Welcome to Chaos !!

Today me and Desi went to America's first beer spa, located in Sisters Oregon.
We soaked in wooden tubs full of hops, minerals and herbs. It was a very warm, nice and fragrant soak. If you ever go through Sisters perhaps stop for a microbrew soak.....and check out Sisters too, it's a very nice place.
www.hopinthespa.com







Desi and her size 5 feet. I think I told her she has the cutest feet ever like three times. If you want to see more of Desi you can look at her Instagram,
www.instagram.com/missdesirose



I also had Shirodhara therapy, I love Shirodhara.....! Now I have oil in my hair that I will have to shampoo out later. I've got to take the oil that was used in the treatment home.



Afterwards we were starving so we found a cute place called Angeline's Bakery, we both had chai and I had a super yummy potato and broccoli soup (not enough soup in my bowl though to satisfy my hunger) and one of the best....if not the best, lemon bars I have ever tasted.



Then we took Chhaya out and found the cutest little lizard!



Before leaving Sisters we stopped at Harmony Farm Sanctuary to say hello to the animals. This place is a forever home for rescued and adopted animals. ❤ ❤ ❤
I petted and scratched the backs of the cutest piggies, goats and sheep.....they were so friendly and curious.....sniffing me gently with their noses. I love animals so much. We are planning to come back here so we can spend more time with them.
Chhaya was very curious but respectful of the piggies, especially the large pig.
I loved this piggy! I think she was smiling in the pic with Chhaya. I just wanted to climb in to them and give them all kisses and hugs.

Me and Desi had tea the other day at a place called Tea Buzz Global Tea Bar.
We enjoyed one cup each with a refill. Desi had green tea and I had black.
This is the building, so cute!



They have a library there where you can borrow books.



I picked the Prince Wladimir tea, it was good.



The tea was presented by a very nice lady, Joanna. So knowledgable about the art of tea, she has traveled all over to bring different teas back home with her. Everything was nicely presented, from the pouring of the tea, the tea cups, the different sugars, the tea gourds.....this is a quality place to visit for tea.



We decided that we are returning for another tea session, then we will try something called a Tea Tasting Flight where we will sample three teas each.



Afterwards we participated in a meditation. So this place has several buildings and there are many interesting things going on.....reiki, tea, meditation, there is an esthetician, you can get reflexology, acupuncture. I need more than tea for sure.
We got to sample a green tea from China before the meditation.



A crystal lyre, first time I have seen and heard this instrument - very pretty.

Here are some of the pics from my Alvord Desert shoot that I recently did.
Let's start with these.....





Drone pic.



And then something towards the more experimental/artistic vision....











We were going to shoot some, for example sunrise pics but the clouds rolled in and it was just too cold for me.....perhaps another time.

Photographer Danny McCarty

Today I had a full day....it's past ten in the evening now and I just had dinner and after I finish writing this I will take Chhaya out for an evening walk. Have to bundle up though, it is getting cold.
So what did I do today.....bank, latte plus caught up on the latest news/blogs that I read when I have my latte, post office, park with Chhaya, errands (various stores), looked for Halloween stuff, home to eat, met up Desi for tea and meditation, back home to feed Chhaya and clean the house, one load of laundry, dinner and now I am sitting here writing. After the walk with Chhaya I am going to take a shower and put on another mask on my face. The last few nights I put Manuka honey on my face, I leave it on for at least ten minutes but I prefer to leave it on for about 20 minutes.



So here are the three kinds of glögg/Glühwein/mulled wine that you can buy at World Market right now. In Sweden we say glögg and it is something we drink around Christmas time. So the bottle that says "Glögg" is from Sweden and does not have alcohol in it. The Glühwein is from Germany and the Vin Glögg is from California, the latter two have alcohol. I am going to try all three. YUMMY!
Glögg party!



Last night I found out that Marilyn Manson just released a new album a few days ago, Heaven Upside Down . I REALLY want to see him in concert, the last two times he came through Vegas and I was there the tickets sold out fast and I could not get a ticket. He is going to play in Vegas in a couple of weeks at the House of Blues but I can't go.....hopefully he will tour next year, then I really NEED to go and see him. I like the songs Threats of Romance and Kill4me from the new album.
I find this man very fascinating.
I do have a concert coming up though....and I am getting excited!

Happiness is remembering you have a $5 off coupon when you are about to pay.
I got my Mom some hibiscus tea that I will send her together with some other things that I got her. A care package for Mom because she is my Mom. ❤



Happiness is finding a new ginger beer that is quite yummy. Found it at World Market. Oh and the pizza that I ate today, pizza is happiness too.



Happiness is having cuddle time with this baby. She lays down her head on me like this. And I give her kisses and tell her what a good and pretty girl she is, that she is very special and that I love her very very much. Then she got up, ripped an empty ice cream container to pieces and brought me a toy with a wild look in her eyes insisting that we play. She is sleeping now.



And I am going to get in a hot bath now, scrub my body, moisturize, put honey on my face, thick lotion and socks on my feet and curl up in bed.

Look at the sparkle on the playa! No, I did not wear these shoes out there,
I brought them specifically to snap a few pics of them on the playa (Alvord desert). I have a few of these shoe pics throughout the blog.....I should gather them in one spot because some are pretty cool. The shoe pics even have fans!
And as a coincidence a friend sent me a poem he wrote about me (I am very flattered) the other day and he also happened to give me these shoes. I've had them for a few years now but I don't wear them often.....they are too pretty.
So I present to you.....the sparkly shoes and the poem.





I see her shoe still sparkles
And still with lots of sole
She could waltz right into heaven
If that was her desired goal
But she fights for the voiceless
With a deeply caring soul
She walks the walk without the talk
A much more difficult role
Yes she shuns the easy glamour
Of bauble and pin
I see her hold together
The yang and the yin

Well.....today is the day when a shooting "hit home" for me. Las Vegas besides my time in Alaska has been the place that has been my home in the US for a long time, although I am away from Las Vegas right now. Even when I was in AK I would go back to Vegas for extended periods of time.
I found out about the shooting late last night while in Winnemucca outside a McDonald's picking up WiFi.....I was talking to my brother when I saw the first reports trickling in.....11 45 pm my time.
I spent most of my day today driving and only heard what news I could get on the radio, spotty radio because long stretches of the road had zero reception.
Once I arrived at my destination I could start checking off that my friends were OK, I suspected most would be but you never know. So far I haven't heard back from a few people and I know people that know somebody that got shot.
Always feels more "real" when something bad or good happens at home.
Same with Sweden to me.
BUT I feel that every innocent person that dies in the hands of somebody else is a valuable life lost and that person too most likely has family that will mourn their loss. It doesn't matter where in the world something bad happens, bad is bad.
Las Vegas in case you haven't been truly is a shining jewel in the desert, at first glimpse it is almost too much to take in. Las Vegas will keep on shining and being fabulous and according to some friends that I talked to the community has really pulled together in this. Still.....very very unfortunate what happened.

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Alvord Desert, camped out there on the playa and woke up there today. Camped in my car with Chhaya of course. I traveled there because of a photoshoot, that involved this.....



The photographer had an idea/vison for years and finally it came to fruition.
A more "artistic" photoshoot. I have no idea how the images will turn out, I saw a few of the raw images and they looked pretty cool. He brought a drone so we did some arial photos and we did a few "pretty" images but I honestly looked cold, tired and borderline miserable. I got up at 6 am yesterday and that is very early for me, packed up the car, drove for hours, the temperature on the playa was colder than I had expected. Chhaya was not happy whatsoever to be thrust into this adventure. Since years now she does not like longer road trips at all. And she definitely did not like being out on the playa, she was restless and spent a good portion of last night shaking and panting instead of sleeping. So today I decided that I would not stick around for more photography since it was colder today than yesterday, more clouds and less sun to keep me warm. There is only so much I am willing to suffer for an art sometimes and I like photography. I have been uncomfortable plenty of times during shoots - cold, laying on something sharp, holding my body still in unnatural positions for a long time etc, it is just something you put up with to get a good photo. But today I decided that I would not freeze.
I just couldn't. So I said thank you and continued my journey South.
Here are some more pics from the Alvord desert, a very pretty place, a vast and beautiful playa.
It would be nice to come back when it's warmer. There are some hot springs here too I heard, Alvord Hot Springs but I did not visit.









I ate twice at this place, Fields Station. I guess they are famous for their milkshakes, so I tried the "Triple C" and it was very good but the rest of the food including the coffee was bad. Typical roadhouse food, burgers, fries, lots of American cheese (I do not like American cheese). And I am being polite now, there were so many flies in that place that anybody with OCD or a strict requirement for a clean restaurant would probably be horrified. I saw a lady working there swat the flies dead flat on the counters - barf. But it is the only place around for miles since you are kind of in the middle of nowhere, so you eat where you can.



And now I am in the very exciting (not) town of Winnemucca. Chhaya is sleeping like a little piggy, calm and relaxed. I have an errand to do here of all places in the morning and once that is done I am returning to where I came from yesterday......Winnemucca is located in Nevada, now you know that.



I was going to get gas in Denio Junction today but guess what.....just as I arrived they ran out of gas! So I had to drive back to Fields Station and get gas. Seriously.....WTF.