Holiday Greetings

An unusual Christmas Eve this is for me. The Mister and I are comfortably sitting at home enjoying a rather quiet evening. 'Tis unusual , I must say.

I decided that I needed to change our Christmas routine. It has been hectic and fraught with anxiety as only this season can offer. So we decided to forego our 300 mile trek ( in 24 hours , and four stops)and make it a mellow Christmas this year. We actually casually walked out the door today to pick up a couple of forgotten things this afternoon.( Usually we would have been arriving at our first destination ). We were not running crazy and even I didn't notice the frantic shoppers in the market. The only downside to the change is that I won't see my son on Christmas Eve or Christmas day.

This is a first. We've always been lucky enough to be together for this holiday. So my heart stings a little. I miss his Christmas cheer. I miss his reading of a Cajun Christmas. I'll see him in a few days, and we'll celebrate then . But this evening, I feel a little empty hole in my heart.

The flip side of this change is that I'm feeling calmer than I EVER have felt at Christmas time. Aside from a mini meltdown round about week 2 of December madness, I've felt pretty well. And that says soooooo much ! So in the bigger picture, I guess that it was a decent decision . This WAS ,afterall, the reason I decided to make the change.

So from the quiet of my heart and home I wish you all some peace and happiness for Christmas. I hope that you find that the New Year brings you to a place of strength and wondrous new perspectives. Merry Christmas.

Cyth

Winter Solstice

The Solstice has arrived. And much as I am not thrilled with Winter, or should I say the duration of it, I have to admit that transitional times like solstices and equinoxes, the changing of day at midnight, the awareness of one breath to the next, captivate me. It's like being nowhere. You are neither here nor are you there. That split second of transitioning leaves me kind of empty.

It is not an empty that drives me to fill up the space ; there is no grasping , no fear, no loneliness
like in other kinds of empty. Rather it is simply a moment in which anything is possible. I feel no need to rush into the next breath, or the next moment, event or action. I know it will come. And if I have been aware enough of that transition , maybe when that moment arrives it will provide me with what my heart not only desires, but what it needs. But it does take mindfulness.

With busy days filled with family, friends, work and commitments , it is often easy to miss those small windows of transition, that time to focus on the here and now ( not what was ,nor what will be ) but right in between. With Christmas whirling around us ( whether we celebrate it or not, we can't help but get caught up in the frenzy ) it is so very easy to lose our focus, lose our way even. It is so easy for this to happen to me in all the hubbub. My moods swing with the shortened days, my mind scrambles to remember everyone on my shopping lists and time seems to vanish like a magician's hare.

But every once in a while I take a peek at what is quietly happening around me. And it holds me in awe , perhaps only for a few seconds, sometimes much longer. And so it was for me today. As the sun was setting , in a day that otherwise was quite cloudy, the sky just above out tree line turned a warm , mellow shade of peach. I could do nothing else but grab my camera and try to perserve that moment that arrested my attention and helped me refocus. Not very much later (as the sun seems to now dip from the sky very quickly ) I was again halted in my activity to view this beautiful crescent moon.

How lucky I have been today that I had the opportunity , no two opportunities, to stop and reflect. For those brief moments, when day was transitioning into night, I was gently bouyed between here and there........ a few moments when anything was possible.

I wish you a few moments , before or during or after, your holiday celebrations when you can pause , refocus, and expect that anything is possible for you.

Cyth

Karma & the Geography of Bliss

It's very interesting sometimes the way in which the Universe wishes to speak to us. And sometimes it is perplexing in what it is trying to have us understand. Such is the case of this week's trip back from caring for the "kinderlings".

For the past 3 or 4 years I've been listening to books on CD as I make the 2 hour trek down to the kids and again home from there. We're lucky that we've been able to get downloadable books through a state library system. (It makes my trip oh so much more bearable, sometimes even pleasant.) The one I've begun to listen to this week is Eric Weiner's, The Geography of Bliss. A self-proclaimed "grump" , he travelled the world to find the happiest places, and then ,wrote the book. And so I found myself travelling home from my 2 days with the kids listening to his tale of researching happiness in Bhutan, a country whose leader is invested in his country's Gross National Happiness. He interviews a man, one sought out by many for his ability to heal ills not otherwise healed, whose name is ( and forgive the spelling---I'm listening to , not reading, the story) Karma Aura. I almost laughed aloud to myself in the car as I was hurtling northward. The name seemed so blatantly fictional that it struck me funny, but also believable because of its blatancy.

As I was pondering the humor of this I took notice of a car that passed me. The license plate that pulled up, and almost paused right there in my line of sight , as if hovering there to be sure that I saw it, read ..........are you ready for this?........ GDKRMA.........."good karma". It felt like a bop in the head, as if some supreme being were trying to make sure that I was paying attention. Okay. Okay. I'm paying attention . But I sure would like a hint as to what I'm suppose to be doing with this information. Is my karma in some kind of jeopardy? Am I on the right road ?( figuratively speaking--- I WAS on the right road home). I'll ask one tiny favor.....please fill in the blanks.

I guess that I would consider this a synchronicity. If you've read my earlier blogs , you will note that I've had similar experiences . And as before, it seems so coincidental that there has to be meaning to it. ( I know , not everyone will accept that , but I do . ) I just can't, however,fathom what it means . Perhaps in time , it will become apparent. In the meantime, I'll mind my P's & Q's so as to not to mess up my karma.


Namaste.

Cyth

Shop's Closed, The Work Begins Anew

Well the shop has been closed and buttoned up for about a month now. Resigned as I was that the "season" is short , much like our growing season , I'm feeling a kind of ease that I did not feel May- Oct ( the months that the shop was open). Oh , don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the summer selling season. But it was more "structured" than I've been used to since retirement. And I really wasn't able to do the kind of painting that I love.

Typically I like to spend time with a piece of furniture, get a feel for what it needs and what kind of a reborn life it would like to take on. Crazy sounding? Perhaps. But it is the way I like to work------if I may be so bold as to compare myself with Michelangelo who was inspired to sculpt by how the marble spoke to him. ----Once I got working in the shop there wasn't enough time to spend in thinking too much about each piece. Pretty much, I had to get it painted to get it into the shop to fill the void made by the last sale; and do it quickly. Not that I'm complaining about that. Oh , surely not. But it did develop a mindset that left little room for contemplation. Now that I haven't those constraints upon me, it's taking me a little time to reset the approach. But I'm getting there and happily so.

This is my just-finished piece. Simple , but I think , oh so elegant. I wish that the camera could have caught the color better than it has. It's a dreamy purply-gray that is so soothing and still intriguing as it is neither this color nor that color. It is sublimely caught between the two. The piece was meant to be a bit different. But as soon as I was half done with it , I knew that the pendants on the underside needed to be silver. Then , of course , I needed to add a wee bit more silver , so I chose the turnings midway on the legs and crossbar.

Once that was complete, I thought ,"maybe a bit more silver". So I sampled a bit on the beveled edge of the foot. Immediately I could see that that was wrong, wrong. It meant , of course repainting that surface , but since there wasn't but a slice of it , that was quickly remedied. The Mister was called in for an opinion ( Oh I do feel sorry for him sometimes. I request his opinion , but if he gives me the wrong answer, it is quickly discounted. Fortunately he knows me well enough , and loves me well enough , not to take this to heart. ) He agreed. It was done. Now on to companion pieces........what fun.

This little candlelabra was found in a delicious state of rust. But I needed it for mood in a room in the shop last summer and so was painted black with a purple top coat. All I needed today was to add a spritz of silver over the previous paint so that some deep purple and a wee bit of black speckles through the silver. I now have plans for some of those chandelier crystal drops that I was given. But that will be for viewing later on.

Can't wait to see the whole vignette, but wait I must , for the other piece(s) have not been even decided upon. I.......think I have a ........chair ( a sweet little thing ) but that's all I'm telling right now. I will post again when it's all pulled together.

All for tonight. Sweet dreams, Cyth

October Glory

Today was the day we set for taking Ma out for her promised Birthday drive. Many years ago , she and I were wandering backroads and got lost-just a little lost. When we discovered roughly where we were it was getting late and the road was getting rural--really rural. So we turned around and determined that we would find that rooad again some day. A few months ago, while shopping the "antiques" shops I found a book. It tells the tale of of a single woman as she waled that road , 9 miles through the notch in the mountains. AHHHHH. What a great birthday gift !!! That and the promise of a ride ( Ma doesn't walk 9 miles anymore, though she'd truly have loved to today ) through the notch.Yes rained cats and dogs , and I gotta tell ya that I was a wee bit nervous that it would rain out the plans. But the day broke with beautiful golden sun. The leaves in these parts have turned that brassy- gold color with splashes of yellow -green and the beginnings of russet ( I do believe that it is the oaks that lends that color. ) The sky was unbelievably blue with an occasional cloud tinged with a barely-there purple belly. We couldn't be any luckier. Yes, the road had significant wash out in some areas, but we managed to get around - or through. Oh the day couldn't have been better if e'd ordered it up.

A Day at the Museum

A day much anticipated , both by me and my grandson. It was a birthday adventure. And what could be more fun than some time spent with dinosaurs and other cool stuff? Especially if you've just turned 5.

This is one of my all time favorite museums. I was treated to this museum as a kid on a school trip and I've been sure to bring my own son, nephew, granddaughter,grandson and classes of school kids when I was living in my past life as an art teacher. What a treasure.... the Harvard Museum of Natural Historyhttp://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/. My favorite spot has always been the glass flowers http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/on_exhibit.html , but not so much for a five year old boy. But I've got to tell you they are UNBELIEVABLE ! ( Created in Germany and shipped over here by ship in the 1900's. And they are ALL glass. To look at them one can hardly believe it ! ).

But the 5 year old monkey DID enjoy so very many other treasures. His favorite ...the kronosaurus.

I've got to admit that it is pretty impressive - a water creature. But for comparison's sake , you need only take a short walk down a hall to find whale bones with balleen intact .

Some of the other favorites..... walking sticks and leaf bugs , of course.

Can you see what a treasure this place is? We do not enjoy the varieties of bugs such as these in my part of the world and I would heartily laugh if someone were to describe them to me. It would seem like a phenomenal joke to me. But to be able to see so many wonders in the world not available easily to us is a treasure.

We wondered further into the museum to behold great jewels.....well actually just rocks. Ah , but SUCH rocks. Some are jewels. My little friend truly enjoyed these almost as much as the dinosaurs. And serendipitously, or should I say synchronistically, the first glass case he stopped at and was delighted by was the one containing the rhodochrosite. I say this because the Mister just returned from a business trip from Argentina, whose national gem is none other than the rhodochrosite. If you like the color pink, this is the stone for you.

And how about this specimen? Looks like it has grown out of a frozen tundra.

There is so much more to show and tell !!! I think that I'll just wait for another time to continue my little guided tour. But if you get the opportunity , if you're in the Boston /Cambridge area be sure to take a little time to explore for yourself. I guarantee it will be worth your time.

Wishing you an adventurous day, Cyth

The Universe Sings

Oh I've been so intrigued since reading on the Resurrection Fern blog http://resurrectionfern.typepad.com/ about singing yeast cells. I loved learning that energy from the cells is emitted and could be technologically made audible to our human ears. Such an ethereal sound it was, as though singing through the cosmos, or like lyrical underwater musings. I was truly as delighted as a young child discovering the first hidden Easter egg. Just think of all the yeast cells , or any old cells, out there singing their life, singing the joy of being. ( Oh, what about the yeast cells within our bodies. Do our bodies muffle the sound? Can they communicate through our bodies to cells in the "free world" ? What about the other cells in our body? Do they all sing a different tune depending on their function? Oh..... the questions ! )

Initially I felt saddened that we couldn't hear their songs with just our own auditory equipment. But as I continued to imagine all the possible kinds of songs sung by all the infinite life manifestations, I realized that we would be bombarded with noise. ( I guess we really are already. ) Our physical limitations would of necessity shut out a great deal of sound. It is , therefore, to our human benefit that we cannot hear all the conversations that are trilling even in this one moment. And probably a good lesson in understanding that we can't always hear what is right "in front of our eyes" ( so to speak ).

A friend , and the previous shop owner, offered to do a short presentation at the shop about lavender ( pictures above-her display in the shop ), it's uses, history, myth, lore and lure. She sells her wondeful products in the shop ( ooo so soothing ). What a wonderful idea , thought I. Together we planned and plotted and advertised. She made yummy lemon-lavender cookies. I made lemonade and picked great and small bunches of flowers, creamy white and green, for bouquets to highlight the lavender display.

Anticipation rose, excitement heightened, but , alas, the day was not kind to us.It was one of the hottest and sunniest days we had all summer ( a summer of considerable rain and quite cool !! ). Patrons must have been out swimming and boating and cooling their tootsies in wet beach sand, as our soothing , cooling lavender event did not attract but a few. Blessedly, there were enthusiasts, which made it rewarding. We had a number of people throughout the day, a few taking advantage of the lavender sale. But I couldn't help notice how little notice most visitors paid to the bouquets and even the cookies ( though I must say that when invited to try them their attention focused sharply then ).

It's a sad commentary to express my opinion that many people today are so little concerned with the details of a place or event, or sometimes each other. Sooooo much delight,and sometimes even insight, can be experienced by the subtle nuances of a situation. And yet it passes by the board for so many.

After a few moments of discussion with my friend and a little reflection, it consoled me some to realize, that like the singing yeast cells, sometimes we just can not hear what is right in front of us.