mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Boulder Falls Healing Garden
October 3, 2025
In Lebanon, Oregon an exceptionally stunning Japanese garden grows that has been designed for healing. Arranged around a koi pond with fountains and waterfalls are rocks, trees, and floral gardens that provide privacy in serene beauty for those seeking healthier lives. The garden is connected to a hotel and conference center on a medical campus, Best Western Boulder Falls Inn. It’s popular for weddings and other special occasions as well as giving guests who are at the hospital for care a place to heal. It’s a brilliant idea and an unforgettable experience. We spent one night on our way out of Oregon. Enjoying the garden and koi pond was a superb way to begin our journey. The staff is courteous and professional, and the hotel is comfortable and well designed. The garden is what sets it apart from all other hotels. The dog loved it there.
Best Dog Park Ever
October 1, 2025
We are on the road with our dog, looking for a good time. We found it at Minto-Brown Island off leash dog park in Salem, Oregon . I frequent dog parks as a pet sitter so I have visited a wide range of facilities designed for dogs. Never have I seen such an elaborate space for canine contentment. Charlie agrees. This place is the total bomb. Old orchards of apple, walnut, cherry, and chestnuts surround a giant field of grass. Pathways through this forest are part of the off leash privileges. It’s very exciting to the dogs to be free in this setting. He met many fun and friendly people and dogs, who ran with him until he was exhausted.
I cannot recommend this park highly enough. Charlie woofs in hearty agreement.
Perplexed
September 29, 2025
How many ways can we squirm in revulsion
With limited access to factual data?
Which belief system has shown resilience
As mendacious talk leads to insults?
Hard to discern what this harvest will bring
Degradation
September 28, 2025
The boat is adrift on a current of popularity
Collective unconscious choices
Drive connections into shallow territory
Corrupt motives go unnoticed
In a sea of mediocre aspirations
Hitting bottom is inevitable
Ricochet
September 27, 2025
Unwilling and unwitting,
Populations trudge along
Taking no heed of conditions
Trying to avoid at all costs
The damage being caused by denial
Returning to dissolve potential
Surf the Energy
September 26, 2025
If waves disrupt your peaceful rest
Remember that transformation requires
Destruction and abandonment
Of all your outmoded styles of perception
Validation
September 25, 2025
No certain amount of praise or honor
Can quench the never ending uncertainty
Brought by the desire to be admired.
It’s entirely enough to be present in full
No need to vex oneself chasing approval
Surrender to Shadow
September 24, 2025
Darkness takes the lead in this race
To the coldest place in the imagination
Stretch your thinking to catch a glimpse
Of all the overlooked aspects of shadow
Cast your gaze on the dark spaces
That reside behind the projections
Hidden Motives
September 23, 2025
Some teach you that you have enemies
That people who don’t know you
Are working to sabotage all your dreams.
Isn’t it much more likely that
You are the source of all your conflicts?
The Gilded Age, by Mark Twain
September 22, 2025
The phrase gilded age came from the title of a humorous novel written by America’s undisputed king of wit. It was written with fellow author Charles Dudley Warner to satirize the state of affairs after the Civil War.
We are listening to the audio book, produced as a radio play, using different voices for the characters. The book comes alive as the actors portray well defined parts in a well told tale of high comedy in a historic setting. The descriptions of daily lives are vivid enough to make the listener part of the action. The dialog defines each player to the T.
I’m writing this before finishing the book (Twain and Warner wrote in the forward that they expected to have the book reviewed without being read). It is a perfect book for our times. The writing reminds us that history repeats itself with regularly. I highly recommend reading it now, for insight and lots of laughs.
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