the dream catcher

Sweet Olivia

remembering the stories of fairies we shared...the kind little girls believe in...the kind i told her i believed in...we became fast friends. forever. the physical world is more hollow with out your smile, your breathtaking face, your girlie secrets and childlike giggle, your charm and intelligence beyond years, your understanding of GOD, which always left us speechless.
your beautiful soul- energy vibrates all around me- everyday.
francie-b paws at your presence even still.
oh how i miss you sweet olivia.
with love, such love,
always, my angel...linda

remembering cody dawg

there is something wonderful about the way animals can both give and receive love freely.
i must admit over the course of my life i have become less open, perhaps less generous, and i know i have my doubts about unconditional love.
i have become guarded with my expressions of self, love and what i hope for from life.
i feel somewhat weary of people, wondering what it is that keeps them beside me or sends them running.

but animals show me the best view of openness, play, generosity, and true relaxation.
in particular a few fine dogs have provided me ample illustrations of unconditional love.
they wag their tails when their happy, they sleep when tired, they play when they meet other dogs and delight in the attention and affection we give them.
no wondering, no language, no long explanations. they seem to be able to say exactly what they need in the most direct ways possible.
i hope to learn as much before i die.
in all regards, cody was one fine animal. smart, gentle, playful, loving and relaxed.
she showed patience towards wrilgley's rambutios puppy nature and her never-ending energy.

wrigley had a fine mentor.

it is never easy to say goodbye to a living being. pets are no exception. cody left us in the nite and i hope she finds her little paws in a better place. a friend promises me there is a dawg paradise!
for me, i will keep the memory of her spirit nestled deep in my heart - helping to remind me to stay open, be patient, play often, sleep hard and remember that unconditional love is possible.

wrigley will miss her. the boys; josh, trevor, & bob will miss her. lisa and marty will miss her. i will miss her.
we loved that codydawg.

linda

too long gone for a pause

lately my life has felt very complicated with changes. shifts are making me really stretch my comfort zone.
when life gets to feeling this uncomfortable and stresses me out, i have to learn to refocus my attention onto the smaller details in life- just to help me keep my perspective.
i have decided these days are meant to be just about turning my focus to the details around me.
or to recall the things that my mind captured at moments i remembered taking a long pause of amazement.
these are just a few...

the color of plates embued with the warm glow of the passing of day into evening, making them appear almost jewel like in their saturated palatte.

or perhaps the texture of paint as it has aged. peeling, tearing and turning itself away from the surface it has so long been attached too. creating in it's speration, a new image, a map of the time it has seen.

or the dancing of shadows on the wall that play a little with time and space.

or the feel of a cloud passing overhead that brings you a pause, makes to lean way back and wonder what color will come next.

i wonder what gives other people their pause.
linda

sitting in "spings" sunlight!

just when you think the cold will never leave, snow won't stop falling,
or delays in airports refuse to subside.
that between non-stop planning, travel and work overload...
from sanfrancisco to seattle, back to chicago in bewtween both, adding a quick day turn-around to washington dc arriving home...finally, fully fatigued at 1:30am this morning...
i decided i had time to pay attention!

spring decided to arrive while i was a bit too busy to enjoy it, mark it, or celebrate the arrival with any measure of delight.
but it came.
and today, the golden light, reminded me why i needed to hold-out a few more weeks for real warmth to arrive. for unfurling of flowers, for easter, for light coats and open toed shoes...and sooo much more.

today my calendar marked a few well deserved days off to do nothing.
too pay attention to the light.
to take some time to lounge on the sofa in the sun, taking turns with wrigley of course. go for a few long walks in the woods behind the house,
and plan for nothing.

what a perfect way to wallow in "springness."
welcome it however you can.
enjoy.
linda

what happened to the month?

such a strange feeling when you lose track of time.

i just looked at the calendar and it finally struck me with a combined sense of angst, urgency, and shock- that we are once again at the end of a month.
just what happened to those 30 days in this new year?
have I gotten all that i wanted to start penned into my date books,
written into journals?
my wistful projects ready to dream into existence on my wish list?

no time to waste…i have to get to it.
stop the ride I’m on for a short pause to reflect on what it is that I want the new year to hold for myself. look at what I hope the days ahead will show themselves to be, long before december 31.
i’m not one of those resolution gals, preferring instead to create a “wish book, a dream list, a things to shoot for tally" of sorts- to project my hopes into.
only in this calendar glance at january 30, 2007...did it occur to me that I might have started that a bit to late.

so the list will begin…to be posted tomorrow.

1. remember to breath

yes, this always seems a good place to start.

linda

happy blissful 2007!

one of my favorite things to do on a weekend is taking long hikes with wrigley in the woods near my house.
this conservation area has loads of winding paths.
offers the occasional glimpse of deer nestled in the deep grasses and swampy bogs.
cardinals and blue jays unobstructed by leaves now in the monochromatic winter setting.
but what i take away from our visits is this...
it appears that i have the perfect companion during those walks, in my ten month old female golden-named wrigley.

i know this, because she finds complete amazement, energy, spontaneity and pleasure in the simple act of walking (running is probably more accurate) in the natural setting.
in fact, i know she finds it just as enjoyable to be there as i do, and probably even more so.
perhaps the only difference is that i don't come home with my belly covered in path mud.

okay, then there's the fact that i don't proudly carry, drop, sniff...and recapture oversized mossy sticks...pertruding from my mouth thoughout the hike.
nor to i return home pocessing the pungent smell, found when wet wooly hair, becomes saturated from a good cold splash in the ponds along the way.
(although, based on her reactions, to anyone of the descriptions i just recreated...i have been temped to join her on a forage or two just for the pure delight she exhibits.)

however, tempting as that sounds...i think i'll resolve to be content to do just the walking and leave the mud to her!

so, besides the mud, sticks and wet fur, what we do share when we return home is the happy, tired and ready for a nap bliss-fix from nature.

wishing everyone the joy found in simple blissful moments and someone to share them, even if it's the dawg!

happy new bliss-fix year.

from wrigley and linda

just a few days left of 2006

the count down has begun in pairs...towards the end of 2006 and the arrival of 2007.

what will we have to say of this year behind us?

i have celebrated and struggled with a good many things in the sixth year of this new millenium, yet my hope will be that i gather strength, wisdom and joy to fill the bags i carry with me into the next approaching year.

i am partial to the symbolism we surround ourselves with during christmas and like the passing of the year from one to the next, am equally melancholy at the taking down of the tree, putting away the tidings of the seasons, packing the old away.
while simultaneously, readying myself for the new arrivals that time, my imagination and God will provide for me in 2007.

so here's to enjoying the reflection upon the old year, the glow of the tree before it comes down and the time we have had, good and bad.

time, is afterall, not such a trivial thing. nor can it stand still for us.
there were lessons for me to learn (many i fear i will repeat).
but what the heck, it can't be all smooth sailing, or i/we'd get bored way too quickly.
storms which freighten and test us, even the dead calms that keep us fixed in one place for contemplation, they all make it interesting for us on the sea of life.
they keep us readying ourselves for the unknown.

i respect that unknown in life - though at times i fight it - like the gail winds crashing into a small boat.
never certain of what exactly is the right manuver to keep the boat upright...when perhaps in fact, i am suppose to be swimming.

so...acknowledge the unknown...yes, it comes dressed as a new year ahead...

embrace it, respect it or fight it, all of them will be required of us at some point.
but, hold onto hope and reach for what you want from this world...becasue time is also too short.

make it count too.
embrace them when you need. float when you must.

readying myself for the arrival of the New Year in all her glory, by the glow of my christmas tree.

happy and woeful days of 2006...farewell.

linda