Today, I Am A Tree!

Today was all about trees. I started my yoga practice amongst the trees, then I walked through the most beautiful neighborhood full of trees. I felt their amazing energy. Trees are the quintessential observers of life. We are very much like trees. We stand up tall, we have a crown at the top and we

I Am A Tree Today

View this post on Instagram Today was all about trees. I started my yoga practice amongst the trees, then I walked through the most beautiful neighborhood full of trees. I felt their amazing energy. Trees are the quintessential observers of life. We are very much like trees. We stand up tall, we have a crown

Outside Is Open!

I’m a lucky woman! I live in Ventura county and we did not have as many cases and as many deaths as Los Angeles county and surrounding counties so the trails are open! Wow, what a difference riding my bike on the trail makes! It was lovely out there today. I saw a kick ass

Bright Sunshiney Day!

Time In The Saddle–25 years!

I remember the first time I saw someone riding their bike up a dirt trail, I thought they were crazy, “who would want to do that?” A few years later, I was crazy because I wanted to do that! This year marks 25 years Mountain Biking in The Santa Monica Mountains! The very first ride

Time To Embrace My Wrinkles

Hey, Happy Earth Day! As I stand here in front of the Mountain Lilac, I am learning to embrace my wrinkles!  I’m sure this will not be a popular trend but I’ve never gone along with the trends easily. I feel like we are all so obsessed with beauty and perfection. Every time we look

27 Years of Living and Learning in Los Angeles !

June marks 27 years living in California. Here are 27 things I have learned about living in Los Angeles after  27 years of living here: 1)  I really don’t have to fit in with the crowd here–NOR do I want to! 2)  In time, everyone talks like a “Californian.”  We say things like, “yeah, traffic

Malibu Hikers!

“What do these women wish to achieve by hiking up these hills in Malibu?” Imagine a very proper Brittish accent with a sort of chronic, cynical way of being in life asking this question, I was telling her about the out of town visitors I’ve been leading on private hikes in Malibu. Her words and the tone

Envy in Malibu

I have the privilege and honor of caring for people’s homes and animals while they are away.  One of the questions people always ask me is: “Do you ever become jealous or envious when  caring for other people’s homes?Do you go into the comparison mode and wish you had more of this wealth and abundance.”

20 Years of Epic! (Well, now it’s 25 years)!

This month marks my 20th year of mountain biking!  I’ll never forget the first time I rode up Palisades Drive on my mountain bike–my former husband was way ahead of me and all I could do in my mind was beat myself up! “Sure, he’s way ahead of me, his father was a 9 Letterman

Hawk Feather

So, today, I found my Hawk feather I’ve been longing for (https://naturegirltara.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/feathers-find-me/) I was riding my mountain bike, huffing and puffing up a hill when I came upon a pile of horse shit with a very unique feather in the middle of it. As I rode past it, I realized it was a feather I

California Dreams–Letting Go!

I remember my second visit to California, I was 18 years old and loving this place!  Near the end of my trip, I read some graffiti on a freeway overpass, “Tourists GO HOME”!  I remember feeling really bad when I read it, almost like I had been personally attacked. I couldn’t understand how someone would want

Too Young To Learn From?

I invited a friend to come with me to  yoga.  The teacher of the class is  20 years my junior.   When I invited him, he said, “No, I won’t go to her class–what can I learn from her, she is too young.” I sure am glad I didn’t have that attitude when I first

Choose Pronoia!

I was flying down a singletrack trail on my mountain bike yesterday–the trail closed in and became a little brushy. There were curves and overgrown bushes so it was hard to look far enough ahead to see what was coming up. It felt like I was a little blind, in the fog and not knowing

Every Action Counts

We can all be activists by doing something small everyday! Check it out!

Dig Deep–I Am That

We stood above a waterfall on the trail. Huge boulders were nuggets in a stream. A tree stuck out among the rocks–its roots looked as if they were going into the rock but they simply went beyond the boulder and into the ground. Another tree had huge thick roots that stuck out above the stream.

Lifted Up

I was out walking the dogs and was deep inside my head with lots of chatter. Sometimes the chatter is really blissful and empowering and other times the chatter is somewhat dark and disempowering. I’m aware of the chatter while it’s happening and most of the time it’s easy to turn it down or off,

Originally posted on Hiking Los Angeles, Malibu, Santa Monica Mountains:
This morning when I awoke, I took a deep breath and silently said, Thank You (it’s a miracle).  I had attended a Japanese Master’s workshop on Saturday. He explained that in ancient Japan, the phrase “Thank You” was filled with revery and awe and it…

California Dreams Come True

I remember my second visit to California, I was 18 years old and loving this place!  Near the end of my trip, I read some graffiti on a freeway overpass, “Tourists GO HOME”!  I remember feeling really bad when I read it, almost like I had been personally attacked. I couldn’t understand how someone would

Caged Animals

I went to see the movie, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”.  It was a really good movie and I noticed something that we are all subject to–limited access to nature. Whenever we enclose ourselves with limitations, it creates a bit of frustration and sometimes rage!  No question about it, even though humans are

Thank You–It’s A Miracle

This morning when I awoke, I took a deep breath and silently said, Thank You (it’s a miracle).  I had attended a Japanese Master’s workshop on Saturday. He explained that in ancient Japan, the phrase “Thank You” was filled with revery and awe and it meant, “it’s a miracle”. He said, they once lived each

Puma Power

As I began my hike at the start of  Will Rogers State Park, a young woman came running out of the woods, “Oh My God, there’s a mountain lion in there!”  She had turned around after seeing the mountain lion in her first 5 minutes on the trail. I eased her fear a bit and

See For Myself!

I went out on a spectacular Saturday morning mountain bike ride.  I was riding through the canyon, when someone going the other way said, “the trail is closed ahead”.  “Oh”, I said surprised.  I continued on about 10 more minutes when a man who works for the gas company stopped me and said the trail

The Life You Envisioned?

Is your life everything you envisioned it to be?  This is a question someone asked me the other day.  My guess is he was looking at my life and wondering how I could possibly be happy. I admit, I am a woman and I do think too much, but I was left feeling a little

The Hike of Your Life

The hike of your life… If you’ve ever gone on a long, hot, arduous hike, you know how closely it relates to life.   Sometimes it’s really high and challenging and other times it is low, boring and mundane. Life is a lot like a hike! One hike stands out in my mind. I was