friends and family

with yet one more dinner still to attend, the holiday has been a fortunate one with several opportunities to gather for giving thanks. once again i am thankful for my family, both biological and circumstantial, that gives us ample reason to celebrate. thanks, friends! photo by steve

 

3 generations of food

this year we did something a bit differently for the feasting. 3 generations of women from our family came together to share recipes and enjoy companionship, learning and delicious rewards. grilled vegetable salad, one-pot spaghetti, and blueberry cobbler. so fun! i hope we do it again.  love these women, cousin, mother and grandmother.
(that's the headboard i'm working on in the background.)

giving thanks

thankful? profoundly. recently i accomplished a physical feat unachievable just a few months ago...sweeping the patio - pain free. glory be, i can see my way out of this tunnel and it's looking bright and hopeful for the first time in too long. feeling grateful for health and improved wellness.

 

metamorphosis

 once upon a time three girls grew into three women. they entered the world and made their marks upon it, each in her own way.

 years flew by, children grew, the sun rose and set and the tides receded with the ebb and flow of time

 the three women took charge of their lives in their own way and made their way in the world on their own terms

 time, faith, and wisdom brought them back to their core and into the greater unknown

 love, humor, and desire kept them together

 into a greater unknown: metamorphosis, like a free butterfly, migrating, returning, to friendship, to family.

adventure calling

turn off your room's light. open this full screen. turn up the volume. absorb. 

what beauty from patience, vision, tenacity. 

2 months. 

32 states. 

awesome.
i do not know him, only of him as an artist. today's inspiration. :)

adventure calling

sunrise

early hikes with my friend cosby sometimes look like this. the rising sun is positively glorious from up here, but this cell phone is as satisfying to use as a camera, as a shovel for icing a cake. instead, i will focus on being thankful that there are wide open spaces just around the corner from home to set us free.

 

drive on

"How are you doing since retiring? We miss you."

Truth is, I miss you too. I miss ME, I miss IT.  I miss all that I've known, and still wrapping my brain around it.

What if you had to stop doing what you loved? What if it ended, cold turkey, before you could blink or consider? Months on end.  Take it away, take away your loves. Take them away when you least expect it. How do feel? How do you respond? How do you THINK you'd respond? And do you accept it? It's hard to imagine, probably. And likely, it's probably hard to understand.

How am I? I am on the roller coaster of denial, anger, frustration, optimism, frequent but lessening pain, redirecting, relearning, physical strengthening, and focusing on long-term health and wellness, considering options. Repeat all that about three times and that's a typical day in my world, at this moment. It feels topsy-turvy, trying to reorient while all the every day normal things of life drive on. Drive on, we must.

I'm in the in-between, that's how I am. It'll get better, and I'll figure this out. 

one more of b*rthday girl

i have no words to say how much i love this. her other side. :) she cannot believe i reposted this, i'm sure. how could i not?? 

photo: maddyj
http://worldofmaddyj.blogspot.com/2013/11/halloween-2013.html