Bunday Monday

here's an oldy... I didn't get home till late- so digging in the archives is great fun

awww, I miss the old guy.
ps. the sweater doesn't even fit over 'Touf's head... how sad.

it's baaaa-ack

that's right.. the return of Bunday Monday....

just let me get my camera....

Snap- Shot

Voice in the night.

That was the song that came on as I trotted down the road.. rather, the song that came on as I paused.

If I'd had a camera, I'd have blown the photo up, hung it on the wall.

Called it "half harvest travels" or some other such nonsense.

But it was beautiful, half a harvest orange moon, hovering just above the train tracks. Trees silhouetted, rails lightly glowing back the orange. 

** Been listening to R3:30 after my C25K, the run isn't quite long enough, but I still want to take it easy. Instead I finish the run, then walk for the first 10 songs of the countdown.

for the next 60 seconds..

A little break from Festival de-briefing... Not because I'm done.. but because other life is happening along the way.

Growing up, I don't think I got a Walkman until I was like... 16? And even then, it was a cheap jobby that I didn't trust outside the house. (Note:: I'd used Walkmans, in the truck or car when we went on family vacations- but it was never my own)

I think (and smartly so) my parents didn't buy them for us so my sister and I wouldn't kill ourselves on our bikes or walking around town. Heck- I could barely wear a helmet on my bike/rollerblades- I couldn't hear the traffic over the sound of the wind on the plastic. I think I have some sort of hearing impairment. 

Eventually I got a job, finished university and bought one of those fancy pants non-skip c.d.Walkmans... I think I went out for a bike ride with it once before it was stolen....

All this to say... I bought myself an ipod shuffle the other day. 

And suddenly, I'm in a musical.

No really... it's like having a sound track to your life... walking down the street- each song transforms the scenery, gives it a mood. 

I'd just finished my run (more on that later) and had finished my cool-down, but still had three blocks to get home... the music made me feel like I was in a movie- I had to keep looking around, enjoying the cinematography... yeah.. I'm a dork.

But that's really what it felt like.

The run... I haven't run in about two weeks (that whole festival thing), so I decided to take it easy. I also decided to give the C25K thing a try. JMack was telling me about this podcast he and GI had been using, going from Couch to 5Km in 9 weeks... I LOVE IT. Week one is a little too easy (but I'm doing it anyway- only, I'm doing it one and a half times... so is that C to 7.5k?) It has you do a 5 min warm up, then 8 sets of 60 second runs with 90 walks between, then a 5 min cool down... 

Mostly I love that there's music that I can run to... (cause.. you ever tried to run to Neil Young? yeah... no...) AND I love that the guy who's made these things, has put some thought into it... or maybe I've over thought the whole thing.... At the third run there's a song that comes on with the lyrics being something like "leave me alone, I don't want to call you" a great break up song... also it's what I'm saying to my body... Then, after the half-way mark.. this fantastic, empowering beat- like you've just defeated the evil... like you've just discovered truth... like... well, it just makes you feel good.

A drab

Is there a measurement unit that's comparable to a Drib or a Drab? I've always wondered.

Awhile back I saw an advertisment for a set of measuring spoons- a pinch, a titch, a smidgen... etc... I'd love to find them again.

I was thinking about what matters today.

and about what doesn't.

And I need to make some changes. Big ones. Why hold on to the things that drag you along? Why spend time with the things that just hold you back? Why dwell on the holdings of sadness and pain? 

I choose to do something new.

I choose to find joy.

that wasn't the drab I was going for.

Sin and Grieving

Thank you ladies.

No phone, no fire, no cats... let's add blogging too.

A drib

One set of photos....

and another...

sigh... I want to go back to the nation.... (SVFF Nation that is)

There was a conversation going on between several people on the weekend... that the festival isn't just about the music. It's a series of mini festivals- all with a common goal, inclusion, community, and enjoyment. This year I had quite a bit of free time to sit and watch the main event - the music festival and arts village... and I found that it wasn't what I was there for at all. I was there for the common goal. I was there for the hard work. I was there for connecting with old friends, building new relationships. I was there for the fresh air, the campfires, the cooking, the walking, the sweating, the tears, the laughter.... I could actually be there and not even need the bands playing.

(note:: there were several people/groups that I would not have missed... they were fantastic)

These "mini festivals" happen all around us, we don't set out to create them, they follow when people aren't looking for them. They are the real reason something like SVFF works- they keep the volunteers coming back, they keep people impassioned and fed. 

I need to be looking for those in my day to day life.

But I still miss the nation.

Valley Thoughts

People talked a lot about their "festival moments" this year. 

That single moment that defined what the festival meant to them... or the moment that fulfilled why we do what we do there.

I know mine... do you know yours?

dribs and drabs

things are going to come in bit by bit... processing...

I haven't really been at the breakdown level I've been in the past- after the festival... but, it's still always hard, coming back to this day to day life.

read this while I process.

back

I sat in my car in the driveway crying tonight.

I made it through the whole week- weekend without getting to drain-out point. Without crying over ridiculous things like lost bandaids, or ugly fruit... but getting home was something different.

It was like- getting out of the car meant the whole experience was over for the year. 

It would mark the end.

And as excited as I am for future things, I would be quite happy living in those festival moments for a long while.