Our Adventure This Morning

I woke Tampa this morning at 5:30am. Quite different from other mornings when she gets up at 8:30am. She did not want to get up. In fact, she pulled the covers over her head and said, "It's not time to get up! It's still night-time!" So, I enticed her to get up for an adventure! She got up and went potty. I fixed her a quick breakfast of peanut butter jelly toast and juice and we quickly got ready, kissed Daddy and left with my friend and her kids. "Where are we going, Mommy?" Tampa asked. "You'll see," Mommy replied.

It was a beautiful foggy drive up to Los Olivos and then to Mount Figueroa. By the time we got to our destination it was a beautiful sunny morning. Coming down the mountain was my friend's cousin whose houses we were going to see. Her daughter had just informed her that someone killed a Momma pig and her baby. I almost cried when I saw the Momma and her baby in the turnout in which we were parked. Someone had hit the Momma and shot the baby. They loaded up the pigs while we drove on to their sanctuary. Waste not, want not.

We arrived and were met by some hippie types. I instantly felt very comfortable. It was a beautiful site and felt like a commune. Organic gardens, chickens, a couple horses, and a mule. The houses are made of cob and that's the reason why I was so intrigued. My husband and I did a workshop a couple of years ago on straw bale houses. It's kind of our dream to build a natural, organic house, so I wanted to see what cob houses looked like. They're as beautiful and natural as straw bale houses. Cob is like adobe, mud and straw, that's it! They live off the grid and have internet, even. They do workshops to make their living and have people live there and help out. I know that I've used beautiful quite a lot in this post, but that's how it was. We spent a few hours there and then left. On the drive back down the mountain, Dawn saw a calf being born. I'm so unobservant sometimes. Luckily, she turned around so I could get pictures. I'm glad we got to experience life after death...it was beautiful. :O)

Spirit Pines