Christmas is history and my kitties are missing their favorite hideaway. We have all welcomed in 2014 and are now deciding what we'd like to accomplish in these next twelve months.

My first intention was to get back into my writing cabin. I'm in it now and it feels exciting to scratch one thing off my list. So on to the next.....

I have a writing goal of completing another edit of my memoir, From Scratch. In my cabin I have all I need to make this happen. In my heart I want to accomplish what will give me worth as a writer, and working on this edit is important in order to make that happen. A dear friend who has published many books advised me to go forward with commitment, and not be tossed away. And so I will.

Go forward, or go forward with commitment. Quite a difference isn't there? I'm choosing the latter!

What a gift...

I have been gifted in the last two months. It all started and ended with Maine. First was the planning, then the actual event, and finally the joy of coming home.

Cancer nagged at my body, and chemotherapy took its toll on my physical strength for the last two years. But in my mind and heart I never doubted God or the higher Path that had been set for me. I've come far in my healing, and setting aside time to continue this venture was hard work. But it all came together.

In Maine I meditated and hiked each and every day of the five week vacation/retreat. My body felt the difference. My heart filled with love given me by Nature in all of its elements. I am a New England woman, and in going back to my roots I learned once more who I am. The rocky rugged coast gave me strength to go forward. Hiking in the woods by the ocean helped me find simplicity, compassion, and patience. I needed to find my purpose again in order to heal, and I did.

Dawn brought sunrises that were vastly different each morning, and they helped me understand that we too are not the same each day. How boring! I learned to embrace my differences, and allow for new growth. Live life. I will now follow my heart with my words and actions, walking my talk with honesty and love. At least I will try.

Our gifts...

My family just gave me a Celebration of Life party/picnic. It was an outside venue, with beautifully decorated picnic tables under a pavilion. Music provided by my son's corporate band, food ordered and provided by my local favorite Italian restaurant, and friends sitting everywhere. A perfect day!

What I discovered at the party was we all have a gift to share. Like finding a white feather sitting atop the kelp, we will discover in us a worthy gift to bless the lives of others. A friend of mine sang her heart out while playing her guitar, as did my oldest son. My sister and husband worked hard to set up a comfortable place for us all, and then went on to welcome my friends and family as they arrived. My youngest son gave his caring self to all, helping everyone to feel loved as is his normal practice.

The lesson here for me was "the gift". We each must discover what our gift is, nurture it with passion, and then share. If we care about family and friends, or how our lives move forward with purpose, it is up to us to realize our own self worth while we work towards undoing the knot of our minds.

I believe we will find our gifts, share them with others, and go forward in love. What could be more important?

Fawns, turkey babies, and bucks, oh my!

I have three families of turkeys walking by my cabin these days. One mommy has eight babies, another has ten, and the last has eleven. They all hang out together and it is very cute to watch them interact. They are instinctive when it comes to scratching and pecking, but they run and chase each other until they are exhausted and the mommies have to separate them. Cuteness!

Twin fawns scamp around my cabin looking as if they're running laps! Their spots are fading and in another month will be gone. One is more aggressive than the other, but both are showing their independence. They love the cracked corn I feed them and after their snack they bed down in the dappled sunlight of the woods. I watch them as they snooze.

Bucks are coming to feed as well. I have one six pointer and one eight point. Handsome boys! Their antlers are still somewhat fuzzy and they are not afraid of me. They come by at least three times a day and I'd go broke if I fed them each time. However, with fall on its way I hope they know my land is a safe place for them.

My prayer for all these animals is safety. They give me joy at a time when it is needed, and they seem to know that my cabin and the surrounding woods is a gentle place. A kind place. And they are right.

Silence before dawn...

There is a silence just before dawn. It happens without our input, our knowledge, or our understanding. If you arrive at this place alone it fills your heart entirely. If you share its beauty with someone who cares you both will feel the hush of its strength.

Within this silence comes an honesty and clarity that we may never find again as the day moves forward. It's almost as if the world stops in its beauty, for just a moment. It is there for us to see and feel, make right again what we long to know. Or want to give. I must follow this moment and let it carry me away to that place in my heart where beauty, love, and peacefullness rests.

I hope you start your day with me in this very special way...just before dawn. It is a time to give thanks for each day's morning light, and for our strength and life. A small miracle every day.



Writing is a solitary thing...

The window boxes on my writing cabin are filled with fresh spring flowers and I'm ready to go inside and write. I love what I've chosen to do, but it is a solitary effort of love.

Around me the birds are singing their songs of mating and calling to one another. My nesting boxes in the field are filled with new babies of different kinds. Wrens, bluebirds and swallows. As I mow past the boxes, mommies dive bomb at me, asking me to go away. Please. I follow their instruction, but know I must do it again in a week. As always, they are getting used to me.

As I enter this sweet space I am welcomed. My heart lifts and I'm ready to put words on paper. If we love to write it is essential to make a place, a nest, to be comfy and entirely at peace with your world. Your higher self will take over after that and your words will take care of themselves.