New days

I love stepping into a new adventure. It is like putting on a new pair of shoes or holding a newborn grandson in your arms. New is good. Old ways are good ways too... but this blog is about NEW! I have so much to look forward to in 2011. Three new music productions for Circle Studios records and JTH and finally...drum roll please.........................................My new book.
I am publicly making this pronouncement as a subtle kick in my own @#%
This is why resolutions are so Good. But please don't make yours about losing weight or exercising that is such an old resolution. Try something new, something fun...something daring and dangerous that puts you out of your comfort zone! Get ready and at the stroke of midnight (if you are awake) or first thing in the morning when you awake, have a dream with your cup of coffee. New friends, new food, new adventure, new shoes, new dreams, new hopes, new convictions...... Go for it!

memory

I watched a program last night about memory. People who can remember every day of their lives. Wow, incredible. I quite honestly cannot remember waking up this morning and drinking coffee. Half the time I do not know what day it is and certainly cannot remember back as far as last week. Perhaps my memory has been stunted... too much of the 60s floating around in there. But I am certainly happy that these wonder-people are coming out of the wood work. Scientists will probe and prod until they can figure out some way to make some money off of this, I am sure. I am just amazed at the wonder of it, the same as I am amazed at the wonder of this flower. My amazement center is in working on all its cylinders, even if I don't remember it once it is passed. I am purely content in the moment of amazement. There seems to be plenty of beauty and mystical magic in each day... that if I forget, more will reveal themselves the next moment. We are all so wonderfully created, some with perfect memory, some with perfect forgetfulness. I truly love diversity and am so happy that we are not too similar, it makes for many magic moments, it makes for a field of wildflowers and a perfectly sculptured garden. Beauty surrounds us, in the sunshine and in the snowfall. Beauty is revealed in the simple forest creek and the mighty ocean. We have absolutely no shortage of beauty, no recession on beauty, no deficit of beauty. Celebrate Beauty today!!

inspired

Often when I want to be inspired I return to Ireland in my heart and mind. I taste some simple magic. I am pretty much ready for Christmas...packages sent, cookies baked, shopping done. Only thing missing for me is
inspiration. Sometimes a little snow can bring that much needed holiday feeling. But I am certainly not asking for snow. The days of family Christmas are far behind me. Now a days we are all spread apart. I won't watch the light in my grandsons eyes as they dream and wait for Santa. No mistle toe or frantic party preparations. I learned 40 some years ago to let those festive feelings go. I learned in life that things most the time don't have a way of going the direction that you want. I learned that when tears well up to let them flow and when laughter is near to let it go and hold tight to the joy it brings. I look forward to a quiet Christmas Eve with a glass of wine and a stereo filled with Bing Crosby along with my 27 foot lighted Christmas tree that sits in my front window, lonely for grandchildren. Such a glorious tree don't mean much, right Charlie Brown? But I sure am thrilled to spend the evening with my sweet husband and my angel mother. I have learned that little things aren't so little and to find the treasure in that which we have and not look for it some place else. There is a light that shines and sometimes we just need to have the eyes and the vision to see the simple magic.

Billy

For some reason I am thinking of Billy. I just finished reading Wolf at Twilight, so my mind is taken up with my Indian family. Billy, John's spirit brother died several years ago on John's birthday Sept 25th. Billy was one of the kindest most real people I knew. What you saw you got. He had no illusion of what being Indian meant. He always treated me with delight at every occasion we were together. He had a zest for life and for his family. His dad Bill Two-Horses is a very strong Indian man and I am sure the death of his son has pained him way more than any of his war wounds. He was injured in two wars and survived a hurrific auto accident and yet the loss of this son is far more painful. Our families are what count. Our friends and our relationships are what are most important. This busy season... just forget about the hustle and bustle and hold close to those you love for those moments will soon pass. I pretty much know for sure that I will see Billy again, but what is most important to me now is his memory and the friendship and closeness we shared. His humor, his honestly and his connection to his culture is what stands out to me most...also and certainly not least his humility. Billy was able to be in the backround and was perfectly comfortable there. John and I have lost some dear family and friends these last few years and to me those who have walked on are still in my heart and very much alive. Merry Christmas Billy...Merry Christmas Nancy... Merry Christmas George...Merry Christmas
Sir Charles...Merry Christmas Father Bob......Merry Christmas to all!!

Christmas

John and I are both kind of Christmas Crazy. We took down the boxes of Christmas decorations from the attic yesterday, all 10 or 12 huge boxes full. We began to decorate our 12 foot pre-lighted Christmas tree. John on a ladder and me sorting thru a lifetime of memories. It is a three day task to decorate, this is day two. The tree is up and is absolutely beautiful. Dragonflies, birds, and shiny things fill up every spot of that enormous tree and it reminds me of our lives. So full, so many memories, friends, family and such good stuff. John loves Christmas, probably because as a child it is his one fond memory. Christmas was a good day sandwiched in the middle of 364 not so good days. For me this is true also. Christmas meant mom and dad, siblings, aunts and uncles and I was only able to spend 12 years that way. So for the past 40 some years I have been trying to re create those precious moments, unsuccessfully I might add. But John and I have made our own traditions and Christmas cheer. As I sort thru my treasures I come across the little lighted tree my 12 year old daughter gave to me when my life was falling apart and I can hold her sweet gesture in my heart each year as I look at that tree. The Santa Claus with barking dog my sweet Jonathan David gave to me and the special kindergarten one he made. There is the first Christmas precious moments ornament John and I bought 17 years ago the year we were married. The many dragonflies Sue has given us and on and on. We cherish these items, like we cherish the people who gifted them to us. Most of all let me say I cherish Christmas itself. The humble gift of love. The babe who says to us all "Life is good...death is better". I do not forget amid the hustle and bustle what Christmas means to me. A life of sadness and joy is packed away in those 10 or 12 big boxes and each item I see is another reminder that God loves me and has gifted me with wonderful family and friends. The sadness, oh yes it is part of life, but Christmas is here to shine a light on the gladness. So to my many friends and loved ones - Merry Christmas and most importantly may you experience this Christmas some genuine "Peace on Earth".