“It Never Rains in California…”

LuAnn

“It never rains in California, but girl don’t they warn ya. It pours, man it pours.”  Albert Hammond’s song was going through my head as I looked out the window this morning.  Of course, his song was not about the weather but of a struggling songwriter who moves out to California to pursue his dreams, never does, and begins his downward spiral.  Nonetheless, if I stay inside today my mood may begin to deteriorate to the color of the sky – gray.  So before I can  talk myself out of a chilly walk on the beach, out the door I go.

Heading north up the beach, this is what the sky looks like.  I just hope that Mother Nature decides to wait a bit before releasing her fury in the way of big, bone-chilling raindrops.  Right now it is not looking too promising,

I decide to make a stop at the Meditation Gardens at the Self-Realization Fellowship on my way up the beach.  Looking up at it from the beach, it appears as a little oasis on the hilltop, and it is. The real treasures are hidden inside the grounds, lush gardens of flowers, burbling little waterfalls cascading over rocks and koi awaiting feeding time.

After spending a little quiet time I continue up the beach, enjoying the beauty of the constantly changing colors of the sky and the ocean, as the sun shows herself for brief periods.  When it is time to turn and head towards home, the sun decides once again to make herself known, this time in the most unusual of ways.

With the sun shining on foam that has been washed up on shore by the churning of the ocean, a rainbow of colors appears.  I am instantly taken back to my childhood, standing outside on a warm sunny day, blowing bubbles. This image brings a smile to my lips, no matter what the weather outside.  And the best news of all, I am still dry when I step back into the RV.

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The Lovers’ Holiday

LuAnn

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, the holiday for lovers.  I realized that I didn’t know the true origins of this holiday so thought I should do my homework .  A quick Wikipedia check provided me with the following information:

Saint Valentine’s Day was originally established in 496 AD by Pope Galasius, honoring early Christian martyrs by this name.  In 1969, Pope Paul VI removed it from the General Roman Calendar of saints, perhaps because our present-day celebration of this holiday no longer resembles its original intent?

In the Middle Ages Chaucer was the first to associate February 14th with romantic love.  As early as the 15th century, Valentine’s Day became an occasion when lovers expressed their affections for each other with flowers, sweet treats, and greeting cards.  Not much has changed over the years, except maybe the amount of money shelled out on this holiday.

As has become the case with other holidays, sometimes commercialism gives us an easy out, by expressing for us through a greeting card or a gift what we don’t take the time to say ourselves often enough, just a simple ‘I love you’.

I have had the good fortunate to be married to a wonderful man for the past 21 years, a devoted husband who, for whatever reason(s), has put up with my crazy, neurotic ways.  In spite of them all, he respects my individuality, as I do his.  On this most romantic of holidays, it seems a fitting time (perhaps not the most conventional way), to honor the man he is and let him know how blessed I am to be his wife.  I love you honey!

Although this is the day devoted to lovers, shouldn’t every day be about honoring those we love?

Happy Valentine’s Day!  ♥

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Why Are Some People So Mean?

LuAnn

Pregunta del día – why in Spanish you ask?  Well, I promised myself that I would continue to practice my Spanish after our year of travel in Mexico and I have yet to sit down and do it, so indulge me a little, ok?  By the way, if you haven’t figured it out yet, it means question of the day.

So, my question of the day, and one that comes to mind quite often, is why are some people so mean?  We all know the Golden Rule, right?  Do unto others as we would have others do unto us.    It seems like such an easy concept but much more difficult for many to put into practice.

I remember back when I was a young, eager manager, working with the public.  I decided to have a staff meeting and one of my first reminders to the staff was the importance of treating others as we would like to be treated.  Something our mothers taught us and simple, right?  Everyone should just nod their heads in agreement now and I can move on to other business.  What I got instead was the big eye-roll.  What the heck?!

We certainly can all theorize over why people are so mean.  So let’s start by laying out some of the reasons for this behavior:

  • unhappiness with our own lives
  •  emotional or physical pain
  • fearfulness
  • jealousy
  • anger
  • low self-esteem

There are any number of reasons, or excuses, some might say, for why we are mean.  It is true we are products of our upbringing but this becomes a tired, worn-out expression, doesn’t it, when we use this as justification for being so hateful to others.  To me it just feels like I expend more energy being mean (and yes, I can be) than when I practice compassion.

Martha Beck, PhD and columnist for O Magazine, wrote a very interesting piece on the subject, addressing how we can and should respond to those mean-spirited people we meet in our lives.  No, you guessed it, we shouldn’t slap a “Mean People Suck” sticker on our back bumper and call it good.  There are much more fruitful ways of empowering ourselves.

Given the world we now find ourselves in, it is not surprising to hear more reports about bullying, domestic violence, hate crimes, and child abuse popping up in the news.  Sometimes I’m shocked I don’t meet more hateful people than I do!  I’d like to think that maybe it has something to do with how I treat people (for the most part, lest you think I have a Mother Teresa complex, or something).

Since I can’t fix anyone else (and goodness knows I’ve tried!) I choose today to practice compassion with everyone I meet.  Given that it is an overcast, chilly day (a good day to stay indoors), one of the few I will see today is my husband.  What a lucky man he is, at least for today!

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Random Thoughts

LuAnn

Some days are just slow, with nothing exciting to report or maybe just a day meant to be mellow, more turning inward than looking out.  On these days I refuse to be one of those bloggers that will take you through pictures and a lengthy dialogue of how I organized my kitchen cabinets (have actually seen one of these done in great detail).  But I might have some random thoughts I would like to share, and in these moments I would love to hear from some of you, to get another perspective, or hopefully many.  That is how we learn, isn’t it, by communicating with each other?  Hmm, what a lovely concept! 😀

I have added another tab across the front page of my blog for these times and I would love, love, love to hear your thoughts as well.

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Dress Rehearsal is Over

LuAnn

Yes, our “dress rehearsal” is now over and we are ready to go live, and yes, there is some work involved here, albeit it small compared to what “work” looked like for us pre-retirement.  We have had the luxury of training while the campground is still closed for the season, instead of OJT, which is how most of us have been accustomed to learning jobs over the years.  And beauty of all beauties, there was even an actual training manual involved, thanks to our industrious instructors.

One of our first official duties as camp hosts was to clear away an area where we could plant some native shrubs.

Frank in his OSHA-approved footwear & Terry, clearing the site for planting

Bill thought it would be great for each of us to plant a shrub that we could come back to 20 years from now and look upon its progress.  At this point I am glancing over at Terry and see him doing the math.  No, I couldn’t actually see him counting.  He has long since progressed beyond using the finger method.  I could tell by the look on his face that he is looking 20 years into the future and wondering if he will still be standing upright!

Terry & me planting our shrub

Planting these shrubs was such a good idea, as it gave us a solid connection to this state beach.

As a wrap-up to our training, we had a short meeting, followed by a pot-luck and bonfire.  It gave us an opportunity to get to know one another better and at sunset, we all stood at the cliff fence watching the sun slip below the horizon.

I have to shout out a quick thanks to our instructors Bill and Lisa, for hiring us and for providing such a welcoming, supportive training atmosphere.

We have thoroughly enjoyed Bill and Lisa since meeting them several years ago and look forward to getting to know them a little better in this new environment. I love this photo of them, so relaxed, which is how it should be here.  I particularly was drawn to Lisa in this photo, as her expression pulls me back to memories I have of my dear friend Barbara, too soon gone.  Barbara, such a force of creativity, wonderment, compassion, a true gentle spirit, loved by all. Lisa is much like Barbara and her expression, for me, embodies a sense of pure contentment, which draws everyone to her.

We are looking forward to our time here, working with the public, which I’m sure will offer some interesting stories, and exploring the area beyond the campground.

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