Create with Kim!

Is it green yet? Last night another winter storm moved in and blanketed Marquette with a heavy coat of wet spring snow. Spring break is over and teachers and students have returned with Mexican beach tans. I swear every year that I will travel somewhere warm. Here I sat through snow after snow, attempting to keep my toes warm while typing in the studio.

Travel for me usually occurs in the summer. Last year I took two trips, solo. One was a camping trip over two nights, the other an artist trip to the Copper Country. I was learning to travel alone and felt unsettled and in a rush to return home to my Magic Man. The other trips were with Mike, an early spring trip to the Paulding Lights, and the West end of the Upper Peninsula where we took many shots of waterfalls, the second trip to the Porcupine Mountains occurred in October. Many of the shots in my exhibit occurred on that autumn trip.

On my solo camping adventure, I struggled with fire, wet wood, no camp stove or solution to make hot coffee fast. And as I sit here feeling wanderlust, I know one item is a must have for the Summer of ’08, a single-burner cook-stove that can boil water fast for press pot coffee and for those mornings where I cannot get a hot fire. I am hoping to do some research into my best options-please leave me a comment on your experiences.

Luckily today I stumbled upon one of my favorite blogs showing fields of green, Journey Mama, “I wonder why green is such a healing color?  It fills all those roving spaces in your head.  It lays its blanket of peace.”

Then I dropped in to Journey Juju a new site by Cynthia Morris  and I ordered my Travel Shrine. I am hoping my shrine opens new doors, lots of inexpensive yet priceless trips, and easy fires for java in the mornings. I am hoping it keeps me centered and settled, not rushing to return home. I will use my shrine as a focal point and finally make steps toward getting my passport.

This year I am planning to work past the edges of my body to green fields that stretch who I am, what I dream of, and break from my reality into endless streams of possibilities.

I would love to hear from other writers that camp and travel solo. Is it green where you are, now?