I recently spent a week house and cat sitting in Ojai, California. You may recall that I visited Ojai not too long ago and instantly fell in love with it. Upon returning to LA I kept my eye on house sitting sites, (I’ve now become a bit of a house sitter extraordinaire – see here, here, and here), in hopes I could get back and spend more time there. I didn’t have to wait too long when lo and behold up popped an opportunity to sit in Ojai. And for this cozy-seeking, nature-loving, simplistic gal there couldn’t have been a more perfect home. Come join me in a picture tour of my glorious Ojai house sit!
The Grounds:
Come Inside…
Meet the Cat:
Share in My Sunday Afternoon Farmer’s Market Bounty:
While I initially thought I would use the home as a springboard to explore, instead the home became the destination itself. Once settled in I had no desire to go anywhere. Besides driving to my morning hiking job in the Santa Monica Mountains, I would simply be cooking or curled up with a book, swinging on the hammock or taking leisurely bicycle rides around town and not much else. (Later I found out ‘Ojai’ means ‘to nest’).
I quickly realized that it was a piece of home I was deeply craving and not another adventure. It’s true – apart from being a world traveler and incessant explorer, I find pleasure and fulfillment in the home. The simple acts of cooking, cleaning, or tending a garden can make me feel so complete and at ease. As a Cancerian I am innately a home dweller and caretaker. I just haven’t had much opportunity to practice either, but I’m starting to believe this is one of the reasons I’m drawn to house and pet sitting in the first place. It’s also one of the reasons I believe I enjoyed my farm experience so much; as from sun up to sun down one is around the home, tending to and caring for things. The outside world and its concerns just fade away.
In the end I’m reminded how all this traveling continues to bring me closer to discovering my truest nature, and that is precisely the point of it: as if we go in search of the new just for the experience itself it becomes useless, a trick of the mind, an escape. But if we go in search of the experiencer, the whole emphasis changes. (Osho)
Clucks the hen: You’re not in LA anymore, Dorothy!
