KONY 2012. Watch this. Do something.

Firsts on the Second

March 2nd~

It began with the first sighting of a redwing blackbird for the year. The first robin came swooshing over the road in front of my car. Then, the first high-altitude Canada geese came soaring through, one ragged V at a time.

There is early movement in the bird nation. Things are looking up.

After work, the tank running low and the prices running high, warranted a stop at the Indian Reservation (the Rez). It's my usual stop with it's twenty-five-cents-cheaper-per-gallon appeal. I'm greeted with not one, but two calls of "darling" by the young attendant in a greasy grey hoodie. His dog, a chopped-tail boxer with tiger-like stripes runs from car to car extending greetings of his own. Forty should do it, thank you. And the pump starts spewing.

The man in the car on the other side of the spare island, window down like mine, looks at me and says hey do I know you? No, you don't. Why are you smiling? I like to smile. That's real nice. Hey, do you wanna make love to me? No, not today. (Still smiling.) With that, the pump clicks off and the greasy grey hoodie takes the cash through my window, calling me "honey" and waving good bye.

The forecast of firsts on the second says, it's going to be a good spring.

And So The Soul Does Bloom

I have worked on this little pocket of a dream every day since sometime in November. The process has been a joy and a saving grace. I have listened within, I have enlisted help. I have notebooks of long-hand writing and amateur videos packed with good-to-know things.  There is order and there is non-order, there is space for flow and serendipity. There are friends joining me~ some new, some not~ each bringing distinct wisdom to the collective whole, each on a journey to find the deeper meaning of home.

We will explore breath and posture, nourishment, color as a life-changing tool, the gift of flowers and floral design, alternative use for space in the home, poetry, small space and organic gardening, the wonders of top-shelf tea, cleansing the home with feng shui and the healing power of trees. We will share our secrets for balance of body, dwelling and earth. We will befriend and support our companions on this journey to home.

Please join us, if it interests you. There is so much to learn and to share. The journey begins online this Saturday, February 25th and continues through April 5th. An in-person gathering of Souls In Bloom will commence on March 24th in Buffalo, NY for any that can attend. 

Registration is open through February 24th.

For the full description go Here.

52 Photos Project~what i've been photographing

Botanicals and me~ washed in colors after dark.

Blue bonsai

Green glass

The Buffalo Botanical Gardens

For Bella

Of Tuning Forks and Souls In Bloom

I ask you, who doesn't need a brain balancing and relief from stress? Come join us for The Soul In Bloom~ Home Edition online course and retreat, and Janice Meier~ friend, homeopathic healer and magician with rainbow colored tuning forks~ will help improve the function of your brain while steeping you in the stunning sounds of tuning fork vibration. Janice will be center stage with her loaded apron and magical forks the morning of the retreat on Saturday, March 24th here in Buffalo, NY. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that Janice can right some serious wrongs with her knowledge and instinctual gifts for healing the body. And she has a passion for healing with sound.

If you've never had the privilege of being immersed in pure sound and feeling your cells vibrate anew, come join us. It will be an experience you won't forget.

The online course begins February 25th and runs through April 5th. The 1 day retreat, with Janice and her forks, David and his encyclopedic knowledge of organic gardening and tea tasting with Bellocq, is March 24th.

To learn more, go HERE.

To sign up for the course and the retreat,
 or just the course, go HERE.

You can register right up until Friday, February 24th at Noon, eastern time.

Questions? the soul in bloom at gmail dot com

52 Photos Project~red/heart

{Red velvet cupcake from my Mother.}

There is no such thing as the day after Valentine's Day for me.

Because the purpose of every day is to love.

Even if I am able to love just a little on some days,

it counts as a day well spent.

For Bella

she is a student of the body

{photos courtesy of christine}

This is Christine Claire Reed. She is a way-shower and a woman of courage. She is a student of the body. She is dancer and yogini. She is new entrepreneur. She is Blisschick and Girl On Fire. She is my friend.

Christine is very busy these days creating a haven of truth and bliss for the women of Erie, Pennsylvania. She has opened a studio for adoration of the mind and body in  the form of dance, movement and interpretive yoga. Yet, in her busy life, she is making time to join me in The Soul In Bloom~ Home Edition, both as an online instructor and a participant in the 1 day retreat in Buffalo, NY. Christine will be assisting those of us on this journey-to-home to be more mindful and aware of our bodies. She is going to teach us of posture and breath; 2 things we rarely give thought to, but greatly affect the quality of our days.

Come join us for 6 weeks beginning February 25th. Come learn from Christine's astute attention to the needs of the body. Come meet her at the retreat on March 24th. She'll be the one with wisdom in her eyes and a pink tutu around her hips.

To learn more, go HERE.

To register, go HERE. There are only 13 days left to sign up to join us on the journey to home!

of bluebirds and five dollars

You can't convince me it isn't great to live next door to the country. A brief jaunt beyond the limits of Mayberry and heart-stopping charm can be found on the side of the road.

Like handmade bluebird houses for five dollars. Seriously, five dollars. With pencil marks of the craftsman still visible for lining up the hinges of the front panel. It swings open, you see, for easy cleaning. Throw in the marketing genius of the hand-lettered sign and rusted radio flyer wagon for display, and you'll have me digging to the bottom of my purse for that five.

But the cup with the green lid and the good-sized rock inside? The cash register? I couldn't get it open to save my life. So, I had to dig out a little white bag from that same purse to put the five dollars in, and stuff the bag down into the wagon. I put the cup with the rock in it on top, for good measure. I hope when the wagon was pulled in for the night the bag was still there.

The bluebird house isn't even for me. I bought it for some one else. And if you think you need one, too, I'll be happy to drive back beyond the limits of town and pick up more heart-stopping charm.

I wonder, if they'd sell me the sign.

52 Photos Project~the love letter

When my Mother first began her cancer treatment

3 1/2 years ago, I wrote her a love letter.

She has carried a copy of this letter

in her purse every day since.

For Bella and her Valentine edition of

52 Photos Project~ the love letter.

I brought pink tulips, Beloved, to distract you. To ease the cold and tingles of the clear, poison drip. I brought them, Beloved, for myself as well. To stare at during moments when biting the side of my tongue would not be enough to stave off tears. I brought pink tulips to remind us of spring and rebirth and hope and love. To remind us that, amid the painful needle sticks, the beeping, the constant motion outside your cubicle, the full house of patients enduring their own poisonous drips, there is great beauty waiting to be embraced. Within and without.

Cancer is a funny thing, isn't it Beloved? What threatens to tear us apart is also the gorilla glue that makes our hearts inseparable. What makes a body weak gives strength not seen before. Cancer offers up courage and comedy. It reduces walls to rubble. It offers the soul redemption. Its dark pathway shimmers with opportunities for light. It's a funny thing. It's a blessing. Yes. A blessing.

3 weeks from now, Beloved, the tulips will be red. They, too, will remind us of strength and beauty within and without. 7 years and 3 weeks from now, the tulips I bring will be yellow. They will remind us of the light on the path, the love on the path that led us out of darkness.