Autumn Melody

Autumn Melody
by Blue Dingman

I stand outside this October Eve,
Angel whispers touching all the trees,
Soft Rustle blends the music Choir,
Hushing Winter's insistent desire,
Soft lullabies singing life to sleep,
Garden memories crawling warm and deep,
Wrapped in colors of gold and red,
The Songs of Summer have gone to bed.


Every so often I just want to play with words.   then some kind of rhyming thing just jumps out.
it was Windy Saturday nite and I took the dogs out.  I stood listening to the trees.  Suddenly this popped into my head.
not too bad I think.

WINTER SLUG

it's a new beast that seems to take over my body in the depths of winter and doesn't let go.  Like slugs in my hostas it wants to eat and eat and eat grown plump and sticky. and somewhat grumpy.

doesn't help at all that I am just three months from a partial knee replacement so lack of movement in late fall added to the spreading girth.

then of course HOLIDAYS.   what's a holiday without good food and awesome drinks....Hot mocha with added Godiva Chocolate topped with whipped cream and shavings>>>>DROOL!

Lately the weather has gone beserk going up and down,  cold and colder.  snow and freezing rain. Me, having a form of Fibromyalgia for years, combined with spinal stenosis and dystonia, dealing with that mess and being sensitive to weather changes is a nitemare.  AND the perfect set up for the WINTER SLUG to grab on and take hold!  

I AM attempting to go back to an old tried and true method of  'I can do anything for 20 minutes.' It's not working.   try making my list.  but even then I feel like if I wrote it down I gotta do something and the WINTER SLUG doesn't want to.  If I don't write down,  then I don't have to feel guilty when I don't do it!

Luckily there is one thing that overcomes and overrides all  stop and delay messages of the WINTER SLUG...and that is pet ownership.  esp dogs.

Our Doodle, Zoe and our Wheaten Terrier, Holly, are high energy rescues who WILL NOT be denied.  they want to run,  play and walk.  sometimes simultaneously.

 So every day  no matter how bad I feel and how lousy the weather,  the girls are loaded up in the car and we go to a dog park or trail where they can get their exercise.  Sometimes I find this exhausting but I always find it satisfying.  it helps me defy the WINTER SLUG and get off my butt and moving.   there are days when I really love our dogs....and then there are other days, when I am totally miserable...that i love them even more.

My Portia

This is my Portia. She is the cat we say picked us. When we first saw her at the breeder's she was sitting on the floor with her "aunt" looking up and watching television. It was an adoreable picture. WE had come to take a look at a marble snow Bengal, we now also own. Mercee (Silver Mercedes) She was an awesome little bugger who was two weeks older than Portia but both having the same father. But I couldn't get Portia out of my mind. She went beyond cute for some reason, A Marble bengal of a different hueLater nearing time to leave I saw her laying flopped over her mother. Her back legs on one side and her front legs and drooping head with closed eyes on the other. The bear said to the breeder, we'll take this one, pointing to the female snow AND this one pointing to Portia. I was the one who wanted a snow, but Portia has been mine from that day onward. She is always in the room with me. Laying in, on or around me. Some days are just velcro days, I am never without this dark brown and gold furball with those olive green eyes. She developed a severe respiratory infection within days of bringing her home that had scared us. but the miracle of antibiotics worked well. The after affects seem to be that she cannot meow, she squeeks. Even at it's loudest it is barely audible. since she is going on three years of age, I don't think this will change. THe bear says she is my Familiar. I always wondered about that term. I think I understand it. I have had a number of cats and dogs of all kinds and sizes. I have never had the devotion nor the relationship that I have with Portia. oh...she was named for a Mushroom...lap fungus. but Portabello was way to much for the 1lb kitten and Porcini just didn't sound right. but oh


Funny I never finished this.  it was a long time ago. Mercee died and a few years later   Portia developed Liver cancer and died this past year of 2014.  
now...there is another almost PORTABELLA that we saw at the humane society.  renamed Penelope Portabella Tippytail. (NELLIE)  she is a blue tuxedo.  
we also obtained two boy cats named Georgio and Armani and Still have Mitzy who was rescued from under our deck.
and then there's the dogs...
I gotta get back into this big time.  there are so many things that i think about and don't put do anything about.
glad i recalled that this was here.

Christmas in July

at least it seems that way. I have already begun discussion with the Midland Historical Society about publicity and marketing for this year's display for Blue's Christmas Village. I have completed two houses and working on a third. I hope to have several more done by November 17th when it has to go up. There is an odd sense about the village. It is like it has a specific purpose and MY purpose is to see that it's purpose is fulfilled. I become excited when I think about it. I love watching people's faces as they lose themselves in the set up. My husband calls me an urban planner. I don't really plan much. I start setting them out and then they sort of tell me where they want to go. What happens in the end seems to come from somewhere else.

so...here it is 80 degree weather and I am thinking of the Christmas village. this year to go up the week before Thanksgiving. but I have included a picture of my Ernest Markham Clematis on the old birdhouse. I love the homey look.

MORE good news. My son is a semifinalist in the Bush's baked beans perfect pairs competition. hopefully he will get enough votes to make it to the final cookoff and be lucky enough or good enough to win his backyard makeover.

late again

I had thought that when I started this I would be just such an avid blogger. I have certainly found that that is not the case. I put most of my thoughts on paper in my morning journal. while typing the blog is fine, the actual putting pen to paper is somehow more intimate. I know there are people out there who do not agree with this. I had an email from one recently who said without question actual writing was NOT her thing. I have to admit that there were a couple in my groups and classes who felt the same, until they actually started doing it on a regular basis. I am quite committed to it. Every morning with my coffee, one will find me at the Dining room table scribbling away. Often I think there is no one on earth including myself who would be able to read it when it has become cold for two hours or more. But it has become the start to my day. I used to take my coffee and turn on the news and the weather. I find those boring now. Not that I don't want to know what is going on, it is just that the writing of my journal is so much more important to how I start my day. And lately, more and more, I am finding new ideas and new thoughts popping into my head as I write. So while I hope I can get into this practice called blogging, my morning coffee and my journal will have me keep on keeping on.

back at last

I cannot believe I took so long to get back to the blog. I am way overdue. There is little to excuse the fact. I put it on my list several times during the last few weeks and then proceeded not to do it. I want to commit to writing at least weekly and I am not sure why I did not. I did go through some bad health and some emotional issues but it was really no excuse.
The good news now is that the Prosperity by Design class is over and AW is winding down for the summer. This hopefully will allow me to spend more time in my garden and working on projects to nurture my inner artist. I truly miss that. BUT it will not happen this week. I am getting the house and grounds ready for guests. My son is coming in from Colorado and my brother is bringing his two sons for the wedding of my youngest on Saturday. I am setting an intention for good weather and good fun. I have never been to an outdoor/picnic wedding. And at least I didn't have to buy a Mother of the groom Dress! In spite of reservations, I wish them well.
And here is the sincerely wish that I don't put this off as long this time as I have. I was astounded when I looked at the last date. OH and before I forget. the Glow Project. It was interesting to note that it went over well in the Prosperity Class. But others I asked to participate sort of let it slip by. Those that have used it find that they seldom get past the first three on the list. Which is completely okay. It is where I find I work too. And it does help. I find it tremendously calming I do hope more will try it out. Til next time.

The Glow Project

In working on the Prosperity by Design group sessions, I had this idea for a project that I am hoping participants will work on. I have also sent out to family members and will be adding some friends to the project. I am really intersted in what happens. I am putting my instructions down here but since this has limited viewing am thinking of doing another blog somewhere else that might get some strangers involved just to see how it goes, what is experienced. I really hope that it is kept up for the entire ten weeks.
In the meantime this is what I have come up with. Initiated on April 14th, 2008, by Bluspider.

THE GLOW PROJECT
One Light- Just Glow

This is a voluntary experiment.
It will take place over the course of the next few weeks. In your journal it would be helpful to write down anything you notice during the course of the experiment. Place the phrase “one light- just glow” or other reminder where you notice it. The objective is to picture, you, places, and things as emitting a glow. Whatever symbolizes this to you is fine. Lines like a cartoon light bulb, full body halo, or like it is in a spotlight… I hope this will include children as well as adults of all ages.
I ask that you do this a few seconds at a time at least once a day but more often as you think of it. One can do this while sitting at a stoplight, brushing their teeth, in the shower, taking a walk…whenever, for at least a few seconds but longer is fine.
First week: Think of yourself glowing.
Second week: add this. Think of a room in your house glowing. This could also be your vehicle.
Third week: add the entire house.
Fourth week: Your school, workplace (you or your spouse), a place you do business, or mode of public transportation.
Fifth week: Your community as a whole.
Sixth week: your State or Region
Seventh week: Your country
Eighth Week: Continent (or area outside your country such as a conflict zone)
Ninth week: Hemisphere (or area outside your continent such as a conflict zone)
Tenth week: The Earth.
After the tenth week you can go back and work on any individual focus. You can keep doing yourself and your room, your home and business while you add the rest. Or you may choose not to do this and come back to it. The main idea here is to keep it up every day for ten weeks, going through all the tiers and perhaps longer if you choose. To start with you and to move up is an easy way to adjust to this concept. If something comes to you while doing this process, write it down in a journal or a computer page. Date it. This can just be a list of impressions.
EXAMPLES: felt funny, my head tingled, this is dumb, calming, relaxes me…etc. I would be grateful for any of these impressions emailed to me at bluspiders@gmail.com. I will be putting it with data from others to get an overall picture. I am mainly interested if it changes through the weeks and if you find it easier or would just like to toss it...

The main idea here is that people often say they do not have time to do something or nothing to give. This is asking you only to GIVE a few seconds a day to a particular thought. And a thought that can be easily done while doing a multitude of other things at any time of the day or night. The hardest thing at this point would just be to REMIND yourself to do it.
So a note in the car, by the bathroom mirror, on a bookmark of those four words “One Light-Just Glow” can remind you to do this process until you make it a habit. Or one friend put up four different pictures of suns around the house to remind her. One really good idea is to set a reminder on your computer for each morning changing your focus each week on Monday Morning.
You are not asking for anything to happen, trying to change anything, alter your thinking, start a new religion, or redesign your life, NOTHING ELSE. Just GLOW.