On A Summer's Day

He reached out a hand for her to grasp as she scrambled over the waist high rock wall. Soft was her landing on the other side as her bare feet touched down on spongy turf. Now at her back, the wall towered above her head like a lichen covered gray barrier to the town's curious eyes. Before her breathed a windswept cliff, padded with grasses and strewn with thistle, with a narrow twisty path that edged along the rocky face and out of sight down to the sea.

He tenderly led her across and down the steep path, glancing back at her from time to time with a smile and a warning to be mindful of the thistles. After some effort they found themselves far out on the tip end of a precipice that rose stoutly from a churning sea. Out of breath and laughing, the two lovers sank down onto the mossy ground. Sea birds soared and swooped above them, sometimes diving headlong into the water to disappear and then bob up to the surface again moments later with their catch in their beaks.

Far out on the distant horizon the haar was moving slowly toward a fleet of fishing vessels, one by one swallowing them up in the soft silence. He leaned across her resting form, kissing her lightly and her closed eyes fluttered open for only a moment then shut once more.

As the sound of the birds rose and fell and the rhythmic clang of the boat's bell in the distance blended with the crashing waves, they just lay there, side by side, hand in hand, their bodies melting into the landscape, as time left them behind and the wind carried their dreams across the waves with the receding tide.

Reality 101

You can pretty much tell when I've been away from the computer for an afternoon if you see a blog headed your way all filled with more of my weird ideas, because time away from mindless wandering across cyber space gives me time to think. Uh Oh She's thinking again!

Today I spent some time here, like while I was having coffee, then alternately, lots of time outdoors. The sun was lovely and the temperature was fantastic. I cleaned out some messy flower beds, moved some stuff around and even put up a porch swing all on my own. No plan had formed in my thinking about what chores might need tending to, I was just going on whim, whatever struck me to do at the moment. Then when I tried out the porch swing I began to get these ideas. They came from the joy I experienced when I looked around me and as far as I could see there was nothing but peace and quiet. The bright sun, the cloud lined blue sky, the tiny buds bursting from the sleeping trees, the daffodils waving their fragrant trumpets my way, all conspired together to shout out to me, "hey look here at this wonderful world right before your hungry eyes."

I began to recall all the news stories I had watched on my television over the past couple of months. The unrest in the Middle East, the political upheaval here in our own country, the death of a little girl in our hometown that shook a community to its core. And now the latest disaster in Japan bombards us with news, pictures, videos. All to inform us of what goes on outside our own back yards. Our reality. The reality we individually experience is like the reality of no other person. It is ours, we own it. We create it.

I loved experiencing my world of tranquility. I loved hearing the birds sing, the distant dog bark, a lone automobile crunching the pavement with rubber feet as it whizzed by my house.

What am I to make then of the chaos that is apparent in the world that comes to me via my tv set and my computer? I don't have a stone heart that makes it possible to not care for the trouble others are having. I get just as excited over seeing Egypt win their battle against a dictator as I feel the fear of the people of Japan. But it does not touch me. I still get up in the morning, I drink my coffee, I talk with my Grandarling, or I call my daughters or chat with friends online, I still go to my job, I still eat when and what I want, I still lie down at night in my warm, soft bed and I feel safe.

Appreciatively, when I fix my gaze all around my world I see no war, I feel no earthquake and I hear no gunfire! What is this all about then? That old saying comes into my head. "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear does it make a sound?" If I did not see the conflict in Egypt and Libya on my TV and computer, if I didn't see the earthquake happening in Japan would it still be happening? Of course I believe it would. I believe collectively the people in these events right now are experiencing them but I am not. I am an observer of their turmoil and their grief and triumphs. And I can choose how I will experience it with them. I can lend my energy of peace and love to their situations or I can be terrified and dreadful that the same things are coming to rock my world to its knees. I can be excited when I see the acts of bravery and kindness they show to one another and rejoice and be hopeful for their recovery or I can stockpile supplies and guns and whatever else for my own protection when the disaster hits my paradise. It's all my own choices how I deal or experience the drama the unfolds in the lives of others. And that is powerful.

There is so much we can learn as observers in these events. I see and remember how the Egyptians conducted themselves during their protest. They lost their fear, they co-operated in a monumental way with each other, they showed love and acceptance when the Christians in Egypt protected the Muslims during their prayers and then the Muslims protected the Christians during a memorial service. In Japan there are stories of tremendous courage and grace under pressure. There was one instance when a group of people were picking up fallen goods in a grocery store and re stacking them neatly on the shelves and then stood in line waiting to buy the same food they had just helped to pick up. And 83 year old woman pedaled her bicycle to safety from the Tsunami. A baby was miraculously found. The stories are endless. I am also struck by how the news media is over-blowing some of the dangers but the people who actually are living there are reporting something quiet different. Once again...individual realities differ greatly! I can't get away from that truth.

I don't know where else to go with this. I will simply end by stating I think I'm beginning to understand that will a bit of belief in ourselves....we can create anything. If I have made my world peaceful...how can it be so for others? And how can I keep it that way, or will I even want to?

I have a friend who has been out of work for three years. She has been looking diligently for jobs anywhere she can find to look. Today she interviewed with a company that she believed would be a good place to work. According to my friend the interview went without a hitch. The interviewer and she seemed to "click." As she walked away at the end of the interview, she turned and said to the lady who would be influencing whether she would be hired or not and said, "It will be a pleasure working with you." Her statement was met with a quizzical stare. When she had been home but a few hours she got a call to inform her she got the job. My friend had confidence in herself and it created a magical experience. I'm sure she was more than qualified for the position. But many job seekers are qualified. I think the magic was her confidence, exhibited by her departing statement.

I'm simply attempting to explain that it's time we looked around us and see what we may have individually or collectively created and try to understand why and how we can go about changing it if we no longer feel it's necessary or simply because we don't like it that way anymore.

Secret ~ Seal

"You're a most wonderful lady who I love so...
And if the little I give makes you happy,
then what more can I do but love you more!"

A Mother's Day Proclamation ~ Julia Ward Howe

The First Mother's Day proclaimed in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe
was a passionate demand for disarmament and peace.

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!"

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail & commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesars but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Where's The Power?

We have created the exploration of "power and authority outside of ourselves", but we are shifting now, and there are bound to be some crazy moments of wondering where the power is, because it's so familiar to us to believe it's something outside of ourselves. There are many versions and variations of all kinds of "facts" these days ~ take what resonates, leave the rest, and change your mind whenever you want to :)

Choices

Way before I started living at my

computer my mornings were

quiet different

than they are now. I would arise

and take my coffee outside

where I would

connect to the sky, to the trees,

to the birds singing and I

would be

energized. I would sip my lovely

coffee with my hands wrapped

around the

warm cup and feel my body tingle from the energy that nature always

provided. Just remembering it now is giving me that same energy tingle. I

would get "messages" from my higher self. I would start to understand more

about who I am and where I fit with the Universe. Now I take my coffee and

sit it on the desk beside the computer and I connect with people. I read

their status, I chat with them sometimes and I interact and I feel my body

tingle again. I read intently about the energy that is spreading across the

world in other places. Of the changes that are taking place in the lives of all

of humanity. Of the shift. Sometimes I am torn between my desire for the

connections I feel outside gazing at the "real" world and my joy at

connecting with friends from the cyber world. In reflections I have to

conclude that all is good. No right or wrong choices here for me, just a

freedom to make that choice and there I go tingling again. Good morning to

all of you, (or afternoon or evening) and my your choices you make today

give you goosebumps :-)

Priceless

"I'll take you to a high mount
To show you sweet heather,"

You said.

You took me to the windy cliffs
Where the wild sea crashes

Instead.

"I'll take you dancing tomorrow night
Best wear your best formal dress."

You whispered.

You took me walking by the river
Where the cool wood embraced

And the birds twittered.

"I want to give you fine diamonds
To grace your dainty fingers,"

You sighed.

But see the ring of clover you've
Lovingly woven and given

With shy smile.

Promises grandly made
Are but shadows of the acts of tender love

Actually given!

SMG 11/30/2010

Had I But Known

Had I but known,

I would have gazed longer
into your eyes

Had I but known,

My lips would have lingered
more tenderly on yours

Had I but known,

I would have listened more intently
to the sound of your voice

Had I but known,

I would have held more tightly
to your hand

Had I but known,

I would have whispered more secrets
in your ear

Had I but known

That this longing would be...

So profound!


Sheila MacGregor August, 2011

To My One and Only

And This Is Autumn

Leaves, scattered wet with the falling rain,
litter the pavement, stuck there
like the pieces of my life,
in memories pleasant and beautiful.

Waiting in the late Autumn evening for those
still clinging to the unburdening trees;
to join them. . .and me,
Until some crisp December wind,
carries them scooting along the ground;
Lifting them up at last
unto Infinity!


Sheila MacGregor October 19, 2011

Wisdom From the Small People

Coraleigh has been with me today while her Mom was at work and she created a Spa in her room!

She found an old foot bath apparatus that I had stored in a closet and dragged it up to her bedroom to set up a very nice treat for me. When she was ready, her sweet smile appeared at the door of my den and said, "Nana, I have made a surprise for you, come see."

What followed was the more wonderful than any time I could have "payed" for at some fancy, smancy spa in town.

First of all, I entered a room filled with soft, flute music that was playing from her portable cd player. I was led to a small chair where my feet were then lifted and placed into the warm, sudsy, bubbling water of the foot bath. Then I was treated to wonderful conversation, gentle scrubbing of the "rough" spots of my feet with a pumice stone, massage and then a pedicure with deep red polish completed with stars!

This Small Person teaches me so much when she spends these moments with me, about loving, generosity and just plain joy! Interspersed giggling and conversation revealed her plan for a super business she has in mind to create. "Nana, don't you think I should add a Spa to my Perfume business?" She quipped. "Of course," was my enthusiastic response. "I think my Perfume business should be in the front of the store and in the back, I plan a room for the spa. And when they come in to the store they can have everything they want for a dollar! No matter how much they want if they want too much, I think that will be ok with me, they can just have everything for a dollar." She smiled and shook her head resolutely as she continued to paint my toes. "Why you are just not greedy at all are you darling." I said. "No, and if they don't have any money but they want some perfume or if they want to visit the spa they can just have what they want for free."

Then she looked up and smiled that big smile she does and said, "And Nana if they are rich," she paused, "if they are rich I am going to charge them a million dollars."

How's that for balanced thinking LOL. I love my Small People.

When You Go

People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. It is as though they were traveling abroad.

~Marcel Proust

Solstice

The trees at last have given up their leaves,
Swapping them for shrouds of gossamer mits;
That entangle their branches and reach their
mercurial fingers to the skies.

Summer's lush grasses have been put to rest,
beneath crystallized blankets of ice.
And the once brilliant Autumn sunsets give way
To the somber hush of gray.

Sheila MacGregor 2011

Shadows

Love lived in the shadows,
In secret places of flickering lights.
Living in expectation
Always on the fringes of joy.


Intense desire diminishes
Retreating from sun's spotlight.
Where once beat the blush of hope
Now a heart lies crumbled.


Years marking the dreams
Left unrealized;

I shall win, I shall win.