eclipse a'coming

Hi Maggie...

The redwing blackbirds are back. They are back early...they're back. The redwings sing summer in my soul.  I hear them with my soul and something wakes up, and then my senses are heightened...and there they are.  I hear them with my ears, I find them with my eyes.  It happens every year. Yet every year is a surprise full of exuberant joy.

Soon we'll hear the spring peepers!  And I saw my first robin last week. But nothing compares to the redwings!

Do you know what - I disagree. I don't think we need to decompress once in awhile. I think laughter and companionship and good food should be a regular part of our lives.  But I/we can't have that when we live in isolation.

The massage was okay.  She asked if I had any stress points or physical problems for her to work on.  I said I didn't know, but that this was my first time and that I had been raped, so I was feeling real vulnerable. She asked if maybe she should focus mainly on back and neck and head, so that I could feel safe and relaxed.

As she worked on my back, I became aware that working on my body is not unlike cleaning the house.  Regular upkeep is healthy.  This was a shock for me, with my hidden Puritan roots, me who is always waiting for everyone else everything else before it is my turn.

I sort of understood the statement that the body is a temple, housing my soul, the vehicle for my soul, the part that allows me to be grounded here, enjoying the physical density, the glory and beauty of this world.

Maybe I was actually in my body for the while...

I noticed I clenched my hands together, and I clench my jaw. She said maybe next time we can work on those two areas.  Hmmmmmm...will there be a next time???

I also had the thought, as she was working the knots out of my shoulders, that for a moment the weight of the world was lifted.  Writing that makes me emotional...but in true me-fashion, the thought warped someplace strange.  I suddenly wondered how to do this for the trees, for the Earth.

I'm still thinking. Yesterday my little buddy and I walked in the woods, and instead of watching the ground - scouting for the earliest herbs, I was looking up, asking the branches for advice.

Tonight is an eclipse.  It is a solar eclipse which will be visible over the Pacific Ocean.  I have been having strange middle of the night occurrences, and so I planted a tree of flames in the middle of my little house.  It is rooted well below the basement, and stretches far above the roof. And it protects.  Let's see what happens next.

S#5 and I think maybe you should Reiki all of us in October. A Reiki party!!  I think Melvin is a sweet name.  I have known a few and they were all calm and smiling and present.

I remember being a teenager. Emotions were extreme.  I was never so high or so low.  I think maybe I miss the highs, but never the lows.  I prefer this mellow balance of being older.  And in fact, I don't know if I need those highs. Now there is a sweeter, more pervasive high.

Each stage is a gift.  But it's hard to know that while in the middle of chaos...

Hope all is well with all-y'all.

Love and hugs from Clare