Wild Wednesday – What I Did This Summer

For those of you with offspring, do they still have kids write the obligatory essay on summertime activities in school?  I thought I’d give you a little reminder of summer if, like me, fall has closed you in with clouds and rain.

Instead of being in front of a computer, this is where I spent most of my free time during June, July and August.  And a good chunk of September.

Strawberries, corn, carrots, raspberries, grapes, potatoes and onions.

Also garlic, peas, beans and basil.

Boy did it keep me busy, but I loved every second of it.  I learn something new with every season, and I think that is the best part about gardening.  Exercise for the body and the mind.  Although if you look close, at the end of the row you’ll see I’m not above sitting to do my weeding.  That is one of the beauties of raised-bed gardening, it’s that much less distance you have to reach down to weed.  The other bonus is, you can plant more closely, so fewer weeds sprout.

I learned that if you plant beans (and peas) too close, you will end up with a towering mound of vines.

 

 

In my head, I nicknamed it ‘The Monster Pile’ because it really was a monstrous pile o’ beans and peas.  The peas only produced so-so, and I ended up with these little worms inside the peas on half the harvest, so the humans didn’t get much.  The chickens, on the other hand, were delighted with the infested peas, and ate them up happily worms and all.  The beans produced like crazy, with no issues.  I ended up freezing some for Hub and I and donating the rest to the local food bank.

Next year though, it’s all about the placement.  Hub has kindly volunteered to put some work in on making another planting bed in another part of the yard just for the beans and peas.  Love him!  This will let me space the plants better, and improve harvest.  Many of the beans ended up choked, or tangled up in the vines because they just swamped each other and couldn’t be harvested or weren’t useful.  Again my chickens benefited.  When we pulled the bean plants at the end of the season we just tossed them to the flock.

The girls also got the cobs from the corn, after I’d blanched and frozen the kernels.  I was greedy, I kept all 4 gallons of corn and it’s sitting happily in my freezer just waiting to be steamed, or made in to chicken corn chowder.  Yum!

I did put some pretty in my garden too.  From the showy:

 

To the simple:

 

But seasons turn as they always must, and my once overflowing garden is now (mostly) bare and dying away.  The asparagus has been put to bed for the fall, the carrots and grapes have been plucked, the strawberry plants are starting to lose their leaves, and the potato bags have been moved into cold storage in the garage.

 

Now, I’ve begun my next garden experiment.  Fall/winter garden.

 

Carrots, onions and beets.  I dropped the seeds in the rows and figured if they sprout, I’ll see if I can make them overwinter for early spring harvest.  Well, they sprouted, and are still looking remarkably happy.  I am equally happy because I no longer have to water the no-so-little guys anymore, Mother Nature is taking care of that chore for me.  I have to do more research on just how to get them through the winter and growing again, but I suspect I’ll mulch them in a few more weeks, and then hope for spring goodness.

And that is how I spent my summer.  In addition to what I’ve put up, I donated a little over 20 pounds of fresh produce to the local food bank, fulfilling a promise I made to myself at the start of the season.

Here in Seattle, I’ve heard lots of moaning and groaning about fall and winter coming, and how much they miss the sun.  I’m often asked if I miss Southern California and all the sunshine.  My answer is no, not one bit.  I love how the seasons turn up here, and the grey and rainy days are the perfect excuse to sit and write.  During the summer, my creativity just wasn’t flowing, so I put all my energy into the garden.  Now, the ideas I let lie fallow during the summer are springing forth renewed.  Everything has a right time, a right season; something we humans are prone to forget in our hyper-technological world.  The trick is connecting to that seasonal, earthy energy that is part of our very being, but once you do, wonderful things happen.

How do you connect?  How do you renew yourself?  What pastimes fulfill you and recharge your mental, emotional and spiritual batteries?  I would love to hear your stories!

 

 

Also….the pictures in this post are all under copyright to me.   Please ask before you use.  Thank you!

 

Sorry I’ve Been Gone So Long…

I took the summer off, sort of.  I still had to go to the day job, of course; bills and mortgage…you know how that goes.  I had surgery in late June, and that was pretty much the last time you heard from me.  It’s not that anything bad happened, but it was this really transformative experience on multiple levels.

At some point in life, you’re going to reach a point where you realize you can’t do it all.  I know that everyone’s journey through this life is different.  We all face difficulties, and I thank Spirit that, while I’ve had my hard times, mostly my life has been very blessed.  But also, that our journey through the adventure that is life is uniquely our own.  I reached a point where I recognized that I’d taken on too much, and something had to give, that something was my blog and social media networking.  I’m not very technical, I deal better with warm bodies, so when I found myself falling asleep in my chair at 8:30 p.m. over dinner night after night, I knew I had to let the blogging and writing go for the summer.  I had other things I had to focus on.

In retrospect, I can see that my exhaustion was part of my healing.  It didn’t help that right after my surgery, I found I couldn’t sit to write for protracted periods, it was just too painful.  So I fell out of the writing habit in a few short weeks, and then the garden exploded.  Not literally, but my part time hobby was not so part time any more.  It’s totally been worth it!  See:

The one well-kept corner of my yard.

And then there’s the girls.  Remember my little chicks?  They’re all grown up:

The flock out enjoying some time in the play area.

Isn’t she a beauty?

They only just started laying a few weeks ago, but it’s so nice to have fresh eggs once again.

Frankly, summer up here in the Northwest really has been awesome.  We’re looking to break a record, we’re approaching 51 days without measurable rain.  That is unheard of for Seattle!  It feels like being back in SoCal, with sunny days and temps in in the high 70′s.  Gorgeous.  I mean really, it doesn’t get any better than this:

Or this:

I also realized I needed to do some work on myself.  With the surgery, and going through my healing process, I realized I had to make some changes.  I’m active; at work, in the yard, but it’s not enough to maintain health, so Hub and I joined a gym.  I’m not the weight-lifting gym rat that I was in my 20′s or even 30′s, but I’m going.  It was a bit disheartening to recognize how out of shape I drifted, but I also was gratified that I can still get on the cardio, and my body still remembers the proper form for deadlifts and squats.  I’m eating healthier too, more greens, more salads, less junk food.  Even though I still so WANT to run and just get a yummy burger and fries at time.  Still do, but FAR less than I used to.

I’ve tried in the past to get healthier, exercise more, yada, yada, blah blah.  This time, it seems to be sticking, at least for the last few months.  The key, for me, was realizing I’m not perfect.  I gave myself permission to fail.  We’ve all seen the memes running around Facebook with the inspiring quotes about getting back up, and making mistakes, right?  The most important lesson I learned this summer is this:  It really doesn’t matter how many times you fall down.  What matters is that you get back up.  Bounce back up, ease back up, ask for help back up, it doesn’t matter, so long as you get back up.

So this is me, getting back on the blogging horse.  I may be rusty, but I’m back.  Nice to see you, and thanks for reading.

Weird Weekend – Kreativ Blogging In The Zombie Apocalypse

Emma Meade  has nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger Award.  Many thanks to Emma, who shares with me a love of things paranormal.  Emma offers up reviews of books, movies and television shows with a paranormal slant.  So many I couldn’t begin to catch up.  Be sure to check out her blog, especially if you’re looking for your next good read or celluloid adventure.

The rules of the Kreativ Blog award are:  You must thank your nominator and link back to her page, tell your readers seven things about yourself, then nominate seven other bloggers.  Share that blogging love!

Since it is Weird Weekend, I thought I’d share with you some of my weirder experiences:

1.  I used to work in an upscale lingerie and sex toy boutique; entertaining and educational all at once.  I’ll never forget the guy who disappeared into the dressing room to try on women’s latex bondage wear.  He came crawling out on all fours, paused in front of the mirror, patted his behind and asked,  “Do you think my mistress will punish me when she sees me in this?”

2.  I talk to the dead; always have.  Scan back to some of my earliest blog postings.  If you like the scary side, read about this London ghost  but the dead do have a sense of humor, like the one that lived in the house I grew up in.

3.  I am sort of, not really, kinda prepping for the zombie apocalypse.  No walkers are making it into my neighborhood, and my neighbors share my dislike for the undead.

4.  I follow conspiracy theories.  I don’t believe every conspiracy theory, but I enjoy reading about them, and following the author’s research and documentation.  Some of my favorites:  Roswell – I think a UFO really did crash there.  UFO’s in general, abduction phenomena, crop circles, love it!  Remote viewing and the military – Men Who Stare At Goats is watered down, but yeah, I think this one is plausible too.  Not a conspiracy, but Bigfoot, he’s practically a neighbor here in the Pacific Northwest.  Friends of mine swear that they heard one on a motorcycle trip; for a half an hour they could hear it howling and moving about on the side of a mountain.  I believe them!

5.  I’ve had two sort–of near-death experiences.  The first one still vivid to me:  I had multiple high fevers when I was very young.  During one of them, I found myself floating near the ceiling, looking down on my body, lying on the couch.  My mother was kneeling next to me, and her head was down on her arms.  I realized she was crying, and then pop!  I was back in.  The second one, I fell into an empty pool when I worked at the zoo, and was knocked unconscious.  Days later, after the concussion and general fuzziness started to fade, I had this urgency of needing to get out of Southern California, that I had other things I needed to do in this life.  Within months, I’d quit the job I loved and moved to Seattle.  Within a year, I was in nursing school, and within two years, I met the love of my life, now my husband.  It was the start of a spiritual journey that is still unfolding.

6.  I have found that if you tell the universe what you want, she will provide it.  But be careful what you wish for.  Found that out once when dating an ex-Navy SEAL.

7.  I have found that if you approach what angers or scares you with compassion and an honest attempt at understanding, it can effect change not just in you, but also in what you are confronting.

Now, I pass on the Kreativ Blogging Award to these wonderful writers.  Please visit their blogs and say hi:

Tameri Etherton

Melinda VanLone

Lena Corazon

Jansen Schmidt

Susie Lindau

Alicia and Roy Street

Samantha Warren  

Weird Weekend – Vampires, Werewolves, and Bestsellers, Oh My!

So I’ve got to work on the consistency thing, but it seems that for the first time in a long time I’ve bitten off way more than I can chew.  Getting the garden going, managing feeding, watering and cleaning up after 29 chickens takes up the little time I have after work.  I found myself falling asleep at my computer!

But with the weekend comes extra sleep and some free time, so here is my next Weird Weekend installment.

Source: http://www.dvd-ppt-slideshow.com/blog/get-free-twilight-saga-new-moon-powerpoint-backgroundstemplates/

On my breaks at work, I’ve been reading New Moon.  I’m sure this will cause legions of girls to hate me…but I was not impressed with Twilight, and didn’t get its appeal.  There must be far too many years between me and my angst-ridden teens.  And while I was deep in their throes, yes, I fantasized about odd things, but nothing about snuggling up to an icy cold, sparkly dead guy sounded awesome then or now.  So I mostly yawned through the pages, irritated by Bella perpetual klutziness and self-deprecation and Edward’s arrogance and obsession.

I picked up Twilight in the spirit of research.  I’ve written my own urban fantasy novel about werewolves, and for the two years I was constructing my own world, I avoided the genre.  I’m a hardcore geek, former RPG’er, and life-long sci-fi fantasy reader, watcher, but by the time I came up for air and looked around, I was astonished by the sheer volume of choices out there.  It is staggering, and I decided to start with this vampire/werewolf series, and try to figure out what was Twilight’s ‘IT’ factor?

Is this hot, or not? Source: http://digitalcitizen.ca/2009/12/30/twilight-and-new-moon-wallpapers-1024-x-768-pixels-part-1/edward-cullen-poster-1024×768/

I finished Twilight a few months ago and was baffled by ‘IT.’  A friend told me that the devotion Edward had for Bella was the hook for her, “I just wish I could find someone to love me like that.”  To me, a stalker-ish dead guy with control issues is not sexy, it’s scary.  To tell the truth, I found his character unlikeable, and Bella irritating.  I was somewhere between 30 and 50 pages into New Moon when I realized ‘IT.’

I guess I am on Team Jacob, because he is so much Edward’s complete opposite; Stephanie Meyer emphasizes his warmth and Bella calls him the ‘sun.’  I never understood Bella’s attraction to Edward, but Jacob is another story!  And somewhere in Bella’s mental maunderings I began to hear echoes of my 16-year-old self.  I realized that if I were 16 right now, I would be devouring these books whole again and again.  I wouldn’t have been into Edward, but I would have been all about Jacob.  I too, would memorize every word, and treasure them up like gems.  I was in a fair way to disliking the series, and somehow Stephanie Meyers managed to connect me to a person I thought I’d left far behind, my teenage self.  I got ‘IT’!  In Bella’s self-talk I could hear echoes of the young girl I was, sifting through every word said and expression change.  What teenage girl has not thought that she was nothing special?  Not pretty enough, not graceful, and always managing to say or do the wrong thing?  Bella does all that and more and yet she still manages to get two (well, ONE, in my opinion) awesome, not to mention legendary guys to fall for her.  How can that not cause hearts and minds to race, and imagine, just for a little while that you are that one, who, as my friend said, is so utterly loved?   I even felt a little guilty that a declaration of devotion from a teen pre-werewolf could make my heart beat a little faster.  I guess shapeshifters are just my thing.

Source: http://www.fanpop.com/spots/twilight-series/images/17273251/title/jacob-black-wolf-wallpaper

What about you?  Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?  Do you get ‘IT’ or do you not understand the appeal of these books?

My Oldest Friends

Do you re-read books?  I do.  They’re like old friends that I visit with from time to time.  The words run across the page, filling my mind with welcome, familiar images, but it’s the emotions they evoke that really capture me, and bring me back again and again.

Lately I’ve been reading and re-reading some of my favorite books for research.  Jane Austen, Robert Heinlein and Edgar Rice Burroughs have all been in the rotation.  Recently, I needed some insights into character dialogue, so I went to one who excelled at witty banter between clever and believable characters, Georgette Heyer.

Are you familiar with Georgette Heyer?  If you write romance or read romance you need to check out her Regency novels.   Blazoned across the top of each tattered copy I own, ‘Hers set the style for all the rest.’  It’s true!  Georgette led me to Jane Austen, and every other Regency romance is measured against their standards.

Since she was writing in the 1920’s, her language may seem stilted or difficult to follow to more modern readers.  Some of her sentences become very involved, and as familiar as they are, I find myself having to go over them once or twice to get the gist of what she’s saying.  But that is their charm, and what draws you in.  She takes you into the world of fashionable London during the reign of the Prince Regent.  From 1811 – 1820, or 1795 – 1837, depending on how you’re slicing it, the Regency period in England is the transition between the Georgian and Victorian eras.  When you read Georgette Heyer, you sink into this lost era, the one that brought us Lord Byron and Mary Shelley.

If you want character development, clever twists, and just plain fun, you cannot do better than to read Bath Tangle, the one I just finished tonight.  Lover’s triangles, high society, and the lovingly detailed backdrop of Bath, England are blended together charmingly in this frothy romp.

I was looking for arguments, conflicts and fiery exchanges between characters that are desperately in love with each other and trying just as desperately not to show it.  Through Lady Serena Carlow and the Marquis of Rotherham, Ms. Heyer dishes up some delightfully spicy fights.  Plenty of flame and passion, yet these characters…wait I don’t want to spoil it!  Read it and let me know what you think.

My old friends inspire me to be a better writer.  I try and write the kind of stories I want to read, and to recapture that sense of wonder I spend time with those stories that have moved me, elated me, made me cry, and made me laugh.  I find there are no better teachers.

Do you re-read old favorites?  Or go through books once, and then never look back?  What writers have inspired you?

Eleven Questions

Just when I was needing some inspiration for getting back into my blog, I was tagged by the talented Rachel Funk Heller for the Eleven Questions Game.  You will definitely want to check out her blog and read the answers to her eleven questions.  Here’s her answer to number 4; I want to be at this dinner:

“4. You can invite any three people in the world for a dinner–anyone alive. Who are your guests?
Bill Moyers, Rachel Maddow, and Sting”

Here’s how the game is played:

1.    You must post the rules. 
2.    Answer the questions on your blog. Create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3.    Tag eleven people and link to them.
4.    Let them know you’ve tagged them

So, here’s what you’ve all been wanting to know about me:

What is your favorite cruciferous vegetable?  None.  Really, I am not a fan of broccoli, cauliflower, etc. and so don’t eat them.  I even tried broccoli sprouts once, thinking to get the health advantages, and had to feed the bitter things to my hens.  And they weren’t thrilled with them either.

At what age did you realize Santa Claus, might not be real?  I was under the age of 10 because by then I was desperately in love with Han Solo and Santa was definitely a kid thing.  I don’t remember though if I was 8 or 9 when I realized that Santa used the same wrapping paper as Mom.  Hmmmmm.

Where is the worst place you have ever made whoopee?  In a very prickly thicket, with only a thin blanket on the ground.  Ex-boyfriend thought it was ‘romantic’ to do it outdoors.  Sure, fine, but fewer sticks underneath would’ve made it a lot more comfortable.

What is your favorite rodent?  Rats.  Really, I’ve had multiple pet rats.  They are very affectionate if raised right, and highly trainable.  Pet rats come in lots of varieties and color schemes.  I mean come on…isn’t that cute?

 

List your five favorite letters of the alphabet.  In no particular order:  H, I, J, K, and L.

If you could be a Spice Girl, which one would you be?  Probably Sporty Spice, I would love to be able to do backflips.

If you were a super hero, what is your super hero name and your special power?  My special power would be talking to animals, and my name would be Chatterbox.  I would wander the streets chatting up the pets of your favorite celebrities and then blog about all their deepest and darkest secrets.

What is your Drag Queen name? Take the name of your first pet, and the name of the first street you lived on.  Inky Regatta, which conjures up all sorts of images.  Hmm, I feel a new character coming on…

Boxers or Briefs?  Boxers all the way.

You’ve just made an embarrassing fast dash into an elevator car, after you make it and the door closes, you are panting and out of breath, you look up and there is your favorite celebrity of all time: what do you say?  “Quick Han Solo, tell me again what a scoundrel you are!”  You notice that’s the second time I’ve mentioned him?

What is your favorite Halloween costume of all time?  The chain mail bikini a very old friend made for me one year, worn over my leather bikini, with a swirling cape and trusty sword at my side.  Then I wore it to a Renaissance Faire the next year.  Oh, what fun that weekend was!

So now it’s my turn!  I get to ask the questions, here’s what I want to know about all of you!

Dream vacation anywhere, and I mean anywhere; here on earth, out in the cosmos, favorite fantasy realm or time period, and why?

When did you first realize you were a writer?

How would you like to reach bestselling author status:  traditional publishing, with agent, editor and one of the big 6?  Or go it alone, a-la Amanda Hocking style, self-published all the way?  (If you are already there, which route did you take, and how’d that go for you?)

Last movie you saw, and what’d you think?

You can no longer write!  Gasp!  How do you express your creativity now?

If you could wave a magic wand and fix just one thing, anything you like, be it pollution, politics, or maybe just the way your hair frizzes when there’s too much humidity, what would it be and why?

Is there life after death?  Do you want there to be?

Favorite ice cream flavor?

Who’s on your list?  You know, the exception list, as in:  “Honey, yeah, Han Solo just called and he’s good to go.  You know he’s on my list.”  (Ok, so he’s my favorite example)

You can take a trip, and find out 100% absolutely without a doubt that there is a God, but the process of finding out takes a couple weeks, and involves some risk and personal physical sacrifice and pain.  Would you take the trip?

What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon as a kid?

Inquiring minds want to know:

Emma Burcart 

Pat O’Dea Rosen

Coleen Patrick

Alica McKenna Johnson

Louise Behiel

Jansen Schmidt

Kara P. Flathouse

Jessica O’Neal

August McLaughlin

Diana Murdock

Deborah J. Hughes  

I look forward to reading all of your answers!  Happy Easter to all, may your day be filled with love, joy and the blessings of your family.

And because I just couldn’t resist:

 

 

It’s So Good To Be Back!

 

Yeah, remember that song, Sister Golden Hair by America?  I always loved this line:

“I’ve been one poor correspondent, and I’ve been too, too hard to find,  but it doesn’t mean you ain’t been on my mind.”

As the song says, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t thinking about all of you out there, blog followers, and fellow WANA’ers.  I will be catching up and getting back in the round of reading, following, blogging and tweeting away this week.

Some of the time I was dealing with life issues, some of it I was helping some friends through a few crises, some of it was my own body needing some down time, and demanding it by catching cold.

Mostly though, I needed to step away from writing.  Part of that was my own process in writing my WIP, but I also had a breakdown in my faith in myself.  How many of you out there have had that moment of questioning:  “Is this really worth it?  Can I really make this writing thing work?”

The short answer is yes.  No, I’m not getting paid yet, but in the round of distractions that kept me from the computer, I kept finding my thoughts straying to, ‘oh, I should write that down’, or, ‘that’d make a great blog post.’  I found the direction I needed for the major conflict in my WIP.  I found that even though the words slow down for a while, they always come back.

I recently read an article that said our best solutions come from our unconscious.  When we ‘let go’ of an issue or problem that is bothering us, it frees our subconscious mind to put its supercomputing powers to work.  I have had plenty to take my mind off my writing angst.

What distractions?  I have 26 of them to be exact; chicks arrived!  A little over a week ago, Hub went to the post office and collected our order of chicks.  Yes, post office, they came through the mail from McMurray Hatchery.  And yes, they do just fine without food or water for the trip.  They still have a remnant of yolk sac that provides them with enough nutrition and hydration, so they do not need to eat or drink for the first three days.  This adaptation allows mama chicken to hatch all her eggs, which can take a few days, and then she takes them out of the nest to get food.  It also allows hatcheries to ship live chicks via priority mail.

They have been a handful to care for!  Feeding and watering twice a day, changing their litter, plus all my other animal and people chores meant I fell asleep as soon as I was done eating dinner, at 8:30.  It’s a good thing most of them won’t be around for very long, the 16 meat birds will be ready for the freezer in 2 months.  The 10 egg-layers are going to be the only permanent residents.  Here’s some pics of the little darlings.  They’ve grown amazingly fast just in the first week.

 

 

 

 

I’ve also started my garden for the year.  Hub built me my first cold frame:

 

 

There is sits, with carrots, lettuce and spinach seeds safely tucked underneath and, hopefully, germinating.  This weekend I’ll work on getting my tomatoes, beans, peas and corn going.  I might try peppers too.  Those seeds I’ll start inside though, too cold still for those tender things outside.

 

So hello again to all my friends out there in the CyberWorld!  It’s pretty fast paced out there I know, hope you all remember me.  If not, I’ll remind you!  I’m looking forward to catching up on all of your blogs too!

A Brief Pause

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  A cold had me down and away from the computer.  Now I have tons of housework to catch up on….ugh.  Makes me want to just crawl back into bed again.  But, up and at ‘em, and still the writing must wait.  But, until I can get back to my regularly scheduled programming, please enjoy the following YouTube selections.

Something I will be whole and healthy for; the premier of John Carter.  I think I spent more mental time on Barsoom than almost any other literary world, except maybe Pern.  I LOVED these books, and always wanted a banth.  Please enjoy these clips, I know I did.  Now, all I can do is wait for Friday.

 

 

 

 

More to come soon, on John Carter, on dog training, and of course on the paranormal!

Get Back UP

 

I wrote about inspiration a week ago, and boy did I need to find some.  I don’t normally like to say this, but it’s been a bad couple weeks.  Everything’s relative I guess, no one died, I didn’t find out someone’s deathly ill, but everything just went to blah.  The weather was dreary and wet, and I was hurting on multiple levels.  Even my favorite songs couldn’t lift me up; I needed to dig deeper.

 

It started with slamming my hand in the car door.  BAM!  Great, now I can’t write.  So while blog posts, and plot twists and new stories swirled and jumbled in my head, I couldn’t get them out.  Frustrating!  The pre-holiday rush at work slowed after the New Year started, and then a massive snowstorm took even more hours away from the paycheck that covers the mortgage.  That’s why there’s a savings account, right?  But it still makes me sweat.

 

Friday, February 3^rd would have been Dad’s 79^th birthday.  He died on May 1^st 2010 after a long, slow and painful slide downward.  It was the kind of disease progression that makes you long for the person to die and end the suffering.  And then you feel like a horrible daughter.  You might think that being a mediumistic psychopomp, and able to talk to the dead would give some relief from the grief and sense of loss that his absence makes, but no, it doesn’t.  Even though I know that Dad’s spirit is alive and well, I miss being able to hug him, and hear his voice.  I broke down again last night, while Hub held me close; the void that was Dad’s place in this world still hurting because I couldn’t call and wish him Happy Birthday.

 

It gets better, it gets easier, but sometimes, I just have to cry it out.

 

Then, a miracle happened.

 

I was starting to seriously consider seeing a doctor to fix my hand.  A hard lump that ice and ibuprofen had no effect on, pain, and that whole not able to write thing, had me on the edge of freaking out.  Oh my god!  What if I can’t write anymore?  Yeah, I know, hyperbole, but when you’re having this conversation inside your head, things always seem horribly final.  When I poked and prodded at my hand, testing range of motion and pain, I thought it possible I’d dislocated something, but wanted to give it a little more time.

 

Enter my friend K.  K is a powerful woman in all respects, a businesswoman, singer extraordinaire, and amazing friend.  She grabs my hand, all unknowing of my injury, and squeezes, doubling me over.

 

“Oh my god, what’s wrong, what did I do?”  She was instantly concerned, so I told her what had happened and tried to reassure her.  “You didn’t know; it’s okay.”  I said while trying to calm the waves of pain flowing up my arm.

 

“No, no, no!”  She was insistent.  “I do that!  Why do I always do that?  I seem to have this sense that knows wherever someone is hurt and I grab it.  Why is that?”

 

“You’re a healer, so you’re drawn to where people hurt.”  The words popped out of my mouth before I could stop them.  K was pleased, like the concept hadn’t occurred to her before.  “Do you really think so?”  I nodded, shaking and flexing my hand, which was no longer throbbing, and we moved on to other topics.

 

Later that night, I ran my thumb over my injury and did not feel the large lump that had been there.  Really?  It can’t be that easy.  It was.  The lump was negligible, the pain almost nonexistent, and…I could write again!  I had to tell K she had fixed my hand, and she was thrilled.  Hmmm.  Will have to check and see if she’d like a Reiki I attunement…

 

These weeks have been a great reminder that life is a rollercoaster, not a flat track.  Exhilarating, funny, and wonderful, but also scary, sad and painful.  I had to remind myself that when the coaster takes you down on a plunge, there will be an upswing on the other side.  But you may have to get up and go looking for it.  Don’t try and deny or repress the sad, it will only eat you up from the inside.  Get it out, let it go, however or whatever that process is for you, and you’ll find the courage to pick up and keep going.  Remember also to be kind to yourself.  There is no time limit on grieving or healing, it is it’s own process, and it’s yours alone.  Take it, own it, and learn from it.

 

Today is a beautiful sunny day.  I’m writing, I have my home, my family, and life is good.  I hope that you are all doing well.  Drop me a line and tell me about it!

 

Pictures taken by and under copyright to me.  Please ask permission before use.  Thank you!

Inspiration

Where do you find it?  The inspiration to write, to create, to change your life; where do you find your inspiration?  Do you find it in your meditation?  A walk through nature?  A song on the radio?

 

We all get those thoughts, or feelings that enter our brains and whisper softly, seductively:  Do this!  But how often do we follow through?  What keeps us going?

 

There are times in your life when a certain song will help you find your inspiration or get you through those tough moments.  Here are some of mine!  They’re 80’s songs; I told you once before how much I love them!  And I am a product of that generation.

 

Whenever I was feeling blue about a boyfriend, I’d listen to:

 

 

 

When I was a gym rat, and needed inspiration during my workouts, I’d put on:

 

 

Or

 

 

And when I needed to find that inner strength to make a major life change:

 

 

 

At some point in my life these songs spoke to me, on some level that made me reach down and find the will to keep going.  Are they cheesy?  Sure, maybe, but they had the power, at some moment in my life, to inspire me to keep going.  Finish that work out, give love another chance, take a giant leap of faith.

What are some of your inspirational songs?  What makes you want to get up and move?  Which one keeps you going when you feel like you want to quit?