Making Days Count!

The first month of Quarantine proved to be frustrating–up and down and all around in emotions. I developed some bad habits and I don’t feel good. I’m happy to report that the next round of 30 days is going to be far different! Instead of watching the news on television, reading news on the internet

Burrow In

Lots of people outside these days. It’s so great to see families walking together, and couples. I heard one of our television anchors (who is at home isolated) say that he and his wife haven’t taken a neighborhood walk together in years and years! Perhaps we needed this time. To stop running away from ourselves,

Wild Animals

The only other living, breathing, beings out there on my mountain bike ride were two HORSES (with riders) and two jumbo COYOTES with a gorgeous full coat of red rusty fur! The coyotes were about 5 feet in front of me on the trail. We had a face-off as I approached and communicated with my

Trash Talk

I’m not really sure what to say.I’ve been hiking in these Malibu trails for 23 years. I am sad to say that the last couple of hikes on one of the sweetest trails in Malibu was so full of garbage that I vowed to bring a garbage bag for the next time I hiked it.

Caught Up!

People are really caught up in the appearances of it all.  Just the other day, my friend that I’ve known, more than half my life,  made a comment that threw me for a loop! We had just walked past  Owen Wilson in a coffee shop–I made eye contact and he said hello (this is about

Angels Among Us

I just watched an episode of  “The Best of Oprah”  all about angels in our midst. It was from the 90’s and I’m so glad I saw it.  So often, over the years I thought that perhaps I had just imagined an incident that happened in my younger years. Anyway, today as I watched and

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

Money For Nothing

Growing up I never had any anticipation of receiving an inheritance. There was barely enough to get by week to week let alone receive anything more–my mom worked 2 jobs and my father was not present.  My father had another family and if there was any sort of inheritance, I’m sure they would be receiving

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

With Or Without You

I’ve been on my own for 4 years now. In those 4 years, I’ve gone from having 2 or 3 friends to having many. Some of them are there for me regularly, some of them are there for me only sometimes, but there are many to choose from. It took a while to build up

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.

Your Body–Built To Move!

As I’ve been recovering from straining some ligaments in my foot, I haven’t been exercising very much at all.  My yoga practice is not happening because that involves lots of foot work.  I haven’t been huffing and puffing up the hiking trails and the biking I’ve done is pretty tame.  I’ve just really wanted to

Childless By Choice

I am a woman and I am childless by choice. No, this is not something I need to discuss and wonder about, it’s a decision I made many years ago. Many years ago, though, everyone seemed to want to challenge that decision.  Talk about pressure, there was extreme pressure every turn I took. If we

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…

STREET Smarts–Detroit Taught Me Well

Today,  I am feeling very appreciative of my mom and the freedom she graced upon her kids.  She gave us so much space and exposed us to more than the average person, I’m sure of it now. When I was a young girl, we would go and visit my Grandma and Grandpa in the Cass Corridor,

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

Degrees of Forgiveness?

Recently, I’ve had the “forgiveness” conversation with people. I’ve heard a common theme that troubles me. People seem to have varying degrees of forgiveness.  It seems that some things are acceptable to forgive yet others are not so acceptable.  Gosh, that doesn’t sound like forgiveness to me. I was telling someone that I was going

Just Let Go

I am a massage therapist.  Today, a new client came for a massage and instead of getting the kind of massage she usually gets, “lots of digging and torture”, she requested a relaxing massage.  Good for her!  She listened to that inner guidance that told her to nurture instead of torture! As a massage therapist,

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