HAPPY B-day, Jerry!

Today is Jerry Stocking's birthday. When I first started working for John Morgan Seminars, John would say, "Jerry Stocking says, blah blah blah." And I would say, "Jerry says that? Hmmm." And then he would say, "And when you go work with Jerry...." Not if, when. So I finally met Jerry last year when I went to Georgia for his Personal Renaissance course. He is an AMAZING teacher and has become a dear friend.

Look at that face! :-) Jerry with Petra Nemcova

A few favourite Jerry quotes:

Everything is easier than you think it's going to be except when it's harder.

What if what you're looking for on the outside is on the inside, and what if what you're looking for on the inside is on the outside?

In the present, everything lasts forever.

You've bored yourself to death, and you call it life.

You've got this whole "I'm doing my own thing" routine--just like all the other people who are doing their own thing.

How much of your life is spent auditioning for a role you didn't want?

It's important to me that you progress, it's not important to me that you like me. I'm willing to risk that.

Are you willing to go through the swamp of confusion to get to who you really are?

I wish you a day of FUN & PLAY. :-)


P.S. To find out more about Jerry, I invite you to visit his website. He's also on Twitter here and here.

Quote of the Day: Commitment

What can you commit yourself to TODAY?

Walk with chiro-sister thru the hood

Bottle tree.

LOVED this tree!

Tree Hugger!

Ruth calls this the "crapping lion." Hahahahaha

Mother Mary Rescue

Chiro-sister and I went for a walk around her neighborhood and there was a house with a "For Rent" sign. At the curb was a group of garbage cans and this Mother Mary statue chucked into one of them, head first. So we rescued her. I carried her 6 blocks, and here she is on Ruth's front porch. :-) We grew up Episcopalian, or as I like to call it, "Catholic Light." All the rituals with half the guilt. Anyway, here she is in her new home.

Hail Mary, full of Grace. BLESSED are we sisters.

Happy Monday

I am actually writing this on Friday and scheduling this to post on Monday. I'm planning on being too busy-and-important on Monday. Hahahhaha So in that spirit, I thought I'd share something a bit fun. Jen from Cakewrecks tweeted the The Lazy Bloggers Post Generator. It's like a Mad Lib for bloggers. If you're ever at a loss for blog content, check it out. Here's my post for today:

OMG! I just climbed out from under my rock and realised I have not updated this since Hawke was Prime Minister... You would not believe how tidy my house now is. Stupid Global Warming!
I am hopped up on caffeine with finding Jesus (after someone told me he was lost), watching the grass grow, just generally being a Darling to society in general, my day seems to involve the authorities from the light through yonder window breaks til I feel like going to bed. I am plotting and planning; can't they see I am blogging. I hope you are having a good life and I will send a missive out on the wire, post-haste. No, really! This is for my ever faithful, devoted public.

Back tomorrow with weekend adventures! :-) H.

Day of Rest

SO SWEET.

Found this photo of Remi, one I've not posted before. Look at that face. As I've been contemplating getting a new dog, memories come back of Barkley and Remi. What sweetness they brought into my life.

I cannot control or foretell the future,
I can only tell you that all of life
goes better with dogs. ~Ben Stein

Quote of the Day

The answer to your woes

This sort of was a little nudge . . . I think I'm ready to call Miss Ruthie and start the process. Do I go Rottweiler, lab, smaller dog, what? Dunno . . . stay tuned.

Get ready to say "Awwww"

So I was having my morning convo with John Morgan, and I looked out at the woodshed and saw this:

See? Awww . . .

So I walked quietly onto the back porch. With John narrating into my headset: "She approaches the baby deer stealthily . . . quietly--what was that noise? The door? You need some WD-40. Is it still there or did the squeaking door scare the deer away?"

SO SWEET.

I said, "Oh, it's so CUTE . . . where is your mother????" Poor thing. I Reikied it and it trotted off down the road. Don't know if it'll be back, but I put some fresh carrots on the compost pile in case it comes back.

Wednesday Walk

Down by the river . . . a foggy walk . . .


This is my picnic pavillion. It's rather wasted on me, I don't really use it, but it has quite the set up: 2 fridges; one for beer, one for fish. Cooking pots, a grill, wired for phone--all the modern conveniences. There's even a sink with a line to the river. And an outhouse. Eeewww.

Spiderweb hammock. :-)

Have a BEAUTIFUL day!

Congradulations*

For the past week, -Ex-XM Radio Guy has had a kidney stone. Last Monday in the midst of excruciating pain, he drove himself to the hospital--not the one closest to him, but the good hospital half an hour away. Immediately. After he dropped off his dog. After diagnosis and drugs, he drove himself back home. After picking up the dog. Since then, he has languished waiting to pass the stone. I've been in hysterics about this kidney stone. Laughing, that is. His description of his experiences has been classic. I told him he should tweet it, but he argued it wasn't tweet-worthy. So yesterday he sent an email which I spiffed up with some graphics:


Urethra Franklin. Hahahahaha! Mum's going to be laughing at that one. HAPPY FALKER SATHERHOOD!**

*Yes, I know it's misspelled. It's an homage to Cakewrecks. [Insert eye-roll from Mum]

**Whaaaaa??? Another homage to Cakewrecks, go see.

Blackberries

I went berrypicking with Fisherman Willie & wife. Around the perimeter were more berries, but they were small. Looking into the thick of the patch, on the hillside were the choiciest blackberries. What to do? Stay in the easy area or venture down the hillside into the thick of it? Some answers are easy: go to the best berries. The process of executing that answer . . . was a bit more involved. As I was wading thru the briars, I was thinking of a story Dave Dobson tells when he says that you have to risk going out on the skinny branches to get the best fruit. Black berry picking was my metaphor for the day.

It takes some foresight: I was dressed in jeans & a long sleeve shirt, but that was also based on my experience berrypicking as a child. Funny how some answers are easier when you've done them before. And you may expect to get a thorn here or there, but the promise of the sweetness of blackberry jam is worth it!

Day of Rest

My great-auntie Daisy & maternal grandmother.

May you have a sunny, breezy, day!

Quote of the Day

The leaves look like ripples of water. Cool. See the heart?

Just learnt: tea made from birch leaves is gout remedy.

Those who dwell
among the beauties
and mysteries
of the earth
are never alone
or weary of life.
~Rachel Carson

Quotes of the Day

I'm reading Napoleon Hill again. Great book for these times! :-)

Quote from Sharon's Yoga East newsletter.

HAPPY Friday, everyone! :-) H.

More Googley Fun

Brother D: You know when people ask you something that they could easily look up for themselves?
Me: Yeah?
Brother D: Say, "No problem, I'll send you a link," and send them to this website.

So I'm re-writing my labyrinth website. And I almost thought about saying on the "under construction" homepage: "To learn more about labyrinths, click here." But it might not be so tongue-in-cheek as much as cheeky. So, I'm sharing it here. Thanks, Bro.

Google Alert

This is prolly where Brother D says, "Yeah, Hal. And there's this thing called the internet...." But it's new to me, so perhaps you may find it useful, as well. I learned this from Peter Shankman, the HARO Guy. Loyal readers of this blog (hi Mum!) will remember that HARO is a service that sends out reporter queries & other writers, media people, etc. looking for sources to interview for their stories. It's also how I'm quoted in next month's Good Housekeeping. [More on that when the issue comes out.] One of the rules of being in HARO is not to repost any queries on your blog. You can FW a query via email (which is when you get my email "Reporter Query for You,") but no posting. So, apparently someone posted & Peter said, "There's this thing called Google Alert...."

Me: Google Alert? What's that? [googling] COOL!

So here's the deal: whatever topic you're interested in (at least do your name), you put on alert and then you get an email once a day listing all the websites with new postings on said topic. So I put in "labyrinths" and here's an article on teens taping a labyrinth on the floor for their new youth center. COOL! Integrate those brain hemispheres! Then I got a blogpost by a fellow labyrinth enthusiast & artist, Jane Dover. Get this: she paints labyrinths on rocks, too. Way cool!

Hmmm...I wonder if she has her name in Google Alert? Hi Jane!

Batik Napkins

Ta da! They turned out pretty well! I suspect these won't have the fade-factor of tie-dye, either. I'm definitely going to play with this some more!

Colourful Afternoon

Plastic egg cartons are great as paint holders.

I read about a batiking process from That Artist Woman using Elmer's blue gel glue. This is a "kid-friendly" activity, but it's a bit messy. Especially the painting part--but it all cleans up! I needed some table napkins, so I got a plain white packet of 12 at Target. I drew a coupla labyrinths, wrote some quotes, etc. and let them dry . . . for a week. Yesterday, I moved all my art stuff to the back porch, and had a creative afternoon. I followed Artist Woman's directions & watered down my acrylic paints, and painted. I hung up a line & here they are drying:

waiting for the final process of glue-removal. Stay tuned.

Day of Rest

HAPPY Sunday, everyone :-)

A Moment of Kind Attention

This is from Mum's Front Royal Oratorio 4th of July concert last week. A little girl was standing behind the conductor, conducting with a stick:


George Amos, the conductor, motioned for her to take over, and sat down:


I didn't get a photo of it, but he had 3 assistant conductors all at one time:


What kind of memory does this create for this little girl? See the faces on the singers? I asked Mum if George knew the little girl. No, she was just up there. What does kindness to a child cost?

SO SWEET.

Dance like there's no one watching

Dave Dobson used to say that we are all herd creatures. We want to know that we are part of a group and accepted by them. We want to have Friendlies, as he would call them. This is an illustration of one guy who goes on to create his own flock:




I learned about this from a post by Derek Severs. Could you be this guy? Would you wait for permission to dance? Would you wait until there were more people so that there would be a safety-in-numbers vibe?

"Dance like there's no one watching?" Not in this day and age. You've got their attention. Even if it's to laugh at you before they join in. Love that.

THWAP!

Yesterday morning I heard something smack into the bay window in my kitchen. I went outside and looked down from the back porch. A bird lay on the ground, making gasping sounds and sticking out its tongue. Poor little thing; in shock. It was a baby woodpecker. I picked her up and began to Reiki. She calmed down and started to blink slowly like she was falling asleep. I went and sat on the porch with her and continued to Reiki. I did a little birdie effleurage--light stroking. Then I gingerly stretched out a wing. Not broken. The other one, not broken. Birdie physical therapy? Then I began to massage her neck. She liked that. She started to perk up.

She jumped out of my hand and onto my chest:

After a bit more time, I walk over to the tree where I often see the other woodpeckers hanging out. She hopped off my hand, and onto the tree.

SO SWEET.

DELICIOUS

It's just the beginning of berry-picking season. These are red raspberries. Some people call them wineberries. To paraphrase Shakespeare, a berry by any name is still a berry. The leaves can be used to make a mild-tasting tea & help to relieve muscle cramps (yes, especially monthly ones). They also are a uterine tonic and help to prevent miscarriages.

I often liken my job with John Morgan Seminars to berry picking. There's a season. There's the bumper crop and then the slim pickin's toward the end of the season, but timing is everything. So I'm back to booking our fall season, a bit shorter than the new year. A few of my radio guys are on vacation. I got a "yes" from one at the beach. How nice that he can be at the beach and take care of things from there. I did something similar when I went to the beach last year with Brother D & extended fam. I would get up with the sunrise, have a couple hours on the beach and then work all a.m. & a bit of the afternoon. Someone said, "It's a shame you have to work." I said, "Are you kidding? I'M AT THE BEACH!" How many jobs do you know of where you have the freedom to work from anywhere as long as you have cell service & internet?

Back to the berries: they are v. juicy and sweet. Much like I'm feeling about life at this moment. It's nice when you have those moments of sweetness. :-)

In the Obvious Department

Really???

Finger Labyrinth Rocks

When Mum's Cambiando friends came over for a visit, they came with little Elizabeth, 5-years-old. Just about my favourite age. Down came my curtain to reveal where I store all my art stuff. And by curtain, I mean vintage fabric tacked up with a coupla push pins. I had already shown her some of my labyrinth rocks, so it didn't take too much to entice her into creating her own rocks. We did 2:


I didn't photograph the other side before I applied the dimensional paint, but here's what we did:
Heated rocks up in oven (I already had oven on making a de-licious roasted vegetable medley).
Melted crayons on hot rock, let cool & solidify.
Painted other side of rocks, let dry. (And by "let dry," I mean used hairdryer).
Added sparkle paint. Let dry.
Added sparkle varnish (bigger sparkles, different colours). Let dry.
Added finger labyrinths with glow-in-the-dark dimensional paint. This is tricky & takes a steady hand, so I drew that part for her. She did everything else, tho. This paint takes way longer to dry, even with the hairdryer. We got it set enough to put them in a box so the lines wouldn't get squished.
We could have added jewel embellishments, like on the elephant rock I did, but Elizabeth was happy with her creations. FUN afternoon! :-)

Day of Rest: Back Porch

The inspiration for the porch clean was a vizzie from Mum & her friends. But I must say, I am v. pleased. The inevitable comment from anyone is, "You know. You oughta screen this in." Yeah, I know. ;-)

Still, it's nice to sit and have tea . . .

and watch the hummingbirds . . .

SO SWEET. HAPPY Sunday, everyone. :-)

FREEDOM DAY!

I took this picture of a T-shirt in Walmart. May today be a day of CELEBRATION, lots of LAUGHTER & general merriment. May you eat delicious food and enJOY whatever company you happen to be in. Yes, I know. Ending sentences with propositions-I-mean-prepositions, again. I'm living on the edge, now. Have a FABULOUS day!

HAPPY 4th on the 3rd

Today is Mum's annual 4th of July picnic/concert. Every year it's held on the 3rd. I LOVE fireworks. Maybe it's a characteristic of being a visual person, but I have an excitement and wonder that is brand new, every time I watch them. I forget until I remember just how much I remember liking them. One of my favourite memories is with my nephew, who was 5 at the time. "WOOOOAH! AWESOME!!! This is better than Christmas!!!" SO. CUTE. I thought, "Another one of us. He gets it." So we'll go and spread out the blanket, and Mum will complain about the gnats, and we'll complain about the concert taking too long and how they should start the fireworks as soon as it turns dark instead of waiting until 10 p.m. And then! THEN! It doesn't matter because the fireworks start and it really IS better than Christmas. :-)

Dave Dobson Story

One of my favourite stories is about a guy we used to have here on the island. In the heat of the summer, he would be wearing one of those real old, thick, World War I army overcoats. And if you were downwind, you could smell him thirty feet away. He had a little twitch, and one day I accosted him and said, "How come you do that?" He said, "Simple, it protects me."
I said, "How does it protect you?"
He said, "Keeps the elephants off the island."
"There aren't any elephants on the island."
He said, "I know! It works!"

Change

I haven't been too caught up with all the news surrounding Michael Jackson's death. I look at him and see a tortured soul who was, nevertheless, a tremendous talent. Jerry sent a link to this video, so I'm sharing it here.