More Rainy Day Woes

I like the rain. I can't help it. There's something about the sound of rain against the window that comforts me. Maybe it just reminds me of rainy days at camp. Precious moments of wrapping ourselves around a coffee table and playing cards, the smell of fresh coffee percolating on the stove, the sound of laughter that made light the game of war.

We listened to James Taylor on the radio player and burned wood to keep us warm when the nights turned cold on the mountain. We told stories, toasted marshmallows and traded secrets in exchange for a few more minutes of conversation before sleep found us zipped up tight in our sleeping bags praying that the camp mice might decide to stay outside.

I miss those days... I miss that life. It would be nice not to worry so much. To take each moment as it comes. To still believe that there's something better to be found in the dawn of morning's light. To believe that there's still time to take our time...

Singing the Storm

My spirit is being tested in the way a storm challenges all that grows, against the rain and the river it becomes, against the wind and the damage that blows through. Thunder is nothing save for noise. A rumble that races across a sky and bellows its atomic blast for all to hear. It demands your attention like a child in a fit, like a dog on a leash that's learned to snarl. Hear me, it says. But lightning has no need to listen and little tolerance for such school girl games. She answers him in silence, precise in her own exacting way. Truth will not be ignored. Greed will not go unpunished. But life will go on...

My Cottage Garden In the Making

My latest excuse for not writing... My yard.

More commanly referred to as Stacey's cottage garden endeavor. And I'm doing it all alone. No fancy tools save my shovel, my rake and my own two hands to pull leaves, move rocks, mulch beds, and convince the plants I've purchased to do nothing but grow, grow, grow...

Every morning I wake up to this view and to the sound of a small rushing creek bed that sits down the bank and out of site at the back of my yard. And it makes me happy. Every new plant, every new bud, every new day when I add something new or build a bed out a little bigger than it was before.

I see in my head the beautiful place this will someday be...

New Template Design Choices

Dear Blogger,

Fantastic new templates after I don't know how many years of needing someone with the know how to update them. Huzzah!

Now if you could just figure out how to make my logo just a wee bit smaller life would indeed be perfect.

Love,
Me

Tiny Little Flashes of Something That Might Pass As Brilliance Eventually

I was thinking last night as I was attempting to shut my mind off and go to bed that I don't do random. Random is not in my nature and while my life sometimes can become a little chaotic, that chaos is always controllable.

I'm far from being an everything has a place and should be in it's place kind of girl but I am structured. I rarely deviate from my norm and when I do it's usually a tell tale sign that something somewhere has gone beyond the level of what I can handle well or I'm trying my best to please someone other than myself.

Sometimes you have to hear yourself say something aloud before you understand it's significance. For me it came when I was typing a reply to a friend who asked a question regarding friendship and the disillusionment that can sometimes come with it. Along with the answers I provided her with I wrote this,

"Some people have opinions... I have beliefs. And let's face it, beliefs trump opinions any day."

I had to sit back for a second when I read again what I had wrote. Not that I was surprised mind you - I've always been blessed to rarely ever be at a loss for words at any given time or place. Still hearing myself say it really sunk it in.

When you're young you tend to believe that you have to fight to be who you are. Now that I'm thirty-five I've come to learn that the lesson is just to always be exactly who you are.

My beliefs are non-negotiable. They do not change.

Gardenscapes

When I first moved into my house last October my backyard was a mess of overgrown this, out of control that, and a whole lot of weeds. Since then I've planned, plotted, dug, buried, mulched and mowed my way to something much better than before.

This also provides me with a stellar excuse as to why this blog is boring. Perhaps you could say that up until now, I've kept my green gardening thumb from ruling the roost on what I write. But tonight I just can't help myself and after spending my entire three day weekend working my tail off, I only felt it fair to post the fruits of my labor. Of course there is still much more to do and this is only one half of a yard that is completely underway but for now it's one heck of a start...