Hands

“I feel a thousand capacities spring up in me.

I am arch, gay, languid, melancholy by turns.

I am rooted, but I flow.”

(Virginia Woolf, The Waves)

My hands are becoming busier now that Spring has settled in.

Gardening. Soil underneath my nails I carefully clean pots that have set out all winter. Huge planters must be emptied, cleaned, oiled and prepared for this year’s flowers and herbs. I’ll do a few outdoor tasks then come inside to clean up, carefully washing my hands, digging soil out from beneath fingernails and applying lotion or cream or oil. Rest up, hydrate, talk to my husband. Then, it’s time to put my hands back to work chopping, mixing, preparing the evening meal. One hand holds a glass of wine while the other stirs vegetables in a cast iron skillet. We eat what was prepared and talk about our day. Then, time to clean up, hands dipped into hot, soapy water. A final grand show of their abilities – washing, rinsing, drying and putting away. Clean the counters.

Hands are such wonders, aren’t they? I am rooted, but I flow daily with Gratitude for my hands.

Orange Reflections

Happy birthday to Spike Lee!

Good Day Sunshine…

This morning I watched gaggles of geese and braces of ducks flying north. They skimmed the water and they soared high in the sky. Spring is definitely coming. You can feel it in the air, see it in the storm clouds, and more importantly smell it in the earth. Flowers are popping up – dandelions, daffodils, snowdrops, crocus, wildflowers. I keep my wildflowers for the bees and butterflies. No chemicals on my lawn – only compost. Compost and love.

I was welcomed back yesterday! Thank you so much! Since I know people are reading me I’ll not be gloomy, but the occasional moody picture is a thing of love for me. So, I’m back!

Ch-Ch-CH-Changes…

Here I am again. I’m still at the beach, going through multiple … things. Like everyone else. However, I’ve not yet figured out what I’m going to do with all this stuff. All these multiple things. Blogging seems to be calling me.

So I’m back trying to figure out how this new WordPress works. The advantage now is that no one here knows me so I can kinda bitch about things. That, plus none of my immediate family follows anything that I do. I could have a gallery exhibit in the Louvre and they couldn’t care less. My soul is gloomy today just like the photo above. Gloomy Soul. Maybe I should rename my blog Gloomy Soul. Kinda catchy. So I’ll close and see how tomorrow goes. Thanks for reading.

Monarchs and Fritillaries

My dog loves to hunt for moles, digging holes as she goes sniffing along. Deep holes. All the way to China holes. At first I bemoaned these holes, fearing a broken ankle or leg by falling into one. Instead, these holes became opportunities as neighbors and friends began giving me cuttings and babies from their own gardens!

Delightedly, I filled these random holes with crocmosia and milkweed. While randomly placed at the moment one day I plan to connect them into a wonderful native plant wildflower garden. In the meantime these monarchs and gulf fritillaries do not care that my garden is in progress, only that they are receiving nectar.

Milkweed out of random doggie holes. Lemonade out of lemons.

Direction

In addition to the recent diagnosis of RA the year has been filled with a myriad of challenges, not unlike your own. Tackling these challenges during a health issue have been interesting.

My mother recently moved in with us and she has mild dementia. Shuffling her legal papers, paying her bills, refilling her prescriptions, setting up new doctors, moving everything to our state, changes of address, etc., all during a freaking PANDEMIC has tested us all. My husband has been a godsend. My mother is a wonderful, patient woman and I’m very blessed to have her here. I love her – we are best friends and have been for decades. I’m happy to be doing this for her, having her here, helping her at this time in her life.

Just goes to show you that we are not in control of our lives. Just when you get comfortable that’s when things will begin to morph, to evolve. Follow the signs, be patient with yourself and give yourself lots of love.

Life Throwing Curve Balls…

This is the first blog I’ve written in a while. Life has changed my course.

I’ve been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, which isn’t really “arthritis” but is instead a disease. This disease has diminished my capacity for doing photography and sitting at a desk playing in photoshop. It’s also stopped my pre-dawn walks, of which I’ve been fond of for two decades.

It’s been quite the learning curve. Between medicines (which have been worse than the disease) to pain management RA has temporarily taken over my life. That said, I do intend to win. I may not walk in the pre-dawn mornings but I can walk in the sunset skies. I WILL photograph again and begin to share once more on my blog. In the meantime I look forward to catching up with everyone’s thoughts here in WordPress.

Enjoy the sunrises….

Hearts Above

 

 

“The superior man understands what is right;

the inferior man understands what will sell.”

Confucius

 

Confucius so got it.  It’s amazing to me how we have all learned so much yet nothing seems to change.  Or, Bill Watterson says something like this – Day to day it seems nothing changes, but suddenly one day everything  is different.  I’m unhappy about today’s politics and am ready for that “suddenly one day everything is different” thing.

YES, I will be voting.  I vote every year, every election…even the midterms.  But there’s something fundamentally wrong with Washington DC.   I believe it’s when Citizen’s United was passed by the Supreme Court.  And the gerrymandering.  Now, we are an Oligarchy.  Clearly we are no longer a Democracy.  I love my country but barely recognize it these days.  What do you think?

Silent Sunday

 

Pause

 

 

Pause to reflect on the goodness of Life.