4 Thousand words about our latest Campground...

peaceful sunsets, the camera didn't quite catch the crescent moon and its companion star - or is it a planet (venus?) i am not sure...

mist on the river... sis got this great shot a la ansel adams

where these two rivers meet, the Stanislaus and the San Joaquin, one of them flows north, the only one in the state to do so...

two tents, two sisters, two dogs, two convertibles, two espresso cups (see the italian espresso maker on the table?)

Tit Nippley

I said Deb, you shouldn't leave that bowl of dog kibbles on your car, the racoons will get it, or the wildcats, or the BEARS!!! and she said pshaw, that won't happen. So all night long we listened to the racoons raid our campsite, eat the kibble and rummage in my car (no back window). Finally, when we'd had enough, we sent Gigabyte out of the tent to "get 'em! Gig!" and he sure enough did, ran those racoons right up a tree. I never knew that racoons could climb trees.

departure day is here

well, the house has been empty for two weeks now....
sis and i and the dogs have been staying here at
the invitation of an angel, one of the first on our journey,
our landlord - seriously, the world could do better with
more people like him in it
***
it is still dark outside - sis and i are having coffee and
waiting for daylight to pack up the cars...
***
i have butterflies in my stomach and i still need to
figure out how to replace a headlight bulb, but other
than that, it's time to move...
***
the weather forecast looks like 5 days of clear skies - it will
be cold at night, but nothing like other areas of the country.
thank goodness i have a fluffy dog to keep my toes
warm when sleeping...
***
we have already experienced little miracles and
manifestations while this departure day approached...
certain people stopped by at certain times with the
perfect solutions and bearing appropriate tokens of love,
like a thermal tarp and a flashlight that is powered
by a charge built up with hand cranking (no batteries)
and an air mattress; not only that, but during our
cleaning out phase, as we set things on the porch,
the perfect person would come by who wanted it -
we did not have to pay to dispose of anything or arrange
for trucks or pay for ads - people just came by.
special encounters almost brought me to tears, like the
neighbor who got my angel candleholder for his wife
who was home sick, to make her feel better and the
little girl to whom i gave a little tea party set and the
young woman whose eyes lit up when she saw my
selection of colored glass for making windows and
the mommy who was taking some crystals and rocks
home to her little boy who has started to collect and the
old grampa man who wanted a wooden wine box as
a coffin for his old cat who was about to die... - the
list goes on and on - how many people have a garage
sale and end up hugging every other person that stops by?
***
the point is this, for me anyway: get aligned with your
purpose, make decisions based on love, do the right
thing at any given moment and it is amazing how the
road opens up in front of you, coincidences happen,
synchronicity happens, there are signals to be noticed
and a quiet inner strength develops
***
and let's not forget to mention the FUN!

Soscol

Early one morning they were called out by an insatiable desire for food, later, as they drove home satisfied and confident in their plans, the road whispered to them...




good morning...

"time is money"? no, "time is art"!

From the Planet Art Network:

"We are the planet - we, each and every one of us, are the Earth. We all know that "business as usual" can only accelerate the global crisis.

What we need is a radical change, a radically new way of life. A way of life dedicated to, first of all, the salvation of the Planet: Universal Peace by 2012. Then we can begin the endless journey and real adventure of re-creating the Planet as a true work of ever-evolving galactic art!

Consider for a moment, the difference between the belief system of "time is money" and the way of life called "time is art". That is a radical and instant paradigm shift!

This paradigm shift manifests as a whole new social vision, a society whose interests are the interests of the Planet itself, a unified global community, the mind and mouthpiece of Planet Earth ..."

not a care in the world

the dogs plan their journey...

Remembering Old Friends

So, what does one do to prepare to plunge into the abyss? First thing I did was to go through everything I own and get rid of everything that won't fit in the car. This takes drastic prioritizing. And so we did. Down to the bone, even still might have to give up something in order to see out my back window. So, what do I miss most? That was a question in my mind, would I miss those things terribly? NO! What I miss most is Mr. Kitty. The cat went to live in San Francisco with Debra's son, Sam. And my bathrobe, yes, my bathrobe. It made me look like I lived in an asylum, Debra said, so in the interest of keeping up our campground appearance, I gave up the old bathrobe. Damnit! It's gone where old bathrobes go to die. Now I miss my old friend the tattered robe and have replaced it with a fringy wool blanket that I wrap around me. Makes me look like I live in an asylum without a bathrobe...

Trash or Treasure?

...she was at a random porch sale in downtown Napa when she discovered her frog prince, she just had to have it she thought, and with that she wisked him away to come live with her...

winter road trip

day 9, re-searching ideas for inspiration, it feels so close to departure time, I am getting antsy and keep bringing myself back to this gorgeous day, grateful to be in this wonderful place, for now - anyway, back to the info, from others who have gone before (well, not EXACTLY, but sort of): winter road trip

Trust Manifest

The Mustang has TAGS! Another sign that things are going my way. I'm collecting emails for our up to the minute ecard from the road mailing list. Send your email address to: artspot@gmail.com and become a follower of this blog and you will always know what we're doing. Seems we're leaving just in time for construction to begin on Fourth St. There's another sign. Signs all over the place, YEILD TO ONCOMING PHOTONS lol - fucking legal now, yay!

Porch Sale!

day 4, 2009: word of the day: progress

ok, so this no expectations attitude is working just fine so far... folks are coming by to discover some treasures, take some of our special things and give them new energy. The day is gorgeous, the coffee is excellent, and a hot bubblebath in that clawfoot tub is only hours away. What could make this day better? Not a whole heckuva lot.
***
Words Sis said to me days ago, weeks ago, I don't know how long ago: "delay is not disaster" - and so it goes, we purge and clean and organize and visualize and somehow I am convinced we are manifesting a bright future right NOW.
***
As we posted the craigslist this morning, the words to type in to get past the submission process were a sign for us, we both felt it. "trust & manifest" Well, ok then, it doesn't get much clearer than that. We are still looking for signs, however, and we'll take them wherever we find them.
***
I feel a bit impatient to get going and yet ultra appreciative of my last days here... to be cont'd

New Year's Day 2009

Happy New Year, everyone.
***
I am almost done with the last of my sorting and packing.
What remains to be given away or donated isn't much...
how fortunate we have been to have the "right" people
show up at the "right" time. Some of our most valued
possessions, the things infused with lots of our attention
and happiness, are something special now to the special
people in our lives - a whole new sense of appreciation
is created. Cool.
***
Mr Kitty is already in his new home - he is now Mr. City Kitty.
We had a long conversation. He understood that he would
be more comfortable with my son, who raised him from a kitten.
I already miss him. He made me laugh every day...
***
I have a list of last minute errands to do tomorrow. But right
now, this very minute, it could not be much better. I am
so excited about this journey, I can't wait to see what happens.
When people ask where we are going, they are always
so surprised to hear that we don't know. I do know that
Big Sur is calling, I feel the place needs some healing energy
to come back after the recent fire... we'll see which way the
current is flowing.
***
1st lesson learned: throw schedules, plans and expectations out the window.

It all started with a really good cup of coffee. The two women woke up in their little house in downtown Napa and realized, this would be one of the last days they would spend there. The two dogs waited patiently by the kibble bag for their instructions. The last items they would not be taking with them were lined up like soldiers on the porch for the inspection by Craigslist enthusiasts who would come over the next few days to pick through the boxes of stuff, things they had collected over the last fifty years. Things they had decided that they no longer needed to cling to.

It was a cold, misty, grey morning in wine country that day. Spirits were high and the two women listened to Elvis Costello on the stereo as they stepped lightly through the maze of now unwanted possessions. That's it! They decided to shed everything that couldn't fit in their cars and mobilize. 2009 would present itself to them now with a new path, like one of them said to the other, 'I'm turning my canoe around and going downstream, I'm tired of fighting the current'.

The advice they got from concerned family and friends was to get rid of the dogs and they would have more opportunities if they would just continue to work as slaves of the system, however these sage women decided that THEY could see more opportunity in getting rid of everything else, keeping the dogs and accepting whatever future came with them. They were happier with that choice, and so was Gigabyte and Sweetie. Four very lucky dogs now on an EPIC adventure.

It all started when the women one day decided to plant four crystals in a diamond shape on the map around them for protection and clarity. They had fun with it, choosing the locations on the map starting at the north with the Soda Springs castle ruins. This would only be a problem because one of them an issue with tresspassing. For some reason, they did it anyway. The other one got photos:

They got busted by the caretaker of the land. He had left a note in the car that the cops were coming right away and we better take notice! But when the women talked to the men, they softened up and left them with a smile. Mission accomplished. Now, on to the second spot:

The Napa Airport the south point, ho hum... Then they drove out to point three, a grapefarm west of Napa:

Napa really is a beautiful place, the crystal was planted in the shoulder knot of an old oak tree. Next, they headed east to a point on the map that landed on a crossroads in a rural part of Napa:

And so it was done. The grid had been activated and something was set into motion that they would not fully realize until the next year...