The Absence of Fear–A Midlife Perspective
September 22, 2008
I’m the person who’s deathly afraid of spiders. Remember the scene in Annie Hall where Diane Keaton’s character calls Woody Allen’s character to come over and kill the spider in her house. Well, that’s me. I even pulled my car over once and got out when one of those creepy crawlers descended from my rear-view mirror.
Obviously what I have is a phobia–an irrational fear. But whose the one who is always saying here that fear is just “false evidence appearing real”. That’s me too. Well being fearful is just no way to live life — is it? Well take a look below at me not being afraid …
… of a herd of bison! I was visiting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming last week and spent an amazing day in the Grand Tetons National Park. We were on a bus and saw these bison from afar. When we got off the bus to photograph them and the herd started moving–to cross the road.
I was surprising unafraid of these huge creatures–the bulls weigh 2 tons! So I kept getting closer to get take better photos. At one point, I was closer to the herd than anyone in our party. And then I got the look–and I knew it was for me.
Yes the look from that really huge bison with the big horns that said:
“Don’t come any closer.”
We understood one another well. With the utmost respect I backed up while this bull escorted the rest of the herd across the road and left me alone.
As I got back on the bus, I thought about this once-in-a-lifetime encounter. The others laughed and called me the “bison-whisperer”. Crazy me–the woman who’s scared of a bug, to get so close to such a massive animal and not be afraid.
Yet another surprise from my midlife trip.
Last Days at Down Camp
July 28, 2008
Well for those of you who followed my vacation blogging — I’m back. Rested after a few days of not blogging (my sister threatened to cut my hands off if I didn’t turn off my laptop), here are a few more photos of the last days at Down Camp, our vacation spot in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
After 2 days of clouds and rain, Friday’s weather brought sun and yes — a beach day. We packed up towels, sunscreen, sand toys for my niece, the Peanut and headed to Good Harbor beach. Although it was sunny, there was a cloud “sitting” on the beach when got there giving it almost a surreal look. I love this house on the point at one end of the beach. The tower next to the house is actually one of the famous Massachusetts lighthouses. Whenever I’m at Good Harbor, I imagine myself living in this amazing house overlooking the beach, the rocks and the ocean.
Here’s a close-up of my Gloucester “fantasy” house. There’s just something mysterious about this location gets me thinking about some romantic Gothic novel I’ve read.
And Good Harbor wouldn’t be complete without sand-castles so we put the Peanut in charge of “construction”. Between trips to dip in the ocean, get slurpees and wade in the tide pools, Peanut built a shall we say “modest” sand castle the size of a Dixie cup. But there was lots of digging involved and fun was had by all — including those of us watching Peanut at work.
No good beach day is complete without a great sunset. At Down Camp each sunset is accompanied by the sound of the cannon at the yacht club across the way. The sound of the explosion each evening brings us all running out to see what is a most perfect sunset. This one was the perfect end to a another great vacation at Down Camp.
Many thanks again to our wonderful friends Karen and Bobby for making Down Camp home for a week. And thanks to my teeny, little, point and shoot Nikon Coolpix digital camera — and my reading glasses — for allowing me to capture some special vacation moments.
Drenched at Down Camp
July 24, 2008
It’s Day 2 of gray days at Down Camp. Lots of rain, storms and thunder today. So we’ve all been lazying around the house watching the storms move through. Although I’m wishing for sun so we can get a couple of beach days in, Down Camp is as beautiful a place in the the rain as it is on a sunny day. When the tide’s out, you can walk way out past that furthest clump of eel grass.
We did have some excitement here today besides the storm. The Peanut learned how to tie shoes today. She has this fake shoe thing with a lace through it to practice on. When we got here, I thought the shoe tie gizmo was some kind of kinky mouse pad. I confess I had my eye on it because I forgot mine. But there were better uses for it and here’s the Peanut with her first shoelace success.
Yeah Peanut!!
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Karen - Midlife Coach
