New Blog ... Come on Over!

 Hello friends - I have a bit of news. In my quest to learn new skills I have taken on the adventure of creating a blog with my own domain. I thought my brain didn't work this way ("this way" being the way of codes and lay outs and widgets) but I guess it can. I say "can" instead of "does" because it's not completely natural but it's also completely addictive.

I will be keeping this blog up but if you want to find me ... head on over to http://kindlylive.com

It's All Love

My favorite moment...of any day... is when the trees sing.

I walk outside to escape noise,

the carpet and the walls and the pictures and the dishes.

I have to find myself.

The breeze greets me and blows my hair ... playing with my mood,

just playing with me.

It's breathy, warm ... my skin responds

Alive

Peace fills my blood,

warming like the sun that shines on my shoulders.

The trees are singing.

The birds are singing...

my heart joins.

I'm quiet as I watch.

Love fills my mind and my soul as I focus on pink bunny ears,

white tails...

soft grass and little spots of yellow and white.

I feel only Love.

My mind is calm and my spirit quiet ... only Love surrounding me,

hugging me,

whispering to me...

"this is where I am."

I know. 

"You are here.

I am with you.

You are in me."

My heart aches.

It feels so good it aches...it reaches...it transcends.

Then I just stand, in the calm, in the knowing...

and I let Truth soak in. 

I watch creation

I watch the earth,

the sky,

the goodness

and You are here.

Even when I can't see You

or feel You

You are there.

The mystery is ... there is no mystery.

Just Love. 

There is so much love that if we can just...even for a moment...

calm our mind we can be filled with Light

and we can turn around and give it back.

That's my favorite part.

Everyone has Light in them.

Beautiful, radiant...heaven reaching beauty that pours out of our minds and souls and fingertips when we let Love be First. 

Didn't you know this is why we are here?

to love

to love others

to love Him

to love ourselves

to love beauty

....to be the most compassionate versions of ourselves that we can be. 

This is why I love stepping into the breeze.

It tells me things.

“People tend to be generous when sharing their nonsense, fear, and ignorance. And while they seem quite eager to feed you their negativity, please remember that sometimes the diet we need to be on is a spiritual and emotional one. Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Fuel yourself with positivity and let that fuel propel you into positive action.” 
― Steve Maraboli,

“It's worth making time to find the things that really stir your soul. That’s what makes you really feel alive. You have to say ‘no’ to other things you’re used to, and do it with all your heart.” 
― Roy T. Bennett

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

- unknown

Tonight when I close my eyes...and it's dark and the room is full of lavender...

I will remember the songs of today 

the song of who I am

and I will sleep knowing that this is one truth that will never change.

The truth :

I have it all as long as I know it.

Over 3000 Miles...

I took 701 pictures in 2 weeks.

I will share 58 of them with you ... and a few words :)

Sunrise...leaving lovely Colorado, the windmills already at work.

A beautiful herd of deer out for their morning breakfast...aren't they just lovely?

I love how they know each other, are sure of each other.  

I love how they are friends...family.

A quaint church being showered with golden light ... I wonder if people still meet there?

I wonder if they feel loved and have felt loved in those doors?

I wonder if this was a place of belonging?

How many brides walked down the aisle, how many lives were remembered...

I just wonder.

Lovely green Arkansas...rolling hills and happy horses and blue skies forever.

10 hours in and my littles were ready for a nap.

This place...I snapped this picture from the car...what a dream.

How many animals did this old barn shelter...how many little boys hid up in the lofts...how many little girls looked for them? How many first kisses ...bales of hay...generations has this building seen?

I wonder.

Beautiful Ozarks emerging...a very small representation of the joy that swelled in me to see green mountains flowing, up and down in gentle slopes. 

I've missed these kind of mountains. 

Hello friends.

I love the Rockies...but there is something about the history of places like these that call to me.

Easter morning at the grandparents...

bluebirds singing...

tired mamas resting.

Then, lovely Florida with it's moss covered trees,

it's warm heavy air,

lizards and frogs and turtles

what a treat.

Frozen goodies on the porch of their Great Grandmother's house...

and sweet Taffy, being gentle yet wary of the new visitors.

A visit with those I love

a great aunt 

a grandmother

a great grandmother

so far away in distance yet always very close to my heart.

They have loved me most,

treasured me,

and I them.

We were missing my father...with him in the picture we would have had five generations.

This is where I come from.

My little Georgia peach

Then, the rush...the salt...the birds calling.

Then...the ocean.

“The sea is emotion incarnate. It loves, hates, and weeps. It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles. No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can't.” 
― Christopher Paolini

My littles were lost in happiness.

My soul met them there.

The strength of something that has always been...rushing out to somewhere I didn't know.

The water encompassing my body...that same water would end up somewhere else...maybe never touching another person again...maybe touching many more.

Shells under my feet, in my hands ...the tiny vacated homes now a treasure to me.

I can't explain...

but there was worship.

There was a lot of worship in my heart.

I felt small yet very big...lost but belonging.

The ocean is magical.

The ocean connects all of us...continent to continent.

The ocean is life.

Marshland at a state park...I spotted this little beauty soaking his toes.

Sweet magnolias...wild and elegant.

His very own selfie  

My love can entertain

The sunsets...sigh.

 My most favorite part of going to the beach is being able to watch the sunsets,

the birds flying home,

the dimpled sand 

the waves turning darker. 

“She loves the serene brutality of the ocean, loves the electric power she felt with each breath of wet, briny air.” 
― Holly Black

“Love is made up of three unconditional properties in equal measure:

1. Acceptance
2. Understanding
3. Appreciation

Remove any one of the three and the triangle falls apart.

Which, by the way, is something highly inadvisable. Think about it — do you really want to live in a world of only two dimensions?

So, for the love of a triangle, please keep love whole.” 
― Vera Nazarian

I came across this little house in Alabama...Zac was kind enough to park the car and let me jump out into the drizzle and snap photos.

My mind left me immediately...disappeared into a life that had been.

What made the people that lived here happy?

Strong coffee, lightning bugs? Did they love music...biscuits?

Did they want to leave...see the world?

Did they lose loved ones to war, to disease...to other people?

What were their stories....I'll never know.

But I will always have a photo of their home...

there will always be a person out there that remembers...that felt love for their untold story.

Thankfully it's me.

Winding rivers...from far away you could spot bit of moss under the clear water.

I love moss.

Moss has always enchanted me...

nature's carpet.

I found this sweet friend outside my sister in laws house...

such a warm shell and strong legs...

...and that face! Those eyes and amber scales.

I let him go but I will always remember that meeting in the woods. 

Then...that first connection with a little rosebud.

Meeting my sweet niece...who I have cleverly nicknamed "Apple Dumplin'"

was a highlight of our trip.

Those curls reminded me of my own little Trinity at that age.

Such a little treasure...and soon a big sister!

The perfect country drive way

My littles being reconnected with their grandparents was really fun to watch...

I'm so glad that had that time to build memories.

All of that wandering about sent mixed signals to my brain...

as to where I belong...

seeing so many people and places that I feel a connection with

always leaves me a bit off balance.

In the end, walking through my back door to my lovely home and the blooming aspens in my backyard ...

 my heart rested and I knew that the world is beautiful and I love all of it...

but my home is where these precious 5 people are. 

“This is how you spend this afternoon, and tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon. Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you.” 
― Annie Dillard

“We each want nothing more than to live for the moment. Nature hardwired us perpetually to follow the call of the wild, cull all the highs in life, and rejoice in life by dancing, singing, jumping, building nests, creating beauty, and playing with our young. We each find ourselves happiest when we are engaging in conduct that makes us feel alive.” 
― Kilroy J. Oldster