“No gift to your mother can ever equal her gift to you – life.”
~ Unknown

To both of my Moms – and all of you Mom’s out there – Happy Mother’s Day.  It’s not often enough that I get a chance to tell you how much I love the both of you, the friend that you are to me, the encouraging love and light that keeps me uplifted, sharing with me in this life. I hope you have a beautiful day!!

I am headed off on vacation this afternoon. Woohoo!! David Allen says it best: “Isn’t it interesting that people feel best about themselves right before they go on vacation? They’ve cleared up all of their to-do piles, closed up transactions, renewed old promises with themselves. My most basic suggestion is that people should do that more than just once a year.”

I still have a to-do list waiting for me upon my return, and plenty of old promises, but they will wait. I spent most of yesterday updating all of my electronic gadgets – MacBook Air, iPad, iPhone, Kindle. I’m seriously tempted to leave them all at home, bringing with me only one book, nothing serious, some cheezy romance novel, like back in the olden days read more

Good morning! I’m testing from my iPhone to FB Pages app preparing for vacation!! After tomorrow, you’ll be treated to sunrises and maybe sunsets from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Spokane, Washington. Happy Saturday!

And P.S. … Wow, that was some thunderstorm that blew through here last night!

“May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being, may you walk gently through the world and know it’s beauty all the days of your life.”
~ Apache Indian Blessing

Wow! I almost missed this beautiful glowing sunrise today. I found myself drifting, slowly in and out of sleep, having turned off my alarm, and suddenly, again, there is this voice that speaks to me … Sunrise!Who is this voice? It’s inside me, but it is not me. I believe it is awareness. It is energy given voice. And I am connected to it, like a thread.

Through yoga and meditation, I am assured that there lies in me a voice that is common to all. I’ve see it with this blog, how I’m drawn to a certain topic, words just flowing through my mind, soft as a whisper, sometimes not of this mind, onto my keyboard. I write, only then to go over to my blogroll, and see the same message from others over and over.

The great philosopher Alan Watts says that the earth “peoples”. We are like one big lining on Mother Earth’s surface. We vibrate. The energy of the sun and the moon seem to pull at that common vibration. read more

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once.  It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time.  Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
~ Corrie ten Boom, author ‘The Hiding Place’

While our weather appears to be a bit gloomy this morning, I am happy to report that I am feeling back to my normal, sunshiny self !Yesterday, I got the worst done first.

For me, this involved running errands. As I looked at the list of things that were making me blue, the things hanging over my head, I knew that getting my errands done would then offer me 3 days before leaving to return to creative work. Almost like a mini vacation at home.

And guess what? Running errands wasn’t so bad. Traffic was horrible and lines were long. I was patient, and each clerk thanked me for my patience. People smiled at me and chatted with me where ever I went. I made the most out of it. It was nice to get out of the house. read more

“I preach that odd defiant melancholy that sees the dreadful loneliness of the human soul and the pitiful disaster of human life as ever redeemable and redeemed by compassion, friendship and love.”
~ John Derbyshire, Fire from the Sun

It took a long time for the sun to break above the clouds that covered Tortola this morning. But I sat for the full 45 minutes, watching the clouds drift quickly by. The clouds were in my mind too. I was ready to get on with the day, and there was an underlying tone of dark melancholy underneath it all. Why?

I was forced to reflect on all of the myriad of chores that must be accomplished for me to take a short break. Errands, cleaning, cat sitter, pool pumps, gardening, packing, electronics, neighbor wanting to meet about some construction, and the list goes on. And I realize I don’t like things hanging over my head. It takes me out of being present.

Jon Krakauer wrote in his journal ‘Into the Wild’:

“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. read more

“Life is about using the whole box of crayons.”
~RuPaul

This morning, Mother Nature’s palette was so soft, so pretty. My photo doesn’t quite capture the carnation pink, lavender, wisteria, and orchid. It made me think of a box of crayons.

I’m fortunate, as I get to play with crayons every day, electronically using Photoshop. “Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons.”

Did you know that Crayons were first manufactured in 1903? The box sold for a nickel and contained black, brown, blue, red, violet, orange, yellow and green – the same colors in the box of eight today. The Crayola name comes from “craie,” the French word for “chalk,” and “ola,” for “oleaginous,” or “oily.” read more

“I will not take but for an answer.”
~  Langston Hughes (civil rights activist)

The sky, with it’s multi-layered clouds and light haze, was so interesting this morning, carrying over from last night apparently.  It almost looked like a water spout, but I don’t think so.  A beautiful morning for meditation, and I’ll post the actual sunrise below, because it too was interesting, and red … Full of love …

So, I love you, but ….  Have you ever found yourself saying this?  I recently said it to a friend, because I needed to get off the phone, “but” I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by saying so.  Turns out, this is a pet peeve of hers, and I’m not the only one who says it to her (and bless her for saying so)! read more

“Equality comes in realizing that we are all doing different jobs for a common purpose. That is the aim behind any community. The very name community means let’s come together to recognize the unity. Come … unity.”
~ Swami Satchidananda

Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone! For me, I celebrate May 5th as Grandparents Day. It is the day of passing for two of my grandparents, as well as Spencer’s grandmother. While our grandparents weren’t big party people, they loved life and family. It seems fitting that they left this earth on a day of celebration, released into the grander community in the sky. read more

Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen … that stillness becomes a radiance.
~ Morgan Freeman

Back in the day, Morgan Freeman was a frequent visitor to the Virgin Islands via his modest sail boat. I met him once. He was hanging out at a local marina bar, just like everyone else. And when I came upon this quote, I knew in my heart that the radiating intelligence and aura that shines from this beautiful being likely has come from watching many a sun rise, and many a sun set. He seems to embody stillness, doesn’t he … read more