Self-quarantine musings...and a book review

I've been losing track of time; it's been hard to tell what day it is anymore. Although I didn't really want too much structure when I retired, because I figured my days would fall into place, and they did, until self-quarantine arrived. Suddenly, no more gym days, forget studio yoga classes, and trips to our cabin - gone from the calendar. Heading out to do something simple like grocery shopping suddenly seemed fraught with danger - with a silent virus and people who might be asymptomatic possibly crossing my path and skipping social distancing, I was more than happy to stay home. Thank goodness for the 365 Mile Challenge! I wasn't really stuck, but hikes became neighborhood walks, since all of Washington became shut down; Olympic National Park closed, Trail Closed signs appeared on the Discovery Route, and the local state parks had barricades in place to keep people out.

When I started looking back through my 365 Mile Challenge Journal, I realized that I hadn't really been stuck at home. I managed to get out and walk 18 days since my last blog post, did my Home Brew workouts provided by Strait Fitness, and I have been riding my spinning bike, to add miles and add some cardio. I've done a couple of virtual yoga sessions via Zoom and Poser YOGA, and I have access to classes on YouTube as well. I've signed up for a course, Yoga Chakra Series in Zambia, by a former teacher at my studio. So, I haven't been sitting around feeling deprived of things to do - I've managed!

One thing that never goes away from my life is reading. Even though the public library is closed, and I've had a stack of books waiting to be returned, I've still been reading every day. I'm part of a book group on Facebook I was introduced to via the 365 Mile Challenge - ReConnect: An Outdoor Women's Book Club. This is a book club with a stated purpose of reading a book a month that focuses on the outdoors and nature, with the intention of "finding common ground among a diverse group of members." This is a visible group on Facebook, so it's definitely findable. Although I'm a little behind, this is my review of the first book.

 Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country, by Pam Houston. Here's my review.

Pam Houston is a writer, a teacher, and the owner of a 120-acre ranch in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Purchased with just 5% down, Houston knew she wanted a place to settle down do after doing a series of (to me) somewhat dangerous things - and living through them. She had just published her first book, Cowboys Are My Weakness in 1992,  had been on a book tour, and had some money. Houston had checked out places in the western states, but settled in Colorado, at 9,000 feet elevation. Her ranch had a history, and still had the house, and a small cemetery with the original owners' graves. The book is a series of essays about living on her ranch for 25 years, the animals that are part of her life, as well as teaching and writing. Whether writing about her early family life and how it shaped her, or her college and grad school work, everything comes back to the ranch. In the Introduction, Pam writes about how she has always felt the responsibility of the ranch to not subdivide, harvest or mine resources, or plant a cell tower in the middle of a field. In the end, she says, while she thought she was taking care of her ranch, it was really taking care of her.

There are five sections: Getting Out; Digging In; Diary of a Fire, Elsewhere; and Deep Creek. Each section contains at least one essay, for example "The Tinnitus of Truth Telling" in Getting Out. Each section also includes a shorter essays, called Ranch Almanac, such as "Stacking Wood." The book is illustrated with photographs. Through her essays, Pam Houston gives readers an intimate look at her life, her ranch, and her relationships with her neighbors, family, and students. She writes in a straightforward style, and this well-written and is easy to read. If you are a lover of the outdoors, this book should be on your list of must reads. I found myself thinking Pam Houston was a brave, determined, and independent woman, and if anyone could take care of her beloved animals at 35 degrees below zero, it would be her.

306.24/365