BOO!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  HOPE YOUR EVENING WAS FILLED WITH TREATS!

Family and Friends

Kaye and I have been friends all our lives.  Her grandmother and my mom were cousins.  She has always been friend and family.  We gathered at her dad's house yesterday for food and fun.  Since her mom died, Kaye and her dad and brother have had a rough go.  But, I saw all three of them smile yesterday and that was good.  Family, friends and food, a few good things remain.

No Train

Friends and family today...and food...a good day.   Next weekend we play an arts/crafts festival, we have had a busy couple of months which is good.

Can you believe it is almost November?  And our record breaking heat continues, with a high of 88 degrees today.  Ugh.

I am so tired tonight, my train of thought has left the tracks.  Sorry.  Enjoy your Sunday, be kind, spread some peace and joy.

A Good Friday

I spend most of my time caring for others and have done that in some form or fashion for most of my life.  The biggie that I do for myself is a visit to the hair salon every few months.  But, my niece Becky gave me a gift certificate for a pedicure for my last birthday.  Honestly I had forgotten about it, but when I changed purses a couple of weeks ago, the certificate was in the bottom of my old handbag.

Today, I got my pedicure.  I keep polish on my toe nails and I do try to buff the callouses every once in a while, but that is about as good as it gets.  I am barefoot during my working hours and usually at home too.  I had forgotten how wonderful a pedicure can be...and those chairs!  My my!  While the chair rolled the kinks out of my back, and the manicurist massaged my feet and legs I almost fell asleep.  She also polished my nails way neater than I ever do.

So that's it.  A promise made to myself today, a pedicure once a month.  I can't believe how much more relaxed I have been this afternoon and guess what!  My hair stylist will be back at work after having her baby and I am getting my hair done next Friday.  Wow!  I am so spoiled, so pampered.
It has been a good Friday.  Seeing old friends tomorrow evening, this weekend is going well.
Goodnight, Sweet dreams

Happy

Meditation classes today, and breath work classes as well.  True relaxation is an amazing process, especially when the only relaxation you know is through drugs/alcohol.  I am exhausted, but my students left the classroom happy.

A few raindrops fell today, there is hope, maybe our weather pattern is changing.
A cup of hot tea awaits me, I am happy.
Goodnight, Sweet dreams

My Gift

Those who know me best know that I need daylight to function.  I get up most mornings when the world is dark, but with enough coffee and daylight, I come to life.  I love teaching my early  class on Wednesdays but leaving home in the dark takes some effort.  There are payoffs.  Today was one of them.

As I drove to work, headed  toward the east I saw the waning moon and there below it were subtle streaks of crimson peaking through the darkness.  The sun was waking up, getting ready to claim the sky and steal the moon's thunder.  As I parked in the lot, I gazed in my rearview mirror and saw my gift.  The horizon was crimson and tangerine and up above those streaks of brilliance the waning moon was shining with all its might.

As I got out of my car and stood in the morning chill, tears came to my eyes.  For an instant I was blinded by the beauty of the dawn. I realized I was holding my breath and as I breathed I felt gratitude for such a gift.  There is no way a camera on a phone could do justice to what I saw, but I tried.  Tonight, this photo is my gift to you.

Goodnight, Sweet dreams

A Promise

Walking the dogs this morning I searched for signs of fall.  You know, the real ones...reds, golds purples, but sadly they are so scarce right now.  The temps are cooling down, but the drought is still raging and the world around us is dusty and brown.

The last time we had a drought, we lost 100 year old oaks.  It felt as though a member of the family died.  Mother Nature is fickle and powerful.  She brings great beauty in her sunsets and rises, in the colors of each bounty...but she is also a great destroyer.  Her storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods and droughts leave a wake of destruction  Yet with one breath taking spring, one sweep of brilliant fall color all is forgiven, her beauty is as powerful as
 her ugliness.

As I walked the path this morning I continued to send love to all living things, encouraging them all to hang on, I promised that rain would come again.  I know, I should not make promises like that, but I believe somewhere down the path rain drops will fall again.  The earth will shiver with the delight of fresh clean droplets, her thirst will be quenched and the trees will smile.

Goodnight, Sweet dreams

Choose or Chase

A quote came across my FB page a few days ago..." you can chase happiness or you can choose happiness, depends on how much time you want to spend."  - Buddhist Boot Camp

Because I work at an addiction/recovery center I see many people chase happiness, when I talk with them about the fact that they can choose happiness many of them react with disbelief.
We humans are so interesting, we tend to disregard the simple and embrace the complicated.

Tonight, choose or chase happiness...the choice is yours.

Sunday Advice

A brand new week, and October will soon fade into November.  A busy fun weekend.
I am so loving these crisp cool nights.

Spread some kindness this week and don't forget to breathe.  Life is short and there is always change.
Goodnight Sweet dreams

Fall Fun

We had a football/fall festival/Halloween kind of an afternoon today.  My brother and all his family, my sister and hers...chili and taco soup, cookies, lemonade and cupcakes and chips and hot dogs.
While the adults watched football, the kids played soccer, took nature walks, painted pumpkins and made picture frames.  Holy Cow I am tired.  But I think if you look at the picture below of my sister Pat and me and all the kids, it was obvious we had fun.

I hope your Saturday afternoon was as much fun as ours.

Friday Bug

A busy day.  Family coming over tomorrow, lots of things to do.  I have also picked up a nasty sinus/bronchial bug.  Ugh.

A beautiful crisp fall day, temps are where they should be, rain is not.  We are in real drought situation now, so if any of you can bring us some rain send it on.

Time for a cup of hot tea and bed.
Goodnight, Sweet dreams

Lemon Harvest

Gratitude today for lemons ready for harvest.  There will fresh lemonade  at the Watson house this weekend.  So excited.

Moonstruck

If you have not moon gazed the past few nights, you have my permission to kick yourself.
This moon has been one of those you will remember for a long long time.
It's brilliance and size has made me moonstruck...even more than I was.

Looking at this super moon puts it all in place.  How can you look at this celestial beauty and not be overwhelmed by the love and beauty of our universe?  How can you look up at  that pearly orb and feel hate for anyone?

If you remind yourself, that no matter where you are, who you are, that same moon shines down you and your loved ones.  That moon doesn't care what color your skin is, what your religion is, or who you are voting for.  It bathes us all in its silvery glow and for me, it serves as a reminder how truly insignificant we humans and our rants and raves really are.

Take a moon bath tonight, let some rays shine down on you, spread some kindness and love tomorrow.

Goodnight, Sweet dreams

Maturity

I saw this on FB this morning.  It touched a nerve.

Paths

Emotional classes today.  Yoga does that sometimes, release comes when you least expect it.  Tears are not uncommon in class.  We talk about paths, the ones we choose, the ones we regret and the new ones we have to take.  Change is not always what we expect and often is more difficult than we anticipated.  But may we always see the beauty of each path we take.

Apology

For years I thought that the goldenrods that bloomed each fall were making my eyes itch and me sneeze...all that blame on such a pretty flower.  Turns out ragweed was my enemy.
My apologies to the goldenrod.

Just A Moment

Our gig was awesome today.  Beautiful weather, good audience and we had a great lunch with our friend Ann.  When we arrived home, I walked down to our mailbox and picked up the mail and our daily paper.  It must be my age, but I look at the obits first.  Sadly one of our neighbors had passed away yesterday, she was 94.  So we unloaded the car, freshened up a bit, watched the last quarter of the Alabama game and went down to the local funeral home to pay our respects to her family.

Another nice thing about small towns, when you die, people come to let your family know they are there for you.  I saw her great grandsons who were born not long after we built our house and now they have children.  I saw friends from high school and other neighbors... we joked, rather sadly that we seldom see each other, except when someone dies.

Life does get away from you, I figure if I live to be 94 it will all seem like a moment.  At 64 it all seems like a moment.  We have to enjoy, love and experience all we can, because it really is just a moment.

I Love A Parade

Today was Homecoming at our local high school.  It is the high school Rick and I and our siblings attended and Homecoming has been a big tradition there my whole life.  The middle and elementary schools get out a half day so the little kids can watch the parade.

I took Jordan to my sister's house because she lives only a couple of blocks from parade central, where it all starts.  Five other great and great-great nieces and nephews were there as well.
We had pizza and juice boxes, I took bubbles for the kids to play with and the weather was perfect.
80 degrees with a nice breeze gave the kids a great day to be outside.

There were 34 floats and each float was filled with football players, cheerleaders, beauty queens, fire men, police officers and anyone else that wanted to ride and throw candy and trinkets to the kids.
By the time it was over all six of our kids had bags full of goodies...Halloween came early.  With the band playing and sirens wailing it was just a huge kids party.

I am so glad that our kids live in a small town.  I know there are many benefits to growing up in a big city, but I think for little kids small towns are the best.  Next weekend, we are having chili/hot dog fest for the kids and they get to paint pumpkins and chase each other all over our yard and pick apples.

I am exhausted and I know Rick is too.  He is at the game tonight taking pictures for the website.
We have an awesome gig tomorrow, a couple of hours away and then Sunday will hopefully be a rest day.

I hope your Friday was as much fun as mine.

Moments

 I used this picture a while back, it gave me hopes that we would have a pretty fall.  Since then, with the heat and no rain, the leaves have all pretty much turned yellow and brown and many have dropped to the ground.  It's ok.  Sometimes all we have are moments of beauty in life.  We cherish those moments and wait for more to come.

Comfort

Sometimes you just need comfort.  Comfort might be a warm hug, a cup of hot tea and a good book, a call from a friend or maybe a tasty morsel.  This evening I needed comfort and it turns out, I needed a tasty morsel.

Cooking and eating is always an experience for me.  Generally we eat extremely healthy, but tonight I made banana walnut bread with cream cheese and butter.  It is decadent, moist and tasty with a hint of cinnamon and yes, I do feel comforted.

Now I didn't eat the whole loaf, I shared with Samantha and Rick will take some to his office tomorrow.  Actually Rick and I shared a slice tonight and I can see us doing the same in the morning with our coffee.

Good food is meant to be shared.  I cook with love and I pass the food around to those I love.
All things in moderation for me, and that includes butter and cream cheese.

October is the birth month of my dad and Rick's dad, it is the anniversary of my parent's marriage.
There are always emotional moments for me during this time.  I looked out the window this evening and saw the waxing moon.  I like to think that my parents and Rick's dad could smell the aroma of the bread baking in the oven and see me in the kitchen with the moon shinning through the window.

I feel the comfort of the warm bread in my tummy and the loving memories of my parents and Rick's dad tonight.  Life is good.

Cheer Up

New students today.  Always interesting when someone who has never done yoga comes to class.
Some are curious, some are fearful, some are angry because they were made to come ( it's in their  treatment plan), I just take a deep breath and welcome them.

Thankfully it was a good experience for all who attended today.  I love to see smiling faces walk out my door.

Early class in the morning, then off the rest of the day.  We have a gig this weekend, so there will be a great deal of practice time tomorrow.

Someone asked me today if it was Wednesday, I said sorry no.  The young woman looked at me and said I had crushed her good mood, she thought it was Wednesday and only two more days to work.
Some days I feel like that on Monday.  But, today has been a good day for me and I hope it has for all of you...if not, cheer up, tomorrow is Wednesday!

Light

I sat and looked out our windows this morning and watched as morning cut through the darkness.
Amazing how light takes away the darkness, be someone's light this week, take away the darkness.

Peace Be With Us All

There are gifts for these daily temperatures running 10 to 15 degrees higher than normal.  There is a bright side to the drought.  Flowers ( that we have kept watered) are still blooming and thriving.
The skies are as clear and bright blue as any you have ever seen out west.  And thanks to low humidity, my hair has not been frizzy in two months.

As hard as it is for me, because I truly love the fall, cold weather and boots and sweaters I am trying to live what I teach and live in the moment.  So as I watch the apples drop to the ground because of the drought, and smell the smoke of the forests burning nearby I look for the good.  It is still there you know, the good and it will be here no matter what.

So I look at the blue skies and remind myself to be grateful, we could be having floods.  I feel the heat on my skin and remind myself that I have air conditioning.  I am the healthiest I have been in years, I am grateful.  And no matter how ugly and hateful people become with this election mess, there are still good, kind and honest people who live around me and across this country.

On this warm Sunday night in October, I pray you all blessings...of love, joy and kindness.
I pray that needs will be met and peace be with us all.

Fun Day

Wow!  What a day!  We played a benefit in Birmingham that also included a drum circle.  If you ever get the opportunity to join in a drum circle or just watch, do it.  The whole building was filled with joy.   Speaking of Joy, our nephew James and his wife Andrea brought our niece Joy ( yesterday's blog topic) and their son, Stone and other daughters, Breeze and Daisy to the event.
Grabbed a picture of Joy in her new outfit and me doing what I do so well, sitting on my guitar case.

New Clothes

It is a very good thing that Rick and I never had kids, especially daughters.  When we first married I bought as much as I could for my nieces and nephews, but we were just getting started in our careers, going to school, saving to build a house...not much extra cash to go around.

As some of the younger ones came along, money was a little more plentiful so we were able to do more with them.  Now we have great and great-great nieces and nephews and our cash flow is not a river, but I do like to splurge for them on birthdays and Christmas.

Our great niece Joy celebrated her 5th birthday last week.  We didn't make it to her party, we did drop by her dad's office today to leave her gift.  Turns out Joy and her mom and siblings were there.
I had bought her this really cute little top and leggings and when she took them out of the package, she ran into the other room and immediately changed clothes.  I wished we had taken her picture, her little face was precious as she paraded around her dad's office in her new clothes.

Her sister Daisy  made the remark at her birthday this summer that she knew Aunt Jilda would always get her really nice clothes for birthdays and Christmas.  I got very few new clothes when I was young and by the time I was in high school, most of my clothes were home made.  But, my mom and dad always got me a new dress for Christmas and usually Easter.  I still have my Christmas dress from my senior year in high school.  I just can't let it go.

The power of possibilities comes with new clothes when you are a kid, or at least it did for me and it does for most of my nieces and nephews.  I was not a very pretty child, but a new dress made me feel pretty.  I try to share my hand me downs with Samantha or other nieces who wear my size.  And it's fun to see her get excited about "new things to wear".  Heck, one of my great nieces sent me a pair of cowboy boots that she didn't like and I was on cloud nine.

I know that inner beauty gives us a glow of joy, but clothes often give us a boost in our self-confidence.  My mom loved pretty clothes and I think she passed that gene on to me and by some strange osmosis I have given it to my nieces.

Brown and Dried

Crazy strange weather.  We are in a drought, with forest fires all around us, and those east of us will be hammered by wind and rain for the next few days.  One of my friends at work looked at me today and said he wished it would rain for five days here and I agreed.  Everything is so sad and wilted.  There is so little color, just brown and dried.

I have smelled so much smoke the past couple of days that my head is throbbing.  Maybe in a few weeks the rains will come here.

On a happy note, we are playing at a drum circle this weekend for charity.  I know it will be so much fun.  We are really looking forward to it.

If you are in the storm's path, prayers of safety for you and yours.  And for all of you tonight, blessings of peace and joy.

A Very Long Day

According to my FitBit I earned my urban boot badge today, 15,000 steps.  It has been a long day.
Cleaning closets, laundry, ironing, cooking, and teaching.  A grueling day as well, we are in a drought, under a burn ban and someone set the forest on fire behind out property.  Nothing quite as scary as an out of control forest fire burning through dry brush.  Thank goodness for the local fire departments and our forestry service, it is under control tonight.  The smell of smoke hangs heavy in the warm night air.

To our friends in Florida and up the East Coast, stay safe and dry.  Don't forget we have a guest room.
Goodnight, Sweet dreams

Be Here

A friend died this weekend.  Her husband found her dead, the result of a massive heart attack.  I knew she had some health issues, like most of us in our sixties, but her death has been a shock.
The last time I saw her was at a mutual friend's wedding.  It was a happy fun occasion and we talked about getting together, we just never did.

Life is so short.  Even if we live to be 100 ( which one of our high school teachers did this weekend)
life is short.  There are no promises of tomorrow.  I teach every day to be here, now.  Do what you love, let the people you love know that you love them and live today.

May we all be blessed with good health and love, may we all know joy and peace.  Be here, now.

Apple Heaven

The season started with a bumper crop.  It started in the spring, the old tree looked like a pink cloud down in the field.  Soon it was covered in hundreds of little green apples.  Then the storms hit, limbs broke, and then the summer drought caused apples to drop.  What started as a season of plentiful has ended up maybe a bushel or so.  But oh what apples!  They are sweet and crisp, the perfect blend of sugar and tart.  I would have loved more but am grateful for what we have.  I bet these are the apples that Eve ate.

Frog Festival

A busy weekend.  We spent most of yesterday at The Frog Festival in Sumiton, Al.  Rick does their website so he takes hundreds of photos at the Festival each year.    I take  a few myself.
Everywhere you look there are frogs  This little group in the wagon caught my eye.
Get some rest and a good night's sleep, in case you don't remember, tomorrow is Monday.

October 1

October 1...My mom and dad's anniversary today, they would have been married 73 years.

October 1...Blues skies, cool nights

October 1....My dad's and Rick's dad's birthdays this month

October...Halloween, don't you just love it

October 1....candy corn and roasted salted peanuts mixed together, my favorite treat

October 1....my twin brothers' birthday this month

October 1...we play at our first drumming circle on October 8

October 1...first pot of 15 bean soup simmering on the stove

October 1... I need/want new boots

October 1...I need/want new sweaters, if it ever gets cold

October 1...I love fall decorations

October 1....I love fall colors

October 1....bonfires and s'mores

October 1....the smell of leaves burning

October 1....fall, my favorite season