The last Tuesday in August...

I know...I know.... it's looking like the only photos I can find today are the ones...

OF WATER LINES BEING PUT IN MY FRONT YARD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Am I giddy with the thought of doing laundry at home again? Oh, yeah.
Am I especially blessed thinking of being able to wash dishes in nothing flat? Uh, huh.
Am I delirious just contemplating shampooing my carpets???? I certainly am !
Am I dreaming of shampooing my dogs?? hmmm....they sure need it!

Tonight I will no doubt dream of the lovely sound of flushing toilets....


Miss Molly McGee has managed to hurt her back leg again. I'm not sure if she got herself into a tussel with another dog (not likely) or has jumped down into one of the water trenches and bruised it. I can't find anything stuck in her paw. There don't seem to be any broken bones. But she's walking around (and running!) on 3 legs and so something has obviously happened. She's such a little adventuress that it could have been anything, anywhere.

I got the juice made today (Cleanup is a nightmare!). I filled all the hummingbird feeders. I swept the front porch and walls down. Did a tiny bit of gardening and spent a short amount of time reading as supper cooked. I made a vegetarian dish tonight with quinoa, carrots, red beans, garlic, onions, okra, green beans and peppers. It was quite tasty, if I do say so myself. Trying to get back on the track of eating more and more vegetarian meals. Purposeful eating.


Blessings abound today. Stayed home all day and tomorrow will be a different story. Need to stop and see my sister, pick up some stuff for husband, and pick up a few groceries. I'll go to the 8PM meeting I've been attending. It's a good evening mtg for me to go to, since about 4-5 of my sponslings always go to that one. We have a lot of fun. I want to get out in the studio and make a thank you card for the woman in the class that hosted the potluck last week, too. It'll make for a busy day. I also have a sponsling who had surgery that I need to try to see. Sigh...just not enough hours in the day sometimes...

I've started reading the Stephen King book that my friend sent, Dumas Key. It's good so far....only about 70 pages into it.

Life's a dance...when you know the Steps.



Namaste.

Monday is the One day...

The beautiful pipe organ at the St. Louis cathedral in New Orleans...
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I was thinking today of how blessed I am that I finally got to New Orleans. AND that I beat Katrina there. We were on our way back from Texas/Mexico in February of 2005 and took a day trip through on our way back to North Carolina. We rode one of the horse and carriage tours and that was alot of fun. We walked through parts of the French Quarter, and I remember thinking that I was kinda glad I never made it here at Mardis Gras. lol It was one of those mecca things that all drunks talk about doing, and I talked with the best of them, but never actually made it there. I would have either died there, or moved there. lol

Just finished cleaning up the kitchen. Lunch is made, his breakfast is made, and I am ready to put my feet up. I made a supper of pork steaks with red potatoes and steamed asparagus. Simple, but filling. I'm reading a mystery/thriller (Secret Prey) by John Sandford, and spent a lot today with my feet up and a glass of iced Earl Grey tea. As I am finishing up the book (about 2/3 of the way through it), I am thinking I've read it before. Doesn't matter- it's good and I'll probably finish it tonight. Then I'll be starting Duma Key by Stephen King. Sent to me by a friend,though I'm not a big voracious King reader, everything of his I have read I have enjoyed. Not sure why I don't read him more....curious.

I sat out in the yard this afternoon and thought about all the reasons I'm grateful to be living in this little ramshackle place with no running water. I looked at the flowers and the trees, and felt the clean cool breeze on my face. I listened for road noise, and there wasn't any. I listened for birdsong, and there was lots. My big wind chime (a birthday gift from one of my dearest friends) which is tuned to the key of D was playing a beautifully haunting melody in the front part of the house, and the sounds of it carried around the corners and over the roof of the house, and spilled over into the treetops. The chickens were scratching in the dirt and cluck-cluck-clucking softly. It was a symphony pulled together by the leaves of the trees gently playing their own percussion, tickled by the breeze. I thought about people who have never lived anywhere but cities and in apartments. Who would never know the love song that plays out here. Who had no idea what they were missing. lol

And then I was reminded of a song by Sweet Honey In The Rock, about "There were no mirrors in my nana's house...." and it talks about the sounds and smells of city/apartment life. And how..." the beauty of everything...was in her eyes...." It is one of the most beautiful songs by some of the most beautiful women I have ever known. If you aren't familiar with them, a great place to start is their cd Still On The Journey. Their music is almost all a capella, accompanied by some hand claps and such. Absolutely Amazing.

So I guess really, it's all relative. Whether you live in the city or the country, in Africa or America...in a tenement or a mobile home or a farmhouse. Beauty lies within us. We only have to look within, and the journey will be short.

I am grateful to have a grateful heart. I am blessed to be blessed.

I am grateful to have a spirit which sometimes sings.


Namaste.

Suddenly Saturday

This is one of the places we took the oldest grandson to pan for gold,when he came to visit for 2 weeks in North Carolina.
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How blessed am I ???

Let me count the ways...

1. Sober as a judge today.
2. Happy, Joyous and free.
3. Not regretting my past.
4. Living out in God's country, in the peace and quiet.
5. Grateful as all get out, for almost everything.
6. I have a house full of happy pets that love me unconditionally.
7. I am married to a kind, sober man.
8. Not to mention handsome!
9. And smart!
10. I have enough food to eat.
11. I have a roof over my head.
12. I have satellite connection for my computer.
13. I'm getting water...SOON! Like, next week, maybe!
14. I have a Higher Power that loves me and wants the best for me.
15. I have friends who love me, warts and all.
16. I have a peace in my heart that I have never known before.
17. I have a spirit inside me that sometimes sings!
18. I am blessed with family and with more love than I can possibly need.
19. I can make a list like this, and it makes me feel better.
20. I can go to sleep tonight, knowing I've lived my best, loved my best, and be ready to do it all over again tomorrow.

"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning." ~J.B. Priestly (1894-1984)

Namaste.

Thoroughly Thursday

One of the many beautiful waterfalls near Brevard, North Carolina....
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I was thinking today of how blessed I am to have had the life I have lived. I've lived around the country quite a bit, and met lots of really great people, and seen some of the most fantastic scenery a person could ever hope to witness.

I'm from the midwest farm country, here where I am back living again. The plains have a beauty all their own, the lush green and lots of trees. The skies are wide open and the air is clean. I grew up here with a good work ethic and a solid foundation for surviving whatever life decided to throw me. As a young person...I couldn't wait to get out! lol I live here across the river from St. Louis, in Illinois, in a place I like to call Corntown lol


I've lived in America's Dairyland, Wisconsin. When I was about 19 years old I lived for a year in Lake Geneva. It was gorgeous. A resort town and sweet and the famous Wrigley's moored their boats there. I met a beautiful soul named Gary Micheal, he nicknamed me Sunshine. It was a year of falling in love and getting my heart broken and growing up. My memories of it (and the people I met there) are all warm and fuzzy....


I lived in Denver, Colorado for a year or so... Rocky Mountain High. The summers were hot and the winters were cold and I loved it. I spent some time working in a place that housed teen aged runaways. I met a guy named David who was going to college to become a psychologist and we became great friends. I met a lot of very cool people from all over the country...in 1975, Denver was Mecca for a lot of us. I still have a lot of pictures from there and lots of great memories. A woman named Maya became my very good friend...she lost her husband in a work accident, he was electrocuted moving irrigation pipe one day. Good times and bad times...

I lived in California...first in a resort town called Clear Lake for about 6 years or more and then on up to the North Coast in Eureka/Arcata. I stayed for about 20 years. Northern California is maybe the most stunning place on earth. While there I got to see things like Yosemite and Cannery Row and Monterrey and Disneyland and San Francisco. I got to finish my drinking (finally!!) and get sober there. My heart is there. I would go back in a blink if I thought I could afford it these days. When I got settled in California...I was home. My whole being, right down to the cells, sighed in relief. There was Randy and Polly and Jake and Marcia. There was Carl and Katie and Nancy and Barbara. There were so many people...so many faces and lives that intercepted mine. All of us on a journey somewhere. So much love. So much life. I found my partner there. I found myself.

My job sent me to Portland, Oregon for a year to work. I missed California, but Oregon is nice too. I am not a city girl, and wasn't crazy about Portland. I did love the Columbia River Gorge, the Rose Gardens, and Powells--the biggest bookstore I have ever seen. I went up on Mt. Hood in the snow in July. THAT was pretty cool. I travelled to Astoria and on up to Seattle and did lots of sightseeing the short time I was there. I was ready to leave when it was time though.

I lived in Western North Carolina for 10 years after that, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was heavenly. I had a bit of a time trying to live in the South, but I was in love with the countryside. The mountains are sacred to me. I did lots of travelling those 10 years...everywhere from Key West in the south to the Allegheny Mountains in the north. I visited Gettysburgh, Savannah, the Poconos, Nashville, New Orleans, Texas, Mexico, the Florida Panhandle. I had friends across the border in Knoxville, Tennessee. I had friends on the Cherokee Reservation in the beautiful Maggie Valley. I felt a great spiritual impact on my life there. My fathers mother was a Cherokee, maybe that was part of the connection. I spent lots of time hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway, picking wild blueberries up there and taking pictures and just soaking it all in. I saw Carl Sandburg's home in Flat Rock, NC and spent a good amount of time on Table Rock. I fished in the French Broad River and watched the minor league baseball team play. I picked apples and grew organic gardens and went gold panning. It was good. I made so many good friends there...all moved there from somewhere else. Karen from NY. Dave and Jules from Florida. Marv and Joyce from Ohio. Jeff from Virginia. Debbie from Ohio. Kathleen from Colorado and K'Sitew from the Yukon.


And now I am back home. Older and greyer, maybe a little wiser. And full of the blessings of this sober life. I am on a little piece of ground that is my own, making lots of new friends in this land where I grew up as a kid. Sometimes it feels eerie being here again. Sometimes it feels just right. Back in this place where, in 1977, I swore I would never come back to. Back home.


Thomas Wolfe once wrote, "You can never go home again..." Maybe it's true. It's never the same. But in this part of the country there are lots of things that have remained unchanged, and the spirit finds its place...and settles back in, until time for the next great adventure.



Namaste.

Tuesdays Treat

Whaddaya think?? High Alert Guard Cats??
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Tonight was our potluck for the last class of the Sustainability classes....an early evening soiree at the home of the ballet teacher in the class. It was a lovely cozy little place with all kinds of exciting things to look at and I felt right at home there. She had a gazillion little icicle lights up in the yard, draped over branches and in between trees and across porches...it was really lovely. She has a stove that I covet...an old gas ring/ wood cookstove...one of the little ones that are so adorable. We had a great time, and as usual, the food was marvelous. We had fresh peach pie and hpomemade ice cream. We had ratatouille. There was a yellow squash, onion and parmesan cheese casserole that was to die for. A gorgeous veggie lasagna. 3 kinds of homemade bread, with herb butter, a pesto spread, and a spread made with garlic, feta cheese, and roasted red peppers. An orzo salad. A chicken salad. A tortellini pasta salad. And, of course, my green beans. We ate like royalty...and way too much!

We have decided the next class is to be Deep Ecology and will meet on Monday nights, starting September 14th.

It's been a long fruitful day. Tonight, I am, especially grateful for:

• Spending time with my baby sister. And helping her with stuff.
• Food, friends and fellowship.
• My own organic gardens.
• The love of puppies when you come home after being gone all day.
• Sponslings...of all sorts and places in sobriety.
• Watching the bottle of Lambrusco being passed at dinner...and NOT thinking "Wouldn't it be nice..."
• Knowing that Fred the Dog has a good home at last.
• Getting 3 good books for 50 cents apiece at Pappy's Market. Lawrence Block, Iris Johansen, and John Sandford.
• Knowing that tomorrow, I don't have to do a darn thing! Mostly.
• Having a blog and having a computer and having some rudimentary skills.
• Accidently having "locked" my cell phone in my back closet in my pants pocket...
• Knowing that if I do tomorrow what I did today...there's a really good chance I will stay sober.
• Being Happy, Joyous and Free.

Off to see the Sandman!!!!

Namaste.

What's in a Monday?

The storms have passed for today, I think. Leaving a trail of destruction, the whipping winds knocked limbs and branches off trees and scattered things around the yard. I was lucky to finish filling the 50+ gallons of spring water and pulling in the driveway this afternoon just as it was starting. My son was here earlier and said it is supposed to rain the next 4 days. wowsa.

• The world always feels so clean and fresh after the storms. I love that.
• Fred the dog has a new home. (See my other blog, akannie@wordpress) Yippee. Spread the love!
• Tomorrow I am lunching with my baby sister and then hitting a potluck for supper. WooHoo!! No cooking all day!!!!
• I am having a time with something, and a drink hasn't even entered my mind.
• I have been weepy all day, and the tears feel cleansing.
• I'm glad I know that This too Shall Pass.
• I'm grateful to have friends I can lean on sometimes.
• I'm blessed to be a pretty healthy old girl.
• Other people are living life on life's terms, and showing me how it's done.
• I'm obsessing over a follower on this blog who has removed their name. Can't figure out who it is...or why. lol
• I have NEVER been good at MYOB.
• My sister is coming in a couple of weeks. I haven't seen her in a while.
• I have a niece who is drinking like crazy, and I want to hit her upside the head.
• I haven't done it.
• But I want to.
• I read about a wonderful place near where I used to live in California. I want to go there.
  
• Just for today, I'm not running away.
• Just for today, it isn't necessary for me to drink away my problems.
• I'm especially blessed....and I need to remember that.

Namaste.

Small town Saturday...

A picture of Dr. Bob's Kitchen in Akron, Ohio.
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It's been a day of housecleaning, grandson coming to spend a couple of nights before school starts on Tuesday, and one of the local "homecomings" ...a small fair in a small town. They always have a fish fry, they always have carnival rides, and they always have a beer tent. Usually a local church will do the fish fry and food stands. They use this opportunity as a fundraiser for their church activities. There are usually hometown bands playing music over bad PA systems, drunken dancing, and bingo. They always have a parade, and the parade always has tractors and firetrucks in it. Some horses, a few floats, and the ever present politicians.

Today we took the little Prince to the fair in Prairietown (I kid you not). We had bad fish, he had a hotdog and fries and they were good. The fish was just not up to par this year. We had lemonades and we rode a couple of rides with him and we played a couple of the arcade games on the promenade. He won a picture of a kitten and a blow up ukelele, lol. You'd have thought he won the lottery. These things get chintztier every year.... Prairietown is a little farm town with a population of maybe 250-300. maybe. Scattered out around about 4 miles. The banner across the main street read: Prairietown World's Fair. lol

The we came home and made popcorn and watched the first Harry Potter movie. Got about 2/3 through it before both he and Pat were asleep. So, I turned it off and put everyone to bed. We'll finish it tomorrow....

Tomorrow will be a busy day, we have our usual meeting at 10, and the District Meeting at 2 and then off up the River Road to a friends house in Elsah for a bbq. I'm going to skip the morning meeting and stay home and get food ready to take to the bbq. Hubby will come home after the meeting and get us and we'll all go to the District Meeting and then pick up a woman and head up the road. I'm really feeling exhausted....and I need a break. Can't wait til Monday...lol. I love my grandson, but I have had a sponsee here for about 6 days (until Thursday evening), and then Tristan here. I really need some downtime...and then I think...winter will be here soon enough. And I'll be dying for things to do. So I will get through the next day or two with a smile, because I am blessed that he still (at 12 going on 13) wants to come stay with his old nana...it won't be long before he'll be too busy for old folks.

I am especially blessed to be sober today. This is one thing I know for sure.



Namaste.