Originally Posted by Lynns409

My favorite place on earth, that will always be so, is my grandparents' cabin in the hills above Ojai. It's kind of a little compound- maybe eight little houses in the woods, most of which are owned by my aunts or uncles. I grew up going there, having family gatherings there, and sitting on the porch with my grandpa. It is one of the most beautiful places- what we California people call a 'river' and acres of brush and oak trees. But it's the smell - mossy and dirty and earthy and sage- that I think of whenever I am sad. My grandpa had a studio with a kiln and a wheel and he would also paint. I loved to watch him. I remember my cousins and I having moss fights at the creek when it was filled with slimy algae. Big parties with a live band where we would dance the night away with assorted inebriated adult figures.

My family is kind of strained now, with assorted weirdnesses having happened in the last six years, but I think that this place holds some of my best memories and happiness in it. Whenever I meditate, that's where I am- sitting at the creek with the summer sun on my face, and I can see my grandpa in the distance.

Lynn