the book

I didn’t set out to live an adventurous life. Mostly I was trying to figure out how not to be afraid of it.

That quest took me from a conventional 1950s childhood into the rather less conventional world that followed: horses and hitchhiking, marriage and some do-overs, journalism and photography, love and loss, travel, art, spiritual exploration and more than a few decisions that might reasonably cause a person to ask, What was I thinking?

Along the way, I began to suspect that the things that happened to me were not nearly as important as what I believed about them. Fear became something to investigate rather than obey. Coincidence became harder to dismiss. And the possibility that our thoughts participate in creating our lives became a thread I could follow through decades of experience.

The Real Life Adventures of a Hippie Chick Cowgirl is the story of that exploration.

It is not a guide to enlightenment. I remain highly capable of getting lost.

It is a collection of stories, photographs, artwork, memories and reflections from more than seven decades of becoming. Horses wander through quite a lot of it. So do people I have loved, places that changed me, moments I still cannot entirely explain, and the occasional excursion into what I cheerfully call the woo-woo.

The nearly 200 photographs and other images are part of the storytelling. Many come from my years behind a camera; others are family photographs, artwork and visual breadcrumbs from the journey.

Mostly, though, this is one woman’s account of discovering that a life doesn’t have to be fearless to be adventurous.

Sometimes you just have to take the First Ride.