Garden Sanctuary

It can get cold at night as we are so close to the ocean. The fire is mesmerizing

they are aggressive but so beautiful

This week I have been dealing with my father’s death.  For those of you who follow my other blog www.HealingJourneyBlog.com, you know that I had a very abusive relationship with both my parents.  I created this blog to celebrate the joy, happiness and vibrancy of life after healing.  My father’s death in a way was both a closure and a new beginning.

Some of my favorite flowers

I walked away from my family after my mother died.  Her funeral was a free-for-all, and her betrayal, fed by my sister, sent me into a tailspin that took years to recover from.  However, I know I have recovered from it, when I see how short the mourning period was for my father.  2 days.  Yep, 2 days.  I don’t have pain from his death.  Now, this is not to say that grief might not sneak up behind me in an unguarded moment and swamp me, but I already know that it’s not going to hit me like my mother’s death.

My beloved Ernie

I have realized that I wasn’t only grieving my mother’s death and betrayal when it happened 17 years ago.  I was grieving over betrayal, a final admission of abuse and abandonment, anger issues and losing my family.  It was not a pretty time for me, but I have to say going through this process has made my life much lighter.  It is easier for me to laugh, easier for me to be the authentic Susy I was never allowed to be.

These violets are from my parents’ house in Woodland Hills from 1976. They are older than that, that’s just when we moved in.

So what does all this have to do with Garden Sanctuaries?  Well, it has everything to do with them.

This is right when we got Molly and her leg was broken and pinned. She has recovered completely

My father was a farmer originally, and to him a garden had one purpose, and one purpose only.  Food production.  Not that we needed it…the man had two Mercedes in the driveway at a time when you could either buy a Mercedes or a house for $15,000.  No, what he liked was control.  So we grew vegetables and fruits, and only he was allowed to pick them.  For many years the sight of a brussel sprout would send me running.  They were always huge and overgrown and pithy.  I didn’t know brussel sprouts actually tasted good until a few years ago!

I am always finding brightly colored caterpillars in the yard. This one ate my entire parsley plant in 2 days. I don’t mind. It grew back, and it nourished him.

Well, the lovely thing about being an adult and being free of family grief is you make choices for yourself.

So my garden is filled with what I want — lovely, ‘useless’ flowers.  Lots and lots of flowers and color everywhere.  Flowers for bouquets. Flowers and plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies.  I love hummingbirds, but I have learned that they are very aggressive, territorial little buggers.  They’ve even dive-bombed me when I’m refilling their feeders.  I know, really?  Oh well.  They add color, movement and sound to the garden.  There are tons of house finches and goldfinches fighting over their feeders.  I have a waterfall that provides lovely background sound as well. We lounge in my favorite type of backyard chair—Aiderondacks with foot stools—while we watch flames in our firepit and drink wine on a summer evening.

Ernie and I call these flowers “Alice Tromerias”

I have created a small space out of time where I can be completely relaxed, joyous.  I only work in my garden when I want to.  I pick flowers as I want to.  My garden is a riot of color.  Ernie calls it California Cottage.

Maggie loves to lie down in the cool of my flowers. These are in the front, and I am happy to let her lay there.

Ernie has built me a small raised bed garden, and I have grown zuchinni, green beans, carrots, cukes and radishes.  I have onion sets started.

When we first got LeeLee she loved to explore the garden. She doesn’t move so well nowadays but still loves to lay out

It’s still too early to sit outside at night, but every day we are gaining a minute of daylight, and I can’t wait.  But in the meantime, as my garden slumbers in a California winter (rain), I have the memories of flowers and I can go outside and see the promise of flowers.  Soon there will be freesias with their heady, heavy honey scent.  It’s all green now, but soon it will be colorful, like the life I have chosen to create.

LeeLee loves to soak up the sun on the warm cement…and you can see my flamingos in the background

Savoring Life

One blog that I follow is by Rob Shepard.  I am in love with nature photography, and he has a great way of simply explaining how to use the camera, and what he was thinking when he created the shots he did.  Normally it is about photography and that’s it, but today his blog post is about savoring the photographic experience, and how people who are able to savor the moment are found to be happier and less depressed.

He talks about actually being involved with what you are going to photograph.  I know exactly what he is talking about.  For too long I was a slave to my camera and whether or not I was going to get the ‘right’ photo.  I would snap hundreds of photos on my vacation….and then would actually live my vacation when I got home, during the photo edit time.  And that can lead to some great photos…but I missed living in the experience.  My experience was the narrow confines of the viewfinder.

I spent about 20 minutes trying to get the ‘best shot’ of this moonrise…and then stopped myself and said, look, you got the photo, now LIVE the experience.

In the past I would have just stopped out of the car, snapped away with the camera, and not actually watched the zebras interacting with the cattle.  I have been coming to Cambria for over 25 years, and have only once before seen one of the zebras from the Hearst Castle herd.  And that was only 1 zebra along the road.  Here they were on Route 1, and I just stood and watched them watching us.  It was an amazing experience, and I would have ‘missed’ it if I was only taking photos and not taking time to savor.

My friend’s son had me try some of his (I thought) mango sherbet.  However, it was laced with banana, one of my least-favorite flavors in the world! So I ducked into this candy shop because they had a sign saying “Free samples” and I needed a new flavor to counter the banana.  In the past I would have just focussed on the patterns of the taffy barrels.  This time I went around and looked at the flavors, and took my time deciding what I was going to sample. (a spoon of dark chocolate gelato). I can still smell the candy.

 Before I learned to slow down and savor experiences, I would have rushed by all of this in the hunt for the next photo.  Instead I was able to stand and really enjoy the majesty that is our natural world.

One of my 2013 goals is to watch a Chinese New Year Dragon Dance.  So….in the past I would have worried about getting an awesome photo of the dragon.  This time I’m just going to experience the show.  Will I get photos later? Of course.  But will I now have both the photos and the experience? Yes.

What I have learned to do is savor the moment, the experience.  In fact, there are times that I will tell my husband “I’m not bringing my camera with me” on whatever jaunt we are going on.  Will I possibly miss “The Picture”?  Possibly.  But will I instead live in the NOW, and fully absorb and appreciate the experience?  Yes.

So I challenge you to go out and savor whatever it is about life that you enjoy.  Don’t just rush through your experiences.  Dally.  Dither. Linger.  Live.

Now, whether or not you are into photography, this is a good blog post to read.

http://www.natureandphotography.com/?p=1333

Balboa Park Sunday

One of the best things about living in San Diego is Balboa Park, the nation’s largest urban park.  This past Sunday I went there to see the Natural History Museum’s exhibition ‘The Horse.”  Since I’ve been horse-mad since I was about 8, I was looking forward to this.  Plus one of my favorite photographers Robert Vavra was part of the exhibition, so I was pretty eager.  It was a nice exhibit, but I think it was a little small.  But there were some really fun highlights that I’ll share.

 Here’s how you come into the exhibit, which oddly enough was in the bowels of the building in the basement.

 This amazing driftwood sculpture really conveyed the essence of one of the most beautiful animals on the planet.  I will never cease to be amazed that an artist can take disparate pieces of driftwood and create such a realistic portrayal of an animal.  This is by artist Deborah Butterfield and is based on her beloved horse Isabelle. Hover over her name and you can see a great video of her creating these wonderful pieces.

I learned that one of my favorite things to do, ride the carousel, has its beginnings in warfare of all things! Carousel comes from Spanish and the Italian garosello, which means “Little War”.  Apparently players rode suspended wooden horses and played warfare games — the beginnings of the carousel. Who knew???

Well, I was at the museum, so I had to check out the fossils.  I have to admit I still love the LA Museum of Natural History —- all those huge, dark halls.  It’s enormous.  Here in SD we have Allosaurus Fragilis.  He’s not very big but I wouldn’t want him chasing after me. I’m just saying….

Then off to the beautiful botanical garden.  This is taken facing away from it.  It was a lovely day in San Diego, January, sunny and cool but only scarf and sweatshirt cold.

I love the architecture in Balboa Park.

There are always the buskers and hustlers selling….I mean offering for donations….all sorts of fun things. This young woman hula hooped and jumped rope on a balance ball.  I cannot do either well, so bless her. Meanwhile her partner played “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite” by the Beatles.  And right next to her was…

Beware you might be going to Hell.  They are always out here.

Hey, it’s a free country.  In the same area you had a bride adjusting her gown for photos while two young girls roller skated by rather wobbily.  They reminded me of me on skates.

No visit to Balboa Park would be complete without a stop to Spanish Village, and in this case one of my all-time favorite glass artists MadArt Studio.  They have the most amazing, beautifully colored hand-blown glass…and it’s at a fraction of normal gallery costs! I know, as I’ve seen them all over the country in my travels! You can buy them directly from the artists for about 50-75% less than any retail store.  Only caveat—-they don’t take American Express. Or Visa or MasterCard for that matter.  They are strictly CASH and checks, if you can believe that in this day and age.  But their art is so affordable.  Those small square vases go for about $45.00. Not bad for original art, and you are supporting a local small business person.  Can it get any better?

I hope you enjoyed Balboa Park Sunday as much as I did.  Until next time, go out and enjoy life on your terms! Look for small details, intimately observed.

Easy Dog Sweater

This weekend I learned how to knit a dog sweater.  It was an inadvertent project, brought on by my friend Tony’s request for a dog sweater after I made him a scarf for Christmas.  The last sweater I made was with my mother’s help and was over 30 years ago, so needless to say I was a little nervous.  But then I thought what the heck, what’s the worst that’s going to happen? It’s either going to be too big or small, or guy-whompas, and I can unravel it and start again.

That’s one of the best things about recovering from abuse…you learn that it’s okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to laugh at yourself, it’s okay to try again until you figure it out.  There’s a lot of freedom from that.

So I searched the internet until I found the easiest possible dog sweater.  Here’s the link to it: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80933AD.html

You might need to sign up to get the pattern, but if you are looking for something quick (one night!) it’s a winner.  It’s not fancy but it’s cute.

I didn’t have bulky yarn and I read on other sites to use wool yarn as it dries better if it gets wet, so what I substituted was 2 strands of worsted weight wool.  With the garter stitch it is a very stretchy and forgiving sweater.

I have to laugh at myself though, and so did my husband.  I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to stitch it together, so at first there was no opening for the dog’s head! LMAO! I figured it out and if you need help on that just comment on this blog post.

I’m going to make another one for Molly-Dog.  She’s wearing the smallest size, and she’s about 11 pounds, but I think I’m making it in the one size higher because my gauge was slightly off and I’m quite frankly too lazy to figure it out on this project.

Here’s a side view.  Molly is always afraid I am about to steal her soul when I photograph her so she always looks away.

Resolutions and Regret….or How I learned to have fun trying new things

Bill Gates said it well: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.  Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.”

I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions many years ago.  They seemed to be the same thing every time: Exercise every day, eat less, lose weight, climb Mt Kilimanjaro, write The Great American Novel, win the Nobel Peace Prize.  I always started out with good intentions on January 1 but by January 30th (at the latest!) I had shelved them or had justified why I wasn’t doing them.  So resolutions always made me depressed….especially at December 31st when I realized I hadn’t done what my lofty resolutions asked of me.

So my new perspective is to learn something new every year and move my life forward incrementally.

Last year I tried out for Roller Derby.  If my ‘resolution’ had been to become the best roller derby skater ever (which in the past it would have been) I would have been ashamed and embarrassed come December 31st.  But that wasn’t my goal.  My goal was to try something new, to stretch myself, and to see if Roller Derby was going to be my new passion.  What I learned is that I don’t like to be hit and I don’t like to hit others….but I LOVE to roller skate. So I learned something new about myself, I overcame fears, and I accomplished something —- I learned that I like to watch roller derby, but not compete in it.

In the past that would have led to regret, which I discuss in my blog post http://healingjourneyblog.com/2012/12/31/regret-or-gratitude-its-your-choice/

But I have learned that if I list 10 things that I want to learn or do in the coming year, I have a lot more fun with my life, and at the end of the year I can look back and say “Wow! Look what I learned to do! Look at how I stretched myself this year!” And my New Year’s Eve is a lot more fun.

So what were my goals for 2012?

1. Swim with Leopard Sharks in La Jolla
2. Try out for Roller Derby
3. Learn how to Tap Dance
4. Travel somewhere new
5. Get a Fish-Eye lens and make mistakes while learning how to use it
6. Learn how to crochet a Granny Square
7. Try Boogie Boarding
8. Write my book

So how did I do?

Well, I went snorkelling with my friends in La Jolla to see the Leopard sharks….glad I did it, will never do it again without a full wetsuit.  I now know why people  die quickly of hypothermia in the Pacific Ocean.  Holy mother of God! I have never been in water that cold.

I tried out for Roller Derby, decided on a Derby Name “Random Sue-Kosis” since I’m nuts.. & decided as I said before, I don’t like to get hit or hit others.

One new thing I tried that I didn’t thing I would was white-water rafting in Bend. Fun, Fun, Fun!

I took a tap dance class, and learned that even ‘beginning’ classes include intermediate dancers, so it was too fast paced for me.  Plus my sciatica kicked in. So what I did instead was buy a Bonnie Franklin tap dance DVD and set up the garage.  I am still learning, will keep you updated :0)

Travel somewhere new—-went to Big Sur with Ernie.  Magical.

Got a fish-eye lens adapter ($50) instead of a lens ($400) and had fun. Spent a weekend in San Fransisco and took photos only with the fish eye lens.  It was a lot of fun and I got some very fun photos.

My friend Carol Matteson taught me how to crochet a Granny Square.  Don’t know if I’ll make any afghans, but I now know how to do it.

I tried boogie boarding in Florida in January — it’s much harder than it looks.  Will try again at some point.

Wrote the book? Not exactly, but I hired a coach and started the process.

So, I didn’t climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, or win the Nobel Peace Prize or a Pulitzer.  But I had a lot of fun trying out new things and learning more about myself and my world.

Palm Springs Birthday

One of the nicest things for me about healing from abuse is the freedom I have to live life according to my terms.  I can now make choices that make me happy, without worrying how other people are going to look at me or think about me.  I have the freedom to live life as I want to.

So, rather than getting morose and cranky about my birthday, which falls 3 days after Christmas and gets lost every year in the hustle and bustle of the season, I now have the permission to celebrate my day as I wish, and any birthday wishes that arrive are a bonus.  This year I decided I wanted to go to Palm Springs and take my littlest dog Molly with me.  Ernie and I are planning a 3 week camping trip next year, and we want to see how she travels and if we want the added responsiblity and also the added fun.  We always cut our camping trips short because we are missing our dogs, so we are hoping that having one with us will mitigate those longings.

 Molly performed like a champ; she LOVES to travel! I don’t care how cold it is outside, she wants her head out the window, smelling everything.  She was in doggie heaven.

As you enter Palm Springs you are greeted by a wind farms.  I remember when I first came to PS in the 80’s they were an oddity, and only dotted the far mountains.  Now they are a forest, and to give you an idea of scale, that is a double-decker cargo train at the bottom.  I think they are very cool and one day will take a ‘wind farm’ tour.

Palm Springs is ‘Mid Century Modern” and “Movie Colony” mad.  All things mid-century modern are the mantra around here. So, this time I wanted to take a tour of the famous homes, especially Bob Hope’s house.  Problem is, even though it’s on the map the visitor’s center sells you, you can’t get to it.  There is high end security and not-so-nice security guards stopping you, with signs threatening prosecution and prison.  Nice.  In this photo, his is the house on the very top left, under the white cloud.  Great huh?

 So here’s a postcard I bought to send to my bud Robbo, so you can see what the house is.  I guess it was built in the 1960’s at a then-insane cost of $5 Million.  Well, the man owned all of the San Fernando Valley so I guess that was chump change for him.

 We then went to find Frank Sinatra’s house (behind a high fence) and some other local houses.  Very disappointing… However, my favorite word is “Serendipity” and I have learned from my healing that when something you want doesn’t turn out, you shouldn’t dwell on it, and instead look for the positive.  And here’s the positive! As we were driving away from the Sinatra Gate, I spotted a flash of color, and Ernie looped back around to find it.  And what a find!  This person owns 4 acres —- a city block — and has this cacophonous, delightful found-art statue garden in his house! His neighbors apparently hate it, but hey, there’s no HOA and it’s the Freedom of Speech thing we’ve happily got going on in the USA.  I LOVED IT! He took all kinds of junk, put it together, and made art out of it.  Is that the ultimate reuse-repurpose or what! :0)

Here’s the reindeer….computer monitors, tvs, guitars….so very funky cool.

 Normally when Ernie and I vacation we sightsee all day, then are too tired to stay out at night.  This time we slept in, chilled, and after window shopping we enjoyed the nights in Palm Springs.  We also went to the Thursday Market, where you can find anything from Kitch to high-end merchandise…and of course Brats, Kettle Corn and funnel cakes.  What’s not to love?

I bought this very cool yarn called “ICE Salsa” and made myself a fun scarf while Ernie watched TV in the room.  These are all the rage and I had made a few for friends but hadn’t found a yarn that I liked until then.

Here’s a closer view. Fun fun fun!

Back to Molly, the dog of the hour.  We were able to walk only a few feet at a time because everyone wanted to pet her, gush over her….we even had a guy come up to us and say he lost a dog that looked JUST LIKE her….as if we had stolen her or something? We told him we got her in San Diego, so it probably wasn’t his dog.  Plus we know she was turned in by her owners at the shelter because she got hit by a car.  Just bizarre though.  He followed us for a bit and then this woman stopped us and said ‘I heard what that man said about it might be his dog…”  Get real.

However, she is the cutest little thing, so I guess I can understand him wanting to claim her.

I leave you with one last view of the sculpture garden giant.  I had a lovely birthday and I enjoyed sharing it with you.

Mozart Kugel and sweet childhood memories

My mother went to Paris and went to cooking school, and specialized in desserts.  Her apple strudel, walnut crescents, homemade apple pie were insanely delicous.  She couldn’t cook an entree to save her life, but her desserts were divine.

 These are what homemade Mozart Kugel look like.  And I’m going to explain how to make them.  But first, a little background on childhood versus adulthood, and choices.

My father bought my mother wanuts, almonds, Bakers semi-sweet chocolate squares….and she and I would sit there and crack each and every nut, and pull the meat out of them.  This took DAYS, and much pain as nut shells are not easy to open, and if you crack them incorrectly they can cut you.  Very labor-intensive.

 Nowadays, I don’t do that anymore.  I buy them already shelled, at the local Costco, in bulk.  I buy a bag of walnuts, a bag of almonds (not shown), Baker’s chocolate and some sort of chocolate frosting.  Much easier, less daunting of a task. :0)

So how do you make these? Well, first you blanch the almonds.  A large Costco-sized bag will make about 6 dozen of these cookies, more if you make the center small.  More on that in a little bit.  So, you blanch the almonds.  You put them in a pot of boiling water and wait a few minutes until the skin gets wrinkly, kind of like what your hands look like when you’ve been in the water too long.  You then drain them, run them under a little cold water and then the fun begins…popping them out of the loosened skin.  This is time consuming.  If you can find blanched almonds already and don’t mind the cost, go for it!  Then you need to dry the almonds; I give it a day or so, on cookie sheets, shaking them every so often so they dry evenly.

Get your food processor ready!  For the almonds and walnuts I use the blade attachment; for the chocolate squares I use this grater-attachment.  I’m sure there’s a technical name for it but I’mnot a cook.

So here are the ground almonds.

You then cook the almonds with an equal amount of sugar.  Told you these were sugar-coma inducing.  My mother used to have a scale that she used and actually did equal weights of almonds and sugar, but I find equal parts is sufficient.  You add just enough water to get the ingredients to cook and not burn, and create a thick paste.  I always add too much water so end up letting it sit and steam off the water for a while.  You need to create a paste that you can put between your hands and roll into little balls.

 So they end up looking like this.  The larger the ball, the larger the cookie.  Let them dry, again for a few days, at room temperature.  Quite frankly I’ve left them for a week sometimes because let’s face it, the holidays are crazy and other things get in the way.

 Now comes assembly.  I take chocolate frosting, and thin it with a little water so it is easier to roll the ball in.  In this picture, not enough water!  It’s got to be thick enough to stick but not thin enough so it can’t hold the final ingredients.

Here’s the final step.  You transfer the ball from the frosting mix to the semi-sweet Baker’s chocolate/walnut mix.  Let me back track here.  You grind the walnuts (less than 1/2 package) and mix them the with shredded Baker’s chocolate.  A word of caution—you can kill your food processor trying to get the chocolate ground down.  Again, if you can find it pre-ground and will pay the price for it, go for it!

Roll the ball around in the mixture.  Here’s where if you thinned the frosting out too much you will have trouble, as this coating will not stick to the ball.

 Finished product.  I give these to very good friends only, never hand them out as mass offerings; they are too much work.  But they are DELICIOUS!

This is a great childhood memory for me.  My mother was never happier than when she was cooking desserts, and when I was old enough and she would let me help her, it was one of the few times in her company that I felt safe, loved, and happy.  I got to talk to her, listen to her stories, spend one-on-one time with her that I never got any other time with her.  Yes, there were a lot of bad times…but there were also very sweet times, as well.

December Nights Balboa Park

Winter can be a hard time of year for me as for many people; the early darkness where I look at the clock and think it must be 9 pm and it’s only 6 pm; the long winter nights, the way my garden slumbers in a uniform green instead of the bright splashes of summer color.  It’s a time for hibernation, for planning, for cocooning inside your home. Sometimes it feels like it can last forever.  But….then there are the Christmas lights! The festivals! A reason to go outside in the cold winter and actually use a scarf, hat and gloves in sunny San Diego!

Last night I had the opportunity to go to December Nights in Balboa Park, an event attended by more than 100,000 people. Now, normally that would stop me in my tracks before I even got started, but one of the great things about Balboa Park is its size; it’s huge, enccompassing 1200 acres right in the middle of a bustling city. So there’s plenty of room to spread out.

I love the vignettes that local artists set up around the park; the unusual use of color and ornament combinations.

 I love the use of blue lights with a white background on this; in the dark it looked as if it the lights were twinkling on snow.  This reminded me more of a winter landscape than a holiday landscape.  This is what I mean by the magical use of color in a dark winters night.

Here’s also what I mean; the glow of thousands of tiny lights shows up like a beacon of hope and community and a safe harbor in the inky darkness of a December night. Balboa Park comes alive with lights, carolers, the sound of buskers hawking their wares at the food and product booths.  This is in Spanish Village, and in the background were the sweet, ethereal notes of a hammered dulcimer providing a magical soundtrack to the square. Just an FYI if you are looking for amazing unique holiday gifts, you need to check out MadArt studios in Spanish Village . They only take cash or checks (I know!) but their glasswork is amazing, and we have seen their art all across the USA costing 2-3x as much! Plus you are supporting local artists. They are very reasonably priced for museum-quality art glass, and their work is a burst of joyous color.

 Balboa Park is blessed with fantastic architecture.  Grand buildings in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, which is a richly ornamented mixture of  Spanish and Latin American influences.  The buildings are beautiful during the daylight hours, but lit up at night they take on an almost old-world feeling, again in the middle of a modern American city.  During December Nights you can go to any museum for free from 5-9…which can mean extraordinarily long lines.  Ernie and I were planning to go see The Horse exhibit at the Natural History Museum, but the lines wound around the building, and we decided that we would come by during the week when the rest of the world was at work and we could slip out.  So instead we went to the Air and Space museum, where Ernie, an aviation afficianado, was my tour guide through the history of flight, from The Wright brother’s first flight through WWI and WWII, the Spruce Goose and the Space Program.

There were music programs of every style, from young Morman men singing Christmas carols outside the Botanical building, choirs backed up by the amazing Spreckels outdoor pipeOrgan to Cajon Zydeco to Gangman Style. Quite the eclectic mix.  Ernie and I sat and listened to Cajun Zydeco and Jazz while enjoying a Karl Strauss IPA and deep fried green beans with ranch dressing inside the Prado square.  It was really a magical evening.

Overall a lovely night, and one I would highly recommend, despite the crowds.

Small Details Intimately Observed

I have thoroughly enjoyed blogging on www.HealingJourneyBlog.com and look forward to continuing the discussion about health, healing, overcoming abuse and addiction, exploring new options in health care and healing modalities, and helping others to grow.  There is still much to be said and I look forward to continuing with you on that healing warrior aspect of the journey.

But there are many times when my blog posts would just be about living life to the fullest, the quirky way I see things on my travels, funny things my pets do, great new restaurants and things to do that I have discovered and how this equals happiness in general…and they don’t seem to fit anywhere on that blog.

So this blog is going to be about a favorite Ernest Hemingway quote of mine: “If a writer stops observing he is finished.  Experience is communicated by small details intimately observed.” 

This blog will be about photos and the sometimes quirky way I see life.  It’s going to be about who I am now that I am (mostly) recovered from abuse and my food addictions.  It’s going to be about finding beauty in small, everyday things.  People I have the pleasure to know, who may not be famous but who make the world a more beautiful, interesting place.  New places I explore, and new discoveries in my own backyard.

Here are a few of my favorite things to give you a flavor of this additional journey we can take together.

Molly came to us in 2010 just after my WLSurgery and has enchanted me ever since

I love butterflies, called ‘flutterlings’ in German, and take many photos of them

I love the ocean and to be near it is one of life’s greatest pleasures

This dew covered spiderweb was in my front yard one morning. I was late to a meeting because I had to run back into the house to get my camera.

Maggie came to me in 2006 after my beloved Penelope dog died and came to me in a dream, telling me not to be sad anymore, she was sending me a little black dog to comfort me. 6 weeks later and much resistance initially from me, and Maggie is my favorite fur-child

I love photos of random things

This is how Ernie and I travel the country and find new things for me to photograph and blog about

You will learn that I am an insane crafter. Enough said for now.

LeeLee is my grumpy bitch who doesn’t share well with others. She is my Limpet who follows me everywhere, and I mean everywhere

We house sat Baxter and he came to stay. He is a dog cat and likes to go on walks with me and the dogs

This is my BFF since the 4th grade Robin Wagner.

A taste of one of my favorite places in the world, my backyard garden

This is my best friend Ernie who I am blessed to have been married to since 1995

Gemini the 20 pound tomcat who is a lover not a fighter, anymore

I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I anticipate enjoying sharing it with you.

Hello world!

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