a visit to the rising (collecting water at the "holy well")

Yesterday we took a drive across the crest of the mountain and into the hollow along a vertical outcropping of Oriskany sandstone, unloaded our bottles and filled them at the spring house.

We live equal distance to two springs where we go to collect water. It's a bit of a drive, but worth it. Both springs have bath houses and modest resorts attached to them, Berkeley Springs rests in a small town with local artist studios and restaurants; people visit for hot baths year round. We usually go here in the summer because the kids love the outdoor swimming. Capon Spring has an enormous old hotel and spa built in 1850, but is usually more of a ghost town this time of year - this is where we went yesterday.

A "holy well" can be any spring that holds significance in the folklore of the area. Both of these springs are believed to have healing properties and were sacred places to the native Americans tribes that resided there. For me the collection of the water at its source is holy enough. After walking down the aisles of the grocery store lined with bottles that ensure my safety it feels magical to have water rise up from the ground ready for consumption.

Put visiting a spring on your summer to do list, it offers perspective and the road trip almost always takes you somewhere you wouldn't have discovered otherwise.

View from inside a steaming private bath at Berkeley Springs.

अनित्य

I'm going to be away for a couple days and will fill you in when we return. We're headed out for a memory lane tour peppered with some new adventure.

You see, there's an ongoing debate in my head right now; a debate between the philosophies:

Bloom where you're planted.

VS

The only thing constant is change itself which has many variant translations I'm sure you're familiar with, for instance:

Nothing endures but change - Heraclitus

The Buddhist doctrine of impermanence - Annica or Anitya

I've been challenging myself for a few years to still my desire for change and movement (I've always said I have a bit of gypsy in me and I'm sometimes overcome with the desire for adventure) I've been given the hard sell on eliminating transition and I can honestly say staying put has brought with it some treasured experiences, deep connections and a house I enjoy working on...but let's face it, nothing quit changing even when we were sitting still. The trouble is, deciding whether a situation is legitimately more difficult to manage than it needs to be, or whether frustration has gotten the better of me.

Well, I could ramble, but you see the problem - two conflicting philosophies and one person who has stayed still long enough to doubt her instincts. I'm hoping a face to face with the past coupled with some new surroundings might bring it all into focus. It's easy to romanticize things when you're looking at them through the veil of distance.

wonderfilling

After my last steamy post about the rising tensions in the city this time of year, I am happy to say I'll get a change of scenery in about a week. We're off to the mountains, you may have figured out by now that part of me lives there. Every trip to the country is a bit of a fact finding mission to evaluate how we could make our dreams of the great escape a reality.

Things I'm looking forward to the most this morning:

1. enjoying my morning coffee outside and listening to forest sounds.

2. sitting in the sun and watching the kids play in the springs.

3. being able to fill up my water bottle from a tap in the middle of town and know it's as good as the best bottled water.

4. dip in the bath house.

5. stop by roadside produce stands.

LETTING ALL THE SIMPLE LITTLE THINGS BE WONDERFUL...wonderfilling is free

motmots for community building

I've been having a long distance love affair with a country for years. The pioneering spirit, rough untouched forests, and simmering politics keep me fascinated with learning about Nicaragua -- well, we're finally going to meet.

This journey has been a long time in the making and is important for so many reasons. Two of our childrens' grandparents are from Nicaragua and this experience should be part of their childhood. They will experience beauty, they will peek at luxury in a foreign land, and they will see tragic poverty. My husband has traveled to the country many times as a child and teen - I have never been.

I'm excited and nervous, the considerations are different than for other places we have been. Here are some things that I imagine might happen:

1. I freak out at the airport and refuse to get on the plane. I am terribly afraid of flying, the last time I was such a stress ball for hours on end that I couldn't stand up straight by the time I got to Amsterdam.

2. I decide we can't go home and send Armando back home to tie up the loose ends. I fall in love with being anywhere new. I have a strange mix of gypsy and homebody, this plays out by having an insatiable desire to move to new places -- I'm thrilled by being somewhere new and I'm "home" at the same time (I'm currently living the longest I've ever lived anywhere)

3. I become overwhelmed by the need to do something - this could get heavy, and I'm wondering how I will digest it. We don't plan on staying in tourist areas, we want to see it all.

5. well, I imagine a lot of stuff......

A little more about # 3 - I was given a pamphlet about a charity called Center for Development in Central America http://http//www.jhc-cdca.org/ I checked them out and it seems like they are doing some very good work. While I was weeding the garden today I was thinking about the beautiful motmot, the national bird of Nicaragua and how I should try to create it in paper mache. The amazing colors are similar to the birds I make now. I've decided to make motmots and donate half of the proceeds to the Center for Development in Central America. On the website they break down some of the costs of helping citizens with starting businesses, converting to organic farming, and community health care - you would be surprised at what you can do with a relatively small amount of money!

The paper mache motmot is being conceived as you read this, I will post some images soon.

Here are some of my other paper creations to give you an idea of where I'm going with this http://http//www.rosemarymarkowski.com/papermache.htm

Creativity is essential - our greatest natural resource. Lately we are hearing about its scarcity and the need for governments to develop "policy on creativity" Is it that dire? Maybe there are some simple answers to this problem in our homes and in our hearts.

Am I talking about support of the arts? Well, in part, but the bigger focus is about developing a life style that honors the creativity that will create universal prosperity and new ways of relating to one-another. This creative spark is nurtured by embracing the idea that there are many paths to fulfillment and endless definitions of success. When we call the explorers, rebels, we devalue their contributions.

So, let's imagine we throw it all away and we're left standing here with our families to forge a new trail. I'm willing to bet the richest days of our lives would be ahead of us and we would be in awe of our strength and creativity.