Wasps, robins and a new focus.

I've become quite comfortable around wasps since moving to the mountains of Western North Carolina. Upon first moving here I was uncomfortable to be within any proximity of them. Now, I still kill them more often than not, but they really don't phase me beyond a normal, healthy respect. Today, I went up to the trailer to get a few things and while sitting on the couch realized that I was surrounded by them. (Okay, it was only five, but the last thing you want when you're relaxing inside is five wasps in your immediate vicinity.) In the early days of NC living I would freak out to find that I had one wasp inside with me, let alone five right next to me, but today I found myself hardly reacting and simply methodically killing them one by one. It's little things like this that make me pause and realize how much I've changed and adapted since first moving here.

As I looked out one of the windows some movement in the grass outside caught my eye. I noticed a little robin hoping about and pecking in the yard. I then noticed two more nearby. Three. Four. Suddenly, I realized the yard was full of them. There were about thirty and more were joining them from the trees. I walked to the other side of the trailer to check the back yard and there were at least thirty there as well. I usually consider myself fortunate to see a single robin or two on rare occasion, and here I was with sixty of them all around me. I had never before seen that many robins in one place together. It was quite enchanting. It's the newest on a growing list of magical moments of nature that I've been blessed with since beginning my journey of mountaintop solitude.

After observing them for awhile from inside I went outside as a mighty chorus of fluttering wings erupted all around me. They almost all flew into nearby trees although a few of the brave (or stupid) continued as though I weren't there. Slowly they began to return one at a time to their feeding in the yard upon seeing that I wasn't an immediate threat, and I was surrounded once again. It was a really neat experience for which I'm quite grateful.

Despite these great mountain moments and being so content here, I'm really starting to feel an itch for world travel again; specifically something with a mission or creative focus. I plan to renew my lease in March for another year, so it will be awhile before embarking on anything major, but it's never too soon to start preparing and planning. I already have a few ideas and a traveling buddy set up, but that's all I'll share at the moment. The interesting thing is, the more I dive into planning and preparing for some major travel, the more I find myself appreciating the area around me as one might who was forced to plan, prepare, and travel a great distance in order to experience it. I'm grateful for this renewed perspective. Through it I will get that much more out of my day to day experiences here over the next year and a half or so. I'll do my best to blog about it as though I were sharing the experiences of a grand, romantic overseas trip because after all, we're constantly surrounded by the exciting and romantic in our day to day lives even if we've been deceived to perceive it as simply the everyday and mundane.

Essentially, although it will probably be more than a year before I embark on "the next big adventure", as far as I'm concerned the journey starts now and I'll begin to live it and share it as thus. On that note, I'll stop here for now so I can enjoy a freshly baked chicken pot pie and some local Cabernet Sauvignon (yes, I know it's better paired with red meat), and then continue my research on a possible destination of travel/project.