The Witching Time

Backward, turn backward,
O time, in your flight
make me a child again
just for to-night!

~Elizabeth Akers Allen

How I miss the anticipation and excitement of Halloween as a child. Darkness couldn't fall fast enough, and dinner time couldn't have passed any slower.

My brother and I were partners in crime on this night of crisp fall air and moonglow. Forget those teeny tiny plastic orange pumpkins...to carry our loot, we needed something much more substantial. But despite our best efforts, a pillow case just cannot be filled completely during these fleeting trick-or-treat hours.

Nevertheless, we managed to satisfy our own personal candy quota and would hold trading and bartering sessions once we got home, each of us slyly thinking we got the better end of the deal.

I love Halloween. I love the spooky ambience and the nostalgia of it all. The smell of pumpkin guts is really not a pleasant smell...but it becomes so when it is connected with early childhood memory.

Nowadays, I am not much of a costume girl. But Taro couldn't wait to don his wizard hat and wish you all a frightfully Happy Halloween!

Love Offerings

Love is everywhere....

Can you see it in the softening faces of people waiting in line at the grocery store as a baby smiles and coo's nearby?

Can you see it in the delight of that baby as she makes eye contact with each person in the line, flirting with their smiles, drawing them in one by one?

Can you see it in the luminosity of the first light of dawn...the sun's slow gentle yawn as it quietly rouses the bees and the butterflies?

Can you see it in the way a heart shaped leaf detaches itself from a tree limb and sails and floats and turns and flutters through rays of golden sunlight as it softly touches down amongst its sleeping siblings?

Can you see it in the delicate brush strokes of a painting? The beautiful way the artist has captured the light falling off the edge of a flower petal?

Can you see it in the way a woman carefully cradles a tea cup in her hands as though it could shatter if she grasped it too tightly?

Can you see it in the way your lover's eyes catch the light of the sun moon and stars when he looks at you?

Can you feel it in an unexpected compliment passed on to you by a friendly stranger? Can you pass on that feeling as your smile radiates outward and infects other passing strangers?

Can you see it in your mind's eye...two lovers walking the beach on a rainy day? One umbrella, four feet and a million secrets shared between connected souls.

Can you feel it in the warm embrace of your home as you step inside after a long day? You are enveloped in comfort as though the walls are saying *Welcome back...I've been waiting for you.*

When you are in love, you see it everywhere, you feel it in everything. The world becomes a sensory explosion and all things become vividly extraordinary.
Do you see it? Can you feel it? Where is love tickling your senses today?

My Very Own

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else.

~ Joseph Campbell

I love this quote. In a world where there is so much conformity, it is a beautiful thing to know that my imagination, my memories and my experiences are truly my very own.

As I wander through my life, and take in the outside world around me, there is a rich inner universe that only I inhabit. I see things in a way that only my eyes can see... Is my version of green the same as yours? Do the colours yellow and purple together bring forth the same pleasure to your eyes as they do to mine? Does a pomegranate taste the same to you as it does to me? How about a brussels sprout? When I hear the soothing voice of the one I love, he speaks a language only I understand...pure poetry that dwells in my heart. When I hear violins playing in unison, nothing brings me goosebumps and a shiver up my spine in quite the same way. A specific scent can fling me back to my early years of pink tutus and soft ballet shoes as I recall the smell of the dance studio.

The things that make me laugh until my sides hurt, the things that bring tears of pain or joy, the things that make me want to withdraw and hide under the covers and never come out, the things that make my heart burst open and take my breath away...these are the things that I hold close as my own unique experience...my very own.

Blankets in the Sky

Beautiful white anemones are quietly blooming in my mother's garden. Until yesterday, it seemed as though summer was enjoying her stay so much that she wanted to linger just a little longer this year.

But this morning, the faint melancholic sound of a foghorn pulled me from my dreams, and I woke to see a white glow coming from the window. I could see nothing but white...no ocean, no trees, just cloud. And I smiled as I welcomed Autumn. My most favourite time of year.

The mountain is a magical place when the fog rolls in. The higher I climbed this morning, the more dense the moving mist became. And it moves so fast. I looked up and saw a peculiar line in the sky. A very distinct grey line rolling over the mountain like a dying ocean wave rolling endlessly over the sand. I have seen clouds of mist move swiftly over the tree tops, swallowing them hungrily, but never a solid line rolling forward. It felt as though a blanket was being pulled over me and my mountain, inviting me to settle in and feel at home.

A few steps ahead of me, a fawn coloured rabbit hobbled along the path, grazing the tall honey grasses. His sweet brown eyes showed no sign of being bothered by my presence. Further up, I watched two fuzzy black feet and a little tail hop over the hill...and then he was gone.

As I walked through the deep forest on my way back, I noticed that the leaves are still very green here... except for the few random beauties that have turned golden before their time, glowing in the fog like little lanterns, guiding the faeries home.

Welcome back Autumn...thank you for your gifts this morning.