Tuesday Thoughts...

TUESDAY THOUGHTS:

What I Think I May Know For Sure...

If you get that gut feeling that something is not right about a person or situation, trust it!!!

Picking up from JDog's blog post, always always always trust that little voice inside your head, you know the voice, the one that yells  "caution, caution, caution" quickly escalating a few notches to the screaming tones of: "danger, danger, danger"

The Setting:
Off the beaten track on the windy gravel roads of Eastern Quebec, tucked away in the middle of nowhere, an isolated maple syrup forest, not a person or car in sight for miles upon miles.

The Story:
 JDog had a mission, to secure a rare shot of an abandoned sugar shack. He was certain the long forgotten shack (that he had read about in some sort of obscure publication) was located in the depths of this "in the middle of nowhere" isolated forest growth.

Immediately upon arrival I had a bad feeling, and told JDog I would not venture into the depths of the forest looking for a bloody sugar shack. My preference was to stay behind with the truck & airstream, guarding them from the evils that lurked amongst the trees.  JDog shook his head, thinking I was being silly, and grabbed his photo gear, and was off. After five minutes of being cooped up in the truck, getting rather bored, I made the unwise decision to venture outside of my locked security cage.  The  brilliant yellow leaves on the maple and birch trees beckoned me.  Grabbing my camera, leaving my purse in the vehicle and the keys in the ignition, off I went to photograph the seduction of the fall colours.

Walking road side, in the distance, I spotted a white beat up truck approaching. "Get back into your vehicle and lock the doors" a voice inside me screamed. Realizing the truck was picking up speed upon spotting me, it was impossible to make it back the 200 plus steps to our truck. Silly brave me waved hello as the truck approached and the driver rolled down his window grinning, eyeing me up and down, and next his eyeballs moved over to my truck, his eyes popping when he saw the haul it was pulling.  "bonjour" I said, knowing right away the toothless fake smile (with the slanted lips) he gave me back was not a good sign. I slowly edged my way towards my Truck (now it was a good 50 steps away) speaking calmly in broken French, the white truck inched closer with every step I took away...ensuring I was speaking several notches higher than normal in response to his garbled French insults (thank God for my voice projection skill set, no microphone needed).  My inner voice screamed "stay calm Sharon, speak slowly and project, JDog will hear the echo of your voice amongst the pathways of the forest". My high school amateur acting training kicked into overdrive as I played it calm, cool and confident not letting my fear get the best of me. The toothless creepy guy continued his babbled insults in French and parked his truck along side our truck and got out of his beaten up truck, my instinct said don't block him, move further away, and so I did, resigned to the fact (as he looked through the driver's window, saw the driver's keys still in the ignition, and was about to get into our truck) that it was better to say so long to our truck and airstream versus myself...saying a prayer of thanks realizing it was the truck and airstream he was after versus me (after eyeing me and the truck up and down, the truck (along with the silver bullet it was towing) was more attractive to him).

The Saving Grace:
And suddenly, as he opened the door to our truck by a few inches, my guardian angel appeared, and no, not in the form of my beloved husband, who was oblivious to what was going on, busy capturing his shot of the day. My angel arrived in the form of a beat up red HONDA CIVIC, with the driver madly giving the finger and screaming at the toothless creep (or so I thought at the time)  to move the crappy white truck outta the way so he could drive through. Perhaps it was me he was yelling at, assuming I was the driver of the run down white truck. I calmly approached the enraged driver, who spoke no English, and told him in my very broken French to tell the man to drive away in his white truck and get away from me and my truck...the French red CIVIC driver threw his fist in the air once more, this time at creepy guy, who I could tell was assessing the situation as he waved abruptly and went slowly back into his truck, while keeping his eyes glued to his potential haul he was about to make away with. After much hesitation and very slowly driving forward, I could tell he would move up, let the red civic pass him and come back to tourment some more and make off with our truck and the silve bullet...so very quickly I ran and jumped into our truck (JDog is a foot taller than me, the driver's seat was adjusted to his height, I was literally on the edge of the seat hitting the gas pedal)  and like a crazy lady I drove the airstream down this narrow gravel road, breaking the water valve (again) in the process, however I did it, I made the great escape and drove the rig... Mind over matter !!!!

Return of the JDog:
At this point, picking up on Jason's tail end of the story (from his blog post yesterday),  hearing my projected voice through the forest, he quickly ran back to where he left me, once he reached the gravel road, he was given a very evil stare down by The Creep in the White truck (whom was driving to the side of the road to let the red Honda pass him versus proceeding forward along the road)  JDog looked up the gravel road the other way to see the airstream and truck speeding away.  His natural instinct kicked in and he gave the man a stare down  along with a few choice words. Don't think JDog ever  ran that fast in his life as he tried to catch up with the airstream, luckily I saw him in the rear view mirror and stopped to let him in, gave him a piece of my mind (mini sherbert head Sharon fizz off) and told him no shot is worth what just occurred.

As we drove onwards, the sunshine came blaring through the forest in full force,  JDog admitted an evil spirit seeped around the place, he personally thought dead bodies were buried close by (JDog very seldom gets these types of feelings like I do). And go figure, he also admitted that was not the sugar shack he was after, he had miscalculated and the shot of the day was still miles up the road and down a few more side roads.

So up the road and around a few other side roads (miles away) we ventured.  This time we stored our valuables in our back packs and he held my hand tightly and we ventured to the sugar shack he was after originally. Ohhhh the joys of life with a landscape and adventure photographer (from gunshots at our hotel in Zanzibar, to stalking lions looking at us as prey on the plains of the Masai Mara to watching JDog climb out of whirlpool suctions that waves pulled him into in the volcanic cliffs of Hawaii, (his equipment destroyed and his body bloody and scratched up) to smashing through glass walls in Spain (getting to know the Spanish police force on a first name basis) to having an entire German village chase us with their brooms for driving over their walking bridges throughout the town (honestly the GPS told us we could drive over the bridges.)

Moving Forward:
Listen to that voice within, trust the vibes you get, energy doesn't lie!  And above all else believe in the power of prayer. The whole time the incident was occurring prayers were going to my Maker above, with answers in the form of the gentle whispers within my being.

Don't let the bad vibes destroy your outlook on humanity. A wise man said (I am paraphrasing):

 "You must not lose faith in humanity.  Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.  Let the very first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day: I shall not fear anyone on Earth, I am brave, I am strong."


Peace Out
xo