ROAD TRIP!!

The highway has missed me. I can feel its longing for my car's tires. That longing calls to me in my sleep and during my busy, exhausting days.

The poor lonely highway even sends me mental images of those long straight stretches of open road laid across the ranchland south of here. Those images haunt my days and nights too. Wide open road with only a car or two for company... cup of steaming fragrant Earl Grey tea in my hand... box of cookies on the seat beside me... stuffed monkey Monk poked into the space in my steering wheel. Monk is my traveling companion.

So I found an excuse, and am preparing to embark on another long road trip! Two days of driving blissfully across prairies, past mesas and buttes, past herds of camouflaged antelopes, singing to the radio, enjoying the peace, soaking up the sunlight. I'm headed to Sedona Arizona to join with my sister to celebrate my brother's half-century of life.

This time I'll have a human traveling companion too. I suspect she won't be much like my husband when it comes to traveling habits. He loves to drive and get there fast, without stopping spontaneously to enjoy random sights and mysteries along the way. We haven't discussed this aspect, but I'm sure our drive will involve more fun than just driving. (Not sure if I'm allowed to mention names, so my companion shall remain nameless for the moment.)

I am SO EXCITED about this adventure! The confinement of constant work can be wearing. Lack of work can be just as wearing, but in a different way. I am grateful that people want what I have to offer, and benefit from it, are appreciative, and pay me. But I am SO EXCITED about laughing, resting, swimming, hiking, and eating things that are bad for me because I don't have to be in top shape for any clients the next day!

My batteries need recharging, and they're about to get it.
See you all in a week! It's time for this willow to get wandering again!!!!!!
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Hope Smothered In Reality

Damp, heavy snowflakes the size of silver dollars fell between the raindrops yesterday and landed on my bright new pink tulips.

Hope, covered with a dose of reality.

My Mom is undergoing chemotherapy during these few months. After a lifetime of a strong, healthy constitution, an aggressive cancer suddenly struck. She is 80 years old. Even after three doses of chemo, she still feels good. No nausea. Her hair is gone, but she has a little fringe at the front, so when she wears her pink ball cap, it looks like she still has some hair. She and her pink cap drive around town, doing volunteer work and visiting friends. The wake-up-call of cancer reminded her to love everything, enjoy everything, be glad about everything, and to say so to her loved ones. She had to put off taking a cruise with some friends, but plans to take a cruise after the chemo is done.

I struggle to balance my elation over her steadfast health, with the fact that it is, after all, cancer. Our family has always had a silly joke about the number 81 being a bad number somehow, so I really want her to be 81 years old. I want the chance to harrass Mom about being 81, as we were able to do for a whole year with Dad. And then I want her to be even older and even healthier, for as long as she wants to be.

Hope, coated with a dose of reality.

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Miss Popularity

I've been DISCOVERED.

I've been doing the work I do for years, decades actually. Holistic energy healing is the general category of my work. In the last few years, it has gotten to be much more accurate and helpful than previously.

Suddenly, in 2007, everybody took notice. All my clients are referring me to their friends and relatives, who then refer me to their other friends. I'm so booked, I barely have a moment to do anything other than work or related paperwork, or planning for classes that I'm giving.

I love what I do! That's the good part. It's amazing to get paid for doing something that feels like a privilege to do. This is just an adjustment period, as I juggle like crazy.

My apologies for not blogging more, at least to explain my sudden absence. I'll be back soon!

with love to all,
The Wandering Willow

Garden Visitors

Six young does visited our garden yesterday, in search of scarce winter greenery. They didn't find much, but it was plenty for these hungry girls. They are mule deer yearlings. 

Our Christmas Fireside

I like this photo of our living room fireplace, minus a fire, at Christmastime. 

Heartbeat of Home

Down between the polished wood floorboards
in the dank sweetness of moist ageless earth
My heart beats the rhythm of my chosen home.

I stood one August on the grassy slope by the apple tree
stared at the staccato mountain peaks looming over the roof
and claimed this piece of the world to be mine for awhile

Mine, shared with the teeming life under and above the grass that grew wild
My home, among dandelions, squirrels, skunks, junipers, apples, plums and birds
I staked my claim and began to build my world
Here.

At first we felt like outsiders
Arranging, exploring, planning
Working, returning tired to unfamiliarity
Waiting for "home" to arrive

Seven years of breathing have changed the air in the house
Breathing my breath onto the woodwork, garden paths and paint on the walls
Breathing in the breath of trees, cat, dog, bunnies, husband, grandsons
Breathing out my dreams and desires
Breathing in their gradual fulfillment

Dented, worn dining table remembers family feasts of thanks-giving
Quiet meals of mourning
Candles spilling wax in glowing darkness
Art projects dripping glue, and that little gouge mark
Gatherings of bright-eyed friends birthing plans onto paper
Annual drying of a dismayed cat after her bath
And always newspaper mornings with tea

I light a fire, straighten my favorite painting, sweep the walk again
I no longer notice the click-hum of the furnace
Backyard graves of furry beloveds nourish the new spring growth
Fox and deer know my routines as I know theirs

The earth knows my heartbeat, here in my chosen home.

Snow Bunnies

What do rabbits do in the snow? Not this zero-degree ice, mind you, but the lovely fluffy snow we had a week or two ago. What do bunnies do in the snow? They romp, scamper, dig, lick, leap, twirl and invent mid-air acrobatic moves to express their delight. With their fur coats and thick fur slippers, cold only stimulates their systems in a happy way. For evidence, check out these photos of Ziggy (white with black-brown-gray) and Sandy (sandy) enjoying every second of their snow day.