wales (a woodland walk)

we also did some plain flat hiking in wales which was neither plain nor flat but i'm speaking in comparison to mountains and it's all relative eh? beauty here beauty there? beauty everywhere.

so much rain means so much plant growth on everything. the stone walls were covered in every shade of green. mosses, ferns, small goobery creatures inching their way along the tumbled, worn surfaces.

the place where we stayed backed onto snowdonia national park, just a short amble down a gentle slope and we were out of the fields and into the woods.

it actually had a bit of a british columbia vibe to it, damp and green and thick with life.

there were winding rivers and little wooden bridges. stones covered in blankets of moss. small iron gates in the middle of the forest which otherwise looked, untouched.

we found this waterfall and felt like we'd won the lottery. nature lottery! find something cool and you win!

i took my boots off so i could properly feel the rocks on my feet. for the purpose, of course, of later remembering.

mountaineers part two (into the clouds)

mountaineers

this is going to be impossible to write about. how do you write about something like this? maybe you start by acknowledging the impossibility and give it a go anyways.

i'm giving it a go, anyways.

we climbed a mountain while we were in wales. and we loved it so much, we climbed another mountain two days later. the first mountain was a series of peaks, one of them being snowdon, the highest in wales. that isn't like saying 'blue mountain is the biggest mountain in ontario', the british isles have some seriously tall mountains and we set out to climb one of the tallest. go us.

we also thought (heck, why not) that we'd do the most challenging route. snowdon is a busy mountain that sees over 300,000 visitors per year and offers a choice of ascents, (including by train! not a bad option!). because we don't like crowds and because we were up for a challenge, we chose the snowdon horseshoe route, famed for its amazing, (if mildly terrifying) scramble across crib goch - a notable knife-edged ridge of rock.

around about this stage in the game, a few kilometres in and beginning the steep and steady climb to crib goch, i started to deal with some very real feelings of fear. a rolodex of all the frightening things i'd read about the ridge came flooding back to me. the people who have died, real mountain climbers, with actual mountain climbing experience. the steeper the ascent became, the less confident i felt in our ability to actually do it.

there isn't a clear 'path' once you're on your way to the summit and at many points, you can't see past your immediate next move. if jeremy went ahead a bit to see if the way we were choosing would work, i would lose sight of him. scary. i even got stuck at one point when it was too steep to climb back down and too intimidating to hoist myself up.

so i had a little cry, a moment of panic, pulled some courage out of my soul (ass) and dragged my self up and over to the first summit. a moment there just isn't words for.

we stopped and had a snack up there, which is something i never thought i'd be able to relax enough to do but once i'd surmounted that first fear hurdle i felt, honestly, invincible. bring on the m&m's at 3,000 feet!

jeremy was amazing. just the right amount of helpful while still giving me the space to feel like i was doin' it all on my own. we kept saying 'be careful, which means i love you' to each other. we kept kissing. i kept saying I AM IN LOVE WITH LIFE. because i was. because i am.

we hardly saw anyone which is just how we hoped it would be, save for a few seasoned snowdon veterans which made us feel proud and accomplished. we also felt very lucky with the weather and the winds, like the mountains conspired with the clouds to welcome us. 

every mountain we came across after that first one was met with our iron will, we could DO this. it was like we were in one of those bad motivational posters with scenes of mountains or canyons and words like LEADERSHIP and PASSION written across the top.

you could see forever.

the whole horseshoe route took us 9 hours, most of that using both our hands and feet across the rock ridges. we stopped if we were hungry to eat snacks, we drank plenty of water, and often we just stood, as the landscape demanded, and stared in some state of awe.

if you find yourself in wales, close to snowdonia, i highly recommend this route. it's challenging, to be sure, but absolutely achievable.

and absolutely worth pushing past your fear by kicking it directly in the nards.

i'm not here

hello!

it's my birthday!

if you're reading this it means i was successful in my very first scheduled blog post. it also means that i've found a way to master time travel as present me, writes to future you. greetings from the past! it's nice back here. there's a breeze and i have a whole week full of travel plans ahead.

maybe as you're reading you'll like to imagine where it is i am and what it is i'm doing. odds are i'm wearing my raincoat and walking around with my husband, breathing in the smell of someplace new. maybe you'll be reading while we're climbing that mountain. maybe i'll think of you at the top.

i am turning 32 years old and i actually didn't know that until my grandmother said so on her email. 32! that's neat. i remember a whole 5 years passing when i still thought i was 21. age IS arbitrary. i do know that i feel great. that i'm getting to know myself bit by bit. that i'm trying, really trying, to be a good human being. a citizen of the world. someone the universe would be proud it spawned.

it's important to honour the gift of being alive, don't you agree? it's so fleeting and tumultuous. yesterday i read in the encyclopedia of the human body that only about 1% of our experiences make it into our long term memories. is that why picture taking is so rampant? a longing to document the other 99%?

i think that statistic is wrong. maybe i don't remember all the moments of my 32 years but their summation lives within me and i gotta say, there's some good shit in there.

take care, won't you? be good while i'm gone? be loving and curious and kind to yourself. learn strange new facts and interpret them creatively. do your stretches every day, and pay special attention as the spring canopy turns from exuberant green, to her emerald summer shawl.

purple

jeremy likes to pick me flowers on the way home from work. this is delightful for myriad reasons but my two favourites are that i like to picture him picking them, and that i like to consult my wildflower guide to determine their variety.

bittersweet nightshade is a vine that grows quite rampant around these parts. it can be identified by its small green berries and yellow dangling bits in the centre of the flowers. also known as deadly nightshade, it was used in olden days to protect from witchcraft.

now, it protects the sunroom table from a wistfulness for the outdoors.

cosmo, jimmy & maude

i love that my craft is moving forward of its own volition. while i'm living my life/watching the clouds go by someone will find me and say, "i'd like you to make me a squirrel" or "i'd like two cats that are hugging".

to which my answer always is, "of course!". and i set to my good work with joy and jolly gumption.

tea time

i like to put sliced lemon into hot water. sometimes i add fresh herbs, like mint. sometimes i slice ginger.

always i sip slowly taking in not just the taste, but the smell and the sight and the way my hands warm and relax around the perfectly circular shape and weight of a mug.