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I found a little cove this morning carved into the side of the river.  I have a little confluence flowing right in front of my yoga mat and a little geese family just across the river on the north east bank.  My feet are bare and as I dig them into the cool river the rest of my body awakens.  If coffee isn’t doing the trick for ya this morning go dip your feet in the river!  

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I’m telling you, I could live outside. Well in a tent with my man.  I could spend my days meandering up and down the water, splitting wood, cooking over a fire.   I dream of living off the grid.  Not in a hermit kind of way but in people lovin’, close enough to a town with good beer then escape to solitude kind of way.  Close enough but far enough.  Does that make sense?  

Anyways I have to go…

Peace, love and nature,

~L

“Give what you have.  To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I set out for a walk through my neighborhood this evening unsure if I was going to walk to the lake or through the park.   I found myself meandering down the hill into the park. It was quiet.  The sun was just starting to set and the evening breeze rustled through the canopies of the tall oaks and maples.  A slight stillness hung in the air as if time stopped and I was all alone in the park.  

Moments like these make me look around  and wonder what it was like there in that same spot 200 years ago.  

I strolled on down through the marina past the boats and a handful of fisherman young and old hoping to catch one last fish before the darkness settled. 

I love where I live.  The river, lake and my favorite metropark in the whole world are all in my backyard.  How lucky am I?!  

As I walked back home I noticed the moon dangling above white and pink clouds that were hanging stretched out over the Hilliard bridge surrounded by lush green trees.  The sun was working its magic casting the perfect glow.

Now, as the cooler night breeze whispers through my windows and the birds are all tucked in their nests, I too must go to sleep.  

~L

“Give what you have.  To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sunrises are my thing dudes!  Sometimes when I wake up before the sun I check the weather app to check the time of the sunrise.  

Dawn is when I feel most peaceful, hopeful and inspired.  It’s a pure fresh day that has limitless potential.  Potential to be something extraordinary ☀️.  The love I feel is off the hooook!  I get giddy like a kid on who has a million dollars to spend at the candy store!

This time if year is the best because all ya do is throw on some pants and a t-shirt and head out the door barefoot (flip flops in hand) and vroom.. Just take off on your bike, feet, skateboard, car or whatever, head to grab coffee (most of the time I make it at home) and off to the sunrise I go.  

Right now I have to go…go and say hello ✌🏻️

May you all soak up the sun’s rays and set your positive intentions for the day and make it an awwwwesome one 🌄☕️🌎☀️✌🏻️😁

~L

“Give what you have.  To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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She woke up this morning.  She awoke knowing that today had to be different somehow, that today she would hunt down her dream.

~Lori

“Give what you have.  To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 

Never one to shy away from being goofy 😆.  (Hard to believe this gorgeous pic only received 8 likes 😂)  This is a picture my niece Kelly took of me while we were sitting at a little Italian cafe called Presti’s in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood.  After desserts we were feeling weird and goofy, probably due to being hopped up on sugar, so we took pics of each being ridiculooouus!  (Kelly’s pic will not be made public due to my sisters request which I totally respect!). 

Anyways I wish more people would be goofy!  My sister Lisa isn’t afraid to be!  She has a snap chat that is hilarious 🤓 

What if we took ourselves less serious and laughed more, goofed off more, smiled more and told more clean hilarious jokes?!   (I’m so over vulgar jokes). 

So right now I’m laying in bed at midnight and wide awake.  Hence writing this post on my iPhone.  

The best times I have are with my nutty 9 nieces and nephews because it is an all out free ticket to act like a big goofy kid.  When kids see you happy then they are happy.  They feed off the emotions around them.  When they see love, they emit love.  Science has proved this time and again.  By science I mean… Well science I guess. 

But let’s get back to adults.  I was in the bookstore the other day with a good friend of mine and we had the same blah adult conversation.  Nothing funny was said and nothing funny happened.  We used to goof around a lot.  I know she is a parent and that’s a big responsibility, I’m trying to get a small business off the ground and that’s a big responsibility but geeeeez, it is nice to let loose sometimes with one of your good girl friends!  Sara, we need a mulligan on that one! Now I’m not saying to act a fool all the time but dude go ahead and reach in to grab your inner kid and yank them out from time to time!  

Dating.  Well I’m on hiatus from that scene (dating at this age stinks) but I’ll chat about this topic anyways.   I like to date a guy who can be uber goofy.  Not just a sense of humor but one who can take joking around to a whole other level!  

I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE to laugh!  Especially with a man I’m dating.  It is a turn on and it shows me that he isn’t afraid to let his inner kid out.  And he doesn’t give a crap about what others think about him all the time.  Verbal and physical comedy from a man, DOUBLE whammie!  

I like to make the people I come into contact with at work laugh too.  It lightens the mood and puts them at ease.  

Laughter is the best medicine.   Smiles are contagious.  People love to laugh.  Laughing makes people happy.  Happy adults, happy kids, happy future for the world. 

Peace, love and goofiness,

~Wild Flowers Lori

P.S. “Give what you have.  To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”

~Happy Herny Wadsworth Longfellow 

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Hmmmm…. I cooouuuuld send out my stuff to an outdoorsy magazine.  I mean my friend Tom threw a copy Backpacker’s Magazine in front of me a couple of weekends ago and said, “You should submit your stuff.  I don’t know why you don’t.”  That made me nervous, shy and humbled and (I’m not gonna lie) a little George McFly nerd like. You know when George laughs like…..

I mean what the heck is holding me back except my own “No way dude, they won’t like my stuff” attitude.  I don’t consider myself a writer.  I hated English class elementary school through college.  Structured sentences, punctuation, grammar.  I mean if any of you have read this blog before you KNOW I am not the best at any of the aforementioned things.  I just type words that spew from my head.  I converse with myself and my fingers just type and then sometimes my brain says, “Lori,  that is not spelled right.  Google the correct spelling please.”  I am not a wordsmith nor a poet.  I liken it to non-verbal diarrhea.

But none the less, why wouldn’t I throw caution into the wind and submit something.  I guess it’s because magazines are so clear cut on what topic they want and how long they want it to be.  I get it..they have to sell something and the space is limited.  Like apartments in NYC or San Francisco.  It’s like that scene from When Harry Met Sally…

“Sally: At least I got the apartment.

Harry: That’s what everybody says to me too. But really what’s so hard about finding an apartment? What you do is, you read the obituary column. Yeah, you find out who died, and go to the building and then you tip the doorman. What they can do to make it easier is to combine the obituaries with the real estate section. Say, then you’d have Mr. Klein died today leaving a wife, two children, and a spacious three bedroom apartment with a wood burning fireplace.”

Clear and concise with minimal words as to leave enough room for advertising!

Anyways….😂😂😂

When is the last time any of you people have taken a chance on something or someone?  I let my niece drive home the other day.  She doesn’t have her temps yet but I took the chance on the fact that she is an intelligent young lady and is capable of going 25mph, lol.  When you are in the passenger seat and a non driver is driving, 25 mph is like warp speed!

So let’s get back to this 5 year plan I talked about a couple of blog posts ago.  If I want to achieve my goal I have to take a chance and submit some writing stuff.  I am trying really hard to do things in a certain order.  Yes, that is right, in order, which is a far cry from how I have lived my life thus far.   But I’m an adult now and adults do things an “adulty” way!

So I will continue to write about things that inspire me while trying to get my little busimess  business, off the ground.

~Lori

P.S. I heart Michael J. Fox!

“Give what you have.  To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 

(This is topic enrages me.  Click on the hyperlinks)

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Let’s talk about RAPE.  Let’s talk about how RAPE victims feel when someone makes a tasteless joke about RAPE.  How the parents feel or the spouse of a RAPE victim feels.

Article one: A husband married to a RAPE victim and the father of three boys.

I am so completely ashamed and disappointed of the men in my life who think it is okay to joke about RAPE.  One friend referred to it as a tasteless joke that I am sure a comedian is telling somewhere in Los Angeles and the room full of people are laughing.  What a complete and total disappointment this person was in that moment as he is a married man with a young daughter.

About a year and a half ago I was riding in a car with two guys and woman coming home from a backpacking trip and one of the guys wouldn’t let up  on the RAPE joke topic and how it is “just a joke.”  This jerk has a wife and daughter.  The other guy has THREE daughters and did NOT ONCE stand up/back up me and the other female in the car when we vocalized we were NOT okay with it.  How TOTALLY disappointing!!!!  You are husbands and fathers.  The majority of RAPE victims are female and the father of three girls is too weak to be man enough to speak out against the disgusting guy defending RAPE jokes.

As a female RAPE is my biggest FEAR.

But what about the children who are RAPED?!  Girls and boys being RAPED.  Is that funny?  You complete, total selfish, ignorant people who think RAPE jokes are funny, what would you do if your child was RAPED?  Would you eventually be able to joke about it?  Could you joke about a child’s death?  Maybe you think it is okay to joke about RAPE because some RAPE victims survive.   You ignorant fool.  They carry the scars for the rest of their lives.  What happens if the person you joke about RAPE with happens to be the father of a RAPE victim who committed suicide?     Have you tried to save your child from death?

What about the elderly who are RAPED?  You think RAPE only happens to drunk college women?  You ignorant fool.  What would you do if your mother was RAPED?  Joke about it?

I have absolutely ZERO respect for women and men who joke about RAPE.

What I wouldn’t give for a man that is morally strong and vocally strong against RAPE and one who defends VICTIMS.  A man with a back bone and a conscience.  Where are they?!

What if you were forced to listen or watch as your wife and daughters were raped? 

How would you feel then?  Would you still joke?

Shame on you.  And I sure as heck pray for the people in your life who may one day be a victim of RAPE because on average every 98 seconds someone in the United States is RAPED.  Women, men, girls, boys, homosexuals, transgender…victims.

But then again…no one thinks it will ever happen to them or someone they love.

~Lori

“Give what you have.  To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

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If you have never been to the Badlands I HIGHLY suggest you go!  I saw more wildlife in my first hour in the Badlands than I did during my several days in Glacier.  Prairie Dogs, Long Horn Sheep and Bison.  Let me tell ya, the wildlife here is abundant and they let you know that this is their home, NOT yours.  The animals were not aggressive by any means, but they sure aren’t going to make any accommodations for us mere human folk.  They roam this land the way they were intended to, freely.

I invite you to enjoy 244,000 acres of untouched wilderness.

The Badlands hold a very special place for me.  I ventured here eleven years ago on a pilgrimage of sorts.  I was searching for a spirituality that I could connect with in an intimate way.  I was reading the book, Black Elk Speaks, by John G. Neihardt.  This book tells the true story of a medicine man, Black Elk, from the Oglala Lakota (Sioux).

This book moved me and opened up my eyes and heart.  It was because of this book that I trekked out to the Badlands in late July/ early August of 2005.   I was traveling there so I could be alone in a sacred place.  I wanted to be in stillness and quiet, in a land untouched by man’s messy hand.

Well… funny thing about that trip in 2005 and the one this past August 2016…BOTH times I ended up on the road the same week as Sturgis!  Hahaha!  For those of you that do not know what Sturgis is, it is a motorcycle rally held in Sturgis, SD.  It is one of the largest motorcycle rallies in the world.  In 2005 the official attendance was over 525,000! So I was NOT alone on the road.  Hahahaha!  The motorcyclists were the nicest people I met on that 2005 trip.  They were kind, giving and helpful to a solo female traveler.  They even helped me with flat tire and made sure I made it to the auto shop safely!

I almost didn’t make it to the Badlands this go around.  I was traveling though Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Montana and Wyoming and I was tiiiiired!  But I stopped at Wall Drug one last time for a doughnut and a 5¢ cup of coffee.  I was sitting there sipping on my brew talking to myself in my head,  “Duuuuude Lori the entrance is right there, you have a national park pass and seriously you LOVE the Badlands.”  So I hopped in my car and drove south down Route 240 to the Pinnacles Entrance.  I was in and in love, again!!!

I pulled into the Badlands and was excited to spend a night in a National Park where I didn’t have to worry about grizzly bears, black bears or mountain lions.  I even joked that the only creature I’d have to worry about was a rogue prairie dog!  Suuuure the park is packed with bison but bison aren’t too interested in humans, they’re vegans after all 🙂  We are kindred spirits 😀  Compassionate eaters…lol!  I am one with my bison my peeps.

I found two horse posts (sans horses) where I rigged up my hammock.

After rigging my hammock so it would be about a half foot off the ground, I decided to roam around and take some pictures and chat up a few other solo travelers.  I met Cody from Niagra Falls, Canada and Rob from Alberta, Canada, both traveling solo.  Cody was suppose to be working Burning Man as a paramedic but the officials couldn’t get his credentials verified in time so he decided to take a great American road trip anyways!  Rob is a Canadian that is currently residing in Southern California and just traveling every chance he gets.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE meeting inspiring, fearless and kind people on my travels.  The energy from these meetings are infectious!  The three of us sat around swapping travel stories and drank a few beers.  I only had two beers because I was super tired and if I had anymore than that I wouldn’t have been able to stay up to watch the meteor shower 😀  After a couple of hours I decided to hit the hay.

As I crawled into my hammock and snuggled into my sleeping bag, I couldn’t help but feel so darn HAPPY and CONTENT!  I had a met two very cool dudes (too young for me :/), watched an amazing sunset, seen falling stars all across the sky and now I was being swayed to sleep in my hammock by a nice breeze.  The moon and stars were my ceiling and the coyotes were singing me a lullaby.  It. Was. Perfect.

A few hours later I awoke to the loudest snorting and chewing I have ever heard in my life!  I suddenly awoke and thought to myself, “They (bison) must be close!”  I ever so carefully  pulled down the left side of my hammock and stared into a GIANT WALL OF BROWN.  I could see the giant wall of brown because the moon was very bright that night.  As my eyes followed the wall down they met an eye and a big mouth chewing on the tough grasses that blanket the landscape.  This bison was SIX inches from my head!  The only thing separating us was a skinny horse post.  I was so excited and in awe but was also crapping myself at the same time!  I laid still as a statue and tried not to make any noises or sudden movements as bison are spooked by those things and that is when they attack.  My heart was POUNDING out of my chest so much that I feared it may break through and I’d die!  All I could think of was, okay…this is it.  If I die at least it will be somewhere I love and doing something I love.  I am totally okay with that.  Three bison passed within 6 inches of my head in a single file line all stopping to graze right by my head.  What felt like 30 minutes was probably only 10 minutes but still dudes it was sooooo cool and nerve wracking at the same time.  I waited for a while after I heard the last one go by.  Cody then yelled out to me that they were gone but I didn’t believe him.  I laid there for another minute or two until he yelled out, “Lori, I swear they are all really gone.  They have moved on.”  Phhhhewwww!

 

He said they were so close to my head that even he was scared from a distance.  He walked up to me and we were both like, “Did that just really happen?!”  He was up late doing some time lapse photography and was I glad he was.  We chatted for a few minutes and then I went to sleep in my car for the next few hours.  Hahaha! CRAZINESS!!!

The Bad Lands are bad @ss, so bad @ss that the storm clouds are the craziest I have ever seen!

Soft billowy clouds on the horizon of The Bad Lands

 

Epic trip dudes!

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Get in your car and GO!

~Lori

“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”

~Henry Wadsworth Longfello

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Sometimes decisions are hard.  I have had to make a few of them in the past couple of weeks.

Dudes….sometimes ya just gotta let it alllllll GO!  And I mean let it GO!  I have fantasies about taking a hammer to my iPhone.  Like one day I wake up and instead of checking my email I just take a hammer and smash the heck out of it.  I have fantasies of having nothing but a land line.  I daydream about having the day to myself and not being tied to a rectangular box that makes me “feel” complete…waiting with bated breath while you can actually SEE someone texting you back in real time….the little dots doing the wave…you wait with anticipation…”What will they say???????”   Screw all of it.  The job, the arrogant people in your circle, the men who want their cake and to eat it too.  I just want to go, breathe and take in my surroundings.

Breathe….take it all in… and let it all out.  What will be will be.  Make mistakes, erase bad karma, be positive, learn, grow and just be yourself.  Do not apologize for you are good as long as you learn and grow from your mistakes.  Treat others well.  Take deep breaths.  LOVE LIKE NO OTHER.  Wear your heart on your sleeve.  Live in the moment but in the back of your mind be aware of the ripples of your actions.  Be the best person for yourself and the others involved in your life.  Say what you feel as long as you are not disrespectful.  Do not be afraid…. DO NOT BE AFRAID.  Love and love and love and love until…well forever.

Love,

~Lori

“Give what you have.  To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow