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birds

God’s Creation: Minnesota

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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

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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!    

Musings: Endings And Beginnings

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 bucksSmile.

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 timeSad smile

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.          

Spiritual Growth: The Two Sides Of Life

It is Sunday morning and I am sitting in my lanai.  I relished a short lie-in this morning after our trip home yesterday afternoon, unpacking and sorting out clothes and getting them washed and put away. It is good to be home in familiar surroundings.  We had a great week in Orlando and it was good to be away from the usual routines.  But it’s always lovely to come home.

It is a gorgeous day.  Another one of those sparkling “Princess Di” days.  The sun is shining brilliantly from a clear blue sky and there is a slight breeze sighing through the pine trees out back.  Everything is gently moving and I can see all the individual needles on the pine trees fluttering in the breeze and shimmering in the sunlight.

I sit back in my chair and breathe in the soft, warm air.  Yes, it’s warm here in sunny Florida at the end of NovemberSmile, although I hear that temperatures are going to dip down later on this week.  In the meantime, I am enjoying this “Indian summer” and feel very happy and content.  In fact my heart is full joy right now as I look at the beauty that God has placed right here in my back yard.

I notice that the small brown birds, I believe they are sparrows, are back again as they pass through on their way to who-knows-where and they are clustering on the feeders.  There’s a flash of red as a colorful cardinal claims his place and the sparrows flutter away until he is done.  I can hear the squirrels barking in the trees as they playfully, or maybe not, fuss at each other. Mokka, our cat, sits in the sun, her tail slowly swishing as she thinks her cat-thoughts about the birds.

But even as I am aware of the joy that I feel I am also aware that there is sadness punching and poking at my heart.  It feels as though one ventricle is full of joy and the other is full of sadness.  My life is blessed in so many ways and I am truly grateful for that.  Yet I have a longing for a healed relationship with my sister who I miss so very much, and another longing for a happy, satisfying relationship with my daughter who I also miss very much.

And I am reminded of one of my favorite authors, Kahlil Gibran, who, when asked in his book The Prophet to speak about Joy and Sorrow, responds with these wise and wonderful words of wisdom:

“Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.”…………..

“Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?”……………

“When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”………..


”Together they come [Joy and Sorrow], and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.”

 

And so hangs the balance of all life.  One moment we are in joy, and the next we are in sorrow.  And sometimes we carry them together.  And I can only learn to surrender to what is, to accept the gift of my emotions no matter what they are.  As a character in the movie Shirley Valentine said, “If I can feel it means I am alive.”

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