those crazy days

There are days when emotions well up and want to flow as you hold them in check.

Startled by all unfolding before you, you stand motionless as you gaze into nothingness searching for answers.

Challenge upon challenge piles on until you feel as if you will break.

 

And then grace unfolds. 

A light as bright as the sun brings needed sanity.

 You breathe and return to center…

… knowing that crazy days are meant to show you something and maybe that something is appreciation for, well whatever you need to appreciate, so don’t get too  tangled  up in the madness of the moment.

And through it all and by all means…

keep your peepers open! ®

the hill

Last week I graduated into totally restored walk life when I headed down a hill that once at the bottom, the only way to get back to the top was for me to walk back up. Later, though not at all planned, I hiked down a slightly slippery grass slope maintaining my balance the entire way. I decided right then that I was ready to put hill walking back on the weekly circuit so yesterday, I directed my steps to Capitol Hill, a path I have not taken for over 2 years.

Some things had changed, others remained the same, yet every single thing was seen as if it was for the first time. As I headed home feeling triumphant I detoured so I could spend a few moments outside the Botanic Gardens. Couldn’t resist sitting down to reflect on the walk, take in the surroundings and feel so very grateful that with each step, I am moving forward in more ways than one.

Are you going my way? You’ll have to keep up and…

keep your peepers open! ®

thrills

Lately, I have had the pleasure of being close at home and afar enjoying the great outdoors. Weather has totally cooperated allowing me to roam freely under the sun filled sky, stroll through shading forest trees, sit peacefully beside the water, smell all kinds of fragrances, run my hands across presenting textures, and observe birds and insects.

I am still coming down from the thrills

so…

keep your peepers open! ® 

from where I sat....

Last evening I sat on a lakeside deck having a lovely dinner of simple and simply good food at the home of a lovely couple I had just met when they welcomed me into their house in a lovely part of Maryland that I have never visited before and looked up to capture this gorgeousness in the sky above.

I am always thankful for the simple gifts that present themselves at unexpected moments and like I say often, you too will find them if you…

keep your peepers open! ®

pink!

…it needs no exclamation, it just speaks for itself as it is and recently I want to wear it often. Since I have very few pink things, I reach for my pink jewels (also scant in selection) but for some reason, they don’t do the trick…bandage off, the scar was pink and full, now faded and wilted I walk amongst the flowers gathering their strength and energy; a year ago today my hip met the surgeon...so I’m absorbing fearlessness from pink starbursts, sensuality from pink shadows hiding in petal folds, zen from floating pink resting on water.

It needs no explanation, so…

keep your peepers open! ®

pour

Pop up summer storms sometimes catch me unprepared. Found myself stuck in the car waiting out yet another torrential downpour. Lately it is de rigueur each afternoon, so who am I to waste a photo op…

keep your peepers open! ®

up next fresh

I know that sleeping with the TV on is supposed to be disruptive but for me (and so many people in my immediate family and some of my friends), it helps me to drift off. One evening as I settled on something to watch that would eventually "watch me", I heard a character ask another about his first mission in space, if he was ready to go back. Yes, it was exciting, more than he imagined yet he now felt that he had "done that" and was ready to do the next thing; that going back up was "going back" not moving forward. That scene lasted maybe 3 minutes. I went to sleep understanding why I keep making then subsequently canceling a reservation to stay at a fabulous spa that I went to last year, why I have yet to return to that cozy modern bed and breakfast within walking distance to a beach full of shells, why I get antsy when I'm in the same place too long and maybe why I have to satisfy several not just one of my creative gifts. Even when I taste a dish for the first time and it lights ups my palette, I know that though I want to eat it again, it will never taste as good.

I am open to receive the new and what's next...those words spoke to me during a recent morning meditation. I like the fresh excitement that comes with the unknown that a new experience offers. Of course I return to places I have been before, order the same dish each time I go back to my favorite restaurants; as

Sade sings in one of her songs, it's never as good as the first time.

Oh, and for those who are still stuck on the fact that TV is not good for sleep, relax. Fortunately, I am able to set a timer; the TV turns itself off after 90 minutes or less long after I've arrived in dreamland. And though it's counter to this brief chat that included talk about sleeping...

keep your peepers open! ®

slow mo'

Had to do a quick run to the Whole Foods after my morning walk. I was so busy rushing to get back home to attend to the next thing on my list, that I almost missed a magazine I had never seen before. Something about its simple cover made me slow my pace to take a look; I like a fresh copy devoid of any blemishes, torn pages, or tattered covers so I left it behind only to call Barnes and Noble who located one for me. “Kinfolk is a slow lifestyle magazine…(that) explores ways for readers to simplify their lives, cultivate community and spend more time with friends and family.” Those words, found just inside the cover, are an affirmation of so much that I have been saying lately though it was much needed for me to see them at that moment.

New to me, Kinfolk has been around since 2011 but, I like stumbling onto things I’ve never seen before that when it’s time, they arrive and they are right on point. I didn’t know there was such a thing as the “slow life” style or maybe I did, just didn’t know it was a movement with a magazine dedicated to it. I look forward to reading the articles to see just how much I’m already in step with slowing it down in a city that is rapidly changing and moving fast, so…

keep your peepers open! ®

6 29

Note to self…Some mornings are more perfect than others and today was one of them for me. The first time I opened my eyes, it was not quite time to begin my morning ritual but I was refreshingly awake at 4:45AM, so I turned over to snuggle under the covers until I felt ready to start, the semi-snooze a treat of sorts. Meditation, prayer, a little Reiki, a touch of yoga nidra, my readings; when my feet touched the floor I was up and bright. I knew I was going out for a walk so before I left, I prepared watermelon/spinach smoothies for later, brushed my teeth, splashed some water on my face, smoothed my hair under a scarf, donned leggings and a shirt along with a pair of Mexican turquoise earrings and a touch of gloss, found some sunglasses and headed out. It was my kind of weather…68 degrees, cool, crisp, refreshing; had no idea what direction I would go in, so I mapped out a new path as I went along. Along the way I found a reddish-orange-yellow heart shaped leaf. I immediately thought of love, a lovely day. I had decided this walk was not to be a photo day so Lumi was not in tow however I did snap a few pics with my phone in the garden because the lilies were busting out all over! On my way back, I found a perfect small gray feather and thought about when I was a kid; finding a bird feather was a marvel then and felt the same as I picked it up. In the door, I clicked on the CD player to the Charlie Parker with Strings CD that I haven’t listened to in ages and that I didn’t get to yesterday. The first notes are those of a harp which made me stop to close my eyes for a moment before I climbed into the shower; the decision to stand under cold water before I got out was invigorating as was my pear

body oil spray. My clothes were already chosen since I did not wear the brown pants/linen chartreuse cowl neck top/gold earrings/the necklace that has tiny orange beads ensemble selected but not worn last week, so dressing was easy as was my drive to the garage. No real traffic to contend with and no idiot drivers (that would include me!), it took maybe 5 minutes rather than 15 before I was gliding down the ramp… plenty of parking spaces to be had!!! It was just a calm commute which extended to the shuttle. For once, nobody was talking to each other or on their phones as if the entire world was interested in their conversation, so I was able to read an article about travel in Live Happy in quiet, smiling all the way to the office and thinking about the

destinations I have yet to explore. Even coming into the office felt mellow on this a Monday; I look and feel radiant, a glow reflected back as I checked myself in the mirror outside my door. Peace is in my work space because right now, only I have arrived. Read my morning passage to start the work day and now sipping a cup of mint green tea with a touch of honey as I get this down. Pure Zen.

keep your peepers open! ®

PS to self - about to turn in and just had to note that my entire day went smoothly from start to finish…not one blemish…I am thankful.