“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone …
I can see all obstacles in my way ….
Gone are are the dark clouds that had me blind,
It’s gonna be a bright, bright sunshinin’ day.”
~ Jimmy Cliff

Sunrise really is amazing. Each morning I look back through the hundreds of photos I’ve posted, and they are all so different. Today, it was like the clouds were a natural filter. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to rain today, but we did get a marvelous passing shower yesterday, that gave the cistern a nice refill, and the plants a break from the summer heat. read more

“A beautiful life does not just happen. It is built daily by prayer, humility, sacrifice and love. May that beautiful life be yours always.”
~ Unknown

The sunrise held many different appearances this morning, echoing the thoughts in my meditation. I was thinking hard about the image of “god” ….

I wish to thank you all very much for your kind words yesterday, and a beautiful note I received from a friend. She finds herself lately uttering these words over and over….”how can you NOT believe in God?” She finds her faith is renewed, strengthened, confirmed in the blossoms of her August Beauty gardenia bush. And little passing moments in family life. read more

“Joy and sorrow are inseparable. . . Together they come. And when one sits alone with you . . Remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.”
~ Kahlil Gibran

I did not want to get up this morning. While I lay in bed, peaking at the soft color of the dawn through a slit in my eye, and a break in my curtains, I almost threw in the towel. But this is the yoga that my teacher talks about. There has become an attachment, between me, my mat, and my camera, that breaks through this negative voice that lies within each of us. I believe I’ve crossed a major stepping stone. read more

“A cheerful frame of mind, reinforced by relaxation… is the medicine that puts all ghosts of fear on the run.”
~ George Matthew Adams

I’m so happy to have our glorious sunrise back today! I finally got a good night’s sleep, and was up early and ready to start the day. Hoping my friends in Florida all safely ride TS Andrea, and that she is little more than a rain producer. Yes, hurricane season is here!

So yesterday, I had a friend and client write that she is experiencing fear. Fear of success, and fear of failure. Which is holding her back. As Henry Ford says: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you are right.” read more

“It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.”
~ Sir Winston Churchill

There’s something I just love about this morning’s sunrise, or should I call it a cloudrise … As though Mother Nature is trying to make up her mind. Will I be cloudy? No, let me throw in some wispy clouds, and show signs of clearing … Kind of like myself …

So yesterday, I had certain tasks on my calendar. But Spencer didn’t get to the mailbox. And I needed the mail to get my main goal done, end of month accounting. Then I found out my yoga teacher was holding a 10AM class yesterday. Something new. If I hadn’t needed to get out of the house for the mail, I might not have gone …. read more

“Don’t know why there’s no sun up in the sky … Stormy weather … ”

Oh yes, a splendid lightening storm this morning! I tried to catch a burst on film, but no such luck …

So I’ll treat you to a little bit of trivia this AM …

I’m most familiar with the song “Stormy Weather” as recorded by Billie Holiday. Billie’s “Greatest Hits” is one of my favorite albums …

“Stormy Weather” was written in 1933, and first sung by Ethel Waters at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem. I wish I had made it up there during my stint in NYC, but I didn’t. Not sure I even knew about it, as I had not yet come to appreciate jazz and blues … read more

“It’s your place in the world; it’s your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live.”
~ Mae Jemison

Happy Monday, and what a strange sunrise this morning! Saraha dust maybe?

So it’s the beginning of another month, which means I spent yesterday reviewing my goals and plotting them out on my calendar. It feels very similar to last month, which means I did not get accomplished what I had hoped to achieve. I’ll be installing an iOS ap called “I Track My Time” to figure out where my time wasters have been, what my distractions are, and to monitor shifting priorities. I also re-designed my Goals List, so that it’s become more of a “To-Do List” to be checked off. read more

“We trust nature to know what it is doing,
but we are not nearly so kind, understanding and trusting of our own rhythms and cycles.
It’s ridiculous that we are so hard on ourselves.
Can we not trust that the very same forces that created the rhythms & cycles of nature created our own?
Of course we can. We often don’t, but we can, if we remember.”
~ Jeffrey R. Anderson, The Nature of Things – Navigating Everyday Life with Grace

Good morning everyone, and happy Sunday! Boy, it’s been hard getting up the last few mornings!! May is typically more of a rainy season for us here in the VI. I’ve been glad for the clouds that have impeded and slowed the sunrise, because I might have missed it, if it rose right on schedule. read more

“Do you know why hurricanes have names instead of numbers? To keep the killing personal. No one cares about a bunch of people killed by a number. ‘200 Dead as Number Three Slams Ashore’ is not nearly as interesting a headline as ‘Charlie kills 200.’ Death is much more satisfying and entertaining if you personalize it. Me, I’m still waitin’ for Hurricane Ed. Old Ed wouldn’t hurt ya, would he? Sounds kinda friendly. ‘Hell no, we ain’t evacuatin’. Ed’s comin’!” ~ George Carlin from Brain Droppings

Happy first of June! Which for anyone on the coast, means the start of another Hurricane Season. Time to set the Tivo to start recording the Weather Channel at 10 til the hour

So NOAA has predicted this will be another above average season, with a 70 percent likelihood of:
13 to 20 named storms
7 to 11 could becoming hurricanes
3 to 6 major hurricanes

And we have the following line-up, raring to go …
Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dorian, Erin, Fernand, Gabrielle, Humberto, Ingrid, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Nestor, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah, Sebastien, Tanya, Van and Wendy. read more

“Vacations are seen as an antidote to work. They are medicine, a remedy for counteracting the effects of labor…. Vacations allow us to be away from the job, to change the patterns of our day, to alter our routine, to reconfigure our actions and habits, to rediscover ourselves.”
~ AL GINI, The Importance of Being Lazy

As has often been the case, the mood of the sunrise seemed to echo my inner world … Hazy! It was a bit of a challenge to return to waking at 5:15 in order to make this post. I’ve enjoyed the lazy mornings of vacation, awaking whenever my body said it was ready. And I’m happy that the sunrise is now at it’s earliest – 5:43 – and will be heading back the other direction. 5:15 is even a bit early for me LOL.

Do you know how a room feels ‘different’ somehow, when you’ve just cleaned all of the windows? You realize you’ve been living in a fog, and suddenly the whole world seems anew, brighter. I’m experiencing that feeling in reverse. It’s as though I’m standing outside the cleaned window, looking in. The time away polished the window to my life here at home.

Mark Twain says the secret of success is making your vocation your vacation. As I sat with my calendar and to-do lists yesterday, it was easy to pick out what feels like vacation and what feels like work. What I want to do, and what I have to do. But do I really have to do the things I don’t want to do? Nope … Time to reconfigure read more