Sunday, October 23, 2011

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Earlier this year I went on a trip with my husband to San Francisco. In order to cut down the cost, we stayed with a older couple who have become Jeff's good friends since his college days. They welcomed us into their home in San Francisco, and later during the weekend, invited us to their vacation home in a forest near a little town further up north called Mendocino. At the time I was very impressed with the shops, restaurants and museums in the city, but living in the woods proved to be difficult for a city girl like me. First of all, the restroom was a shack outside the little cabin that we stayed in. The idea of using a compost toilet didn't agree with me at all, and shower was a problem too. There was a indoor restroom in the main house but a five minute walking distance, in the middle of night in the woods, a five minute walk in complete pitch dark with who knows what was out there was not something I wanted to attempt. To top it off, the last night we spent in the cabin, as I lifted the blankets, a swarm of large ants had invaded our bed. In almost the middle of night, Jeff and his friend carried our mattress to another larger cabin that used to be a spacious high ceiling artist studio but newly renovated, again with no restroom. Our host lit the fireplace for us before taking off for the night. Jeff and I slept in that large room with huge curtain less windows as the fire wood flickered and crackled, and of course, there was no need for curtain because the only ones who were watching were probably just a bear or fox or two!

The kind of life experiences, though at the time seemed difficult in some ways or other, had only made me laugh in retrospect. While we stayed in the woods, our hosts prepared breakfasts for us in the house every morning. It was a deliciously prepared simple meal consisted of coffee, various kinds of fresh fruits, toast, juice, and various cheese spread accompanied by the sight of humming birds outside the window and a spectacular view of a pine forest that didn't quite show the end as far as the eyes could see. For lunch, our hostess made us smoked salmon sandwiches and fruits packed in a bag and ate with us on the beach while our eyes absorbed all the beauty that a deep blue sea could offer. We walked around the little beach town during the day, while I thought of my occasional dreams of becoming an artist or writer, or any kind of profession that would allow me to be tucked away in a remote little town immersed in nature and live in peace and quiet.

Lately I've been wanting to go back there again, it can get tiring to live in the city sometimes amidst all the pollution and traffic. There is something about trees and ocean that charge me like nothing else. Will I ever be able to live out at a quiet seaside city? Who knows, maybe one day!

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