As we prepare for the Harvest Fest, my mind skips back to the history lessons learned as a child concerning Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims and the first Americans who shared their food supplies.  Then to the 1850s, where our stage is set for celebration of the cultural connections between Indians and Spanish and Pioneers.

We are having PUMPKINS – painting for the young ones, carving for the older ones.  PUMPKINS come to us from Native American cultivation and are eons old, useful in many ways, colorful and delicious.  HAY RIDES spring from bringing  cut hay from the fields to the barns and the field hands riding on the wagon.  As the wagon pulls, riders often break out into song.  Cooking and storytelling around CAMPFIRES is a much old custom than 1850s, however quiet camraderie and congenial conversation seems to be required from deep within.

As a child, I loved to go into the attic of an auntie and find clothing from 50 years past, sometimes even 100 years.  DRESSING IN 1850s COSTUMES is fun no matter how old you are.  It is fairly easy to find inexpensive accessories and even the basics.  You can sew a costume as did the grandmother of two girls last year.  Prairie girl costumes.  You can find cowboy hats and vests and bandanas – do you have jeans in your closet?  How about a schoolmarm, lady rancher, priest, vaquero, brave warrior, gambler, saloon girl, soldier, miner, barber or cook?

In California in the 1850s gold had just been discovered, the Spanish haciendas were being disbanded, Native Americans pushed to reservations, population exploding with pioneers and farmers.  There was much adventure and much tragedy.  It was a dramatic time of change.

Let us celebrate our Old West Harvest Fest today by remembering our ancestors as the hardy survivors they were, and by giving thanks for our lives today.  And let us all play like pioneers!

Dates are September 25-27- Friday through Sunday!  Thanks!

paper & pen

Does it seem like you never have enough time in the chaos of your days to get your writing into being? Do you find yourself thinking about it but not doing it? Are there many interruptions that sidetrack you away from your writing? Do you see the days passing quickly and fear that perhaps your life will pass and you have not written what is in your heart to write?

Is there a way you truly can carve out space and time to think and to dream and to write? Would you dare take this time for yourself?

What could be possible IF you spent a day or two away, in the beautiful setting of Sacred Rocks Reserve, and put all your focus on your writing?

You are invited to COME and WRITE, for the weekend or just for the day. Writing challenges will be interspersed with readings, if desired, and exploring the Reserve to find your own special place for dreaming.

Friday – Sunday 25-27  September 2009

Writing Day at Sacred Rocks Reserve is also featured on the Mountain Empire Creative Arts Council Writers’ Workshop blog.

Lori Brookes, aging gracefully

Read this wonderful June 15 article in the East County Magazine titled “Growing Old Gray-cefully: Photographer Lori Brookes to Present Photo Safari Workshop June 27 in Boulevard” by Dennis Moore.

Lori will be leading “The Art of Being and Seeing”,  a Photo Safari here at Sacred Rocks Reserve in a few weeks.

This workshop is not about technology, but about creating a relationship with our environment and being present to those moments that appear to us when we are open to see them.

Come for the day to learn — lunch is included!

We  had the best turnout EVER at Sacred Rocks RV Park for Memorial Day weekend (23-35 May 2009).

Here are transcriptions of handwritten notes left by happy campers:

Prepping for the Parade

“Thank you and all of the Sacred Rocks Reserve staff for a wonderful weekend. Everyone was so pleasant and helpful. The hiking trails are great. The rec room kitchen was clean and comfortable. We all enjoyed ourselves and we will be back next year.” – Huggy Bunch

“Sacred Rocks Reserve is a great place to go to recharge your batteries away from the rat race of the city. NO STOP LIGHTS & LOTS OF FUN!” – Paul Dugas

“This [is] our 5th year & we love the trails for offroad vehicles.” – Ronnie & Jeannie Golden

“The weather was awesome. We stay[ed] on the outskirts of camp and we watch[ed] all the animals which is great — nice and quiet and peaceful. — no signature

“We had a good time. The staff were very nice and helpful.” – Ty

Painted stones drying on the grill

Don’t miss more family fun during Father’s Day weekend at Sacred Rocks Reserve!

Southern California chaparral

On NPR this morning, Richard Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute discussed “Balancing Wildfires and Chaparral” with Maureen Cavanaugh on These Days.  He attempted to set the record straight about the role chaparral plays in the natural fire cycle of Southern California. It was a fascinating and informative radio talk, explaining how old growth chaparral (the native plant environment of SoCal) helps to prevent erosion and direct rainfall to aquifers instead of flash-flood-type runoff.

Take a peek at Chaparral & Manzanita at Sacred Rocks Reserve! We invite you bring friends, family, and botany nerds to Sacred Rocks and shoot the exuberant springtime blooms with your camera.

Blooming yucca plant with pink flowers

The hillsides are spectacular.

Just enough rain this year to yield an amazing crop of wild flowers.

It is fun to learn and even more fun to be amazed at seeing what I have not seen before.

Was it not there?

Or are my eyes opened in a different way?

Makes me wonder about life in general.

What is in front of our eyes that we cannot ’see’?

What do you notice about your life, or your self, or your surroundings that seems new to you, that you are just now ’seeing’?

Sunset at Sacred Rocks Reserve

Today the thermometer showed 83 degrees.  A glorious spring day.  No clouds or wind.  Retired to my RV about 9pm, flipped the air on for 15 minutes to cool the walls, then opened the windows.  As I lay there drifting into sleep I could hear the frogs saying ‘ribbit, ribbit’.  In the distance the coyotes played yip-yip tag.  An occasional hooting from the huge owls that roost in the Reserve.  The quiet laughter of guests around their campfires.  I felt the cool breeze of night gently on me and my last conscious thought was about how grateful I am for my life.

And then at 5am, that is FIVE AM, 5 o’clock in the morning, I had to wake up to come to San Diego for my son’s school function so I checked the temperature.  It was 63 degrees.  That is 20 degrees cooler than the daytime.  O perfect weather!  Did I mention that I had to wake up at 5 in the morning?

NBC San Diego has a nice little article about the blooming springtime wildflowers of Sacred Rocks Reserve on their website: Boulevard Blooms!

NBC San Diego logo

See more gorgeous photos of the Southern California wildflowers of spring at the Sacred Rocks Wildflowers Picasa photo album.