Mother Mary TN

I got a really sweet, 5-year journal that had awful paper; I even left a review.  No "Before" pictures, (I know!  Bad blogger!) so click on the link to see what it looked like before I gutted it. And here's the "After" :

I googled different photos & chose this for the cover.

This is for my friend Christen.

The book was that pretty teal blue, but I used a metallic gold around the edges. Kinda went a little crazy with it, here's the back of book:

Spine with a little heart charm:

Pocket on inside cover of Mother Mary, laminated. I did 5 inserts; the first with another Mother Mary image:

And then the next 4 inserts were each of the archangels:

Back of AA Michael & front of AA Raphael:

Back pocket is AA Raphael with some extra pictures:

These were extras that I had laminated. It was hard choosing which pictures to use for this project. There is so much beautiful art work through the centuries!

I didn't want to post this until after I'd given it to Christen, and then I forgot until I remembered. 

You can turn any book into a travelers notebook. So if you like a cover, but not the contents, give it a go!

Day of Rest: Snowy Pix

Yesterday at the early stages of the blizzard:

Ruthie & Albus who's not a fan of his coat!

This morning:

Blue Sky!

Ruthie's year-round tree ornies.

Back porch.

I watched the snow rise on this table all yesterday! Really? More?!

'member the Mother Mary Statue Rescue? Here she is this morning. Back tomorrow with M&M Monday! :-)

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.

Lessons from the Road

I was on the way to an appointment in Silver Spring, and I got lost. And yes, for those of you who are wondering, I was using the GPS. But it got confused.

Yes, it can and it did.

Anyway, I ended up on a quiet little street, and saw this:

And this:

Worth the 3-minute detour. BEAUTIFUL. :-)

3 years ago, I was on my way to a Brimhall seminar. I was on an unfamiliar highway and uncertain where I was. I got stuck on an off-ramp and was heading off the road when I managed to maneuver back over and onto the road--which was why I was pulled over by a police officer. He said to me that it wasn't worth risking an accident and that "even if you get detoured off the main road, you can always get back on if you need to."

I had been struggling about whether to go to Dave Dobson's Funshop. I had just finished massage school 2 days earlier, was seeing Brimhall the next day, and then flying out the next. The Funshop seemed like a detour and I was debating about going. Did I really need to go? It was a detour, and thanks to that police officer, I took it. I think if we're not picky about the messenger, the answers will come from wherever they will.

Airport Drama-o-rama

Well. I went to the airport to pick up Mum. I got there in plenty of time. Puh-lenty. When I went in, it said on the screen by International Arrivals that the flight was delayed. By 3 hours. So I immediately turned lemons into lemonade and decided it was an opportunity to listen to the WONDERFUL Dave Dobson tapes that John Morgan has lent me. I went to the car and listened to one for a half hour or so (and I'm listening to Dave, so how much time has really gone by??? That will be funny to a coupla Dobsonians reading this). Anyway, so the tape stopped. Hmmm... that's odd. I wonder if I drained the battery. Why, yes, I did. How would you react? Think about it as I tell you what I did next:

I Reikied the battery for about 40 minutes (WTH, I had time to kill).
I chanted the Gayatri mantra (all-purpose Vedic chant). Click here for a v. cute version.
I visualized myself celebrating and saying, "THANK YOU!" because the car started.
Then I muscle-checked when the whole process was complete and turned the ignition... and this part may surprise you...

...or perhaps not. The car did not start. Can you believe that? But just when I had tried to start it, a man was walking by, so I asked him if he had jumper cables. He did. AND his car was right across in front of mine. AND he just happened to be a mechanic. It would be so cool if I could say my car started right then, but alas, no! The cables were too skinny and didn't get enough juice to the battery. Another guy walked by and Mechanic Guy asked him if he had jumper cables. He did. My car started. I celebrated just as I had imagined. THANK YOU!!! :-)

I knew it was all taken care of, I just had the details of *how* a bit fuzzy.

Now some of you, in your smug little Newtonian Clock Universe, will think, "Who Reiki's a car battery?" Really, why didn't I just go look for help in the first place? Well. And this is my clean-little-secret: I Reiki everything. Now you know. Because I live in an Einsteinian Energetic Universe; everything is energy and thoughts & intentions direct that energy. AND it has worked in the past. OK, not with a car battery, but it's worked with my computer and other situations. AND doing Reiki helps me get grounded in stressful situations. Chanting Gayatri makes me feel calm & centered. AND when you feel better, you do better. AND instead of wandering around looking for help, it came to me. I only asked one person. Plus, and you may interpret this as the REAL reason: it was POURING down rain, and I didn't want to get out of the car. Until it stopped. It didn't. And I asked myself, "What can I do sitting in the dark on a rainy night in my car with nothing else to do but wait for the rain to stop?" Pray. Meditate. Reiki. Always a good thing to do, and rushing around as I had for the past 2 days, had not taken time to do that. So, there you have it.

PART 2:
I had an hour to recharge the battery and listen to Dave. (Note to self: Blog post on Dave). Then I went into the airport and waited for Mum. Have you ever seen that movie, Love, Actually? With Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson. I forget what it's about because it's the opening of the movie that I LOVE. They filmed regular people at an airport for 2 weeks meeting friends & family off the plane. It's so BEAUTIFUL to watch. And I got the live version of it as I watched people come out of customs. There were 2 little boys who ran up to their grandfather. Papita! Papita! And happy tears all around. A British gal with her children meeting her sister. Very proper and so sweet. An Indian family greeting their father-brother-uncle. It made my heart *smile* to watch all this as I'm waiting for my own mother.

And then my phone rang. It was Mum. "Where are you?" she said.
"I'm at the airport. Where are you?"
HOME. Her plane was NOT delayed and she had sat in the airport for 3 hours while I sat in the parking lot. She finally got a taxi home. In the rain. With a driver who didn't speak English. D'OH!!! (Note to self: Oh, never mind! Too many notes!) So there you have it.

WELCOME HOME, Mum! Sorry your daughter is such a twit!

Mum on her last B-day.

This is our version of Easy-Lazy Trifle (no one wants to bake in August!) :
Store-bought angel food cake, slice around to make 2 layers. Add Byrd's frozen strawberries to bottom layer (thawed, of course). Put on top layer of cake, add more strawberries to the top. Slather with whipped cream (the REAL stuff, not that spray crap-in-a-can). If you're feeling extra-inspired, you can do the Byrd's custard on top of the strawberries before the whipped cream. The center of the cake just fits a Catholic candle (Mother Mary). :-)