The Television

The Television and I have had our battles, my husband loves it and I hate it....actually I don't hate it, I dislike it. It is rather hard for me to explain all the reasons why, today's world feels distracting enough without all the reality shows or weight lost stories. I am not out to attack Television at all! Please don't get me wrong here, I will never actually hate TV for all it has given me in memories, in education and in being able to "fit in" with a smirk from "Seinfeld" or a long practiced speech from "Frasier", Without TV what would we chat about at work? How would we all laugh out loud not knowing what was so funny from the show? I owe so much to television in my over all awareness in society. TV was the only outside still very guarded thing in my home growing up, My mother was afraid of it and my father never sat down without it on. I learned about all the old classic shows watching day time re-runs growing up in the 80's and 90's. It helped me see a world out there that my parents never brought into our home. I really honestly look back in awe that a simple thing as noisy and annoying as the TV gave me a better education then those text books on my desk. 

We have a Television in our new place right now. We are reminiscing down memory lane by watching all the episodes in order of the sitcom "The Wonder Years" and I am LOVING it! I like how each show and ending is so thought provoking or calming, leaving you feeling good to have watched it!

(They don't make TV like that anymore)

Of course I wasn't allowed to watch that show as a kid back when it first aired, so naturally in my first apartment I used that place like a time machine finding all of  "The wonders years" and watching them until I was ready to rejoin society again knowing the show very well. 

Television was a very important part of my home growing up, it was always on when my father got home, then there were those Sunday nights made extra special with bowls of popcorn or ice cream from my parents while watching back to back  shows like "Nature" then "Masterpiece Theater". 

(Those are some of  my most happiest memories with all of us zoned out in front of that screen.)

Soooooo see I don't hate the TV, I can't just walk away from it like I never knew it was there. I owe it so much in bringing me through such good moments and memories......BUT I can see it for what it is, as an escape to our REAL lives, a distraction to what we really should be doing or avoiding simply living. It isn't the Television, it isn't the way it has changed or how people use it. I would go crazy if each room had a TV in my home, I think it has to do more about the person, then with the kind of shows on TV.  People like to blame or find fault with things like TV, when actually it comes back to US and how we choose to spend our time in this life, WE are the ones who need to learn how to see the story for ourselves by turning it on or off............

The Telephone

The Telephone has changed so much in just the last 50 years, not to mention from when it was first created in the late 1800's. My first cell phone will always be the BEST phone I ever had!

It was shaped like the number 8, it had different rubber protector colors to change the look and I knew it all so well....it was JUST a phone!

Sad, for that was only a decade ago as I remember it, that beloved phone was hard to give up or as the rest of society called it "Up grading" to a new phone.

My cell phone conversations changed my life and saved it many times too! I use to find a phone any where, any pay phone in the mall or a fast food parking lot and call out to my friends or far away family to chit chat in my own space. 

My parent's home was full of noise from everything happening at once or babies crying. My first cell phone was that connection to the outside world from sitting in my car to driving into town. No longer did I wait in line to call someone, or wonder if the home would stay quiet long enough to chat with someone.....

So I have a big thanks to my first cell phone, I have a wish that my cell phone never changed at the same time!

I like snapping quick picture to send at the very moment of right now for friends on the phone to see and this came about from change.

I also said that texting was silly when it first came out, why wouldn't you want to talk voice to voice? Then while I was hanging out at a loud venue I found myself texting my husband was easier then trying to chat on the phone.

NOW I do not say the next big thing added to the phone will be stupid anymore, My husband loves his GPS and his own radio from his phone, he can be anywhere and get online in ways I can't. I am not looking forward to a new phone ever but I know how nice some of these features can be.

Every so often my Aunts will give me a call, they have been steadily in my life now since my mother's stroke and I get to reflect over how wonderful it is to hear their voice and know them so well! Chatting over an hour or 2 is nothing when the miles separate us but chatting on the Phone is like sitting over coffee again!

I love my phone no matter how much it will change and how much I may not need all it can offer......yet the sound of a voice warms your heart when you can hear such love and laughter coming through! 

I will always write letters off or on the computer, I will always go on my road trips to see them but when I can't, I will most gratefully enjoy our phone time as the world changes all around us, we can still chat it up!

There is just nothing like reaching out and touching someone through such a device as the telephone!

The Snake Life

Have you ever watched snakes move around? They wiggle and slither on forward always connected to everything behind them as well as in front of them. Last year at the lavender Festival I saw a BEAUTIFUL purple looking garden snake and carefully watched over it so no one step on it as it disappeared back into the lavender fields.

Since moving almost a month ago I have explained to people that I'm living a snake life! I wake up every morning to let my dogs out and walk with them over to their section of the yard and from there my whole rest of the day will be getting things done in a snake like manner!

For example; I put the dogs in their fence, notice they need water so I get them water and then carry fresh water to the chickens, let the chickens out if they want and notice my garden gloves so I put them on to clean the coop then pull fresh weeds with the roots for the chicks. Then as I slide around in the yard moving from one project to the other as I go back to the dogs again. I realize coffee still hasn't been made after a few minuets so I get the pets inside for their own breakfast time as from one room to the next I carry things here and there, then finally start coffee while also gardening in the front yard too. From washing dishes to carrying clean clothes, to sweeping from vacuuming, I live in such a snake life! Since we have moved my life is very much this way all day and if I rest it's doing another project of some kind inside.

One day soon I hope to have it all in place, I hope to also get back to the park before the summer ends and go on more walks with my dogs but for now I am never on the move without something in my arms. I set something down in one place only to find my way back around to where I had started my day again! 

Have you ever thought snakes were fascinating? I am not wanting one for pet but I do admire them! In my new home it takes time to find peace, to relax when I see many fun gardening things to do or cats to pet! It's a beautiful place and becoming even more magical everyday! I just wonder how long will I be moving in this way, JUST like a snake! I am  connected to things in front of me as well as behind while I move, while I slither through the grounds?

A Night Light

Since moving a few weeks ago I have been noticing so many new fun things about our new place! Like when I need a night light I just dime the lights over the tub and the whole thing glows!
My husband knows I have never been a fan of bright lights at night, if I could live by candle light every night I would....he teases me about it but I like the calmness of evenings in soft glowing lights.
So having this fun new setup is one of my favorite times in the evening with my dogs napping at my feet to the soft glow of the bath tub.
I think also that I do some of my best writing to that soft glow. My new adventures have been flooding my days so quickly, I have barely had time to really process them and get them down! I love living in such a fun place full of life from groups of spiders to honey bees! 

Conquering my fear of birds has been a journey as well, I have always liked chickens but have never had to handle them as much as in these last few weeks and now I can carry them around without even thinking twice! Bravery comes in such small events like that and after a busy full day out there I like relaxing to my fun night light wondering what in the world will happen tomorrow:-)

 

Living Lavender

This year's lavender festival was perfect! Not to hot in the mid morning when we arrived. My lavender latte' was a perfect blend of the earthy coffee and soft flower. My husband's lavender Italian soda was spot on in flavor as well!

So often people sale lavender foods or drinks having nothing even close to the real taste of those perfect buds!

I bought a hat that I had been wanting all year, just like I do in my way of shopping I think about it awhile.......

It took me 6 years to finally buy my brown dress because I knew what I wanted and I waited for the sale price and dress structure to all match before I would drop a dime!

My mother-in-law JoAnne would confirm that I am a extremely picky shopper when she went shoe shopping once and vowed to not do that again! I didn't get offended, I even warned her ahead of time and  told her how I am about my ideas of shopping for things I want in my mind's eye. IT CAN TAKE YEARS for me to buy something I need, that is just how I am.....

So with My new hat after a year of waiting to buy it there and the fields of lavender surrounding me made that Sunday morning perfect! 

My husband always loves these festivals just as much I do! He even talks now of our own lavender fields one day, how my festivals would be top notch classy and beautiful! We are always chatting like that about one day down the road when we have arrived to our dream job, home or life, I don't think of it as pipe dreams or dead ends in reality......In fact quite the opposite! I think of how the possibilities are always ENDLESS!!! We can make our lives what we choose, how we build it around whatever comes at us!

 

Ya never know, We could have that lavender farm one day....

JUST like in how I have my eye on a pair of comfy stylish purple shoes over the last few weeks now wondering to get them or not? 

IF We wait, plan, question and wait some more........then who knows where we will be in another decade?

I believe the fragrance of lavender is like that, truly full of hope and peace all at the same time! You breath it in and the soul flies free full of dreams and new ideas! 

You take the time to notice that living along side lavender is like owning your own personal magical moments to dream forward as it all blooms!

Summer time Showers

The water is cool 

The water is there to grab the dirt

The water is life 

The water is magical

The water is clear

The water is just right!

I step into the shower

I step away from the sweat

I step into a marshmallow world

I step through those big white fluffy curtains

The water is smooth

The water is cleaning

The water is inspiring

The water is a gift

The water is there to flirt

I look up at the sky light

I look down at the tub

I look outside

I look in

I look around with a grin!

For this water is all mine!

For it is summer time showers, AND nothing is just that refreshing!

One year ago

While I was moving, I stopped surprised that this one picture from my old calendar of which I had saved because it reminded me of my father-in-law Kelly's two miniature schnauzers, Newton and Eddie. This picture is PERFECT with both dogs running off leash along the ocean line. A true moment I have lived in and loved! I remember running along side all 3 dogs, Newt, Edison and my Oscar along that Oregon coast on Christmas morning in 2010. That bright, beautiful clear day was magical in what is usually rainy season! The three dogs and I ran so hard, so long and fast in the bright warm sun light then returned back again to the family group for champagne with our tongues hanging out and also I was laughing so much!!! (YES I let my tongue hang out like the dogs too!) hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha 
What a great day and memory, so I saved this picture from that calender I had gotten that day as a gift later on....It hung in my old bedroom and now it hangs in my new place.

While I was moving I stopped by surprise for on the otherside of this picture was One year ago......the month of JULY full of such trauma. Now it faced me once again the very same calendar dates......."WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!?!" I exclaimed showing my surprised husband in the other room. "LOOK! it's all on here, everything as I wrote it back then even with my drawn hearts and smiles! I forgot how well organized on the calender I was! UNTIL July 18th, then suddenly everything is in a black Sharpe marker crossing out the rest of my life!?!?" My husband replied "Once again you are creeping me out! You and all these connections to the spiritual world...I swear, this is both awesome and disturbing at the same time. If you had known it was saving last July putting up this picture on your wall, what would you have done?" I snorted quickly and confidently explaining "I would have just photo copied this picture then threw away this month instantly! I mean if I had known back then but now I like looking at it as if to remind me of who I was and how I am now!" My husband nodded back "Then that is why you were not to notice it until now, LIKE I SAID you have such creepy connections!" He moved away from me with a smirk of true wonder and I chuckled holding this picture in my hand. How reflective this had all made me as I read over it again, I haven't been keeping a good calender since! AND I realized that I liked my goofy, silly, animated self back then as I decorated my life, my calender before the month had come to a sudden end. Now the last part of this month is VERY dark with even some drawn tears, I can see all my earlier plans canceled. Like my big bbq inviting my parents and whole family over to our new place! Shopping date for my sister's daughter that I was actually really excited to be apart of, even wanting to go shopping! It was all so odd to me that I had those desires to be with my family when I never liked shopping like that before, I never had the room in my other home to entertain everyone at once so now I was VERY excited over all these plans that were blacked out actually. I just sat awhile looking over the story of a traumatic month, a year ago today the 18th of July in the year of our lord 2011 was when my mother's stroke shocked us all and sent us all spiraling out of our normal lives! I am forever changed, I am forever made aware and feel like I can't ever go back to who I was. I actually don't want to return to my silliness, I just want to be stronger and wiser. I want to have peace again and laugh endlessly......like when the dogs and me ran the ocean waves! Like when the sun light warmed my soul to a full on big smile and I danced around! I want that moment back again it is WHY I save this picture and put it up proudly on my wall in the first place! FOR I HAVE BEEN THERE and will return again one day.......Pulling me closer to love!