Making Lemonade

Life is not always easy, especially in times when there is so much sadness and pain in our world. Vehicle accidents, people dying way before there time, countries at war and the slow destruction of our environment. We are constantly being faced with news that is hard to bear. We never really know from one day to the next what will happen in our lives. We all have our hopes and dreams, some of us even plan way into the future. Many times those dreams are not filled because life doesn't always go as we want it to. 

It's important even on the darkest of days for us all to find the good and be thankful for what we had or have and what we are able to experience. Even as we grieve, depending on the loss, we can remember the good times or we can seek new directions and allow ourselves to move forward. 

On days when life doesn't go as we want it to or be what we had hoped for and sadness enfolds us, it helps to get outdoors. When we are outside in nature we can soak in the beauty that surrounds us and eventually we can let go of some of the pain we are feeling. 

Being out in nature restores me, reminds me of all that is good in our world, reminds me to be thankful for all that I have. Breathing in the fresh air, soaking up the sun or the rain, depending on the weather, energizes me and gives me a sense of joy. Whether hiking a new trail or an old trail there is always something to new to see and be amazed by. 

Bright colours that catch my eye, beautiful greens that are even brighter in the rain and fungus of all shapes and sizes. 

Sometimes the tiniest of things in life can bring us great joy and help us to breathe and get respite from our struggles in life. When I see something so small growing against all odds it brings a smile to my face and gives me strength reminding me once again how blessed I am. It can give me hope that tomorrow will be a better day. 

Some say "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" and for me hiking on the trails, exploring the forests that surround me and being amazed by this extraordinary world of ours, helps me "squeeze out the juice" to make that lemonade. There would be no joy or love shared without there also being some pain so on those painful days get outdoors, it's the best medicine life can give us.

Why do I Cache?

Why do I cache? It is something I often ask myself especially when I think about what geocaching really is. It's people looking through bushes, buildings, playgrounds or where ever the cache is hidden and they're doing this to find usually a little plastic box that is full of "treasures" but what are really items bought from the dollar store. Yet I continue to go out in search of caches. 
One of the benefits of caching was that it has gotten me out on trails that I never knew existed. I would look on the geocaching map for groups of caches and know there was a trail there and head out. 

From there I joined a Facebook hiking group where people post pictures of their hikes up amazing mountains or to beautiful waterfalls. I was hooked on hiking. There are so many beautiful places on this island and off of this island to explore. 

Now I realize I could just look at the map, see where the trails are and head out and just enjoy the hike and the exploring of the area. There really is no need to spend time stopping to look for the hidden "treasures" along the way but I continue to do so.  Why? Because it is fun! That's it! It is simply fun to find little boxes or other items. I know I could hike further and see more of nature if I didn't stop along the way but I do enjoy the hunt and the find. I then come home and log them and watch the total of my caches grow and grow. 

I am very thankful to the folk that place the caches and especially for the ones that are different and fun. You really never know what you will find when you go looking for caches. 

This past weekend I went back to Seal Bay park in Comox and cached with my two caching buddies. We had a great time and although we had hoped to get 20 or even 30 caches we only had time to find about 13 of them. Still it was fun exploring the many trails and using the gps to figure out which trail to take. This park has lots of fun caches in it and on my last trip here we found about 20 of them so it was great to return and find a few more. 

 Its wonderful to have a large treed park right near the town so that one doesn't have to worry so much about the bears and cougars that one can run into out in the woods and mountains.

 It's also relatively flat so its a place to come for a fun family day. There has been a lot of rain on our island this past month and the streams were running and there were lots of little ponds among the beautiful green ferns. 

There were also many different types of mushrooms along the trails. 

They were growing on the sides of logs, stumps and the ground. 

There were so many different colours and shapes and some folks were out there definitely looking for the safe ones to pick. 

 The trails are divided for foot or horse, on leash and off leash for dogs - just a great place to bring the family. It also borders on the ocean although this trip we didn't get down to the beach. 

I can't wait til my grandchildren are old enough to go geocaching with me. I think they will love it and it will be a great way to introduce them to the outdoors. 

This park will be one of the first on my list because of the cool caches that others have hidden, it's easy travel pathways and the beauty that is found every time I come here and when one gets tired of caching there are benches big enough for three and one can have fun taking selfies.