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mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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The Week Ahead In Astrology

May 25, 2017 3 Comments

On the 26th, Love is Wise. It’s the answer for everything. Oh, and ignore the darkness, your fear of change, and the Powers-That-Be; just for today, they can’t touch you. And you’re welcome. (That’s my answer to you thanking me for not posting an MC Hammer video). Instead we’ve got Today’s word image:a Tarot card […]

via Your Week 26 May-1 June 2017 A Thousand Suns — Julie Demboski’s ASTROLOGY

Truth Conquers All

May 24, 2017 1 Comment

The trials and daily shockwaves of fresh tribulation
Rock the airwaves, fill the consciousness of the nation
With opinions of experts and way too much information
To process or to put in order our growing indignation
This is the wool that has been pulled over our eyes
Grown ever more perversely mendacious, spewing lies
In the face of true intelligence to slowly hypnotize
All those who settle for willful blindness and deceit

We eagerly await the moment of dishonesty’s defeat

 

#SelfCareSunday Efforts And Rewards

May 22, 2017 3 Comments

cactus

cactus

The essence of effective self care is self knowledge.  If you begin to understand yourself just as you are it becomes easier to please your senses and intellect. Your body craves healthy food and activity, and your mind thrives on stimulating conversation and reading.  Writing, art projects, and journaling lead one to discover inner talents and insights.  Clearing or updating personal space is an ongoing project that gives great satisfaction.  Creating excellent work and play environments in your own home make life much more pleasurable.

I like simple pleasures like beautiful plants and fresh foods.  Since I like to cook and find it therapeutic, I can always spend an afternoon in the kitchen having fun.  On Sundays I like to prepare food for the week.  Bob takes a meal from home to work with him most days, so I pack a few servings to get a head start on the week.  If I also take time to do some deep cleaning tasks on the weekend, my work during the week is lightened, and I enjoy the clean environment. I know cooking and cleaning might not sound like self care tasks to you, but in my mind they are basic. I don’t pay others to do these things for me, so making it an adventure in creative homemaking is my only good healthy option.  I feel accomplished and well cared for when I have some chores finished. I then relax completely.

I do not plan an entire day of effort without some direct rewards.  I often make sweets and desserts on the weekends, and clean my bathroom extra well.  I treat myself to some sweet concoction and take a lovely long soaking bath in my sparkling clean tub.  I use essential oils of lavender and grapefruit, and take a tall glass of iced tea to drink while I soak.  This is at least as good as being at a 5 star hotel for me, because I don’t have to travel back home…I am home!! I provide my own room service, slip into my own bed with fresh linens, and sleep soundly.

How do you make your weekends work to combine tasks that must be done with some relaxation and fun?  Everyone has a personal style, which is why  each person knows best how to be true to that style.

cactus

cactus

#WritePhoto Haunted Quarters

May 18, 2017 5 Comments

 

weeping window

weeping window

 

The tower had been built in the time of the beheadings

Torture and murder were the order of the day

They wiped out knights and murdered the queens

Who did not please the monarch by giving him a male heir

Some of my ancestors lost their heads, fortunes, and means

As players in the center of the Tudor dynasty reign of terror

Some spent their last night in confinement writing poetry

To leave a written legacy to the future subjects of the crown

The sorrow and the suffering of every tortured soul is evident

The stones are carved with the names of the doomed who have past

While the window weeps tears of the ghosts who haunt the present

With their unresolved memories of cruel and heartless treatment

Looking from this point of view we can see the harm done by violence

#writephoto

#writephoto

 

This poem is in response to this week’s photo prompt from Sue Vincent’s Echo.  Join writers from around the globe each week to read, comment, or write your own story for #writephoto.

 

The Holy Fool

May 9, 2017 4 Comments

Holy Fools in History and Eternity

Burke's avatarThe Civilized Frontier

One of the greatest character archetypes in the history of literature has to be the holy (or sometimes unholy) fool. What is so absolutely strange about the holy fool is that they are said not to exist. Typically they appear in stories that have to do with some Christ figure who is so perfect among the other characters that he is blinded by that perfection in a way. His beautiful, and often romantic vision of virtue, love, and peace among people so central to his character causes the other, more realistic characters to despise him and either seek to manipulate the holy fool or kill the holy fool because of his convictions.

The differentiating factor of these characters is their sense of not belonging in the universe because of they were born into. That the act of killing them off is all at once diabolical but cosmically necessary. They are…

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#SelfCareSunday Rejuvenation

May 7, 2017 5 Comments

in bloom

in bloom

in bloom

in bloom

in bloom

in bloom

Wipe the slate clean by taking the first day of each week
seriously.
Make a commitment to clear your space and time
to restore your serenity
To daily life that passes at a constant pace, yet seems to be compressed
Into stressful packages of worry and uncertain future demands
On the dwindling energy and time our position in life
commands
Step away from the every day, unplug from the noise and chatter
Give yourself the Sunday self care you deserve. This is an
urgent matter
Immerse yourself in music, perfume, and poetry that feeds your soul
Return to the world on Monday feeling healthy, relaxed and whole

#WeekendCoffeeShare Yogini With Donkey

May 6, 2017 4 Comments

If we were having coffee this weekend I know you will want your beverage on ice because we have hit triple digit heat. I don’t really mind it too much, but it is too much for most people. I am drinking a lovely white pear iced tea with a hint of fruity aftertaste that cools the tastebuds if not the entire body. If we were drinking tea this weekend I would tell you I did manage to write my first tea review, and found it to be easier than I thought it might be.

If you want to know the most interesting part of my week I have to tell you about my friend Gita. I was invited to a pot luck dinner party in honor of an old friend who now lives outside Guadalajara, but lived in Tucson for years, and visits here frequently. She was my mother’s lawyer, and a brilliant one. She had been a fancy tax attorney in Chicago when she decided to become a yoga teacher. She studied at Kripalu and later moved to Tucson where she developed a large following of devoted yoga students. She practiced law on the side, and was doing very well in life when she learned she has Parkinson’s Disease. She lost much of her physical strength and abilities, but still she persisted.

She became a teacher of laughter yoga, and developed a following in that innovative for of yoga, calling on her vast experience in al forms of yoga.  I admired her greatly for shifting to accommodate anything that came her way.  Since she moved to Mexico I had not seen her, and I assumed her Parkinson’s would be much more difficult to handle with time.  I did not make the dinner party, but scheduled a private visit to catch up with her.  She fit me into her busy social schedule for a visit before her donkey photo shoot.

Much to my great surprise I found my friend healthy happy, and showing no symptoms of her disease.  She now spends her time studying and dancing the tango.  I was shocked to see how great her recovery has been.  She found a Mexican doctor who put her on the right drug, and then performed brain surgery.  After ten years of pain and downhill slide, she got her life back.  She drives, lives on her own, and will join a group of tango aficionados on a trip to Buenos Aires in the fall.  I asked her if she felt bitter after 10 years of failure with the medical pharmaceutical industry.  Her response has blown my mind and made me think about what it really means to be a yogini. She said she had been bitter during the 10 years, but then medicine gave her back her life.  Parkinson’s taught her patience and gratitude.  Once she got her strength and ability back she knew he just wanted to dance for the rest of her life.  Gita is by far the greatest yogini I have ever met ( and I have known many great ones). Yoga is not flexibility of the body..it is strength of mind and character.

Her custom now is to meet a donkey in each city she visits and have a photo shoot.  I had not planned to go along for the donkey photo shoot, but it turned out to be the icing on the cake. Here is a woman with a donkey, but not just any woman.  This picture captures an ascended master with a donkey, enjoying the great cosmic joke.  Dance on, Gita. Your insight and sense of humor are precious.  You embody the meaning of yoga.

Let me pour you another glass of iced tea while you tell me about your week and your writing projects.  I enjoy keeping up at these digital beverage parties.  Read or contribute to the party at Nerd in the Brain’s party link.  This movable feast takes place every weekend, rain or shine.  Join us.

#WeekendCoffeeShare

#WeekendCoffeeShare

#WritePhoto The Family Obelisk

May 4, 2017 11 Comments

obelisk

obelisk

The family sailed from England when they had a chance to come to America.  The hardship of the voyage and the harsh conditions in the colonies took a toll on the surviving members of the family.  They wondered about the decision to live in the new world, and felt lost without the comfort and status of British society.  Carving out an existence turned out to be much more difficult than they had ever imagined.  They lost touch with the roots of their family back in England and had no way to return even if they wanted to go.  They had little money and just barely the time to protect and feed their offspring.

Eventually they came to feel pride in the American adventure they founded, and erected a monument to the first Morses to come to America.  They had sailed from a harbor with a large assuming obelisk that bid them adieu when they left their homeland.  The group decided to model the new world monument after the last sight they saw as the ship left the shore.  British no more, but connected to the language and the culture of the motherland, the American obelisk builders were sure that God was on their side.

Morse Monument

This is a piece in response to Sue Vincent’s weekly photo prompt.  Please join writers from around the world each week to read or submit your own story.

#writephoto

#writephoto

#NaPoWriMo Never Born #WritePhoto

April 27, 2017 5 Comments

nostalgia nursery

nostalgia nursery

The nursery was filled with heirloom toys and games
The aunts and uncles made suggestions for names
The curse was strong in the family, since the soothsayer
Foretold the demise of the monarchy by a betrayer
A child not of woman born would come along one day
To end the lineage of oppression by which royals play
Centuries have past since the spell had been cast

No heir to the throne has left the dollhouse and rocking horse alone

#writephoto

#writephoto

This poem is inspired by the photo by Sue Vincent, who shares a prompt each Thursday in The Daily Echo.  Join writers from around the world to create your own story or poem.

#NaPoWriMo2017

#NaPoWriMo2017

#GloPoWriMo

#GloPoWriMo

Poets are still on board to submit 30 poems in thirty days on the poetry train.  It is not too late to catch a ride at the #NaPoWriMo site.  You may be a poet…and not even know it.

#NaPoWriMo Leavening

April 25, 2017 3 Comments

 

baker

baker

Bakers start with grain, then using knowledge and art
They add leavening to create a sponge that brings life
To the simple ingredients destined to be formed and baked
Into loaves and rolls of every shape, size, and flavor
The magic alchemy of kneading dough is just the start
Proofing and baking at the perfect temperature is only a part
Of the transformation from grain and water to the bread we love to savor

Join poets all month in April for National Poetry Writing Month, aka #NaPoWriMo.  Find new poets to read or recite. Ride the poetry train by following these hashtags on social media.