Photos as Promised

 

After Loveland, we visited bookstores all over Denver, then "landed" at the Flying Saucer RV Park.  

 

This sunset on Bear Creek was wonderful.  The sound of rushing waters after the dry and empty landscape around Loveland was very renewing.  I would recommend this campground, except for one thing:  when we tried to stay a second night, we were told our RV was too "old" and we had to leave.  Apparently, if one doesn't have enough money to purchase a relatively new $100K RV, one is not welcome here!  The impression they gave us was that they rented to us the first night because we arrived "late" (4 PM), and they felt sorry for us.  They made an exception because we were only staying the one night.  I suppose if we stayed longer, the property values of the trailer park would go down!!!!

Instead, we ended up moving south and camping in Chatsfield State Park.  This was a bit pricier than we would have liked.  It was $6 per vehicle just to drive INTO the park, then something like $28 for the night.  Also, the showers were pay showers!  Twenty-five cents for three minutes.  Now who the hell wears pockets into the shower to keep quarters?  And how convenient is it to put a quarter into the shower every three minutes?  It would take me three minutes just to get the right temperature. Also, the lights in the restrooms were motion-activated, so if you sat on the toilet longer than three minutes, you ended up doing your business in the dark. No more Colorado State Parks for us. 

But there was some pretty scenery there.

Entrance to the park

Lakeshore at Chatsfield

Morning on the lake

Morning fog

Prairie dog town

Prairie dog

Prickly Pear

The cats enjoyed themselves.

The structure over the lake.

Sunset

The next day, we headed south toward Colorado Springs. We stopped along the way at Castle Rock to visit a bookstore, but never found it. There was this logo on the street signs and we could not figure out what it was supposed to be.  A roadrunner?  An eagle?  Feel free to suggest a guess.

What is that logo?

Castle Rock

And the mountains were getting closer!

We also made a short side-road trip when we got off to get a beverage and realized it was easier to take the two-lane road than it was to turn around while towing the Ranger.  And we discovered a lovely little mountain town.

Closeup of the building front--The Depot at Palmer Lake

Parked at Palmer Lake

The Depot at Palmer Lake.

The view from Palmer Lake.

We arrived at Colorado Springs by midday and checked into our new home:  Goldfield RV Park.

It's a little sparse; there is really no room between sites on this side to open our canopy or put up a picnic table.  But it is close to everything we needed (six blocks from the bookstore) and they had a very nice shower house, laundry facilities, and a dish-washing area. 

Once we were set up, I went to visit the store and was very pleased.

Celebrations is a beautiful center with three houses linked.  The center house is the bookstore itself.  the house to the right (not seen in this picture) is offices for readers, healers, etc., and the house on the left is the community room where the workshop was held.

The workshop was a lot of fun and once again, I learned some new perspectives on the Psycards.  I love learning from my students.

On Friday, I gave readings all day, and Saturday was the book-signing from 1-3.  The turnout all the way around was gratifying and the folks at Celebrations are wonderful!  I am hoping to come back to Colorado next June, visit more stores with classes, etc., attend INATS (International New Age Trade Show), and return to Celebrations for another weekend!

Since then we have been sight-seeing in the area.  I will share more of those photos in the next blog post!  Right now, I have to go take a shower, and bug out for our next campground:  Crystal Kangaroo in Manitou Springs, then back to Colorado Springs City Auditorium to set up for the BMS Celebration Fair there this weekend.

Colorado Recap to Date

Visits to bookstores in Denver yielded multiple sales and good will.  Our appearances at Celebration Metaphysical center were wonderful, instructive to me as well as my students and my readings went well.  We also sold a number of Psycards products and the bookstore and I both made money from very happy customers.  I am now living the idea that abundance can be obtained by giving to and sharing with others and does not require acquisitiveness, competition or greed to be made manifest. 

Visited all the other bookstores in the Colorado Springs area yesterday, as well as Manitou Springs. We secured our place for next week at the Crystal Kangaroo Campground, high above Manitou Springs, with an incredible view of the Garden of the Gods, and the valley below.  From just below Pike’s Peak, Fountain Creek runs down through Colorado Springs to the Arkansas River south of here. 

Day before yesterday, we visited Garden of the Gods, and I plan to drive through it again a couple more times before we leave in eight days.  We are signed up to attend the Celebration BMS Fair at the Colorado City Auditorium on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

One of the remarkable things about Colorado these days is its move toward the legalization of marijuana. Although not legal yet to buy or sell, it is legal to possess.  I rarely indulge—I don’t like the way it makes me feel—but my husband enjoys it, and I have never had an objection to the recreational use of drugs as long as it is responsible and discrete. 

At a pizza parlor Rick made a joke about getting some grass.  The waiter discretely gave us a “guest check” with the following note on it (I’ve changed the names of the people and the streets because I don’t want anyone to get in trouble):

“Gallery M13, Cimarron & Cucharros ? Across the street from Booking Brothers Café, on top of the Dirty Dime Bar. Thurs-Sun 4:20-12A.  Tell TK Julio sent ya.”

I had to laugh because it all seemed so surreptitious, like getting the address for a speakeasy.  Rick called it a “smokeeasy.”

SPIDER VISITS

In Celebrations bookstore this weekend, I encountered small spiders twice, and again this morning when I went to work on my paperwork (update the database, record sales, etc.).  So what is Spider trying to tell me?  From Stephen D. Farmer’s Animal Spirit Guides: 

Spider is the opportunity to access your deepest wisdom, and make it part of your daily life. Be careful of any traps or ruses.  Open your mind to the infinite possibilities before you. Don’t limit yourself to the mundane world, but explore other dimensions and realities.  Write creatively without limits, allow yourself to be inspired by Nature.

Perfect!  True.  My mediumship abilities seem to be growing.  Rick’s as well.  Yesterday, I opened an account at Wells Fargo (at the behest of my spirit guides, believe it or not), and the young man who has now become my personal banker purchased a Psycards System after Spirit gave a small demonstration.  

While I was sitting at his desk, I was seized with a coughing fit.  I have found (ever since a shamanic journey in January of 2012) that sometimes just before I get information or an experience, I will get these coughing fits.  I think that sometimes it may be that a spirit is trying to speak through me. 

So I had this coughing fit at the banker’s desk and I told him that I had a spirit trying to come through for him.  Rick piped up and say, “His grandmother.”  I had at that very instant felt a grandmother spirit.   

Then I said, “What about the bicycle?  The blue bicycle?”

Our young banker friend replied that he had recently purchased a blue bicycle. 

“She says that she wants you to think about her when you ride it.” I told him.

“My grandmother just died a couple of weeks ago,” he told us.

“Well, she wants you to think of her, and to be careful.  Is it a mountain bike?  Because I see you outdoors, bicycling alone, and she worries about you.  Be careful and think of her when you ride.”

He was quietly amazed and moved.

“Thank you.  That means a lot.”

So, spontaneously, in the most unlikely of places (like a Wells Fargo branch in a grocery store), Spirit finds a way to come through.  And I am learning, slowly, how to interpret the impressions I get.  I am learning the symbols used (roses are love, different colors mean different kinds of love), and learning more and more every day to trust myself.  That is, trust my Self—my Higher Self, through which Spirit flows and brings in information and communications.

Spider is also spot-on about the writing.  Since being here in this area, I have been working on the Kokopelli novel.  I love those moments when the land speaks to me, when I can get inspired by its rich variety, its power and grace.  Those are the moments for me when poetry is born.  I am very much looking forward to working on Kokopelli next week after this next fair, when I myself am “up high among the yellow rocks, where only the wind and the eagle speak.”

Today is dedicated to updating paperwork and the blog and I will process pictures later today or tomorrow.  Look for the photo essay shortly!

The Relaxed Place

10.05.13

It’s funny.  Now that the anxiety has evaporated, there is a kind of empty space where it lived.  And I caught myself tonight trying to find something to fill it, in an undercurrent kind of way, like just beneath my conscious awareness.  Then I realized I don’t need anything to fill it.  That space is where peace lives.  Where relaxation lives.  Where feeling safe lives.  I’m still teetering in the trust place, but leaning more and more to the trust side of the issue.  

I am feeling good in a deep way, a way I’ve only tried to imagine but have not experienced, except in rarefied moments, never for any sustained period of time.  And I’ve been feeling this for five days now.  Prosperity is arriving.  The dark days of poverty are truly over.  And I can FEEL that. Even though part of me is afraid to believe it, it is a part that is growing smaller.

Why is this?  I don’t know.  Because it is true? Certainly that is a big part of it.  Because I always feel better when there is money in my pocket?  Also true.  Because at a deep, deep level I feel that I am indeed on my correct path.  Because I am beginning to embrace my own woo-woo in a more than an intellectual way.  

10.06.13

One of the things I’ve learned is that it is hard to be grateful for what you have when you are frightened, locked in fear or anxiety.  

Now that the fear is subsiding, the gratitude is flowing in along with the actual sense of relaxation.

Went to Garden of the God today, very important to the Kokopelli novel. And all along the exploration was the feeling that I will be here again. 

So here’s the plan. 

• Albuquerque/Santa Fe next.
• Then through Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon and on to Las Vegas.
• Then back to Phoenix for a month or six weeks. 
• Then PHX to southern California, starting in San Diego and working our way up the coast through January and February.  Last week in February makes Seattle the destination.  For the AAWP conference with Spalding folk.
• Next June, attend the INATS (International New Age Trade Show) in Denver and make June a Colorado tour with all my new bookstores.

The Power of Environment

One doesn't always realize how powerfully the environment can affect our mood, our sense of self, our confidence, especially the subtle energies of the land where we are. 

I had a bad week, emotionally speaking, in Loveland. There was no apparent reason for it, we could see the mountains, we were in a park with nice people at a reasonable price, close to resources for whatever we needed, and the weather was considered to be delightful.

And yet, I was depressed, deeply depressed, almost dangerously depressed.  I felt like I'd lost my faith, I couldn't feel the Divine anymore.  Day after day, anxiety attacks plagued me while I questioned my own strength, my own character, the validity of my self.  I slept fitfully, had terrible dreams, and was fearful of everything.  I knew it was not me, but part of me was convinced it was me.

Today, moving away from that location, I found myself coming alive again.  Boulder was renewing, and even though I was never terribly fond of Denver (although I've only passed through before now), I felt myself being more myself with each bookstore visit.  

Now, tonight, on the banks of a rushing stream, I realize that I need to be near running water to feel "right."  I have always been sensitive to the energies of "location."  The land, the house, this piece of property.  It is what makes me able to "read" locations like so-called haunted houses. Now, thinking back to the last few days, Loveland felt to me like the darkness of December, though I cannot exactly explain why.

I'm sure many people have wonderful lives and happy moods in Loveland.  But for weird, overly sensitive, writer/artist/creative/psychic types, environment seems to lay the foundation for everything else one wishes to accomplish. And for me, I must remember not to let my self be undermined by the environment.  When I am feeling so bad for no apparent reason, I must look to my location and if necessary, change it. 

Blessings to you all!

Denver

Left Loveland this morning and went to Boulder--beautiful town and lovely energy! Then on to Denver and altogether we visited seven of eleven bookstores on our list.  One store was kind enough to allow us to park the RV in their parking lot while we tooled around in the Ranger. 

Made one sale to a long-time customer, Nic-Nac-Nook.  What a delight to at last see the bookstores that 25 years ago were only names on a typewritten list!  All the people I spoke to today were warm and a couple even remembered Psycards from the 1980s!

The cap on our day, however, is that we are spending the night in the Flying Saucer RV Park.  This place has been in business for 65 years, and in the same family.  Beautiful location right on Bear Creek, just before it empties into the Platte River.  If you visit the park across from the office, you can see Bear Creek and hear its rushing waters.  BTW, we are right next to the office, so we can hear the sound of water, too, and I can feel the energizing effect of the negative ions from the water's movement.

I'm too tired tonight to download, process, name, label and post photos, but hang in there.  If you are regular reader, you know that sooner or later, I will upload a nice photo array. 

Tomorrow, the last four stores, then on to Colorado Springs.  If you are in the area, I am teaching a workshop at Celebrations Bookstore there on Thursday night, followed by in-store readings and a book-signing the following days.

Hope you can come.  If you mention my blog, you'll get a FREE mini-reading, or $5 off a Psycards System!

I did a quick calculation today and figured that with all our expenses, we spend between $1 and $1.50 for every mile we travel.  If you'd like to help offset expenses, you can send a donation via PayPal to psycardsusa@gmail.com. Print a record of the transaction and bring it to any event where I am, and I will also offer you a free mini-reading or $5 of a Psycards System.