Pages

Saturday, July 30, 2016

July's Last Hurrah

There has not been much from me on the blog this month, but not because there have not been thoughts. Oh my, have there been thoughts.

So on the last day of the month, I am going to do a bit of a weekly roundup from Facebook, focusing on my Earth Healed and Daily Gratitudes offerings, that bit will be at the end. I am also going to let my small but loyal group of followers here know that I have signed up for another month long writing challenge, so I expect you will be seeing more posts in the month of August.

The actual challenge is a Small Stone challenge, that will have specific daily prompts, so they will be definitely guided. I also ran across a prose writing challenge, to write a page a day for August ... I am thinking that may turn into part of my post a day here on the blog, because while mindful writing is challenging, and has a beauty in the brevity and simplicity it embodies, it does not make for very substantial blog posts.

So we will begin with July 23:

My Daily Gratitudes

Heat breaking rain on a summer day
Waking and hearing I love you Sweetie
Intoxicating aroma of newly mown hay
Being able to respond to a friend's entreaty

Cats on the porch rail enjoying the sun
The tinkle of ice being dropped in a glass
Pulled pork and coleslaw served on a bun
Watching toddlers play in the grass

The unique relief of sleep when so weary
Paying a bill before and for once not late
Reading a good book and getting teary
The eerie slow creak of an old wooden gate

I have a vision of an Earth that is healed
Of all people making the decision to be kind
Happy swarms of honeybees pollinating a field
New definitions of success found and refined


July 24

This is my daily gratitude. Please take a moment, and look at the pictures, and read the captions.

When we moved into the house where my mother still lives, I had just turned 8 years old. There was an old wood frame house on the land next door. Gertie Nipper (we called her Granny Nipper) lived there. This lady reminds me of Gertie. She had electricity, and town water, but she lived old ways. There was a potbellied stove in the living room she would cook on. I still remember going to see her - I was always one to 'visit' the neighbors as a child - and she would make popcorn for us, on the stove in the living room.

She always wore dark clothing, long dresses and heavy black shoes. She had gray hair she wore in a bun. She had a garden on the hillside behind the house, and she would be up there real early hoeing weeds. You could hear the scratch of the hoe in the rocky soil.

So my gratitude today is to Jeanie Lawson, who is a friend of a friend here on Facebook, for helping me remember Granny Nipper, and what a gift it was to know her, even though she passed soon after we moved to the house on Virginia Avenue. Granny Nipper was kind to us little children, and was generous to all who knew her.

I have a vision of Earth, healed. An Earth where people like Granny Nipper and Ms. Issacs are the norm, not the exception or a curiosity.

Be blessed, and Bless others in your abundance as well as when you are in need.

This Facebook post was referenced.

July 25 (which was our 14th wedding Anniversary)

Lady Luna 
be my muse
Be my midnight 
be my guide
Month by month 
in varied hues
Behind cloudy mist 
though you may hide
In stormy times 
I know you're there
Illumine well
my woodland way
Lady Luna 
gentle and fair
Lead me to
a brighter day


When we met, he told me we knew one another even before we were born. That we played together as angels on the clouds, and pinky swore that because he was given his parents 9 months before I was given mine that we would find each other again. It took us 43 years, and a failed first marriage each, but find each other we did! We married on July 25, 2002. His choice, so our anniversary would always be Christmas in July. Fourteen years later, and we still love each other, and like one another's company.

We have had a challenging year, from last anniversary to this, but in all of our challenges we stick together.

He is my Daily Gratitude, every single day.

On July 25, 2002 Roger and I were married at the Magistrates Office in Abingdon, Va. We had met online via Yahoo Personals in June of 2001 and he came to meet me in person on June 26, 2001. This picture was taken right after we were married. The past ten years have been so good - I love him, and like him. We can talk, or be comfortable with silence. I am blessed beyond measure to be his wife. Happy Anniversary, Roger!


Life is so fragile, when all is said and done. So very, very fragile. I just saw here, on Facebook, that Greg Hankins passed away. He graduated from my alma mater, RHS, in 1975. He and Marcy were the quintessential childhood sweethearts. You knew love was real, if you knew them, or just saw them together in the cafeteria or hallway. They were that perfect together. Hail and Farewell, Greg. You touched many lives I am sure, and impacted more than you will ever know. 

July 26

My Daily Gratitudes

I saw Justin Olivo in Wal-Mart this morning. He was a team manager at AT&T that had the misfortune of trying to keep me in line for a few months. I told him he deserves a button that says " I Survived Being Ellen's Boss". He always smiles. Nice to seem him, and thankful he took the time to chat.

Updates on my mother indicate that physically she is doing well after her recent fall and hospitalization. I am thankful she is still able to be living in her own home.

For the first time in almost six years, I am able to qualify for at least partial benefits through my employment. I am so thankful to Wal-Mart, and the job I have with them.

A butterfly landed on the windshield when I came home from work. It was so beautiful ... 
There was fog hanging low and heavy in the hollows and valleys this morning, it was like driving through the clouds to get to work ... 
I am thankful today for the opportunity to notice and enjoy this beautiful Earth.

Be kind, and remember - your smile may be the only one someone receives today.

This picture is about 5 years old
You know who you are, my dear friends, who are adjusting to realities without siblings, parents, spouses, children. I would enfold each of you in a hug, and grieve and remember with you the unique unequalled loved one you will never forget. Remember, what is remembered, lives, forever in your heart. Love to each of you.



July 27

My Daily Gratitudes
This morning, I think it was about 6:30, I was standing outside at work on break. There is a hillside in the distance, back behind the store, that is partially wooded, then there is a section that is pasture, then the wooded area begins again. In the pasture portion, there is a lone tree, I think it may be an Oak. The woods to the left of the pasture resemble a fat groundhog. The woods to the right of the pasture look like a bunny rabbit. The Oak in the pasture, well it very well could be a morsel of food the two woodland creatures are both going after at the same time. 
I am grateful that I am gifted with a childlike imagination that takes flights of fancy while watching the sky, and can see pictures not just in clouds but grass and trees as well.
The S-10 is state legal for another year. I am thankful there were no issues that could have been costly.
I am thankful for Tammy Shelton - my hairdresser - who gives me haircuts that I can wash and wear. I hate fixing my hair.
And once again, I am very grateful for heat-breaking rain showers. Dog Days are hot this year, but at least they are not dry.

Be kind - to yourself as well as others. Love to all.

July 28

My Daily Gratitudes
Love Evi Schumacher - I have the best friends! And the most talented husband, who has sketched me an Owl holding a Luna Shield and a ceremonial spear. I will use my watercolor pencils to color it. Evi made the bookmark. I have already placed it in my copy of Ink and Honey. What a wonderful Thursday!

I am thankful today for a break in the heat that made it bearable to cook. I have baked beans and barbecue chicken in the oven, and I made a bowl of potato salad.

I am thankful for family, and the wonderful gift of a phone call from my dear cousin Georgenne yesterday evening.

My lagniappe for the day was a wee pretty child in the grocery store, whom I admit I would have stolen were I not so old and slow. Children are a blessing.




July 29

Vincent van Gogh crossed the veil on this date in 1890

Lyrics to Vincent by Don McLean

Starry
Starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the
Darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land.
And now I understand what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen
They did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now.
Starry
Starry night
Flaming flo'rs that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in
Vincent's eyes of China blue.
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's
Loving hand.
And now I understand what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free.
Perhaps they'll listen now.
For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight on that starry
Starry night.
You took your life
As lovers often do;
But I could have told you
Vincent
This world was never
Meant for one
As beautiful as you.
Starry
Starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes
That watch the world and can't forget.
Like the stranger that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
The silver thorn of bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken
On the virgin snow.
And now I think I know what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen
They're not
List'ning still
Perhaps they never will.


July 30

And so July is drawing to a close. 

I still have a vision of Earth, healed, One smile, one random act of kindness, one hug, one blessing at a time. 


Be blessed, and bless others in the blessing.

Ellen


Friday, July 22, 2016

In the midnight garden of my brain

Prompt: In the midnight garden of my brain


My face lifts skyward
I raise my arms
and wings unfurl
I take flight 
soaring among the clouds 
tumbling on the currents
exultation of spirit ascends
There is a beauty and grace 
In my every movement
Flawless synchronization of intent and execution
My midnight garden resides in the ether
Unbound and borderless
No depth or height
Just            being
I am so loathe to return to
Here
To Earth - reality - 
To these mortal confines
But return I must. 
I know this truth
But in the deepest recesses of my brain
A secret lies - 
I can return to this midnight garden
At Will - 
And that knowledge sufficient must be
In my daily toils

~ Ellen Apple 7/22/2016


Thursday, July 21, 2016

A Week of Gratitude

This is what we need to be able to focus on, not suicide bombings and guns and police/civilian conflicts that escalate too far, too fast. Our Earth, our lives need healing ... and soon.

UN Report says Small Scale Organic Farming ...
Is the Only Way to Feed the World ...

The UN Farming Report ... 
“Wake Up Before It’s Too Late”

The review benefited from the analysis of over 60 international experts, and its key message recommends“…
a paradigm shift in agricultural development: 
from a “green revolution” to an “ecological intensification” approach ... 
This implies a rapid and significant shift from conventional monoculture-based and high-external-input-dependent industrial production towards mosaics of sustainable, regenerative production systems that also considerably improve the productivity of small-scale farmers”

Read GreenAgric's Blog ...
"Food Catastrophe Looms"

Please click on the link below to read the details ...

http://www.greenagric.org/428044727



My Daily Gratitudes
My mother is back home after a week in the hospital. I hear she cried when she came in the front door. I know it is often said, but it bears repeating: Appreciate your family - none of us live forever.
Cats - my indoor cats both know the sound of my voice, and greet me with affection. I think animals help humans stay healthy.
Friends that have empathy and concern. I believe in surrounding myself with as much kindness and goodwill as possible. It helps me balance out the negative aspects of myself.
Books to read, always at my side. I even keep one in the glovebox of my vehicle. Because you never know when you will have a chance to read a chapter or two.
Roger - he brings a deep contentment to my life, and we always say "I love You" several times a day -
Living where I do - having a place and space to sleep that is safe. So many people do not have that gift.
Nekots and coffee and iced tea. . . and cheese.
What are you grateful for today?

Shared from my friend Barbara Cowgill


Humanity would really benefit if people were not so meanspirited. Be Kind - it costs nothing yet is priceless.

07/15/2016

My Daily Gratitudes
I have the most amazing friends - generous, giving, compassionate, kind ...I am grateful for all of them, but especially today I am grateful that life brought me to cross paths with Andrea about 16 years ago. I hope all of you has a friend like her - she had a desire to make a difference in her community, and now a few dozen children will have new backpacks filled to overflowing with school supplies to start their new school year. She saw a need, and she addressed it.
Because of life in general, and Facebook specifically, I have friends in Europe, as well as Australia, Greece, Great Britain, well, pretty much everywhere but China and Korea. I am grateful that I can have relationships without borders, and without language barriers thanks to 'translate' - today I am grateful that as far as I know, everyone is safe from the recent troubles. But oh, how my heart grieves for the lost lives ... especially the children.
I am grateful for salty snacks - Bugles today - and ice cold water.
I am grateful for my job, even on rough days. It was not that long ago I had no income, and that is not a good feeling.
I am grateful for missed opportunities, they teach lessons hard learned and long remembered.
I am grateful that I live far enough out of town to be blessed with a lovely commute home ... though I admit to griping about low hanging fog , oh, about every single morning.
Be kind, friends. Please be kind, our times are crying out for kindness in large and small doses. Earth, and it is one kindness at a time.

07/16/2016

My Daily Gratitudes
I am grateful for hugs - unexpected hugs from dear people I see out and about. I am doubly blessed, because I had two such hugs today ... One as I was going in to work, from Erica - yes, she works with me, but she is still a dear friend, and it helps my day start off so nice when I see her as I go in at 5 AM. I do not get to see her every day, so I am especially appreciative of the days I do. The second hug was just after I had clocked out to come home, and I saw Terri - another one of my AT&T blessings. I had a nice hug from her, she just has one of those joyful countenances that brightens any day, any time.
I am grateful for my ability to "unlax" when I get home from work, spending time with Roger and the cats. We chat about our day, and discuss topics ranging from the mundane to the sublime. Smokie, the black cat, hears my voice and has to have her "rubbings" and Mabon, the calico, sits along the back of my chair and rests her head on my shoulder. We are blessed.
I am grateful that when I married Roger I also gained a sister, Patricia. She is a good person, and has such a heart for the well-being of her family.
I have a vision of Earth, healed. Be kind - it costs nothing and is priceless - just look at the smiles you get in return!

07/18/2016

My Daily Gratitudes
Being led to work this morning by the beauty of a Full Moon. Though the moon is "officially" full tonight, the fullness can be enjoyed on days preceding and following the event. I was glad for her presence this morning, because there are possibilities of rain overnight tonight, which may mean clouds ...
A kind co-worker gave me a full case of 9 Lives cat food for the outside cats. Her cat would not eat it ...
Voortman (sp?) wafer cookies ... they are a flashback food, and remind me of Bible School at church when I was a child. I like the chocolate, though the peanut butter is pretty tasty as well.
Book recommendations from good friends ...I am loving Ink and Honey by Sibyl Dana Reynolds and am glad I bought the companion book, The Way of Belle Coeur, as well. Thank you, Debra.
I have a vision of Earth, healed ... we heal our planet by healing our spirits. Be kind, and kindness will return to you in serendipitous ways. Lagniappes from life. :)

I am just as distressed by the negative comments and posts about both main political parties pretty well equally.
What has happened to civility?
Where is the place for resaoned, polite debate?
I know where it is not - Facebook.
I am in the process of unfollowing some friends. Not unfriending, just unfollowing the bulk of the posts.
For the good of my peace of mind and in hopes of a healthy blood pressure.

07/19/2016


My Daily Gratitudes
I am thankful today, as I sit looking out the window, that there was light traffic and good weather as we travelled to Mountain Home TN today for a medical test.
Very thankful for small graces, today's was being in and out of the VA in less than an hour (four hours is the norm).
Grateful for Krogers, and their store brand coffee.And having the time and money today to purchase a few pounds.
I am grateful for being able to stay alert while driving after getting up at 3 AM and working a short shift.
Thank you Roger for always being able to make me laugh at silly things. Everyone should be gifted with a few uninterrupted hours with your outlook.
I have a vision of Earth, healed. Be kind, it makes anyone's day better, especially your own.


I have a vision of Earth, healed ... for the sake of flowers, help save our honeybees. Be judicious in your use of herbicides and pesticides. I have heard it said that without honeybees, the earth's ability to sustain life would be gone in three years.



07/20/2016

Saturday, July 21, 2012
Life Wearies Me - Or Perhaps It Is Just People
A damaged soul, for reasons that may never be known [ and if known will probably not make sense or be coherent] commits a reprehensible act. Almost before we can process, the crap starts to fly around the blogosphere, drip down the Facebook feed, scream at us from the "news".

Conspiracy theorists. Gun Control. Terrorists.

Cameras and microphones and livefeeds as the friends and families and shattered lives are hounded relentlessly.

Religion and psychology and psychiatry and education reform and media influence and popular culture are all prodded and poked by the talking heads on the television screen, spouting theories and spinning lies and truths into a fabric that will be cut and sewn and ripped apart ad nauseum in the days, weeks, years to come.

Connections are made where it is convenient though implausible. The unscrupulous suck the tragedy dry like insatiable vampires as they desecrate the private pains for their own gains. Why not? they self-justify - my cause, my beliefs, my candidate, my agenda is what really matters.

There is a book  I read about six years ago for the first time that speaks to the idea that we create our own reality. As invincible as we go about life thinking we are, our current incarnation of energy that includes the ability to think, reason, dream, communicate is a very fragile and fleeting thing. Since according to Don Miguel Ruiz we create the reality we walk in each day, why not make it a reality of hope, of joy, of dreams, of possibilities?

I am not naive - one does not get to be 54 years old and go through the events of my life and retain a childlike innocence and naivete. I am firmly committed to the belief that life is about balance, light and dark, good and evil, yin and yang. That being said, we are sentient beings. Why are we (humanity as a whole) not able to function in a manner that is less base? What benefit is history, all the volumes of recorded history, if we continue to repeat the same actions and continue to get the same results?

There is greed, avarice, discord, hatred, cruelty in this world. Life is a cycle, and what becomes ceases to be. There is generosity, compassion, love, gentleness in this world. Life is a cycle, and what becomes ceases to be.

Embedded in the here and now for each of us is a chance to choose, to make a difference that matters in good ways.

Yet once again, when the incomprehensible has occurred, the lowest common denominator rises to the forefront.

Life wearies me, or perhaps it is just people.

My Daily Gratitudes
Yesterday I was grateful for the concept of Kroger's French Roast Coffee - today I am thankful for the reality. I brewed a pot early, about 3:30 AM, and had a cup with my Nekots, then took a cup to work with me. So tasty.
I am grateful that I am giving myself the rest of today off ... yes, I have laundry that begs doing, and house that needs cleaning, but I am weary. So I am going to Facebook play, then nap, then read, then feed people and cats, then read some more.
A smile and hug going out to my Facebook friends that buck the trends and do not repost demeaning "news". There is enough focus on the negatives in life, and I am so thankful for being in the company of so many who carry true compassion and empathy in their hearts.
I have a vision of Earth, healed. Be the friend to others you want to have. Most people will respond to kindness much faster than neediness.

07/21/2016


Thursday, July 14, 2016

Barefoot

These are not my feet - but they could be!

Grass and clover they tickle 
Soil is silky when rock free
Thistle can cause a prickle
Mud may splash up to the knee

Feet go Splat! on the sidewalk
But stealth through dandelions
Cold creeks can be quite a shock
With grass skirt? Like Hawaiians!

When at work I must be shod
Give me choice I kick them off
Blessed release I applaud
Lest you try it do not scoff




Monday, July 11, 2016

Comforting the Comforters

"Who comforts the comforter?", I wrote the other day. And as in times past, words I wrote echo in my mind, singing out that they are still there, still needing to be heard. So today, again, I ask. 


Who comforts the comforter? Who helps the helper? Who heals the healer? 



This goes out to my Heart Sisters, my very own Wild Women, fierce and innocent, free and burdened, held down and rising up - fighting hate with love, they battle in their own darkness to be a light of peace. 



They stand in the gap when the call goes forth. They hold space when cries rip through the desert for justice. In the midst of the storm they are the refuge. Heart to heart and hand to hand, they encircle the wounded and their pure energy of intent warms and mends what was thought to be lost. 



Ah, but they are weary and worn. They bow low with the weight and worry they have so willingly taken, and will even yet in their own sorrow carry another. 



That deep breath they take is not a prayer for patience at your request. It is a recharging of their will and effort. When they shake their heads and straighten their shoulders, it is their very own silent battle cry. 



They are there for you, to comfort, to help, to heal. They know that a burden taken without rancour is made lighter for the sharing, and that sure steps are made when hands are joined. 



Their keening cries rise in the wind of the night, calling forth a fresh and better day. They toil alone, and for hours unknown. They lose their own selves, at times, and wonder where they have been, and how they journeyed forth and back whilst living their day to day. 



They ask not for appreciation, or compensation. That mother's heart that lives in the soul of every woman could do no less, than to give their all. It is a part of their essence, the lifeblood that courses through their veins and the sweet nectar that feeds their spirit. 



This then is for each of you. Listen, and know I mean each word.



I see you, and your beauty rips my heart with the brilliance you bring. I hear you, and I know that the music of angels falls from your lips. You enfold me in your arms, gather me unto your breast, and I know the warmth and respite I longed so for has been given at last. 



Yes, I have a vision of Earth, healed ...


and you are the 
Helper
Comforter
Healer


my vision has called forth.



~ Ellen Apple 07-11-2016




Saturday, July 9, 2016

Seven Dark Horses Ride

July 3 

7WS
soft snores float in a quiet house

in the between time
in the between time when our
talk is awkward and eyes dart
and we appear to cower 
at the concept much less art
of crafting relation from
acquaint a ship floats apart
sails grab the wind ignore scum
and glides following no chart
ripples on surface become
a point on which focus part
hope more fear then waves crash
beauty and bare honesty
fill in the between time now


July 4

The dark horse will gallop
The cold wind will howl
Thunder roll and lightning flash
Red clouds boil across the sky
Heat and chill will meet then clash
Chattering calls of mad magpie
Keening cry in dead of night
Laments of empty day brought
Feed the endless appetite
Always seeking never caught
From the dragons goblet drink
Chase the magic from the day
Teeters oh so close the brink
Far from meadows of the fae
Ride that dark horse long and hard
Past that river of blue ice
Howling you greet yon graveyard
Once this journey will suffice
The dark horse will gallop
The cold wind will howl

writing prompt Howl at the Dark Horse

I apologize for my tardiness in reading the posts since the prompt went up yesterday. I wanted to write as my mind flew around the words, unencumbered by the images all of your words would surely invoke. Having been reading just now of your offerings, I see my wisdom, for had I read your eloquence, I surely would have stilled the clattering of these laptop keys posthaste, and watched a cooking show on television instead.

July 5

All his life he would howl at the dark horse. He would cry out at the pain, and run from the raw reality of what he had been, become. He turned to the warmth, the love, time and again. But the lure of the midnight frenzy pulled him away. In the end, the sharp and unforgiving hooves of that malicious steed ground him one last time into the earth, and he never howled again. He was just shy of 60, and that was a sort of miracle in itself.

July 6 

Howl at the Dark Horse

Laugh at the Pink Fish

Dance with the Spotted Pig

Make a Second Wish

Cry for the Teeming Horde

Whisper to the Sacred Tome

Build a cairn for the Small Stones

Love your way Home


July 7

Shots fired in the night, and at least one life lost. News from my region this morning ... 
and once more, 
random acts of violence (seem to) 
trump random acts of kindness. 

So the call goes forth, 
from a muted voice in an empty room, 
echoing across the barren landscapes 
and rocky peaks ... 
howl at the dark horse ... 
howl until strength lags then renews ... 
howl through the blistering heat and driving rain 

howl, 
and howl again. 

For the lives lost, 
for the hearts shattered, 
for the hope that must not wither.

July 8

Will you hold space for my mother? 
Her name is Jan, and she is in hospital with head injuries sustained in a fall that occurred when she suffered a heart attack yesterday.  
update: the fall preceded the heart attack, which was mild. Small Mercies 

Thank You. 

I have yet another Dark Horse at which to howl, and my voice is growing weak.

July 9

Who hugs the one who always has

A hug for the aching soul

Who catches the tears that never fall

From the deep and lonely eyes

Who offers rest to the swollen feet

That pace in the darkest hours

Who howls at the dark horse

When the voice is frozen still

Who comforts the comforter

That is all I want to know





I have a vision of Earth, healed 

Be kind, it costs nothing 
and means everything




~ Ellen Apple 7/9/2016