The Ah! Factor

Ah!!! 

Relaxing just doesn't get any better than spending a hot day in the water sipping on a slushy Margarita.  Add some music and a magazine and you have the Ah! Factor.

Playing with the Macro Setting

Last week while exploring the Gilbert Riparian Park with my friend Cathy, she showed me how to use the Macro setting on my camera for better close ups.  This morning I was inspired to play around with this setting by taking a couple of pictures of the new plants in my garden that are in bloom. 

Here are a few other shots of new plants that were not using the Macro setting.

Hopefully these plants will last throughout most of the summer, bringing cheer with their sunny faces.

Looking for inspiration

For some reason I’m not feeling very inspired lately to create, cook or exercise. I keep looking for inspiration in my usual ways and I’m starting to wonder if the heat is zapping it away.

With temps bordering at the 100 degree mark this Memorial Day weekend, I think my weekend is going to be all about staying cool. The perfect way to spend time on hot days is in the water so I think I just might spend some time floating and contemplating blue sky. Maybe while I am at it, I will be inspired to get motivated or maybe I will let my thoughts of being productive float away along with the passing clouds.

However you choose to spend your time this holiday weekend, I hope you have some fun contemplating inspiration. If you do, please share it with me. I would love to hear all about it.

“Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.” John Updike

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Riparian Adventure

Yesterday, a friend of mine and I went to the Gilbert Riparian Park.  This was my first visit.  It is a nice sized park with walking trails that intertwine throughout several ponds. 

Here are a few pictures of the water foul we saw.

A nice oasis in the middle of the city, in the middle of the desert.

Gone but soon to be replaced

The cool weather plants I enjoyed from Fall through Spring are sadly gone now, but thanks to the latest weather "cool down" we enjoyed today, I was able to head out into the garden and remove all the grass and dead plants from the planter and the pots. 

The Sunflowers and Morning Glories that I planted several weeks ago are working their way up in the planter.  I plan to put in Zinnia seeds later today.  Perhaps I will add in Vinca Rosea and more Iceplant too.  Sounds like a trip to Home Depot so it many not end with just these plants going into the ground.

The pots that were once overflowing with Violas and Stock are nearly empty.  There is 1 lone Stock plant still in the pot with the Lemon Tree.  Earlier in the Spring, as an experiment, I prunned the Stock way back because it became too leggy.  They rebounded and bloomed all over again.  With the really hot temps we had over the past few weeks, it is amazing that this plant still looks good. 

My Mexican Bird of Paradise is looking really good.  It underwent a major prunning this past winter and I am very happy to see that it is already blooming. 

Don't you think the blossoms are outstandingly pretty?

“The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,though to itself it only live and die.” William Shakespeare

Ode to my friends and Lili Von Shtupp

After a great night of good friends, good food and good wine, and only 2 1/2 hours of sleep, I found myself in a somewhat hungover stupor, entertaining myself with the Lili Von Shtupp song from Blazing Saddles. Let me preface by saying that this song began playing in my head because I was wandering around my house saying, "I'm tired".  Hense the inspiration for the song.  So, without further adieu...

Here I stand, the goddess of desire. Set men on fire. I have this power. Morning, noon, and night, it's dwink and dancing. Some quick womancing. And then a shower. Stage door Johnnies constantly suwwound me. They always hound me, with one wequest. Who can satisfy their lustful habits? I'm not a wabbit. I need some west.

I'm tired, sick and tired of love. I've had my fill of love, from below and above. Tired. Tired of being admired. Tired of love uninspired. Let's face it, I'm tired!

I've been with thousands of men, again and again, they pwomise the moon. They're always coming and going and going and coming... and always too soon.

Right, girls?

I'm tired, tired of playing the game. Ain't it a crying shame, I'm so tired.

God Dam it, I'm exhausted!

Tired, tired of playing the game, ain't it a crying shame. I'm so tired.

I've been with thousands of men, again and again, they sing the same tune. They start with Bywon and Shelley then jump on your belly and bust your balloon. Tired. Tired of playing the game. Ain't it a fwiggin shame. I'm so... let's face it, evewything below the waste is kaput!

Thanks to Donna, Cathy and Susan for a really great evening gals!! I can't wait for all of us to be together.

Surprise, surprise, surprise???

Every once in a while, I get a good horoscope and today's was right up there...

"You're not easy to surprise, and most people know it. You've heard it all, memorized a good chunk of it and read up on the rest. At the moment, though, the universe has arranged a big surprise for you -- and not only are you unable to see it coming, you're also caught totally off guard when it arrives. The good news is that this surprise should be wonderful. make sure you're prepared for anything!"

I'm not the typical person who appreciates surprises, but after reading this horoscope, I thought what the heck, I can definitely use a "wonderful" surprise.  So here I am, posting this horoscope as a way of putting this wish back out into the universe. 

Universe, I am totally ready for my big surprise!!  Maybe it will be that wonderful job I dreamt of those many, many months ago, where I cried tears of happiness because I was so happy with my job.

Naturally I will post whatever surprise I get, as soon as it happens.  In the meantime, I'm thinking positive thoughts.

Has anyone seen my marbles??

Is it obvious that I was enamored with this little boat of marbles?  As a child I loved playing with marbles and I think it was more because I was drawn to the designs in the glass than the game itself. 

In 2008, we attended the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden, see my Chihuly page for more pictures of this amazing exhibit.

If only I could have that boat of marbles...

How I spent Saturday

Yesterday, I went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum with a friend.  We had a wonderful time enjoying each other's company, spotting wildlife and taking in nature's latest pallet of color.

There are a few more pictures added to the bottom of my Hiking page.

New in the Garden

The iceplant cometh.

Last blooms on an old Morning Glory vine.

New Morning Glory vine, about 4 inches tall with a very large bloom.

I found all of these lovely blooms in the garden this morning.  I am inspired to spend time later today and over this weekend, pulling grass and dead plants so that I can put in the summer plants.

Strange goings on

I had the strangest experience today that once again causes me to ponder psychic phenomenon or possible severe mental issues. Before I launch into today, let me begin by going back a couple of days. While sleeping Tuesday night, I had this face flash into my mind, causing me to wake up with a jolt. The face was very clear in my mind, but it didn’t belong to anyone I knew. The key features were that he was looking at me, smiling (big smile like maybe he was laughing) with dark eyes and dark hair. I thought it was odd that this would wake me up but maybe that was because the face was so immediately in my head, out of the blue, not part of another dream. After several minutes of pondering whether I could have seen this man at work or on TV or somewhere else, I gave up and forgot about it.

Back to today, I had a consult this morning with a specialist about some dental pain I have been having for the past month. The first thing the doctor said to me was have we met somewhere before? I was still a little sleepy and was only thinking about what this guy might find in my mouth so I looked up at him, looked him over a bit and said, “no I don’t think so”. He was pondering how we might have met and so I said were you around the last time I came into that office which was around 8 years ago? I was there for a root canal performed by another doctor. He said he probably was there. I didn’t point out that 8 years is a long time to remember someone who we might have glanced at as passersby. I get a lot of people asking whether we have met before and for some reason I didn’t want to ponder this, rather, I wanted to chalk it up to one of my many doppelgangers. Within possibly 1 minute of thinking that, it was like the fog lifted and I clearly saw the face of the man in my dream again and felt a distinct, crystal clear realization that this was that man.

Thereafter, the entire time spent at my appointment felt strangely surreal. I felt nervous and I’m not normally nervous due to all the time I’ve spent in their chairs. It was like I had something to hide or feeling exposed somehow.

I came home and did a quick search, and the man is very accomplished. Has impressive credentials, married and a child. Also, he is not from here so it’s not plausible that we’ve seen each other in that “it’s a small world” kind of way.

I don’t know what the heck this was about, but I am beginning to think I should go see a psychic. I have had other strange things happen in the past but this just doesn’t seem like a normal occurrence. Whatever it was, I felt chilled to the bone and still do.

I was joking about this being attributed to a possible mental issue. After all, I did have that time where I felt sick at work and over the morning, started having anxiety to the point where I knew I had to leave and leave then. While driving home, I happened to spot a guy sitting on some fencing that arches over a walkway that runs across a freeway below. The guy looked upset, like he was crying. I called the police and it was reported later that he had attempted suicide. That incident left me high strung for a while.

What are your thoughts? Does this sort of stuff happen to you?

Lyric excerpt that speaks to me

And as we lie beneath the stars, we realize how small we are.  If they could love like you and me, imagine what the world would be.

From Nickelback, If Everyone Cared

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing all the mother's in my life a wonderful Mother's Day.

To just be

I have given some thought to my state of mind today, particularly because I am procrastinating on my chores, errands and basically doing anything productive.  Hmm?? Why am I not getting my arms length of stuff done instead of sitting in front of my computer for like the past 3 hours?

The need to relax can partly be explained due to getting back to work this week.  I quickly discovered what a shock it was to the system it to go back to the working world.  Getting up at 4 a.m. to do Yoga and work out, then working all day which has been very physical, then come home in time to make dinner, unwind and do it all over again.  Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be working, to be out of the house and hopefully on my way to creating a more realistic and normal life.  It feels good and I feel energetic mentally, but at least initially it has also physically drained me.  Still recovering from the meds for treating a "sinus infection" might explain some of it too.

In returning to this state of the "real" world, I am realizing that I need to find my purpose, my happy place, my yang to the yen of this new state, my upside.  So I think that my taking this time to procrastinate for a bit today is about that.  Putting a balance into my week, catching up on emails and Facebook before I set about on another busy day.

To just listen to my body.  To just relax for a bit.  To just breathe.  To just be.

“Smile, breathe and go slowly”  Thich Nhat Hanh