Last summer I found myself escorted by heron....down the river and again, at the beach.
They watched me.
They followed me.
And as things always seem to go full circle, they led me.

Everything means something to me & I believed these majestic, primitive beings were a totem of sorts...

patience...followed by assertion
innate wisdoms...coupled with balance
self-reliance...and time management...

I remember watching them watching me...
I remember reflecting on my life...
ninety miles to nothing, running in circles & going no-where, appeasing this one and that one just to have a moment of peace, surviving but not quite living

So, I listened to my gut and I put on my boots of patience. I laid my head to the ground and I listened and when it was time to get up and dance, I danced... all by myself, alone... in my kitchen and in my living room and sometimes even in the bathroom and when my gut said 'sit this one out,' I sat. I watched and I waited and if anyone caught me watching them, as I had caught the heron watching me, I simply smiled.

When I left home two days ago, I stopped with two tires in the road & two on my brick pad. Under the shade of a great oak tree, filtering the sideways sun shining down on us, I saw the shadows of LoVe.
Climbing that tree... stretching up and reaching down, dipping into the crevices that only fairies and ants knew about. And down below, in the midst of icy cold dirt and dead leaves, a sprinkling of green and one simple word...Grow.

In the past two days I have been shocked, surprised and greatly honored with some of the greatest rewards life can give.
Hugs.
Lots of them.
Patting ones and rubbing ones, squeeze ones & nestling ones, ones coupled with kisses & ones coupled with tears.
My reward for believing.
I have been inundated with treats and drinks & heartfelt gifts.... unbelievable stuff.
Handmade Peruvian belts from forty years ago, baby azalea shrubs, pewter peace keepers, written words in the name of art and expression that moved my spirit...
and most importantly...
LoVe...pure, sweet, simple, accepting love.
I am such a lucky girl...

Barefoot Boots & Sandbar Bound...

Sister Sing and I sat on the phone to the wee hours of the night...
singing Love Songs to one another...
dreaming up the best barefoot beach boots a girl could own...
laughing until we had tears streaming down our cheeks...
making our little dreams into realities...

"some people want to fill the world with silly love songs..."

We agree.
Life is too short and...
Life is too long.

Yep, we totally agree.
We can't afford to do what we want...
but we can't afford not to.

Barefoot boots and festival dresses...
tambourines and sand dollars...
tan-lines and laugh-lines...

An island of ten days...
Escorted by the Heron...
Reminded by the Cardinal...
Gifted by the sand-dollar...
and the doves that lay inside

Peace & Love ... it is a sand-bar
and it waits there for me
for Kimbies and Sing...

Digging our toes right in...
Peace & Love...

Totems of the River, The Rocks, The Heart & the Great Heron

Fluid, moving & changing it course with time.
All together at once, yet completely distinct.
Life-giving. Life changing.

Looking down. Reflections of oneself. Reflections of the skies above.
Looking again, through clear green-tinted karma... life.
Elders, grand-fathers, heart-shaped rocks.

The Great Heron watches over me. Stares at me. Escorts me. Nothing I do goes unnoticed. So, I do nothing.

Floating in peace.

Following the Great Heron's lead, I watch, I wait...I listen.

Squirrels , badgers, beavers, chipmunks, birds of all colors and sizes....swooshing, scaling, dipping, climbing, digging. Chirping, clicking, calling.

River flies, moths, water skeeters, giant yellow butterflies and dragonflies of blue, green, white, red, purple & gray...flitting, floating, buzzing and humming.

Turtles ducking under the water & fish leaping out...
I just float along.
Watching.
Waiting.

I know that right now this is where I am supposed to be.
These are the waters I am supposed to travel through.
This that surrounds me now, grounds me.

Mother Nature tells me to have patience.
Father-Time tells me that when it's time to dive...dive right in.

The Great Heron plucks one well chosen fish from the natural farm at his feet & gives me a sideways glance. Time.
One, two, three, four, five dragonflies perch upon my leg, my toe, my knee, my elbow and my finger.
This is PEACE.
Lost and found in the eternity of now.
Watching.
Waiting.

When the time is right I paddle off to the side & perch myself upon some rocks, just as the Great Heron had perched himself atop fallen trees & the dragonflies had perched themselves upon me.
With a gazillion stone elders, 'grandfathers' as Spado once told me, at my feet...
and the biggest yellow butterfly I have ever seen on my shoulder...
I found them...
Watching...
Waiting...
Just Like Me...

Happy Independence Day & To All A Good Night

Time brings change...we all know that. As I sat on the shores of the Atlantic, Mother Nature displayed this beautifully for me, as evidenced by pics below...

Peace & Love People...Capture Each Moment For Whatever It May Be Worth