keep your peepers open!

keep your peepers open!

Sunday, January 31, 2016

the next

There comes a moment when spirit brings you to a fork in the road and your feet know to veer towards your brighter light. Over 14 ½ years ago, I walked through a portal that changed the course of what, prior to that step, I thought was my destiny. I began writing a new book to chronicle the next path of my life journey because I sensed that all ahead was to be fresh, unexpected. It was and a month from now, I will finish the last page of the final chapter in that book to begin writing another one and though I have arrived at forks and the end of books before, this time feels very different. I am calm, feel sure, know that not only am I prepared, I am open to receive; I felt the next beckoning and it’s exciting!

People like to refer to leaving something behind for something else as “when one door closes, another opens”  moments. I have been known to use those words myself yet right now, they don’t feel right, don’t correctly express what I feel. Rather, I really am just stepping through a portal with a life behind me that holds so much of what’s needed in order for me to move forward. So this go round, no doors will close; we may have to reach back.

And as I scribe and post this blog on my MAC Dandy (yes, I’ve named him), another first since I’ve never owned or used one until now, my fingers move with confident optimism. What’s next?…


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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

never to

As I listened to the oldies this past snowy weekend, I wondered about the amazing playlist never to be written or sung. So many great artists have left us by their own doing or have been taken by illness or by the hand of another before their next memorable song was created and heard. What sounds would they have given us to move to, create with, groove to, ponder over, love to, make us cry, drive to, move our hearts, rally to, make us think, stop us cold?

The snow fell; I sang along with, swayed to and was literally swooned by the sensuous sound of Marvin Gaye and missed what I never will hear. Somewhere above the fall, they are playing…

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Sunday, January 24, 2016

and then...

...there was snow and lots of it! I have to admit, DC has been spared from the wrath Mother Nature can dole out when it comes to weather; we haven't seen snow like this since 2010, so the way I see it, it was our turn for a bit of chaos...

The one thing I can't stand when we have any kind of severe weather is the how the local stations hijack TV for non-stop hours replacing regular programming with endless coverage of each inch of snow as it falls. Yesterday, I wanted to call in and say, hey, we can look out our windows and see for ourselves and for Pete's sake, the city is shut down, so can you just shut...well let me not be rude and rather, commend them for working long hours to keep us updated. I’m just a kid at heart and as those news and weather folks recited the course and impact of the storm, I was busy anticipating the moment I could get out there in it. In 2010, I had to force the downstairs door open against a deep drift; it was no different yesterday and when my feet, all booted up in my rubbers, stepped out the door, the first thing I felt was not the flakes hitting the uncovered part of my face but the instantaneous cold hitting my toes! I quietly shrieked it was that biting though not enough to keep me from kicking and sweeping a path down the stairs into knee high snow. I trudged through as best as I could exhilaration (and cold) turning my cheeks bright pink. My car was blanketed, I could barely get to it but I did and cleaned off the first 13 plus inches.




Back inside I shed wet garments, found my fleece-lined slippers and was making a cup of hot green tea when hit with a flashback from childhood -- hot cocoa after a romp in the snow, time sledding or helping to shovel the driveway -- well tea it was to be though I had everything to make hot chocolate. I always love when it snows, hate the work waiting in the aftermath, and truly dislike the ugliness of it all when the snow gets dirty. Snow brings on a desire to get in the kitchen, make comfort foods, something I know so many others enjoy. In years past I would stir up a batch of chili or a pot of soup however, I had no desire to do either this go round so when I fortunate enough to fly through a packed grocery store in just 10 minutes the day before the storm, apples, avocados, my favorite rice crackers, croissants and Jiffy Pop (part of that flashback!) were all that I purchased since I already had essentials at home. As the storm began on Friday, I
whipped up a big container of avocado chocolate pudding; Saturday morning I baked apples, the cinnamon and nutmeg filling every room with delicious warmth. I sipped tea smiling at the many changes that time brings as we move through life, the blizzard outside doing its thing (and then I tuned into WHUR, my alma mater's radio station and the party was on...Rick James, Parliament, Sly & the Family Stone, Ohio Players, Whispers, Marvin Gaye....had to pull out and play my own CD's when the oldies segment ended at noon...so much for popcorn, movies and the couch, maybe Sunday I thought as my feet remembered the steps to dances from back in the day...I got my groove on until almost dark when thankfully coverage of the storm gave way to figure skating followed by a long nap on the couch).


I have awakened at 1:35AM and the view out my window is a white powdered stillness that is comforting; it’s all over. As soon as the sun comes up, I will head out again to get my fill of the thrill and beauty of the snow before the reality of the clean-up hits so...

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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

small wonders

It is a wonder that these small blooms blossomed during the winter months, I am sure they were a bit confused by the warmth of the soil and air. Each was no more than two inches though they may appear to be larger in the photos. Barely noticeable, their glimmers of color hidden amongst the tangle of seasonal thickets called to my eyes as I mindfully walked the garden path.







There is wonder in the weeds if you…

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Sunday, January 17, 2016

heaven

I was fine until I wasn't. A virus can do that. One minute you're exchanging pleasantries with someone, the next minute you can barely speak. So when the doctor sent me home with a Z-pack and instructions to get in bed and rest, I didn't argue.

Five days later, I fluffed the pillows after a long shower, smoothed the sheets, and crawled back under the covers, Pandora tuned to jazzy piano; I felt more alert and got lost in the pages of a lush magazine that kept me warm for hours. I stuck post-its in several places along the read, will remember without a reminder many of the thoughts shared in the passages, this being one of them: I had a dream the other night. I was flying through the sky with a good friend who passed away. We looked down and she said, “That's heaven”.

Heaven truly is right here on earth, to be enjoyed and appreciated right now. I don't know what the heaven above will hold, hope to not know for a very long time so I’m going to follow the message I posted as a New Year's greeting -- live life more, live life well. To that I shall add live life heavenly and...

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...for Happinez magazine

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

a drop


every moment is extraordinary - jon kabat-zinn

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Sunday, January 10, 2016

fire walker

Why is it that when we see a fire, rather than call for help we walk straight into it and wonder why we get burned?

Why is it that when there are people in the fire who don't call for help or refuse to acknowledge their situation, we feel the need to rush in to rescue them?

Why is it when we're standing in the fire, we must be the one to take over, lead the way when there are others who are capable?


Please know that my use of the word fire is not literal but rather a metaphor for being in control or inserting ourselves when and where we may not need to, for our hesitancy to say no or maybe nothing at all, for the belief that if we don't do it, it won't get done or worse, it won't be done the way we think it should be. Heaven forbid we allow others to manage situations, assume responsibility, figure things out, find solutions -- it's exhausting!

Maybe we should stop to think that perhaps the reason we are where we are, so good at what we do is because someone, maybe more than some one afforded us the opportunity to step up, move forward...fall down. That in order for people to deal with fire, they do need to misstep, have the chance to seek answers without interference, make mistakes, and experience failure so they can learn just as we learned. We can't do everything, be everywhere. What we can do is lend advice when those around us need guidance and we must do it with some sense of decorum even if no one ever did that for us. Of course there will be times when we have to be firm, take over, run in with the water or even discipline, we just need to know when it is that time. One way to do that is to pause for a deep breath as you...

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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

away

I have flitted away for a few days so until Sunday…

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Sunday, January 3, 2016

twenty sixteen

twenty sixteen
is no longer a dream
of the future for now it is here.
good tidings, no fear
carry into the year
as we greet the new days of our journey.
two zero one six
brings a big bag of tricks
for use to do good not for harm.
so sound the alarm
time to throw down the arms
and seek understanding despite difference.
for it’s time to find tolerance, patience and peace
acceptance of all so violence can cease
in a world that we know is in need.
and may love for life
trump infliction of strife
in two thousand one six, bless us all.

Happy New Year! May you live life more, live life well and always…

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