Summer Solstice 2009 ... Ocean Time, Celebration, Anniversary

We have been on a long journey to create VARDOFORTWO, and yesterday on Summer Solstice 2009 we packed up Scout the trusty Subaru and drove three hours to the ocean. We were in need of restoration, appreciation and celebration.

Two years ago come this August Pete and I were on this Pacific Ocean shore with barely a drizzle of a dream of what we were doing, where we would live, how we would create a different reality. Yesterday we came to the ocean to say: We have VARDOFORTWO, we have each other and life continues to unfold. We came to say mahalo, thank you, yippee. Two old dears endure and we have reasons yet to smile.

The day was beautiful, cool to start ... those are our winter clothes we've donned. But the Ocean was calling us and we were so happy to be with the ocean air, the roar of surf and sand that stretches for miles and miles. It was as close to Hawaii as we could get without a good ocean-going canoe and oxygen masks.

Pacific Ocean beaches in Washington state ... roaring surf, long sandy shores, water too cold for swimming and gulls ... lots of gulls.

A new walking and digging stick gave me permission to keep company. With my o`o (digging stick) I am chanting my delight to the ocean. It was a delightful feeling. I loved the misty sand clouds that rose from the shore ... soft, whispy and mysterious.

Pete made us sandwiches made from turkey and veggie meatloaf spread with organic yogurt and lettuce from Claude the Greeman organic grower from near-by Shelton, Washington. We ate sandwiches, walked and walked and then ... we took a wonderful nap leaning up against a well-chosen log, stretched out on my paleau on the sand. We slept with bare feet and bare bellies. When I woke, with my bared belly warm and happy the sky above seemed to be joining us for a Solstice smile. Great day filled with joyful moments all day long.

The ochre colored banks that edge the ocean are magnificent. Layers of color and curves gave us a change of view from the tall green enclosure that is the land around The Ledge where we are encamped. There was a yurt and a second building in the making perched on the bank. Adventurous living happening there, too.

On the way to another ocean beach we wandered through the town of Moclips, a fishing town on the Washington coast. It had been more than twenty years and more since either of us had been in this town. This is the prize discovery of our Solstice day in Moclips. This train car drew us to it's curved roof like a perfectly shaped Dairy Queen dipped cone. This old beauty has the lines we love ... only it's much much bigger than VARDOFORTWO.

The back end just as beautiful as the front, and the railings are curved so elegantly. Parked there in Moclips we learned the townspeople envision restoring the old Moclips Train Depot in time to come. We were thrilled to see the car and envisions different things.

That's where we found the beautiful red train car.

We are thankful for the beautiful day at the beach, celebrating process and progress we return to the Ledge refreshed and appreciative.

Aloha, Mokihana