Month: April 2020
Spirit Lifters–Day 40 of being “grounded”
It may be difficult these days to think about being creative, but I’m telling you right now, it is absolutely your best defense against the situational depression that is starting to creep in for many, many lonely people, stuck at home.
My dear friend Brenda has been making these amazing pendants lately…before the Virus arrived. I had given her a bunch of broken bits and pieces of old jewelry to use in her pendants and she surprised me by making me this one. She hadn’t known that the tiny blue and silver dangle she used on mine had actually came from a necklace my Dad bought me on a trip to Mexico when I was about 9 years old. I LOVED that necklace from my Daddy. I wore it well into adulthood.
When the Virus hit, Brenda got inspired and made this beauty!
It’s big enough to fill both hands!!! I
t’s gorgeous, and one has to look again and again to see all it’s beautiful messages
Here’s what she wrote:
This is my latest creation. I’m calling it; Corona Heart 2020
During this very challenging time, I’ve had some really hard days, and some easier ones. There’s been fear, anxiety, shock, sadness and death, but there has also been compassion and caring for one another in new ways, people reaching out and helping, singing, healing, joy and even beauty. It’s such a mixture during this potent time. I wanted to create a piece that reflected all of that.
Heart – I chose the heart to represent love, kindness and compassion. The heart is inclusive, caring, understanding, forgiving, strong and knowing. It can hold great pain and great love.
Yin/Yang – I’ve always loved the yin/yang symbol – a symbol of wholeness. Reminding us that life includes it all – light and dark, life and death, joy and pain. The circle is divided into black and white, but not straight down the middle. They are nestled together, holding one another; with a point of light in the dark, and a point of dark within the light – integrated and whole. Life!
Pink – The color pink represents compassion and caring, and during this incredibly difficult time, it’s come to honor the health care works and first responders and all the people who are risking their lives so that the world can still function.
We’re all in this together, and love is what heals. Let your heart shine!\
So your job now is to lift your own spirits and go create something!
Then share it with the rest of us.
A Photo a Week Challenge: Glass 4/13/2020
I LOVE Glass…all kinds…always have…fascinated from childhood on…blown away at 5 years old, watching a glass blower make little animals at the San Diego Zoo. Started collecting those animals, one Zoo visit at a time…had 50 or so by the time I reached adolescence…fell in love with Cobalt glass eye cups and medicine bottles (after an eye surgery at 6 years old).
At this writing, my collection of blown glass figurines is packed away so no good photos, but here are tiny samples.
An addiction you say? Well, probably. Undeniable proof? The Glass Museum in Tacoma is one of my favorite places on the planet, and the fact that I often give a trip to the museum, or a Glass Blowing class (held in a small local studio) as birthday and Christmas gifts!
My collection has become unmanageable, out of control so I had to put myself on Glass Buying Restriction a few years back…
I have combed antique stores, garage sales, swap meets, etc. my whole adult life, and have found some real treasures.
Mostly bottles of all varieties…
But once people who love you, know you have a weakness for something, mine being blue glass, they have a perfect (and easy) way to find gifts for you, so my collection grew from bottles to all things blue.
And there have been favorites along the way…too many to show you so I picked these at random
And this one I thought was an odd candy dish…until I got it home and really looked at it
But really, my favorite use of this Cobalt Collection is designing playgrounds for my BUGS!
WordlessWednesday…NOOOO!!!
I’m tired of no words!! I want some words!! Apparently, because I am so visual and kinesthetic, (NOT very auditory), I need way, WAY more WORDS than most. (Probably one of the things that makes me a good therapist.)
I mean these Zoom meetings, and SKYPE Sessions with my clients are great, actually modern day miracles, in my elderly opinion, but I want to TALK with someone, lots of someones, and be able to use the rest of my senses in a conversation!!
I miss walking arm in arm with someone. I hate that the little kids in my neighborhood that usually run up and hug my legs (I’m everyone’s Grandma on my street), are now coached (appropriately so) to stay far away from me. I miss comforting a neighbor, friend or client with a hand squeeze, a shoulder pat, or a big, long, juicy hug!
Whew! Glad to get that out!
Now, onto my WordlessWednesday post.
Spirit Lifters; Day 34 of being “grounded”
Now, PLEASE
WORDS WORDS WORDS
Lots of them in the Comment section!!
Thank you!
Spirit Lifters; Day 32 being “grounded” 4/6/2020
First, if you don’t know about the Decorah Eagles on the Raptor Resources site, it’s worth a visit, especially right now!! (And if you already know about this, I empathize…it’s delightfully addictive!)
(This is the general, 24/7, live camera.)
But don’t miss;
If this is too long, start at about 3:35 in and watch as long as you can! (Just don’t blink at 3:45!)
And here’s the second episode of “Some Good News”…a must see if you are a Hamilton fan!
In Honor of……..
Bill Withers, what a loss…
And on today, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gone from the planet for so long, but never from our hearts.
I’m going to go deep inside myself to see if I can find what they might say about our current predicament….
I invite you to also.
Please share what you find in “comments” if you wish.
Love to us all.
Spirit Lifter-Day 29 of being “Grounded” Part Five
If THIS doesn’t bring a smile, the Virus has already WON!!!
Fight it! Fight back!! Don’t give in!!
And if you need even more “uplift”, read (or re-read) this!
Warning: Cuteness Overload! (first published in January, 2016)
Well, it all started early last June…..
1) This guy starts visiting outside regularly and riling up Phineas and Zorro (our indoor Cat Bosses).
We think this is an “Evil Wild Tomcat”, just stirring up trouble.
2) Then James has a big surprise. He sees movement under the wood pile, just beyond where we sit on our porch swing to look out over the valley. He literally drags me dripping out of my shower to come and see!!
It’s a close call but, after a while, I convince him to put this baby back where he got it as it is WAY too little for humans to mess with.
3) Then later that day I see a different ,but regular visitor in our yard and she is glowing in her bulging state, so I have to take her picture.
(Can you see why she is “glowing”?)
4) James, uninterested in my Mama Deer, has stationed himself by the woodpile, you know, just in case….
5) And sure enough, look who he finds!!!!
UH OH!!
We already have two “very bad cats” (aren’t they all?)
So I am screaming, “NO, no! For god’s sake, don’t FEED them!”
I had a hard time getting James to put them back. I’m afraid we may have three new residents if I don’t watch him (James) closely!
6) Speaking of watching closely, apparently “Evil Tom Cat” is actually “Protective MOM!” Here she is guarding the woodpile.
7) And as if this was not enough “cute” for one day…as we arrived home from a quick trip to town, look who we nearly ran into!!! Our Glowing MOM!
She is still licking them off.
First suckle.
We watched as she led them off into the woods for safety, and no doubt, so she could have a rest.
She’s not so Robust/rotund anymore, is she?
8) Had enough Cuteness for one day??? Not so fast! We get home and have to check on our 3 new little “guest” kittens, right? And guess what!!!
We discover this white one!
Now THERE ARE FOUR!!! So far, anyway……..
I’m exhausted from delight!
As Paul Harvey would always say “And now, the rest of the story.”
Any guesses as to which one we kept??
We eventually found homes for 3 of them, with folks who were committed to socializing these terrified feral kittens, but this little tough one, the smallest, would just not leave us alone. She would bound out of hiding to see us, even as her siblings would scatter and hide.
Meet Lucy, named by my grandsons who wanted her to have a strong (super hero) girl name. (The movie Lucy had just been released and though they were not allowed to see it, they got the idea from the previews.)
(parts of this story were published previously in Pacific Northwest Green Friends Newsletter)
Next Chapter:
Lucy’s Story
WordlessWednesday (no joke) 4/1/2020
Madrid, Pandemic response