the French onion soup that I made. Good moments. Every day has the good ones, the great ones, and the really truly not so great moments. I choose to carry the good ones with me, since I hold the basket.  So this was a post that I started and never posted. And here I am now, seeing these glorious memories, and wishing I wasn't in Seattle where the temperature is 32 degrees farenheit. At least it's sunny, even if I'm so bundled up that little of it actually hits m...

There is no joy as sweet as the victory after a lot of struggle. My first child was born in 1991. My dear maternal Grandmother died in 1992. Since then I have been very interested in my family tree going forwards and backwards in time. I have wondered and wondered. By then I lived in a different country from where I began, and from where my family tree roots are supposed to be. I was living in the United States of America. My Grandma Szpradowski was the first generation to be Canadian in her family. I am the first generation on my paternal side to be Canadian. My children are first generation Americans on my side of the tree. My Dad's side of the tree is Danish, I was happy he spoke English. He (Knud) sent me some records, but they were in Danish so I couldn't read them. He has been living in Denmark since I was 12 years old, so even calling him was a huge expense for me. He would tell me things, and I would write them down. Then I would forget where I wrote them. Then we wo...

Today is the best day to make changes. The best day to try something new. The best time to let yourself dream. It's kind of crazy that I live in a world where it seems like I have to specifically tell myself that it's ok to dream. And to dream big. In 2016 I had 3 big dreams. To quit my awesome and highly demanding and stressful job. To get a new job that had "normal" hours. To take a trip to Samara in Costa Rica to see my Mom. I hadn't seen her in a year. And it was much longer that that before then. I did all three of those things. It was pretty cool. My husband had a dream. He said: let's pretend we could go there, and stay there. What would that look like? What would we have to do to make that happen, and to be ok with what had to be done? His big dream came true also. We stayed! I think he was tired of the basic American mentality. The whole mentality and system designed around: work, buy, consume, die. I was too. We both love adventure. There is a lot ...

Ok, I didn't have good enough internet to get pictures of my trip posted yet. I DID get my writing goal accomplished! 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month in November. I wasn't sure if I liked having the task hanging over my head every single day for a week. I didn't write for the 5 days I was in Victoria. But on the last day I felt the crunch, and I remembered that I love to write, and that I type really fast. And I did it! Just over 6,000 words in one day to meet the deadline. I want to bask in this feeling of success. I doubted since Day 1 that I could really pull it off. I learned the trick. Don't edit. Just let ideas flow. The goal wasn't to publish a book, it was to get ideas generating. I feel like a creative genius, my friends. And the feeling is good. I'm also impressed that I beat the clock. That I applied myself, and I came through. I want that feeling to last also. In the mean time I will try to not break my arm as I pat myself on the b...

Should I apologize? I can't get enough of the beauty and feeling meditative while riding the ferry. Getting lost in the view. Wondering what life is like on each island. Like they are whispering to me as we sail on by. Hints of people and critters and creatures. So inspirational for a writer like me. The Anacortes ferry in Washington to Sidney in Victoria, British Columbia in Canada is so fantastic. The internet is not working well today. I hope to add more pictures soon. Each day was it's own adventure. Each street was a journey in my mind down the years. It made me think of that movie Back to the Future. Silly me. The first day was taking Ron to see the parlament buildings, and going out to lunch with an old friend, she picked the Sticky Wicket in the middle of downtown. She looked splendid and the meal was lovely. I was there making new memories, yet at the same it was all about the old memories. Like the ghost of Christmas past, right? As a young adult I spent time a...

Today was a strange mini adventure. Ron saw a restaurant that served Somali food and we thought it would be cool to check it out. African food sounded interesting. We walked in and it was noisy with people talking and seemed busy enough. We sat down and then I looked around. I was the only female in the restaurant. For a minute there were 2 women at the counter ordering to go (I guess) and they had head coverings on. I heard a strange language being spoken all around me it sounded pretty cool. I started to wonder if I was a heathen to them. Then some women came in to eat as part of a group and they put up a partition around them, seating them in a corner. The internet says that most Somalis are Sunni Muslim. But trying to understand that will take a lot more reading. I wish I could just sit down and talk with one of these ladies. What's it like to be them? I read that they think the women should avert their eyes. Should I feel bad for looking at the waiter as I spoke to him? I f...

How do I write about my time in Canada? There are so many aspects to it. There is the timeline. There is the tie in to my childhood and family. There is the scenery just on the ferry alone. There is the exploring and showing things to Ron. Up early at 5am and the ferry takes over two hours. Let's start with that. I took ten pictures just on the way there. If you want to see the magic, I am going to show you. It was cold, and it was gorgeous. I can't imagine the colors that would show when the sun shines. The first set of pictures is before we left, waiting for the ferry to arrive. It was a long ride, over 2 hours. It was beautiful and peaceful. And cold. So many small islands full of trees. It was outstanding. I could have gone on the ferry there and back in one day, and it would have been a completely magical day! Every part of this 5 day journey was epic. These pictures are only going there. I need to decide if I want to add the pictures on the way back. Everything was ...

Ajo is the Spanish word for garlic. Pronounced ah-ho. I had a major ah-ho moment earlier this week. I just don't know how to explain myself. I knew better. Why? Why did I cut 5 pieces of garlic in half and fry them up? Well, because it makes the kitchen smell good, and it's good in a dish for dinner. Except I didn't put them in a dish. Right before bed I ate them all, like they were candy. I love to eat them like that on crackers with cream cheese. I just didn't have the other things in the cupboards. Instead of putting the garlic in a meal or in the fridge, I ate them. Regrettably tasty. I knew I would go to bed, sleep all night, and wake up smelling like garlic. I decided to forget how hideous that is. Then when I woke up I was not only oozing garlic from my skin, but I was emitting vapors from certain body parts too. I was so happy Ron wasn't here to share those noxious moments. Good grief. Learn from me, folks. Never do that. You have been warned. Unless you...