Pardon the Dust!

I've moved my blog over here from Typepad (nothing wrong with Typepad, just cutting costs ☺) so Pardon the Dust!

I don't have this all set up yet, so stay tuned - great posts and lots of information and inspiration is coming your way.  In the meantime, please stay around a while and read the archived posts!

Happy Sailing and make each day a Great one!

A Healing Crisis Day

Every so often I have a day where I just feel like crap.  Sometimes it's physical and emotional, sometimes it's emotional and spiritual, others it's all three.  I simply can't get out of bed in the morning, I mope around the house, I feel restless, can't get my butt out the door and could eat everything in sight.  I had a day like that yesterday...

It was a healing crisis day for me.  I've learned over the years to go with that flow and just be.  If I lay on the bed, I do so with all the laying on the bed gusto I can muster.  If I'm going to eat food that's not on my diet, I eat sparingly and make sure I savor every morsel, as much as a person in my state of mind can savor anything.  If I'm going to mope, it's going to be a darn good one.  I want to have as conscious a healing crisis as I can without trying to over-analyze it, deny any of it, or fight it.

As I pout and sit idly by, I take time to think about what's going on - what led up to this day - what initiated these "L" feelings - lost, listless and lethargic.  It's usually something that I'm learning to deal with in a new way or I'm pushing through an evolutionary process on some level and I just have to let it take its course.  I know the feelings won't last very long (if they did, I would definitely see my doc - it could be something serious) so I just stay with it as best I can, do a lot of deep breathing, and see what I can learn from it on as deep a level as possible. 

The next day I feel much better, clearer, more open and, sometimes, a little wiser.   And today I do feel much better and quite a bit wiser.  So I am grateful for days like yesterday even though when I'm in the soup, it's not a very fun place to be....

Poetry: To the Unknown...

The fire begins
small and unassuming.

I stand in the hall
and watch it flicker
in the back of the house,
white,
yellow,
bright,
hot,
smokeless.

It licks the walls,
growing slowly.

I enter my room
to pack -
things of importance
or so I think.

I grab them,
methodically, unthinking.
Grabbing, stuffing
with no purpose,
no meaning,
no priority.
There is no excitement,
no anxiety.
I just grab and stuff
as the fire grows.
There is time.
Grab, stuff, grab, stuff,
grab stuff.
Unthinking.

My senses are soon jolted.
With a great roar,
the fire breaks through.
And inferno engulfs
the back of the house.
Yet, it burns quietly,
steadily,
whiter,
brighter,
hotter.

I am cool.
I see clearly.
I know it is time.
I take only one bag,
a sea shell and some pocket change
in a small pink purse.
I speak out loud,
"Goodbye, all my lovely things"
to my books, my furniture,
my music, my treasures, my walls,
and calmly walk out,
down the brightly lit, cool, hot,
smokeless, fiery hall,
passing a thin stranger
dressed in wool,
who casually enters my room
and disappears.

The dog waits for me
patiently
on the landing.
Clutching my remnants,
I descend the stairs,
whistling for him to follow me out
to the unknown.
"C'mon, boy."

Mental Floss

Ok folks - we all know how important it is to keep our minds fresh and sharp.  Here's a great exercise I just found.

Go down the list of words and don't read the words - read the COLOR that the words are printed in.  Read it out loud and see how quickly you can read them all!  Have fun!

RED
YELLOW
GREEN
BLUE
RED
BLUE
YELLOW
GREEN

In Memory of Ernie the Cat

In Loving Memory of Ernie the Cat


Ernie the Cat went to Heaven on Friday, July 18, 2008 after a 3 month illness. He had congestive heart failure and respiratory problems, including asthma, and in his last two weeks he developed dementia. His passing was peaceful and painless.  My dad was with me as Ernie drifted away in my arms.  He is sadly missed by his owner, Brenda and his kitty brother, Bert.

Ernie was my Zen kitty - nothing seemed to faze him. He wasn't very fond of the camera so there aren't many pictures of him looking right at the camera. He was a most handsome kitty with the sweetest face. He didn't say much either, although in the past year he did start to say "Alright!" most all the time. He was a "chirper" - one thing I'll miss most is his little chirp he would utter when I touched him while he was sleeping or contemplating.

Ernie often took the back seat to Bert. He preferred to be the observer rather than the participator. When it came to hunting the occasional mouse in the house or the once in a while millipede or spider, Ernie pointed them out and helped track them down then allowed Bert to do the rest. He was the perfect "assist" kitty.

Ernie (and Bert) came to me in June 1994 and have shared my home since then - their presence has blessed me in so many ways.

Ernie was diagnosed with hyperatrophic cardiomyopathy when he was a kitten and they didn't expect him to have a very long life. He certainly fooled us all and for that I am eternally grateful!

Ernie loved getting massage and we both enjoyed his one-on-one time with me every evening. He liked to sit on my chest and lick my face - he purred and purred (he was a very easy purrer), and sometimes drooled, and got this totally dreamy look on his face that I will never forget.

Through a lot of major transitions in my life Ernie was always there by my side to comfort and provide comic relief when things were really tough. If I was sick or had surgery, Ernie and Bert would "tag team" and make sure that one of them was always in bed with me, looking after me in their sweet little kitty ways.

He loved his sun spot in my massage studio and was actually attuned to Reiki. He would often hang out in my studio when a client was getting bodywork and he became good friends with many of my clients.

Ernie enjoyed playing "monsters under the covers" with my toes when I was in bed and "chase the feathers" with the feather wand before bedtime.  He had his favorite squeaky mice and I would often hear him in the other room flipping them about while I was working in my office. 

Ernie rarely ate people food although once in a while he would enjoy some rice or spaghetti from my plate. He loved steamed kale and collard greens, especially when they had a little rice vinegar on them. He enjoyed people canned tuna, especially the juice. Besides water he enjoyed his daily saucer of Silk Soy creamer. But for the most part, his favorite food was canned kitty turkey with rice and also canned kitty tuna. He wasn't the neatest eater and after his meals he would sport a little food goatee that he always allowed me to wipe from his precious mouth.

During the last 5 years, he often spent his day time with me in my office, watching me work and often napping on my desk, in his special chair or on top of the file cabinet. He loved watching the birds at the feeders from the studio window. He enjoyed belly rubs and we would often fall asleep at night with him beside me, my hand rubbing his belly.  Once I was asleep he would get up to watch the deer in the back yard but when he heard me stir, he would dutifully run back to bed to cuddle with me.  What a boy!

Ernie is survived by his "mom" Brenda and his brother and littermate Bert as well his grandfather Joe and many friends who loved him. I'm sure he is running free in the fields of Heaven, breathing easy and having the time of his life with his kitty friends who passed before him. Run free, Ernie - and know you are always loved and sadly missed. One day we will all meet again on the Rainbow Bridge.

To view more pictures of my beloved Ernie, click here.

Tribute to John Henry

LEXINGTON, KY (October 8, 2007) John Henry, the legendary Thoroughbred racehorse who was twice Horse of the Year, was humanely euthanized at the Kentucky Horse Park today at 7:00 pm.

My friend Carol and I met the handsome John Henry a few short weeks ago at my Dad's Annual USS Ranger CV-4 Reunion.  We spent the afternoon a The Kentucky Horse Park and met this amazing horse along with others in the Hall of Champions.  He was a fighter with an incredible spirit and zest for life.  He will be greatly missed.

"He was not the best race horse. He was not the fastest or the busiest," retired Daily Racing Form columnist Joe Hirsch said. "He wasn't the greatest weight carrier, and certainly not the handsomest or the most personable. But he was the most remarkable horse who ever raced -- anywhere."

Read more about the wonderful John Henry at The Kentucky Horse Park's web site.

USS Ranger Reunion Trip for 2007 - Day Four

Today is check in day for the USS Ranger Reunion in Covington, KY.  People are coming in from near and far.  Today my friend Linda from Dayton drove down to visit with us.  We had a lovely meal in the Radisson revolving restaurant.

Tonight Carol and I decided to have a light dinner in the restaurant.  Their French Onion soup is wonderful and with a basket of multi grain rolls and butter, well, we were in heaven.