In the beginning

As an only child my favorite place to go was to grandfather’s cabin in upper state New York.  It was a very rustic cabin that my grandparents build with all kinds of adaptions to make it livable. 

We had running water by having a huge wine barrel on top of the roof, which was filled with water from a natural spring just a few hundred feet away.  There was a small gas-powered stove, and an old refrigerator that became the “ice box” for storing food.  Our bathroom was an outhouse and we had chamber pot for those late night “pees.” 

My aunt Eleanor oversaw that all the kids were cleaned up before we went to bed.  The men rigged up a bathhouse that had a tub and, believe it or not, hot running water for the tub too.  From the barrel on the roof top the water flowed down to the fire pit that had a refrigerator coil on top of it to produce the hot water for our baths.

Looking back those were the best days of my life.  I was very much a child that loved exploring nature, creating clay pots, making houses for the orange salamanders, and collecting feathers. But my favorite spot was by the brook. It had a water fall and a deep still area that one could joy a dip in the water and have the fishes tickle my feet.

Little did I know that it was my doorway to “Wellness.”  The forest, Mother Earth beneath my feet and being in sync with all the animals.