Quote for a Thursday

If you get rid of the pain before you have answered its questions, then you get rid of the self along with it - C. Jung

March 18-20, The Pacific Coast Highway

We left Los Angeles and made our way over to the Pacific Coast Highway, a winding and incredibly scenic two lane road that follows the coast of California. Our spirits soared with the views over the ocean. We covered a lot of distance in a short time, but felt that we lived and loved the entire route. Though I don't know how we failed to realize that Solvang was of "Sideways" fame and passed right by it. However, we did sample some area vintages and I was surprised to find that my favorite was a Pinot Noir Rosé (What? Rosé? Blasphemy!) from Salisbury Vineyards, housed in a 102-year-old schoolhouse near San Luis Obispo. It certainly eased the Solvang pain.

Pismo Beach. Our campsite along a small waterway. In the other direction, dunes and the ocean. This is where we officially fell in love with California.

Morro Bay. Hands down, a highlight of the trip. We spent a few days here, wandering amongst the rocks. I love the dreamy quality of this slightly unfocused photo. Definitely a contender for future home decor. I'll have to do a survey of everyone's fave photos; I'm always amazed at which ones stand out to different folks!

A memorable lunch spot. We pulled up, facing the ocean, and set about making some homemade sushi!

Cambria. The entire town seemed to be sunshine, adirondack chairs, gardens and happy, lounging people. This boardwalk stretched for miles along the ocean. We were so busy admiring it that we drove down a dead end road, got stuck, and gracefully unstuck ourselves with a tricksy move in a B&B driveway, for which we were applauded by the lounging residents.

Right when you despair of seeing wildlife is when you stumble upon several hundred massive elephant seals.

That enormous mound in the middle of the foreground is a male elephant seal. I love the set of spooning females behind him to the left!

Sunset in Big Sur.

Being East Coasters, we mostly see the sun rise over the ocean. It was a pleasure to watch it set on the other side of the continent.

Watsonville. Home of artichokes as big as a child's head.

Obligatory cute dog picture!

Quote about calling

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. --Rumi

Dylan Thomas Quote

Time held me green and dying,
though I sang in my chains like the sea.

Wonderful quotes for a beautiful Friday!

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful for beauty is God's handwriting -- a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

*****


Practice Resurrection.
Part of who you are is who you will be.

- Wendell Berry


*****

You can't go on seeing thing through forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that a window is transparent but the point is that we should see the street or the garden beyond.

CS Lewis


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Quotes taken from "Practicing Resurrection" livingthequestions.com

Wonderful quotes for a beautiful Friday!

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful for beauty is God's handwriting -- a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

*****


Practice Resurrection.
Part of who you are is who you will be.

- Wendell Berry


*****

You can't go on seeing thing through forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that a window is transparent but the point is that we should see the street or the garden beyond.

CS Lewis


*****

Quotes taken from "Practicing Resurrection" livingthequestions.com

Update!

As most great adventures go...the day comes when money (or lack of money) comes knocking on one's door demanding attention. With that said, both Lauren and I managed to get jobs in Portland, OR within the same weekend (which would be last weekend) and both of us started working this past Monday. We couldn't feel more blessed to have money coming in just in time.

The bigger news is that we have decided to move to Berkeley, California in fall 2009 so that I can pursue a Master of Divinity at Pacific School of Religion. It is a 3 year program that is part of a much larger consortium of schools called the General Theological Union. I can take classes at all schools and centers which comes out to being approx. 700 different classes to choose from per year. Questions? Drop me an email at debcuny@hotmail.com. I love talking about this stuff!

We didn't know what was at the end of the journey and really, we still don't feel like the journey is over. Whether we are driving across states working on organic farms, hiking through a rainforest, spending a summer in Portland, or going to grad school in the mecca of the food movement (Berkeley rocks), it has become one fluid path...a path that we know will continue to be exciting and full of Sacred moments. If it wasn't for this trip, we wouldn't be right here, right now...exactly where we are supposed to be.

We are going to REALLY miss Richmond. We love Virginia and our home. Who knows where VA will be in our lives after school but we know that it will remain in our hearts no matter what.

So yes! Lots and lots of changes happening.

We are just focusing on being open for this amazing ride!

Another great quote!

"Learn to tell what needs doing quick as a bluesnake and what will take the slow way, full of care and mulling, be fair in every dealing with beasts and people and all else alive, and surely, my dear, He will come for you in His good time, the way He comes for all of us, directly."

Read Directly by R.T. Smith in its entirety

great quote!

If you don't find God in the very next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further.
—Mahatma Ghandi

Quote about Acceptance

Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.

Eckhart Tolle

Quote to start the week!

The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle. --Simone Weil

Silver is Green

Tired of companies trumpeting their new-found green-ness? Us too.

So we're happy to note that we're still taking the same environmentally friendly approach that has sustained us, and our planet, for nearly 80 years. Simply put, Airstream has been green as long as it has been silver.

Airstreams are designed to spend time on the road, not in the landfills. As such, nearly 70% of all Airstream trailers ever produced are still on the road! While other products are designed to wear out, Airstreams are designed to be handed down through the generations.

We also work with nature, not against it. Airstream's founder, Wally Byam, knew that a low profile and a rounded, slippery shape would make for better towing in every respect. As a result, Airstreams enjoy a 20% advantage in towing efficiency over standard "white box" trailers. And over the life of your Airstream, that's a lot of fuel saved.

And should your Airstream come to the end of its life after many decades of service, its primary components (aluminum, steel, and wood) are easily recycled.

So go ahead and enjoy your Airstream with a sense of global responsibility, and comfort in the fact that you are adventuring in one of the most environmentally friendly travel trailers in the world. And always remember that Airstreamers leave a place better than they found it. Silver is indeed Green.

Quote for a Friday (provided by Ms. Rossbert)

"Have faith and pursue the unknown end" - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Herman Hesse Quote

I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value. --Hermann Hesse

Laura and Brian's sermon

Two people who have profoundly impacted my life are Laura and Brian Rossbert. Brian just finished seminary in DC and Laura is preparing to start school at Vanderbilt's divinity school in the fall. They are two people who live out their faith in all that they do....while having a blast doing it!

The link below is to a sermon they did together. It is beautiful and Lauren and I cried through it not only because of the message but also because we realize how significant it is to see these two people come together in so many beautiful ways! So here you go!

Laura and Brian's Sermon

GREAT Quote on Pain

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

Beautiful short poem

There is inside my deepest place
the fear I can't deny,
The fear that tells me,"Stay
don't take the risk",
But also there is call to dare
to let the chips fall where they may,
There is that glimmer of a dream
so beautiful and true
That there could be a peaceful world
where love and justice rule,
That grace would fill the timid heart
with freedom now unknown.

Beautiful Quote about Acceptance

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

- Russell Lynes

Day by Day - Meditation on Daily Reading (Episcopal)

Luke 6:39-49. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?

Obsessing about the speck in our neighbor's eye seems to be the sin of choice among Episcopalians and Anglicans these days. The questions of authority and morality on which we disagree are important and often perplexing, and someday we will stop bashing each other over them. But for now (and I write this over a year before publication, so possibly things will have changed by the time these words are read, though I doubt it) the bashing continues.

On the one side are the "ignorant, simplistic, homophobic, fundamentalist, rigid biblical literalists," and on the other are the "revisionist, heretical, radical, relativist, biblically illiterate secular humanists." Whew. It's exhausting just to list the names we call each other.

What if all the accusations are right? What if we are all unfaithful, arrogant, and self-righteous, each in our own way? Then it would seem we should not waste our energy fretting about other people's sins, but focus on the logs in our own eyes that keep us from seeing the face of Jesus in the person on the other side of the theological chasm.

Quote

By definition, to be on a journey means to gradually pass from one place to another, most often with a certain destination in mind. Our faith journeys, however, are rarely strategic or straightforward. Rather they ebb and flow depending on the blessings we receive, the challenges we face, and the intentionality with which we seek to know and love God.

Where Oh Where...are we?

Update:

We realize that we haven't been keeping up with our blog as much as a couple of months ago. The excuse I will use is that we have just been too absorbed with day-to-day discoveries. With that said, we have hundreds of photos to go through and will one day post them on this very blog! In the meantime....

Over the past two weeks: We spent a week in Portland Oregon before heading up towards WA. Along the way, we spent a couple of days near Olympia WA checking out their local farmers market, a wolf haven, and a really really cool Episcopal Church that was lead by a monk who was bringing chanting back (imagine hearing the song...bringin' sexy back and then sing...bringing chanting back...i know...humor me...)

After Olympia, we decided to tour the Olympic Peninsula...A HUGE highlight of the trip. It was gorgeous! We saw bears, whales, eagles, seal, and elk! We hiked in a rainforest and spent time hiking and sitting on the beach reading the Twilight series..that is right....I am so into vampires now! We spent a few days in Forks, WA - home of Twilight and had the pleasure of seeing a small "nothing" town revitalized due to Stephenie Meyers, author of the Twilight Series. It was amazing and there was vampire stuff everywhere. We ended up spending a couple of days camping right on LaPush Beach (Beach #1) which is the beach where Bella and Jacob spend quite a bit of time together (if you don't know what I am talking about...read the book...)

Currently: Lauren and I just arrived at Lauren's parents' house in Tacoma WA. We are very excited to see them...and to also finally take a bath in a real bathtub! It is amazing how so many little things become real fantasies on the road...bubble baths, laundry machines, a full kitchen, oh my! We will be in Tacoma until Friday when we fly out to a wedding in Chicago.

After Tacoma: We have decided to spend the summer in Portland, Oregon with our great friends Hilary and Nate! They are about to move to Rome in mid-August and we realized this was an opportunity we could not pass up! We always talk about living in the same city so for the next few months we are going to see Portland through Hil's eyes....so exciting! Farms, farmers markets, biking, hiking, festivals, wine country, liberalville!

So yea, we are stil having a great time on our trip and continue to see amazing sites in the great US. We imagine that our trip will be coming to an end at the end of summer, which will mark exactly 1 year of living in the Airstream! It is amazing how fast time flies.

Giving Quote

Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. --Og Mandino