Spirit Lifters-Day 19 of “being grounded” Part One

Sometimes, I’m oblivious to beauty.

It’s always there though.

It’s almost embarrassing to discover how long I might have ignored a beautiful offering from Nature, from the Universe…

But then the SUN, loudly and clearly, spotlights a thing I hadn’t noticed, something I’d been ignoring.

I can’t always capture it with my camera, but it’s usually impossible to walk by without a pause to appreciate…

You really must try it…

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Shells from Fiji Trip…time to looked at those photos again…

 

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My FAVORITE piece of art…that I hadn’t looked at in a while

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wonderful couple I married, that I wanted to call

New Mental Health Regimen

For every 5 minutes spent searching for, and reading, the terrifying news we all need to be responsible to know about now, balance it with at least 5 minutes (maybe 20) of searching for, and reading some, of the amazing good news happening all over the world right now.

Writing you from Ground Zero in Washington State, USA., I know the Bad News all too well so I am determined to add to the good.

I spotted a couple great items around here yesterday.

First, for all the struggling local parents whose working lives revolve around and depend on their children being in schools that are now closed (some for weeks), one neighborhood is doing this creative thing.

Social distancing friendly scavenger hunt

Since the only safe get outside activities include walks, I have a proposal to inject some fun! (Borrowing this from a friend out of state). Daily window scavenger hunts! Tomorrow, let’s do Shamrocks (a day late, but who cares!) Basics: 1. Put the thing in a window on the front of your house. 2. Call it exercise (walk) 3. Call it math for you kids (count the [shamrocks] each day. 4. Call it art class the day before: make a [shamrock]. Let’s see if we can find a bit of joy. If you see someone else counting on your walk, wish them luck, from 6+ feet away!

 

Another has organized a group sponsoring Food Trucks from all over to come to suburban neighborhoods (from all their gas station parking lots) to bring Meals for whole families. This both feeds folks who can’t find open restaurants, and helps support the many local food truck businesses.

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And of course, SPRING just keeps happening, relentless and unstoppable…thank you Nature!

Weekly Prompt-Valentine’s Day “Special” 2/14/2020

We’ve been challenged to post about something that’s “special” to  us….

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James, holding a handmade birthday card (big in our family) from his inherited grandson…

I love this face!! The MOST special thing in my life….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valentine Day ‘Special’

Photo a Week Challenge 9/19/19 Stacked!!

I already LOVE this week’s challenge!

First the DATE! How fun! As a kid, I always told everyone 9 was my favorite number.

Also, as a kid, the word “stacked” meant something very different than the way Nancy Merrill is using it here. Don’t worry. If you are old enough to remember that use of the word, I will spare you any “R Rated” photographs…but here’s a word picture for you.

My last name was Bessey, which got mean-girl turned into “Busty”……because I wasn’t! 

I was the very last girl in my P.E. class to wear a bra! And boy, did I get teased about that. But understanding just a little about genetics, even in junior high school, I knew a time might come when I deserved the nickname Busty. My mother, aunt and grandmother were all…uh, hugely STACKED. It just happened to each of them a bit later in life! Where are those Mean Girls now, huh?

Back to what I’m sure Nancy intended with this challenge…

It has taken me all week to figure what I might have in my life that is “stacked”. I have been completely blank…even last Saturday when we went to the Farmer’s Market. I actually took pictures but never equated the two things. Duh.

 

Then a trip down to the beach did not trigger an idea…duh.

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Next, I house-sat for friends and took a bunch of photos out the kitchen window, trying to capture the interaction between a feisty squirrel and sarcastic Blue Jay! Uh duh.

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And again, with the Universe shouting in my ear, on the long drive home, listening to early morning radio, there was a delightful debate among the D.J.’s about the piles of rocks one finds while hiking the Pacific Northwest trails. One suggested these stacks were Art. Another, a memorial. And the third, irate by the way, insisted they were trail markers, both directional and as a warning to indicate some difficulty.

I still could not figure out any thing in my life that was stacked. It wasn’t until going through old photos that I started to get a clue. First I spotted this…a wonderful house on Alki Beach called the Flower House. Check out the STACKED rows and boxes of flowers!

 

 

That made me think of our Mountain Retreat. Look how many stacked railroad ties that are holding it all together!

Casa-before new bathroom

 

This reminded me of a trip we took this summer to Glacier National Park. We stopped for gas and I fell in love with this stacked rock wall.

 

You know, denial is a funny but powerful thing. I had all these hints and arrows pointing, but I STILL had not remembered the most obvious example of “stacked” in my life. There’s a good reason for that. I don’t want to think about it, but maybe confessing it here to you, will inspire me to get off my you-know-what and finish a massive task I took on 5 years ago.

I love our Casa in the mountains but parts of our paradise can be pretty gray, barren of vegetation for long stretches of the year. And though it serves an essential purpose, one of my least favorite views out of more than half the windows, is the massive stacked rock wall along the whole back of the house and driveway. It is actually a work of art in its way but it’s just bleak, all year round.

So I took it upon myself to brighten it up! I am NOT a gardener of any kind. I plant Primroses every year because they are the laziest, easiest thing I could find to bring color into my suburban yard. But we are at elevation at the Casa and very few things survive winter and the deer….except certain succulents!

So for years, I have been experimenting with just a few types at a time. Those amazing plants grow practically right out of the ROCKS. And so far, some have wintered well, and apparently are not of interest to our wildlife population.

 

But this wall of stacked rocks is over 60 feet long! It may take the rest of my life but little by little, I’ll get them all decorated!

Now I understand why I completely “forgot” about this example…literally right in my own backyard!

Whew! Stacked indeed!

 

Thanks for reading and I so love comments!! Especially from those Readers I have not welcomed or interacted with yet.

 

 

https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2019/09/19/a-photo-a-week-challenge-stacked/

SongLyricSunday 2/17/19 theme-mountain, hill

I’ve posted this song before, just don’t remember if it was for this challenge or not.

I’ve always loved the song and all it says, but it wasn’t until pretty late that I found the love of my life, and he just happened to live on his own “ridgetop”.

So now we live in both homes…my humble, ancient, hodgepodge house in the country part of a city. And in his glorious mountain home, all hand-built from recycled, reclaimed, re-purposed materials.

Our Ridgetop!

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Two versions…same song, different photography,,,both lovely!

Ridgetop by Jesse Colin Young

Well, I live on a ridgetop
And, Lord knows, I like it just fine
Where it’s windy and foggy
And quiet most all the time
Yeah, my lawn is pine needles
And my driveway is old funky dirt
And my front pathway markers
Are pieces of granite and chert
Now, my taxes are high
But I don’t believe it’s a sin
I’ve got hundred foot pine trees
That just love to dance in the wind
And a yard full of bushes
That turn into pie in July
Between blue jays and hoot owls
I’ve got twenty-four hour singing sky
Now, when I built my house
I cut six trees to clear out the land
But there’s thirty or more left
And you know that they’re gonna stand
It’s a squirrel sanctuary
They think this woods is their home
And as long as I’m here
I’ll make sure people leave us all alone
Yes, the hill that I live on is steep
And the road’s full of ruts
And the people who live in the flatlands
Think we folks are nuts
But the ruts in my road and the curves
Keep the tourists at bay
And it’s lonesome and peaceful
And you know I like it that way
Now, I work in the city
I think my job is a gas
And I know it’s good for me
To travel and get off my a**
But the nervous parts of each trip
Is the Golden Gate Bridge
And the road like a snake
That will lead me back home to my ridge
Ah, I live on a ridgetop
Yes, I live on a ridgetop
And I like it
And I like it .

 

https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/64726988/posts/2175747300