Ahhhh

Things are starting to feel like home here. When we moved to So Cal some 30 years ago we found a house and lifestyle that we stayed in for 18 years. Then we moved to the ranch which was only 6 miles away, door to door. Same neighborhoods, stores, restaurants, doctors and, maybe most important of all, same friends. We enjoyed our 14 years in the wilds and have now been "at the beach" for 6 months. This move was, however, a much bigger deal. Maybe even bigger than moving from Ohio. Young kids really direct your life as did the jobs we had. We quickly found our way and it seemed no time at all and our lives were up and running.  We delight at the visits and lasting friendships with the people who have become so important to us in the past 30 years. I treasure these friends and hope to always have them in my life but the reality is that day to day contact is difficult to maintain with everyone's busy schedules. Even on the level of family, things have changed. While we enjoy seeing much more of the kids to whom we are now closer, we miss the regular contact we had with the kids who live closer to the ranch. But it is important to me to maintain a life that does not burden my children with the responsibility of keeping me company and entertained!

Coming here, just the two of us, just out of reach of our old connections has required conscious effort to get established. And we are! Finding our favorite places to eat and shop, got new docs and making new friends. The husband has joined a service club and I have found some of my people at a the delightful painting class I've blogged about recently. These talented people who taught me the finer points of painting, mandalas and thankga, allowed me to share my messy world of art journaling with them. Here is what a day of wild mind journaling with them led me to.

       




                                         


Now, thanks to my daughter's introduction and my own gutsy butting into a conversation I overheard in a restaurant, I have new writing pals who I recognize as more of my people. After all, a woman does not live on comfortable houses and fantastic views alone! There will surely be many posts about these creative folks and the amazing things I know I will learn from them.

I am even using the range and ovens in this place! Yes, I am cooking a bit, which is a bit more than I have been cooking lately. The cold rainy days of winter have brought out the soup maker in me.

My creation, Chicken Vegetable Tortellini Soup

I really miss the wildlife at the ranch, but am finding new connections to the beasties as well. I have always loved pelicans and, while I cannot enjoy them from the house, I look for them at the beach. Click on this photo to get a look at this beauty.

 And there is plenty of this 

and this 

to be enjoyed simply by making a stop on the way from one errand to another. I like that a lot.

So, here's what I'm thinking; Blooming where you are planted is clearly a choice. Seems I have learned that Life is game best enjoyed from the field, not the bleachers. If I wear my heart on my sleeve, I will be recognized by kindred spirits.  And, note to self, never ever take the abundance and gifts of all that is holy for granted!

A Little This, A Little That

Dreams

Dreams are lapses in memory

Tiny boats untethered

Floating aimlessly

Ropes brutally severed

Or gently slipped

 by lapping silken tides

Lm 1/12/2013

Nativity of a Poem

I read something

that reminds me of something

that leads me to recall 

something else

A forgotten feeling stirs

and a poem, bloody and bawling

Is pushed  into the world

Lm 1/12/2013

Speaking of dreams, while playing in my journal, just sort of drifting, this came out. I really don't know what it is about, especially the man holding the baby, but it feels familiar, maybe recalling my ice skating days in Ohio.

Examine

Examine the familiar words

And consider only the surface

Upon which they are written

Examine a long love 

And consider only the

Void in which it lingers

1/12/2013

When your heart is broken

You swear revenge

You cry over commercials

You howl at the moon

You don't eat

You eat too much

When your heart is broken

You say you don't care

That you saw it coming

That you must be crazy

You are awake all night

You oversleep every morning

When your heart is broken

You are afraid it's your fault

You keep it a secret

Then you tell everyone

Even strangers

You scream in the car

When your heart is broken

You burn for an embrace

You scream "don't touch me"

You drop things and lose things

You say "Never again"

You cook and you clean

When your heart is broken

You write bad poetry.

lm 2/3/2013

False Hope

I heard, " what's happening between the two of us"

"What?"

He said, "The restaurant where we are meeting, 

is half way between the two of us"

1/12/2013

Rogue

The rogue branch

so much higher, so much sturdier, 

so much shiner than the rest, 

crowned with a withering bud

sucked dry by minutiae, 

a beacon of unfulfilled promise.

I stretch, 

the heavy pruning shears 

shaking at the limits of my reach,

I loose my footing and fall, 

face first, into the thorny tangle 

of the embarrassed bush

1/12/2013

Consequences

You get it from dancing in the streets

The only cure is walking to school

in the snow, uphill both ways

But even if you recover

You will have scars deep within 

Awful keloids that grow and grow

Until eventually they impede vital functions 

It leaves you with a lingering malaise

That flares up when the weather changes

It's quite awful, really, and gets worse as you age

So if you get it don't come crying to me

You've been warned about dancing in the streets

Lm 1/27/2013

Here's what I'm thinking on this foggy night: If you hung in there and read all of this, you know what I'm thinking! Peace to all.