Hell - well sort of . . .

Okay, I'm not going through hell - just little, momentary, mini versions of the inevitable frustrations in life that feel hell-like.

Last night I wrote a long article on an amazing book about how to cure chronic pain. I had several photographs and felt I had written a good, clear, well-edited post. I published it. But in looking at the article in my blog it was clear to me that one photo needed to be larger - so I enlarged it. Enlarged, it became blurry. I thought, well that photograph is not essential to the story, I will delete it. So I went into Edit Posts, thought I was deleting the pic, and I deleted the whole &!#! post. A couple of hours work - for naught! That felt like a little mini-hell. At that point I was too tired to keep going. I threw in the towel and went to bed frustrated, but determined to start over in the morning.

Now, as I type this indulgent exercise in self-pity, the itsy-bitsy, mini-hell I am experiencing is that I cannot get the text to align left. So each line in these paragraphs is centered. Grrrhaaghh. Mini-hell. Keep going.

I have had bronchitis now for 10 days. Antibiotics seem to have helped, but I am experiencing extreme fatigue and feel unusually weak. I can't do all the things I want to do. Mini hell. Keep going.

What mini hell-like frustrations have you experienced recently? How do you follow Churchill's advice and keep going?

Welcome! New Blog Design, Same Old Bonnie

Welcome to my newly designed blog! Finally I am not confined to the narrow format provided by the Blogger template. That was my goal - to have a blog that filled the screen. I am not sufficiently proficient in HTML to have made the change by myself. The credit must go to Jill from Blogs By Sneaky Momma. She took my vision and produced this new design that welcomes you now. (The design is new but it is the same old me at the keyboard, so really nothing has changed in terms of the content you will find here. New container, same content.)

If you are in the mood or market for even just a few tweaks on your blog (it does not have to be a whole makeover) do visit one of Jill's blogs. She is professional, competent, a patient teacher and her fees are very reasonable. Jill also has another blog, Sneaky Momma Blog Design which is a wonderful resource for bloggers. It gives free "how to" instructions and tutorials for bloggers who want to make any changes on their blogs themselves.

I look forward to continuing this blogging adventure with you lovely people who have decided to follow me. I am so appreciative of your interest and your insightful comments. In turn, I have loved and continue to look forward to checking in on your blogs where I have my perspective tweaked, my blind spots cleansed, my imagination ignited, my visual senses stimulated, my heart tugged and my funny bone tickled. What a delight!

Beauty

One common denominator I have noticed in many blogs is the desire to share beauty - whether in the form of images, ideas, verse, places, people, products, etc. Beauty is a crucial anchor for me, and ever more so since I read John O'Donohue's book, "Beauty - The Invisible Embrace". subtitled "rediscovering the true sources of compassion, serenity, and hope". Not only does he find and illuminate beauty everywhere and in everything - he strings words together like smooth, luminous pearls. (John O'Donohue was a former priest, scholar, philosopher, and poet. He wrote and lectured on universal themes of love, beauty, solitude, death and friendship. He left many sad followers when he died too soon, in 2008, in his sleep, while vacationing in France. He was but 53. His death makes his recordings and writings all the more precious to thousands worldwide.)





Here are some of O'Donohue's words on the importance of beauty found in the introduction to his book (accompanied by a few photographs of mine, that to my eye qualify as beautiful):

"The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere -- in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, campanionship, love, religion and in ourselves . . . When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming . . . We feel most alive in the presence of the Beautiful for it meets the needs of our soul. For a while the strains of struggle and endurance are relieved and our frailty is illuminated by a different light in which we come to glimpse behind the shudder of appearances the sure form of things. In the experience of beauty we awaken and surrender in the same act. Beauty brings a sense of completion and sureness. Without any of the usual calculation, we can slip into the Beautiful with the same ease as we slip into the seamless embrace of water; something ancient within us already trusts that this embrace will hold us.

"These times are riven with anxiety and uncertainty, given the current global crisis. In the hearts of people some natural ease has been broken. It is astounding how this has reached deep into the heart. Our trust in the future has lost its innocence. We know now that anything can happen, from one minute to the next. The traditional structures of shelter are shaking, their foundations revealed to be no longer stone but sand. We are suddenly thrown back on ourselves. Politics, religion and economics and the institutions of family and community, all have become abruptly unsure. At first, it sounds completely naive to suggest that now might be the time to invoke and awaken beauty. Yet this is exactly the claim that this book explores. Why? Because there is nowhere else to turn and we are desperate; furthermore, it is because we have so disastrously neglected the Beautiful that we now find ourselves in such terrible crisis."

A little beauty, goodness and truth died when John O'Donohue died. But his writings remain (see below a few of his books) and anchor me still. O'Donohue sees the beauty in everything - in the flaw, even in death. His words are like a healing ointment applied to the existential wounds we all carry. I have only shared introductory remarks in his book. You will have to check it out yourself to enjoy the waft and weave of his celtic imagination. I encourage you to meet, know and love John O'Donohue, if you do not already.

As an aside, I have been working to "beautify" this blog and the makeover is almost complete in work behind the scenes with a deft blog designer. We should upload it this week. I apologize in advance for any disruptions that might arise as I switch it to it's new format - my hope is that it will be a smooth transition. So keep an eye out - and don't click off if you see a whole new look - it's still me - just an up-dated, easier to view and understand (I hope) version.

Bonnie

forgiveness

Is there somewhere that you need to dab the fragrance of forgiveness today? Holding on to our resentments eats away at our body, mind and spirit and has been shown to create dis-ease. This beautiful quotation by Mark Twain reminds us to release our resentments, to forgive for the sake of the other and self. And what about shedding a little of the fragrance of forgiveness on yourself? Are there, perhaps, ways you have not forgiven yourself?

universal health care needs a push

The above quotation by Guillaume Apollinaire describes, after a fashion, what Obama is doing trying to "push" through his new health care initiative in the U.S. People are afraid. People are resisting change preferring possibly to stay with the devil they know rather than take a risk on the one they don't. It takes someone like Obama to push Americains off the edge of fear and indecision. I hope they don't miss this opportunity.

Sandra, from http://worldsendfarmthisandthat.blogspot.com/ has an eloquent post today where she clearly expresses her impatience with the status quo in health care. She distills a lot of the chatter into a few salient points with examples to support what she says. Check it out it's a great read.

I want to thank Jayne, from http://journeythroughgrace.blogspot.com/ for her post today about the politics of health care in America. Jayne was kind enough to reference a post I made here at the beginning of July, entitled: "Universal Health Care: a Canadian's Experience". Butternut Squash from http://goddessoftheconfluence.blogspot.com/ has also posted about the need for universal health care and kindly made a link to my previous post on the topic, for which I thank her. If you haven't read these posts yet, I encourage you to do so.

A little note here as well re fellow blogger Renee, from http://circlingmyhead.blogspot.com/. She has been blogging about her fight with Stage 4 inflammatory breast cancer. She just found out this week that her 25 year old nephew now has a bleeding tumor in his stomach, her sister (the nephew's mother) has also just been diagnosed with a brain tumor, and amidst all this, her mother is in serious condition in hospital. This is all taking place in Canada and while her posts are not made to describe the Canadian health care system, if you read them you will get a first-person, here-and-now glimpse into how our system works. Her sister and nephew are being operated on today, according to her last post (forgive me if I do not have all the facts straight) so this is happening in "real" time. Beyond the unfathomable physical and emotional suffering in her family right now - I cringe to imagine the financial devestation that they would be experiencing on top of everything else, if they lived in the United States and weren't among the fortunate few to have excellent insurance coverage.

My thoughts are with Renee and her family today.

Bonnie

edible flowers and greens

This my little herb garden - although the herbs are barely visible because of the edible nasturtiums tucked in with them. I have the herb pots on a bench on a deck because hungry little herbivores eat them down to the quick if planted on the ground where they can reach them.

Of course, the ground hogs and the rabbits leave the poisonous rhubarb leaves alone. I did see one rabbit lying under these umbrella-like leaves enjoying the stained-glass effect when the sun shines through. Or that's what I liked to imagine he was doing. I wouldn't mind tucking in there for an afternoon.

This is the mommy or daddy rabbit who is quite accustomed to humans. I think he signalled the younger ones to "high-tail" it out of there while he hung out as the decoy because two ran off as I approached. It is 4:30 p.m. - supper hour. They come out at this time almost every day to graze on clover they find in the grass. I had some lettuce in my hand, so that may be why he hung around a little longer than the rest. Dads spot these kind of things. :)

Below are chives mixed with edible pansies which always add a certain "je ne sais quoi "
sprinkled over a salad or strategically place on a plate. And my favorite nasturtiums with tarragon behind. They, too, look pretty on a plate and have a peppery, radish-like taste.

. And here is bunny's all time favorite - leafy lettuce!

That's it folks. A few photos are all I can manage for today. I have a wicked sore throat that hurts even when not swallowing and am heading back to bed. Guess I should have been eating more of my vitamin-filled greens!

meetings

My world has certainly been enriched (perhaps transformed) by some of the contacts I have made with talented and insightful bloggers. It is delightful to have perceptions tweaked, assumptions challenged, compassion aroused, tears evoked, and windows to new vistas opened. Have you found Jung's words to be true with the cyber connections you make while blogging? How have any of your reactions to images, words, intent, personalities, diverse points of view on blogs you browse transformed you?

reteach . . . retell

The bud

stands for all things,

even for those things that don't
flower,

for everything flowers,

from within, of
self-blessing;

though sometimes it is
necessary

to reteach a thing its
loveliness,

to put a hand on the brow

of the flower,

and retell it in words and in
touch, it is lovely

until it flowers again from
within,

of self-blessing . . .

An excerpt from Galway Kinnell's, "St. Francis and The Sow". Hope we all can find a moment today to tell ourselves, "in words and in touch", that we, too, are "lovely".

a little piece of paradise

My husband and I are blessed to live on a very unique property. In essence it is almost like a private park - not created by us, but by our hard-working, stone-loving, eighty-four year old neighbor. From chats with him, his wife and two of his six sons, here is what I have pieced together about this site:


He must have bought acres and acres of land here on the Richelieu River years ago. (The Richelieu River drains out of Lake Champlain in Vermont and N.Y.State, into the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, on its way to the Atlantic Ocean.) Some of it was orchard (this area is renowned for its apples), some of it just hills leading down from the mountain to the river. While he had a prospering business, he, as you will see, is one incredible stone mason. He has built retaining walls all over these hills, as well as stairways, bridges, gates, an obelisk, and even a pyramid - yes a pyramid! I have to ask him if he is a closet Egyptologist!! (Sorry I don't have pictures of the pyramid, but it is about 15 feet high and architecturally perfect, to my eye.) He also built stone walls to encase the brooke that runs through the property. Of course, apart from all the stonework, he landscaped these hills into a woodland garden - parts left quite natural and other parts deftly manicured.


As his sons came of age he apportionned them chunks of land on which to build their homes. The youngest son received a beautiful acre smack-dab in the middle of his father's manicured, "stoned" paradise. A piece of land held onto I'm sure by the parents because of its central and beautiful location. Whether persuaded by a second wife, or because of a family dispute, or whatever . . . this son decided to sell his acre. We were the fortunate recipients of this unfathomable decision. It was a little bizarre to notice that we occasionally felt "guilty" for buying the place - but if we hadn't snapped it up, the son would have sold it to someone else.


So here we sit in the middle of these acres of paradise - book-ended by the homes of father and a couple of other sons. They have been very welcoming, despite the shock, (we assume) of having non-family members plopped down in the middle of "their" land. Our homes are quite far apart, so there is a lot of privacy for all. We have done our best to keep the land in the style of his original design and there are no fences separating one person's land from the other's. It is so beautiful here (for which we take no credit - except for current maintenance of our part) we have people who come just to stand on the bridge below and enjoy the view. Some people think it is a public park and take a stroll to enjoy the gardens, brooke, several bridges, etc. Wedding parties have even asked to be able to take their wedding photographs here. BTW, our neighbour employs no gardners and still maintains his acres of park, and sometimes his sons' acres by himself. He is out there working on the land every day. He's a "John Deere" man. I have seen him hoist huge slabs of stone from his pick-up truck, using a steel bar and his knowledge of leverage, to the ground!

We often call our little spot here "Camelot" because " . . . there's no better place for happily-ever-aftering than here in Camelot. . . . ." We also call it "Come-a-Lot" because our kids come out to visit all the time - that was part of our plan. : )
So let's start on a little tour:


When our 84 yr. old neighbour gave one of his older sons property across the brooke, he had to build a road and a bridge to allow vehicles to cross. I believe he constructed this bridge when he was in his seventies. His wife also indicated he did it in late fall or perhaps early spring with the weather being so bad he had to construct plastic tent-like coverings in order to work. The photo here is looking out from our house to the street. The sides of the bridge have big, graduated ledges going down to the brook, where children of all ages love to walk and sit. Foliage here covers almost the bottom half of the bridge - it extends down much further than you can see.





Below you see one of the many stairways on this hilly, terraced property. The brooke in this other shot is fast and angry after heavy rains. Note the stone walls that hold the brooke. All built by this one man. An incredible feat.

I think his stonework became a bit of an obsession. The obelisk was built after he had completed all the retaining walls and decorative stone elements in these acres of parkland. He has Egyptian hieroglypics on it - and I have never been able to ascertain whether they reference him or not. Perhaps it is his designated burial spot. It certainly seems he wants to leave his mark. And he has.

Stone walls keep the soil on the hills from washing away due to rains and create the pleasing structural elements of this property - apart from the statuesque trees which often appear as sculpture to me.
Barely visible is a green deck called a "belvedere". It sits looking out over land and the brooke a short distance from the house. I was told belvederes were built originally for young courting couples to have a degree of privacy while dating, but still be within view of parental eyes.

This is one of the few rolling (almost flat) areas on the property. Hence no stone walls.
Our part of the property ends about where you see the deciduous trees, several yards past the flower bed. Rabbits and ground hogs often come out here to graze - 4:30 p.m. prompt for rabbits and their babies.

This free-standing stone archway, gate and meandering stone path were some of the more recent examples of his work. An English style sculpted garden (not visible) graces both sides of the path.

More terraced land.

More stone retaining walls.

This grassy path leads down to one of our patios by the brooke.

This patio is one of the few areas we had built - retaining the look already created here. It is a sweet spot where the brooke curves on it's way down to spill into the Richelieu River. It is always 5-10 degrees cooler down on this patio - due to the dappled shade and the evaporation of cool water from the brooke. A lovely spot to meditate, read, rest or chat with a loved one. Our stone-loving neighbor monitored the construction from a polite distance and warmly gave a "thumbs up" to this addition to "his park". He and his wife can see it, if they crane their necks, from one of their decks.

And so our abbreviated tour is over, and we are back at the stone street bridge. Hope you enjoyed yourself. I have a few little stories to tell you about happenings here in Camelot/Come-a-lot, but that is for future posts. I wanted first to acquaint you with the lay of the land so that you would better understand the stories to come. Au revoir!

what is . . . rain is what is

Okay, as per a previous post I'm a aspiring adept of "loving what is" a la Byron Katie (really a la Taoist philosophy). So "what is" here in the Northeast is rain, and then, rain and then just for a change, more rain. But when you rest with what is and stop wishing for things to be otherwise, you see the beauty that is there - waiting for you to notice. Here are some photographs from my garden, of plants graced by delicate droplets of water. Enjoy . . .

This, of course, is not a plant, but the windshield of a car covered with droplets and reflecting the beauty of dripping trees above.



And how lovely is this nasturtium, below, heavy with water, with one gigantic drop still clinging to a petal . . . . ?

This smoke bush with it's horizontal fan of leaves holds many beads of water, that seem to prefer to remain separate beads - not merging into a little stream that would run off the leaf immediately. Perhaps they prolong their life span by remaining as a droplet, before becoming a rivulet that falls off its support to be absorbed by mother earth.

Maybe these beads of water prefer to "sit" like silent monks in a temple allowing the process of evaporation, rather than to fall any further . . . ?? But then again, a monk would have no preferences . . . she/he would just accept what is . . . and as the moment changes . . . accept the next "what is". I'm learning so much by just noticing what little droplets of water do . . . and don't do! There's the key: they don't do - they just are.

Addendum: As I re-read the last two paragraphs here, I see that except for the last couple of sentences I am projecting my desires to "remain separate", "prolong life", "not be absorbed", "not fall any further" onto these pure, little drops of water - that just 'are what they are'. Good to know what I'm doing! Interesting how if you can catch and pull back your projections, you can learn a lot about what is going on inside.

. . . but one man . . .

We had a long, leisurely meal in a Portuguese restaurant last night with two other couples. We all ordered some variation of fresh, grilled seafood - but most of us had Black Alaskan Cod. It just melts in your mouth. The Portuguese wine flowed (too much into my wine glass) and the ever-smiling, generous owner interrupted as we were preparing to leave to offer us a Portuguese digestif (liqueur). We did not refuse his generosity. Oh dear.

Last night's indulgences weigh heavy on my countenance this morning. Looks like a crow walked over my face during sleep. Anyway, as I was silently bemoaning the face I will be living with today, my husband walked by and said something sweet. I realized he did not even notice my sallow skin and drooping, haggard eyes - or if he did notice, he saw no reason to dwell on it. Made me recall some sweet verse

by William Butler Yeats:

When You are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face, . . .

Ahhh yes, one man . . . . and he just now brought me a freshly brewed cup of coffee and has returned to the kitchen to make breakfast while I commune with you. How lucky am I?

life and beauty go on, regardless . . .

 

A picture of a yellow begonia in my garden, with quotation from Pierre Auguste Renoir. To understand the context of this post, you need to read the previous post.

horror and disbelief in Montreal

Even the waiters could tell the couple were very much in love. They were friendly with the staff, but they really had eyes only for each other. It had been her 33rd birthday last Monday, and they had reserved a table at this Japanese Sushi Bar to celebrate (last night - Thursday). The restaurant was in the atrium of a hotel in mid Montreal (Peel St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd., if you know Montreal), an area replete with high-end hotels, boutiques and restaurants. Happily immersed in each other one minute - and the next - a concrete slab from 17 stories above crashes through the glass atrium ceiling landing directly on the 33 year old woman, killing her instantly. Staff and other diners, were not sure if a bomb had gone off, but it sounded like an explosion. They ran to the back of the restaurant and were paralyzed with fear. Only the young husband's cries, of "My wife! My wife! Stay with me!", brought the people in the restaurant out of their stunned paralysis and to the aid of the husband lying beside his wife on the floor. All I will describe of the rest of the scene is that it was evident the woman was dead - and the man had lost some fingers on one hand. Either he was touching her arm or her hand at the time of the accident, or he reached out to try and pull her out of harm's way . . . . I can only try to imagine the agony he must have experienced. He was taken away by ambulance, striken - looking to the spot where his wife lay dead pinned under a slab of concrete. (Since writing this post this morning, it has been reported that the couple had originally sat at another table in the restaurant, but had seen the empty table by the window and asked to move. Sadly, they moved to the fated spot.)

The immensity, horror and sadness of such a random, freak accident have Montrealers in a stunned state of sympathy and disbelief today. Everyone's heart goes out to this young man now in the Montreal General Hospital - and, of course, to their families. (This man and any witnesses in the area would be prime candidates for EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy in a few weeks or months from now. I mention this because EMDR was the subject of my last post.)

This tragedy has cast a pall over our city and certainly over my mind. I think I felt rattled about it because I have children that age. In fact, my two daughters were meeting at a restaurant in Montreal last night . . . and it could just as easily have been them. On the flip side of the coin, this kind of tragedy pushes me to treasure every moment, every connection, every breath I have today, knowing that in the blink of an eye everything can change.

I will hold that young man in my heart, praying that his friends and family love and support him through difficult days ahead of physical and emotional healing.

Again, we try to comprehend the fragility of life. The random events that kill humans and their dreams. Sometimes it really does feel like one big cosmic joke. We have hopes and dreams, we make plans, we create a life, we create children, we try to do good . . . and still . . . we find ourselves ever at the mercy of an unmerciful, capricious turn of events. And still . . . we go on . . . doing our best to create a meaningful life . . . soaking up the moments of joy, love and beauty offered to us . . . . what else can we do? As Seneca said, "Sometimes even to live is an act of courage".

EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing - a quick route to emotional healing

 

In a recent post about the therapeutic benefits of certain eye movements (moving your eyes upward), I also mentionned the technique known as EMDR. Fellow blogger "Here Under The Rainbow" suggested that a little more information on EMDR would make an interesting future post. So here we go . . .

EMDR has become the treatment of choice for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). It also has innumerable other applications, e.g. anxiety, phobias, performance enhancement, anger management, etc. If you have any emotional symptom that seems to last longer than it should, or has a degree of intensity not really warranted by the event that caused it; or if you are plagued by nightmares, flashbacks, fear, bitterness or depression with regard to some trauma in your past - it could indicate that for some unknown reason your brain and central nervous system have not "metabolized" (processed and come to terms with) the event.

Francine Shapiro, the founder of EMDR, discovered that if she moved her hand horizontally in front of a patients' eyes (instructing them to follow her hand movements with their eyes while they recalled the incident still causing them problems) - it seemed to make the traumatic or uncomfortable remnants of the trauma abate or settle down or "heal".

You could compare it to an open gash in your arm. We know that the natural healing process of the body will usually close and heal the gash on its own. Yes, you will and should be preoccupied with it at first - that causes you to do what needs to be done to get it to heal. Yes a scar will remain, and yes that scar may be tender to the touch, but generally you can go about your life and not be preoccupied with the wound - it has healed and closed and left only a scar to remind you of the physical trauma. In PTSD and other emotional problems it seems as if the natural healing process of the brain and central nervous system are interfered with and the person does not heal (the emotional wound does not properly 'close'). EMDR does not make your memories go away. But it closes the gaping wound, so to speak, so that you are left with just the scar of emotional trauma - a scar that does not dominate your life like an open wound does.

EMDR amazes all clinicians who use it in their practice. It also diminishes their income because it works so much faster than just talk therapy and patients go their merry way much sooner! For certain issues only 2 or 3 sessions of EMDR are required. It is NOT hypnotism. You interact with the therapist throughout. You can say you want to stop at any time. Clinicians know the client needs to be the one in control. This is not a technique to do on yourself. Psychotherapists who use EMDR have been trained in the process. There is a certain protocol to follow, and since people and life do not always follow expectations, you need an experienced therapist who knows how to handle whatever arises. Trained therapists in this technique know how to "close the EMDR process down" when the session ends - which is important.

This therapy should be offered to anyone who has been through a traumatizing event, (survivors of environmental disasters, war veterans, 911 survivors and rescuers, assault victims, etc). Many selfless EMDR-trained psychotherapists go to sites of disasters to offer their services gratis in times of need.

The four books above are just a few I have in my library on the subject. The two Shapiro books are written more with a clinician in mind. Parnell and Servan-Schreiber's books would offer anyone a good overview of EMDR.

I would highly recommend David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D.'s book, "The Instinct to Heal", as he highlights several techniques that can help you heal from pain, anxiety, stress, depression, etc. without drugs or lengthy therapy. One of these techniques is EMDR, and another called "heart coherence" is a simple, elegant way to use the love in your own heart to heal yourself. His book offers some simple ways to enhance your own well-being with your own efforts. I hope you check it out.

still looking up

Keep looking up. Previous post tells you why . . . .

Look Up and Feel Better

Did you know there is something mysterious and magical about eye movements? In Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) you learn that you can tell whether a person is more visual, auditory, or sensory in their style of thinking by where they move their eyes when you ask them a question. There is also an eye movement that can either indicate a person is preparing to give you a very creative answer, or is about to lie. In the therapeutic technique called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), bilateral eye movements seem to help people integrate and resolve past traumatic experiences. Bilateral (back and forth) movements of the eyes also balance the hemispheres of the brain - for a more whole brain approach to whatever you are working on. As well, people whose eyes are frequently downcast are often depressed. But try and feel depressed while your eyes look up. It is almost impossible to feel bad emotionally while your eyes are looking upward (even if you are depressed). Try to simply move your eyes upward, not your head. So look up at the architecture of buildings around you, look up at the sky or the clouds, look up at mountains (if you are lucky enough to be near some), look up at the tops of trees. We cannot "park" our eyes in an upward position, but we can LOOK UP at different times during the day and FEEL BETTER!

tranquil one day ~ turbulent the next

We are blessed to have a beautiful mountain stream that meanders through our land. Last Friday, the 10th it was calm, clear, tranquil as you see in the 1st and 2nd photographs. The water is running about 2 1/2 - 3 feet below the top of the stone walls. However, this spring and summer it seems it rains almost every day (for sure on the weekends!) and Saturday the rains came - in sheets. Scroll down to see how the torrential downpour affected our peaceful little brook.

The photo below shows the brook at approximately the same place as above, after at least a 4 hour enslaught of rain. The water is now running only 6 - 8 inches below some areas of the grass banks. The water has lost its clarity as the force of the descent churns up the sand and earth below, making it look like a murky milkshake.

The brook has been rerouted underground just across the road before it runs onto our land and here in the pic below, it blasts its way out of the huge pipe as it begins to run freely above ground again. The sound of the water emerging from the pipe was incredible. The power, speed, thrust and inevitable movement of the water to go where it must go - mesmerizing.

I know some of you are suffering terribly with heat and drout here in parts of North America. My heart goes out to you. Wish we could make a little exchange - a bit of your sun for a lot of our water! Greetings to all, from the rather wet northeast!

Jenn from "So Distressing" chooses "Fern Afire"

Jenn has contacted me saying she would like to have this mixed-media artwork for having been the one randomly selected in the "Choose a New Name Giveaway". Congratulations Jenn. It will be sent off to you this week.