Ah, that sense of connectedness feels so good doesn't it?
I met with an old friend for lunch yesterday and we decided to go and check out a little cafe that is just a few blocks away from my house. Since moving back home, I've been trying to acclimate myself to living back in the inner city, and to reacquaint myself with my old neighborhood, and what better way is there to get reacquainted with the neighborhood than to spend time at a local cafe?
The city lifestyle is so different from the country and the suburbs, where I had been living for the 20 years prior, so it's been a big adjustment for me. Just dealing with all of the traffic alone is huge, not to mention all the noise. And my little nature loving self longs for the calm, quiet, natural spaces. Because I'm so sensitive to the vibes of my surroundings, I sometimes find myself struggling from being sucked in and drained by the busy, and often chaotic atmosphere of the city. But at the same time, I seem to have gradually carved out a little inner sanctuary of sorts within myself, which I bring with me whenever I go, so I still have a little place of peace inside of me even amidst all the chaos. And then as I go about my business around the city and interact with people I try to open the doors of that sanctuary to share and invite others to a little of that peace I carry within. I know that sounds a bit weird to put it that way, but I don't really know how else to describe it. Either way, it helps me cope. And hopefully it benefits others as well.
As I sat and visited with my friend, in this charming cafe, we talked about some of the things that we're each passionate about at the moment – she about subatomic particles, Higgs boson, and molecular biology, and me about nature, the universe, and the Qigong practices I've been doing lately. And we expounded on those things in relation to God, spirituality, humanity, and the purpose of life (which we summed up is to love, by the way). Needless to say, it was a very stimulating conversation, as it always is with this friend. I adore her and so value the wonderful connection we've shared over all these years ~ 33 years, to be exact.
Anyway, it was when we took our conversation outside that brings me to the subject of this post. Maybe it was just a natural extension from/because of the topics we were discussing, but as we sat out in front of the cafe, I began to feel a real sense of connection to the vibe of my neighborhood, like I fit in here somehow. It was a strange sensation because I've felt a bit lost as to where my place is since my divorce in 2011, and I certainly haven't felt any connection with the whole city vibe in general, as I mentioned earlier, so it was weird, but in a cool way.
All the people who passed by us were friendly and I felt connected to them too. A guy passed by with his dog and I even felt connected to the dog. The dog must have felt it too because she ran right up to me like she knew me, like I was a long lost friend or something. Her owner even seemed a bit surprised about it and was awkwardly apologizing as her leash got all tangled up around me while she was weaving in and out between my legs so happy to see me. It was adorable. The dog and her awkward owner. And it felt so wonderful to feel connected.
I've always felt that sense of connection with nature, with my fellow humans (in a general sense), and with spiritual things, but it was really cool to feel it in relation to my neighborhood, I haven't felt it in that way for a long time, and it gave me a fresh sense of wanting to become more involved in my community. I don't know how long I'll be living here, or what the future holds, but I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now, and that's a great feeling.
And you know… in actuality, we're all connected. We each have only to open up ourselves to realize it.
One of my favorite things to do on a snowy day! We made these chocolate chip cookies yesterday and they were so delicious!
Well… not at this exact moment.
While your daughter creeps on you and snaps a picture of it.
While they're creeping on you.
Even if you have no idea how, and it ends up turning out a bit deformed.
An oldie of me and my sister. She's the one on the phone and I'm the little mischievous looking one. These days it's with each other that we're talking on the phone, rather than me creeping on her.
19. Or just contemplate the reason why someone would invent a gumball container shaped like a pink brain.
And I can't wait to color in it! Because yes… I am an overgrown child.
This stuff smells freaking amazing!
25. Go out and play in the snow!
Now, I've never really been one to celebrate Halloween, I mean aside from doing the usual things like trick-or-treating, watching scary movies, or going to costume parties and such. And other than carved pumpkins or harvest themed decor I've never decorated my house for it. I'm just not into the macabre, ghoulish type of stuff that usually comes along with Halloween. But this year, my daughter and my mom got it into their heads that they wanted to decorate the house for Halloween. They were both so terribly excited at the idea, I just couldn't resist, so I went along with it for their sakes.
Now listen… I'm outside ALL the time, in my garden, on the patio, all the time, and in the two years since I've moved back here, I've never seen a black cat or any cats really, out wandering around the neighborhood. So believe me when I say that her stopping by (at all, let alone while we were putting up Halloween decorations) was very unusual, and her presence really made our decorating time feel magical!
Although the Shelob in Tolkien's story is utterly disgusting and terrifying, I think this one is kinda cute. For a spider, anyway.
But as for the idea of real ghosts… I think, not so much.
Nothing too fancy, but hopefully the neighborhood kids will like it. Heck, I hope we even get any trick-or-treaters, last year there weren't very many of them that came by.
Have a wonderful, cozy weekend!
Wow, that's got to be just about the corniest music video ever! Haha the 70's! I do love B.J. Thomas' voice though.
Unfortunately though, the storms did do some damage in the area with flooding, fires caused by lightening, trees down from high winds, and many people are still without power. My sis came back from her cabin only to find that power was out at her place. She's just a little way up the road from us and I'm so thankful we didn't lose power or have any damage here. I did have one bean plant casualty however, and our gorgeous peonies got decimated. I'm really glad I got the chance to enjoy them before they did. During one of the storms our street became a rushing river, literally. It was scary and exciting at the same time. Again, I'm just thankful we didn't have any real damage or power outage.
As every good gardener does, I went out after one of the storms and checked on how my plants fared through the weather. Aside from being completely drenched and having a few that were leaning over from the winds, I'm happy to report that things looked pretty good.
I think some of my mesclun is just about ready to harvest. Finally!
My zucchini is spreading out nicely.
I'm really glad it didn't get damaged from any of the storms because it's the only one I planted this year.
My carrots are doing alright.
They had a rocky start though because something was nibbling them down at first, but they seem to be fine now and leafing out a little bit more.
My jalapeno peppers are doing really well and have lots of pretty blossoms.
I was so excited to see that the trumpet vine I planted around the backside of the fence now has buds on it.
I bought my mom a new hydrangea because the one we planted for her last year didn't survive. This one is a little different of a variety so hopefully it fares better. It sure is a pretty shade of blue.
This isn't actually in the ground yet and during one of the storms we looked out and saw it rolling around in its pot on the patio, being blown by the wind and the rain. My daughter who was just itching to go outside during the storm (she is her mother's daughter ;)) begged to go out and rescue it. I'm glad she did, or it very well could have ended up another causality. It's getting a bit warm outside now to be planting, so I may just leave this in its pot until fall planting time. But we'll have to keep an eye on it during any storms so we don't lose it.
It's Father's Day this Sunday and I've got my Papa on my mind.
The 26th of this month will mark the 2 year anniversary of losing him, and although I don't want focus on his death, it's hard not to think about it when the date rolls around, and that last Father's Day we had him with us is really etched in my memory because he passed away the following Sunday.
He was in hospice care here at home, and we had recently needed to bring him downstairs (out of his bedroom) to be in a hospital type bed so that we could better tend to his needs as his health was declining. He was having more and more times of being pretty much out of it because of the increasing doses of morphine he was on to help ease his pain, so it was far from Father's Day as usual.
My sis had taught my daughter how to operate my Dad's lawn mower, so she mowed the lawn for her Grandpa for Father's Day. And even though he couldn't say so, I know he appreciated it. She mowed the lawn here just yesterday and it really brought back those memories.
I don't know where my Dad is now, but I like to think that he's somehow aware of everything I'm doing here and that it pleases him in some way. My Dad wasn't a perfect man or Father, far from it, but he was mine, and I wouldn't have wanted any other.
This Father's Day I have plans to get his stereo system all set up. When my daughter and I moved in, my Dad's stereo got moved to another spot in the living room and I haven't yet gotten to the task of hooking it all back up again. It's farther away from the speakers than it was before so I may have to run out and get some speaker wire, but hopefully I can get it all hooked up by Sunday.
My thought in doing this is to have the stereo on all day continuously playing some of my Dad's favorite music. I think that's a wonderful way to honor him and keep the day alive with his spirit for Father's Day.