BLOGGING AGAIN! HELLO ALL!

Skagit Valley Tulip Fields

Sending you all a quick wave!  I am at the tail end of a week in Charlotte NC, riding shotgun with husband who gave a talk on Hydro Power Operations and Maintenance at the Hydro Vision Conference.  Why is this so amazing?  Well, he is … um … over 80 years old and had a stroke last September.  He is doing quite well!  Lots to be grateful for.

I am heading home with new resolve to finish revising my 3 manuscripts. I am considering entering bits and pieces of my writing here.  Give me _ _ _ _ if I don’t follow through!  Grin.

MUSIC AS FOOD FOR OUR EMOTIONAL SOULS

Our Garden Rose

I’ve been in a  pensive non-productive mode for a while, but music has always been a powerful

Site from one of the Beaches Deception Pass, Washington State

emotional trigger in my life. This one is a favorite. The words can be transposed to many of the emotional events in our lives, in our writing, and in the ways of life in this world. Enjoy if you have the time.

Andre Rieu “Don’t Cry For Me Argentine”

Gratitude List

Autumn Trees in the Pacific Northwest

On those days when grumbles surface, catching them before they rule the atmosphere, challenging the negative with the good things often brightens the day, lifting me out of a funk into a different place. While blogging tonight, the list got longer and longer, so I’ve left many big and small things out. Had to quit somewhere!

Below is the gratitude list I could think of tonight …

-Husband, Children, Grandchildren, Brothers and their families
-Friends and Freedom
-Continuing Community Education
-Continuing Writing Education
-Kindness received and given
-Reading and writing
-Music
-Social networking with readers and writers, Connections
-Imagination, Problem Solving
-Walking
-Logical mind, even though one tracked & at times absent

Fresh nutritious salad

-Fine Doctors to keep me ticking … and walking … along with access to great health care
-The Internet, Computers, Printers
-Universities, Colleges, and Libraries
-Telephone calls, and long conversations with loved ones and friends
-Cell phones.  What ever did I do without one?
-Television, especially PBS, and Radio
-Relatively good hearing
-My Prius automobile, and my husband’s Highlander 4WD ( we usually keep cars for 15 years)
-The dogs, King & Buddy (Yellow & Chocolate Labs)
-Gasoline
-Food, fresh, organic when available, Good well water
-Vegetable garden provided by husband in the summer
-The 24 minute drive through beauty to get to the outdoor swimming pool
-Pain medication, Vitamins
-Minimally invasive Surgical techniques to solve many problems
-Memories, Bird songs, Breezes, Boat rides
-The present moments
-Large bodies of water, lakes, oceans, rushing streams
-Photographs that quick start memories

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau AK

-Mountains, Glaciers, rain forests
-Trees, bushes, berries, flowers, grasses
-Autumn colors, Sunsets, Clouds, Blue sky, Rain, Snow
-Crocuses signaling the arrival of spring, and Pussy Willows
-Change that challenges
-All the senses, taste, smell, touch, see, hear and the 6^th sense, intuition
-Compassion given and received
-Love, given and received
-Hope, Faith, Trust, Destiny and believing there is a purpose to all things, as in order in the chaos
-Freedom from practicing religion and respect for those who do

-Struggles.  Ouch.  Hate to mention this one, but all internal change, spurred by struggles, provided learning, an increased capacity to feel, to love, to reach out.  Didn’t learn much while having fun.  The hard times had a purpose.  They did pass.  Often understanding followed. But didn’t understand when in the midst of a struggle so eventually learned to wait it out.

The entire gratitude list is woven into the evolution of my soul.
Would love your comments and additions to the list.  Have a good week all.

Embracing change and love on Thanksgiving?

Was this the first Thanksgiving?

On this Thanksgiving Holiday, many of us will be in tight quarters with those we love.  Some we seldom see, some we dearly love, some we find irritating, some are tired and the celebration duties are wearisome, some have lost loved ones and are grieving, and some of us are simply alone, either by choice or by circumstance.

Is it possible to be carefree about tradition?  Unyielding to keep things the same and capture old memories can be destructive to relationships as folks often come from different traditional backgrounds.

The Thanksgiving celebration is not about food, though food is part of the celebration and tradition, but the day is set aside to give thanks, share hope and love, and keep in mind forgiveness, tolerance, understanding, acceptance, kindness, sharing, and change.  Yes change.  Nothing can stay the same … or like a pool of water, it becomes stagnant.

How many ways can we show our love? Giving thanks every day of the year?

• Care for loved ones when illness strikes.
• Back off when loved one is frustrated.   Ranting space is often a need.
• Do something unusual and unexpected for another.
• When you need praise or attention, don’t assume the  loved one will know it … ask!  We all need to be appreciated and for them to know we need that from them could make them feel valued.
• Enjoy the freedom from judging those who are different, or who are struggling with problems.
• Give loved ones freedom to grow, and let the loved ones know that you also, need to grow.
• Trust, if not in them, in God (My spiritual life does not include religion, but to each his own.)
• Allow freedom, accept the present, and give messages of hope.
• Find something to admire and mention it.
• Don’t expect loved ones to make you happy.
• Happiness is within, but we grow through tough times, evolving to a higher plane.

This is a lofty list but can we be thankful for that which we desire to achieve, and for that which we already have?

Wishing a very wonder-filled day in America to all the Thanksgiving celebrants, and to the world in general.