Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it half an hour a day. Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”–Lewis Carroll

I woke up early this morning, having had the strangest dream. I wanted to write it down before it disappeared, as dreams are prone to do. Sometimes they begin to fade almost as soon as you have dreamed them, like an etch-a-sketch creation that is jostled about.

I was in a meadow by a creek and there were flowers everywhere of course, This wasn’t a strange place. It was a place where I have gone all my life. I have dreamed of it so often that sometimes I feel I am friends with each blade of grass.

I love to lay myself down in the softness of the earth when I am weary. I can almost hear the sighing of the grasses as they silently speak to me. They caress and comfort and I always feel welcome.

“That’s a good girl. Just breathe deeply and with every exhale let your burdens go, for you are safe. Close your eyes and trust your faith, for there is nothing to fear.”

I love to breathe in the exotic scents that delight me. The flowers surround me and though they produce a perfume of pleasure I can still smell each individual scent and each one is as an old friend. Then they swirl and blend and I laugh at the effect their melding together has. This time when I opened my eyes I was greeted by all the beauty of my meadow, with all sorts of flowers, in every imaginable color and some that defied explanation for there were no words for them as they existed outside and beyond even the imagination.

Tonight they spoke to me of possibilities. The full blossoms went slightly out of focus and the buds became sharp and clearer than I can ever remember. It was as if they wanted me to see them as thoughts and possibilities yet unrealized. They spoke to me of hope, of purpose, and I was filled with joy and the realization that I need not worry for everything was unfolding as it is meant to and that all I had to do was bear witness.

As the dream world begins to blend into day I can hear the birds greeting the day with song and the ducks slowing awakening one by one with anticipation. The sun is rising and the sky has begun to lighten and cast pink all around and the dew glistens and sparkles and the colors reflect upon the waters.

May each of us see the emerging possibilities of today with eager abandon and without trepidation. Let us see the world reborn in every moment with faith and the surety that all is as it was meant to be and all is with purpose and desire and direction.

My car broke down Sunday and as I waited for the tow truck I spied this little beauty with raindrops on her face and wanted to share her with you along with some muttering musings…..

April 16

We human beings are not meant to live sequestered from the natural world as if we are not a part of the whole. I don’t profess to understand but I know that all my life I have been drawn to the beauty of the earth and found solace in her mountains, beaches, swamps, creeks, and oceans and my heart has quickened at the intricate designs of life, in the changing of the seasons and the harmonious and purposeful ebbing and flowing.

A friend asked me what got me interested in flowers and I have pondered that question for to me it simply has always been natural. It has only been recent that I have noticed people cocking their heads in puzzlement at the old lady who wanders the world taking photographs of gaudy colors and geometric patterns and talks to tiny wildflowers.

When I was a child I had a special place deep in the woods where a tree had fallen and allowed the light to penetrate the forest and flowers to take root. It was there where the wild violets grew and where I went to think and to write and to sing and to whistle and to be free. It was there where I took my sadness and my loneliness and there where I often cried and the earth took my tears and that tiny bit of sadness that often overtook me. I imagined fairies and sparkles and glitter. Life cannot be without sadness for it is as much a part of us as the joy and the laughter and the sunlight. Our journeys take us many places both physical and spiritual. It is the natural way.

When I get tired and weak and afraid I am learning that the Universe is there for me, there for little ole me. I am learning to believe in the magic and when I am joyous and as light as a feather and can fly on the buoyancy of Love I am learning to let go and all that powerful positive energy radiates out into the world and has a purpose and I must trust without understanding and not be afraid. I am learning to have faith.

Enjoy the gift of today My Dear Friends.

These are the waning days of my 70th trip around the sun as I celebrate my birth Sunday April 14

April 11, 2019…Hour of Gold Reflected on a Gerbera Daisy

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart,

it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”

– A. A. Milne (Winnie-The-Pooh)

Sometimes I have a difficult time being grateful. That always makes me feel shame, but I am, after all, just a tired and retired old lady and I have seen a lot of ugliness in my time here on the planet.

Sure, I have seen a lot of beauty and met some amazing people and had some personal satisfactions, but I am not one of those people who say they have no regrets. I have lots of regrets, and not as much for the things I haven’t done as for the thoughtless decisions and actions that dot the landscape of my life. It isn’t always easy to like the person you see in the mirror as you brush your teeth, but if you don’t find a way to do so those regrets will simple make you bitter and unhappy and unable to find your joy.

So, my prayer today is to find a way to embrace personal responsibility and acceptance for myself and to recognize those moments as special when I see clearly the gifts I have been given and my heart grows large with gratitude and though they will not be lasting they will return. I pray that I might remember that the dance of life is not a measured forward march in a straight line, but a series of sometimes delightful and sometimes awkward movements, places where the road grows dark and treacherous and it is a challenge just to keep the beat.

I must not be stopped by the shame of being unappreciative, for shame too has a place. I read once that the only shame is to have none. It is all in how we take the shame and turn it into something forward propelling and positive. I guess I could say I am grateful for the shame, and oh so happy to let it go.

— Love, Light and Laughter,

Zahn

Hello Beautiful Day!

I was lying on my back in a church yard when the wizened face of an elderly man loomed into view. He smiled and said “What a great day to be alive”! When I collected myself and started to reply I looked around and he was gone. Then it occurred to me that perhaps he wasn’t gone. Perhaps I simply couldn’t see him anymore and that felt right. I laid my head back down and took this photograph. The longer I live the more I realize I don’t need to know everything and in fact am not suppose to. If I just breathe and let the good energy flow I can be quite content just simply “BEING.

I do need to be reminded to breathe occasionally.

April 5, 2019 Emerging Lily or

Emerging Possibilities

Roger Ebert….Life Itself

“Kindness’ covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.”

I like this quote as it is filled with simple truth and words and yet is Hope.

Being kind starts with being kind to ourselves so that we can then open our hearts to share it. The thought must move from the mind to the core of our spirit where it can grow and blossom and bear fruit and scatter to the cosmos.

April 3, 2019 Petals of a Flower

“Don’t try to hog loneliness and keep it all to yourself. Share it with a special someone.”

― Jarod Kintz

The other day I was wandering in a public garden, taking photographs and watching people. My daughters always talk about how easily I get to know people and that I can’t stand in a grocery line for more than a few minutes without making a new friend. Now, in reality, these “new” friends are often what I call “new friends who are really old friends” and they are all around.

I once met a wizard all dressed up and on his way to a dance who had lost his hat. Another time it was a lady in the park who had a parrot inside her coat who peeked his head out occasionally and said hello.

Well, the gardens were full of “new friends who were really old friends”. I met a little girl named Shannon who ran from one flower to another with glee and actually squealed with delight.

As I wandered the gardens I met a lady in love who was looking for flowers for her garden wedding. Her name was Elizabeth and she was 73. She had lived alone since her husband’s death many years ago and never having had children had resigned herself to being alone. Then she was strolling along an old cobblestoned street where she spotted a lovely and colorful sign announcing the opening of an art show and welcoming people to enter. She was a bit chilled and decided to step in and warm herself. There, as she stood breathing in the scent of flowers in a painting, a gentleman came up beside her, softly caught her eye, and said “Art helps you see life more clearly.” I kid you not. That is exactly what she said. They are now planning a late April wedding.

One of the ladies working at the gardens bore a name tag that said Cami. I asked if her name was a shortened version of Camellia and she laughed and acknowledged it was, but hastened to add it was of Latin origin and did not refer to the flower of the same name. She was a recent immigrant from Equador. Her father, Enrique, was born and raised in Havana, Cuba, but left after the Revolution and moved to Equador, where he met and fell in love with Camellia’s mother. He died when she was a baby but she was named for his mother who was never able to leave Cuba and Camillia never knew her. Her mother told her that as an infant her father would rock her and tell her how beautiful she was, just like her “abuela”. I told her I too had lived in Cuba and that I was of the belief that meeting her grandmother was not necessary for she had her blood in her veins and that we are who we are because of all the people who have come before us, for we are their posterity.

Everyone has a story to tell and a purpose. Take time to get to know strangers and you too may find some “new friends who are really old friends”.

Am enjoying a lovely Spring with family in Oregon…Life is Good. 💜

Photo…Royal Star Japanese Magnolia………

I have always looked to the horizon as much as my mind will let me. I have given but a fleeting glance back at the sunsets, knowing darkness follows. I want to see the blazing colors as they kaleidoscope across the sky in ever changing hues of oranges, yellows, blues, and pinks, but it happens in such a rush that they often make me sad and I think of moments already gone. There is a part of me that likes to think they aren’t really gone, just existing on a different plane somewhere in the universe. Some days I really believe that. Some days the shadow says that is foolish. Other days it doesn’t seem to matter one iota. Today I want to take the moments and hold them tight and never let them go. Will I never learn? Moments aren’t to be gathered and horded. They have to exist by themselves and be set free to soar and ripple across the cosmos. It is such a hard lesson for me. The letting go so I might truly see the beauty instead of clutching and holding tight , afraid of the loss, does not come naturally to me. I am trying to learn and understand, and sometimes that just has to be enough.