...to have my friend Alicia give me such a wonderful shout out today.

Welcome! Please say 'hello' if you are stopping in for the first time...or 'hey, baby' if you are one of my long timers...and please (most definitely) have one of the very best of weekends.

(and thank you, lovely A :)

As witnessed in these two long ago posts, my girl B and I have been going on our little girlfriendy mini adventures for quite a long time. It is always just the two of us.

Until this last Sunday...

We arrived on the top of our mountain, spread out some goodies and settled in for the usual sorting out of the ways of the world. And then we heard a man call out "Hello! Didn't want to startle you ladies but did you know that you are picnicking on a paragliding launch?" Um, not the typical way to start a conversation. Craig introduced himself and assured us that there was no need for us to move and proceeded to unfurl that glider right at our feet. Chit chat chit chat, exchange of business cards so we could get him these photos, a few more fascinating individuals arrived to watch and then,
he jumped off a cliff.

Part way through the slideshow below we all started yelling "woo hoo" and "yippee" and "um, BYE CRAIG!" right out into the sky.



The other onlookers bid us farewell, we settled back down on our blanket and clinked our glasses together while we agreed that this life is one great big adventure indeed.

Now go jump off a cliff why don'tcha (and I mean that in the nicest possible way). Woo hoo and yippee!

I spent much of the weekend updating my professional photography website. With much encouragement and a tad of prompting the lean is now towards food first, places second and then my people. The third category still has some lovely surprises to come but I am so very pleased with the way it has all shaped up so far. Much more representative of where I want to go with my career. I am excited more than ever about the possibilities that are continuing to open to me.

As I believe that thoughts become things, this is what I have had on my mind...the future is ready to open out, burst wide open, teeming with incandescent adventures. So what do you say? You guys want to come along with me for the ride?

...apparently looks like this.

His first day of high school is today and this is the picture I took as we walked down the stairs and into a whole new phase of our lives.

I drove him and we chatted about choosing a locker, having a good attitude, how this was such an exciting fresh start. Made a quick kiss sound as he exited the car - no planting one on him for fear of other teenage eyes.

And I was just fine.

Until.

Until I pulled away and heard a commotion and saw what I guess was the spirit team in my rear view mirror. All running across the street to greet everyone coming to school. Wearing red and white, waving flags, blowing their whistles, weaving in and out of the crowd of kids entering the campus. I kept watching that rear view mirror as I felt it bubble up and out of me. Watched through great big giggling tears. Tears that are still coming as I type these words.

My, oh my, a new phase of our lives indeed, my beautiful funny inspirational crazy young man.

love is everywhere.


and so is...


beauty.

Trust. This has been my word for years and years. I remember to breathe deeply and recite it to myself. Good, bad, indifferent. There is always a bigger picture so I maintain faith and trust in myself and the Universe, remembering that all things are possible.

My sweet kitty is showing a little bit of improvement bit by bit. Please accept one more personal thank you from me. That each of your comments helped me restore a bit more of my trust is an understatement.

Good weekend to you all - remember to trust, breathe and to embrace the ones you love - furry or not :)

*** latest update towards the bottom of this post...

In the spirit of 'the more loving thoughts the better', we could use your help. This amazing boy is very ill - very suddenly - and may not make it. I will post updates when I have them. Until then, please hold us in your thoughts.

UPDATE - Sunday morning, 10:15 am...
Thursday evening, very suddenly, Rocket (who is not yet 8 years old) was unable to use his hind legs and was in obvious distress and pain. I rushed him to pet emergency and was told that he had what was called a Saddle Thrombus. He was diagnosed with previously undetected heart disease. A blood clot was formed and thrown from his heart to the end of his aorta where the vessel separates to go down each hind leg. Blood flow is blocked and his hind legs were and still are paralyzed.

The prognosis was very bad and I made the difficult - but only - decision that he would be better off spending his last night alive with me, at home, instead of in a cage in the back of a vet's office. He was to be put to sleep first thing in the morning. The night was horrible, we camped on the living room floor and I did my best to comfort him through the night.

And here is the tiny ray of hope...he was a little more himself the next morning and after many phone calls the vet and I agreed that since he was doing better we could wait it out and see if he did in fact walk again. And the vigil began...the living room is where we still sleep, on the floor next to each other. He is all himself but for the back legs. I change out the towels he lays on. He eats food heartily and laps up the water that I put in front of him. I gently 'bicycle' his back legs to hopefully restore some blood flow (this part he definitely does NOT like - poor guy). But he smiles at me soon after, purrs and leans into me for a cuddle and gives me that little rush of renewed hope. He is experiencing far less pain than is expected in these cases but I am watching closely. Heart disease, another clot, is what I will lose him from eventually. But if he gets even some function back by the end of this week we may have another year together. If not - if the end of this week is the end - we will have had this very sweet time together and for that I will be forever grateful.

I have wonderful friends that have brought all of their love (and goodies) to Rocket and myself. Riley will be home Monday to be by our side. And I have all of your thoughts and healing coming our way. I can feel it and so can he. He purred for the very first time only fifteen minutes after I put this original post up. So please keep thinking about us and I will let you know what happens next.

***LATEST UPDATE - Tuesday afternoon, 1:19pm...
Hello all. We have just returned from our new Vet's office and we are all feeling a bit better. He is a Vet who combines holistic therapies (bach flower remedies, acupressure, etc) with the traditional (drugs, pain killers, etc) and although we are still in a waiting game to see if Rocket regains function of his back legs, his feet are warm and pink again. He is trying to walk and - most importantly - the Vet assured me today that he is NOT in pain right now - oh my. He also assured me that I have done everything right so far (imagine the relief). So now I have a very lovely, relatively happy, yet crippled kitty with heart disease. Hmm. Slow going now. If he does become functional again the decision will be how aggressively we treat his heart disease. Time for us to begin to get some semblance of normal life back now. I will of course let you know periodically how things are progressing but the vigil has softened into a watchful, attentive and quietly hopeful phase. I cannot begin to thank you for the love and support we have received from you all. I just know it has been a part in getting us this far.

Tremendous love and thanks,
Leslie

(these key fobs for the cabins have been lovingly hand carved...sigh...wish I were there this very minute.)

In the last post I concentrated on my cabin and the view. I - of course - snapped away at little details around the main lodge as well and those images can be seen in my West Point Inn set found here.

We live at the foot of Mt. Tamalpais. You can see this mountain from my bathroom window - it stands between our house and the sea - it is a stunning part of our every day landscape. We quickly cruise it's curvy roads to reach the beach. Or park part way over and hike it's trails. Or have picnics with bottles of wine and lazy day blanket naps in special meadows overlooking that beautiful Pacific. But I had not yet been to the top or, better yet, spent a night up in that generous silence.

Speaking of generous...my friend is one of seven inn keepers at the West Point Inn (built in 1904) which lies almost at the very top of Mt. Tam. She guessed that I needed an escape. We met at the base of the trail and we hiked the 45 minutes to this magnificent place. We mingled with the other hikers that stopped by for a rest and a lemonade until we were the only two left up there (the Inn is closed on Sunday nights).

Since the place was empty I got to choose where I would sleep and this was it...

my cabin door...

and my porch, complete with outdoor sink and shower...


and this was my view upon arrival...

6:10 pm Sunday.

and when I went to sleep with the double doors open all night to the sky...

10:21 pm Sunday.

and when I awoke for the first time, civilization blanketed with fog...

5:59 am Monday.

and awoke for the second time and took a cool shower out on this porch, open to the world still out there somewhere...

6:28 am Monday.
___

Although my house is a pinpoint in the middle of those second two photos (San Francisco just to the right of the frame, the wine country further to the left, the ocean behind me) I was lifted above it all and a million miles away in the most healing and restorative way.

And she was right...just what I needed.

Just wanted to pop in and say thank you so very much for all of your wonderful support on the new etsy shop. With the shop, the shoots and a whole bunch of other stuff, too, it has been a crazy whirlwind of tremendously hard satisfying work around here (you can even see some gray hair in this photo if you try!). But to be doing the work I am meant to do - the soul satisfying kind - and to have all of your voices shouting "yes!" and "go!" - wow. That smile on my face is real...

I wish you all a truly lovely weekend and one more great big thank you,
me.