Tag: #Nature

My Side of the Mountain

Posted on September 11, 2025 by JANET L BARKER

“The Secret Garden” “Tom Sawyer” “A Present for the Princess” “My Side of the Mountain” Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty”, “Snow White”, “The Wizard of Oz” and Dad’s soothing, animated voice lulling me to sleep, assuring me that all is well in the world and that… Continue Reading “My Side of the Mountain”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #camping, #fall, #hiking, #Nature, #pleasureway, #retiredteacher, #solowomencamping, #travel, #travelinggrandma, #writing, @retirement, life, pacific-northwest, prairie-creek-state-and-national-park

Nothing is an Accident

Posted on October 14, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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I’ve been traveling since August 8, returning to the South Bay briefly to attend my friend’s funeral. I won’t be back to my home turf until October 18 where I’ll visit, errand, and reconnect with family and friends before leaving on my Fall Sojourn… Continue Reading “Nothing is an Accident”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #apparitions, #bridgeport, #camping, #easternsierras, #faith, #forestservicecampgrounds, #gratitude, #hiking, #ilovecalifornia, #journaling, #lifeizgood, #love, #maytheforestbewithyou, #Nature, #peace, #solowomencampers, #solowomencamping, #theoppositeofpolitics, #travel, #trust, #twinlakes, #writing, fallleaves, love, nosuchthingasaccidents, outdoors

But today, it is.

Posted on May 26, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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Moss hangs from a sea of aged oak trees, dancing in the wind outside my friends’ forest-shrouded home in Atascadero, California. I’m residing here for a weekish, babysitting their two precious mini dachshunds as their mum and dad vacation in Kauai. Their original dog… Continue Reading “But today, it is.”

Category: #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, @retirementTags: #bestfriends, #dogsitting, #faith, #findingpeace, #friends, #friendship, #happiness, #housesitting, #lessons, #memorialday, #Nature, #peace, #poetry, #relaxing, @retirement, life, love, spirituality

This Life of Mine

Posted on May 10, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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The Last Breakfast. The Last Sunset. The Last Frog-choral Midnight Concert. The Last Dinner with Friends. The Last Patch of Starry Quietude before heading south toward family and the past. “You could have stayed there forever, a small child in a corner, on the… Continue Reading “This Life of Mine”

Category: #camping, #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, #teaching, @retirementTags: #California, #cambria, #camping, #centralcoast, #findinghope, #hope, #maryoliver, #Nature, #peace, #retiredgrandma, #solograndmascamping, #solowomencamping, #travel, #writersontheroad, @retirement, birding, birds, love, photography

Eclipse

Posted on April 8, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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What links all these magnificent environments I’ve been blessed to visit? The common thread? Birds. Their song, while vocally unique to their breed, are joyous, unsolicited and a call to all to stop what we’re doing and listen. If you do, for more than… Continue Reading “Eclipse”

Category: #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, coastal camping, unconditional loveTags: #cachumalake, #California, #eclipse, #faith, #findinggod, #findinghope, #grandmascamping, #Nature, #peace, #pleasureway, #santabarbaraparks, #solowomencamping, astronomy, love, nasa, solar-eclipse, sun

An unexpected gift

Posted on September 22, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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How to you begin to describe the feeling? Kayaking on glass with a long-lost friend, being lifted, suspended in a cloud, in a misty dream you once had and forgot; picking huckleberries; crooking your vision up and down, left and right, to gaze at giant… Continue Reading “An unexpected gift”

Category: #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgoodTags: #ancientredwoods, #elkprairiecreeknationalpark, #friendship, #ilovecalifornia, #lessonsfromnature, #Nature, #raybradbury, #stonelagoon, #takingachance, #theflyingmachine

Fish Lake Resort

Posted on August 25, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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I don’t fish. I barely even eat it. But my son said on my way back to Southern California that I should stop by one of his favorite hideaways about an hour east from Medford, Oregon. Normally, I camp. I had all the equipment… Continue Reading “Fish Lake Resort”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #berrypie, #cabins, #camping, #faith, #fishlakeresort, #freedom, #healing, #lifeizgood, #livetheadventure, #lookforthegood, #Nature, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #southernoregon, #startingover, #subaru

Book Mountain

Posted on November 2, 2021 by JANET L BARKER

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I’m sure it’s OK with you if my eyes are misty. Let me tell you why: For the first time in two years, I walked into a bookstore. Granted, it was a Big Box-type bookstore, still, there were row after row of hard bound… Continue Reading “Book Mountain”

Category: UncategorizedTags: ##imagination, #barnesandnoble, #coffeeandbooks, #covid, #favoritebooks, #giftofbooks, #grandparenting, #grandparents, #loveeverymoment, #mysideofthemountain, #Nature, #powerofreading, #powerofwords, #reading, #retiredteacher

Sitting in an alcove of reverence

Posted on November 1, 2021 by JANET L BARKER

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Dark blue tent. White Eurovan Camper Home. Turquoise folding chair. Watercolor paints. Edna Valley chardonnay. Cornflower-blue sky. 1,000-day Gouda. Mushroom brie. Multi-seeded Norwegian crackers. Handy portable generator powering up my LifeIZGood laptop. Layers of blue. Layers of green. Layers of quiet. Translucent breeze. Crashing… Continue Reading “Sitting in an alcove of reverence”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #blessings, #cambria, #centralcoast, #eurovancamper, #Godislove, #hope, #ilovecalifornia, #loveisGod, #Nature, #oceanpeace, #retiredteacher, #travelinggrandparent, #winetasting