Personal Adventures
I try to practice what I preach, so I’m continually redesigning my work/life with the goal to have passion and adventure at the center. Accordingly, my love affair with writing has continued. This year I’m enrolled in a nine-month on-line writing program with Tania Casselle and Sean Murphy that begins in April, called Write to the Finish. It’s designed to help writers complete large projects, like a book. About a year ago I took an on-line short fiction class from Tania and Sean and loved it. At first, I thought I would miss being in a classroom but found myself looking forward to the emails, learned a lot and completed three short stories. What really surprised me was how intimate the experience felt. I think Sean and Tania had everything to do with that.
In July I’m also headed to the Taos Writers’ Conference where I’ll take two workshops, one on poetry and the other on mixed genre.
Camping has been a passion since I was a child. My husband and I have camped together for eighteen years but recently we decided to sell our trailer and truck and try some different vacations. It’s true that our last trip was the trip from hell (rain or clouds seventeen out of twenty-one days, flat tires, a scary storm, dead cell phones, and a propane tank falling on my foot) but that was the only bad trip we’ve had in all those years. We have wonderful memories, including two long trips out west. We’ve also traveled to Canada (four times), the Adirondack Mountains, Florida and all over the Midwest. We’ve just decided it’s time to move on to something new.
The most recent passion in my life has been starting a grass roots organization to help reduce global warming. We call ourselves The Power of 10. Our goal is to inspire people to take the One Ton Challenge, promising to reduce their carbon emissions by 2,000 pounds, and then to inspire ten more people to do the same so that the results grow exponentially. Does it sound daunting? It’s not. It’s actually easy. We’ll show you how you can do it and save money too.
Our group is comprised of lively and committed individuals. Our meetings are fun and inspiring. In early March we met at The Center for Green Technology at 445 North Sacramento. What a gift that place is. It’s beautiful, offers free classes and is a treasure trove of ideas. Have you been there yet?
It’s time for us to wake up. We’ve been asleep. We’ve taken for granted that we could continue to live thoughtlessly. Now we have to learn how to be good guardians of our earth. If you want to take the One Ton Challenge, learn how easy it is to do, or find out more about our group, visit our site. Within the next couple of months we’ll have a website you can visit: www.thepowerof10.net. Or call me, at: 708-524-4850.
I’ll be in my mid-sixties in May (how did that happen?) and am grateful for good health and a life filled with passionate work and interests. I wish you the same, Robin
PS The following poem is one I wrote on our last camping trip.
It took more than a week.
It took silent walks through forests
of black spruce, pine and white birch,
drives through sugar maples
already turned golden and hot ember red.
It took cold, overcast days
with longing diminished.
Nothing to do.
It took few words,
still lakes,
glacier-strewn granite boulders,
the smell of pines,
winds so strong trees cracked
and powerlines drooped across highways.
It took heading north
deeper into Canada
to the unknown,
driving slowly on two-lane roads
swerving around storm-tossed trees.
It took absence,
before my eyes could see,
before I could feel the earth,
before my mind quieted and
dropped down into my feet.
October, 2006.