June 27, 2020
Nurture yourself
Jamie are in Idaho camping for the night on the way to Montana for some well deserved rest with forest and mountain bathing. We have our dream van and happy to get to use it for an extended trip. Plus we have reservations for a night at Glacier National Park, which I have always wanted to see. We are making up for missing our yearly gathering of friends at Centrum’s Festival of American Fiddle Tunes festival in Port Townsend. We are hoping for next year.
We spent last night with friends in the Methow Valley and enjoyed it so much. Now moving into wilder country.
Considering the pandemic, I feel pretty safe doing this. In Washington more people were wearing masks in the small towns, some grudgingly, but still following the Governor’s mandate.
Even in Sandpoint, Idaho, we saw people with masks on. This campsite has signs up about social distancing and hand washing, as well as asking for only family members to be in the restroom at the same time. That along with high ceilings, open windows, and only one toilet makes me feel pretty safe.
With our van, we are pretty self contained with no need for shopping. I might not feel this way in Florida or Texas, but the virus is still low level on this corner of the country. Life goes on and nurturing self is so important.
Here is a poem for these times below.
I will still try to send out a dispatch each day while away, but don’t worry if one doesn’t come on Tuesday when we are in Glacier.
Wash your hands, cover your nose and keeps safe six. And do some nurturing of yourself. We all need it.
Robin Wall Kimmerer reminds of the gifts we have been given and John O'Donohue calms my heart:
From "To Bless the Space Between Us":
“This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.
Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.
If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/23/robin-wall-kimmerer-people-cant-understand-the-world-as-a-gift-unless-someone-shows-them-
https://www.peacevansmodern.com/