Life Coach: Spirit, Body and Mind » nature

Travelling: Minnesota Tourists!

Margo — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:12:13 +0000

In my previous posting, God’s Creation: Minnesota, I shared the wonderful experience Rich and I had at our friends’ house. However, we didn’t stay at home all the time we were there, even though it was difficult to leave that place so filled with the joy of nature. We actually played the tourists for a couple of days and visited some very interesting places.

I was told that everyone who comes to that particular area of Minnesota needs to visit the small town of Nisswa. Actually, Nisswa is about the size of an overgrown village. It is very quaint and is filled with wonderful little shops (yes, I did some shopping!). I love places like Nisswa because I’m never quite sure what exciting little treasure I may find. For someone like me who has very unique antenna up throughout the year, Nisswa is rather like Aladdin’s Cave.

When I talk about my “unique antenna”, I’m referring to that constant awareness of the people in my life and what might make them happy. When I’m out and about I have my bloodhound nose ready to sniff out gifts that will please my friends and family members on their birthdays or at Christmas. And Nisswa did not disappoint. I could have dipped into my wallet several more times than I did, but all the time I had to keep in mind that we were travelling on our Harley and there was limited space, even though Sherry and Greg offered to bring things back for us when they trucked back to Jacksonville in October.

Another day we drove out to visit Itasca State Park which is absolutely gorgeous. The Park boasts pristine wilderness at its best surrounding the largest lake, Lake Itasca, and many other smaller lakes. Did you know that Minnesota is known as the State of 10,000 lakes? We took our time driving through the Park, stopping at several lookout points such as Preachers Grove, that overlook the lakes. Our main goal at the Park was to go to the Headwaters of the Mississippi River. I was totally mind-boggled that this mighty river has its source almost in Canada and runs the full length of the USA before emptying itself into the Gulf of Mexico in Florida.

Sherry and I wading in the Headwaters of the Mississippi at Itasca State Park

Before taking the path to the Headwaters, we stopped at the Visitor Center, which I think is one of the best and most interesting of such centers that I have visited, to learn a little more about the Park. I thoroughly recommend that you visit http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/itasca/index.html where you will find a wealth of interesting information, photos, and history of Itasca State Park, including the story of Mary Gibbs who was a feisty woman who risked her life to protect Itasca Park against the logging industry at that time.

Preachers Grove (left) and Lake Itasca

I’m sure that Minnesota boasts many other beautiful areas. It is such a lush, green State and the presence of so many lakes, large and small, makes for the presence of plentiful wildlife and many interesting and beautiful places. I know it’s definitely a place that I’d like to visit again and if you enjoy the magnificence of God’s creation in nature you will surely enjoy it.

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God’s Creation: Minnesota

Margo — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Our friends, Greg and Sherry, bought an old barn on a large piece of property in Minnesota a couple of years ago. Since then they have spent a lot of time between here, Jacksonville, and there, making changes, clearing a few trees around the barn, and putting on an addition to the original structure. Out of the old barn has emerged a lovely living space of two bedrooms, a bathroom, an open plan kitchen, dining room and lounge area, plus a nice comfortable screened in porch.

There is still a lot of work to do, but the main thrust is there. The rest is mainly “accessorizing”: putting in permanent flooring, deciding on décor and finishes, and painting the exterior. The barn-house is surrounded by woodland and even though there are two sets of neighbors living close by, the trees almost completely hide the other houses from view.

Five days into our retirement ride we stopped to visit with Greg and Sherry. In fact we spent 4 blissful days with them in their “little piece of paradise” (my label). One element of this new habitat that I really enjoyed is that they have installed floor to ceiling windows in the dining room and on both sides of the spacious lounge. This means that not only does a lot of natural light fill the home but it also seems like sitting in the middle of the woods – but with all mod cons!

While we were there, I spent my early morning quiet time sitting in a chair right up against one of these enormous windows. With my meditation books in hand and a cup of herbal tea close by, I was truly in “God’s space”. Greg and Sherry have placed several bird feeders within a few yards of this particular window and the morning activity was quite frenzied. Nuthatches and Downy Woodpeckers vied with Hairy Woodpeckers and Chickadees as well as some small sparrows and titmice, while the hummingbirds buzzed in and out. I also saw a bluebird one day.

The squirrels up there were enormous, about twice the size of squirrels down here in Florida. Although Greg and Sherry had installed a really interesting squirrel feeder for them, they still came and tried to access the bird feeders once in a while. But they also had a plentiful supply of corn down on the ground because our friends also took care of the numerous deer that would come almost up to the house in search of food.

Every evening at about 9pm we would spot movement out among the trees. We would turn off the lights inside the house, and soon we would see the deer emerging cautiously from the trees and coming toward a large block of salt that Greg and Sherry had attached to a tree, and also toward a long wooden palette that lay close by on the ground piled high with corn. They are such graceful creatures and are a delight to watch. One evening we were treated to the spectacle of a mother deer with her two young ones.

During the four days that we stayed, I also got to see an animal that I had never seen before – at least, not in real life. I’m sure you’ve all heard them “singing” and maybe even seen them in an animated movie. Yes, I’m talking about the chipmunk. I was so amazed at how small they were! I had always imagined chipmunks to be the size of a squirrel, but instead they are these tiny little animals probably about the size of a hamster. They were very entertaining scampering here and there in the undergrowth. Richard managed to get some really good pictures one day as a chipmunk decided to sit on a small fallen log not far from the window and complete his/her morning ablutions.

Although they did not come into the yard, we also saw many Canadian geese and wild turkeys not too far from the house as we made various trips in the surrounding area. There were two very large fields on opposite sides of a nearby road that had been mowed recently, and the geese were there in large numbers mainly in the morning, probably more than a hundred at a time, feeding on whatever geese feed on. The turkeys were usually in a lower section of the field apart from the geese.

It was such a joy to be surrounded by so much of nature’s wonders that God created for our pleasure. I am so grateful that Sherry and Greg gave us such great hospitality in their tranquil haven, and I hope it won’t be too long before we can go back and enjoy it some more. We have to go back anyway, so that we can see the finished product that is their summer retreat!

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God’s Creation: The Grand Canyon

Margo — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 16:39:52 +0000

As mentioned in my posting Traveling- Las Vegas & Sedona on 22 August, Rich and I took a day trip to visit the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I was very excited to make this trip because when I was a young girl growing up in England, many of my friends wanted to go America. There were those who were enthralled at the thought of visiting New York City, others who wanted to see the White House and the nation’s capital, and yet others who were attracted to the bright lights of Las Vegas or Hollywood.

But my only desire re-the USA was to see the Grand Canyon. I had seen it in a couple of movies, read about it here and there, and I believe I saw it featured in a National Geographic article at least 40 years ago. (I know, I’m dating myself here!!). From those experiences I knew it was something hugely majestic, but I had not retained much descriptive detail about it from them. So this trip was almost like visiting it with no pre-information about it at all.

As we approached the area of the Grand Canyon, I remember being somewhat puzzled, or maybe perplexed would be a better word. I think I expected the landscape to begin to change dramatically to prepare me for what I was about to see. But everything was amazingly “normal”, fairly flat country with quite a few trees. We entered the visitors center, acquired our tickets, and watched a great informative documentary.

Even as I watched the movie I wasn’t particularly struck by anything special, and we headed out afterward on the road that led into the National Park in Arizona where the south rim is located. Again, I was puzzled/perplexed because the countryside did not change. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting and I was quite surprised when we eventually saw the sign for the first “viewing zone”. We parked and I got out of the car and looked around. Nothing, just the road we had been travelling and a line of trees. But the arrows pointed toward the trees, so off we went.

I don’t think it would have mattered if I had seen a thousand photographs or hundreds of movies, nothing would have prepared me for my first view of the Canyon. As I passed through the trees and stepped out the other side, my jaw dropped, my mouth gaped. I was absolutely speechless. My eyes tried to come to grips with what I was seeing and I was somewhat aware that my mind was scrambling for words to describe it. Some of the words that came to mind were: spectacular, majestic, awesome, awe-inspiring, amazing, stunning.

But even as I tried to put the words together in my head, I realized that none of them would do justice to the landscape unfolding in front of my eyes. I was aware of tears welling up inside me. I felt completely choked up with emotion, my heart was racing and my breathing had definitely quickened. It felt like my soul was seeing a touch of home, and in that moment I knew that one word, and only one word, could describe the view that lay before me – God. I could imagine Him during the days of creation, eyeing this particular piece of the earth and, feeling the inspiration, reaching His hand down and slicing a two hundred and eighty mile long wavy line through the State of Arizona.

Just as words do not do justice to the majesty, the size, the total “stunningness” of the Grand Canyon, so too pictures cannot capture it’s breathtaking awesomeness. But I am including a couple that my husband took as we went from viewing point to viewing point along the south rim. The picture of the raven is included for a couple of reasons. My adopted Native American name is Raven Woman. When we first got out of our car at the condo we stayed at in Sedona, a raven flew onto the roof, and every viewing spot in the Grand Canyon had several ravens hopping around. I felt especially welcomed in both places.

As I stared at this miracle of God and nature, once again I found myself thinking of the first pioneers, those courageous men and women who set out from the eastern settlements of America to explore what lay beyond their known territories. I tried to imagine a lonely cowboy riding across new and unexplored country, galloping along on his horse and coming through the tree line to approach the edge of the canyon. I’m sure he must have experienced feelings similar to those I described above.

For those of you who are interested, here are a few facts about the Grand Canyon. Even as I write them I find them hard to digest and fully take in. The Canyon is nearly two hundred and eighty miles long, reaching from Marble Canyon near the Utah-Arizona border to Grand Wash Cliffs in Mojave County near the Nevada-Arizona border. In some places it is eighteen miles wide – yes, eighteen miles!! And it reaches depths of up to one mile. At the south rim the width of the chasm is about ten miles.

All I can say is, if there is nothing else that you do, no specific location that you have a desire to see in the USA, plan to go to the Grand Canyon. I do not think you will be disappointed and I am sure you will be at least a little bit changed afterward. Happy trails!

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Shared Wisdom: Words For The New Year

Margo — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:34:00 +0000

Christmas and the New Year is always a time when I find myself digging through “old stuff”. This is partly because, as I acquire various gifts for people throughout the year, I put them in “special places” which I then forget about. Therefore I have to search high and low for them, which leads me to look in places that I don’t check into normally. And so top shelves and boxes and bottom drawers yield a treasure trove of gifts, new gems, words that I have squirrelled away that now come to light to be shared with others. Enjoy!

“When working with others, leave the results to God.” (Anonymous)

“What makes us special is the signature of God on our lives.” (Max Lucado)

“To expect life to be tailored to our specifications is to invite frustration.” (Anonymous)

“Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.” (Erica Jong)

“Fatherly and motherly hearts often beat wise and warm in the breasts of bachelor uncles and maiden aunts; and it is my private opinion that these worthy
creatures are a beautiful provision of nature for the cherishing of other people’s children.” (Louisa Mae Alcott)

“Contentment is the philosopher’s stone, which turns all it touches into gold; the poor man is rich with it, the rich man poor without it.” (Proverb)

“Life is like a blanket too short. You pull it up and your toes rebel, you yank it down and shivers meander about your shoulders; but cheerful folks manage
to draw their knees up and pass a very comfortable night.” (Marion Howard)

“The longer I live the more I am convinced that the one thing worth living for and dying for is the privilege of making someone more happy and more
useful. No man who ever does anything to lift his fellows ever makes a sacrifice.” (Booker T. Washington)

“Grant to me that I may be made beautiful in my soul within, and that all external possessions be in harmony with my inner man. May I consider the wise man
rich, and may I have such wealth as only the self-restrained man can bear or endure.” (Prayer of Socrates)

“I’ve learned to hold everything loosely because it hurts when God pries my fingers from it.” (Corrie ten Boom)

“The burden of suffering seems to be a tombstone hung around our necks. Yet in reality it is simply the weight necessary to hold the diver down while
he is searching for pearls.” (Julius Richter)

And this last one is truly one to ponder on:

“Never underestimate yourself or what God can do in your life because remember, professionals built the Titanic, but amateurs built the ark!”
(Anonymous)

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Musings: Endings And Beginnings

Margo — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:38:05 +0000

It seems very fitting to be coming back/starting back into my writing on the first day of the first month of the New Year. Yes, it really has been since 1 December 2010 that I last wrote. I really wanted to write yesterday. It was warm enough in the lanai, after a bit of a lie-in, to do my quiet time outside for the first time in a month. Florida, the “Sunshine State”, has been rather stubborn in following last winter’s cold trend. Actually the whole country has been ridiculously frigid for the month of December, with crazy storms and blizzards throwing themselves all over the States.

But, joy of joy, when I came outside at about 9am yesterday the temperature was already at almost 60F degrees. So I put on my new purple, fleecy house- jacket that “Santa Richard” brought me and enjoyed my first quiet time in the lanai for a month. The air was tepid, but warmed up by the minute and I was pulled in so many different directions all at once.

I wanted to just sit and savor the glory of the Lord, breathe in His precious air and all the various perfumes of the outside. I wanted to do my meditational readings and engage in my intimate time with God. I also wanted to write and get out the words that had been hiding in my heart and mind over the past few weeks. And I also wanted to let the world know why I had not written during this period – or at least give them my version, which may or may not be the “reason” but perhaps an “excuse”. Who knows what goes on at subliminal levels in my brain!

I did do my readings and spent some quiet time with God. I did enjoy just sitting there and breathing and watching the myriad tiny birds fluttering round the feeders and hopping through the grass below. I even saw a couple of butterflies and I surely heard at least two, although I think there were more, hawks screeching loudly as they swooped back and forth through the pine wood out back. A blue jay was also jump-dropping from branch to branch in one of the pine trees (I’m not sure how else to describe the strange way Blue Jays have of starting on an upper branch and then dropping-jumping-flying-flopping down from one level to another until they drop out of sight behind the fence line).

I did not get my lap-top out to the lanai however, because Richard and I had a planned date/appointment to go and have brunch together and then do some post-Christmas bargain shopping. Part of me was a little irritated because this was the first time I had felt driven to write in so long. But I enjoy my dates with Richard when we can manage them so the irritation was minimal and quickly disappeared as we enjoyed some time together, and we did find some good bargains. What was even better was that it wasn’t just “acquiring more stuff”. We found some things that we needed or had been looking for and we saved some big bucks.

So, why haven’t I been writing? It’s rather a mish-mash of things, so here goes. The day after Thanksgiving, while we were still enjoying our week in Orlando, Rich and I went bowling at the Boardwalk near Sanford. At some point I was getting ready to unleash a strike (I like to think it would have been a strike!!). I made my run up to the line, planted my left foot to bowl and as I did that something just “torqued” in my upper outer left thigh. I dropped the ball as I gasped in pain then, in a moment, it suddenly didn’t seem so bad. However, it was. A few steps later a flash pain ran up my thigh. And so it went on and off over the next day as we prepared to return home. Thank God for Tylenol Extra Strength!!

When we got home I was able to treat it with different things that I had on hand. I also had a massage booked with Michael and he worked his usual skillful magic and, fortunately, within eight to ten days it was healed. Unfortunately, about 6 days later I noticed my right knee was sore and within 24 hours I was limping quite badly. I did all the things I had done with my thigh two weeks earlier hoping for the same results. Alas, a week later the situation had not improved so I went to the doctor. Happily, after testing it in every direction, he informed me that “the knee was not compromised” and sprained right tendons were diagnosed and I was sent home to “rice” (rest, ice, compress, and elevate) and given an anti-inflammatory to take for 3 weeks.

Now we’re talking about the two weeks leading up to Christmas here. With all there was to prepare for (I had seven people coming on Christmas Day) I was supposed to “rest and elevate”? Well, the anti-inflammatory partly took care of that because it rendered me pretty useless within half an hour of taking the dose (thank God I was taking it in the evening), and although I was not left with “hangover” symptoms the following morning, after a few days I noticed that the overall effect was one of “sludge-in-my-veins”. Add to this the fact that our normally mild Florida temperatures were dipping dangerously close to freezing several nights in a row and not getting much higher in the day time, and I was ready for total hibernation!!

The whole pace of my life slowed to a snail’s pace. What does this have to do with not writing, you may ask? Well, what little useful time I had available (read – time that I was really awake and one hundred percent brain alive!) needed to be dedicated to the things that were necessary to be done to get through each day and handle the plans that were in place. The freezing cold saps me of all energy and desire to do just about anything other than curl up on the couch and stay warm, plus it tends to numb any inspiration and seems to send the Muse running to warmer climates. Every once in a while a small creative idea would do its utmost to bubble to the surface and I would even find myself thinking that my lap-top must be feeling totally abandoned. But the anti-inflammatory and the couch won that battle every time

My knee is still bothering me. In fact I went back to the doctor last Monday and I have an order to get a CAT scan this coming week and I’m also waiting for a call from the physiotherapist. Because I have a little arthritis in some of my fingers and the physical feeling in my knee joint is similar to that in my finger joints, I personally think arthritis is the culprit and not sprained tendons. But we’ll see.

In the meantime, Mother Nature has decided to be kind to me and has served up some warmer temperatures. Today is as warm as yesterday. It is 3pm and I’m sitting in my lanai dressed in jeans and a tank top and I’m aware that my whole inside – heart, body, soul, and mind – is revved up on a different level. I feel lighter and happier than I have in the last month. Muse has been tapping on my door since yesterday and today my schedule is such that I can let her out to play.

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Musings: Sliding Into Autumn

Margo — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:24:49 +0000

I am a spring-into-summer person. I love the awakening of the land; the buds on the trees and bushes, the early daffodils and tulips, the birds and the bees awakening from a winter lethargy, and the sun rising higher in the sky and giving more warmth. I am not a fan of the arrival of autumn, even though I think autumn itself is a very beautiful season. I simply don’t like the fact that it heralds the coming winter and the cooler temperatures and the presence of grey days.

Our local streets have filled with more traffic than there has been for the past couple of months. Yes, school is back in session, the beginning of another scholastic year. I have no little ones at home any more, so the only way I am aware of the school year is through the wax and wane of traffic volume and the occasional comment from teacher friends as they gear up or gear down for the start or close of the school year.

However, as all the children go back to school and the traffic somehow seems to double on the roads, I get that first hint that summer is over. I fight the arrival of autumn with everything in me. I have friends who talk about not wearing, or accessorizing with, white after the first of September. Why ever not? The sun is usually still as hot and bright as it was on thirty one August. So, rebellious as ever, I wear white until it gets grey and rainy or just too cold to seem appropriate anymore.

It seems like the first of September, or at least the Labor Day weekend, heralds the beginning of “we can’t do that any more” season. Despite the act that we are blessed with extended summer weather here in Florida, people seem to stop doing everything overnight. No more picnics and bar-b-q’s, no more going to the beach, no more back yard parties, and everyone pulls their boat out of the water.

The two things that Floridians do hang onto, however, are shorts and flip-flops. Year round, those two articles seem to have become the unofficial state symbol of the State of Florida. Even on a cold and rainy day, which fortunately we get relatively few of, there are those die-hard southern guys and gals who staunchly wear these two items as proudly as if they were the State flag.

But back to autumn. The Fall season always brings a feeling of melancholy to my heart and soul. I know that all the seasons are God-given and I appreciate them as such. Perhaps in the bigger scheme of things the yearly passing of the seasons reminds me of the seasons of my life. Although I have enjoyed them all, some more than others, I am well aware that I am in my own personal autumn. This means that winter is just around the corner.

I am well prepared for this, at least as well prepared as any human can be. Because of the Christian faith values that I hold and adhere to, I do not fear the winter years because I know they will culminate in a new life. It’s just that I still have a lot of living that I’d like to do and many more things that I want to accomplish. But, like everyone else on the planet, my time will come when it’s meant to and I have little control over that.

So in the meantime, I’ll wear white until it’s too cold, I’ll go to the beach as often as possible after Labor Day and, although I don’t own a boat, I’ll imagine floating out on the sea with my hand trailing in warm waters. I also have my beloved lanai at home and as usual will spend as much time as possible out there doing my writing, reading, or just enjoying the incredible gifts of nature that surround me.

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The Garden: An Inspiration

Margo — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Those of you who know me through my writing know that I love gardening. This love of gardening comes partly from my historic/geographic gene pool – I’m a Brit and we’re almost all gardening mad! The other part is still from my gene pool but from a more intimate and personal section – the family. Both my parents loved the garden, but my Dad had an absolute passion for his garden.

I’m not a very organized gardener as I’ve already mentioned in other postings. I’m not a very organized anything because I’m a real “fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda gal”. My garden is a veritable hodge-podge of flowers and plants and I’m never quite sure what’s going to pop up where. I throw seeds all over the place and plant bulbs here and there, then I sit back and wait for the wonder of nature.

I love the growing process. Taking a seed and watching it peep up through the soil with it’s first tip of green is a most exciting adventure for me. It fascinates me that from that tiny little thing a whole flower or plant or bush or even a tree can come forth.

Sometimes I stand in my back yard with a seed in my hand and I look at everything that’s growing around me, and I am in absolute awe as I think it all started with a few seeds. The hand of God is most definitely present in such a miracle.

Gardening brings me great joy and I consider it to be wonderful therapy for the soul. Gardening takes me out of myself and is one of the few activities through which I feel a real connection with God. Gardening makes my heart happy.

But today I realized another benefit that comes from my hard work out there in the garden. Of late my husband has started taking series of photos of my garden. At first he was taking general all-around shots so that we could share them with the rest of the family that is flung around the world.

More recently he began taking close-ups of single blooms and flowers. Such works of art each and every one in itself. He also took one set that was all leaves and they turned out to be very interesting and beautiful. But here’s the kicker.

Richard is also this “computer geekie/techie guy”. He works a lot with Windows 7 and it allows him to create themes. These are a series of images that you can put together as desktop wallpaper. Well he has taken my garden as his inspiration for creating beautiful themes that are available for free download if you work with Windows 7.

If you’re a garden fanatic and you’d like to check out more shots of my garden, you can visit our Summer Garden shots album. I hope you get as much enjoyment from this as I do.

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Musings: Creativity and Cold!

Margo — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:13:18 +0000

It has been very cold, at least by Florida standards it’s been cold. Since Christmas Day the thermometer on my sheltered lanai has been registering somewhere between 44F and 48F degrees at about 7.30am. That’s the latest time that I usually get out there for my morning quiet time. So there have actually been a couple of mornings that, even bundled up in flannel PJ’s with a warm sweater and my cozy wrap blanket, it was too cold to enjoy my quiet time outside.

I do not “do cold” very well, although if the sun is shining I can certainly handle it better than if the weather is also gray and miserable or raining. I spent the first twenty five years of my life in London, England before moving to live in Italy. After experiencing warm weather and sunshine for most of the year for many years I have not tolerated cold or gray very well since then.

My experience has also been that warmth and sunshine affects the population and the whole culture and way of life of said population. The English are well know for their “stiff upper lip” and their reservation of character, which can often be taken as a form of stand offishness. They tend to keep themselves to themselves and this tends to lead other nationalities to think of them as “unfriendly”.

Travelling on the London underground train service or in the characteristic red double-deck buses of London City, you will meet a sea of stony faces and solid silence. When I lived and worked there I would definitely feel dismal and gray inside my soul by the end of the working week. I had to put a lot of energy into getting back into my up beat mode over the weekend. In another posting I will share a poem that I wrote about this when I lived in London back in the early eighties.

But, get on a train or a bus in Italy and there is animation, the noise of many conversations and much gesticulating and laughter. In fact, you will usually be drawn into whatever conversation is going on next to you as people turn round to include you. I guess that would be a good way of describing life in Italy – inclusive. People want you in their lives and they want to be part of your life too.

And then in Italy there is so much colour. People dress colourfully and with great pizzazz. People talk colourfully, with their hands and facial expressions as well as with their voices. Houses are colourful, especially in the south or on the many islands dotted along the long coastline of this peninsula country. It is not abnormal to find many shades of green, blue, pink, ochre, and yellow along the street and in “parco’s” (what we would refer to as sub-divisions here in America). And on top of everything the sun shines – a lot:-). It is very easy to stay happy and up beat in such a climate and environment.

So, back to days of cold here in Florida. I have been somewhat house-closeted and have not been able to spend much time outside in my lanai. And this has affected my ability to write, to let the Muse have her way with me. I did go to my computer a couple of times with the intention of writing, but being stuck in doors gets me feeling stuck in my heart and head and the words just would not flow.

Even though it is somewhat grey today (we have even had a little rain), the thermometer is registering 66F degrees and I can comfortably sit outside. I am once again surrounded by God-given nature and I breath real fresh air. It’s almost as though the oxygen releases my thought processes and I feel the ideas begin to run around in my head. Heating and air conditioned air just block my creative juices. I am grateful for warmer weather that allows the Muse to come out and play.

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Reading Or Writing: It’s Still About Words

Margo — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:51:16 +0000

Well, I’m sitting here looking at my lap-top and wondering just what am I going to write about. Maybe that’s the wrong comment. I’m pretty sure I know what I’m going to write about – my absence from writing since 20 October. I’m just not sure how I’m going to go about it or exactly what will appear on the page.

I can at least share what I have been doing in the last ten days: reading. I have devoured at least twelve books in that period. Every spare moment has been spent reading. Every meal and every bathroom visit has been accompanied by the book du jour. I have done essential housework and kept appointments, and I have read. My husband has been away for the last week so I have been able to indulge my little addiction with no guilt whatsoever. I have avoided going out unless I had to, and I have avoided any other activities inside or outside the home that I might normally engage in.

With one exception: gardening. Somehow or other the garden manages to break through all barriers within me. And now is the great time of weeding and clearing, pruning certain plants and attempting to dig out the root systems of those pesky crab grasses and vines that seem to take over every nook and cranny during the summer months. Pansies have finally appeared in the garden centers and I have brought many flats home to brighten up the winter flower beds.

Perhaps the reading marathon is akin to squirrels collecting and hoarding their nuts for winter provisions. Right now is nature’s time to pull back and curl up and hibernate a little. And so I move into autumnal mode, make my hot herbal teas, and curl up with adventures created by other authors. I was thinking a little earlier on today that maybe I am tired of my own words and need to fill my head and my heart with the words of other writers.

There was a moment somewhere in these last ten days when I wondered if I was in one of my “funks” (read de-pression). But I have not felt that awful slide downwards, nor have my days been gray. Tears have not plagued me and so I decided not to fight it and just accepted that I needed to read rather than write. I have not felt frustrated at not writing, and I was still surrounded by words!

I have discovered Rosamunde Pilcher who writes about families and their incredibly rich relationships. She has a way of unfolding their stories on the written page that invites the reader into their lives in such an intimate fashion. Her characters are so real that I feel as though I could invite them into my own life and they would fit. And along with Rosamunde I have been reading Belva Plain whose style I find to be simply elegant and elegantly simple.

Then, too, I came across Robert B. Parker. I love a good detective or suspense story and he manages to combine those two aspects in the best possible way. His dialogues are composed of short phrases, sometimes pure monosyllables or just one or two word sentences. But they are so succinct, so totally perfect, and his humor is dry yet delectable as a nutty, crisp cracker (must appeal to the Brit in me!). The plots move along at a fast pace and keep the reader involved from start to finish. His series of books with PI Spenser as the central character is terrific and well worth the read.

And here I am writing again. There was one other thought process that I have entertained about my not writing. It reminded me a little of what happens when I make up my mind to get back into exercising or to make a specific change in my diet. Either something comes up (a sickness or an arthritic flare up) that keeps me from doing the exercise, or I get a “chocolate attack” and there goes the healthy eating. So either “he-who-shall-not-be-named” is getting at me, or I fall into a big hole of self-sabotage.

But I have managed to reach a point in my life where I can accept most situations as they unfold. “What is, is” says my dear friend Tish. And so I read obsessively for a couple of weeks – no big deal. It has brought me great joy. It is wonderful to love myself enough that I do not need to beat myself up. Bottom line is I was enriching my vocabulary and feeding my heart and soul.

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Poetry: Awakening to the World

Margo — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:54:21 +0000

These are some poems that I wrote as I became aware of the world around me. They were written during the period 1979 – 1981. There were many things changing in my life at that time, the most important being an emerging of my heart and soul from a very dark place. Up until that moment in time I had lived a very selfish, egotistical life and noticed very little outside my own personal desires.

As things changed, it was as though a heavy mist slowly rolled back and I was able to see that I was not the only being on the planet earth. I began to see the beauty and, sometimes, the exquisite simplicity of nature. I awakened also to the glory of man-made art: beautifully constructed buildings, paintings, sculpture, and much more. The poems represent a small part of that awakening.

Madrid At Sunrise

Soft, grey shadows on the far horizon

Leaning against the golden pink glow of sunrise.

And as I watch, she is slowly denuded

Of her vaporous dawn haze,

Revealed in all her proud morning glory,

Waking to yet another day.

Madrid, 1979

Daffodils On My Desk (for Doreen)

Papers piled around you

Haphazardly strewn across the desk;

An empty coffee cup brown stained

Sits beside large files.

Typewriters clack noisily

Churning out an endless stream of words.

Grey clouds fill the window

Which looks out onto other windows.

Yet you bright beauties

Fill an otherwise tedious day

With a splash of brilliant yellow

As bright as any shining sun,

Your trumpets raised in glorious salute

Heralding in the coming summer.

London, 1980

The Bridge At Night

A fragile string of yellow lights

That spans the silver bay below,

Twinkling at its own reflection

Mirrored in the water’s flow.

Italy, 1981

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Spiritual Growth: My Quiet Time

Margo — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:21:57 +0000

My quiet time in the morning is totally sacred to me. I come out into my screened room with my books of reflective thoughts and I sit with God. This is the most important part of my day. It helps to set the tone of my heart, soul, and mind and prepares me for the day ahead.

When I am in my screened room I am surrounded by nature. There is my garden, which I tend to in the best fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants fashion, with its green grass and beds full of bright nodding flowers. The old WalMart gazebo wrought-iron frame sits over the central flower bed with hanging wind chimes and colorful hummingbird feeders as well as Confederate Jasmine and Trumpet Vine climbing up each corner post. And a statue of Quan (Kuan) Yin, the Buddhist goddess of compassionate loving kindness nestles below at the base of a Magnolia shrub.

The large flower bed to the left is dedicated to many green plants and shrubs. A statue of St. Francis of Assisi peeks out from a widespread clump of tall Mexican Petunias. This bed also holds a beautiful Roserie de l’Hay, a rose bush that carries deep pink, almost purple blooms that my sister gave us because of the family name (Hay). There is also a small lemon tree that my son Marco gifted to us on a visit a few years ago.

The flower bed in the right hand corner of the garden has large prosperous Chinese Privets, a Cassis tree, and a Chaste tree. The highlight of this bed is a concrete circle that I have installed with a small bird bath in the centre. Surrounding the bird bath are many different shallow ceramic, pottery, and glass containers full of stones, crystals and shells from all over the world. Larger stones and small rocks stand freely between the containers. This is my way of bringing the world together in harmony.

Behind the back fence we are blessed with a small pine wood. This is a source of continuous delight for me. It is full of wild life. Squirrels play in the tree tops and we have an abundance of bird life: cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, blue birds, tit mice, mockingbirds, woodpeckers, kingbirds, wrens, vireos, warblers, sparrows, crows, and hawks. How can I not feel close to God in such surroundings? With such beauty all around me how can I not find inner peace and solace no matter what may be troubling my heart?

And so I come each morning to quiet my body and just sit still, to quiet my mind ridding it of all worldly pressures and stresses, and to quiet my heart and make any burden less important than God’s presence. If I can shake the noise of the world, the better I can hear God’s voice. If I can silence the busyness that the world creates for me then I stand a chance of creating an inner sanctuary where I find rest and restoration.

God is waiting for me to create this space so that He can enter in and bless me. It is In this silence, in this space of peace, that I can enter into intimacy with God and create and grow a wonderful relationship with Him. It is through this relationship that I can then bless all the other relationships in my life.

It has taken me many years to give this gift of quiet time to myself. For those of you who follow my writings you will remember “Sabbath With Georgina”. That is when and where I had my first real taste of “quiet time”. I have often struggled with the “demon voices” that told me “this is a waste of time”, “you need to get on with (whatever)”, “you have nothing to gain and life is passing you by”, “what’s the point? Who’s listening to you?”.

Today I allow nothing and no one to interfere with my precious quiet time. Whatever my first “outside” appointment of the day may be, I allow at least two hours prior to that for me and my God. This is how I feed my soul and develop my spiritual life. This is where I begin the joy that fills my day.

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Sacred Riding: My Harley Prayer Time

Margo — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:00:00 +0000

My husband and I own a Harley. We love our Harley. It’s a rich deep blue Ultra Classic that we bought almost two years ago. Prior to that we had a Sportster for ten years. I guess it would be more honest to say that Rich had a Sportster and I would ride it occasionally. But in late 2006, as he approached a major deployment starting in 2007, Rich decided to sell his beloved Sportster and order the Ultra Classic for when he returned.

We came to live in the States after being overseas for eighteen years and within eighteen months, we had become empty nesters. This gave us the opportunity to get out more on the bike. We began to explore Florida and it became obvious fairly soon to the both of us that our “sits bones” did not tolerate long rides. So we discussed the possibility of upgrading to a touring bike.

The deployment was the perfect opportunity for doing this. So Rich put the Sportster up for sale and banked the proceeds. He then saved all his sea pay for the seven and half months he was away and, within a few days of returning home at the end of August 2007, we rode to Gainesville to take possession of our new “toy”. Since then we have put just over 14,000 miles on it, and that’s in spite of Florida’s rainy summers!!

Today we took a wonderful ride. The weather was great: sunny, but not too much, and just a very short shower. Our original plan had been to ride down to St. Augustine, but things changed and we ended up riding to a new Harley dealer. We were on a “mission” to find me a new helmet!

Even though we have an intercom speaker system set up so that we can communicate as we ride, sitting on the back of the Harley has become another time that I find myself saying a lot of prayers. We start every ride with a prayer of gratitude for the blessings of the bike and they joy that we get from riding it and also asking for protection and safe riding. For me this just helps to set the tone, and before long I’m praising and thanking God for the wonders of this world.

There’s nothing like riding the back of a Harley to become fully appreciative of the beauty of nature. Feeling the wind in my face and the sun on my back makes me aware of how much I love being outside. The scenery that we pass always brings me such a sense of gratitude for this amazing earth that God created. And pretty soon I’m in such a state of gratitude that my soul is singing.

As the miles go by friends and family come to mind and it’s just a natural progression for me to start asking God to bless and protect them. Sometimes there are specific requests that need to be made for people who I know are going through tough times. My children always get special mention, especially my daughter. And from there I go to world needs, and so prayers for peace and environmental respect get added to the list.

The ride today was a great success. We found a great helmet; black with a slight underlying sparkle and an outrageously gorgeous deep purple flame pattern all over!! (I’m happy!) We had a very interesting Indian lunch (I LOVE Indian food!) over in the Baymeadows area. On the way home we encountered just a short shower which was really quite refreshing. Most importantly we arrived home safely, which is always blessing in and of itself. And once again I had the opportunity to have some Harley prayer time.

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Poetry: Sharing My Love of Sardinia

Margo — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:22:29 +0000

I lived from early 1969 to late 1978 on the island of Sardinia which is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Sardinia is a very unique and beautiful place with glorious white beaches, incredibly clear, translucent, turquoise waters, moonscape mountains, and low lying rocks of multi-colored hues.

The Sardinian people have been influenced culturally and through blood lines by the Moors and the Spaniards. They can be very open and friendly just as they can be closed and very taciturn. Sardinians are …… Sardinians! They do not consider themselves to be Italian. Their dialects, of which there are several, are said to be a language of their own and most Italians from the mainland cannot understand them.

For almost ten years I lived among them. To this day I have friends there who would open their door to me in a heartbeat. For ten years I shared the “island life” and Sardinia put her own special hold on my heart. I returned to live in England in 1978 and two years later, as I sat among the concrete buildings of London’s City district during a lunch hour, these words came to me.

Island Voices

The voices of my island softly call me,

Whispering on the welcome spring-time breeze,

My heart responds so eager to their summons:

Come hither little one across the seas.

My eye half close and slowly she emerges,

This wondrous jewel that glitters in my heart.

No man can craft another in her beauty,

That God and Nature made a work of art.

And though she lies the distance of an ocean,

Her voices still arrive on spring-time’s breeze.

Persistently they call me to her bosom:

Come hither little one across the seas.

Margo Hay, 1980

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Musings: Feeling Blessed

Margo — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:21:21 +0000

As I sat in my screened room this morning enjoying my quiet time with God, I felt so profoundly moved that a few tears rolled down my cheeks. I was suddenly struck by just how blessed I am in life. It’s not that I wasn’t already aware of this fact, but this morning, in that particular moment, it just smacked me right between the eyes, hit me in the solar plexus, took my breathe away.

I am truly blessed beyond belief as I acknowledge just the basics of my life. As far as I am aware I have good health. I also have medical coverage that allows me to take care of any health issues that may arise. I have a roof over my head, food on the table, and clothes to put on my body. I also have enough money to pay for these things and to cover the bills. Except for my mortgage, I have no debts. There are more people in the world who do not have all these things than who do have them. That makes me incredibly blessed.

But let me go beyond the basics and look at the other blessings in my life. The very fact that I am typing this means that I have been educated and can read and write. That I am typing this on a computer is another huge blessing. As I look around the “roof that is over my head” I recognize that I have many other-than-basic things that help to make my home comfortable and beautiful. And in the driveway there are two vehicles and my husband’s beloved Harley is in the garage. I feel so blessed.

The more I thought about the blessings in my life, the more I felt blessed. I am fortunate enough to have many friends. And when I say friends I mean the kind of people who truly care about me. People who would drop everything and come and sit with me in a crisis. Couples, singles – both male and female – who would come hold my hand or my heart if I was hurting badly either physically or emotionally. People who love to spend time with me, eating a good meal or going to the movies, or just sitting sharing from the heart.

I have a freedom to believe in the God of my understanding and to worship that God in whatever church I choose – or not. I am nurtured and fed by sharing my faith with many of the friends I mentioned previously, either through ritual at church or in less formal ways as I also develop my spirituality outside the confines of a church. What a blessing that is!

As I continued to sit there, a hummingbird flew into my yard and dazzled me with his amazing flying and hovering capabilities. He shone like a bright jewel in the morning sunlight. Alongside him bees were buzzing from bloom to bloom drinking their fill of nectar. Lizards darted along the back fence, stopping from time to time to puff out their pink necks in aggression or attraction, depending on whether the other lizard was male or female. Cardinals and Blue Jays flew amongst the pine trees behind the fence while several iridescent dragonflies flew lazy rectangles around the yard. And my heart was filled with joy and gratitude at the magnitude of blessings that fill my life.

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Musings: A Day Off – Sort Of!

Margo — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:48:27 +0000

Today I didn’t have to be anywhere. I had no appointments with anyone, nothing specific I had to do. Days like today are few and far between. Days like today are a gift, yet even as I draw a huge sigh of relief there is a part of me that dreads them.

The day slowly unfolds as I sit surrounded by nature and enjoy my morning quiet time and breakfast in the screen room. It is wonderful not to have any pressure to pick up the pace, get showered and ready, and be out the door. And yet I am vaguely aware of a sense of apprehension as the empty space of hours stretches in front of me.

Perhaps it is the Ying and Yang of me, that part of my personality that sits happily in contradiction with itself. I want to be free of any claims on my time and, at the same time, I need some form of structure to keep me going. When I am blessed with a day like today I usually find one of two things happening.

I will either start “meandering” from one room to another, never quite sure why I am there. Then something will catch my eye and I will be drawn to be involved. A short time later I will be reminded of something that needs to be done, or I will remember something that I wanted to do, and off I go to do it. However, on the way there, something else will catch my attention and I will be distracted into that activity. At the end of such a day I usually feel as though I have accomplished nothing even though I have been busy and on the go all day long!

Or I will feel quite guilty about the fact that I “have nothing to do” (that’s a joke in and of itself!!). I will think of my husband who “goes to work everyday”, as though the fact that I don’t have an outside job means I don’t do anything! This is old thinking and fortunately doesn’t plague me too often these days. But, the fact of the matter is that I then subconsciously start “organizing” myself and setting goals to accomplish by the end of the day (read, by the time my husband gets home!). And, bang, there goes my lovely “day for myself.

Today I determined was going to be different. I didn’t have a plan, although I kind of expected to spend a fair amount of time in the garden. I took my breakfast things from the patio to the kitchen half expecting to see something “catch my eye” on the way there. I didn’t notice anything in particular tugging at me, but as I put things away I had a clear thought: the craft room.

This is one of my special places to be, where I feed my artistic Muse by making cards. It has been “messy and disordered” (and therefore uninviting) since Christmas, and this state of affairs was not helped by a minor change in the layout of the computer room that my husband and I made a week ago, that involved removing a desk from the craft room. And so in that moment I decided that my gift to myself today would be to return my craft room to the inviting place that it should be.

It has been a great day. I cleared out a lot of boxes and made room for the new. I organized my work areas so that I actually had the space to work. By the end of the day not only did I feel like sitting down to make some cards, but I had also unearthed some memories. In fact, this piece of writing was originally titled “Musings: Sabbath with Georgina”. But I guess my mind had to do a little bit of “meandering” this evening, and I will write the Sabbath story tomorrow – maybe. This has truly been a day for me.

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