“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is - infinite” --William Blake
It's good to act as if you're on a vacation, and my town is a great place to do it. It's full of visitors who have come to see plays at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and to shop and stroll in the marvelous milieu of Ashland, Oregon.
After my third house concert at Tangren's, which was enjoyable and instructive, and after a conversation with my life coach friend Melanie, I decided it would be very refreshing to act as if I were on vacation. Just shifting that way opened things up for me. I felt a bit like these dolphins in the cartoon here.
Yesterday I started the day by heading to the hot springs. The sky and water were blue. A serious and attentive man was carefully watering the colorful hanging baskets full of flowers that ornament the walls and deck of the pool. A father and son were playing together. The swallows, beautiful birds really, were as usual swooping and diving over the pool and into the fields beyond on their quest to find food for their babies nested under the eaves of the hot spring's main building. There were red dragonflies and the occasional hawk. The leaves of nearby trees were shimmering in the sun. In the hot pool, the water was delightful. Lying on my back and floating, I felt my tightness both physical and mental dissolving into the water. Meanwhile, a man gave a woman a Watsu massage in the hot pool, gently pulling her this way and that. All the while her beautiful relaxed face had a faint smile, as if she was seeing angels.
A soak, then a swim in the big pool, then lying in the sun for awhile. This is the life. The very life. I draped my wet blue towel over the back seat of my car and left the hot springs. I ate a delicious marzipan danish. I dropped my compost off at Valerie and Edeltraud's and had some cool tea with them. I sat and meditated for awhile. Later I visited Melanie and had more tea. She was packaging sets of cards to send to various friends. Each card had a beautiful photograph of a flower she had taken. I loved watching her write on the cards, then tie them with thin, transparent ribbons into a packet. Beautiful gifts she was preparing.
It's always a lush treat for the senses to visit her home. The colors, textures, statues, paintings, flowers, fabrics....ummmm....very wonderful. She's a feng shui consultant and her home really shows it.
Yesterday I was investigating what it is that I enjoy and how to infuse my life with more bursts of it, because I focus on creative work far too much at times. I enjoy creative work, but sometimes it gets to be too much work and not enough creative.
In the early evening, I decided to go downtown and just hang out for awhile. We used to do that so easily and often years ago. I got a cup of gelato and sat on a bench outside the ice cream parlor to watch the people and contemplate time and infinity. Among all the visitors, also known as tourists, I saw six locals within the first five minutes. One woman I've known for 30 years sat down and talked for about 15 minutes about aging. Hey, I thought, hang out here more often Gaea.
In the bank parking lot nearby, a guy was displaying a lovely gypsy wagon type of camper he had built on the back of a pickup truck. I went over to look at it because gypsy wagons are often on my mind, and this one looked especially delightful. It had beautiful wood ornamentation, magical windows, one of them round, and was equipped with a bed, storage space, stove, sink and refrigerator. What would it be like to pack up and take off in a gypsy wagon? That's something I've been wondering about for years now.
I could blame it on my father, who used to regale me with tales of how he would get a painted gypsy wagon and we would take off for parts unknown in an adventure that would surely lead us out of mundane reality and into a freshness and freedom most humans long for, and we were certainly among them. My father and I never did that and I have never done it myself, not yet anyway.
That particular gypsy wagon cost too much but the creator said he was going to create others that were more affordable soon. He lives here so I can talk more with him about it. And there's Rima, a woman in England whose blog I just discovered. I recommend your checking her blog of July 7th filled with wonderful images which describes how several old women painted the interiors of their houses in marvelous ways. Rima lived in her version of a gypsy wagon for a year. I'm going to write to her about her experience. I like the idea of living small. I like the idea of traveling around. Hmmm....
That's what happens when you "go on vacation," shifting ordinary habits and perception, inviting a welcome openness. And today is another day, as my mother was fond of saying.
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