Remembering to JUST BE

I can't believe it's been 10 days since I found time to write!  It has been a profitable ten days, however.  I have recognized that I need more time to devote to my spiritual searching and to my time to live up to my mantra - "JUST BE."  So, I have changed my class schedule to Monday and Wednesday at 6 pm and Tuesday and Thursday at 10 am.  That gives me a large block of time to Just Be.  I will continue to accept private appointments at other times for spiritual companioning and energy healing and, if necessary, on other days………Today is a rainy one.  A tempting one to go back to bed and stay there, but first a trip to the Y.  Then perhaps a bit of reading on the couch.  In general, though a quiet day enjoying hearing the rain on the metal roof of the porch…… The photo may warm you up - from our drum circle and fire ceremony on Saturday evening.

Our World

Here are two young men braving the cold water at Sliding Rock in the Pisgah Forest yesterday.  Today is a rainy day in the NC mountains.  Dogwoods are in bloom - many in the Pisgah Forest and along the roadsides everywhere.  Tulips are blooming….. So many different shades of green it is mind-boggling.  Our part of the world is blessed with so many different species of hardwoods and each seems to have its own shade of green when the new leaves begin to pop out.  I remember well how exciting it was as a beginning forestry student to be able to identify trees by their shapes while driving down a road.  What fun it would be to learn to identify them by the different shades of green!  Today is one for spending time on the porch with a cup of tea and simply relishing the world in which we live.

Cradle of Forestry Birthday Trip

Well here I am in North Carolina with Frank celebrating with some touristing.  Here I am at Looking Glass Falls.  We both enjoyed the  Cradle of Forestry where we spent a delightful few hours yesterday….I don't recall ever being at the Cradle before and it was a beautiful experience for me.  Surely as a forestry student I must have gone, but don't remember it.  The tunnel displaying animal nests underground (snakes, red fox, groundhog, etc.)  was fun but even more fun for me was the helicopter "ride" with a video of flight to scout an actual forest fire near here a couple years ago.  Felt like we were right there over the fire.  Beautifully done facility which I will definitely visit again.  Ended with a lovely cup of tomato-basil bisque at the little cafe.  Must learn to make that!  All in all a delightful day.

2 days before Birthday Inversion

82nd Birthday Inversion

Well, another casualty of the broken arm - can't yet stand on my head - balance is off when the shoulder speaks.  Soooo, here's a shoulder stand taken yesterday.  Not a perfect one, but at least the body is inverted without wall support.  Will keep working on the head stand and my regular strength training at the Y until the head stand returns, but don't count on it by tomorrow!  Sorry to disappoint my fans but it's really all my fault.  I quit my shoulder stands 7 months ago when the arm broke, so the inversions feel strange again.  But, they will become more comfortable SOON!  Or maybe later, but they will return.

Pine Pollen is Good for Us??

Did you know that pine pollen has many components beneficial to human beings?  Google it and learn all about how to collect it and what it is good for - whoops!  for what it is good.  Author Stephen Buhner writes of Chinese research with mice showing "a distinctive anti-fatigue effect, enhances survival times under stress, increases SOD activity in the liver, protects the liver from chemical stressors including alcohol, reduces cholesterol levels, increases high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels while reducing low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels, and protects arterial blood vessels from damage."  ……."that pine pollen reduces the buildup of lipofuscin in the heart, brain, and liver does give credence to its long use in China as an anti aging herb."  Who'd a thunk it?

Hi-tech Mysteries

Finally a photo of the green pond basin.  This was taken several days ago so it is even more solid green now. ….. The past several days have been days of trying to figure out why I can't get photos into the computer from my phone like I used to?  Or is it that I've forgotten how I actually did it?  What has been happening is the photos seem to be going into iTunes rather than iPhoto and thence disappearing.  Some day I'll quit chastising myself for not being more adept at computer and phone stuff and just know that every so often I'll be dumbfounded by them both!   Luke got me started (again!) on using my phone Google maps GPS and I actually managed to stumble my way through using it a couple of times.  How I did it, I can't tell you, but hopefully I'll be able to do it again.

Do you see and hear?

The Pond basin is turning green with grass now.  Soon it will look like a golf course with a a small water hazard.  We have many broken limbs of pine trees from the ice storm stacked in the yard that need to be burned so perhaps we will burn them in the basin and help dry it out a bit……. The birds are singing - so many different songs - as if they are talking back and forth between communities.   The sun is just above the trees and making long shadows in the green of the Pond basin. …..The labyrinth is unreachable by sensible people since the dam has been cut in two to drain it.  But Tobias has skirted around the end and taken the hand lawn mower over to clear the path of the labyrinth so that it doesn't get obliterated with tall grass while we wait for the dam to be rebuilt.  Perhaps this summer, but not until much more drying occurs - which means less rain - which isn't good for the gardens, of course.  So we wait and watch and listen.  As someone wiser than I said, watch and listen but "do you see and hear?"  I'm working on that this morning.

Pond Mud Experience

Here is a photo of Susan's legs and feet - just so you can see how deep she sunk into the pond floor!   It really doesn't look nearly as bad as it was!  Tobias had to lay a board down to walk out to get her out by pulling her leg up out of the mire and walking her back along the board to dry land.  Scary - please stay away from the pond floor.    We don't think the work will be finished before summer.  Waiting for it to dry out so heavy equipment can get in…….and the beautiful weather continues.  I'm a warm-weather girl and definitely happier when the temperature rises above 70.  Today is a day off to just BE.  So, that's what I intend doing.