Ponies!

Part of our time in Oregon was spent staying on a ranch in the central part of the state. The ranch was right out of a "wild west" story book, with picture perfect views in every direction (horse posing included). Carys is two, and I thought she was too young to get excited about horses...not so! She could not get enough of them and called them all ponies!

Every time she saw them she would shout, "Ponieeeeeeeees!".

While she was too young to go riding, we went to the stables to watch the horses come in from the fields for breakfast, water and social time.

It had been a while since I had been so close to horses, the earthy smell took me right back to being 12 years old at horse back riding camp. What amazing animals they are, just being near them made me feel more in the moment, more awake, and more connected to the earth beneath my feet.

And now we are fully into another little girl obsession....Ponytails! Seriously, she wants to wear them everyday. Loving that!

Reentry

We were just here.

The beauty of the Oregon coast was lush and huge and wondrous, with so much to seek out and take in.
Looking at the pictures it looks like another planet really, definitely not on the same planet as NYC. Reentry has been hard after this trip, returning from such magnificence...I feel like I'll be in my rabbit hole for a few days before I can figure out my real life again.
Somehow, everything is always clearer to me when I travel, my senses are heightened and I see everything with more clarity. I am less self conscious and I see my self as I want to be. I understand where my weak places are and I see with more clearly how to make them stronger. I see my loved ones more clearly, I see who they are, who they are becoming and I see more clearly how I can help or hinder that process. I am a dreamer, and when I travel, in glorious surroundings, I feel like I am in a waking dream in which I am free to visualize, playfully throw ideas around and access endless possibilities.
I am trying to store up that clarity while it is still fresh right now!

The kids spent hours climbing on rocks, looking under rocks, playing with seaweed, running from the waves.

Frank usually paints outside with watercolor where ever we travel. Since rocks and the sea are really "his thing", you can imagine how this landscape got him going! He would just set up on a rock and go to it. The kids love to watch.

Here is one of the almost finished paintings.

And finally, I love how our hair is almost indistinguishable in this one. (notice the eye patch...Jasper was a pirate for most of our trip)

Flying again

My grandfather was an airline pilot for 50 years. First he flew planes in the south Pacific in WWII and then he flew commercial airline flights for Eastern Airlines (remember them?). I have always thought that the urge to travel was in his Norwegian blood, and it is definitely in mine!
This summer we have been so lucky to have many trips planned, tomorrow we leave on our last week away before the fall. We are flying to Oregon in the morning, we'll be traveling around the state a bit, and I'm really looking forward to checking out Portland.
I always feel a little bit giddy, like a kid again, the night before I travel. Tonight is no exception.
Today was hard, I was home the entire day until 5pm waiting for a UPS delivery of some prints of paintings that I had to mail to a client before my trip tomorrow. After waiting all day at home, with the kids, I finally received the prints and they were BENT! Seriously, they are bent down the middle and completely unusable.
In the morning I had read this amazing email newsletter by the fabulous SARK where she was talking about being a "Detective of Goodness"....she stops people in the midst of their day and asks, "Would you like a perspective of Goodness?", this is her way of reminding people that they have the opportunity to have such a different experience right in the midst of the annoyances that they face. We always have the opportunity to experience things differently and I loved reading her reminder, boy did I need that today. All day I was seriously repeating that as a MANTRA.
I will miss all of you, and I look forward to returning with photos and stories of my trip. See you next week.
xoxo

::The photograph above is of 4 matted photos that hang in our upstairs hallway, all of them taken by me out of the window of an airplane on various flights at various times, when I fly I can't get enough of the sky::