Sienna Moonfire Designs

Pacific Coast Picture Stories
Website Creation & Maintenance

the Obsession Chronicles

walking the mind clear

today i offer my daily walk, a story i stole from a letter to a friend, as a picture of my lovely little life...

on a bright warm Saturday morning just before winter solstice, i stocked my pesky wonderful wood stove & headed out the back door to hop the fence onto the headlands * on the south edge of my dad's property is the finger of open headlands that the Caspar community helped to make public land when it went up for sale a few years back * the bluff south of this one is covered with second houses, often blazing with light at night with nobody home, an offense against our milky way night sky, something that thankfully most people 'round here value * ahem... sorry, these are my riches: the bright stars & the good long walks *

i walked south across our headlands, following the deer paths, shoes soaked ten steps into the maze of snake grass, blackberry, lupine, primrose & iris clumps * Pippin ran circles around me as i meandered a wide arc along land's edge & down to Caspar Beach * this town used to be a thriving logging town * the paths i walk every day used to be railroad tracks & there are traces of the old mill all over the headlands & up the creek below * the beach itself looks different every year as the sand, rocks, trees, seaweed, creek & tides share the endless dance of days, making me feel small in that good way again, every time *

i keep a vague track of the tides so i thought i'd be able to get across the creek without even taking my shoes off & it was perfect timing * it hasn't rained in a few days so the creek was mild & tide was low * i thought about taking my shoes off anyway, thinking of entire summers i spent knee deep in that creek * instead i let Pippin play in the water for me & wished i didn't throw like such a girl because i'd like to get him way out there where the surfers wait for the waves * sometimes it's fine i throw so badly because there are loons & sea lions 30 feet out, especially at sunset (prolly dawn too but i'm not really an early morning girl) * most nights i can hear the sea lions from my back door, a sound you can't help but smile at *

once we get across the beach (to the end of our extended back yard) we have to walk up the road through the neighborhoods until we get to the next open finger of headlands, Point Cabrillo Light House * it has an original Fresnel lens & operates as a proper light house -- for as long as i can remember i've loved sleeping under its protective eye & i wish i could see it from my bedroom in this house * the lens really is a gorgeous thing, something worthy of those headlands * i sat & watched a sea lion, the waves, the birds & the lens sparkling in the sun, munching on some almonds & raisins, sharing with Pip, before ambling the 3 miles back on the same delightful path home *

...this is how i keep myself entertained, see? walking the dog (his most important job being to walk his mama every day) & writing, dreaming of the next real encounter with the wild... & enjoying my comfy house, i can't lie! last night, after the walk, Foxglove played a lovely concert across the street at the Community Center * it was another one of the sweet days *