Yesterday was a city day. We live on a ledge that is such a leap from Here to There. The city we called home as we built VARDOFORTWO is now a two hour commute ... driving and riding a ferry to cross Puget Sound to Seattle.
These are full days and with MCS the possibility for a toxic exposure is ever present, we prepare ourselves as best we can carrying a jug of sweet well water for drinking and dousing my mask against pollens and fumes, pack the coolers with ice that will keep our delicious slabs of salmon cooled (we continue to eat salmon thanks to our friend Dylan from
Loki Fish ...click on this link to find out more about this terrific NW Washington family business), bring extra clothes for the exposure possibility, say a hui hou to Jots and say our prayers.
Along the way and while in the city we are always drawn to the trees. Above is a precious reminder of the Tall Ones who were here in times not long again. This giant fir is perhaps the largest of the Tall Ones left in the area not far from the Ledge. We stopped to take this picture showing the size of him next to the old building still left in the fields. Oh my. Tree cutters came to get him, the story is told, and one man stood in front of it and would not let it happen. The man is a hero passed on to another life, the tree stands and we thank that man.
Pete and I were in the city because I had an
NAET treatment with Chulan Chiong, I needed her attention and her skill to help my liver detox the leavings of toxic intake. Chulan did that and I remain thankful for NAET and the level of well-being I experience with these treatments. A two-hour drive once or twice a month for these appointments keeps Mokihana going.
Another reason we came to Seattle was to visit our dear friend who lives in a Seattle neighborhood. G. is one of our friends who lives with MCS as well. The photo above was taken from her luxurious urban backyard, a rarity of spaces in Seattle this backyard is truly an oasis. The ambling cedar fence that you see along the left needs a bit of attention ... the sort Pete can give. So along with a delightful sit and chat with cups of sparkling water Pete walked the fence line with G. and has a plan for repair with conscious and care.
This is a picture of tree skin ... tree skin on another magnificent Tall One ... a Black Locust growing in G.'s urban oasis. B e a u ti full.
Wild dill and skinned, water-worn limbs from trees that washed up on the beach, the same beach I used to walk every morning while we lived in Seattle.
That possible toxic exposure happened when I was least prepared. It's one of those incidents partners who accomodate a mate/spouse with MCS may recognize. A trip to the bank: Pete enters to simply deposit a check, within minutes he is covered with the smell of every fragrance in there. I am exposed and sick within another few minutes. We had no baking soda to neutralize his hair although he was able to chance his shirt. Fortunately, there was the beach air and my appointment was scheduled an hour from the exposure.
The daily twists that make a pleasant hour poisonous are difficult and happen within seconds. I feel ill and guilty for the shift that takes place in my brain capacity, temperment and disposition. Pete is doing everything he can to make the daily needs and challenges level-out. The NAET treatment was timely, the stress of the exposure existed and yet we worked through it and have learned something again ... bring baking soda and don't go into that bank again. Partners as precious and I appreciate Pete everyday. If in my haze and panic I lose my grace ... I level out sooner today than in times past. Apologies are important, and amends work, too.
A lot happens on the way to the city, and then that too passes.
Hope yours is being a day graced with the bliss of it.
Mokihana
Pete kick'n tires and checking out the '66 Dodge flat bed with Steve the mechanic who was selling it.
Pete pretty much sold on the look of her, envisioning the possibilities
Facing West ... Makua O`o
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.
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 bought organic broccoli and cauliflower starts a month ago and set them in the compost. I water them daily, sometimes twice a day when it gets real hot ... using our dish-cleaning soap water alternating with just pure sweet well water (with no fluoride or chloride added). I talk with them on the way to the big house, cheer them on to 'grow happy' and LOOK AT THE VOLUNTEER company that showed up.
This bed has the one organic marigold flower we just brought home from Seattle. More potatoes and squash, and silly us we buy zucchini starts ... and now there're all kinds of squash cousins tay boot! A few sunflower seeds have sprouted too so we hope for a riot of compatibility and deliciousness.
Yesterday was a city day. We live on a ledge that is such a leap from Here to There. The city we called home as we built VARDOFORTWO is now a two hour commute ... driving and riding a ferry to cross Puget Sound to Seattle.
Pete and I were in the city because I had an NAET treatment with Chulan Chiong, I needed her attention and her skill to help my liver detox the leavings of toxic intake. Chulan did that and I remain thankful for NAET and the level of well-being I experience with these treatments. A two-hour drive once or twice a month for these appointments keeps Mokihana going.
This is a picture of tree skin ... tree skin on another magnificent Tall One ... a Black Locust growing in G.'s urban oasis. B e a u ti full.
Wild dill and skinned, water-worn limbs from trees that washed up on the beach, the same beach I used to walk every morning while we lived in Seattle.
Pete will be having a birthday before too long, and we have been fore-warned FIREWORKS HAPPENS here in the woods on his birthday. Smoke and loud noises make us sick! So we are considering a road trip.
This fir rises from the front window ... he shapes the view we see looking to the Pond. Like crusty bread he whets my appetite for Woods.
VardoForTwo perches us on the Ledge and becomes cave, temple, sanctuary, love nest and oasis.
A seat by the road to the garden, one of the few level spot on the ledge gives us rest from the edginess of ledge living. A simple thing a level seat ... could we have guessed the parcel of worth such a seat would have?
Not far from our encampment on the Ledge a wetlands park has preserved the nature of things along the lower Hoods Canal region of Washington state where we live today. We go there for a change from upland to lowland. This housing and feeding station of tiny homes for migrating and stay at home birds caught my attention. 
Fairies come 
Sit by the side of the road,
Our gardens grow.
We have an outhouse in the making.
Word Tree
