"g*d helps three kinds of people: fools, lovers, & drunkards."

ohhhh my feet...

james looks so handsome here. my eyes are slits.

a quick search revealed there are variations on the above, so i just chose this one. no, it's not in the bible; that part's clear.
in 1995 i'd just gotten sober & missed the international drunk convention by 2 weeks. in 2000 & 2005, i got to attend wonderful events in minneapolis & toronto w/my 1st husband. in 2010, i went to san antonio w/a person whose function in my life was as placeholder for james. in 2015, i was too broke to go. in 2020, we were all signed up for detroit, but it was cancelled by covid.
i wanted to do something special to mark my july 4th 25th sobriety "birthday," so i went on a 25 kilometer trudge from our house out lockwood valley road & back. our road out to lake of the woods, where you turn onto LV, has a beautiful foot path w/forested village all around! i felt like i was walking in germany, like that one time w/james!  LV road isn't nearly as desolate as i thought & has a friendly lively serenity that made the trip so memorable. on LV road, i kept thinking i was in texas or in south dakota, not mere miles from our house.

ventura county line

did the last 3.1 miles (5k) w/penny dog, who wore her rexspecs obediently. the last miles were a slog; my body was doing fine til i got to my feet: those dogs were dead!! after slathering them w/tiger balm & napping, i went w/james to "the wolf meeting" near lake hughes where they have a wolf rescue place. they didn't have a 25 year chip, which i didn't think they would, so james presented me w/a paper bowl, flipped & topped w/candles, as everyone sang. i thought i'd found a sponsor, but the woman i asked is moving to colorado! damn. still, it was quite a lovely sobriety birthday, much better than most any in memory. :)
anyways, i'll keep looking for a sponsor, & here are some pix.

at this pt the road dropped off steadily, heading for ojai

ahh, heading back toward home now

not much further!

finished!