Fragile Beauty

On the day of the Japanese earthquake, 3-11-11, we had a vase full of tulips sitting on top of the piano. A loud, rumbling truck idled in front of our house while waiting for the traffic light to change. The vibration knocked a petal off and the beauty and comparison of the fragility of life cut deep. I saw the world as a bouquet of countries and Japan just had a piece of itself die. 

In response to the quake I feel, "Watashi no kokoro wa zutazuta desu." My heart is broken or is in tatters. 

On the other hand, friends know just the right thing to do or say to make things better. God's Minion just sent this photo to us from the Bahamas. In case you can't read the sand writing it says, "Love you Cindia and Don." From one end of the globe to the other, love really does make the world go 'round. 

Twenty Years?!

Groom and I started our whimsical line of art jewelry in 1991 and by my calculations that’s 20 years! Every February we host an anniversary sale, an open house when we put our jewelry on sale (30 – 75% off) for one day only and invite our loyal customers and friends. It’s this Saturday, February 5th, from 10am – 4pm, so come on down.

We nosh, nibble, sip and kibitz. It’s a fun day to reveal new designs, sell some of last year’s items and prepare for the coming season.

Aah, the house is clean, the yard is spruced up and colorful spring flowers are planted. Groom’s in the kitchen baking away and the aroma of fresh pumpkin bread is wafting to where I am sitting at the computer, teasing my nose. Fortunately, or unfortunately, however you look at it, he made brownies earlier, so I just scarfed one down with a delicious cup of coffee. I asked him to hide them, so I would not be further tempted and he just looked at me and said, “Woman, control yourself.” Funny!

The sky here is blue today with the sun shining and the birds singing. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I feel compelled to write this blog as a Valentine to life in general, to the beauty that surrounds.

Years ago, my mother began writing every day things that she felt gratitude for and my father, he is one of those (rare?) men who can actually say “I love you,” out loud and he is very forthcoming with his appreciation. I am lucky to be blessed with such examples.

Picking up the tradition, I keep an Alignment Journal. I write down at least eleven things everyday that I am grateful for, appreciative of, and happy about. I chose eleven because it is such a powerful number for me personally, one of my favorites and it also happens to be 20!!

I also write down things that line up, for example, I looked at the clock today at precisely 11:11am. Anytime I notice “coincidences” and synchronicity, I try to make a note of it. In other words, alignment. The more I notice, the more they show up and it’s so much fun to look back, even a few days later, and realize how bountiful life can be.

Pets, friends, loved ones and customers are mainstays in my life and I want to make certain each and every one of them know just how much I love and value them.

The Word on the Street

“The summer looks out from her brazen tower,
Through the flashing bars of July.” – Francis Thompson




“If people destroy something replaceable made by mankind, they are called vandals; if they destroy something irreplaceable made by God, they are called developers.” – Joseph Wood Krutch

 

 “Without music, life would be a mistake.” – Friedrich Nietzsche






 “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.” – Mother Teresa

“Never has there been a good war or a bad peace.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” – Charles F. Kettering

“Just become quiet, still, and solitary, and the world will offer itself to you to be unmasked; it has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.” – Dana Hawksister

“Without love, life would be a mistake.” – Cindia Carrere

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward

“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.” – Author Unknown

“The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.” – Joseph Campbell

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.” – Brian Tracy

Communal well-being is central to human life.” – Cat Stevens

“If you’re going to be thinking, you may as well think big.” – The Donald

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

“Lenin could listen so intently that he exhausted the speaker.” – Isaiah Berlin

“The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. He also accepteth from a grouch.” – Catherine Hall

The End of a Season

“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.” - Albert Camus

In between these poetic quotes, I am going to pause for a moment and remind everybody that some of these photos make more sense, alone and in context, when viewing them enlarged. Simply click on the image and voila! it's like magic - they get bigger. Then hit the back arrow to return to the blog.

“Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms Without the aid of the Seasons.” – Kahlil Gibran

What exactly is a season, anyway? Is it the division of a calendar by four, astronomically orchestrated by those power couples, the Solstices and the Equinoxes?

“No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.” – Hal Borland

Eep, I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but in Oregon, the weather decides her own moods and a timekeeper she is not. We’d prefer to think of the seasons as being equal, the 12 pages of the calendar neatly categorized into four symmetrical periods of three months each.

Well, let me tell you, that is not how Mother Nature reveals herself around here. Winter is the longest season by far, starting in November and stretching out her stay until Spring finally pounces like a roaring kitten in April, showering us with rain, hail, snow, fitful sun and flowers from the bulb.

If brevity is King, then Summer is our Monarch, arriving in July and leaving in July. Autumn comes at his earliest convenience, unpacking in August and staying until Halloween.

And let me make this clear, Halloween is over my friends. Do I really need to state the obvious? Get rid of your putrefying pumpkins, it’s the end of the season!

“What you have to remember is that baseball isn’t a week or a month but a season – and a season is a long time.” - Chuck Tanner

In quest of defining “a season,” it seems to encompass more than weather patterns. It is a time of year dictated by certain activities, such as sports, hunting, fishing, television, shopping (oooh, Black Friday is almost here), planting, harvesting and worshipping.

Autumn-into-Winter has many overlapping seasons, the first of which is ushered in by its fashionable rule: No white shoes after Labor Day.

In quick succession, our days are governed by Back-to-school sales, Grandparents Day, Stepfamily Day, Talk Like a Pirate Day, International Day of Peace, the Jewish Holy Days, the Equinox, Johnny Appleseed Day, Constitution Week, National Hispanic Heritage Month,

Native American Day, National Children’s Day, Leif Erikson Day, Columbus Day, White Cane Safety Day, National Boss Day, Sweetest Day, United Nations Day, Mother-in-Law’s Day, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, National School Lunch Week, National Forest Products Week, Halloween, All Saints Day, Veteran’s Day, Chakra Girl’s Birth Day, and Thanksgiving. Phew!

Of course, there’s more, but let me sum up by saying, no wonder we feel overwhelmed.

Thus far, we’ve established that there are four main seasons, plus all the Holiday/Activity seasons, but what is the Fifth Season or the New Season? I’m still trying to sort that out.

Changing direction by degrees, to season is to add flavor, either to food or conversation. Wood sometimes needs to be seasoned, the wealthy often season elsewhere, people are seasoned by experience and this week we bid adieu to the final outdoor Saturday Market for the 2009 season.

As one season ends, keep in mind we have others to anticipate. There’s Clean Up Your Moldy Pumpkin Day, AIDs Awareness Day, National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Human Rights Day, Kimmm Day, National Regifting Day, First Day of Winter, Christmas, Kwanza, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve…

“To everything (Turn Turn Turn), There is a season (Turn Turn Turn) and a time to every purpose, under Heaven.”- Pete Seeger and King Solomon