community – Page 3 – The Hermits' Rest

Yep, Everyone Is Interesting

It’s true, and the interesting stranger at the Portland Airport agrees. I had things to write about yesterday and plans to work on a blog on my way home. That didn’t happen, and it’s not a bad thing, because I was talking to interesting people, as I did the whole time I was in suburban Portland.

Look, kids, it’s Mount Hood! I did my sightseeing from the plane.

As many wise folks have pointed out before me, everyone has a story to tell. They also say it’s hard to feel animosity towards people when you can see what you have in common and know what they’ve been through. For example, one of my Uber drivers was forced to flee Peru, but he’s made a good life here. All the Uber drivers I had on my trip were interesting and taught me things, so I’m glad I had the chance to ride so often. I had some really fun times explaining that Texas isn’t all bad. One guy was shocked I managed to live in a small town and not be a Christian Fascist (or whatever they’re called these days).

This mountain had a smoke ring! My friend Alice thinks it’s Mount Jefferson.

The people I talked to at my workplace were also a fun bunch. Portland seems to be crawling with musicians! And many people had horses or once did. It was fun hanging out with young parents and learning how they do things today. Lots of creativity and/or multi-generational households to handle child care.

I had an oddly frank and open conversation about life with a random punk rocker disguised as a businessman in the airport, as I mentioned above. He was a bit scattered, in a good way, and we found we had much in common. That’s what brought me back to everyone being interesting if you talk to them. So I just continued being friendly and talked to a fellow worried about his large dog traveling in the cargo hold, and I made the flight attendant so happy by asking her about her beautiful silver bracelet she was wearing, which happened to be made by a Hawaiian artist. The flight attendant was beaming as she told me how much she loved it.

Sweet stories from random people keep me hoping we can pull our society back together. Humans are not all mean and hateful like the media so often says they are.

Enough of that. I did want to share that I got to see some Oregon plants and hear some birds yesterday by taking a lunch walk. I found an area where there’s a big effort being made to restore native plants, on property the company I consult for seems to own. The plants were surrounded by two things. One was the ever-present wild blackberries. I ate a lot, since there weren’t right on the roadside and covered with automotive residues.

The other thing I saw were rows of gnarled old trees, which look like they’d been cut down to stumps but we’re trying to come back, fighting through ivy and berries. I couldn’t tell what they were, but I figured they were something that was once harvested. When I finally got to upload photos to iNaturalist, it turned out they were hazelnut trees! Before Tualatin got industrialized, it must have grown nuts. Cool.

There was also a small forest remnant next to the offices, with a short path running through it. I enjoyed seeing the ferns, evergreens, and native maples (among others).

After seeing a California Jay, another new one on my list, I felt satisfied that I’d seen at least a little nature. Then my ride to the airport, a really nice man very much like me, took us through downtown to save time, so I got a bonus tour. Yay for avoiding the crowded interstate!

There, I’m caught up, back with my animals and humans, and ready for what’s next. After some sleep!

Human Bodies, So Frail

I’d avoided it all summer, but today I finally got overheated. I should have know there’d be an issue when I couldn’t even take sitting in my birding chair more than a half hour this morning. Ugh. At least I managed to see the pretty white rain lilies that appeared today.

Brazos rain lily *Zephyranthes chlorosolen*

Vicki and I had a horse lesson today, and of course we worked to stay hydrated as we groomed Drew and Apache. I got through my lesson and felt a bit tired but okay. I think what got to me was that Apache acted like he had to pee and so I just sat on him with the August sun bearing down on me and got too hot.

An earlier pee time when he made us wait.

By the time I was trying to unsaddle him I felt bad. I HATE getting all messed up by heat and having to make people stop and take care of me. I ate into Vicki’s lesson time, too. Human bodies can really let you down sometimes.

Trying to look perky after I cooled off.

Sorry to whine about my body not doing my bidding. It could be a LOT WORSE and I know that. But I really do try to not overheat, though that’s a challenge in August. That’s one reason Apache and I are trying to stay in shape but not overdo it. It’s a fine line.

The moon cheered me up again, as it will.

Still, I’m feeling my grief over losing our friend Gail settling down to a more reasonable level, but I remain saddened that someone I admire has gone into hospice. I know I’m at the stage in life when friends start to pass on, but it’s worth honoring them all and sharing stories.

While I try to regulate my thermostat, I’m glad I have flowers to enjoy.

I’ll continue with memories as I get through another travel period starting tomorrow.

The tarot card of the day is the 3 of Cups/Water.

I’m happy to see more fun otters from the Gaian Tarot. The card tells us to have fun with friends. I did that today, with both friends and family. I’m so relieved that I’ve been drawing happy cards except on sad days!

Let’s Just Be Kind

Write about a random act of kindness you’ve done for someone.

Seems that this here blog prompt wants us to brag on ourselves about some spectacular kind thing we’ve done for someone. I don’t feel like doing that.

I don’t have to follow instructions! Here are basil blossoms.

Instead, I’ll share how I manifest my small and unspectacular acts of kindness. In a nutshell, I just make an effort to see the humanity of people I come across, even when I’m tired, hungry, in a hurry, or distracted. It’s hard to do! Perhaps that’s why I mentally pat myself on the back when I’m kind under pressure.

Treating people who serve you your food or check you out at a store like someone worth knowing and sharing a kind word with is usually pretty easy and always very kind. I’ve had some great conversations that way!

Bonus: Lee bought and repotted this lovely angel-wing begonia for the porch. He also got the screens clean! He did a kindness for me!

Waving at people going down the road, that lets them know you remember a human is in that car. So I do that.

At work I try to check in with folks, to remind me that they’re not just annoying employees and remind them I’m not just the weird Planview lady.

I have a long history of being that weird lady, though.

No need to go on and on. I truly feel that the best kindnesses we can bestow are when we could most easily skip them. I find it takes no more energy to be kind than to be grumpy, though often being kind makes you stop and think about what you’re doing. And voila! you’re being kinder to yourself.

In more mundane news, I started August with dusty violet hair (way more subtle) and purple geode nails. It’s already Lammas, the first harvest celebration. The year is flying by.

I drove to College Station all by myself this afternoon to go to dinner with friends. Great food, fun stories of war, crime, and peace…and even some pleasant live music. Tomorrow I may seek out a park and birds.

Tarot card of the day

The Hanged One, or the Tree in the Gaian Tarot. It’s about keeping your center even when things get topsy turvy. I love the sky in the upside down yoga woman (tree pose)’s outfit.

I have more confidence than usual that I’m handling all the world’s weirdness. Hope it lasts!

DMV Blues

I’m sitting in the driver’s license office in scenic Hearne, Texas. It’s in a weird spot in the westernmost part of the town, making it only 25 minutes from my house. It’s really an odd spot, right next to the remnants of a POW camp for Germans from World War II. You can see the old watch tower and building foundations right outside the driver’s license office.

And the inside of the building is so quiet. They make you get appointments and you can only check in a half hour before yours. There’s one person ahead of me and I can tell he’s all confused, so I’ll be here a while.

And who knows if I’ll succeed in my own mission to replace my stolen or lost license. It was freshly renewed, so you’d think they’d just replace it. But, no, I hadn’t taken a photo of my newest one, and there’s a secret number that changed with the renewal, so without it I couldn’t simply do it online.

Because I live in Texas and they think everyone is trying to sneak into this paradise on earth, I’m worried I don’t have enough ID. I even ordered a copy of my Social Security card in case my passport wasn’t enough. I have proof of insurance and pieces of mail addressed to me just in case they don’t believe I live in my house. The only thing I don’t have is a copy of my birth certificate, which is in a safe deposit box in Austin.

It’s really odd to need all this, when they believed I was me in March and renewed my license. I will update this post when I succeed or fail!

Hooray! My appointment is over and it couldn’t have been more pleasant. All I needed was my passport. And of course, this being rural Texas, the clerk and I quickly determined who we knew in common and had a nice chat about our common interests. You just can’t beat this aspect of living in a connected small community. There is much good in this area!

The only negative was that I didn’t realize I’d need a new photo. I have pink hair. Oops. Luckily I had pulled it back. That, however, makes me look like my father. Oh well, at least I have a temporary license and will have a real one soon, and they believed who I was!

On my way out, I drove by Camp Hearne, since I’d been meaning to do that for many years. It’s hard to believe they brought Germans here. Interesting historical tidbit.

Vibes, Prayers, and Intent

Two dear friends had surgery today. These women have given me great support, encouragement, and caring in the many years I’ve known them. They are two of the most thoughtful and loving people I’ve ever met, so naturally they were in my thoughts today.

I told my husband how relieved I was when I heard they were both home and starting the next phases of recovery. He probably thinks I’m a bit bonkers for caring about so many of my old colleagues from the nonprofit years, but we went through so much together. I owe them my loyalty as so many have been so good to me.

The way I thought about my friends all day made me muse about how handy it would be if I had some sky dude to pray to. But even when I tried to pray as a child, I always thought God would get more of a feeling than my laundry list of specific entreaties. Nonetheless I find myself doing my pagan Buddhist version of sending out Lovingkindness aimed toward the West Coast of North America, where my friends are. I just feel it in my bones that positive intent has an effect on us.

No doubt humans have an instinctual drive to try to make things better for friends and family. And for all I know the vibes I send out may help. They help me, at least, to feel connected. I’ve heard that people recover better when they know others are cheering them on, but I’m not sure. I can hope!

Perhaps if folks spent more time sending positive energy and good intent out and less time blaming others for sickness, natural disasters, and all that, we’d start to think and behave differently. To make the world better takes more than thoughts and prayers, of course, but if it leads to action, maybe humanity could slow the downward spiral we and our planet are in.

I’m off to beam out healing vibes now. Good night.

Mushrooms and sun, we had a break from rain.

Thankful for Diversion

It’s a good thing my new consulting position cropped up. Getting immersed in creating quality documentation this week has been very helpful in keeping me from dwelling on how the natural disasters keep coming more and more often.

I’ve been able to concentrate so hard on enjoying my work that time seems to speed by. I’m really feeling like a part of the team, plus my input is solicited and seems appreciated. I’ll enjoy this as long as it lasts!

I think you can tell that all the vegetation was sparkling this morning. Cheerful.

I do want to be there to listen to folks who need to talk through their sadness and feelings, though, and I feel more able to empathize and provide support (and receive it) having given my mind a break.

Our creek spilled its banks overnight, though we’ve not had as much rain as most areas nearby.

We’re in for a lot of weird nature stuff, I’m afraid. It does serve as a reminder to live well and love hard. Speaking of love, here’s a salute to my many friends working right now to kick some medical challenges away from their lives. Your healing vibes are on their way!

Penney wanted to tell you that Lee strung lights in the porch.

Tough Times Together

I’m just not able to say much right now. The loss of lives and livelihoods near me in Texas is heart wrenching and has affected nearly everyone I know directly or indirectly. The whole state is in shock, because the campers and other visitors were from all over the state. It’s really too hard to talk about right now.

This is Alfred informing me that the weather is bad.

I’m grateful for the first responders and trained volunteers from our county and nearby who went to help with flooding that wasn’t on the news, but was still bad. It always impresses me how these highly trained folks just go wherever they’re needed, even to other states or countries. They’re needed with so much bad weather here and in North Carolina, not to mention the fires in the Navajo Nation.

Here we just had a reasonable amount of rain, though lightning hit a tree near the horse pasture. Horses are ok. I immersed myself in work today, which was helpful. I guess I’m also grateful for having a good challenge to occupy my mind.

I’m also grateful for pets, even skittish ones.

Take care of yourselves. Hugs to all of you dealing with challenges. I haven’t forgotten you. We are in this together.

Some Stuff’s None of Your Business

Have you ever had surgery? What for?

Really. This sounds like a prompt designed to get information to use against me in some weird internet way. Lee says most of the blog prompts are like that in his opinion, but I find this question really creepy. Also, my answer would be boring.

Great Blue Heron fishing in the creek is not interested in such details, either.

So, instead of my medical history, I’ll share my story from my morning walk (this is a repeat for Facebook friends):

Who says there aren’t good people in Texas? Not me. Today I took my morning walk rather late, so by the time I was on my way back I was pretty sweaty. I noticed a car stopped in the middle of the road near my house and wondered if I knew them. Soon they drove up and stopped next to me. It was an older woman and man who asked if I needed a ride home or a cool drink. I said no, that I was almost home. We chatted briefly and told me they stopped at the top of the hill to finish a phone call, because they lose service by the creek. That’s very true! And then the man handed me a cold Mr. Pibb and insisted I take it. That was so kind.

As I walked home with my cold beverage I wondered why they felt compelled to tell me why they stopped and that the man grew up nearby. But it’s Texas and I guess they wanted me to know they were not up to anything, since the man was Black. Geez. He was friendlier than many white neighbors.

Anyway, I’ll wave when I see them again. I wave to everyone who comes down the road, though most often it’s family members or friends. Rural life!

My cool beverage

Friendly, kind strangers who don’t judge you but just want to make sure you’re okay—we need more of them in the world. I hope I can always be like this couple. If someone needs help, I want to offer it with no regard to appearance or other factors. Good folks are urban, rural, immigrant, religious, atheist, and of all political beliefs. There are icky people in all those groups, too, but today reminded me to never forget the good ones.

The heron left before the car came down the road, so it missed my free drink.

Sorry this wasn’t about surgeries. But a day enjoyed with kind strangers, sweet horses, good friends, more Green Herons than I ever saw at one time, and a lovely sunset is more interesting to me.

This is facing east. Way to go, setting sun!

Now, go be good to someone you may or may not know.

Exploring the Unknown, Nearby

I’ve got to tell you how much fun I had this morning! My friend Ann and I went to see the property of our fellow Master Naturalist, to help her improve her skills and see what plants and birds were there.

Our friend lives far enough east of the Hermits’ Rest that the soil is very different, quite sandy compared to my soil. That means different plants will grow. I’d already noticed that along the road to my horse lessons, where the Gaillardia are solid red, and standing cypress lines the road this time of year, with its red plumes. So pretty.

Maroon blanketflower (*Gaillardia amblyodon)*

The birding where we visited was pretty good, and I learned the sounds of a Swainson’s Warbler very well when the ubiquitous White-eyed Vireos rested momentarily. It gave good opportunity for Merlin Bird ID lessons.

The plants were what had me all in a tizzy, though. There were expanses of meadows bordered by nice thick woods, plus excellent trails the homeowners maintain. So much to explore!

I found interesting insects, too. I wish I could have gotten photos of all the different bees and wasps buzzing around all the flowers, but I did capture a few as well as butterflies. The pale pipevine swallowtail was so lovely I will share multiple photos.

There were some impressive wildflower areas, and in one of them I found many species I’d never seen, even some Ann had never seen, and she doesn’t live too far away. A couple of these, like the prairie clover, are pretty rare, so no wonder I wasn’t familiar with them.

The flowers were in a place is where someone built a new tall wildlife fence about ten feet back from the original barbed wire. The area where cattle or other ruminants can’t reach was a blaze of flowers. It’s a secret botanical treasure we discovered!

It wasn’t just flowers that were new. There were plenty of fungus and moss samples to investigate, too. I’d never seen a moss inflorescence so spectacular as the one we found on a trail, and after the recent rains, mushrooms were everywhere.

I don’t mean to go on and on, but this unknown wonderland brought a lot of joy, as did hanging out with my fellow nature lovers. It’s hard to believe I found so much that was new to me, so close to home.

I’ve spared you most of the species I saw, but this location has gone from nothing on iNaturalist to dozens, including the rare ones. I hope this makes a scientist happy someday!

Voted Most Beautiful Flower, by me, was the propeller flower or *Alophia drummondii*

Victorious in Victoria, Texas

It’s a victory, all right. Figuring out how to have some fun when our day wasn’t what we expected was hard, but we did it. And we two hermits who aren’t good in crowds or loud places made it just fine, and were able to share in the happiness of Kathleen as her daughter got married. Yay!

Lee came up with the idea to go to the local zoo today, and I found a birding spot nearby. That gave us a nice way to fill the early part of the day. The Texas Zoo is in a large park next to a very large cemetery complex. It’s not very big and is a bit of a mess with many empty exhibits, but the animals all seemed well cared for and healthy.

Many animals there are rescues or natives. I always enjoy the natives, especially the river otters, javelinas, and birds.

We had the best time watching the water birds being fed, while a young boy asked the zookeeper many excellent questions about the birds. What an educational experience! And the pelican and spoonbill were hilarious with their fish. (Lee crops his photos to be short but wide, which explains the look.)

The spoonbill is about to catch a fish. It’s just to the right of the tree

I’m glad Lee brought the good camera with him, because he got some great shots of a fox, coyote, red wolf, and jaguar.

We didn’t have as much luck at the birding place, as it was midday and brutally hot. There were Couch’s Kingbirds and Great Kiskadees, though, so I knew I was in south Texas.

We got dressed for the wedding and headed back to the venue. It was still stifling hot, but just the ceremony was outdoors, so no one got sick or anything. We enjoyed talking to a few family members we knew…well, pretty much the only ones we knew that will talk to us.

Yes, I was there. No Lee photos since he took them all.

It was a beautiful wedding and the decorations they worked so hard on came out great! Now, remember I’m old and don’t attend many weddings, but I was surprised to see that there were “beer boys” in the wedding party, passing out beers as they came down the aisle.

They played it up very well, and many attendees took beers from them. Apparently I’d have known all about this if I went on Tik Tok (or went to more Texas Western-themed weddings).

The “doorway “ the wedding party walked through.

Everyone else was lovely and I got all teary-eyed as the bride walked down the aisle escorted by her stepdad. That was my highlight.

Since I can’t share that photo, here’s Kathleen looking fantastic watching her daughter.

Afterward, Lee spent some time in the car relaxing and I went out to look at birds a couple of times, because we’re hermits and a little weird. It was fun enjoying the young kids playing, young adults acting their age (so much beer), and older folks beaming at each other with pride. I’m so glad it went well, at least up until we left. Who knows…

That was another victory for us. We wanted our family who live with us to have a great “parents of the bride” experience, and it looks like they did.

Now we can go to Goliad State Park tomorrow, at least briefly!