expected, welcomed, and fascinating...

hello, my lovelies, 

i'm here with blurry eyes tonight to share a little about my trip from september.

i went back to what might possibly be my most favorite place i've ever been in the world, where a piece of my soul resides, and where i feel more at peace than anywhere else: 

yes, i made a trip back to ghost ranch, abiquiu, new mexico.  

i drove 4 days, to santa fe, stayed there for 3 then went to ghost ranch for another art retreat.  i'll share about the art in another post, this one is just about the trip.

i made my stops in smyrna, tn, van buren, ar, and amarillo, tx.  it's only a short drive from amarillo to santa fe, so day four was an easy drive.  i was on a mission to get to santa fe by a certain day as i had an appointment the following day and couldn't possibly miss it.

this is why i had to be there by a certain time...

this photo is from right after she finished, but it is healed up now and looks great.  i love it so much!  i've been wanting this tattoo since my first trip to ghost ranch in 2019.  the design is mine and the landscape inside the heart is from a photo i took on one of the earlier trips.  

if you are a tattoo person, the artist who did this one is Nikki at Rivers Collective Body Art.  best decision i made in a long time.  she was so awesome to work with and easy to talk to, everything about the experience was fabulous.  (i'm already thinking about what to get next time i'm out there. 😁)

then i had a couple of days to hang around and explore or rest (resting was a big thing) and shop, of course.  i found some fabulous places.  i went back to The Ark for some books/witchy type stuff.  then i checked out a bead store as i had forgotten to bring a lot of things for class.  Beadweaver is amazing and has more than just beads and jewelry makings.  i went a little crazy in the sticker section. haha.  as i was leaving there, i remembered a place i'd followed on instagram and it was right across the road.  it was awesome!  The Crow's Nest is fascinating.  seriously!  i found some pretty cool things in there.  plus, she has haunted dolls and they were telling me all kinds of stories!  i was also able to find several out of print books on Georgia O'Keeffe at a used bookstore not far from my hotel.

anywho, when i arrived at ghost ranch they had just finished a 3 day music festival so it was quite chaotic.  lucky for me, it settled down later that evening.  other than a couple of storms rolling through it was pretty quiet for the week, but it was monsoon season, so the rain was expected, and welcomed, and fascinating.

(the mountain that Georgia claimed - Pedernal)

(sunset after a storm)

(always looking for heart rocks)

our middle of the week outing was a trip to Taos, but i decided to stay in and go for a hike.  then i came by the above sign as i headed to a trail and decided to head to my room and do some painting instead.  i never saw the mountain lion but did see some paw prints.  and some of the staff were telling us about how they like to come up to the buildings and rub up against them at night while people are sleeping.  one night though, i did hear a pack of coyotes singing.  i thought they were right there it sounded so close.  but someone else who heard them said they were pretty far away or it would have been much louder.

(sunrise on the last day)

(part of the trail between the mesa with my room and the main buildings at ground level)

when i planned this trip it was with the understanding that it would be our last retreat out there.  i had planned to take the long way home and stop several places so i could explore a bit more of things i'd never seen and do a bit more shopping.  but as it got closer i found that i'd spent too much money and so had to just come straight home.

the day before we were to leave, i found out that there will be at least one more retreat with this group out there and the dates have already been set for 2027.  so i KNOW i'll be going again!  i've already started saving and planning my 2027 trip.  woo hoo!!!

well, it's taken a couple of hours to write this and my eyes are so exhausted. i'll be back soon to share what we were making and some of the things i brought back from my trip.  

hope you are all having a great week.

love & kisses & magical wishes...

~*~

it's a meme day!

 hi my lovelies, 

love & kisses & magical wishes...

~*~

of pumpkins and mums and the best month of the year...

hello october, 

hello my lovelies, 

if you're still here following along, thank you.  i truly had not meant to be away so long.  an injury to my foot threw me off my game in august and made my planned travel in september questionable which resulted in quite a bit of panic on my part.

but, it all worked out and i was able to take my trip west.  it was lovely and i plan to share about it soon.  i'd planned to get here after returning home and share, but i've been completely exhausted and am still not up to full steam just yet.  i'm getting there.

with today being the 1st of october, my favorite month of the year, i figured it was the best time to come back to bloglandia.

so here i am.  the photos i'm sharing today are from previous years posts.  i've not decorated for autumn yet, that is on tomorrows plans, at least inside.  i need to run to the farmers market for pumpkins and mums for the outside.

well, that's all for today.  i'll see you back here soon.  and i'll be coming around to visit everyone as soon as i can.  it'll take me a while to get caught up, but i'll do it.  :-)

 

nothing added to the water...

'clink, clink'  hello?  

un...

two days in a row?  wt...

heeheeheee.....

that's right, babes!  i'm back again!  haha.

first off, you should know... there has been nothing added to the water around here.  but i'm a little... wait, what is that word?

hypnotic? no, that's not it

um, hippopotamus?

no... definitely not.

oh...yeah..  i got it now!   

SUPERDUPEREXTREMELYOFFTHECHARTSSWIMMINGAROUNDTHEMOON-HYPER!!!  Yep...that's the word.

y'all, i've been up since 4am, technically 3 since i just dozed for an hour before getting out of bed at 4 and have not stopped talking since.  litterally. i am talking.  constantly. to... myself.

there is no one here but me!  haha!  and on a silent sunday too!  freaking hilarious.

i've also done 3 loads of laundry, watered the gardens, started on the houseplants and done a whole long list of other quests for the day.  i figured it might be good to get a post in while i spent some time searching for what to do with a glut of cucumbers.  goddess, i tell you i'm giving them away and still can't get through them.

so today, i'm focusing (here on this post - if i can hehe) on an update on my book of me or mybome.

Here is where I started at the first of January of this year:

  and this is where we were in april:

and now we are in the middle of august, although this picture is of the tarot spread page i put at the beginning of august:

under my fingers on the right of the above picture is the front cover of the journal and above the current last notebook added (but not the last to be added!).  and yes, i have to fold it.  you'll see.

may i present... the leaning tower of mybome (my book of me)

when i added those last couple of journals at the bottom i put them in too tight.  it is bulky and unweildy and not at all how i thought it would be as something i could keep with me all the time and i still love it so much!

i made a collage instead of trying to get each picture in separately.  each day i draw a card from a selected monthly deck or tarot or oracle (more near the end) and i make a copy on my printer on card stock, write notes from the creator's guide on the back then tack into my journal.  my personal notes on the card go into the journal entry for the day.  it helps me learn new decks and remember things too.  i'm having so much fun with this.

i've been trying to figure out how to keep my imitation bullit journal quest days together, they always seem to end up spread out and then i'm searching and searching.  ugh.  i like how i figured this one out.  monday through friday plans.  (shopping for freezers a bonus!)

i think that second row kind of sums me up a bit, on one side i'm all spirit and woods and sacred and on the other, i know where you live keep you're damn mouth shut.  and in the middle alllllll the things that geminis like to experiment with!  hee hee

and the last two in the collage.  the front and i ran out of tape and had to switch it up and the book on it's side.

i actually made a video a while back to share, i think Debra might have asked.  but i can't get it to show here.  i've tried a couple times.  i was going to go the ytube route, but ... recent things there have me hesitant to even watch videos of some of my favorite creators, much less post anything.

i need to find way to contain the beast (keep it wrapped whilst traveling), so that is on this week's quests.  yes, i said traveling...  :-)

so... the card shown above is from the below gorgeous, and fantastically accurate and downright magical Witching Hour Oracle by the amazing and gifted Lorriane Anderson of Spirit Element.

if you're not familiar with her work and are the tiniest bit witch adjacent, is that what it's called now, please go check her out.  She is fabulous!  And her newsletter and blog are great.  She does a weekly newsletter tarot/oracle pull that i consult every day, after my own pulls and it is amazing to see how often they connect.  I was actually shopping for a different deck she had reviewed when i stumbled across this one and just could not put it down.  Sooooo glad it came home with me!

i think that's it for me today.  i need to go fold the last load of laundry.  i'm at the part of the house doomstashing where i go through every inch of clothes i own and decide if it is something to keep, repurpose, or donate.  

hope you have a marvelously fantastic rest of your day lovelies!

thanks for being here...

love & kisses & magical wishes...

~*~

ps... if you want a chuckle and a little wisdom at the same time, come see what The Ancestors had to say to me this morning.

Resist... however you can...

hello, my lovelies...

long time no type...

things have been good with me, just busy and i am working on finding a way to be here in the blogosphere much more frequently.  i'm working on a post for another day that will show why it's hard for me to do that.  hee-hee...a little teaser for you.

one of the things i've been doing is not focusing on the negativity of what is happening.  it hit me one moment that reading it all and reposting all that is just increasing my rage and anger and is not helping anyone, especially me.

we ALL know everything is wrong.  in fact, there is a song, sung by Sigrid, that i first heard from the movie Justice League (and know i did not know it was written by Leonard Cohen, i just discovered that looking up the lyrics).

here are some of the verses or stanzas.  geez for an ex-chorus girl you would think i would remember this. anywho, not the whole song, but it sure is a good one.  and i love Sigrid's version.

Everybody Knows 

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast

But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows


Everybody knows

so today i think i'll post some things that help me when i get overwhelmed with the rage and anger.  so much, i've started printing them and taping them in my book of me.  it's fun to flip through and see what made me feel good that day or smile or laugh or whatever.

yes, laughter is resistance.  so is love, and joy, and smiles, and hugs and all of the good things that are not so much missing in our lives, but are being pushed under the rage and hate and racism.  we certainly are not born hating anyone.  we are born loving everyone.  it is something we need to remember and encourage.

alright, enough chit chat!

well...that's all i've got for today, i've been up since about 3am and thought i'd have this up by 10. hahahaha...yeah, right.  

hopefully, i'll be back soon.

i sure hope you are all doing the best you can, given what the world is like and that your personal little world is a good, beautiful, sunshiney place, or if you're like me a place with sunshine, thunderstorms and cloudy skies in almost equal measure.  

y'all be good, 

thanks for being here...

love & kisses & magical wishes

~*~

ps...in the preview i see that at the end of the post i linked to in the book of me link i had named it my collective, i can't remember if i ever came back and said i changed it.  just too pretentious sounding for my southern twangy voice, in my head, anyway.  :)

grateful for all...

 oh, my lovelies...

yesterday, my intention for the day was to remember to find little sparkles of joy, or something like that.  so, i braided my hair and enjoyed looking at the braids all day.

i watched the birds sing and flit about the back garden for a bit.

i listened to music and sang like i was on stage whilst driving to hospital.

i collapsed into my chair after arriving home and rested and read for hours after hospital because, damn, but that takes a lot out of a body.

i don't think i found as many as i had hoped - because 3 hours in hospital and subsequent exhaustion after.

so today i thought i'd share the little sparkles from my last couple of weeks with you.

july's cheesecake day was banana pudding cheesecake.  i only had one piece before the rest disappeared.  it was much better than i thought it would be, and i wish i'd been able to have another piece.  making all these has given me some ideas for others that i want to create myself.

i'm not certain what is going on with the weather, but we've had big storms every day.  it's been so hot and humid.  i don't think i've had to water the garden in maybe three weeks, with all the rain we've had.

the neighbor had company today, and they arrived in this 1941 Cadillac LaSalle.  It's a very nice, cool car, but I would've picked a different color.

a turtle the neighbor found in the back yard.  she called and told me to hurry over.  i thought she'd found a snake, but just a pretty turtle.

the harvest from this morning. some of the cucumbers are funny shaped cause they were growing on the ground instead of hanging. but they'll eat just fine.  there are a few tomatoes, a couple cayenne peppers, jalapenos and a small handful of green beans.  just enough for me to have for dinner tonight.

yes, i know.  this doesn't look like a sparkle.  but i'm hopeful that it will bring me a bit of relief from migrainelandia.  yesterday was my 2nd of 8 weekly magnesium sulfate and fluid infusions.  i'm at hospital for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours, in a nice quiet room.  yesterday went by very quickly, thanks to some meditations and spotify.

well, that's it for me today.  i'm off to finish the rearrange/deep cleanup of my art area and a few other things.  i hope to get to read and catch up on all my favorite blogs soon.  my reading has fallen behind a lot.

hope you're having a lovely day.  let's find something to be grateful for today, as i'm grateful for all of the above.

love & kisses & magical wishes, 

~*~  

let's visit memeville today...

hi, my lovelies, 

it's been a long week, and this is about all i have in me today.  i hope to be back soon.

i think the state of the world + capricorn full moon + infusion trip + migraine are taking their toll and i'm wiped.

and why do republican "christians" forget about Jesus when it doesn't fit their agenda?

let's wrap up today with some powerful words by some powerfully beautifully good people.

alright y'all, let's make some good, necessary trouble...

thanks for being here...

love & kisses & magical wishes...

~*~

ps... i think i found all these on substack.