As the endless busy of a crazy week surrounded me, I found the calming. Succulent Gardens.  Who knew?  There I was moving quickly..dirt blending with sand, some shiny rocks, shells and driftwood representing nature's bling.  I was building...seems the wrong word...yes, creating...succulent gardens for women I hardly knew. 

  Strange how we drift into a group for a short time as our children spend their time getting to know the future community if they decide to stay.  This group was women who stepped up many times to offer a hand, sort out or organize a school function or project.  Woman like these are the silent backbone of a school.  They come in and 7 years later they take their child and go to move on and add their helping hands to "what's next".  If you're part of the committee or your child is in the same class, you get a glimpse of the parent.  You might have a short conversation at the "family picnic" day, or open house or the talent show.  Anyway...for some who I've seen volunteering year after year with no thanks, I decided to thank them with nature.  They had nutured a school, so why not something live that when nurtured will also become more.

  So there I was using baskets and pottery and terra cotta containers, adding succulents, and letting the plants guide the way. I knew that I wanted them all to be different, so I'd step back and then add a rock or driftwood piece, then maybe an abalone shell for color.  That's when it happened.  I found myself slowing down, and letting the work be the grounding.  The project became the perfect recipe for letting the week go.  The creating gave me comfort in all my other projects yet to be completed, as I let the garden no matter how small, be a peaceful moment.  Peace can be found in a container garden. It's an opening.

 I brought them all in to the school and gave the women cards that thanked them for their care and support for our school, and instructed them to pick up their garden in the main office. I put no names on the gardens, just let them pick out the one they fancied.  Women I thought I didn't know yet they each picked the one I created with them in mind.  There were 12 in all and one at a time they came in and looked and looked, then picked the one I had whispered a name as I let nature guide my hand.  Ah yes..Life is Good!

Changing your view can be effortless. Perspective takes thought.

Some hearts wait in the shadow for sunlight. 

Hello Xanga.  I've got word from the wave of LIVING.

Anywho...I'm out "in it" and I'm having an amazing experience.  I work work work all the time time time, but I'm feeling more alive and on the rise (Hm mmm, I like that word to describe how I feel ) in my human beingness...RISING...yeah, that's it indeed. 

I have challenged myself to take each situation and think a bit before I speak.  It's getting easier and easier to process what's coming at me with a more mindful response.  This comes in handy with my constant interaction with working "events".  The "gold" in it, is that the practice among the public, brings me a better appreciation of how I "bring home a day" to my own house.  More often than not I can assess a family situation with finesse and some dignity these days.  This sure beats my mad dash from the hip reactions in my college/teen/preteen relationships with my peeps.  The King gets the benefits and example too.  I'm liking this Lyne.

My other job among the gardens of my clients brings me balance.  BALANCE.  A calming space, a place to let my mind wander.  I do toss around situations in my mind as I work sometimes.  Helps me to sort out what does not serve me. You know what I mean, those thoughts that if not thought through will stay and stay inside your head. I then let go of the accumulated "people crap".  Keeps me from become a hateful person, who finds that the world is disappointing and lost in it's self. I give it away to the nature that surrounds me on my landscape days.  The Mother of nature takes it, adds a pinch of dirt to absorb what is not balanced, then lifts it up with her spring breeze and tosses it to "All that Is.  What a TEAM.

My music is another space that fills me up. I'm too old to want fame..wait did I say too old...yep...I'm satisfied with the effort and energy my duo sister and I bring to our Side Effects (that's our name) gigs.  We are harmonizing and laughing and entertaining the folks that show up.  We've also had the opportunity to be back up singers on a few cd's and that has been FUN.  We have a weekly gig at a local wine bar.  It's a small space so we have an intimate time with the patrons.  They recognize songs and we talk about the song writer, the song, or maybe we just include them in our banter about the day, times we live in and the harmony that's still available when you CONNECT.

Have a beautiful day no matter where you are. 

(Pats heart and points to you and you and... (stands on tiptoes) yeah, you too!

   I'm not cheap, but the smiles are free.  I work outside for two of my jobs.  Folks go by all the time.  I don't want to talk to everyone as the time rolls by and I'm on a paid clock.  The smiles are free though, so when someone walks by I look up and smile.  Sometimes "good morning" escapes my lips, then back to the tree I'm trimming or the rocks that I'm placing for a dry river bed in my clients yard.
   I've tried not to do this, but there is something that draws me out when another human comes my way.  Just a small connection that reminds me that we're all sharing this planet.  That smile I give doesn't know who you voted for or how you treat your mother.  It's free.  It's shared.  It's a opening.

(pats heart and points to you)

   I found it at a dollar store and bought up quite a few.  I gave one to college dude to put up on his wall.  Hopefully his friends will read it and have a silent thought or two. I shared with him my thought about how small reminders can be great supporters.  
   I gave one to a friend who's life is upside down. She's making a fresh start and feeling rather lost. She smiled and sounded more confident as she spoke about her choices.
   I gave one to my daughter's friend who wonders where he fits in a world that has so many questions about who he is and who he will be.  He's ten years old.
  I put one on my bedroom wall as a mental reminder to take with me every day, tucked into my thoughts.
  I wouldn't want to leave you out because you just might need to be reminded too.

  pats heart and points to you.

   Or who was I last week? 

   The call from the dove and the scrub jay greet me like a loyal dog. 

    I pour a glass of cheer for someone else and smile.    

    Insight comes in many forms.

    A few months back I had a nice long talk with the universe about being open for new opportunities to find abundance in my life.  The universe listened and the phone began to ring.  Since then I've been on the go shifting dirt, moving rocks and plants, clearing a space for a bridge then creating a dry river bed. Laying a walkway with step stones that give a sense of movement.  It draws your eye into the flow.  This once overgrown garden and the active spirit of my client have brought out new aspects of the artist in me.  I have another client who has a huge garden filled with succulents and cactus.  There I've learned to move carefully.  Some days I work in silence.  Other days, I'm a sounding board for my client's creativity.  I never thought I'd do this work and be paid.  If I had said, "I can't do it", I never would have found the "More of myself" that was available. 

   Later in a day, I brush off the dirt, put on my black and white "service with smile" clothes, then drive the back road into town listening/singing to music that fills me up.  I park at the back of the winery, take a deep breath or five and let the people person shine out.  The more I do this work the more I see how people, no matter who they are or where they come from all share the need for someone to lighten them up a bit or give them a sympathy nod.  I take it seriously to be professional in my work so I also know when to say nothing at all.  That takes practice but I pour wine and say, "Enjoy" more times than you can imagine.  I notice that people are thrilled when you keep their water glass filled.  I notice that there are many people who need some time off to let go and relax. I notice how spoiled and arrogant people can be without much effort.  I smile to myself a lot and find that I have reached an age when I find their behavior amusing and sad at the same time.  I'm getting paid to see the human experience and to add to it if that is my choice. Good old choice!  

   New me. Old me.  Me of the day. With all the physical work,  I also pay attention to what I'm fueling myself with these days.  My body wants to hurt and I have no choice but to listen and take care of the shell that holds me up.  No whining, just living. 

  My dimes worth of advise for 2012?  Have a talk with the universe: your connection to All That Is, then be willing to say "yes" when the phone rings and place yourself in the center of your life.  It's the transformation that makes the journey all your own.

   (pats heart and points to you)

    The future is continuously beginning.  I like how simple it sounds and yet the idea is huge.  It can be a moment into the future and then move up the levels of future understanding to the tip of the future which has yet to occur.  Yep!
   College Bound Dude is going to college this week.  He's already gone in many ways but his cave still shows signs of his still being home.  I'm starting to miss him and have a small yearning to keep him home but then there's this knowing inside me that says to let him go. I'll listen to that knowing. She doesn't let me down.
   We let him go when he wanted to crawl away following and watching and frankly, from that place I continued the 18 year journey with him leading his own way.  It's not that he wouldn't look back or was hesitant to proceed at times, but from the beginning The King and I have guided him in doing things for himself.  He's probably hated us for it more than once...okay more than a hundred times, but now I as watch and listen and let go some more I see that the outcome was well worth the journey.
                                                             
 

  Looking back through the lens of constant new starts brings such a rush of emotions, and at the end of the rush the beginning of calm sets in. You know that feeling right? It's a adjustment to the future. 
   I will drive College Bound Dude to college and probably cry all the way home.  They won't be tears of sadness, they will be tears that open the flow for the next future to come. 
   The future is continuously beginning.  (pats heart and points to you)
 

I was waiting for my to go order of lunch and there on the wall was words of wisdom. They were from The Herald Recorder, Vol XXIV no 38 -July 1,1911.
The article was about the town incorporating and there had been heated discussions regarding the towns people coming to an agreement.
How's this for an old thought," There are so many things to be done, and the pull-together spirit is needed to do them."
Hmmm mm. Old thought?
Is there any pull-together spirit left?

Oh yes I love dinner, but last night's was balanced with goodness, delight, and full of love and laughs. I had dinner with a friend from my past. We hadn't seen each other for about ten years. Where did the time go? My question was answered when the kids I knew as children entered the room as adults. I saw where time went when the grandchildren jumped in the swimming pool and sounded like the past revisited.
I was surprised and pleased that the older kids who remembered me took the time to come by. One of the girls brought her new husband to meet me and she told me I hadn't changed a bit while the new husband confirmed that I was indeed tall. Hahahaha. I guess my height gets around.
The best thing about dear old friendships is that no matter how much time goes by we still have that immediate comfort level. We just stepped back in where we'd left off ten years ago. We hit the laugh level and it turned into excellent medicine. When we took a trip to the store to buy dinner the check out guy told us he was enjoying our banter and wanted to hang out with us. We laughed and told him he'd never be the same and he look at us and said he believed. Old man time just stepped aside and let us retreat to not better times, but rather the times that gave us the strength to be who we are now.
Dinner lose its flavor? Call an old friend and let the feast begin.