I want to be a kid again......

I finally got out today.  The weather has been simply glorious. This has got to be one of the nicest Summers in many decades. My physical state has been refusing to cooperate and it's making it hard for me to get out most days.  Treatment is a beast sometimes. I am grateful for my upswing times. While I was out, as always I felt so overjoyed and alive.  I always forget how depressed I end up when I don't make the time and effort to fill my soul with nature. Monty has also been having issues because he misses our hikes too. He's been obsessively licking his paws, and now has lick sores.  It's time that I make sure I get him out, even for a few moments.  As I walked along, I was thinking that I still can't believe how much space in my head cancer takes up.  I'm really, really tired of it. It has become my life, even though I don't want to spend what time I have left dwelling on this awful disease.  I decided that I must step back in time. I have to become a kid again, and live just like I'm on Summer break.  Worrying about the whens and hows is hurting my soul. I am making a commitment to myself, that starting tomorrow when I wake up, I will interrupt the constant voices in my head and tell myself something else.  Wish I could hear what went on in my 10 year old brain, I'm sure it was so full of wonder and excitement, every day was an adventure.  I want that for myself again.  Good to have goals!  LOL 

Dogs are simply the BEST!

Hot feet....take your shoes off walk in the water!

Mushrooms everywhere!

Flying Dobe!

Home sweet home

I'm the luckiest women alive to live surrounded by so much nature and such beauty that it brings tears to my eyes.  I've never taken even an instant of it for granted, I'm still pinching myself 28 years later, do I really live here?  Blessed beyond belief.

Gorgeous Wickham Lake

The girls soaking their feet in a stream on a hot day!

36 Precious hours........

I have discovered that my dreams do come true.   For many years now, an annual whale watching trip that leaves out of Montauk Point, has been on my bucket list. For one reason or another I have been unable to go. This past weekend, I finally made it aboard the ship and we went 30 miles off the coast of Long Island to the Great South Channel.  The GSC is full of bait fish, we saw well over 100 Humpback Whales, Common Dolphins and hundreds of Pelagic birds. We slept on bunks in the belly of the ship, surrounded by strangers who became friends as we shared an amazing 36 hours with them. This trip made me feel more alive then anything I've done in a very long time. Seeing incredible beings like whales and Dolphins makes me realize that we are not the only ones on this earth who are intelligent.  A mother/calf pair spent nearly 90 minutes watching us. They spy hopped and went under the ship so we would follow them from the starboard to the port, over and over again, they had us perfectly trained.  It was simply my favorite wildlife encounter ever. They sought us out, and wanted to spend time with humans. They weren't chased or harassed. I guess they knew that the ship was full of conservationists and like minded people who really love and cherish wildlife. Maybe they could feel the love and awe from all of us?  We all got selfies with the pair, no words how cool that was.  Life continues to awe and inspire me. Each day precious.  Time to plan another adventure!