Month: October 2018
“Don’t Lie to Me”
Please feel free to comment…..
Music Playlist for Changing Relationships
The story behind the need for this playlist in the first place is way too long (and very personal) so I will spare you. The short version is this. The combination of music represents the ending of the very best, most fulfilling, most love-filled 25 years of my life.
And even though I put together this CD in the first place for a very specific, very close group of dear friends…chosen family, really…I have found this group of songs really helpful in my therapy practice for several clients needing to grieve over the years.
The info about, and lyrics for, each song are available online (would have made this post way too long) and I hope if any of this music speaks to you (sings to you?) that you’ll research further.
Grieving the changes in Relationships
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Miles Away by Marc Cohn
Sometimes we just need to be in the feelings for a while.
Help me Understand by Juliette Wyers
      Then comes the struggle for meaning.
We Just Disagree by Dave Mason
Sometimes this is the only thing that makes sense,
Thank U by Alanis Morrisette
      And then we can move into Gratitude, even for the difficult
Thank You by Karen Drucker
      Slowly adding to our list of appreciations
My Thanksgiving by Don Henley
      Until we realize, we wouldn’t really trade a minute of it,
Love Heals the Wounds it Makes by Eva Cassidy
      And any left over pain will slowly mend,
I Miss You by Randy Newman
      Leading us back to our original state of Love and oneness….
Voyage of the Soul by Frederick Delarue
      Where in lies the greatest peace of all.
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge-10/28/18 theme- Just for FUN!
OK so I have a lot of photo shoots with a strange group of “models”.
And it is definitely when I have the most FUN!!!
Once upon a time, there was a tiny village and they fell in love with a monster who came to visit.
The Village Dogs just loved this visitor and knew that even though she LOOKED terrifying, she wasn’t! Maybe it was the way she took care of her monster sister?
And the sister had a friend, nick-named Badfish, but not because he was bad. He was just “BAD”.
The Monster stayed for the holidays and helped decorate the tall parts of the tree the tiny villagers couldn’t reach.
Then the village teenagers, a non-violent gang, invited the monster’s whole family to join in the annual Cow Tipping Contest! What an Honor!
The Monsters didn’t quite get the “tipping” part but definitely enjoyed climbing the cow!
Next, there was the annual competition to see who could climb the tallest Blue Building, and the Monsters were a huge hit!! Their audience raved about it!
The Monsters loved their new Village but some of the town’s people were upset by one of their bad habits!
The End
(although maybe not. One of those giant turds appears to be an EGG!!!)
For more on the story of my becoming a Bug Mother, read this:
SongLyricSunday 10/28/18 theme–Give/Giving
I’ve posted this song before and probably will again as it is still one of my favorites.
Years ago, I used it as the centerpiece for a mixed CD I made for a group of my very best friends…when we had all become estranged over an unfortunate, and apparently irreparable conflict.
I thought I was being so creative and took a big chance reaching out as I really believed the music might help us heal someday.
I don’t know if they ever even listened to it…but I rarely give up. After all, it’s only been 15 years….
My Thanksgiving (I put my favorite line in RED)
by Henley, Lynch, Winding
A lot of things have happened
Since the last time we spoke
Some of them are funny
Some of ’em ain’t no joke
And I trust you will forgive me
If I lay it on the line
I always thought you were a friend of mine
Since the last time we spoke
Some of them are funny
Some of ’em ain’t no joke
And I trust you will forgive me
If I lay it on the line
I always thought you were a friend of mine
Sometimes I think about you
I wonder how you’re doing now
And what you’re going through
The last time I saw you
We were playing with fire
We were loaded with passion
And a burning desire
For every breath, for every day of living
And this is my Thanksgiving
Now the trouble with you and me, my friend
Is the trouble with this nation
Too many blessings, too little appreciation
And I know that kind of notion, well, it just ain’t cool
So send me back to Sunday school
Because I’m tired of waiting for reason to arrive
It’s too long we’ve been living
These un-examined lives
I’ve got great expectations
I’ve got family and friends
I’ve got satisfying work
I’ve got a back that bends
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving
Have you noticed that an angry man
Can only get so far
Until he reconciles the way he thinks things ought to be
With the way things are
Here in this fragmented world, I still believe
In learning how to give love, and how to receive it
And I would not be among those who abuse this privilege
Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge
And I don’t mind saying that I still love it all
I wallowed in the springtime
Now I’m welcoming the fall
For every moment of joy
Every hour of fear
For every winding road that brought me here
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving
For everyone who helped me start
And for everything that broke my heart
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving
This song is from the album “Inside Job”.
PS If you by any chance want the playlist from that mixed CD, let me know in “comments”. It is a great one for grieving when relationships of all kinds change.
Song Lyric Sunday Theme for 10/28/18
Wordless (mostly) Wednesday 10/24/18
VJWC (VJ’s Weekly Challenge) 10/22/18- theme River
Here’s my entry for VJ’s weekly challenge, River. Her’s is great and worth a visit!
V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #20: River
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I ran away from home when I was just a kid…I mean, a LONG way from home.
Left my beaches and my ocean in San Diego, and headed east in search of peace.
Ended up in Natchez, Mississippi, and lived with relatives I thought could save me.
I guess they did, but not how I had hoped they would.
I lived in Natchez throughout high school, learned very hard lessons about education, religion, music, politics, and friends.
Left there in search of my adult home, and for people less confusing. In the deep South, they were, and still can be, the most warm, open, loving, giving people you will ever meet…and some are also historically and genetically predisposed to be filled with hate and prejudices. Dual Realities.
But that river. She really gets under your skin and draws you back and back and back again. And I’m glad she does because without her pull, I never would have ended up with the love of my life, James. Natchez was his San Diego.
So we go to visit as often as we can. Ol Black Water, indeed. (sound track for your visit to THE River.
LensArtistChallenge#16-BIG Can Be Beautiful Too 10/21/18
I love photography that shows how much ones perspective (assumptions) can change simply by comparing one photo of something to another photo of the same thing. The following four photos are each one half of one of those comparisons. These are the half that show how beautiful BIG can be.
These next are from our Epic Roots Road Trip last summer. We visited the HUGE remains of an antibellum home North of Natchez, Mississippi, called the Windsor Ruins. While walking around and through these ruins, it required some seriously imagination-stretching to be able to see just how big and beautiful this mansion must have been.
http://www.mdah.ms.gov/new/visit/windsor-ruins/
On the same trip, I was really moved by the beauty of these big boulders at a rest stop, of all places. I couldn’t help but consider how in the world they all ended up in the precarious positions they were in. And the color of that big southwestern sky…very different from the more rare and much deeper blue of our northwestern skies.
And you might have to stretch to see any beauty in my beloved big bugs! It took me a while but now, to me they are amazing and gorgeous!
You can read their story here:
Walking With Intention Day 20 by Kathie Arcide
(The Featured Image at the top is a big beautiful bridge over the big beautiful Mississippi river, from Natchez to Vidalia, Louisiana.)
SongLyricSunday 10/21/18 Theme (Sorry, it’s lost on me…)
I know I can’t be the first person to post this when I could not think of a good song for the week’s theme….can I???
Kind of a fun version of the song, though a lousy video.
You Can Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac
Lyrics
Loving you
Isn’t the right thing to do
How can I ever change things
That I feel
Isn’t the right thing to do
How can I ever change things
That I feel
If I could
Maybe I’d give you my world
How can I
When you won’t take it from me
Maybe I’d give you my world
How can I
When you won’t take it from me
You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way
Tell me why
Everything turned around
Packing up
Shacking up is all you want to do
Everything turned around
Packing up
Shacking up is all you want to do
If I could
Baby I’d give you my world
Open up
Everything’s waiting for you
Baby I’d give you my world
Open up
Everything’s waiting for you
You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Songwriters: Lindsey Buckingham
Go Your Own Way lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
October Photo a Day Challenge,catching up, days 16 through 19
16. Macro,micro
17. Landscapes
18. Green-orange-yellow
19. Clouds
Macro, micro…sort of. I just loved this teeny tiny blossom…
Landscape. Much to my neighbors dismay, I do NOT landscape. Hey, when it grows wild like this why would I? Maybe I did take it too far when I planted flowers in a toilet in my front yard, but I was making a point. I have lived here long before their houses were even built.
And at our other home, Nature does a much better job of landscaping than we could anyway.
Oh we tried landscaping…lined the driveways with rocks and boulders. I even planted 30 Primroses along this lower driveway.
Not really sure which of our “landscaping” visitors had a problem with all those flowers but hey lasted literally TWO DAYS!
It could have been dinner for any of these guys…
We did have to put in a retaining wall of huge rocks, but it was so ugly, I have been slowly filling it with succulents that so far, no one is eating. It will take me YEARS to fill in all the crevices and cracks but then it will be beautiful!
In the mean time, the boys and I will continue to haul Beach Rocks from the San Juan Islands to landscape the little side yard…
Green, orange, yellow.
Clouds.
There. Caught up.
https://citysonnet.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/october-photo-a-day-challenge/