Covid

 Covid. One little word that has changed the course of the world the last year. We've been forced to stay away from friends and family and live in semi-isolation. It's been so hard on so many people. I consider myself one of the fortunate. 

I've used the time to work on my house. My husband and I have laughed together, watched movies, created gourmet meals and eaten them by candle light. 

And now we have the vaccine. For me, this represents light at the end of the tunnel. For many it seems to mean we're out of the woods. But we're not. There is still a lot of tree cover we have to move through.

National Zoo Lovers Day

 

Spring is in the Air

 Spring is truly in the air, but winter has not completely given in. We are working on renovating both the front yard and the backyard. We got a new roof in December and had the house painted this last week. It feels amazing in a season of rebirth, to be making things fresh and beautiful around me. 

Our backyard looked like this: 

Appreciate Yourself

 As I continue on the Simple Abundance Journey, I am learning to appreciate myself. I am discovering my authentic self and understanding what makes me who I am. 

Each of us come from different places. We've all had different life experiences and no one responds the same to any situation. As we travel through life, things happen. Things change us. Life is the journey. On the journey we all take that side track from time to time. Sometimes the side track turns out to be the perfect direction to go - and sometimes not. When it's the latter we can be left feeling shamed, inadequate, humiliated, confused and guilty. And we respond to these feelings in a myriad of ways.

Good Morning!

 

My Sacred Space

My Simple Abundance (Sarah Ban Breathnach) journey discussed the need to have a sacred place. A place to go to meditate, to be quiet, to pray - a place to simply be. This place needs to speak to me. It needs to trigger all those feelings of peace and tranquility, away from electronics and distractions. Decorated with things that have meaning; things that sing to my heart.

But where?

My front porch. It's outdoors. Outdoors always feeds my soul. There are birds to sing to me and flowers to perfume the air. But it needed just a little work. 

Before - This is the view sitting in my rocking chair looking out. 

Surviving the Wild Winter

 I can't believe I haven't posted since January!! Here it is March. The last month has been a challenge for sure. The weather coupled with covid quarantine, coupled with no power.... 

I live in the upper Willamette Valley and we had one heck of an ice storm. Although destructive, it was also really beautiful. 

We were the lucky ones. We lost power for only four days. Some people lost power for more than two weeks! We also have a wood stove so we were able to cook and keep warm. We loaded the cooler with the ice from the freezer (the only time we opened it the whole time) and all the perishables from the refrigerator. Then we set the cooler outside the door on the deck, right on top of the layers of ice. We love only a little food - again we were fortunate. 

And then the clean up.