Quote of the Week: Home

“My heart found its home long ago in the beauty, mystery, order and disorder of the flowering earth.” 

~Lady Bird Johnson

Photo credit: "V", by Lee Peiling

Joy in the Little Things

 The tiniest, simplest moments create joy.

Happies:

little birdies all wet and puffed up from the rain
tomato blossoms!
my face in kitty fur
jazz music with my love, on the grass on a cool evening
baby cardinals chirping
pumpkin chocolate chip bread
someone loving my art
sewing on the porch on a sunny afternoon
a spontaneous dinner out instead of cooking
the scent of feathers, of a rose surrounded by rose hips, and of lavender soap

:)

Rewild Your Life!

Wildness: 

the quality of being wild, untamed and free: a quality produced in nature.

So the writer of one of my favorite blogs, Nature Is My Therapy, posted about a challenge hosted by We Are Wildness called "Rewild Your Life."  For 30 days in September, the participants will attempt to spend at least 30 minutes a day in a natural setting for 30 days without electronics (except to take pictures).  The goal?  To "help you reconnect with that inner wildness deep down in your soul!"  Don't you love that?

This challenge really appeals to me, as I have a very deep connection to the earth and nature that is an enormous part of who I am and how I feed my "soul".  A connection that has been mostly blocked due to coping with an illness that drains the heart and darkens the spirit.  When I do meet with nature, I find tremendous joy.  A challenge like this will hopefully provide motivation to clear up and rebuild my earth-y connection.  :)  I'm excited to start! 

Earth Song

I happened to watch the video for Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" this week. It'd been so long since I had seen it, but it comes closer than anything I have seen in a long time to showing the kind of desperate, heart-breaking, incomprehensible grief and intensity I feel over the devastating destruction of the planet and abhorrent suffering of all living beings.  Such a grief and anger and helplessness that goes beyond expression and comprehension.  HOW CAN ANYONE ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN, to choose greed and self-interest over the protection and sanctity of lives, of LIFE?  I don't understand.  I only hope that more and more people are inspired to do something, anything!  Each action, no matter how big or small, makes a difference and fights back!

Quote of the Week: How to Love

I don’t love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don’t know any other way of loving


but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

~Pablo Neruda

Joy in the Little Things

 The tiniest, simplest moments create joy.

I have to admit that this post is a struggle this week, but here goes...


This weekend's happies included:

budgies bathing in a lettuce leaf
fresh peaches
getting cards via snail mail
finishing a project (or part of one)
lavender seedlings that already smell wonderful
someone going vegan because of knowing me
people dancing in rain
playing hide and seek with my kitty

:)

Quote of the Week: Lullaby

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

 ~Langston Hughes

photo credit: Rain Drops by Rhonda Griscti on Fivehundredpx

Joy in the Little Things

 The tiniest, simplest moments create joy.

This weekend's happies included:

a yellow feather
a princess-themed birthday party
wispy, flat clouds in a pale blue sky
loving someone
being loved
sidewalk-side tomato plants bearing tiny "take me" signs
cool mornings
family
blueberry pancakes

:)

Build Your Nest Here! X

Spring is here!  :D  I'm so excited!  Springtime's new life and birds and colors and blossoms and planning for a garden are some of the only things that can penetrate my darkness even a little these days.  So I'm throwing what energy I have into enjoying it.

I have a whole list of projects for birding and gardening I've been wanting to work on that, to me, say, "Yay Spring!"  This is the first I've gotten to (just hung yesterday), a little happy welcome to the birdies.

For some time now I have been seeing blog posts, pins. and DIY tutorials on offering nesting materials to birds looking to nest-build.  I love this idea, cause I am a huge birding fan and just adore those who nest in and visit my feeders.  I kinda took a little from each source and came up with my own thing.

MY MATERIALS:

*cat fur (been collecting for a while now)

*feathers naturally lost from my budgies

*small fabric scraps (Color is an eye-catcher!)

*little pieces of smooth hemp twine (frayed hemp can endanger toes and feet)

*bits from nature- dried leaves left from fall, small twigs, and dried moss

*empty suet cage

CAUTION: I kept all pieces of string-like material under 6".  I avoided using string/thread except for a tiny piece here and there, and made sure it wasn't tangled.  When all knotted or bound together, thread can catch in birdy feet and cause serious harm.  :/  I played it a little more cautious than the articles I read suggested, just to be safe!

INSTRUCTIONS: 

*Mix all of your goodies together- whee!

*Fit into cage, and close it up well.  

*Look for a place outdoors to hang it, preferably where birds will see it in their everyday travels.  Here is where using some brightly-colored fabric scraps is helpful! 

*Hang in a secure place.

*Watch birdies visit to nab fancy bits for their nests!  Maybe later in the Spring you'll even see a nearby nest with spots of color from your contribution!

Here are links to the articles I mainly used:
"Offer Nesting Materials For Birds" from Empress of Dirt
"Other Ways to Attract Birds" from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
"The First Day of Spring" from Juniper Moon Farm

I'd love to hear about your experiences with this!  I'll update on mine (hopefully I'll have some).

Vote for Sophie!

My beautiful kitty Sophie is in a photo contest on Facebook! :) Voting ends in just a few days on March 22nd. Please follow this link, look for this picture, and click the "vote" icon in the corner. Sophie thanks you in advance (and me, too)!   =^..^=   Meow!

UPDATE:  Sophie won!  Along with five other kitties, she now has a poster-sized photo of her (see above) hanging in the vet's office!  Yay!  She also got her very first package in the mail, filled with exciting playthings from Yeowww! Organic Catnip.  Thanks for your votes, all!  Sophie says to say, "ma-mow!"   

Give A Little Love

Sharing this inspiring video about kindness and its impact in the everyday world as my first post in some time.  Give a little love...   :)