12 Reasons

1. Saw lots of family at Thanksgiving.
2. Celebrated my dad's 90th birthday with pumpkin pie.
3. Caught up with a friend by phone tonight.
4. Found some Christmas lights.
5. Got my printer working again.
6. Replaced a much needed tool.
7. Making another fabric heart tonight.
8. Took a two mile walk in the sun (brrr...) this afternoon.
9. Saw a group of snow geese floating near the shore this morning.
10. Found a new fun coffee place.
11. Looking forward to two friends coming to visit on Tuesday.
12. One piece of pecan pie left...but not for long!

Watering in the Garden

I was in the backyard in the morning yesterday--mostly to clean out and fill the birdbaths... having finished I watered here and there... when it occurred to me that I was committing a crime by watering---there really are that many weeds surrounding the plants in the garden I was watering...sad.

I gave up watering--it brought me dangerously close to weeding--A LOT. So I switched to scooping dog poop--that was something with limits there was only so much of it in the yard. One bucket of it. The weeds would be measured in tons. Oh well, enough with weeds. I moved myself over into the prayer garden and put my feet up awhile. I tried reading, I tried writing...but mostly I found myself looking around. Over and over my eyes left the page, my thoughts wandered. I just needed to breathe. To take in the becomings of the garden and leaves of the Japanese maple, the blooming of the woodruff. It is a place to breathe.

wdydwyd? weekly blog

Ok, so you haven't heard from me in a LONG time--blame it on the heat wave here in Kent--I couldn't get close to my computer--it just put out more heat...we have 106 and didn't need more....AND now, here you have a link? Well, a friend sent this to me and it is just to good to think about. So Check it out-it is worth it. I will be back in person. Soon.

wdydwyd? weekly blog

a dragonfly came to stay

I met a baby dragonfly...I've seen lots of the big variety...but this little one bumbled his way into the prayer garden the other morning and I couldn't have been more charmed by him--or her, I can't say for sure. I don't even now how you tell. I do know there are lots of thoughts as to the symbolism of a dragonfly. Just Google it and find you will find your fill. The one that caught my eye and imagination for today is:

Dragonfly symbolism crosses and combines with

that of the butterfly and change.

Sadly, I could not capture a picture of this beauty--he was so small and seemingly see through except for a titch of blue at the end of the tail and another at the shoulder blades from where the paper thin wings extended--and as luck would have it the favored place to land was on a black rod iron decorative fence. So, you will have to take my word for it. Until you see your own baby dragonfly--I hope it is soon. It does lift your heart to see something so small winging its way around the garden.

lavender buds and poppies start to bloom

Along side our garage we have a bed of California Poppies that are all starting to bloom....these little lavender buds are from the front bed and they greet me coming and going from the front door. This is my favorite time--when there are small seas of orange and the purple is not far behind.

My current favorite afternoon pick-me-up is a homemade iced latte using Starbucks Via (yes, the instant) because I can walk in the house and drop all my stuff, mix an iced latte and wander out to poppies, the prayer garden, the patio or the couch in the living room and read or write for a few minutes before the whole dinner-evening-and-it-is suddenly-bedtime hits all in a rush.

Is it just me or does the change in weather patterns affect others too? As we swing to the warm weather-too hot--suddenly much cooler I get so tired--- Am I getting so old that even the barometer is affecting me? Gads.

Splish-Spash...they were takin' a bath...

This is pretty close to what my birdbath looked like this morning...they really are a riot when it is sunny and the water is clean and crisp. They just go for it. Of course, the fact that in between they are hoping down and fluffing themselves in the dirt...funny I never feel like doing that when I've been in the pool. This morning one little birdie just kept cruising back and forth across the birdbath. It finally jumped up on the ledge and flew up to the fence post to dry itself in the sun.

Anyway, it was a nice way to start the day. Especially a day that will be spent mostly inside in a very artificial environment. I can close my eyes and take a birdie reprieve if necessary.

reposing

I've been watching out the window as the reclining Buddha has come to be blanketed in tiny white flowers - whose name I cannot recall at this early point of spring... I had to lay down on the patio to take this picture--and the patio was none to thoroughly dry...and the dog was more than slightly interested, and now my ear is more than wet in direct relation to Edward's interest. Today is what I have been waiting for...sun. Can it stay?

We have been wound and wound by the wind and rain this week. The lilac outside my office is worse for the wear. Weary is the word that comes to mind when I look on it. But here at home the lilac is so heavy from rain and equally tossed by the wind. I have gained a wonderful view from the table down stairs that I use for my computer work as it frames the bleeding hearts and lilac. The bleeding heart under the window glistens and shimmers with the rain drops that seem to live on its foliage.

Things I have found in books...

My mind was wandering this morning--over the first few cups of coffee and for some reason I got started thinking of things I have found in books--books I have either inherited or used books that I have bought. Here are some of things that came to mind:

• a picture of someone I didn't know
• a pressed flower
• an old boarding pass stub
• a business card-not a person's, but a business
• an index card with scribbling or a quote
• a luggage pick up tag

How about you? What have you found or left in a book?

I am almost tired of multiple layers

• My mind is a bit of a jumble...some good-some chaos-some lost things trying to return?
• It is still cold and windy here in Washington
• I am so thankful for my crock pot full simmering with chicken soupy-stew
• A friend dropped off home made bread to go with our quiet evening
• Almost every part of me aches...partly the weather and partly the last few days
• My garden has hopes it will be Spring soon....soonish?
• The lilac tree is heavy with buds and bulbs are up and blooming despite the cold--it's what they do--I just don't know why
• Sad to see my beautiful blue pot with a 3 year-old hardy fuchsia is a swimming pool
• I finished a mystery last night and I get to start a new book tonight! Love it!
• I think my sleep was actually disturbed by the movie we watched last night...The Changeling...very well cast, very well done--very disturbing.

Okay dear blog, sorry I've been scattered lately. I am sure soon things will regain some normalcy around here and I will be more regular and have more energy for being thoughtful. But I know I am not alone in the feeling of depletion these last days...the dragging feeling, the feeling of too much-ness is hanging on many. There are some bright spots here and there. Thankfully.

doors and more doors

Long ago I used to stop all the long the way from here to there to take pictures of barns...for the last several years it has been doors and windows that have intrigued me most. This door is in Bisbee, AZ that I just could not pass up. Of course, it didn't hurt to learn later that the town has actual put out a whole poster's worth of great doors in Bisbee.

So, doors (and to a slightly lesser extent, windows) are my current architectural obsession. Some doors, like this one, make me wonder who I would be and what I would be about--if this were my threshold at the start and finish of each day. They aren't exactly spellbinding to most people. Ah well, no matter, for me they make affordable treasure when wandering.

in my mind--I'm still on vacation

Okay, I admit it--it was hard to come back from this trip. I miss the blue sky and warm air, the sun and the beauty of the desert. I wasn't ready to leave. We agreed that next time we would stay 10 days. I needed more time to watch and be and read...and of course with our winter being an ongoing entity, I was sorely wishing I could just stay and visit the winter instead! I must be getting old.
I do love adobe structures though I have never lived in one. This picture is from Holy Trinity Monastery--and it is the door into the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe. A beautiful still chapel with wonderful light. My only disappointment was I was hoping to find a kneeler....and there was not one to be knelt upon--anywhere in my trip in fact! I did light a candle for a few friends and loved ones and later spent time outside wandering the cemetery. I have always felt drawn to cemeteries--especially older ones--and not in a morbid way...very sacred places and I have wandered them since I was quite young.

more books in the 'to-be-read' realm

As they, "For your consideration," or mine really...still pondering what/if anything the 'to-be-reads' have to say about my state of mind or soul at the moment...

what do books have to say

I was pondering with a friend recently...
and I pondered this:

If you put a stack of 'books to read' together
what would they have to say. I guess if they were all of one subject that might say we were limited in our scope, really hooked on a subject--or we were working on a thesis or something in that realm. But what if their subjects ranged far and wide--there is a wide variety of novels, and certainly perhaps an even wider margin for non-fiction to line up against. What does it actually tell you about the 'intended-reader-to-be'?

Being someone who wishes not to jump to conclusions--especially about myself...I decided to start taking piles of my 'to-read-books' and take pictures of them. I happen to have a fair number collected around the house....ahem....it happens. So, this is my first selection. These books were all together in/on the same bookshelf.

More on this again later. Ponder your books and feel free to chime in.

Today

Ever just wake up to a day that seems filled with possibility in the midst of personally feeling aware of how tenuous life is? Well, that is today for me. Today is filled with unexpected sunshine and blue skies--yesterday we had snow and gray skies--and that makes even yard work seem possible! Well, no maybe not yet. But even so.

Yet this bike depicts better the reality of how I feel. It is a working bike all ready to be ridden--except for the fact that it has been removed from the path it once road and set atop this building with no way down... It has become a symbol of what it once was--or at least for the time being. There are lots of things in life that side track us, or worse. Instead of being able to do life we are sort of hung out to dry for a period. It is uncomfortable to say the least...whether it is happening to you, a loved one-family or friend. When something comes along and sits us down unexpectedly how do we cope?

What is your best healthy coping mechanism?

why is it?

• why is it beautifully sunny on the days I have a headache? I mean this is the NW and we do not disparage our beautiful days.
• why is it everyone is loving twitter...and yet so many of us are barely aware of it?
• why is I crave cereal today?
• why is it I have a collection of about 20 things I never knew I collected until I started to try downsize?

Okay, enough. I did learn something today...as I went through here making some changes I noticed they have little reaction boxes you can have at the end of a post. Now mind you, I love comments and meeting people that way, but I decided to see if having these "reaction boxes" would breed a little more interaction with anyone? We'll see--or not!

one last week of January

As of Friday night at 6:03pm we had heat! The only one in the family unhappy with this is--yes you guessed it, the cat who had to give up living with the standing heater, come out of the bedroom and resume living in the rest of the house. I can tell you for myself it was hard to leave the next morning knowing I would be gone all day...I just wanted to enjoy the house coming to life again...and curl up one the couch in the living room and read a book. Alas, I had an event to go to.

I can see from right here at my desk that the lilac tree has amazing buds showing already. I can also see that little flakes of snow are skirting here and there through the air. It is brittle cold out, but already buds are showing and bulbs are sending up shoots--I saw those by the front door. These signs of new growth make me itch to get outside--to see the yard come alive again, the white dogwood tree burst into bloom. I have learned I must be attentive to see it--this bursting forth can happen in an instant and then I find myself thinking, "when did all this happen?"

Well, too soon for me to be outside--with heat restored I can return more easily to my work up in the Nook. I can get back to some creative collage, some cards I've wanted to make and yes, to cleaning out the closet and reorganizing. But mostly to some regular moments set aside for creativity. Journals in need of some attention...additions here and there...scraps of paper, my beloved found ephemera and little photos....there is one last week of January to finish creating my 101 Things in 1001 Days list too!

small spaces

Well, one thing that being without heat for 2 weeks will do for you is give you a fair lesson in what it will be like to downsize. We have an awesome gas fireplace in our family room--which is attached to the kitchen....so obviously this is where we live because the fireplace is our main source of heat. Upstairs in our bedroom we have a very efficient standing heater...this is where Wilbur lives. He and the heater are having the longest standing affair I have seen. (I have lived in the islands with no heat before and the cat in that lifetime loved the standing fireplace...but despite his name, Kitty-Kitty, he was a heartier cat than Wilbur chooses to be at this point in his life, and therefore Kitty-Kitty only warmed up and then would saunter off to other regions of the house or outdoors. Wilbur just inches ever closer to the heater.)

But back to my musing....living essentially in these two spaces gives me a good idea what it will be like to downsize to a condo (though I expect we will hold out for a condo with heat.) The difference is on the way back and forth and in carrying on the rest of life--like I still leave to go to work, we do shop for groceries, etc....we pass the rest of the house. I miss our living room morning time--I am used to rocking in the beach rocker and doing my morning reading and prayers there--in that rooms light. As it is now, we have all the shades shut to keep in whatever heat we manage to muster up. Of course, someday when the house goes back on the market, and miraculously someone in this current economy buys the house and we move it will not be a matter of living in a small space in the midst of a larger space. It will be a whole new space smaller than here. Wilbur is likely to not be pleased, less corners and cubby holes to squish into. But he'll like the heat!