Its not the Church , Its the People

I loved my high school history teacher , her name was Mrs. Flemming . When she talked about wars and kings and queens , her face lit up .  Back in those days , when I was young, she became A part of me . I am forever grateful that she was able to reach me , her passion for story telling was contagious & intoxicating .

Some 25 years later , I can credit her for my interest in stories . The culture , the history , the traditions , its in every community . And here in Tors Cove , while I'm here, it becomes my own .

Today , here.
Well, today I had an idea .
Things here aren't complicated here , you make a couple calls and you move forward .
It seems like people are always there to help , not just " stranger help" , they take you on as family . I never worry here .  It only took me a a phone call and a short drive to Bob O' Keefe's place ( yes seems like everyone's name up here has an "O" in the front of it ) to get the keys to the Old Church .

Inside Bob's garage they were busy at work ( all volunteer) on restoring the old doors to the new chapel . You see, their old church , well , its gone . Not really gone , there's a shell of something there. Today I visited the old & the new . It was powerful, I entered the old , and while the traditions of the " church" have a tenancy to freak me out , this one was nothing like that .
You could feel the marriages , baptisms, funerals, prayers of an entire community of people .
An entire community of good people , and while the old chapel is decaying, the spirit of the people here certainly is not .

xx
womaninthewild

 

Old doors , new home .

Old doors , new home .

Bob O'keefe . The Man , the rebuilder.

Bob O'keefe . The Man , the rebuilder.

Home of the New church, amomg the people that built and lived in the old.

Home of the New church, amomg the people that built and lived in the old.

S'no Problem.

I drove to town yesterday, to pick her up . The sky was heavy, I just knew the forecast was right . Which meant - SNOW DAY. It would be my first at The Landing, I thought it would be the perfect time to "make" Christmas. We are a non traditional crowd, with one tradition . Every year we must create something from nothing . Something that has not been created before by us.

I noticed a truck parked down the road for the past few days , weird for here. Usually there's never a soul to be seen . Came to realize yesterday there's been some land clearing going on near here . Perfect I thought, there's got to be a tree or a branch or something . Last night , in the dark Hannah & I made our way , we found a few sawed off old alders, nothing fancy and bone bare.
We dragged them home . Honestly, I dragged them home , Hannah took videos and laughed at me . Some duck tape a bag of salt and an old metal container - we had ourselves the beginning of a Christmas tree. 

We spent around 10 hours today , sitting folding paper flowers, cutting bird shapes from one of our old books. We discovered if we used the chalk from here , and colored the birds on the wood coffee table , we were able to achieve amazing textures. 

All the while the wind blew snow around outside, new ice formations were being created on the pond,  We were inside our own personal snow globe . Christmas came to Murphy Landing today .
Its more magical than ever.

x Woman in the Wild

 

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Rain. The sideways kind.

Its that kind of day .
The November wind wraps itself around you & chills you to your core.
The rain, there's no escaping it .
I wrapped my camera in A plastic bag , put my rubbers on and headed down the path .
I didn't really have any where in particular in mind , I never do .
And plenty of times I find myself off the beaten path, only to look behind meand see nothing familiar. Its usually then that I decide I should try to find my way back .
With the beauty of Murphy's Landing at your door step, You just don't stay inside, you can't .
Not even in this rain.

xx Woman in the Wild



 

Dart Night in Tors Cove

Her - " Oh you got a camera"
Me- "yes, I do . No worries, I'll only take good photos"
Her- " Oh my dear I'm not worried"

Just like that , she "had" me.

Her name is Ruth , she's 80 years old. I met her tonight at Darts. Yes, I said darts.
It happens every Wednesday night in Tors Cove at " The Hall "

I saw her right away , it often happens to me that way . I suddenly become intrigued , interested if you will , about someone I meet. Honestly, I can try not to photograph them , but I always gravitate back to keeping them in my frame.

Its more than just " darts" its a community gathering . Its the friendships, laughs, connection,
its familiar & refreshing . Its real life. I would not trade it for the world.

Part of my reason for being here is to rediscover that part of me . Honestly , I thought it didn't exist anymore. I was wrong , this feels just like home ...only better.
I love " these people" I am " these people"

This Wild , this Murphy's Landing , its real .
xx- Woman in the Dart League

 

The legal Illegals

Nate & I - We don't smoke weed.

There is no particular reason for that, no bad story , no heavy opinions, its just something that we just never really got into I guess.

Me? I'm more of the drinking type.

After a couple days here in the mountains, and after seeing a few signs., curiosity got the better of us . So in we go , passports in hand .

My first thought was - woah the smell. 

we were greeted by a very " happy" lady , who took our passports and recorded our information. We explained to her that we weren't " users" so we wanted to know all about their product, how it was made, what they offer , and ofcourse the so called side effects of each one . 

Its a tight operation up here , big beautiful pristine building with windows to watch the plants grow ( I guess you could even sing them a little lullaby if you wanted ) Open windows to the kitchen where they make their edibles ( yes, you can eat weed, see, I never knew that before )

The staff super friendly & knowledgeable ( quite patient & chill I might add ;) ) 

Here it is ..

 

Abandoned on I40

I'm not sure what made me say " stop"
I think it was the light in the trees.
In the afternoon sun, they were glowing white . It was all so mysterious to me .

The sign said " No trespassing" So we waited til nobody was around and jumped the fence.

It was a different kind of quiet. It was somewhere lost between not allowed to be seen and needing to be seen.  I sat in the middle of it and wondered how long it had been , 10 , 20 , 30 years, maybe more.
Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere. And sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself.

Woman in the Rocky Mountains.

 

 








 

Mother Landing

Motherhood smacked me in the face .

I was 25 years old when he arrived without an instruction book , 20 months later his sister made her grand debut .

" They" had so much advice about how to raise them up good, what to do and when .
I've always hated schedules , the idea of routine makes me itch.
So I just did what I had been doing my entire life , and followed my heart , ignoring the rest .

Mother of the year ? I never won it .
Instead i opted to let them see me as a human, not a super hero .
Mistakes, I made plenty. I never got caught up in them , just kept moving forward .
That was my most important gift to them .

Live , grow , change & love - be free to create always , Love Mom.
We are just us , and that's good enough xo

My Kids + 1 at the Landing in the rain in 24 hours.

-WITW










 

 

Getting Your Feet Wet

About the canoe .

If you've never stepped in one before , you might want to google " how to" first.
See, it kind of tips , the more you move , the more it moves.

And if you have a tendencyto stress while you are standing in a rocking boat (let me correct that, not standing crouched low), you can expect a lot of tipping .

Its a strange feeling , slightly terrifying & funny at the same time .

I managed to breathe myself into it . I'm always up for an adventure.
And the evening sky was making me promises, she did not disappoint .

I don't think I've ever experienced a more beautiful sunset & moon rise at the same time .
The Perfect Sky.

- Woman in the Wild

 

 

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Roaming around in PJ's

There is sun today at Murphy's Landing . I tool a break from editing , to have A little walk .
I scrambled for 10 min , to find something to wear.  And the I remembered...
There's nobody here to see me ;) so off I went , in flannel pj's with a smile on my face .
" I'm wearing PJ's in the woods because I can "  #highfive

Fall has always been more to me than just beautiful colors . For me is about Mother Nature's last big show before she goes to sleep . The decaying of the leaves , the textures, the shapes, the patterns the lines, its the same as the beautiful aging of the human body . Always the journey, never the destination.

For the Love of Flannel.
xx Woman in the Wild





 

The Beginning at Murphy's Landing

I have been preparing myself for 2 months mentally for Murphy's Landing . The idea of getting rid of my earthly possessions which included my teenage children , it gave me mixed emotions .
The idea of being completely alone to create for 8 months was exciting. However there was so much fear & so much to let go of . What if my kids don't miss me ? What if they like living with their Dad better than me ? Where will I go after 8 months ? What about the snow storms, how will I manage ? And the always lurking in the back of my mind , MICE live in the woods. Honestly, mice freak me out to no end. managed to quiet the fears in my mind, got rid of it all ! Yes, even the clothing , that's a big deal for a girl . I currently own , only what I absolutely have too and its so empowering . All of that junk that I thought i needed - gone . And with that new empty space in my life , comes the freedom to create. Free to be me .

October 1 came & I walked into Murphys Landing with an open heart. One door then another , a few more steps and there it was , that view , that energy , that quiet , that sweet freedom , that peace you feel at the very center of your heart when you just know that everything is going to be OK and you made the right choice.  I spent the evening walking quietly, being still , smiling a lot .

Murphy's Landing is wrapped in Magic & I'm so grateful to be in the middle of it .

XX Woman In the Wild



 

There's a certain kind of peace in the desert , its quiet, its alone, it's more than you imagined. Ever.

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