Tag: Camping

Adventure, Life, Photograph

Summertime Fun – Social Distancing Style

Mark Wayne
Leavenworth, WA – July 2020

Our family recently went camping to central WA, between the town of Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee. A wonderful getaway from all the clamor and chaos that is surrounding us all each day with the impacts of the pandemic on our lives.

We went to the small Bavarian town of Leavenworth one afternoon for a couple of hours and had ice cream. And yes we wore masks in the stores, it was nice and the town is pretty cool and unique. I encourage you to visit if you ever get to central WA.

The real joys of the trip was camping, being together and being out in nature. The weather was great, minus the mosquito’s 🦟, warm sunny days and perfect clear nights with a thousand stars. We played in the river, went on bike rides and walks, went on drives into the mountains, had campfires and just hung out as a family.

Nature is my best kind of social distancing. It recharges me and helps me to get back to enjoying the simple and important things in my life.

What is your favorite kind of social distancing?

#Nature #GetOutside #PNW

Adventure, Art, Photograph

Intentional Acts of Kindness

Mark Wayne

Came home earlier today after 3 glorious days of camping with my girls; campfires, wildlife, great food, animals, mountain vistas and starry nights.  Well, we were unpacking after our trip always the worst part of going away and returning, when I hear a lawn mower out front of our house.  Nothing unusual there as we often have neighbors traveling down our dusty little dirt road on their riders mowing the edges of the street. 

But this time it sounded really close like right outside the window.  To our amazement our wonderful neighbor Heather was mowing our front lawn, say what!?  It’s true Heather was mowing our front lawn and would only say she was glad to do it and it was a Fathers Day gift for me, so I could spend time with my girls. I am not to proud to say I enjoyed having a lady mow my lawn for me!  Well to say I was shocked, humbled and thankful is an understatement. 

Thank  you Heather!

(PS – Heather is also a fantastic photographer visit her Facebook page here > Elements Photography to see the beautiful images of her work!)

Just that morning as we packed up the campsite and our trailer I had remarked to my wife that I was not looking forward to mowing the lawn when I got home.  You see we have almost 1 1/2 acres of grass, some parts had not been mowed in over 3 weeks and all I have is a push mower.  But, that is a story for another blog some other time.

Anyway, this awesome display of kindness by someone took me completely by surprise and I dare say it was intentional.  This was not some random act of opening a door for someone or saying hello but a well thought out intentional deliberate act.  Why do we all not do more of these types of things for our families, friends and yes; even complete strangers?  I know I should and I would like to vow to do this more often.  To see a need and purposefully fill it, random is nice but we need to act with more deliberate intention to impact others.

I challenge you now over the next week and each week thereafter to commit one ‘intentional act of kindness’ for someone and I would venture to guess if we do this once a week it will become easier and more frequent over time.  Post your experience of giving or receiving an ‘intentional act of kindness’ here in the comments section or on my Facebook page > Mark Schutter – Artist, so we can all share in the joys of being a light in the darkness for others.  And thank you again Heather, you rock!

PS – Happy Fathers Day to all the dad’s out there who make a difference everyday and especially to mine, Leo Schutter!