August 5, 2021

Camping in Minnesota State Parks

Why Camp in Minnesota State Parks

We’ve been camping in Minnesota state parks as we experiment with our van conversion ideas. Why the state parks?

they are beautiful
they are located all over the state
several are within a 2 hour drive from home
they are inexpensive
some have electricity, bathrooms, and water onsite
they are clean and well maintained
there’s a wide variety of activies for us to do

There are 75 Minnesota State Parks and Recreation Areas spread across the state. Many of them have camping facilities for RVs, campers, tents, or you can rent a cabin, yurt, or Tipi. Campsites are drive-in, cart-in, or walk-in. Drive-in spots can have electricity and communial restrooms and showers and water.

August 5, 2021

Clay Bowls Destiny

The Clay Bowl’s Destiny

The
Ship you are riding on,
Look where it is
Heading:

Your body’s port is the graveyard.

Realizing the destiny of each clay bowl
Tossed into the sky
With no one to
Catch it

I finally
Accepted the Beloved’s kind offer
To enroll
In
His sublime,
Ball-busing course
Of
Spirit
Love.

– Hafiz

Hafiz has such a humorous and playful relationship with God. With a love like that, what is there to fear?

July 25, 2021

Funks and Houseguests

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

July 4, 2021

Training for Wanna Be Writers

Train Like an Athlete

Just Do It. Whatever it is you dream about, JUST DO IT.

There’s no magic. There’s no annoitment by some fairy godmother, or diety, or knock on the head.

Consider how an athlete trains. They don’t simply perform their event day after day. They train with intervals. They do strength training. They do power training. They work on technique.

Whatever it is you want to learn, it’s the same process:

July 3, 2021

Morning Intentions

Living Intentionally

As we begin to re-experience a visceral reconnection with the needs of our bodies, there is a brand new capacity to warmly love the self. We experience a new quality of authenticity in our caring, which redirects our attention to our health, our diets, our energy, our time management. This enhanced care for the self arises spontaneously and naturally, not as a response to a “should.” We are able to experience an immediate and intrinsic pleasure in self care.

July 2, 2021

On the Day I Learned You Died

I go out into the winter night
A mist of snow kisses my face

Snow covered tree limbs arch over the street and sidewalks
Light bounces between the street and the trees
I can see for blocks inside this tunnel of light
But can see little outside of its walls

Scrape
Scrape
Scrape
A rhythm I know well

I walk half a block before finding
A dark shadow shoveling the sidewalk

July 2, 2021

Lost Time

He picked up the pail heavy with corn. He’d walk the hundred yards to the treeline. Just as he’d done nearly every winter afternoon for the past dozen years.

This was the first year without Caesar. He’d thought about getting another dog, but knew it would outlive him.

He savored the peace when the world is wrapped in two blankets; one of snow and the other of clouds.

July 2, 2021

Gerbils

You were asleep.
I was nibbling your ear.
You smiled,
And called me a gerbil.
Then told me a story about eating gerbils.

July 2, 2021

Strange Garden

You say you’ve seen me? It was misdirection. I wasn’t really there.

Come, let me show you where I’ve been hiding. Even my dreams couldn’t find me.

Here is my strange garden. This patch where briers and thistles hug, that’s where I planted my pain.

Over there I buried my shame. See it clawing its way to the surface? Later, we’ll find it conspiring with fear.

And here, I know it’s difficult to see, here is where I hid.

July 2, 2021

Sitting With the Dead

Sitting with the Dead

I love sitting with the dead as I think about life
The Johnsons, Olsons, Andersons, Edneys, Yaegars
Their stories told by the company they keep

The Olson brothers went off to war in Germany
Both lived long lives

The Johnson’s lost two children
Both before the age of three
Two others grew up to marry and have children of their own

Young John Schmidt loved to fish
He waits for his parents
Their stones wait for a date

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