Today's Unfoldment

After many beautiful days of overcast skies and thunder showers (a rarity here) we were greeted by several lovely openings in the garden. Thought I'd share!

Who knew?

It's really news to me that green beans produce purple flowers. Another surprise waking me up to the beauty of tending a garden. At least they sure look like green beans.

I should be ready for any manner of surprises because summer living has fallen into that lovely feeling of cruise control that I look forward to every year. Lots of back porch time to leisurely read and just stare off into the garden.

                                

Although it's a bit of a challenge to enjoy the peace guilt free. I do know that peace comes at a price. I earn it everyday with the tending of family and flock. Just the other day I had to go toe to toe with a bull snake who had been happily feasting on the ladies eggs.  Once that was managed I started gathering my favorite green eggs again.

Yes I was so excited I dropped one!

So although all is quiet in the country for now, I keep a watchful eye.

Stepping Off the Cow Path

I was afforded the pleasure of my Mom's company last week.  What a treat to sneak away from the everyday to wander through different neighborhoods and gardens, stopping at some favorite haunts for a bite or a cuppa.

Nanny getting Lucy Love

Having sent two daughters to CU in Boulder, there were places on the must visit list.  However, it was those stolen moments of "why not?" that yielded the best harvest.

Crazy good Folk Art

I'm so glad we decided to break away from the "tried and true" to discover this little gem of a nursery tucked away in North Boulder, which is aptly named "The Secret Garden." It was full of fun Folk Art surprises.  I remember it being run by a lovely English lady, Sheila, who sadly passed away awhile back.  The new owners have done a wonderful job adding their eclectic style to the place, a must in Boulder.

There is something wonderful about breaking away from the familiar, stepping off the cow path so to speak, that heightens our awareness allowing us to enjoy the present moment for what it is, a gift indeed.

With Flexibility Comes Opportunity

I was lucky enough to share in my sister's Denver delay yesterday.  We serendipitously enjoyed a stroll through the Denver Botanic Gardens.  It's been quite some time since I've visited, and the views were incredible.

Have you ever seen a ruffled poppy?  I hadn't, it was quite lovely!

But not as lovely as my sister :)

The roses were all in bloom, and the bees were happy.

So glad I had the flexibility to enjoy this opportunity.

Blessings!

So Many May Babies

May is a dizzying month.  Recitals, finals, graduations, not to mention that every time I turn around there is life to be welcomed or celebrated once again (seems like most of my Facebook Friends and quite a few relatives have birthdays in May - including moi!).  The flowers, the birds, the foals, the calves, the babies are EVERYWHERE.  Our neighbor's family greeted their new son last week, at HOME, and I was pleased as punch to find him these darling little leaf booties over at Tiny Happy

My grandmother celebrated her 100th, yes 100th, can you believe?  She is a testament to sustaining herself with a positive mental attitude - "Mind over Matter Helen" - and enjoying the simple pleasures in life "I just love dandelions, they are so cheery."  Really, of all that blooms in Spring she favors the dandelion.  Simply pleasures indeed.

I'm wishing you all good health and vitality to be out there and enjoy all that Spring has to offer.

Baby Great Horned Owl

Blessings!

This Day

I hope you all enjoyed celebrating the mothers in your lives this past weekend.  I enjoyed my day by sharing a Sacred Yoga class with a friend, to return to a lovely brunch of mushroom flautas with date/mint/chili chutney created by Brad, Rachel and Max with Bhakti Chai to top it all off!  Lucky girl I am :)  Wanting to capture the feelings of the day, I happily outfitted a rock with color and life this morning.

And I had company.

Blessings on your Monday!

Today's Unfoldment

I'm so appreciating my garden and all the beauty it brings.  Visual feasts, and wise reminders.  Given time and light, unfoldment happens before our very eyes.  Can you feel it?  Indeed, "the heart sees deeper than the eye."  I cannot take credit for that quote, it was on my Yogi tea bag today.  Such a nice reminder.  

Blessings on your weekend, especially all you Mothers, mothering types, and wanna-be's.  The world needs you!

News from the Hen House

Well, we've had a visit or two or three from a fantastic looking, albeit troublesome visitor.  A lovely fox has been making visits to our ladies and gent, and up until a week ago, has left thwarted.  Last week he made off with our best layer, such a sweet gal.  She was one the of first chicks we hand raised so she was gentle and a GREAT LAYER!  She laid the biggest green eggs I've ever seen.  We will miss her very much.  I was comforted to know the neighbors children who heard the news said a little prayer for her :).  Now that makes me smile.

Another thing making me smile just so happens to be taking place in the Chicken run as well.  Just today when I was out doing the daily watering and feeding I saw a flurry of activity back behind the bushes. When I looked closer I noticed all sorts of song birds down in the run's dirt pecking around.  At first I thought they were picking up Chicken feed scraps, but I don't leave food out in the run?  Upon closer observation I noticed these dear, sweet, winged creatures working very earnestly to pick up loose feathers from the chickens.  They are literally feathering their nests with the ladies cast off feathers.  BIG smile :) !

I guess it's true what they say:

One Hen's trash

Is another Wren's treasure.

Oh how I love the dichotomy of life!

Blessings!

Silence is Golden

It's true what they say, "Silence is golden,"  and I've been enjoying many golden moments this Spring.  That's not to say that I've been anti-social.  Quite the opposite.  This past month I've been lucky enough to take two trips which allowed me to enjoy the company of my family near and dear, and far and wide.  I've been accepting and enjoying more tea and lunch dates than I ordinarily do.  All this activity has been lovely.

But, it's been those moments of connection in my daily yoga practice that are nourishing me and propelling me to say "Yes!" more often to life.  This practice has become very dear to me, so much so that I find myself turning to Mommy Chicken less (but I'm still here!).

So, I'm popping back in to say, "Hi!  I hope you are all well and getting out there are saying 'Yes!' to life this Spring."  Many, many blessings on your journey, and I leave you with this lovely little prayer from a pretty dynamite woman:

The Fruit of Prayer

The fruit of silence is prayer
the fruit of prayer is faith
the fruit of faith is love
the fruit of love is service
the fruit of service is peace.

~ Mother Teresa

This body is not me; I am not caught in this body.
I am life without boundaries,
I have never been born and I have never died.
Over there the wide ocean and the sky with many galaxies
All manifests from the basis of consciousness
Since beginningless time I have always been free.
Birth and death are only a door through which we go in and out.
Birth and death are only a game of hide-and-seek.

So smile to me and take my hand and wave good-bye.
Tomorrow we shall meet again or even before.
We shall always be meeting again at the true source,
Always meeting again on the myriad paths of life.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Hala for my Mala!

This is an out of synch post.  This was posted as a seperate page (tab) back in February, and somehow it just didn't seem to fit in there :(  So, now it's back in the mish mash of my blog postings.  At least it's out there, enjoy!

Forget the dishes, here's how:

Hi there! Since you're here you're probably interested in stringing a mala, and why not get creative with what you're stringing? I loved making these beads. Warming the cinnamon dough in my hands was a lot like warming up for Kundalini Yoga, and opening the Nadis. The scent of cinnamon lingered on my palms long after making the beads as well!

Here's how to get started:

Stir together the dry ingredients
1 cup powered cinnamon
1 tbsp. allspice
2 tbsp. cloves
1 tbsp. nutmeg

Now mix in the wet
1 c. applesauce (for pliability)
2 tbsp. elmers glue (for firmness)

Mix until you've formed a nice ball of sweetly scented dough. This recipe made enough for a mala, plus extra. I figure I'll roll up the extra and stash away for another day.

Pinch off a bit and roll in your palms until you have a nice, little round bead.

Pierce with a small wooden dowl, chopstick, embroidery needle . . . you get the idea. Lay on a baking sheet in an open, airy place to dry overnight. You might want to flatten your beads a bit by pressing down on them. This helps to keep them from rolling around. You'll need 108 cinnamon beads to string your mala. Depending on what style you choose, you'll need 3-4 marker beads.

Now don't just forget about your little darlings. Check back on them periodically flipping them allowing both sides to dry evenly. Your dough will shrink as it dries so it's a good idea poke the holes one more time to keep them open.

Now you get to choose which style mala you want to string. I used this diagram and chose the Zen Mantra Style, just because. I used some crochet thread I had laying about, and used carnelian spacer (marker) beads. I used a lovely citrine bead for my guru bead. You can use whatever holds meaning for you, or just because you like how it looks and feels. I didn't get too fancy with how I strung the beads, just went for it. I figured the most important step would come when I charged the mala.

I used this tutorial for making the tassel. There are loads of how-to's out there (God bless the Web), so have fun. Investigate, explore. Use whatever technique lends meaning to your creative process.

Blessings!

Everyday Holy

What joy the hens give me by generously providing clean, bright, beautiful, colorful, nutrious, and sustainable eggs, day in, day out.  They are a never ending source of amusement, wonder, mystery and surprise!

Hope Springs Eternal

Sure signs of Spring, heaven sent and blessed:

The weather has been such a welcome relief, I find myself in a state of suspended belief.  Not enough to keep me from the garden this weekend however.  I spent a good part of it scraping off the Winter's blanket of dead, brown leaves and debris to welcome the our harbingers of Spring.  It's great, albeit, very physical work.  I'm grateful for the strength and opportunity to stretch and flex this body after a Winter hibernating indoors.  I'm also grateful for the help I got from my boys.

Now, I watch and wait as the colors unfurl.

Blessings!

This Day

Keeping the wheels of love spinning.

Round and round they go.  Where they'll stop, G-d only knows!

Blessings!

What's Making Me Happy Today

The sun.  The warmth.  The fact that I am home and can step outside to enjoy it, if only long enough to breathe in the heaven scent of the earth shaking off the shackles of winter; let the ladies and gent out to free range and take a dirt bath; see the signs that spring has been Marching forward all along.

Blessings!

February

Oh February, how you try my patience.  Every year it's the same dance, you test me with grey skies, cold winds and temperatures.  I try to ignore you.  Maybe that's why it feels like the longest, yet shortest month.  I have my ways of coping, and so do the pups:

Ordinarily there is a lot of handwork to show for this month of hunkering down, or at least tales of ski days.  This year however, I've taken a different tack: 

Click here for the link to this book!

It's pretty obvious that Yoga helps me sail an even course, helps me to maintain balance.  However, there is no way I could show up for a class every time I needed my fix (daily).  So . . . I've embarked on developing a home practice.  It's really nothing fancy, just another commitment.  An opportunity to flex those disciplinary muscles so to speak!

It's also become pretty obvious it's taken that time I used to blog, think about posts, take and upload photos.  You get the idea.  Guess I'm just popping in to say "Hey" and I'm still here.  Just exploring another way to stay connected. 

And . . . I have been doing my handwork (crochet and knitting mostly) and would love to post some lovely photos.  Just waiting for the sun to come out again for good lighting.

Feel free to comment with any questions or suggestions about your daily practice. I'd love to hear from you.

Blessings!

Walk With Her

Hi All - did any of you happen to click on the link for the cinnamon beads in the last post?  If so, you are familiar with Rebecca.  What a woman.  What an artist!  If you haven't visited her blog, please treat yourself to an uplifting visual and viceral feast and do so.  I was moved by her latest post where she shared a bit more of her story.

Her's is a story of courage, not just creativity.  I'm in awe of people who have the courage to face the struggles they do on a daily basis, especially when I consider the "struggles" I face doing the everyday in beautiful Boulder.  Gives new meaning to the word hope.

I will act as if I do make a difference. ~ William James