~~~Gratitude~~~

Helloooo~~ I am still around...I haven't been lost in a snow bank..... 

I have been taking a bit of a computer break.  This winter is sort of dragging on.  Usually, by this time in February, I am getting nervous the winter will be over too soon.  Well, this winter has got me wondering if it will ever end!  Besides copious  amounts of snow it has been bone chilling cold!  For 3 days in a row I skipped my daily snowshoe and I admit to getting a bit cranky.  But, Sunday we finally had a respite with temps in the low 30's.  I got in a snowshoe, a walk on the road with a good friend, and best of all, my duckies got a bath!  I have much more to tell you about this long month...including BEing here for 20 days in a row!!  But for now I will be content with sharing (and revisiting) this balmy Sunday!  Yesterday and today are frigid again....but at least the sun is shining and no snow is falling!!

GRATEFUL for Duckie JOY!!!!

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your moments of Gratitude. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~

Summer Solstice ~~~Gratitude~~~

I have been in this neck of the woods since 1986.  Over the years I have become a part of a wonderful community.  There are the usual get togethers around the expected events in folks lives but, I have had the Extra Ordinary experience of being a part of a group of women that celebrate and share our most intimate dreams and thoughts.  The group has been fluid over the years meeting often or occasionally.  The "members" evolve as well, some new and some I have known since 1986.  Busy lives and possibly growth has had the group evolve to meeting twice a year on the winter and summer solstices.  Our most common custom is to share a meal and spend the night around a campfire.  But this year we had a very special gathering out on a boat in Belfast harbor!

Someone in the group followed her dream big time!  She got a boat!  We were invited!  It was amazing, wonderful, and a wee bit adventurous!  It took two launch rides to get us all out to the outer edge of the moorings.  It was a perfect night!  

I am inclined to spend much time alone.  I actually hadn't been to one of these gatherings in a few years.  But I could not resist the the lure of the sea!  I am so glad I went and not just for the great venue and delicious food.  I am grateful to be a part of these women's lives.  I am grateful to be growing old together with them.  I am grateful for a place that confidences, dreams, sorrows, and joys can be shared.  

I am a lucky gal!  Thanks ~YOU~ know whos!

A beautiful evening spent with beautiful friends on the beautiful waters of Belfast, Maine.  

~~~

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

*Grateful*

I have needed quiet lately.  There has been a shift.  A dear member of our community passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack late last week.  He was only 62, a loving father, husband, & brother. One of a trio of brothers who adds light and joy to our neighborhood.  A wondrous craftsman.  A friend to many, A man that will be truly missed.

I am a professed hermit, I do spend a lot of time alone...but not completely.  I have lived in this area for 28 years now.   Lives intertwine, kinship is created.  There are gatherings for fellowship, fun, politics, or lending a hand.  There is true connection here.  It is hard for me to explain.  I grew up in the suburbs of Seattle.  I know what it feels like to be anonymous.  We did not know our neighbors that were a stones throw away even after living in the same house for 15 years.  Here I feel "well" known.  There are so many folks I could turn too if ever I have a need and so many that have given me a hand without my request in times of challenge.  These same folks respect a persons privacy and ones need to be enclosed in a private spot and will just leave you be.  

As our community prepares to celebrate this man's life and support his grieving family I feel my Self sad but deeply, deeply grateful to be here among so many extraordinary & humble folks.  There is a sense of deep love flowing.  There is gratitude for the life that is emerging all around as the winter world wakes up.  Spring is the perfect time to experience the continuation of life.  

The work of life goes on.  I plant, things grow, birds nest...my heart is with my community and the one who is with us no more.  

The world is always full of trouble and always full of joy.  I choose joy~~~~

Raspberry Work

Baby Spruces Planted

Garlic Emerges 

Ravens are Nesting!

I leave you with a poem that always brings me comfort..

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

Wendell Berry

Extra ~~~Gratitude~~~

Seems this storm is deserving of bit of extra press. It is still happening as I type. Grateful to still have power with the winds howling like they are...so who knows I could get cut off.

My DEAR ~ DH had to go to work in this mess last night.  Which meant night plowing before he could sleep.  At times like this I wish I "did" tractors but, me and the mackaneek (<--My geekiness Gungan for droid -- Star Wars) just are not simpatico.  So the man who normally loves plowing had to do his duty so he can go work for our bread~~~THANKS DH <3!!

So here are a few views of night plowing in the pouring rain before having to get up in 2 hours to leave for work....can we have a collective sigh!

I was out there for moral support and a very, very, little shoveling.

I gave Runa a treat to go up on the snow pile...she was not exactly happy about the weather

Out my sewing room window now.  Steady light snow with blowing and drifting.  But I still love winter.  Looking forward to a snowshoe and some shoveling when it all settles down this afternoon.  Spring will be here soon enough all fast and furious.  So enjoying the peace while I can and AM!

The Winter's Spring

The winter comes; I walk alone,
I want no bird to sing;
To those who keep their hearts their own
The winter is the spring.
No flowers to please—no bees to hum—
The coming spring's already come.

I never want the Christmas rose
To come before its time;
The seasons, each as God bestows,
Are simple and sublime.
I love to see the snowstorm hing;
'Tis but the winter garb of spring.

I never want the grass to bloom:
The snowstorm's best in white.
I love to see the tempest come
And love its piercing light.
The dazzled eyes that love to cling
O'er snow-white meadows sees the spring.

I love the snow, the crumpling snow
That hangs on everything,
It covers everything below
Like white dove's brooding wing,
A landscape to the aching sight,
A vast expanse of dazzling light.

It is the foliage of the woods
That winters bring—the dress,
White Easter of the year in bud,
That makes the winter Spring.
The frost and snow his posies bring,
Nature's white spurts of the spring. 

John Clare

~~Gratitude~~~ SABBATICAL

Winter is back! A bit of snow and an Arctic blast is on its way!  I had been getting "anxious" that winter was going by too quickly!  I was born under the Capricorn Sun and I am a creature of winter.  I NEED winter.  Winter is when I reset my soul before the real flurry of activities begin~~~Spring!  I feel a desire to go inward. I wish to create and finish some art.  I long for some time at my looms weaving my mind quiet.   So I am going to take the next 2 weeks and go into a quieter place.  Not complete silence just muffled.  I want to enjoy the hush that winter snow provides.  I might even sit some moments and do nothing!  

I have an extra blessing in the fact that our television is broken.  We do not intend to replace it right away (I could possibly go with never...we'll see?)  So broken television got me to thinking what else can I do to have more stillness??  I decided to take a 2 week break from blogging.  I love this "place" but I put a lot of energy towards thinking about what I will create here.  I want to think less for just a bit.  BUT, I will be back on February 2!

I am so very grateful for all the folks who take the time to read these tidbits of my life.  It is a wonderful way to keep my family involved in my life, thoughts, & happenings.  Still it amazes me when I check my blogger stats to see folks from all around the world that are tuning into my musings.  

This weeks Stats!

United States	213
United Kingdom	29
Norway	23
Germany	13
Russia	11
Indonesia	3
China	2
Australia	1
Italy	1
Mozambique	1

I will leave you for a bit with some Runa Winter Joy!

~~~PEACE~~~

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

~~~gratitude~~~

I am grateful this week for mowing.  It may seem odd as one who is so much for nature and the environment.  But even more than that I am for the truth.  Though I love the wild I do love many things about the mowing.  There is a great beauty in the the "order" it creates, we humans seem drawn to that sight.  Plus, who doesn't love the scent of new mown grass?  

There is a very pragmatic side as a gardener that enjoys the bounty of mowing that = MULCH....we have a sweeper that  "gives" me grass MULCH!

But, by now, you must know it is process that moves me more than results.  Mowing is a time I connect with the one I love on a deeper--- on a separate level.  He mows, I weed whack, he sweeps, I spread the love of his swept up works.  Together and Apart we create a life.

I have LOVED this poem since I was a girl....never thinking I would truly live it.  I guess what we love is attracted to our life.  This for U who wishes to remain blog~nonymous   <3   I am GRATEFUL for all you do to make this place a wonderful experience!

The Tuft of Flowers

BY ROBERT FROST

I went to turn the grass once after one

Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.

The dew was gone that made his blade so keen

Before I came to view the levelled scene.

I looked for him behind an isle of trees;

I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.

But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,

And I must be, as he had been,—alone,

As all must be,' I said within my heart,

Whether they work together or apart.'

But as I said it, swift there passed me by

On noiseless wing a 'wildered butterfly,

Seeking with memories grown dim o'er night

Some resting flower of yesterday's delight.

And once I marked his flight go round and round,

As where some flower lay withering on the ground.

And then he flew as far as eye could see,

And then on tremulous wing came back to me.

I thought of questions that have no reply,

And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;

But he turned first, and led my eye to look

At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook,

A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared

Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared.

I left my place to know them by their name,

Finding them butterfly weed when I came.

The mower in the dew had loved them thus,

By leaving them to flourish, not for us,

Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him.

But from sheer morning gladness at the brim.

The butterfly and I had lit upon,

Nevertheless, a message from the dawn,

That made me hear the wakening birds around,

And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground,

And feel a spirit kindred to my own;

So that henceforth I worked no more alone;

But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,

And weary, sought at noon with him the shade;

And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech

With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach.

Men work together,' I told him from the heart,

Whether they work together or apart.'

This a big ol' tuft of Flowers!  Thanks for feeling the same way about this very old apple orchard on this land that need to be left in peace.  

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

~~~Gratitude~~~

My day began with a couple of visitors...

HONK>HONK>HONK>>>>

No suspense~~~I am grateful for GARDENS! 

I call my "farm" Gratitude Gardens

Today was a busy day and I admit to looking forward to my sheets...so a little photo blog of today's events...

The Man at the Tiller

potatoes planted

sunset at the BIG garden~half cover cropped

this will BE a sunflower house  !

garden structures in their PLACE

a moment looking back ~~~ sigh

first night out for onions & leeks...in the ground tomorrow

improvised greenhouse

night-night plant babies

this is what lettuce looks like...in the beginning

~~~

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~