Introduction:
So I just want to clarify, in case anyone was "duped," that last week's "pay-to-read" thing was a joke. The link to "pay" was actually a link to a donation page for Bernice, the poor lady on the street of Boston I met. Blogspot is a free blog service and I don't think I could charge if I wanted to—not that I would. My mother was apparentely confused so just in case anyone else is: No one has to pay for my lil' blog and if you do the money will go to Bernice.
Seems like she is still struggling. I've read some comments from some people about how easy it would be for her to not be on the street anymore and rolling in the dough of a legal settlement. If there is anyone out there who knows who she should talk to, please tell her. Otherwise, keep her in your thoughts and prayers. To the average reader she may be just some light on the screen, like the many Syrian refugees suffering in their flight from their civil war, but I met her and to me she is an individual that I know.
https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/victim-of-circumstance-declared-dead-when-alive
I've also been told that my blog posts are too long, which I guess is true. Improving this thing is an ever growing endeavor for me as I travel and as I grow. Hopefully ya'll enjoy taking in the ideas and images I put up here as much as I enjoy gathering them for you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ih1aKeETk
We came to Massachusets looking for something. Actually, we were looking for a lot of things. We still are. We're looking for a scrap of food on the ground. We're looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. We're looking for home, love, and peace. We've picked them up, here and there, but they fall through our fingers. We trip—oh every time we trip—and they fall to the ground. That's if we don't give them away first.
But at least we get a good picture.
I put a lot of thought into whose shoes I wanted to walk in.
I also thought about whose shoes I needed to walk in.
Which ones would you have picked?
Reflection:
We can't control every bit of our lives. We can't control what ill befalls us or what trouble comes our way or even what we eat sometimes. This is so because we all share this world together. We all have our own world on this shared world but everyone else we are sharing the world with can come and go through our world too—and they each have their own free will. They can choose to help you, ignore, or hurt you. And that's terrifying—that there is so much and we have so little control over it.
Hurricanes and Tornados.
Firebirds and Whirlwinds.
But we can have some control over our world. We can have a positive influence on the people in the world around us. We can choose positivity. We can believe in that and we can spread it and we can fill our world and our lives with it and spread that to all the people who pass by us.
All you have to do is Choose Love. Choose Love Every Time. Not just for your most special treasured loved one, not just for your family, not just for your friends or your neighbor or people you sort of like or people you want something from or people that you need something from or people you sort of like or people you want something from or people the you need something from or people that happen to be around and you're alone and have no one else. Not even just all them. Everyone. Choose Love Every Time. Choose Love for everyone you meet. Choose it for every decision you make. Give it out and spread it around and share it and leave it places. Cherish it. But don't horde it. Let it go. Protect it. But don't cage it. Set it free. We all have love inside us. You don't have to ride your bicycle all day to do it. You can work your 9-5 blue/white/whatever collar job and still be free. Freeing your heart. That's what true freedom is. Freeing your love. You could have all the money in the world, all the things you could carry, all the this or that, but if your own heart isn't free... If you can't love freely, then you are in your own bird cage. You can't fly. But you—each of us—holds the key. The key to your heart is in your heart, somewhere. You just have to find it. You just have to Choose Love Every Time.
And that isn't easy! It doesn't just happen! We have to learn how to give and how to love. We have to learn how to let things go. We have to learn gratitude and respect and forgiveness and empathy. We all have so much to learn and so far to go. Each of us is struggling with out own battles—our own hills to climb—and love is a 4-letter word we give to our partner or child or maybe parent, when appropriate. But the word "love" is just a word. Love itself is an emotion. A feeling in your heart. Learn to recognize it in your own heart—find that Love—and Choose it. Every Time. Jesus is Love. When you see someone in need, whether on the street or on the internet or anywhere, Choose to Love them. The Earth is Love. When someone cuts you off in traffic or is rude to you in passing or does something to try to bring you down, Choose to Love them. We are Love. When you look at the person in the mirror, Choose to Love them.
Choose Love Every Time.
Food Review:
Mushrooms are here to help!
At The Chapel of Scared Mirrors
The Musroom Cafe provides some nourishment.
The Musroom Cafe provides some nourishment.
You step inside and surrounded by a beautiful array of colors and ideas.
The menu has some delicious sounding sandwiches and a salad
But as with the rest of the area
The real treasure is being immersed by art upon art upon art.
But as with the rest of the area
The real treasure is being immersed by art upon art upon art.
Give up on the idea of an "establishment" where you'll be "served" by "staff."
This is just a place and the people there are just people.
Tony and Cloud chat while we ponder the mysteries of the universe
Like whether to get a brownie a cupcake or a cookie.
This is just a place and the people there are just people.
Tony and Cloud chat while we ponder the mysteries of the universe
Like whether to get a brownie a cupcake or a cookie.
We each went with the Mushroom Sandwiches
It is The Mushroom Cafe after all!
It is The Mushroom Cafe after all!
And they did not disappoint!
They get the mushrooms locally and specially prepare them in their kitchen 'round the corner.
They get the mushrooms locally and specially prepare them in their kitchen 'round the corner.
I was having such a good time I forgot to take a picture of our dessert
(But I'll tell yah—we chose all three!)
Final Verdict: Go here. As soon as possible. Go here.
I can tell you with sincerity that I will definitely return.
Pictures:
Our office for the last update.
Thanks Tigh for the space!
My sista' Rachel
The first ever person to ride LionHeart besides myself.
Thanks Tigh for the space!
My sista' Rachel
The first ever person to ride LionHeart besides myself.
One last tour of The Witch City before heading out.
As one is on their way out of a city
a feeling I'm beginning to learn in my heart.
Salem has a very nice stretch of tourism in its center.
The weekends its packed.
Weekday mornings are a bit more chill.
Weekday mornings are a bit more chill.
Salem at night?
You'll just have to see that for yourself.
You'll just have to see that for yourself.
Expect to find a pleasent mixture of tourists, locals, and riff-raff.
There's a lot of dark energy in this town for sure.
We even got our hands on some.
No sense talkin' about that business here though.
We even got our hands on some.
No sense talkin' about that business here though.
Museums and tour buses and gift shops
overtake the actual history of the place.
overtake the actual history of the place.
What's it like living where your home is being sold out from under you?
Maybe the whole of America will be nothing but a big tourist attraction one day.
And we'll all have to put on a witch's costume and dance around
...or starve.
...or starve.
But there's real life past the tourist filled center!
With bumpy old stone roads and overpriced parking and communities of people.
And there's a Wendy's.
I'll miss that park by the shore.
Beaches are always a great place to sleep.
Beaches are always a great place to sleep.
So long Salem and Salem U!
Maybe I'll return one day.
But when I do, will I find any of the things I left behind where I left them?
Maybe I should get a trailer filled with Yerba Mate for the desert.
Maybe I'll return one day.
But when I do, will I find any of the things I left behind where I left them?
Maybe I should get a trailer filled with Yerba Mate for the desert.
I guess some people want to sizzle.
"Food delivery, by bike. I've got a little motor for the hills.
We're trying to eliminate trucks in cities."
By golly there's hope!
We're trying to eliminate trucks in cities."
By golly there's hope!
Hmm? What's wrong with CVS?
Having had adventures in both
The two cities now have meaning to me.
Will I remember what I learned in them?
That is the power of traveling.
Somewhere inside I feel like there was a time when no one would have ignored our flag on the ground.
Perhaps patriotism isn't fashionable anymore.
I ask a passing by teenager what he thinks of the flag lying there amongst the garbage.
"I love America!" He yelps, like its the right answer.
I hope ya do kid. She needs a lot of it.
Perhaps patriotism isn't fashionable anymore.
I ask a passing by teenager what he thinks of the flag lying there amongst the garbage.
"I love America!" He yelps, like its the right answer.
I hope ya do kid. She needs a lot of it.
The people around here though got no love for CVS.
It makes sense to me.
It makes sense to me.
As it turns out, the town in question already has a pharmacy.
It used to have a supermarket too, but the owners retired and sold the business.
And here's the future home of the CVS
Right across the street from the other pharmacy.
Residents don't need two pharmacies in their town
Nor do they want their local pharmacy going out of business.
Residents don't need two pharmacies in their town
Nor do they want their local pharmacy going out of business.
The real issue here though is that communities are literally under attack by these big businesses.
With every dollar spent at CVS some amount of it just sort of floats up in the cloud of CVS' pocket.
That's money lost to this community.
With every dollar spent at CVS some amount of it just sort of floats up in the cloud of CVS' pocket.
That's money lost to this community.
Now perhaps an affluent community just West of Boston in suburban Massachusetts is not in need of piety
But the issue is persistent throughout our country.
The people here do not want a CVS in the center of their town but they have no control over it.
But the issue is persistent throughout our country.
The people here do not want a CVS in the center of their town but they have no control over it.
Sean, manager at Hopkinton Drug, used to work for Walgreens.
He informs me about the anti-CVS signs.
A different company is apparently renting the space to CVS so this gets around the town ordinance laws.
Sean also tells me how the big pharmacies will use their never ending pockets to pour dollar afer dollar into a location just to drive out local business.
"They sell soda for $1? We'd sell it for .99 cents. They do it all the time."
What a nice town center.
Water trouble in mid MA?
The current state of the rig
We'll probably be needing these boots.
Do parks really close?
'Cause I'd just go right in, y'know.
This is a really beautiful park.
There's an island out there, you can kinda see it.
The cars never stop coming on this road that cuts right through it though.
An ideal I have in my mind.
An ideal I know I am far from achieving.
And then I found myself at The Chapel of Scared Mirrors.
This property includes and living space filled with the work of Alex and Allyson Grey
Along with some trails and other sights
All filled with art.
Along with some trails and other sights
All filled with art.
Art in the Woods.
Just a couple samples of the art there.
The pictures really can't do the actual art justice.
I've never seen any place like it.
Just being there is inspiring.
If you are traveling anywhere between NYC and Albany,
go out of your way to The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors.
I've never seen any place like it.
Just being there is inspiring.
If you are traveling anywhere between NYC and Albany,
go out of your way to The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors.
There are plenty of magic places out there though
Not all are owned by a masterful artist.
Not all are owned by a masterful artist.
Some just are.
Some you have to make yourself.
And the universe is always the greatest teacher.
This week's guest photographer is... Hayley!
Her camera is way better than mine.
Her shot is way better than mine too!!
Some trees grow apart.
Others grow together.
She got me again!
Why is this blog here?
What's the point of all this?
I think I'll know. In 10, 20, 30 years
Then I'll know.
Circles are perfect.
Circles are everything.
Circles are everything.
I just hope I'm spiraling upwards.
Being home again doesn't feel real.
There's food. I can eat it. I don't have to ask.
There's food. I can eat it. I don't have to ask.
There's a bed. My bed.
It's a guest room now, which is fine because I know I'm not staying,
but it's the same bed with the same sheets as when I left.
It's a guest room now, which is fine because I know I'm not staying,
but it's the same bed with the same sheets as when I left.
It's only been five months, but it's felt like forever to me. I could write a book about it. Maybe not a good one, or maybe these collection of blog posts will have to do, but I could write something.
There is so much out there.
And I am not yet who I wish to be.
LionHeart has more rolling to do
And I have more riding to do.
It's scary and hard and amazing and wonderous.
I don't have all the answers, nor will I find them all.
This week though
I think I'll rest...
But I mustn't rest for too long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmdP5U2o-as
I don't have all the answers, nor will I find them all.
This week though
I think I'll rest...
But I mustn't rest for too long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmdP5U2o-as
