Off the Grid

I like the Internet, (even as I’ve come to believe the constant and instant sharing of information has not been good for our politics) and I like the easy access to images.  Sometimes though it is sensational to leave all the voices behind and return to the world of living in the moment, thinking and doing, reading.  Books.

And so, in the midst of a busy summer for me, I headed over the mountains with Katy and Nancy for four days of art making, laughing, talking, art making.  Salads.  Our destination was Katy’s family’s cabin on the Metolius River at Camp Sherman…a place I have really come to love.  We went there last summer and it looked like this.  Not a McMansion in sight.  The US Forest service owns and leases the land to the residents and there are strict restrictions on what you can do and build (just about nothing at all).  Katy’s family couldn’t replace the footbridge leading to an island in the river when it was washed away in a storm.  They were asked to remove a big bell they used to call themselves for dinner.

But there we sat for four days.  I chose the picnic table station on the deck where the strong lullaby of the river kept me company, and the birds.  I made a workbook called “three Things”, Katy put out the hummingbird feeder and the hummingbirds were my constant companions.  Katy and Nancy moved around in the sun, seeking shade and space, but I just could not budge from the deck over the river.  One day we went to the Camp Sherman store and all of our phones lit up…we admit to a beer and a moment of connecting with loved ones, but not for long.  We had a Sisters “retail moment” and a coffee for me…but otherwise we drew, painted, quilted…we found three dead things and drew them, we drew our cups of coffee in the morning, we made stamps…it was fun.

So that’s my description…I’ll let you review the images and contemplate getting off the grids yourselves for a bit.

and then it was time to head home, to pack up, to say goodbye to the cabin by the river and head to the dump to recycle and where we were serenaded by the dump attendant …on the trombone…

See you next summer!