Warm winds

I wrote this last week in the dark........

The smoke from the fires up in the mountains put a hue of pink in the north sky tonight that beamed so into the kitchen when I was making curry chicken salad too early to be the sunset. The puffy endless cloud sat right in front of the sun and were lined with purple threads.

Then the power went out. I freaking adore when that happens. Everyone seems to calm down to this point of sanity that sits a little bit better with me. People stand outside their houses trying to find someone to chat too and scrounge around their junk drawers for batteries. I love it. Chris and I played frisbee ( and may I add my throw was in perfect form tonight), we climbed a tree and then sat on the porch winding up the wind up radio ( that thing can amuse me for hours). As the sun went down the cars ceased to exist and only the faint noise of the evening train choo chooing in dimly resembled itself in the distance.

To some disasters are just that. Sometimes I fight with disasters. Have fires been happening forever? Is it a natural progresstion of their ecology? Is it too dry (Yes!!)? Too many people, using too much water?? Definitly yes. People who fight that fire tonight up in the hills are hot to trot and fighting a merciless force of indeniable proportions. What destroys and a powerful swift force that joins up with wind to overpower its surroundings.

And here we are, say 30 miles, from a brushed out dry desert that is being winded all night. We lay so lush in our houses with our power, water, internet, things and the natural progression of disaster feels so far away.
In communities like ours in the U.S. that seem like smart little safe havens and shelters from so many manmade and natural tragedies that other continents seem to be ransacked by......I feel so lucky. So blessed, like Marilyn Monroe in a covnertible on a coastal road with wind blowing in the hair. We have it all and use it like we don't even realize we have it. I am guilty. We are all to a certain degree.
We work, drive around, use technology like we couldn't live without it, we work more, fill up gas tanks and try to always justify it. We cook, we freeze, we eat, we use, we flush, we leave it all on when we are gone and let it run. Then...........we run out. It is an interesting thing when we just calm down and stop trying to chase it all down the road till we all explode.

Why cannot we progress back to the basics. Using rainwater, grey water, heating water with solar, reusing. All the rules of this country could lead to its downfall. All the health regulations leave us scrambling for water in the end.

I need very little and to have what I have in terms of family, friends, loves, food, flowers on my table, freedom, ideas, abilities, time, cleanliness, breath, opportunities to make it all happen.
The power exterminating itself teaches us all to remain grounded . Slowing me down. I love when the power goes out. Darkness reigns the streets and it doesn't feel like California anymore, it feels like a small village in Mexico on a perfect evening.

Maybe it is time to start this thing

In the sake of documenting my life in order to read it in my next life I figured I would start this blog stuff. Possibly it will be only for my personal memoir or maybe if you are lucky you will find it or "subscribe" to my interesting jaunts and find some sort of solace in my scattered stream of thought along the way. Life is starting to settle for me a bit as I am fixing up a home to temporarily live in in Santa Barbara California. This morning Chris and I got up early to go surfing only to drive south and find nothing but long duck dong waves. Everytime I see the summer swells here I crave that 7'5 fun shape or that fish to make the most out of every line. Yet I don't think I can afford the quiver at this point so instead I paddle around and find the perfect sweet spot to drop in on my 5'11 green machine and end up ripping it anyways. Ha longboarders!! The heat wave has deceased and the misty morning is a well needed retreat away from the sun. Sometimes the unsunny days are what relax you the most.
The weather here is one of the most mentally invigorating parts about this location. I love the perfect tempertures and big parks to walk in and not feel too hot or cold. There is a blessed feeling between the mountains and the coast that places like California, Hawaii, New Zealand ooze out of them and I feel healthy in these spots.
Don't know if I could reside in the California craziness though. After residing in Colorado I realize I like the peace of the mountains and the unpretentious attitudes of inlanders. Californians do put out a funny I am cool attitude that I find more hilarious then actually viable.
For now though this is perfect. We ar helping fix up a rental property for some kooky locals and, have once again, found the perfect money saving situation. We can bike everywhere, there is an avocado tree next door and life feels good. Of course the place is still a bit of a construction zone but sometimes my whole life feels like one of those. I know someday it will slow down and then I will miss the "work in progress". It is cool helping do some little projects around the house because it makes Chris and I realize we want to invest in our own "fixer upper" soon enough. Though the dream and the outcome will more be creating our own natural house from scratch with local resources and many creative corners. All in time.

As for career outputs....well since I have decided I am a little career phobic I am looking around for new and broadening experiences. I wish I could volunteer for a bunch of organizations I care about and somehow get paid for it. I actually have already picked up a non paying interesting gig for a day or so a week at a International language school. It is fun and a great thing for the old piece o paper that records my millions of jobs/talents. It is like working in a hostel practically. I find it very fun to observe other nationalities trying to figure out life in the states and helping them accumulate good experiences here. I have been there and advocate the fact that they are trying something new. I also think about doing some substituting once school starts back up. I love the idea of being a substitute. No commitments. I don't know why a commitment to a job scares me so much, but it seems so longterm to sign on as a full time teacher. Then there are random nonprofits that have interested me.....but what doesn't interest me is sitting on a computer all day typing like a zombie. That is what may lead people to looking at my blog, by getting paid to computer it up all day. I do not endorse too much computer time.

In any form, I do not worry. If I go where I want to go I find what I want to do and meet the people I am supposed to. I have learned to accept my lifestyle and to embrace all he curves of it, because that is what makes it mine and fun for that matter. There is a million interesting things to do and my goal is to try a bunch of those.