ER=100x

In another week, my husband and I embark on a trip of a lifetime – 5 weeks in Australia and New Zealand!

It’s getting hectic around here as we try to make sure we have everything we need and want for the trip…and I try to find my tilly hat and make sure everything fits in the suitcase and make sure we’ve got enough but not too many clothes and have we notified everyone and does our housesitting friend have all the info he’s going to need and have we left phone numbers, etc., etc., etc. 

But how fun that everything is falling into place the way it is, and how great that we get this opportunity to go play on the other side of the Pacific Ocean….we’re already connected by this ocean.  But soon we’ll get to actually swim in it and enjoy a new a different culture – and of course, down there it’s SUMMER!!

This time, I’m going to make sure someone points out the Southern Cross.  When I was in Australia in 1989, everyone kept saying it was too overcast to see it, but I’m not taking that for an answer this time!

I will do my best to post news and pictures while I’m gone….even if my hubby doesn’t want me on the computer very much.  I expect to be able to check emails, etc. every few days. 

Don’t you just love the internet?  It’s also given us a chance to look at things we’re interested in doing and to make connections with people we’d never have found any other way (like the silver metal clay instructor who has a B&B we’re going to stay at – and yes, I’ll take a class from her while we’re gone, too!).

Now that’s a lesson in synchronicity!  I was looking at New Zealand, and saw some interesting information about arts and crafts.  Being an artist and crafter I looked a bit more closely.  There was a listing about silver metal clay. 

Now, I have been dabbling with that for about 3 years, but there are no instructors in my area.  I saw that the artist offered classes.  I emailed her, and guess what, not only does she offer classes, she has a bed and breakfast inn!!  So guess where we’re staying in Napier?  AND, because it’s not a big hotel, it’s the least expensive of all the places we’re staying.

Goodness, do I feel blessed!

P.S.  Why do I think vacations are so important?  You can read more on my Career Life Strategies blog.

It has been phenomenally BEAUTIFUL here the past 3 days or so!!  what a nice contrast to the Christmas day storm and the freezing cold weather we’ve had the past week or so.

Yesterday it was so gorgeous that my husband and I went for an extended hike down to Agate Beach – a wonderful expanse of beach below Patrick’s Point State Park – only about 3 miles or so from where we live. 

It’s well known for agates, and after the kinds of storms we’ve had lately, we figured we’d go add to our collection.

After a walk through all the trees that were blown over in the park, where we actually had a hard time finding the path because of all the limbs, wires and debris, and then down the sometimes steep switchback to the beach, we were there for about 3 hours – biting cold winds, but beautiful sun to balance it out.  

And, I found my first agate!  In all the years of living here I had found many “wannabe’s” that look like agates until you dry them out and discover they are not quite there!  But this was my first real one – then I found another!  Whoopee!  I was on a roll.

We also found several beautiful rocks and some other very interesting stuff, including a cool piece of driftwood shaped like a candleholder.

Of course coming back up the hill as the sun went behind the trees, I was grateful to have brought gloves.  And on the way up, as I stopped to catch my breath, I was amazed at what a beautiful place we live in.

What a lovely day! 

Last night my husband was saying that he just hadn’t gotten out fishing enough lately.

I reminded him that we’ve had lots of rain, hail, sleet, and last week even snow.

He said, “Yeah, well that wouldn’t have stopped Sandy!”  Sandy was his favorite fishing buddy who passed away a couple months ago at age 92.  Sandy had been a commercial fisherman and over time he taught my DH all about the lagoons up here – where to go, how to fish them, what was biting when. 

Tom was already a good fisherman – he’s been fishing with his big brother since he was old enough to ride his bicycle down to the reservoir as a kid.  And until I met him, I had never met anyone who was so passionate about fish as he is – not even my Dad, who also loved spending hours on the lake.

So today, after dealing with an unpleasant task, Tom was watching one of the football games when he got this call from our friend Mark – Sandy’s son.  Mark was calling from one of the lagoons (don’t you just love cellphones), asking Tom to come out and share the boat with him.

Well, no coercion needed there!  Tom was out the door in about 10 minutes.  Even though it was late in the day, the sun was out, and when my guy gets back, he’ll be in such a great mood!  Maybe we’ll even have fish for dinner.

And all because he asked for what he wanted.  It’s really that simple.  Ask and it is given. Especially when we don’t get in our own way.   

Technorati Profile

Welcome to 2007!

We lost power on Christmas evening, and it was out until Friday.  You can guess what I’m grateful for!!

Last year at this time it happened on New Year’s Eve, around 8 o’clock.  This year it was Christmas.  Now everyone’s starting to wonder if it’s a pattern we can expect to continue?  Both times we’ve had hurricane force winds – with some clocked as high as 85 mph this year!

So, I’m very grateful for the “basic” amenities that we all have come to appreciate.  They are so basic that we often take them for granted – electricity, heat, water, telephones, transportation, well-stocked grocery stores (and pantries) and especially radio (communication). 

I’m also grateful that we had to replace the pressure tanks on our wells earlier this year.  At that time I was exceedingly grateful to my neighbors who let us hook up to their water for the 3 weeks or so it took to get everything fixed.  What I noticed this time is that the water stayed available for about 2 full days instead of just the hour or two I’ve come to expect over the last several outages.

We were very lucky there was minimal damage to the trees around here – even though PG&E said there was extensive damage to their lines (5 days after all!).  We did have a tree go down on the street and for about 6 hours no one was able to get out because of the way it was blocking everything.  However, we are luckier than some of the outlying areas that had to wait even longer than we did for power.

PG&E brought in crews from as far away as Washington State as well as all over California.  Isn’t it amazing how well organized they are!  It always amazes me how willing they are to work at all hours to get everything back to “normal”.

Our local radio station, KHUM, did an outstanding job of keeping everyone informed.  They are one of the few truly local stations and did a fabulous job during last year’s storm, and this year everyone knew it was exactly the place to get the full story on what was known.

Last night ended up being a quiet night, although we did stay up until after midnight.  As for me, I just found out about Turner Classic Movies special Science Fiction day with classic 1950′s SciFi movies all day long!  If I wanted to be a couch potato, this would be the day!!

What are the “little things” that you are grateful for?  Today’s a wonderful day to count your blessings and start your year in an “attitude of gratitude”.

One of the things I love most about living here is that it is so quiet. At night it is so dark that (unless the fog is in) the stars just light up the sky!  I stepped outside a couple of nights ago, and it was so clear, the stars were truly like bright, shiny diamonds. I almost got my husband out of bed to come see them, it was so beautiful!

This area is well known for dungeness crab.  Crab season opens up here sometime around the first of December, depending on whether the fishermen have agreed on a price.  So I always get that “Christmas feeling” when I see the crab boats out on the ocean.  As it gets closer to opening, we begin to see more and more orange fishing boat lights scattered along the horizon during our long winter nights. 

I have about a 180 degree view of the ocean, so as we get closer to Christmas, the ocean at night begins to look like a parking lot to me.  In fact, it’s become one of the harbingers of Christmas for the family. Sometimes their lights are so strong and they get close enough in towards the rocky shore that their lights actually light up the bedroom, and if I get up in the middle of the night, I cast a shadow against the wall.

The past couple of weeks have mostly been pretty stormy, with the waves so loud that we can hear them breaking against the rocks down on the coastline. 

We are grateful that so far this season the fishermen who work so diligently all night long are still safe.  We love our sweet, succulent dungeness, but we like our fishermen even more!

Today I’m just really grateful for a job that gives me a lot of freedom.  I know what needs to be done and for the most part I’m left to do it.  My boss appreciates the work I do, and praises me for the quality.

He’s often gone, and that gives me the time to get done what needs to be done while “holding down the fort” until he gets back.

If you have to work for someone other than yourself, do everything in your power to mold the job to suit who you are and the strengths you bring to the table. 

Right now we have a vacancy.  The other position is the same level as I am, but the focus of that job is very different – it’s 80% fiscal and data driven.  Mine is about 25% data and finance driven, with the rest mostly people driven.  I could do more of that other work, but it’s much less interesting to me than what I’m doing.

Thankfully, my current boss chose to keep the same basic structure when he came into the position.  My “previous” boss had hired me for the skills I possess, and luckily for me this one has elected to keep me in that role.

I am always grateful to be able to do what I enjoy and to get paid for it.  I would always rather work for myself, at my own pace, and hiring the temporary employers who allowed me to do so, but if I have to work outside the home, I’m VERY grateful to still do so on my own terms, and for someone who appreciates me!

What would you miss most if you had to go 10 days without power?

Last year on New Years’ Eve we had a huge storm that took out all the electricity and several thousand redwoods, alders, eucalyptus, Douglas fir, pine, etc.  Just a couple of miles from here it looked like God decided to go bowling.   As a friend who lives right there said, Mother Nature gave them what the California Coastal Commission refused to – an ocean view.

We were without power for 4 days.  I had just rented a bunch of movies, and so my husband and I got into bed early (by the light of the kerosene lamps), and watched movies on the laptop.  The second night, the laptop died as the credits were rolling at the end.

Now, when we’re without power, we’re literally camping – just indoors with a roof. 

We only have electricity (there is no natural gas here), so there’s no cooking unless we put the Coleman up on the stove.  Luckily we use a wood stove for most of our heat, so we usually have a good stock of wood.  And because we’re on a well, there’s no water for drinking, washing or flushing.  Unless we use the rainwater from outside.

So it’s always an interesting experience, and we generally get 2-3 power outages of 1-2 days every year.  Sometimes it’s worse, like a few years ago when we went about 6 days.  Because we are fairly remote, we’re often some of the last neighborhoods to get power restored. 

And last year one of the wires across the dirt road to our driveway came down with a branch, so we had to wait for PG&E to repair that before we got power again.  And we were a bit anxious even about crossing it to get to the store.

So, we’re very grateful that the huge storm that swept Oregon and Washington just barely touched us.  We are only about 70-80 miles from Oregon, so we are very, very lucky.

We were talking earlier tonight with family in New Zealand and they told us that they can’t connect to their “work” mainframe in Seattle because the power is out there.  And in some places the expectation is it will be 10 days before power is restored.

We become so accustomed to things working and problems being fixed easily, that the idea seldom passes into our thoughts that we might have to go 10 days without power.  In a city setting, chances are good there will at least be water and telephone.  But in a rural setting (and Washington has many of those, just as we do), the modern comforts we’ve become used to having just don’t exist when the power is out.

My husband and I have lived here “behind the Redwood Curtain” for about 12 years.  We love the rugged and unspoiled beauty.  But every winter we are grateful for all the modern amenities we have.  And even though we only use it in the most extreme circumstances, that generator we bought a few years ago does come in handy sometimes!

We live on the far northern coast of California - almost to Oregon. We get very dynamic weather here – and some amazing visual delights.  Driving to and from work the past two days has been an incredible experience.

We often have fog – no getting away from it when you live by the ocean!!  But mostly it’s the kind that keeps the sun covered in the summer due to the extreme heat just over the mountains from us (technically called an “inversion layer” – makes the folks coming here glad, but makes for a grey summer for those of us who live here).

So anyway, it’s the middle of winter here, but between storms, so we get some beautiful clear days.

What has made this week so incredible is a combination of two things. The fog has been sitting about 5-12 feet high on the fields.  It is very close to the ground and in the morning it looks like a grey-white blanket covering the fields and surrounding the cows.

Because we are such a small community and so remote, the stars and the moon are very, very bright and noticeable here.  When the full moon pops her head over the mountains, it lights up everything and you could almost drive without your headlights. 

With the full moon on Monday, every night as we’ve driven home at dusk the fields look so ethereal and wispy – very, very magical with the moonlight illuminating the fog.  It reminds me very much of the Scottish moors, and I half expect to see fairies flitting about!!

Truly memorable, and one of the reasons we continue to love living here!

Tonight is the first Christmas Party of the season – my husband’s office party.

It’s a great opportunity to dress up a bit and go have some festive fun!  We don’t get a lot of those kinds of opportunities here Bfhind the Redwood Curtain where everything is rather casual.  So this is a great chance to dig out the special clothes from the back of the closet and go dancing.

Our dear friend Jim from Lake Tahoe just spent 2 days with us – he and hubby Tom went golfing yesterday.  It was the first time Tom had been golfing in a decade or so.  For me, the last time I swung a golf club was in High School!  But, I’ve told Tom I think it would be fun and good exercise to get out occasionally, so it looks like we may be doing exactly that.  Great opportunity to (re)learn a new skill, get some exercise with my dear husband, and get outside.

A friend down the hill from us gave us a wooden picnic table his father (a carpenter) had made several years ago.  His father (Sandy) was my husband Tom’s best fishing buddy who passed away earlier this year (at 92 I believe).  We put the table out by the barbeque.  It covers our generator (necessary due to the power outages we get every year), and provides a nice place for the plants and for the kitties to take a nap.  I told Tom that it’s nice to have Sandy at the house!

He and his wife would always come to my birthday parties and usually at that time of the year (early fall) the weather was nice enough to have a barbeque or some outside activities.  Now we can think of him everytime we cook outdoors!

Last night we went to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s Holiday Music Show. 

It was great fun and the energy stayed high all evening.  We were the first stop on their holiday music tour and they said they chose Humboldt because they wanted to start in a place that was hip and forgiving.  Interesting way to describe where we live!

Makes me very grateful to live so close to a college town (20 minutes away down the freeway).  We’re so remote up here on the Redwood Coast that the area still remains small.  You can’t go anywhere without running into at least 3 people you know (last night was no exception), and the Van Duzer Theatre doesn’t have a bad seat in the whole place, especially downstairs! 

Yet we’ve seen Joan Baez, David Grisman, Lyle Lovett, the Indigo Girls, Judy Collins, David Byrne (that was a really amazing show!), Leon Russell, Robert Cray, Stanley Clark, David Bromberg, Richard Thompson (coming up Friday), Keb Mo, Leo Cottke, Pink Martini, Dave Brubeck, Martha Graham, Angelique Kidjo, Los Lobos, Alvin Alley, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, Ray Charles, Guy Clark (plus many others), and that doesn’t count the performance art of the Peking Acrobats, Momix and the Prague Blacklight Theatre!

In real estate and business they say “location, location, location” is everything.  To us, living in a small town, having a view of (and access to) the Pacific Ocean and having a college town nearby that brings in Artists is probably the best “location” we could chose!