Off Road Life

I should state up front that I am not a quad fanatic, dirtbiker, or Dacar Rally participant(although that last one may have to be added to the bucket list because it is VERY cool).  I am however a big fan of the “road less traveled” lifestyle.  The kind of life lived wherein friends and family simultaneously find themselves both shuddering in horror and desiring to try on some of your choices.

To date I have lived in 24 homes, 2 countries, and 7 states.  My choices are not for the faint of heart – in fact some days I am not even sure if they are for me – but life is short and the world is big.    To many friends and family we are the wild things. The take chances and hopefully land on our feet people. To others we are just plain crazy (not entirely sure they are wrong in that assessment). To myself I think, “Wow – only 2 countries?  When did I get so boring?”

But what about those who have forsaken the path altogether?  They are not on the well-worn nor the less travelled.  Instead they are bushwhacking their way into adventures that even those of us who walk on the wild side are shy to go.

There is a whole other subculture that I envy and whom I want to emulate when I one day pluck some vestige of courage out of the mountain air.  It’s a lifestyle that requires throwing off every expectation of what is “normal” and forging ahead with a boldness that is often mistaken for irresponsibility (okay, that can really be a fine line to walk).

These are the off-road, beating new paths, wild folk who can live in real freedom and toss what the world thinks out the window as they head into the next adventure.   Ahhh..sweet freedom.  Which path do you follow?  Are you a straight and narrow kind of traveler or, to quote some beloved pop culture sci-fi AKA Star Trek, do you yearn “to explore strange new worlds; To seek out new life and new civilizations; To boldly go where no man has gone before” ?

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to
decide.”  ~Napoeon Bonaparte

Where will your next adventure take you?

Six Word Saturday

 

 

 

 

 UNABASHEDLY  WANDERING THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED.

I poached this fun game from  http://www.showmyface.com .

Want to play along?  All that’s necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. Feel free to explain or not explain. For more information, try clicking here.  (clicking here will magically transport you to Show My Face’s page where you can read more about her and how the game originated)
If you play along in your blog, please add a link.  Please link back to both my page AND Show My Face.

Links and bonds

Below is a “reblog” from the DailyOM.  Madisyn Taylor wrote this great piece about making connections within your community and as a gypsy soul with lots of experience in landing in new neighborhoods I can attest to the truth in her article.   Her words can be applied to any community we belong too – clubs, writing groups, business groups, – really anyplace that people come together.   Step outside of your comfort zone and reach out to those who surround you.  Create those bonds that nourish the need we all have to connect.

Links that Last: Creating Community            

 by Madisyn Taylor
               

  “Creating community is an important part of receiving the support we all need to navigate through life.”

“Since the modern Western lifestyle can isolate us from one another, it is often difficult to forge meaningful connections. Self-protection and mistrust prevent us from reaching out to neighbors and peers, and we consequently feel like we don’t truly belong anywhere. Yet creating community can be as simple as reaching out within our own neighborhoods. To form the bonds that eventually solidify into long-lasting friendships, we must first be willing to rise above the walls of suspicion and doubt dividing us from the individuals who inhabit our neighborhood, block, or our building. We are taught from childhood to fear those we do not know, but community is as much a part of survival as safety. When we take a proactive approach, we can harmoniously unite our neighbors and build a network of support that contributes to the well-being of all involved.
Your overtures of community needn’t be complicated. If you are new to your neighborhood, sending letters of introduction to your closest neighbors can ensure that their curiosity about you is partly satisfied. Consider telling them a bit about yourself and how you plan to positively contribute to your locale, even if it is something as straightforward as planting attractive flowers in your window boxes. Or if others have recently moved in nearby, schedule some time to welcome them to the area. By doing so, you can calm any misgivings they have while demonstrating that your neighborhood is a nice place to live. It is much easier to meet people while outdoors, so try to take frequent strolls or sit on your stoop or porch if you have one. Say hello to people who pass by, and you will likely get to know your neighbors speedily. And one of the easiest ways to build a sense of community is to organize neighborhood projects and events that bring people together in service or in fun! .
Even if you have little in common with your neighbors, your proximity to one another can offer a wonderful opportunity to pursue new friendships and working relationships. You may not see eye to eye on matters of spirituality, politics, or lifestyle issues, but each of you understands that community helps people feel connected. As you grow to know and then to like one another, the city or town where you reside will truly become your home. “

Everything

 

If you’re on Facebook then you know the obscene amounts of sayings, photos, and trivial drivel that circulate on a daily basis.   Mixed in with that are some really fantastic quotes, photos, and information.  It’s not just a melting pot – it’s a cauldron of the immaterial and the wonderful.

I absolutely poached the saying above from a friend’s page because it falls under the” randomly awesome stuff you find on FB” category.    Applicable to writing and life in general, it succinctly brings home the point that no one needs to be pigeonholed into just one “thing” in life.

Every day we make choices – what time to get up, what to wear, what to eat, who to talk to, and where to go.   Make the choice to be more – to experience new things, to go after the dreams, to expand your world to, to be everything, because you CAN!!!!

Y is for Yeats

Blogging from A to Z challenge April 2012 – “Y”

Looking to the masters for the “Y” of it all…..

TO SOME I HAVE TALKED WITH BY THE FIRE

by: William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

 

WHILE I wrought out these fitful Danaan rhymes,

My heart would brim with dreams about the times

When we bent down above the fading coals

And talked of the dark folk who live in souls

Of passionate men, like bats in the dead trees;

And of the wayward twilight companies

Who sigh with mingled sorrow and content,

Because their blossoming dreams have never bent

Under the fruit of evil and of good:

And of the embattled flaming multitude

Who rise, wing above wing, flame above flame,

And, like a storm, cry the Ineffable Name,

And with the clashing of their sword-blades make

A rapturous music, till the morning break

And the white hush end all but the loud beat

Of their long wings, the flash of their white feet.

“To Some I Have Talked With by the Fire” is  from “The Rose”. W.B. Yeats. 1893.