Play Date #2...or should I call it a "Pray-Date"?

For the last several weeks, I've been feeling a pull in my spirit. The pull has been westward. The pull has been to the coast - to the beach - to the sea. And it's taken these past several weeks for me to hit critical mass and just do it! like the famous slogan says.

Last week, I was all set to go...until I stepped into the Moon Lodge, and profound spells of sleeping. I emerged - into a nasal blockage, and more sleeping. So I went slowly for a while.

Today, wouldn't you know, I had to go to the coast. I've been wanting to re-book myself at the Well Within, so I could have more fun with people and establish that thing called presence in the community. So I got myself up, got food in my tummy, got myself dressed, got my bag packed with what I wanted to take, and got out of the house. Let the adventure begin!

Do you know, every time I've been to the Well Within, there has been a parking spot waiting for me? Every single blessed time? Talk about your pronoiac co-creations! (lol) And the people who run this place are totally made of awesome! :-) So, I am now re-booked for 10/17! Don't worry, I'll remind y'all again, several times over. ;-)

Once I was done there...I loosed myself from the bonds of time and slipped along the Now, free of "obligations." Now it was time to take care of the Real Business. So my next stop was the SRF Meditation Garden, a stone's throw away down the 101. It is an oasis in this dry land, both literally and metaphorically. (This is the former home of The Ambassador, the stone that will be accompanying me to Joshua Tree in a bit less than two months. Points for you if you remember that little detail! lol)

I visited a few spots in the Garden and, well, prayed. I took my juju bundle with the Sparks of Hope into my hands, feeling its energy merge with the energies surrounding me. (The Garden is a major high-frequency place, yet grounding at the same time. All the flowing water, methinks.) At one particular spot, which is a pepper tree dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, I released the last bits of the Transformation Arrow - the pennies and crystals that I could not burn in the fire. I had planned to take pictures of the tree and the offerings, but I was strongly advised against it, so I left well enough alone. So I took oodles of pictures of the main koi pond instead. (Note to self: look up koi fish! This is the second time I've been drawn to them!) I did some serious meditative prayer at this pond, before I affirmed it was time to move on, to my principal destination; the sea was waiting patiently for me...

I skipped up to Moonlight Beach, and lo! Miracle of miracles, there were parking spaces open! I secured one, grabbed my beach chair, and went down to the beach. My sandals came off the moment I hit the sand. Along with feeling absolutely delicious on your feet, beach sand is an excellent exfoliant - and believe me, the soles of my feet needed some exfoliating at that point! I found a suitable patch, plonked my chair down, and sighed in bliss. Just as I can feel myself open up in the silence at Questhaven, I felt myself open up here. This was another part of me that had needed refueling for a long while, and again, I didn't realize how much I'd really needed to sit at the beach and Do Nothing (okay, I read a couple of chapters of my current book) until I was sitting at the beach and Doing Nothing. I sat. I prayed a little more with my juju bundle. I walked along the beach and gathered a few treasures...how can you NOT gather treasures when you're at the beach? I even sang a little as I walked.

When it became obvious that the sunset would not be visible due to the encroaching marine layer, I folded myself up and went back to my car. Dinner was al fresco at a little place in The Lumberyard (a somewhat modest outdoor mall) called 3rd Corner: a goat-cheese salad and a cup of skinny, parmesean-enhanced, fresh fries. Yes, fries. With catsup. That didn't make me sick! That's how fresh they were! Dessert followed, from a little gelato place a few doors down. A small cup of chocolate fudge was mine...and it didn't make me sick, either. :-)

With the last of the sunset, after some more walking and nosing about, I was finally ready to return home. The loveliest of sights greeted me as I nosed the car eastward: the Harvest Moon, full and bright, rising majestically in the deepening night. I think I grinned all the way home.

So there's my play/pray date.
Tomorrow is the fun date - drumming!