Four Legs, Slurpy Tongues and Living Breathing Hearts

golden_pups

For Obie? Who once upon a time lived with us in a little blue cottage by the sea and ran with the wind every evening while the sun set, home is where we are. No matter what. His love and sweetness never falter. Ever. Love and loyalty is what these beings are about, what they embody for us and where they become our mirrors and our teachers. Amen.

My Daughter’s Child

pregnant-woman

And this little being will appear with a wide range of knowing and feeling, and a breath-taking abundance of love and beauty from a woman who I know quite well, and has consciously been present for this chapter. And in two months? Oooooooh lala!!!!!!! Music, choreography, visions, explorations, inspirations, passions, creations! That have never ever been seen before.

Springing Winter

dancing-woman

When this flow has quieted, and the ebb is at hand,  I shall return, with a basket of treasures to share! And now? With joy and wonder I am off! 
Blessings, blessings, life and love.

The Messiah

mountain-poking-through-clouds

This year I could not find my expansive, joyous, Christmas self and connection to the true spirit that birthed it all, prior to this evening and now I have.

The Punch Bowl

decked-table

Where to begin? In this amazing land of melting pots where every single person births forth with his very own blueprint of mixed ethnicities and traditions….I would LOVE to go back to my parents’ heritages in detail,  to lay the foundation of this little story but not this time. Instead a brief telling: My mother’s … Read more

Charlie and the Homeless Cat

charlie-the-cat

A few days ago whilst caring for Charlie the cat, black sleek prince of Wadsworth,  in his exquisite treetop home half a block from the beach in Santa Monica, I heard a yeowling coming from the back porch. There he was, perched on the top step of his spiral staircase, his efforts of forward movement … Read more

Obie and Me

golden-retriever-out-car-window

Just now, after finishing my previous blog, Obie came and laid his goldeny head in my lap with a slight wafty wag of his plumey tail and a ‘Walk?’ look in his none-such smiling eyes. Oh Obie! How can I ever say ‘no’ to you? So off we went. We walked and walked up and … Read more

Lakshmi and the Pasadena Apple Store

apple

I have recently been challenged in the computer department! Four months ago I bought a brand new Apple and from the moment I touched it I knew that something was not right with it. I decided to let it ride and see if this feeling continued, meanwhile noting all of the little bloops and fidgets … Read more

The Nature Part of Wisdom

yellow-rose

This afternoon I smelled a yellow rose that was beyond heaven. I spied a lotus blossom all alone, stretching up and breathing beauty at me. And then I saw a giant, gnarled, tangled, graceful tree with wisps of leaves dancing in the wind, that I want to be when I grow up. And suddenly I … Read more

Breaking Free

big-waves

We humans do acclimate, even if it doesn’t serve us! We burst forth into life and then settle into habits that lock and block forward movement and true living in the present, and we don’t even notice until the habit produces restlessness or emptiness or crisis.

Betty

holding-red-candle

St. Exupery once wrote “What we went through, no animal could go through” and I think of you. You who have buried your children, one after another, you who have suffered excruciating physical agonies…

Sunset Musings and Love

tree-in-sunset

Last night I bladed along the sea just as the sun was setting. Here I am, living on the coast of la mer magnifique (Mom, are you closing your eyes tightly and shaking your head?) and yet its every  sunset reminds me of evenings perched on the rolling dunes of Lake Michigan.  As involuntary as … Read more

My Umbrella Dream

flying-umbrellas

All of a sudden a light shone all around, the umbrellas transformed from black to luminous rainbow colors and they floated up into the sky carrying their people with them. These words that rang out:

“You have to die first before you can be reborn”.

Rita

barn

Ice blue eyes that sparkle with intelligence and life! A swirl of bohemian energy layered over an aristocracy that you were born into; wispy hairs and sloppy jeans slipping and sliding on a lean six foot tall frame. And a voice that betrayed it all, sophisticated and brilliant. The first time that I saw you … Read more

A Pumpkin Story

pumpkin

I’m sitting in an old Spanish style Hollywood house, complete with hand painted tiles and arched doorways and windows and I’m looking out over a garden of palms and palmettos and figs and avocados and lemons…all trees!  This must be what the Garden of Eden looked like. This house is an odd one though. It … Read more

The Bohemian Exchange

dandelion-close

And what kind of person are you? …my mind raced towards the giant hibiscus that sits on the back porch. No. And then to meadows full of flowers and then rose gardens and then essential oil bottles and lotions and bubbles and then to trees and clouds and stop!

October Second

withered-leaves

Oh! My soul has been longing for something to break itself free over these last few weeks. I have become locked, blocked and enclosed while dealing with personal challenges, and my soul uncharacteristically has not been able to find the key to fly.

Boulder Wildfires

forest-fire

Whatever it is they do, when they’re finished there’s no doubt that they existed.
Security.
Crying to God.
Just a few words to bid farewell to one chapter and usher in another, and another will come.
In the meantime prayers for a speedy transition and the return of joy.

Pakistan

snow landscape people water

Each of these children has a mother that loves him or her just as much as we love our babies. How can we turn a blind eye and deaf ear? How can we ignore this as humans? Is this because these people are muslims?
What is the matter with us?

California Dreaming

woman-on-volkswagen

Those songs, that music, was this new world. If we could know these and feel them we would belong.
I wonder if I ever really listened to the words of “California Dreaming”. I couldn’t fathom California then.

August 21

pink and green flower bouquet on bed sheet

I held your head when tears ran down your face because John wasn’t comfortable with hospitals. Your triathalon muscles continued to fight the fight when your inner organs began to shut down.

Obie’s Paw

obie-paws

you will figure out how to deal with it., your joie de vive, your love of letting loose in the windy salt air, your  undauntible spirit and your smile!
How blessed we are that you chose us.
You beautiful teacher, you.

Mount of Olive

mountain-peak

A whole world up here that many locals don’t even know exists. Coyotes roam, skunks run amuck, winds howl, fennel grows wild. And so it is, my ascension of the Mount of Olive, and as I look out I can hear Samm’s laugh and I see many things.

Ode to Melanie

bowl-of-flowers

The pregnancy, the birth, the dawn of the getting to know, the expressions, the passions and fears, the strengths and talents, the achilles heels, the favorite foods and ways of eating, the first step and posture and gait, the tiny triumphs, the phenomenal triumphs, the losses and positioning around disappointments.

The House of Fame and Honors

heart-ballon-floating-in-sky

How is it that we meander from such fundamental knowings and then hitch our wagons to stars so far afield that we miss the heaven that we are in. And so, dear planets, bring it on! And swoop me in if you will! I intend to steer my magical carpet according to my heart’s conscious desire, and of course I welcome all support!

Ecstacy

person-jumping

I have just ridden a month-long road of wings folded around myself. Emotional and creative hibernation, withdrawal from friends and from the lapping of life, and for no reason at all, as suddenly as the opposite hovered and stole me away (the way the monkey princess in Babar was kidnapped by the black cloud) I kundilinied into this moment.

Eight Years

earth-from-space-2

We four drove in the moonlight through the Colorado backroads from Boulder to Denver. Nina and Mario in the backseat,..Then, suddenly we were at the airport.

Today, Today, Today

seagull-flying

Happy Birthday Mom! I can hear Dad laughing right now and I know that you’ve somehow conjured up an angel food cake with squishy chocolate frosting and colored sprinkles. Make a wish! Both of you!

Mother’s Day Take Two

This is real! For the next twenty years I will be the one who takes care of this baby! No matter what anyone else says, THIS IS MY JOB!”. Little did I know that it’s not twenty years, it’s forever in a mother’s heart. FOREVER.

Mother’s Day

woman-with-perfume

My mother, myself. Is this true? Yes. Now that you are not on this earth I see how deeply my soul reactions mirror yours. Yes, I can hear your voice, your laugh, your critiques, your sorrows. I can see your face and feel your hands.

May

yellow tulips on green stem

Tis May! My brain wants to to be giddy as according to Camelot this is the month for lusting and singing and dancing and rolling in the lilacs. I feel a quiet euphoric sweetness for the layers and layers of sensory memories that the word ‘May’ conjures.

Good Morning

monarch-butterfly

I woke up this morning hearing the words “Be still and know that I am God”. I lay there for a few minutes and then said them to myself. Images ran through my mind a hundred miles an hour. There’s that mind again!

Che and Me

cat-on-tub

I do not know if I will ever be a cat person. But Che represents something special to me now and I believe he will forever. Our thoughts imprison us and mold us. My mother did not like cats, hence I have never welcomed them. This week I choose to change this thinking.

Snap

red-and-yellow-poppies

I knocked on his door, he answered, I presented the flowers, and back he boomed: “Vanity is thy name oh woman, where are your glasses?” A small part of me still shudders.

Shaman Women and Me

dreamcatcher

After this a healing session began on one of the women. The power and mystery of the Medicine Woman’s actions and words spun us into another time and place where primal natures ruled and inhibitions were not welcome. A cure occurred.

Trust

hot-air-balloon-over-desert

It’s all in the mind. All of it: the fear, the love, the upset, the calm. Every feeling is first a thought and so here, at the birth of the thought, we can intervene and turn a gulp about ‘the giant earthquake’…into ‘the rain has lifted and it’s a gorgeous spring day’ and ‘I can do anything!’.

Palm Sunday

rainbow-over-mountain-valley

Human beings. We really are all one big family. In this year of having no home I have grown more sisters and brothers than I could ever have imagined. My truth is that the only thing that really matters is the human heart and how we share it and connect with others.

Snake Medicine and Angel Wings

rattlesnake

Snake bit me hard this week and though he has become a familiar companion, his presence always requires energy, attention and respect. While dealing with his bite, in the first stage, I slide away from my creativity and expression and I move through my world with angel wings around me whilst attempting to see clearly and feel present and be strong. Then the healing and growth begin.

Every House Should Come With A Maddy

maddy

Maddy and I were dancing the dance of being two women inhabiting a shared space when a blow to Maddy’s heart upended her and I held out my hand. With this passage we threw the curtains wide open to chitter chatter and depth and spiritual exploration and friendship

Connie’s Moons

moon-in-orange-sky

January is the wolf moon. February is the snow moon, March is the sap moon, April is the frog moon, May is the flower moon, June is the strawberry moon, July is the buck moon, August is the green corn moon, September is the harvest moon, October is the hunter’s moon, November is the beaver moon and December is the long night moon.

Wind

grass-beside-the-sea

I blade as if I’m flying. Ever since I was a child I’ve had a love affair with the wind. It stirs my passions and reminds me that I’m free. It lifts me to a place outside of myself where I feel God instantly and effortlessly and life and my humanness and my otherliness become clear for a few brief shining moments.

Stephany

woman-in-white-dress

If we each could only know that there is no such thing as a mistake. That every thing we do has consequences but there are no mistakes. We must go where our souls lead us, especially if its into the dark corners so that we can dance naked in the light.

Lime Juice

Last night I had a dream about Sri Lanka. As a girl I lived in India and every year during the monsoons the family would go to Sri Lanka. This was in pre-war days, when the island was quiet and traveling to the north was matter of fact. Little did we know that this particular … Read more

The Good Red Road

mountain-road

To carry the spirit of our loved ones in our hearts, and live their contributions to our beings with every sublime sunset, every doggie nuzzle, every glance from a child, every lovers’ spat, and every hardship that looms. We can feel their love and experience their presence. The mind is a powerful thing and every feeling is connected to thought and every thought is a choice.

Ash Wednesday

tiger-by-the-tail

The cookies, which came into this incarnation last summer have been boomeranging their magic back to me on a daily basis and I have stories to tell before I die…..about the beauty and wonder of simple interactions out there on the street with strangers.