{"id":5251,"date":"2017-07-19T16:24:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T23:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/?p=5251"},"modified":"2017-07-19T16:24:24","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T23:24:24","slug":"july-19-2017-pressing-pause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-19-2017-pressing-pause\/","title":{"rendered":"July 19, 2017 – Pressing Pause"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is me – in 1996 on the island of Brac in Croatia, where my grandparents came from.<\/p><\/div>\n

I started these posts more than two and a half years ago because I was challenged to.\u00a0 My coach Lissa Boles challenged me to act in the face of the fears that I\u2019d quit.\u00a0 A part of me was convinced that I would write for a few weeks or months and then the energy would peter out and I\u2019d be left with an abandoned blog online \u2013 for all the world to see that I could not stick with it.\u00a0 Until two weeks ago, I\u2019d not missed a week.\u00a0 Every single Tuesday or Wednesday since October 1, 2014 I wrote something brand new for you to read.\u00a0 I just counted – I\u2019ve written 145 – one hundred and forty five – pieces of writing between 800 and 1500 words long.\u00a0 I\u2019m reminding myself of this because I\u2019ve come to a decision that wasn\u2019t easy.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t sleep much last night; I\u2019ve been awake since 2:20 am \u2013 wired.\u00a0 All the thoughts swirling in my head brought me to the conclusion that what\u2019s needed is for me to press pause<\/em> on posting for a little while.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why\u2026<\/p>\n

It was two weeks ago when the signs first started showing themselves.\u00a0 We were just back from a wonderfully rich time in Europe with my family and even though I was terribly jet lagged, I hit the ground running.\u00a0 The week before last, when I first skipped a week writing, I spent the day clearing out the garage and emptying out all the kitchen cabinets.\u00a0 A remodel of our kitchen was starting the following Monday.\u00a0 During the weekend that I taught a color workshop, Joe and I finished setting up temporary kitchen facilities in the garage (pantry and sink), side yard, (barbeque, camping stove and pots and pans) and in the dining room (refrigerator, coffee maker, microwave, dishes, silverware and a few things we could use for food prep).\u00a0 I\u2019m a cook and the kitchen is the place where I re-find my center.\u00a0 My motto is \u201cwhen in doubt, cook\u201d and my car happily displays a \u201cFeed People, Cook them Tasty Food\u201d bumper sticker from Penzey\u2019s spices.\u00a0 We are making do with our temporary setup; we\u2019ve not eaten out yet in the week and a half since construction started.\u00a0 But without my kitchen-home, I\u2019m just not the same.<\/p>\n

Then there are the fleas.\u00a0 Yes, we have fleas<\/em>.\u00a0 We came home to a front yard completely infested with them \u2013 likely delivered by a wild critter that had been living in our tree.\u00a0 Our big black lab Bo had no fleas \u2013 until he came home from doggy camp.\u00a0 Though we made the effort to keep him away from the fleas, and though he has flea medicine in him, and<\/em> though I\u2019ve bathed him every few days – he has brought them in the house.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had two fleas crawling out from my hair onto my face<\/em> in the last two weeks.\u00a0 Joe is dumping everything he can on the front yard \u2013 everything that won\u2019t kill honeybees \u2013 Borax, diatomaceous earth, orange oil, rosemary oil \u2013 and he has drastically reduced their population, but there are still a few here and there.\u00a0 As we continue to vacuum and spray orange oil in the house, I still have every little tickle or itch giving me the willies that I have a flea crawling on me – or biting<\/em> me. This may seem like not a huge deal, but has captivated quite a bit of my attention!<\/p>\n

And<\/em> then there is my hike.\u00a0 Some of you know that just after Easter I signed up to go on a six day hike in August that will bring me to the summit of Mount Whitney \u2013 the highest mountain, not just in California, but in the lower 48 states.\u00a0 The trip involves hiking a total of 60 miles with overall nearly 12,000 feet of elevation gain \u2013 all between 10,000 and 14,500 feet.\u00a0 I started training this spring, but since recovering from jet lag, I\u2019ve been really<\/em> pushing my body.\u00a0 Working on getting a 55 year old body in shape has me realizing how recovery and energy are so not the same as when I was 30.\u00a0 I\u2019m doing pretty well \u2013 I hiked 23 miles and 3300 feet of elevation this past weekend.\u00a0 Yesterday Bo and I hiked three and a half miles up 1,679 feet in about an hour and a half \u2013 and then the same back home in less than an hour.\u00a0 There will be a post about this experience \u2013 it\u2019s been a whole lot more than just getting in physical shape \u2013 but that will come later.\u00a0 For now, all this additional hiking and getting geared up is taking my attention too.<\/p>\n

I continue to paint, but very little.\u00a0 I love to paint, but none of us are painting machines.\u00a0 It will have to wait too.\u00a0 What I came to in the middle of the night is that I must take to heart what I\u2019m up to in this life \u2013 my deep intention to live a more feminine path.\u00a0 There is so much talk<\/em> of bringing in the feminine while actually still operating<\/em> in the masculine in the world of new age spirituality that I\u2019ve been part of. It\u2019s easy to do, we are steeped in a masculine culture \u2013 but it so<\/em> misses the point.\u00a0 We must remember that the feminine, like the Earth, has seasons.\u00a0 The moon has phases, women\u2019s bodies have cycles and there are periods of gestation in bringing in new life.\u00a0 The feminine does not create every day, every week, every month, every year – without cessation.\u00a0 It is not her way.<\/p>\n

In the past 33 months I\u2019ve shown you – and more importantly I\u2019ve shown myself – that I have the capacity to be faithful in my work.\u00a0 So now, I\u2019m going to give myself a rest from creating \u2013 at least from writing – until my world and my body come back to a more settled state and rhythm.\u00a0 In the meantime, there are 145 posts here for you to peruse.\u00a0 I may be back after my hike in August.\u00a0 We will see.\u00a0 But I\u2019m giving myself the option of waiting until after the Sausalito Art Festival on Labor Day Weekend.<\/p>\n

I wish you summer \u2013 I wish you rest \u2013 I wish you color and light and life.\u00a0 I send you my love,<\/p>\n

Cara<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I started these posts more than two and a half years ago because I was challenged to.\u00a0 My coach Lissa Boles challenged me to act in the face of the fears that I\u2019d quit.\u00a0 A part of me was convinced that I would write for a few weeks or months and then the energy would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJuly 19, 2017 - 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