Creek House

Make sure to click on the pictures to see full-size views.

This is the view from my kitchen window.

The house I'm renting is situated near a creek that winds from the western foothills of the Cascade mountain range down to the Columbia River near the Pacific coast. Right now, because of the winter storms we've been having, the creek has turned into a rapids. Having just come from a place that was destroyed by a storm surge, living a few yards from a "raging" stream of water is an interesting experience. It fills all of the senses ... the roar of the water rushing downstream; the vivid colors of the trees and leaves, contrasted with the gray of the sky and the brownish-green water; the crisp air that somehow doesn't seem as cold as the same temperatures (40s F) did back on the Gulf Coast; and the rain.

The entire area is currently under a flood watch due to the rain.  Yes, I moved three-quarters of the way across the U.S., and once again, I am living in a flood plain. How did that happen?

Tink and Willow do not seem to be too concerned that their new home is surrounded on 2 1/2 sides by a creek and is also located 40 miles from Mt. St. Helens, the volcano that erupted in 1980 and regularly experiences temblor (quake) activity.

Our pets are our little mirrors. I watch my girls bouncing around their new home, playing like kittens although they are six and eight years old, and then snoozing in a state of total relaxation, and I have to figure that I'm in the right place for me at this moment.

Apparently, my learning to relax within (or maybe into) a very dramatic environment did not end when I arrived in the Pacific Northwest. A necessary skill to have in the world we live in, I think.

Comments

[marlaine]

i am happy to hear contentment in your entry
;)

[Kitty]

I'm glad you can hear the part of me that's contented, because there's also a part that's freaking out. :D

It helps to remind myself that physiologically, fear is the same as excitement .. it's all in the way you look at what's going on and what you do with it. Reframing the experience, in other words.