It has been a very long time since I last was able to say that I was "on holiday."
11 years, to be precise.
View of the Sol Duc river, from the cabin's kitchen window
It is Mrs. Denmarkguy's birthday this week, and somehow the stars aligned in such a way that we were both able to take three days away from the Chaotic Circus otherwise known as life.
It's only three days, but it is the first time since 2015 that we have gone anywhere for reasons other than business or family obligations. That's a pretty long time between periods of truly not being beholden to someone or something.
As I sat and watched birds by the river, I could feel the layers of stress and tension slowly start to dissipate... I realized that I had almost forgotten what that even feels like!
Little house in the woods
It's strange — and a little alarming — just how much complexity ends up governing our schedules and our lives. We end up going to bed late and waking up exhausted because there is always so much to do... and since our last thought at night might be of all the things "on deck" for the next day we don't even get good rest.
Being away from it manifests in subtle ways, like voluntarily getting up and making coffee at 6:30 in the morning, just to watch the birds go about their day, while a soft mist rises from the river. Other than an occasional car passing by on the adjacent main road.
Not saying this altered state is a potential reality for life but it definitely serves as a reminder that the lives we create aren't really natural, and are a million miles removed from a time when we didn't really worry about clocks.
I suppose there is a substantial part of me that never has become a "modern" creature in the sense that clockwatching and always being busy are not pleasant, and I have actively rejected such things. I'm far more sloth-like than that!
Makes me think of one time I the distant past when a friend asked what I was planning to do with my summer break... and when I replied "absolutely nothing!" he assured me that I would grow really tired of that within a couple of weeks... but I never did.
But we all have our own interpretations of what "nothing" means. For me, it means reading, maybe gardening, cloudwatching, experimenting with recipes, and such.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Friday!
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2026.06.11 23:40 PDT
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My last vacation was in 2001 when I went to visit my sister in New Mexico for 10 days... Being able to travel just isn't in the cards...
I am glad we are able to make vacation last April and then we also made overnight staycation in the mountain part which is very cold foggy weather. So good to destressed and recharged myself.