Yesterday I had the best massage I’ve ever had. It happened in a creek north of here.

We went to our regular swimming hole in Indian Creek, and it was too crowded due to all the hot bikers from our Happy Camp River Run. They probably remembered the place from last year. So then we went upstream to a place where my boyfriend, Bob, has been panning for gold - and someone else was already there. Next we went to the swimming hole upstream at South Fork - and I’ve never seen so many people in that location. It was like a major attraction.

Did I mention how hot it was? Major swimming hole weather.

So we crossed the bridge at South Fork and noticed a little waterfall on the north side of the creek.

Let me tell you, that waterfall gave me the best massage I’ve ever had. It pounded on my back and shoulder muscles relentlessly. I’ve had a sore neck for several years - seems like I never get total relief. The Reiki I learned has been a big help, but sooner or later the soreness comes back.

Well, yesterday’s waterfall massage was incredible. I could still feel the source of the pain deep inside but could position my neck under the water to get pounded right there where it hurt. It felt so good! And today, still no more ache in the neck.

Something else - last night I got nine hours sleep… for which I am very grateful because usually I wake up after five hours and can’t get back to sleep. I believe my wonderful ability to sleep nine hours was due to relaxation, plus stress and tension relief that I got from being under that waterfall yesterday.

The rest of that area was incredible, like a jacuzzi, all bubbly water - frothy - sensational. Bob and I loved it and we’re going back. This time we’re taking pictures, and I’ll post one here.

One tiny drawback - there was a snake that kept trying to climb up the rock, then kept getting knocked back down by the rush of the waterfall, into our little jacuzzi area. Eventually Bob encouraged the little thing to get swept downstream into more peaceful water where he might get a bite to eat somewhere.

I thought it was cool that such a healing place would be visited by a snake, which is an ancient symbol of healing. I realize many of you wouldn’t care for it - and I admit I hugged the other side of the pond once we knew he was there - but I appreciated the symbolism.

So today my Sunday thankfulness is for the best massage I’ve ever had, the waterfall that gave it to me, and my sweet boyfriend who took me there.

P.S. We’ve decided to start a new blog: Swimming Holes - it will start with our accounts of swimming holes in Northern California and Southern Oregon - but we’ll want to publish information about other swimming holes from people in other areas.

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Follow-up note: We went there again today, this time with a camera. Here’s a photo of Bob under the waterfall:

Because of all the frothy bubbles caught there between the rocks, I named this place Laughing Waters Natural Spa. There’s a rock to sit on right under the center of the waterfall as it massages your back. Also you can hang onto a couple of rocks underwater and let the rest of your body float; it makes for an interesting leg massage.

This time Bob had his mask and snorkel. He found a lot of baby salmon underwater and let me look at them. The have their own little swimming hole, a bit down from the falls, right before the rocks in the foreground of this picture.

On Sundays I take time to give thanks. Today I’m thankful for my financial independence. After almost 18 years of being a SAHM (stay at home mom) I’m now working outside my home again. I’m working part-time in a pizza restaurant, and am very grateful for this opportunity. It doesn’t matter to me that there’s other things I trained for in the past that I could be making much more money at. I’m excited to be cleaning off tables, rolling pizza dough, and waiting on customers. It is a thrill to be able to get a paycheck, rather than what I was doing before.

Well, what I was doing before included work-at-home businesses that weren’t working very well for me. I own a web design business, and got very frustrated by constantly working on ‘other peoples sites’ rather than my own. It took all the fun and excitement and creative freedom out of my web design work, and I totally wasn’t happy doing it. Now that I’m working outside my home again, I’ve transformed my web design business into something I’m doing for me - by building up some blogs and improving sites that I started long ago.

I also had a profitable small town news website which I’m in the process of selling. I am so excited to be able to get out from under this small business. It had become like a ball and chain to me. What started as a community service project years before became unmanageable and frustrating. Too many people in my community wanted to diss the news editor (me!) and even though others here were positive and enthusiastic about the project, it wasn’t enough to make it worthwhile to me anymore. So part of my personal declaration of independence this year is to unload the site. The good news is that my best friend here, an experienced news writer, is buying the site. I’m training her to maintain it, and she’s looking into getting a grant for it so that she doesn’t have to constantly sell ads. Good for her! Good for me!

So my ongoing financial worries are for the time, defeated. I’m feeling great about working for someone else, and grateful that my youngest child is now 17, so I can do this.

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Inspired by: Independence Day at Create a Connection

Today I want to give thanks to my partner and significant other, Bob, for going swimming with me almost every day this last week. We skipped Friday because it was windy. But every other day we went somewhere. Last Sunday we went to Clear Creek. We were lucky to be the only ones there. Then on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, after I got off work, we went to the Eddy in Indian Creek, a popular local swimming hole. We either went upstream or downstream to avoid the other swimmers. And then yesterday, Saturday, we drove north to the Illinois River in Southern Oregon - about fifty miles from here.

Taking the Illinois River Road north from Selma, Oregon, we found a number of enchanting swimming holes. We stopped at two of them. The first one was too crowded for me, but Bob got in and swam across the Illinois River a few times. Then we drove further down the road and settled on a swimming hole down a long but well-developed path.

I was impressed by the development done in Oregon to provide access to their swimming holes. They engineered a path along a very steep hillside including a metal staircase down a rock face at one point. We don’t see anything like that here in the Happy Camp area. The first Illinois River swimming hole we stopped at had a nice parking lot with two attractive picnic shelters.

Before driving up the Illinois River Road north of Selma, we stopped at the Visitor Information Center in Cave Junction, Oregon. While there, we asked about swimming hole access and the two women running the center were very helpful in telling us where to go. One of them mentioned several times that “undesirables” were at many of the swimming holes, so we were on the lookout for the type of people she might find undesirable.

I think we may have found them here:

Here’s where we went swimming, just downriver from that spot:

On the way home we stocked up on a few needed supplies at the market in Cave Junction. I bought acai juice, twelve gallons of distilled water, seven Clif Bars, a big bunch of bananas, a gallon of my favorite ice cream, tortillas, and an Oregon lottery scratcher.

It is 40 miles over a winding mountain road to get back to Happy Camp, and my ice cream was melting by the time we returned, but I’m happy to know my favorite ice cream is now in the freezer because it isn’t available here in Happy Camp right now - since the ice cream freezer at the Double J liquor store and mini-market went out.