Dear Tiny Diary:
It’s 8 p.m. and the day is done. I’m sitting under the awning outside the T@B trailer. I have tapestries clipped across the front for privacy and to keep in the heat of my little fake fireplace. The girl is curled up on her cushion. And we listen for the rain that weather.com promised. There is so rarely rain in this part of California. It’s the perfect place to spend the winter.
Today has been a good day. It started out with a stunning display of the sun rising on the dunes with dark clouds over the ocean. It was positively other worldly.
The girl and I took our usual long walk along the creek after my breakfast and before her breakfast. She likes to go outside in her yard while I do my morning thing. I attach the lead line to her when I go for my shower just in case some coyotes come by and she feels like jumping the 30″ fencing I set up for her.
I’ve taken to carrying a stick on our walks, to fend off both vicious meth heads and vicious dogs. I’ve never come across either of those on my walks, but I want to be ready. I practiced swinging my stick into some branches just to get the muscle memory going. My friends are buying me my chosen walking/defense stick and when I get it, I plan to get to a gym for some swinging practice into a punching bag.
I did some work on a project I have due, and the girl and I got in a walk on the nearby sand dunes. I try to get out on the dunes at least once a day while I’m here at this campground.
The big deal of the day was dying my hair purple! The aqua dye I have been using has not been lasting lately. And I decided to try a different brand. I had the idea to dye the ends of my hair dark blue. So I went to Sally Beauty Supply and asked the clerk to show me the blues. I thought I was buying blue, but it was purple. Not sure how I made that mistake. But that’s often how the best things in life happen.
To dye my hair, I decided to do it in camp, inside the awning. Prior to this, I had always dyed my hair in the bathroom, both at home when I lived in a house, and here on the road. It’s very nerve wracking to dye it in a campground bathroom because if I get blue or purple dye all over the tile or shower curtain, it won’t take a detective to know who at the campground is the guilty one. There are just not that many women out here with colorful hair.
So this time I wanted to do it right. Setting up a hair dying station in camp would allow me all the time I needed to do it in front of a mirror, and to let it dry on my hair for the best effect. I didn’t want to sit at my picnic table, because that would be in view of other campers. I wanted privacy for this sacred act. So I got a folding table out of my vehicle and set it up. I covered it with a purple towel and got the wood-framed mirror from inside The Tiny. I propped it up on the table using my small electric fireplace (not plugged in of course). It seems like more and more when I need something, like something to prop up the mirror, I already have it in camp and I just need to think creatively about my possessions.
To enhance my experience, I played the new Enya Dark Sky album on my 42″ sound bar with woofer and satellite speakers. That music always makes me feel whole.
I also loaded up my essential oil diffuser with the new “Spice Bazaar” oil I got yesterday at the local New Age shop.
With all that in place, I was ready to begin. I have been watching YouTube videos on how to properly dye your own hair with this brand, which is a cream rather than the liquid dye I had been using. I had no idea how to do it. Thank goodness for the thousands of (mostly young) women who make demonstration beauty videos. I saw exactly what you do. I had taken the advice of the young woman at Sally Beauty and bought a bowl and brush with disposal gloves and a clip to hold up layers of hair. I’m totally styling now!
So I sat at my station facing the dunes in my private enclave with Enya and Spice Bazaar filling me up.
As I applied the dye, my mind started drifting to a couple of women I encountered a couple of days ago who I thought were snickering and laughing and pointing at my green hair. It was at the Harley Davidson shop, which I had stopped in with a friend who is now a biker dude.
I’m not sure if these women (these bitches, if you will) were laughing at me or not. But the point is, their actions kept coming up in my mind. I’ve done some spiritual work on the situation since then and I believe I’ve come to peace with it. But while I was dying my hair purple, these two specimens of god’s handiwork kept coming to mind. I thought: I must dye my hair with positive energy or it’s going to be awful. I cannot be putting this high-intensity dye on my hair and be focusing on my resentments toward other people.
So I reminded myself that dying my hair is an art form and this dye and this brush are the tools and my thick white hair is the canvas. Dipping my brush into the bowl of dye I had squeezed out of the tube, I forced myself to focus on the art of it. By focusing on my art, my mind had no room for thinking about other people’s disapproval. That must be some kind of spiritual principle. Fill my mind with art and creativity, and leave no room for negativity.
I let my hair dry for a couple of hours while I listened to the New Orleans Saints play the Los Angeles Rams. The Saints had been on an 8-game winning streak, and let’s just say the streak ended. When I went to the campground shower to finally wash and condition my hair, I was dismayed at all the dye that came off my hair and went down the drain. I wondered if any would be left on my hair. I applied the special conditioner I bought that is designed to close up the hair shaft and retain the dye. When it was all said and done, my hair was indeed dyed purple and looks freaking amazing! I tend not to post images of myself to preserve my privacy and autonomy out here on the road. But let me assure you: my hair rocks!
Later, the evening sky was so delicious. Sweet was the word that kept coming to mind. Just a gentle, sweet blue. I wondered if rain was really in the works.
And . . . it did start raining after all. It’s getting colder and colder here under the awning, even with the little heater going. I’ve got the bed all made up inside The Tiny and will be telling my girl quite soon that it’s time to go in. She will jump up like she’s been waiting for the call, and walk up the step into The Tiny and then jump up onto the bed. I feel so happy to have a dog young and healthy enough to still jump up into cars and beds.
In preparation for the rain, I turned up the edges of the tarp and outdoor rug on the uphill side of my awning area, hoping that any rain will slide underneath. It rains so infrequently around here that it’s hard to remember from rain to rain how to get ready. Plus, I’m at a different campground every few weeks, and each time I use slightly different equipment: visor or awning or Clam shelter.
By morning time, I’ll know if my strategy worked. I’m going to leave the outdoor heater on overnight, trying to keep the patio area warm enough so that I stay above the dew point, which I saw on weather.com is 53 degrees tonight. When the temperature in the awning/tent area dips below the dew point, condensation forms under the awning and drips water and makes my covered outdoor space wet. And that’s just depressing. The Tiny itself has no moisture or rain issues, so the girl and I will be dry and cozy all night no matter what. All things considered, I’d like my patio area to be dry as well.
Thank you Tiny Diary for listening to my stories. Good night.