Deanne Hazleton:  

May 2014.. think my traveling days are coming to an end. Building a little house in Hot Springs, MT.... designed it myself after tearing down the existing house. HS is tiny, about 600 people and an hour and a half from most anywhere. Main street is about 2 1/2 blocks long and you might see all manner of vehicles parked there,cars, pickups, golf carts, ATV's, bicycles, and the occasional horse. The hot springs are believed to be quite healing... some folks say "limp in, leap out." I don't know about that, but I do enjoy them. Quite a lot of alternative healing resources here for such a small place. Deer roam freely all though town and have no hesitation climbing up on people's porches to eat their flowers. Certainly a lifestyle I've never experienced before. November 2013... Just celebrated my 70th birthday.... could not have imagined in high school that I would ever be 70, but here I am. Mostly these days I am volunteering,; hospice, YMCA Daycare, GRuB (wonderful program that includes organic gardens, CSA, Kitchen Garden Project and a high school...I love GRuB !) and the Senior Center. I'm having my second winter in Washington and it feels rather good to be rooted in one place for a while. Every couple of months I head over to western Montana for a change of scenery and a much slower pace. Deer lounge around in the yard, there is no place in town that can't be walked to... only two grocery stores; Camus if you want Kombucha and granola, Bucky's for beer and chips. Within the approximate 12 square blocks there are these two groceries, one bank, one tiny liquor store, a school (k-12) a library, hot springs, two small motels, a bar and grill, a hardware store, a few second hand stores that are mostly closed, the town hall, two Senior Centers, one tribal and the other for everyone else, a auto repair shop, the post office, a couple of cafe's and approximately 300 souls..... that's about it ! You can get a lattle', but can't sit down to drink it. The next little town over (17 miles over) is Wild Horse Plains... love that name. And if you want Costco, supermarkets, etc... you'll drive over an hour to get to them. Dec 2011 It was so great to see so many folks at the 50th reunion in August and sad to see the faces of those who have left us. At Christmas in Napa, CA. all my daughters, their husbands, one grandchild and myself celebrated together, the first time in many years. Mainly I live at Olympia, but currently I'm living at Topanga, CA; rekindling some old friendships from the 60's..as well as enjoying the weather... breezy at Malibu, mild at Topanga and hot in the valley. It's a good place to be for the winter. However, a couple of weeks ago I spent some time at Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, CA. Not so warm there at 5:30 am walking up the hill to morning meditation, but raking leaves for a couple of hours after breakfast warms one up. Although Topanga is quiet, the silence at Deer Park is bliss. Nov 2010 Had the pleasure last month to go to fellow classmates 50th wedding anniversary celebration at Bellingham. A bit of a prelude to our 50th HS reunion coming up. March 24, 2010: Arrived home yesterday from a 6 month 3 day road trip; 23,500 miles, 4 time zones, 7 oil changes, one set of tires. ,,. Heading home I hit Flagstaff, AZ and saw the first highway sign that stirred my heart: .... Los Angeles, I-40. And Los Angeles was where I was headed, or more precisely, Topanga Canyon which looks out over LA and was a place where I played in my younger years, here now to visit old friends. Next to Las Vegas, NV to see BLU...Expand for more