Bear encounters of the close kind

Today as I was biking I came upon some bear tracks, of course I just had to jump off my bike to look at them vowing to go back and take some pictures , and plaster them so as to add them to my collection of wild life tracks ;0) As I looked around I could see she had two bear cubs with her, and I couldn't help but wonder how she has managed to stay alive all this time since there are so many gun happy people around the countryside

All sorts of thoughts popped into my head since my last too close for comfort bear encounter on my own land, while out walking one day. I have a bear bell on my bike mind you, but still, a couple of bear cubs and a mother bear *yikes* something to truly watch out for.

I started yelling "here bear bear bear" since the prints were quite fresh.

I tracked the prints to a field next to my land, I hopped on my bike and continued on down towards the river yelling "here bear bear bear" , ha ha ha, the old timing locals woud have thought I was nuts if they saw me no doubt. But I wasn't going to just rely on my bear bell this time ;0) (I should note that bears in my area when they see people they RUN, if you allow them the graces to know you are coming, they tend to get out of your way, thus me making noise. So no I was not calling the bear to serve myself up like dinner ;0)

I got to the river where I have spotted this same bear a couple times along the waters edge, but she was not there.

I sat down to watch the water flowing, birds singing aloud around me. I tried to clear my mind of all the chatter but today was not the day for that I guess, so I let it envelope me and I absorbed it instead, and perhaps learn from the chatter for the moment.

I thought how life goes by so very fast, before we can blink it seems we have fast forwarded 5 years, ten, and so on.

The present becomes the future in a literal milli second. We are so busy working, trying to forge a living for ourselves we sometimes forget to actually live. We can become so busy worrying about what another is doing, or not doing, the latest gossip, the latest trends to wear, trying to keep up with the next door neighbours, wondering if we are too fat or too thin, too old, too wrinkled, too beautiful, too ugly, too good for others, not good enough.

We forget to just breathe, and genuinely care about ourselves, look in our own backyards and focus on inner being.

There's barely time in a day to do all the necessary things to survive without worrying and sweating the petty superficial stuff that comes along daily.

There have been times I have cared so much about what others may say about me, and it hurt to hear of untruths for I pride myself in being a good person, so mean things said could make me cry so easily. But then I think to myself I was raised to be my own drummer, to always follow my own path regardless of others holding up yield and stop signs along the way. "Be true to yourself Skylar" I was told, and be all you can be, meet and beat your personal best.

I am only granted this very moment in time, I am not even granted the next five minutes or tomorrow, so live...live freely and give freely. I am a free spirit that will never be captured nor tamed.

Every morning I allow my spirit and heart to be awakened, and I do not try to deny any feelings that may come. I accept all of whom I am, and embrace such as being part of who I am. I do not fight that which may be a natural part of my being. Be it pain, be it sadness, be it elation, be it anger. Only when I embrace all parts of me, can I truly understand how to live with myself in a balanced way, and live in harmony in the world that surrounds me. I trust in and have confidence in my true nature. I have trust and confidence in who I am.

I was asked once how I cope and deal with pain (sadness etc) .

Pain will always be there with us , we must turn towards it and relax within it's depths in order to live with it. It is the fighting we do to rid ourselves of it, to resist the pain itself and try to deaden it that helps to keep the chronic ache within. When we embrace the pain and make it not the enemy, we find the pain lessens in our hearts. We resist so much of that which is a natural part of ourselves and hear how it must be wrong or bad or give ourselves time limits on how long we should mourn , or feel anger, we hear get over it, grow up, each individuals pain is as unique as the person themselves, there can be no time limits on such things.

I think some may be scared of just letting go and not having the anger or pain as a constant companion anymore.

On one hand a person may say I do not want this anymore, I do not want to feel this way anymore , on the other hand they do not know what they would do without it they have grown so used to and accustomed to feeling that way, they are scared of change. Hmm well who says mind chatter can't be a good thing sometimes. Metta my friends.

Monks,Wolves and Bears Oh My!

Namaste' Fellow earth aliens, I am sorry to report Patti's brothers body was found not a few days after my last blog. I as well as Patti believe it was at least a small blessing he was found. We think his young son who also drowned years prior, helped in that recovery. The night before he was found, we were sitting with the monks during a nightly meditation get together, prayers were sent and all I felt was *peace* the entire time...and then a huge rainbow came out amidst a storm that had been occurring that day.

I took a picture of this and placed a picture of Tibet howling on it and I put (In the Midst of A Storm Look For theRainbow) I know at times in all our lives it is very hard to see through the pain, tears, and turmoil, but the miracles are STILL occurring, the blessings are still touching us, if we allow them to. I honestly believe we are all energy and spirit carried by precious vessels, our body, for whatever time is gifted to us, and that Patti's brother is definitely still among us.

The relationship is still there, but is just *different*now, than the one we may have known so well before, the more physical parts of any relationship where we can hug, and feel, and touch another. But we can still talk to our loved one, we can still laugh with our loved one, we can still continue to live and laugh with, and for them.

July was one of those months where temps. never seemed to go below 30 degrees HOT for here. Lets just say the monks when they arrived at WEV they were as white as one can be, but when they left...they looked to be of another color altogether , lets hope their moms recognized them hahaha ;0) As far as words to describe this experience, some things in life have no words,and July was one of those things with the monks. Every day I felt myself growing/evolving within myself, pushing all that I know. How do you find words to explain such changes? They are so intimate and personal. They truly showed me up close and personal, how little we truly all NEED to be content in life.

They did not reside at any grand palace while here, they had tents over looking a beautiful little lake, we made them a homemade nicely built outdoor shower system, and outhouse one of a few on the land. Also overlooking the lake

They could trek an hour through the forest bush, to the river to bathe. We took them swimming at my favorite all time place, Kingsmere Lake. Monks swimming you ask? YES, but they swim in their robes, they take down the top part of the robes to the waist. Pics here are of after the swim at the river with an older buddhist friend with two of the three monks as it is not respectful to photograph monks when they bathe or swim, and when their robe is not at least on one shoulder

Needless to say everywhere we stopped with them, like at subway for example, people wondered why these men were dressed in blankets! Hahahahahaha. But one day when we took them swimming at Kingsmere, we walked past a few people in the forest on a trek back, and we heard a lady say "OH MY MONKS! you got monks!" We all looked at each other and laughed, including the three monks, it became an ongoing joke here at WEV of "we got monks!" so much so I was tempted to paint that on my truck ;0)

The monks also experienced a young bears hospitality on the land. The very first night a bear visited the monks in their tents, the poor bear realized humans were there and took off through the bush! but not before leaving a deposit within a few feet of one of the monks tent! he /she continued to visit from a far for the month. We joked that the young bear was needing spiritual guidance, so the lead monk said *go west young bear*

We have retired using the wood stove/fireplace for heating the cabin this winter and installing a grain stove instead. Using the wood has been an experience for quite a few years now, but it takes weeks of precious prep time first to go into the fire burnt forests (as I refuse to take healthy wood down) and using fire burnt wood from forest fires, it is MESSY work!!! you get it all over your clothes and body, then blocking and stacking wood for the wood shed.

(pic of the house dog pookie who yup helps to raise any wolf pups ;0) lying on the old wood stove, and the grain stove installed (new update and pic added this winter 08' the grain stove has not reached full heat yet in the pic, but the flame gets BIG and it pumps out a lot of heat for this lil cabin)

I am excited to be using the grain to heat with this winter, luckily the province is rich in such resources. Half of this province may be all forest but half of the province has a whole heck of a lot of grain, and that is a good thing!
The meditation platform was built and completed while the monks were here,

and the seperation pen mostly finished just the gates need done and the link put up, all the ground wire for dig proofing is laid out and covered up, the rest will be done before first snow fall end of October. There's been a a zillion different projects on the go,whilst also preparing for the cold months just around the corner already, at night we are hitting near freezing temps sometimes...wow.

Eco is sooooo big now she weighs close to 50 pounds at 4 months of age, she knows she's a big girl and a pretty one at that, she is a typical wolf pup tying to get away with as much as she can. I of course am as leniant as is possible , in the wild wolf pups get away with a lot, and are free to go where they want pretty much doing/exploring, just *being* she needs to find and discover all she is. She is sooo sweet but of course has her deviant moments, always full of life and expression, she reminds me that everyday there is something new to discover. As a child I would pick rocks up like she does, just so that I could hold them, she wants to put her mouth on everything!!! and taste everything, do you remember the first time tasting mud pies as a child? well I DO!!! it is hilarious to see the things she tries to put into her mouth only to spit it out again! Of course I am a little protective and don't allow her to do anything that may harm her physical well being.

She certainly rebels against authority right now
She enjoys her daily outings and hikes through the forest , all the many sights and sounds to a young pup, it is a delight to watch her and share in such amazing and exciting moments and firsts. She visits with the adult wolves every day, and has adopted them all as her moms and dads, too cute. She will reside in the puppy pen but for a couple more months then end of october she will be transfered into one of the big habitats, all this has secured her to be vey handleable as an adult, for the rest of her life,the socialization and time spent with her the past few months will pay off. She is turning into a well rounded young wolf who is happy and content, and living in a non stressful environment.
I am going through another spiritual transition yet again, and those are always exciting and scary and wondrous. So, a challenge to you all. This week allow something/someone/some experience to absolutely take your breath away, in such a way there are no words. Allow it to embrace you and fill you with it's blessings. Then turn this into a peace and stillness within your soul. Till then, and being I am gifted to live more moments to write again. Be well...metta

Picture of one of the monks gazing into the river here, and building the meditation platform at WEV


Pictures of the monks with their bowls. One of the bowls you will notice is not blackened yet that is because it has not been fired up. After a certain amount of time of being a monk, their bowl is taken and fired up in a HUGE outdoor fire. The monks only eat one ceremonial meal a day in the morning, (thus when I took this picture) and those bowls are filled right up :0) It is disrespectful to take any pictures of the monks eating, such as in swimming so I waited. The last picture is the monks on the land as I am their guide.