Mr. Zebra's Adventure

There's a small child in my bed hugging the zebra that was pulled from the headboard in the wee hours.

"Nana.......Nana.  I will sleep in the big bed with you okay?  Okay."

Wubbie flung across the face.
Figaro the white stuffed cat flopping.
Monkey jammies and flyaway hair--clamouring over quilts and snuggling up to the pillows.  Zebra freed from the headboard.
"Mr. Zebra will sleep in the big bed too okay?"

One yawn......a few more whispers.
I dared not laugh.

Silence dotted with small breaths.
Knees to the back.
Arm tossed to the face.

Mr. Zebra clutched to the heart........

Morning coffee never tasted so good.

It's waning......

Looking up....

Looking down.....

Waning moon.

Waning leaves.

Leaf fight!

I can feel it coming......

Reading for Today

Although all men share a common destiny, each individual also has to work out his personal salvation for himself. We can help each other find the meaning of life, but in the last analysis, each is responsible for finding himself.

--Thomas Merton

When a person you care about is in trouble, you can reach out to support his or her healing, but past a certain point you can do no more. No matter how much you love, you cannot carry another person's burdens.

What can you do when someone you love is in pain? First, affirm that there is a purpose behind the experience. Know that the soul has some important lesson to learn that will be of great value to him or her.

Second, although you cannot directly intervene, your positive thoughts and prayers do make a difference. Visualize your friend surrounded by light and love. This type of healing acts directly on the soul level and does not encounter resistance from the conscious mind.

Coloured for Autumn

Ahhhhhhhhhhh....

I'm such a wise bird.

*polishing nails*

I have an empty house.

I have NO noise....peace and quiet.

I have a cuppa 'hocus pocus, I need more coffee to focus' coffee.
And I have a text from he-who-is-a-royal-subject "We're on our way!"

Hahahaha......

It's GREAT!
I've got a chunk of 'nothingness' before the invasion of her royal highness turns it all upside down and inside out.
Oh, I'm a smart one!
Silence......bliss filled silence.......

Oh!
AND tomorrow I'll have an excuse for another trip or two to the punkin patch, dontchaknow.
Which means just a FEW more gourds and another punkin......

AND we'll get to go play at the park!
And we'll make bubbles.  And play with Weebles.  AND we can mess up the house all we want!
AND play in the leaves and track 'em inside.........

HA.

<-- sipping coffee and gloating!

Wooooohoooooooo!!!!

Excuse me while we have a bit of a party..........

The PET scan came back picture perfect CLEAR for the sister.

I'll try not to cry on the balloons...........

G-d is good!!

Desktop for the Week

Fairy Thought

We do not belong to ourselves, but to the universe. 

No one planned to come into existence; we just happened to find ourselves here. 

We are the expressions of a life force whose beginnings are in the forgotten past. 

What does this mean on a practical level for how we will live today? 

For one thing, maybe we don't need to take ourselves so seriously. 

And we certainly are not to judge our existence. 

We have a right to be here, just as everyone does.

We can live this day fully and not hold ourselves back. 

We may work hard, play, and enjoy it. 

We need not rein in or attempt to control this force which so far exceeds our individual powers. 

Rather, today we can learn to flow with the current.

The Original Beachboys

Thought for the Day

Let go of fear and your need to control. Relinquish anxiety. Let it slip away, as you dive into the river of the present moment, the river of your life, your place in the universe.

Stop trying to force the direction. Try not to swim against the current, unless it is necessary for your survival. If you've been clinging to a branch at the riverside, let go.

Let yourself move forward. Let yourself be moved forward.

Avoid the rapids when possible. If you can't, stay relaxed. Staying relaxed can take you safely through fierce currents. If you go under for a moment, allow yourself to surface naturally. You will.

Appreciate the beauty of the scenery as it is. See things with freshness, with newness. You shall never pass by today's scenery again!

Don't think too hard about things. The flow is meant to be experienced. Within it, care for yourself. You are part of the flow, an important part. Work with the flow. Work within the flow. Thrashing about isn't necessary. Let the flow help you care for yourself. Let it help you set boundaries, make decisions, and get you where you need to be when it is time. You can trust the flow, and your part in it.

Quilt Barn (notevenclose...LOL) #53

TFTD

The difficult choices become even more difficult when you persist in avoiding them. Instead of running away from those difficult choices, face them and make your decision.

As difficult as it may be, the sooner you decide, the sooner you can begin to move into a solution.

The Wee Ones

Things that make me happy....

....trouncing through muddy fields for the 'just MINE' punkin.

....asking Bug if she wants to come spend the weekend and getting a huge hug and a happy "YEAHHHH!!"

....the new wiggle head Mr. Punkin that dances in the sunlight.  :-)

....funky gourds on the coffee table.

....carmel for my apples! Yummmm!!

....Another stolen cuppa French Press!  Hahahaha.

....flowers that survived two nights of freezing temps.

The Compassion Fairy

When we have developed a heart of generosity, 

a heart that wishes well to all beings, 

not just a few, 

when we've come close to suffering in the world, 

the heart moves to alleviate suffering. . . . 

That impulse is compassion, the feeling that motivates us to act. 

Colour Splash

QOTW

Who's that one person you can be completely stupid with?

Isn't it amazing that I have multiple people I can be utterly and completely stupid with?!
I think that's amazing.
Totally and absolutely amazing.

I have the sister--no matter what, it's 100% ME.  There's no pretenses, no lies--if I'm messy, I'm messy.  If I'm out in left field, I'm out in left field.......she's 'safe', she's FUN and she loves me AS IS.

I have he-who-signed-up-for-a-lifetime.  What's up with that?!  As in, he opted to do that of his own free will.  And I *DID* try to talk him outta it MORE THAN ONCE.  I can talk to birdies, ground squirrels and hug trees and he doesn't think I'm odd?!  Maybe it's old age on his part?  LOL

And I have WPIML.  Now, did I think that was going to happen when he picked me up and agreed to BE the WPIML?  Ummmmmmm.....no.  But it has.  I can say and do all the stupid/dorky stuff that I say and do.....and he still cares about my life.  I mean--REALLY dorky stuff and he still cares about MY LIFE?!

Wow am *I* graced or what?!

TFTD

If there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. 

— William Penn 

Sleeping with Bread

The restart of a lost practice.

This week has been a whirlwind.  Bits and pieces of what was have swirled in my head and toyed with what I believe, what I know, and what I trust without fail. It's good that I get tossed into those situations.  It's a reminder of what I can have back, any time I choose.

Daily, I've been reintroduced to how selfish decision making affects others.  It's a defect of character I'm well versed at. I had a lot of practice in selfishness and self-centeredness.  It's been a process, changing that impulse to operate out of  that 'what's in it for ME' way of thinking.  It's doable--it's possible.  You don't have to keep doing what you're doing, keep getting what you're getting, and keep hurting others.  That sense of gratification does not have to come with a price tag.......

And this week--while people around me have indulged in the luxury of 'justifiable anger',  I was graciously charged to operate from HOPE.

Hope was a thing I tossed back at my Maker once-upon-a-time.  I indulged in self-righteous, 'justifiable' anger frequently and had come to that awakening, that 'jumping off place' where the choices were whittled down for me.
I was infuriated that I had been brought there.  And in a moment of broken-ness, I chose.

I've continued to hang on to that choice--resolute in the decision, knowing at any given moment I could surrender what I have and go back to what I had.
I don't want that back.......I'd like to believe that it was enough for a lifetime.

And while people around me were filled with what once was a way of life for me, I was impassioned with HOPE.  Effortless HOPE.
I could bring things to the table that others were too blinded in their anger to see.
I could offer a chance that there were different solutions.
I could offer that a different solution COULD happen.
HOPE.

With all of the anger swirling around me, inviting me to join in the storm--I tossed in HOPE.

Isn't that amazing.......

Proud Pumpkin