Y4 – Day 219 – Manifestation 102

Continuing with yesterday’s post, I want to share with you that back in 2014, I had a desire to host a retreat up in the mountains after restarting yoga at home for my yoga ladies.

I wrote about it from time to time in my journal. I daydreamed about it up in the cabin here and there.

Then, I started feeling like an urge to do it. Call it excitement or a calling. I started writing about it more frequently.

By June of 2016, I had it pretty much visualized. I casually mentioned it in July or August to the yoga class to survey enthusiasm and commitment. I shared my thoughts with BFF after discussing it with my husband and getting his input.

I had little notes everywhere on what to do and what to make food wise and how to coordinate it all. It still had to marinate before I could pick a date. I decided to keep notes on my iPhone on a walk I took a little time later because I lose pieces of paper, I come up with lots of great ideas on a walk and the endorphins released while on the walk make me feel like I can do anything.

And then, we all agreed on an approximate date and time. One of my yoginis, got vacation medical leave and it fit into our time bracket. Once that was settled, I made up a flyer and sent it out.

The minute I got replies, I went to work on fine tuning the details.

I made up an itinerary and a menu. I am a dreamer and a schemer.

I planned, I shopped, I cleaned and I anticipated. I believed it would happen. And if it didn’t or it didn’t look exactly how I expected it to, that was ok, too. I let go. I let it go and went with the flow. I took the next right action and then released it into the winds, literally. Besides, I was too busy having fun to demand any outcomes.

Needless to say, we all enjoyed the experience and I am planning the next one in my head as I type.

Never say Never because you Never know

Y4 – Day 213 – Back from Hiatus

So, in the past week, I have been planning, lugging, shopping, packing, unpacking, driving, cooking and cleaning to get prepared for my first annual Fall Mountain Yoga Retreat which I aptly named the Poetry in Motion Retreat.

Sorry for the hiatus but I needed to use every available imagination, organizational and energy cell in my body for the getaway.

Everything went well. It was a small first women’s retreat. Only two yogini women, myself and our mascot, Cindi were there – which was perfect because the treehouse has limited space.

Lots of fun times were shared. We followed the itinerary and the menu I had planned. The weather was cool but not bitter.

I believe we all went home with a new appreciation for vegan fare, the depth and joy in yoga and a renewed sense of self.

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Y4 – Day 172 – UFO’s

There are several birds and one wildflower I have yet to identify for lack of time. Since I haven’t identified these two pictures you see posted here, I decided to call them UFOs. The bird is self evident, “Duh” it flies. See the seed in its beak?

The blossom looks literally like a colorful, maybe psychedelic spaceship with its landing gear exposed ready to touch down. Clearly, you can see that too, right? And, yes, this is an upside down bloom so it hangs off the stem – I did not rotate the picture.

Nature is amazing and often times quite stunning!

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Y4 – Day 170 – Mountain High Vegan Meals

High altitude Mountain Momma strikes again.

I guess I get inspired up here in Arrowhead so I cooked up two vegan one pot meals at the same time. My old standby is a salad and throw everything I have in it. I wanted something more substantial to go alongside it and by making two different types of dishes in quality and quantity, I can skate through the rest of the week eating healthy without much thought by just tossing a salad and heating up ready made bowls of vegan goodness. Then, I can focus on my writing, painting and researching.

I basically started with the same veggies “sautéed” in water; yellow and green peppers, sliced, diced onions and some minced garlic. I added a can of diced tomatoes to one and a bottle of spaghetti sauce to the other. I also added pinky tan Northern beans, half a can each for extra protein but not so much gas. Both pans simmered with a combination of miso and veggie broth. Each pot was filled with a mix of organic, store bought items and ingredients from my OC, organic garden I cleverly and easily brought up the mountain in Trader Jo insulated bags (everything pre-washed, bagged and sealed).

Then, I added cumin, corn, cayenne, oregano, nutritional yeast, ketchup and smashed up black beans to my Mexican style hearty stew. I served myself a huge helping with slices of avocado and lime, punctuated by homegrown parsley.

I added Italian herbs, kale, vegan meatballs, zucchini and vegan sausage crumbles to my Italian style sauce and served myself yet another sampling of tastiness in the evening with homemade “parmesan” sprinkled on top.

Today, I intend on making tortilla filled tacos with the Mexican stew and add some vegan Mexican cheese sauce and/or salsa to it.

My Italian meal is going to be stuffed into this gigantic zucchini I picked in the garden just before coming up, baked with vegan mozzarella. I may or may not do this today.

While the squirrels, adorable teeny chipmunks (Simon, Theodore and Alvin) and at least five different colorful and extraordinary varieties of birds (mostly in pairs and romantically enough, they feed each other) feast on our feeders, I will dine in high altitude style too.

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Y4 – Day 168 – Mountain Time with Cindi

I walked through the balcony door threshold and then I blankly looked straight ahead and wondered why I was there. I am in my pjs. I am wearing thick, ivory bed socks. My pajama top looks like a black dress with a scoop neck and the fabric is divinely soft. Anyway, I turn back and look at Cindi and then decide to go back into the treehouse and close the screen door behind me.

Oh well, I ‘ll remember when it’s important enough and it pops back into my head and I will just fetch whatever it was then. 

Cindi looks at me like she’s asking, “Are you coming or going, lady?” also “Will there be treats involved?” and with an urgent look of hope, “Is that why you walked back in? To get me a treat?”

She stares at me as I sit back down on the loveseat and plops her chin down on her Ducks blanket, resigned to my indecisiveness.

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Y4 – Day 154 – Arrowhead Art

Can you buy just about any kind of art at the Mountain Arts Center in Lake Arrowhead Village? Absolutely. Looking for treasures or gifts?

The community of artists on the mountain hold an expansive space, right next to the Waffle Restaurant, in front of the lake, and they make sure to always have treats for dogs. Did I mention how dog friendly this town is? If you didn’t have a dog, you would surely adopt one if you come up here enough, and we are living proof of that. They also sell, like most of the vendors, bags of duck nibbles to feed the Mallard families for fifty cents. Cindi thinks they are for her.

The artists volunteer their time manning the store and the art they exhibit that sells, pays for the lease. Basically, it is a gallery and I go in to see what is new, what has been replaced and which creative spirit I can meet at the counter.

You will find gorgeous handmade jewlery, hand dyed silk scarves, watercolored postcards, an assortment of large and small items made of reclaimed wood, oil paintings, photographs and other such media throughout, making the visit to the lake a cultural with a Big C as well as a local Little c experience.

The following paintings were done by Patty McDonald whom I met yesterday as she was assembling her booth with her wares. The story behind the Blue Jays, named Heckle and Jeckle, was told to me at the time of purchase by the painter, herself. Let me know if you want to know more. I just had to have a lake scene of iconic Arrowhead, specifically, at the cabin and had not found the right one till yesterday at the Classic Car Show. The frames are made by an artist who specializes in redeeming the reclaimed Arrowhead wood from felled, diseased trees or pines marked for chopping down in order to keep the surrounding forests protected from overgrowth.

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Y4 – Day – 153 – Woody Show 2016

Lake Arrowhead’s 32nd Antique and Classic Wooden Boat and Car Show is in full swing as I type this post. The Rim of the World Historical Society and the Arrowhead Lake Association is sponsoring the family friendly event.  We went bright and early before the expected huge crowds. After Cindi traipsed, ran and did her business at the dog park peninsula, we wandered around the lake’s village and I did some amazing shopping.

I picked up two signed oil paintings, framed with Arrowhead pine wood by Patty McDonald. I got to chat and bargain with her over both pieces of art and she filled me in on the tales behind the works of art I bought.

Also, two historical books; a postcard series by photographer Russ Keller (who I met and signed the collaboration alongside Roger Hathaway) and another image and informational collection by Rhea Tetley who signed and sold me my copy. They were both under the shade at the historical society booth. The group sponsors the Mountain History Museum open only on weekends, now until October 11am – 5pm located at 27176 Peninsula Drive. I also found and received an extensive explanation and directions guide to the many hiking trails that abound in these natural forest surroundings.

She (Rhea) seems like a hoot! After a lengthy discussion of the Historical Society and several items and books I was checking out, she said, “You could even get the book signed today, the author is here.”

I said, ” Oh, that would be great! Are they here, where are they?”

“Yes,” she said. “She’s standing right in front of you.” “It’s me.”

When I asked her to sign it to Cecilia, she got the spelling perfectly and when I complimented her on getting it right, she informed me her middle names were Cecilia and Louise.

I was also granted some free time and spending cash so I could buy some cute clothes at my favorite boutiques. Cindi filled up on her very own “ice cream” with a dog biscuit spoon at Three Dog Bakery (see older posts) and the love of my life enjoyed a fresh coffee and purchased some tasty cinnamon and sugared roasted cashews and pecans.

There’s some free spaces for leasing. They could really use a vegan cafe here. All the vendors I spoke to thought that was a heck of an idea.

Perhaps tomorrow I will add my mountain made masterpieces (looking right at home here at the treehouse) to the post but for today, I leave you with these amazing pictures of gorgeously maintained oldies but goodies and a scenic shot of the village from the dog park perspective (clearly the best real estate is the dog park because this is SUCH a big canine loving town) wherein you can see just a smidgen of the many antique cars in a row, along the perimeter of the boardwalk, if you look closely. There were old time, highly lacquered wooden boats docked by the first pier ( in front of McDonald’s) but alas, I did not get any shots of them.

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