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Rowan Mangan

Author. Explorer. #Looking for America.

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So Much to Tell You

28 August 2018 18 Comments

It’s a little house on a hundred acres of oak forest. A canyon built like a cradle where, over 31 months, I’ve clambered, climbed and connected.

I fell in love here.

Today has been my last day on the ranch. We’re moving 3000 miles across the country to another forest and another home, starting tomorrow.

Leaving this place is saying an extended goodbye to a kind, gentle, and lavishly generous friend.

Tonight, Marty and I walk the property, marveling as though for the first time at the way the sun slides golden up the hillsides in the evening. We crunch oak leaves beneath our feet. We track a bear by the road.

When we return home, small lights brighten the path to our house and there’s a happy glow inside. Our family’s in there. The dogs streak ahead because they’ve sensed their Karen is nearby. What greater cause for celebration? Inside, they’ll leap and grin and tell her, “What things we’ve seen! We have so much to tell you!”

I’ve moved a lot in my life, but  leaving a place has never felt quite like this. I’ve never felt the land love me back like it does here.

Tomorrow the morning light will slide down the canyon wall and illuminate the valley. I won’t be here, but that moving strip of gold and the smells and sounds of the place are going nowhere. They’re timeless. They’re mine.

Karen and I will climb into Sappho the Sapphire Subaru, along with Bilbo Baggins and Claire, in the early morning and embark on a new life. Slide eastward across the continent, towards dawn.

I don’t know what we’ll find on our journey, before we meet up with Adam and Marty in our new home town. But the journey is a place all of its own, and we’ll arrive shouting, “What things we’ve seen! We have so much to tell you!”

See you on the road, folks. Thanks for reading.

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Filed Under: Loving Inventures, Parenting inventures Tagged With: North Star Ranch, road trip, saying goodbye

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Comments

  1. Mary Walker says

    28 August 2018 at 4:43 am

    That’s a lovely way to say goodbye. Safe travels to you all.

    Reply
    • rowan says

      27 September 2018 at 5:29 pm

      Belated thanks, Mary!

      Reply
  2. MaryAnn Lowry says

    28 August 2018 at 4:53 am

    Safe travel thoughts and prayers for you and Karen. I don’t know what your path will be to your new home. My son Ross and I did a road trip to DC from Texas. While he drove I looked up local diners or restaurants along our route. Met great people and had such a great time enjoying the beauty. You will collect more stories for your memory treasure bank. Delicious light writing awaits.

    Reply
  3. Tricia Elliott says

    28 August 2018 at 5:13 am

    Beautiful, Ro. Much love and safe passage.
    xoxo

    Reply
  4. Paula M Keogh says

    28 August 2018 at 10:13 am

    Hi Ro,
    So much love in this post. Farewells pull on the heart strings and remind us of the good memories we’ve made – and point to the intriguing unknown future. The photos are beautiful. Ultreya!

    Reply
  5. Lara says

    28 August 2018 at 11:01 am

    It’s a beautiful drive East, into all the new beginnings. Anytime you see a shabby diner or food stop with lots of cars in the parking lot, that’s the place to eat. Follow the locals.

    Reply
  6. Anisha Imhasly says

    28 August 2018 at 2:15 pm

    Safe travels Rowan, what a moving tribute to a place that has loved you so well.

    Reply
  7. Kimberly Kyle Gilligan says

    28 August 2018 at 3:14 pm

    Your family gives me immeasurable insight into choosing paths for ourselves. We get to create our own journeys and stir the pot of our own sought after magic. I find delight in all of you. Exciting indeed!

    Reply
  8. Jessica Waite says

    28 August 2018 at 4:18 pm

    What a beautiful way to honour this place. Sending love as you say goodbye to your home. Looking forward to tales of your adventures from the road.

    Reply
  9. Donna says

    28 August 2018 at 11:08 pm

    Truly beautiful Ro! I could smell the air and feel the depth of connection! Safe travels.

    Reply
  10. Sean Mangan says

    29 August 2018 at 4:12 am

    Safe and vivid travelling, my love. xxxxxx

    Reply
  11. Christina Lawler says

    29 August 2018 at 12:54 pm

    “I’ve never felt the land love me back as it does here”

    What a gorgeous line. I can’t wait to feel this way someday!!

    Reply
  12. Melissa Pratt says

    30 August 2018 at 3:41 am

    Have a wonderful road trip! Some of my best times ever were on road trips…

    May you find unexpected delights in the way and a place you’ll adore at journey’s end…

    Reply
  13. Eliza Tipping-Smith says

    30 August 2018 at 10:38 am

    So georgeous ♡

    Reply
  14. Cami Pack says

    31 August 2018 at 1:28 am

    “I’ve never felt the land love me back like it does here.” <3 <3 <3 Safe journey, Ro!

    Reply
  15. Freyja Swan-Utsman says

    1 September 2018 at 11:29 pm

    notes…
    So glad you got to experience “California” in the most beautiful way.
    As the season turns, it seems a perfect time to transition.
    Releasing and turning toward the new with love and beloveds.

    Reply
  16. Amanda says

    4 September 2018 at 9:37 am

    Oh beautiful Rowan. I feel all the feels reading this. Go well love and look forward to going along for the ride on your words. X Amanda

    Reply
  17. Christine Kraft says

    12 June 2019 at 12:32 am

    what lovely things indeed!
    joy takes such courage, I quiver reading your post
    My reply, this humble bow

    Reply

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Words fail me. So I go back to the source. Words fail me. So I go back to the source.
Here’s our Fiction Friday GOAT QUOTE! This is fr Here’s our Fiction Friday GOAT QUOTE! This is from my yet-to-be-published novel, Goat Street. ✨📖✨⁠
For Throwback Thursday, I’m off down memory lane For Throwback Thursday, I’m off down memory lane for the writing of my first draft of Goat Street seven years ago. I took myself (and my mum!) on an intensive writing retreat and finished the draft in 30 days. (The rewrites took *just* a little longer.)⁠
⁠
Every night after finishing writing, I published a short post about the day’s happenings. These ended up becoming a fun record of the process. ⁠
👇 👇 👇 👇 👇 
Day 4
2794 words.
Thanks for your encouragement to continue this! You may live to regret it.
Today was: 
- baking brown bread (my first loaf!)
- islands of sunlight on the sea
- new four-legged friends
- trying to write about the magic and mayhem of a trad session at an Irish pub
Institutions are places where we get indoctrinated Institutions are places where we get indoctrinated and trained by the culture to perpetuate its norms. Like food processors for people, institutions digest all the bits of a person they can use—conformity, blind obedience—and excrete everything else as waste—your soul, your personality, your joy—because these things don’t help them run effectively. In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Rowan discuss ways we can opt out of this institutional processing to embrace our freedom and connect with our true purpose. Be sure to listen!

You can listen to the full episode on our website, link in the bio, or on your favorite podcast app.

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#bewildered #podcastinglifestyle #funnypodcasts #selfhelppodcast #spiritualpodcast #podcastshows #podcastoftheday #podcasterlife #funnypodcast #podcastersofig #podcastingtips #podcastofinstagram #podcastrecommendation #podcastlifestyle #newpodcastepisode #womenwhopodcast #instapodcast #newpodcastalert #podcastseries #podcastepisode #podcastcommunity #podcastmovement #podcastsofinstagram #podcastaddict #podcastinglife #writerofinstagram #podcasthost #newpodcast #podcastersofinstagram
Today’s Lesson From Little (which I’m applying Today’s Lesson From Little (which I’m applying to everything from professional tribulations to health).

Take the materials that are used to constrain you, and make them wings.

Also—any chance you get—sit in a puddle.*

*This one applies more neatly to my professional life than you might imagine.
Here’s your Fiction Friday GOAT QUOTE! This is f Here’s your Fiction Friday GOAT QUOTE! This is from my yet-to-be-published novel, Goat Street. ✨📖✨
Let’s throw it back! This is my weekly revisitin Let’s throw it back! This is my weekly revisiting of the writing of my first draft of Goat Street seven years ago. I took myself (and my mum!) on an intensive writing retreat and finished the draft in 30 days. (The rewrites took *just* a little longer.)⁠
⁠
Every night after finishing writing, I published a short blog post about the day’s happenings. These ended up becoming a fun record of the process. ⁠
⁠
Happy throwback Thursday! Take a ride to 2015 with me…⁠
⁠
*******************⁠
April 13, 2015⁠
DAY 3: Word count 3208⁠
⁠
Low cloud on Mount Eagle and wild weather. Yet still a few moments of dazzling sunshine. Just heading out to talk to April the Horsey and give her a carrot. Looking forward to a glass of wine and Paula’s famous peat fire tonight.
Every day children show us who they really are, an Every day children show us who they really are, and often it’s not what we could have predicted (or even wanted). It can be difficult to keep ourselves from mapping out our kids’ futures for them, but things will pop up to remind us that life may have different plans for them. In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Ro talk about children’s individuality (including their own daughter’s unexpected athleticism) and how letting go of control can help us culture-proof our children—and ourselves. Be sure to listen!

@themarthabeck 
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#bewildered #podcastinglifestyle #funnypodcasts #selfhelppodcast #spiritualpodcast #podcastshows #podcastoftheday #podcasterlife #funnypodcast #podcastersofig #podcastingtips #podcastofinstagram #podcastrecommendation #podcastlifestyle #newpodcastepisode #womenwhopodcast #instapodcast #newpodcastalert #podcastseries #podcastepisode #podcastcommunity #podcastmovement #podcastsofinstagram #podcastaddict #podcastinglife #writerofinstagram #podcasthost #newpodcast #podcastersofinstagram
Here we go! New pen, shiny new manuscript, and (al Here we go! New pen, shiny new manuscript, and (almost a) new lease on life!

This is the first day since getting Covid that I’ve been able to contemplate more than dragging self and family through the day as best I could. But today I have a treat. My brilliant mother, @paulamkeogh has written a novel called GEORGIA SALAMANDER—and I get to read it! 

What could be a better way to begin what will hopefully be a short convalescence than to read this manuscript?

(By the way, Paula is also an acclaimed memoirist and takes on a few select clients for her Memoir Mentor services. DM me if you have a memoir in you and would like to get on Paula’s waiting list.)
Here’s our Fiction Friday GOAT QUOTE! This is fr Here’s our Fiction Friday GOAT QUOTE! This is from my yet-to-be-published novel, Goat Street. ✨📖✨
Let’s throw it back! This is my weekly revisitin Let’s throw it back! This is my weekly revisiting of the writing of my first draft of Goat Street seven years ago. I took myself (and my mum!) on an intensive writing retreat and finished the draft in 30 days. (The rewrites took *just* a little longer.)⁠
⁠
Every night after finishing writing, I published a short blog post about the day’s happenings. These ended up becoming a fun record of the process. ⁠
⁠
Happy throwback Thursday! Let’s take a ride to 2015 with me…⁠
⁠
*******************⁠
April 11, 2015⁠
DAY 2: Word count 3002⁠
⁠
Nice day for it, though, between hailstones and icy winds. Snow on the mountains. Fire in the heart.⁠
We got Covid. Sorry for all the unanswered emails! We got Covid. Sorry for all the unanswered emails! On yet another horrific, impossibly painful week to live in this country, we’re focusing on being close and healing.
Here’s a little share for Fiction Friday—a tas Here’s a little share for Fiction Friday—a taste of Goat Street, the novel I’ve been working on for three or four centuries and which is out on submission with editors right now. Please hurl some good publishing vibes and spells into the void for me, friends. ✨📖✨
Let’s throw it back! Seven years ago I wrote the Let’s throw it back! Seven years ago I wrote the first draft of my yet-to-be-published novel, Goat Street, in the wild west coast of Ireland. It took a month. I unwound at the end of each day of writing with a little blog post, which I published on Facebook. These started very short, but gradually grew longer as friends started getting involved with the happenings in “the westernmost house in Europe”—which is also a key location in the book.

For Throwback Thursday, I’m going to be posting these little blogs here over the next weeks. Let me know if you enjoy them! 

DAY 1: April 10, 2015
WORD COUNT 2675
YESTERDAY I BOUGHT PLANTS Now, seven new green co YESTERDAY I BOUGHT PLANTS

Now, seven new green companions are living in our city mouse house and I’m finally perfectly in love with the space. We’ve been moving into this apartment in slow motion since the beginning of the year, trekking back and forth from our country mouse house in Pennsylvania with suitcases. 

Here’s the thing: Without plants, a room has too many right angles. Without plants, I feel less human. These plants give meaning to the skyscrapers out the window. They are the rule that proves the city’s exception. They are my friends. 

Suddenly, this is a space where I can write.

Writers: what do you need in a space before you can go deep?
UNDOING THE DAY-CRAM A couple of days ago, I was UNDOING THE DAY-CRAM

A couple of days ago, I was reflecting on the need to build some more exercise into my week. Nothing extreme: just get this creaky old body moving around a bit.

This realization led to me pulling out my calendar to see when said exercise could happen. Everything must be scheduled—which is its own form of disempowerment—but that’s another rant for another day.

The point of THIS rant is the thought process which began unrolling in my mind as I looked at the neat rows of rectangles that represent hours in my days.

Immediately, I looked for things I was already planning to do, and began assessing which of these could be combined with exercise. Could I make that call while on the elliptical without my colleague thinking I was a heavy-breathing prank caller? Could I listen to that recording on the rower? Would it be weird if I showed up to that Zoom meeting on a treadmill?

It never occurred to me to look for time slots that weren’t already full and put exercise in there as an activity to be fully present for. Part of that is that there are very few such slots in my days. But another part of it is this insidious cultural pattern that says, “Optimize!” “Streamline!” “Synergize!”

So my wild inventure for this week is to stop the day-cram. To allow myself to follow my own instincts about what my body and heart and mind and soul need. To bring music back into my days and banish the ravenous productivity monster from my mind—at least for a week.

Who’s with me? Where in your life is this spacious inventure most needed?

** This is an excerpt of a longer essay that will be sent out to all my lovely Substack subscribers (along with lots of other goodies) next Tuesday. Subscribe via the link in my bio and join the wonderful Wild Inventures community. **

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