No such thing as "wasting wood" on a campfire so you can sit and look into the flames while your mind wanders all over the place! For me, that's part of the whole purpose of camping... along with eating some "scorched meat on a stick."

There's a good reason shamans (shamen?) use fire so much in rituals... around the fire we become fully Present while also being able to look everywhere; within, at our souls as well as through time to possible futures. The dancing flames induce a trance-like state... and we can put our wishes and dreams into each ember that heads skywards and imagine that perhaps there is a Great Big Is And Ever Was out there that hears us and perhaps lights the path.

I have always loved the beach and the ocean, although I have never been a fan of either (a) swimming in the ocean and (b) "laying out", as they call it. Too many encounters with poisonous jellyfish when I was a kid... and I just don't see the point of baking yourself to a lobster crisp.

But nature is the most awesome thing we have...

xo