Making Memories

Both the grands wanted to visit the Magic Kingdom in Disney World first so off we went for a full day of memories. Seeing the world through 9 and 6 year old eyes is so utterly fun. It maybe too simplistic - hero or villain- or hold too few options- pirate or princess- but that's for adolescence to discover. For now, the grands loved every minute and I got into the magic of this particular kingdom: the shows, the characters, the rides (I was the designated roller coaster rider with my grandson and really liked that role!) and the amazing friendliness and attention to detail that Disney excels in. What a blast we had! Favorite rides for the 9 year old- Space Mt. and Thunder Mt., for the 6 year old- the Tea Cups and Splash Mt., favorite for them both together- Buzz Lightyear. My favorite- watching the grands thoroughly enjoy themselves. Oh, and me too.

What's Happening

The begonias are pert and sassy strutting their beauty along my balcony railing.

The hot peppers are flourishing as well growing long, full and spicy. Yet they hide. 

How many can you find?

I'm eating olives every day from my province of Abruzzo. I never knew olives could taste so fresh. They still carry stories of their tree life and they feed them to me.

The doors are always open now. The colors of new couch cushions' flowers make me smile. Six different coleus plants sit on every available surface with changing colors 

to surprise me and keep me alert.

I sleep on summer bright sheets that even brighten my dreams 

while the pillow from Antigua makes them hotter.

The days are fine enough to melt mountain snow that tries to hold on. A message?

What's happening in your little corner of the world?

Sun Tea with Mint

To continue under the category of simple pleasures, I've been brewing sun tea in jars and adding fresh mint to it.

It's easy: fill the jar with cold water and add tea of your choice. I make mine with 5 black tea bags,  3 fruit tea bags and a good handful of fresh cut mint. My husband uses 6 green tea bags, 2 fruit tea bags and a handful of mint.

Then, simply sit it in the sun for a couple to a few hours.

Next, remove all the bags and mint (they can go into the compost) and refrigerate.

To serve, add a slice of lemon, a sprig of mint, some sugar or honey, or nothing at all. It's a delicious and refreshing drink for spring and summer. Enjoy!

Do you have any favorite variations?

Something New for My Birthday

My daughter gave me an amazing present for my birthday; she took me to a remote, beautiful, 100 foot waterfall in the rainforest after our run on the 26th. I did something I've never done before to celebrate- I swam naked in the (cold!) waterfall pool.

Yes, I did it! I felt exhilarated! I embrace this life stage and look for ways to expand my horizons, push my limits and just try something new. It was fun (although I did yell a lot). Crones rule!

Gratitude galore to my blogger friends for your wonderful birthday greetings. You warm my heart.

New Year Wishes

May we fill our days with what inspires awe.

May we see the beauty all around us.

May we cherish those we love.

May we make time for fun with good friends.

May we sing each day with our whole heart.

May we delight in diversity.

May we celebrate abundance and eat locally to benifit our bodies and our environment.

May we know that the future is in good hands, that we shape it consciously,

and that love is the strongest force.

I'm grateful for your presence in my life, my blogging friends.

Thank you for your contribution to making these wishes reality.

May your dreams come true as well.

Fiercely Grateful

I used to Keep a gratitude journal. Each day I made myself write 5 specific, concrete things I was grateful for that day. It helped me through a dark time, kept me grounded in goodness, and saved my emotional life until I could know again that the world is a friendly place.

Every year at Thanksgiving, I go back to this practice to remind myself of great grace in my life, The gifts I've been given and all that I am grateful for. This year my list is long. Not just longer but bigger in it's scope from living internationally and all the blessings that have come from that. It's like the world has offered itself to me.

I'm grateful for my family, for the love and constancy that we offer one another, the deepening friendships happening among us, and the laughter and fun we have together. Especially John. How can I express the awe I feel that after 37 years together, he is my best friend, favorite companion, and makes me laugh out loud more than ever.

I'm grateful for my friends, old friends who hold the memories of a lifetime in precious hands even while we make new ones with them, with their kids, with their grand kids. What wealth we share. And new friends who bring the fresh possibilities of new ways of looking at things that stretch me, enrich me and keep me fresh, too. My blog friends are in this group. I'm pleased to have sojourners and seekers to share this journey with.

I'm grateful for meaningful work which provides me a way to give back, to help those taking tentative steps toward health, to lend my knowledge, experience and love to those who need it, who bask in it or grab it hungrily and then go forward and do likewise. It's a glorious spiral, a sacred dance.

I'm grateful for books, my passion for them, my ability to get lost in them, my abiding affection for the characters I come to know and treasure. They shake me up and let me into worlds I'd have no other way of knowing. They excite me every time.

I'm grateful for nature and the physicalness of being out in it. The walking, hiking, running- using my body, having it respond, stay healthy, feel good and discover the rush. The sea and the mountains that call me and keep me interacting with them,  that intoxicate me, that teach me the connectedness of all life, the spiritual essence of what I have come to believe.

For all this, for all you, I am fiercely grateful.

Wordless Wednesday

But Wait- It's an Emergency!

Some things never change wherever we live. Day before yesterday at the beach I was in the sea with John. I was ready to go back to the umbrella when he encouraged me to stay. "Let's talk." I like to talk, like to hear John's take on things, like that he was extending this invitation so I said: "Sure!" "Will this count for later?" he asked with that eager, hopeful look in his eyes. I laughed right out loud!

Some background so you can appreciate this too: Talking is the way to my heart, hence John's favorite question before making love: "Have we talked enough yet?" He's a tactile and visual guy so words need not be exchanged at all as far as he's concerned. But in our 36 years together, we've both learned what's important to the other and have fun accommodating.

Fast forward to yesterday when John had an agenda of "sex later" and was trying to jump start the process. Guys- you gotta love em!

But wait, this is serious! Yesterday Mental P Mama posted the Aquarius (that's me) Horoscope for 6/21- 6/27 and it said that Mercury is "remaining in your romantic and creative sector until Friday..." That's potentially problematic given the short time frame but the alarming part is that it then said: "this is the last activity in your romantic and creative sector for the year." For the year?! And this is only June? For the year? It is an emergency!

So, it turns out that John had the right idea. I asked him if we shouldn't actually have a long-term affair with each other given the astrological outlook. Guess what- he agreed!

Can You Relate?

I really laughed when I saw this on a blog! I was looking at a photo of my grandson, ever the curious explorer, and thinking that curiosity about life is such a great attitude to foster. Then I saw this and a blog idea was born! I mean, I like a clean house and I like to eat but everything else seems more important to me in terms of how I allocate my time. I'm not curious about cooking or cleaning and I am about so many other things. I live in Italy and want to explore Italy and Europe now that I'm here. So when I think about what I want to do for the day, or weekend or any stretch of time, it's not cooking and cleaning.



My husband does the cooking in our family and he reads cookbooks and magazine recipes, thinks about food combinations, plans meals, shops for the food and prepares delicious meals spiced with love. I don't, ever. When he's away and I run out of the meals he's left for me, (I know, I'm REALLY fortunate) I do something quick and easy, mostly salads.

My way around the cleaning is to keep our home neat, nicely decorated and homey. I actually enjoy going through home decorating magazines and stores and getting ideas to try. So, it looks clean if you don't look too close. Good enough for me. Of course, when company is coming or when it really needs it, we clean the house together, but quickly, and move on to other more important activities.

Current activities more important than cooking and cleaning: reading, writing, talking with family, talking with friends, outings with family or friends, walking, running, hiking, gardening, going to the beach, going for adventures of any sort, traveling, exploring, seeing new places... well, you get the picture!

Is it a case of defective girl genes or do other women resonate with this?

Make Breakfast Beautiful

I don't usually think very much about breakfast but it occurred to me today to make breakfast beautiful. Stay conscious. Even eat the same thing, but consciously, with forethought to make it beautiful. So I got out a pretty place mat, put a cut rose in a little vase, mixed our own strawberries with the local ones, fresh squeezed my orange juice (from spring, red oranges) and opened the door to the balcony to enjoy the view. Usually I eat outdoors these days but I wanted to have the lovely crystal candle holders on the table for this meal.

The usual cereal tasted so unusually delicious. The juice and strawberries, so sweet.

Welcome Home

While I lived in Antigua for the 2 1/2 years before moving to Italy, I left some art, photo albums, books, dishes and personal items in storage in Maine. Either I just didn't need them in a furnished rental or they might get damaged in Antigua. A few days ago, the shipment of these items arrived. It's the last of our goods and it feels wonderful to have them around once again. It's like being reunited with treasured friends. Seeing again how lovely they are, how they bring back a flood of warm memories, how they make me feel at home. "Oh, remember this? Was she ever that little? Remember when we got this and the artist we talked to? This is the book that changed my life. Remember when this poetry saved my life?"

Old photos celebrating 36 years, books that couldn't not live with us. Poetry books collected through the years and serving as life rafts more than once. Our original set of dishes given by my mother and godmother when we got married, hand painted in Scotland, witness to countless meals with family and friends and life changing conversations. I think the dishes hold that energy and bring it to new friends and conversations. I'm sure that's why family and friends linger over the table when the meal is long done.

My commitment to keeping only what we use and love and using all that we have means I pared down to what fits in our small apartment. Magically, it all fits! And what's here nourishes my heart. Welcome to Italy, welcome back, welcome home!

A Favorite Spot

Under the category of simple things, I set up a space on the balcony to just sit. I took a container that houses my gardening paraphernalia, put a table cloth and place mat on it, and set in between two chairs. I sit and read, sit and study, sit and sip wine, sit and soak in the sun, sit and think, sit and talk about things that matter with the one in my life who matters most. It's now my favorite spot. It's good to have a space to sit and talk and take stock. Spring invites that. I like having my own little spot to do it. What's your favorite spot?

Joy

As I was sitting in my favorite chair reading, drinking tea and feeling the sun on my back, I turned around and caught these photos of the beach glass. This simple thing brought me such joy.

Take Time

Today was a lovely day. It's the last day of September and we went to the beach. It started busy with shopping at the open market in town, meeting friends for coffee and putting up the LAST light fixture in our apartment (what a great satisfaction that brought!). Then John said: "let's go to the beach". So we took the time to go to the beach, take a long walk, have a swim and collect sea glass.
Made me realize the importance of taking time for favorite things. It was so relaxing at the now uncrowded beach. I've always loved collecting sea glass. I have some from every place we've ever lived. When I came home I took a photo of the pieces I found today because they were just so pretty. Then I added it to some I already have. I bought a hand made glass jar, filled it with the beach glass and put it on the top shelf of the bookcase to catch the sun during the day.
I felt happy when I looked at it and remembered the beaches we've walked, the treasures we've found and the memories we've made. They're the things I take with me always.