Following our bliss

We kicked off labor day weekend by heading to ski valley for the Taos mountain music festival. We had intended on bringing the rv but because of rig size limitations for the festival we said what the heck, and got a room for the weekend. Of course now I'm completely spoiled since it is our first time doing a music festival where the stage was right below our balcony and we weren't camping in a tent, lol. Mind you, we had beautiful majestic pine trees and aspens sort of blocking our view but if you looked between the branches you could see the crowd, and the best part was that I could sit in the room right in front of the crackling fireplace while listening to some mellow live blues. It doesn't get any better than that. I got to take a bath for the first time in about six months. The kids were beside themselves with excitement because they could take a bubble bath. Unfortunately our current rental has a shower not much bigger than the rv, no bathtub.

It truly was the most beautiful venue I've been to for a music festival, surrounded by some of the largest mountains I think we've seen. I told Ellery that we could just pick our Christmas tree right from the balcony window. I can only imagine how beautiful these trees are topped with glistening snow in the winter from your room...and believe me, I do emphasize imagine because these rooms cost a mint during ski season.

Before we went home we had to take a ride on the ski lift. I have to say it was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, lol. You have to understand that I have a fear of heights. I've never been on a ferris wheel. The thing is that I have this crazy goal to go snowboarding and well, I have to be able to go on one of these lifts. It totally freaked me out. I was gripping the hand rail for dear life as we cruised up the mountain. They would stop the lift to let people off and it would rock ever so gently. Luckily Ellery distracted me by pointing out the color changes of the aspens. This helped calm me down since I didn't want to freak out in front of everybody else. Then I saw these two kids Ellery's age on a lift by themselves holding their hands in the air with the guard rail up like it was some kind of a ride. I couldn't believe it. Then Riki reminded me that they were probably from France or the swiss alps or some place like that and been doing this all their lives, haha. What can I say? I made it and it was beautiful, even if I did feel like I was gonna die. I kept reassuring myself that this was a highly irrational fear and that only my human state was afraid to be sort of floating in the sky like this. It helped a little. I just hope I can handle it in the snow with a snowboard strapped to my feet.

Riki is doing okay with his new job. Tips aren't bad...not the best place to work for in town though apparently. It seems that this is the sort of restaurant to get your feet wet and move on because of the owners and the way things are run. After some risky investing, Riki's pictures are officially in the gallery now. We'll cross our fingers that we at least break even on that one. I think it is vital that he continues to embrace his creative side while also paying the bills.

We started school today and things went rather smoothly although busy trying to keep a three year old occupied while teaching an eight year old. Sometimes that is pretty tricky. Ellery is really looking forward to a lot of new material we are covering this year, especially our block on Native Americans. We are celebrating Jewish festivals as part of our Old Testament material so we are getting ready for Rosh Hashanah now. We painted our first day of creation today from the story. I feel the need to stress for those unfamiliar with waldorf education that I am not teaching creationism. In fact I prefaced our story with "every culture has different creation stories" kind of disclaimer....but the idea is to feed their souls with spiritual sustenance. I wasn't entirely digging the vibe of the original Old Testament, at least not as something to teach to children so I'm very happy that I found an anthroposophical/esoteric version written on a children's level. Oh, and we are reading the stories in the concrete pyramid Michael Reynolds built near our house. How cool is that?!

This education has been very healing for me as well as nourishing for the kids. Ever since we left the way things were before moving into the rv I see synchronicity all the time, maybe not so much now that we aren't on the road but it is still there. I'm still screwed up in certain ways like everybody else but I have figured out some things I will never go back on. I firmly believe that artistic experiences are a sort of gateway to the spirit world, that these are the sort of things we were meant to do in this lifetime....whether that is music, painting, fiber arts, photography, etc. Unfortunately we get so caught up in the money/success game that we lose sight of that and always feel a sort of void. It is amazing how simply educating your child can open your eyes to this in a new light.

Perhaps it is all coming together because of where we are now, surrounded by beautiful vistas in quiet desert and yet in a very modest house. I see that what is in my house or what we own is not what nourishes us so much as the beauty and peace that surrounds us. When we can feel that inside of ourselves we then find the freedom to let go of all of the trappings of this toxic culture we live in and experience art/creativity which is in essence a sort of channeling of the divine. Hey, I'm not all the way there yet, not even close, but I can see the path more clearly.