Yes... You!

...

This morning I was browsing through YouTube and found a video I posted on my blog way back in early May. It has a lovely message and I thought I'd send the link to a few friends who weren't reading my blog back then.

So I set out to go to all the bloggers I wanted to greet this morning, but the first blog I went to was Amias, who has a plea out for another friend of hers who desperately needs cheering up - Awake in Rochester.

Okay... I thought... seems I'm needed to send this to more people than I realised. Then I went on to the next friend, Ritva, and found her latest post saying,

The pattern you saw emerging may have been there a long time. Some event or another just draw your attention to it. Quite simply, you woke up to see it. And it doesn't have to be there for no other reason than .... for you to see it is there. To give you the opportunity to either take notice and follow to see where it leads and what it has to teach you. Or on the other hand, just ignore the possibility offered to a new view and go on with your life as usual. Whichever your choice may be, these events and patterns are there to open you a window to something else. Something new. Something that could very well be the path to one of the most meaningful experiences in your life.

wow. :-|

With each friend I have visited this morning I can see that they either need to see that video, or they need to be here, reading this post - needing to know that they are loved, whether it is by God/ Creator, or by friends...

We are all connected in the love of friendship,
because Love goes beyond all boundaries.

For all my friends (yeah, you boys too!), here's the song and lyrics once again:

BEAUTIFUL FLOWER by India Arie

This is a song for
Every girl who's
Ever been through something
She thought she couldn't make it through, yeah
I sing these words because
I was that girl, too
Wanting something better than this
But who do I turn to?

Now we're moving from the darkness into the light
This is the defining moment of our lives

Cause you're beautiful
Like a flower
More valuable
Than a diamond
You are powerful
Like a fire
You can heal the world
With your mind and
There is nothing in the world that you cannot do
When you believe in you
Who are beautiful (yeah you)
Who are brilliant (yeah you)
Who are powerful (yeah you)
Who are resilient

This is a song for
Every girl who
Feels that she is not special
Cause she don't look like a supermodel Coke bottle
The next time the radio tells you
To shake your money-maker
Shake your head and tell them
Tell them you're a leader

Now we're moving from the darkness into the light
This is the defining moment of our lives

Cause you're beautiful
Like a flower
More valuable
Than a diamond
You are powerful
Like a fire
You can heal the world
With your mind and
There is nothing in the world that you cannot do
When you believe in you
Who are beautiful (yeah you)
Who are brilliant (yeah you)
Who are powerful (yeah you)
Who are resilient (yeah you)
Who are beautiful (yeah you)
Who are brilliant (yeah you)
Who are powerful (yeah you)
Who are resilient (yeah you)

This song is for you
Yeah you
;-)

Newsflash for August

...
August was so weird that the best thing I can do is to just dump the whole month under a...

Nature
Entertainment
Wise words
Spirit
Family
Lessons
Artist
Smiles
Health

NATURE

Bunny boy has been enjoying our garden all summer. I'm trying to get a good video of him washing himself, but every time I try he either turns his back on me or stops. grrrr!

The bramble berries are ripe here already. I'm going to get hubby to go pick some for me, so I can bake an apple and bramble berry crumble. The last two houses we rented before this had apple trees and I even made my own mint and apple jelly. I miss those trees. It's a wonderful feeling creating food from things right outside your door.

ENTERTAINMENT

The whole family is hooked on a TV documentary about Monkey World, the Ape and Monkey rescue centre started by Jim Cronin in the 1980's. We've watched through three generations of chimpanzees and orangutans. Not only is the TV show highly entertaining, but it brings to attention the plight of some endangered species I never knew existed.. or that they were so endangered.

My favourite personality is Sally, the chimp who "runs" the nursery as foster mum. She has raised, taught and taken care of baby chimps from as diverse sources as abandoned pets, rejected babies, stolen pet-trade finds and abused circus animals. But the prettiest primate, in my opinion, is Peanut, the golden-cheeked gibbon. She's just gorgeous.

The work in conservation and care that the people of Monkey World have done and continue to do is incredible. If you have the chance to view this show (or merely view the website) ...do it!

WISE WORDS
My Wise Words choice for August are from Hayden, of Lyric Flight.

I daydream about growing forts of sunflowers for my nieces' kids to play in; I dream of planting willow twigs fastened together in the form of chairs and benches, and think of the time to come when I will be able to sit in them.

In the meantime, instead of having my landscaper limb the "weed" tree up, as he suggested, we cut a secret path through the cascading limbs and blanketing leaves. There is room, on the far side, to create another garden room if someone has the energy and interest. My contribution will be only the path.

Too much is "cleaned out" and on open display; yards need room for the hidden and secret, where our hearts can learn to bloom freely.

Let the new owners limb it up if they choose: but I leave them the promise of secrets if they choose to indulge.

Lovely, Hayden. :-) It made me think of the photo I've used for my new blog banner - mysterious magical places. SPIRIT

For this one I'm sharing a favourite link of mine to Worriers Anonymous. They have a selection of soothing music, from gentle gospel, new age and classic to nature sounds., They're set to nature photography. They're all lovely and soothing. I often leave them running in the background when I'm working.

FAMILY

Last week, the day I came out of hospital actually, we were contacted by family with the news a family member had died. My cousin's ex-wife was shot as she sat in her car waiting to refuel at a petrol Station. I have no words to express the shock and sadness the whole family feel at this news.

glitter-graphics.com

LESSONS

The lesson of this month has been - never take anything for granted.

ARTIST
My Artist choice for this month is a group called the High Kings. I love this song and hope you enjoy it too.

SMILES

HEALTH

It's now two weeks since I had my operation. I can't touch my feet yet, but I can get out of bed without needing help. Every day I'm getting better. :-).

...

This Year...

...
A rather clever email my sister-in-law sent me. :-)

This year... Don't over do things; keep your limits:

• Drink plenty of water
• Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants, and eat less food that is manufactured in plants
• Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy
• Play more games
• Read more books
  
• Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
• Sleep for 7 hours
• Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day - and while you walk... smile!
• Don't take yourself so seriously ; no one else does
• Dream more while you are awake
• Don't remind your partner with his/her past mistakes . That will ruin your present happiness.
• Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present
• No one is in charge of your happiness except you
• Smile and laugh more
• You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
• Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
• Try to make at least three people smile each day
• Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful
• However good or bad a situation is, it will change
• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
• The best is yet to come...

...

Recuperating

...
Well... I'm home. :-) I actually was let out on Thursday. I'm stiff and a bit sore, otherwise doing well, but sitting at a computer is uncomfy and I'm having to only write or read for a short while at this stage. I'll be back to write more interesting things once I can sit here long enough do write properly. Since I can't bend and am not allowed to strain, stretch or pick up heavy things I'm pretty limited to what I can do and life is a bit boring. At the moment life is...

glitter-graphics.com

I am being very spoilt at home. Mom and dad and hubby are seeing to my every need and I have TWO cooks I can rely on now. Mom cooked all week, but hubby cooked dinner last night. So now mom can relax a bit as well. :-)

With all this care and TLC I should be healed and full of bounce in no time!

...

Noa - beautiful that way

Thanks to Tint, for introducing me to this lovely singer.

I'm back! :-)

...

Can you tell I'm smiling?

Hubby managed to save all my data and my computer is finally back in one piece. The only problem is that in saving everything some files doubled up and my emails re-installed in triplicate!

So at the moment I am wading through everything to delete the extras. I also lost my email address book and am having to re-install each email address manually. Another long plodding job. It's boring, but way better than sitting here with an empty screen, like this time last week!

I had a great birthday weekend and will get around to thanking all my well-wishers properly soon. For now...

THANK YOU everyone for the lovely birthday wishes. :-)

This Sunday I go into hospital for my hernia operation on Monday morning. I might be gone a few days. THen I've been told to rest and not lift, strain or bend and pull anything for six weeks. Loads of time to rest and write blog posts... and another book. *grin* I have the ideas for the second book in the First Light Saga all ready to weave together. Given this recent scare I'll be backing up everything on more than one computer this time - just in case!
...

Ups and Downs

...
On Wednesday my computer was r-e-a-l -l-y ... s---l---o---w
and then...

nothing.

Blank screen. :-((

I haven't been able to start it up since Wednesday morning so this is being typed on hubby's computer. The good news is that hubby has bought me all new computer innards for my birthday (today) and he'll get going on repairs this weekend. :-) Hopefully my info is all safe, but if I lose stuff... I'll survive. It's just stuff. I have my book and trailer backed up and my 2nd book (grin) is still on paper scraps and notbooks. I never ever start writing on computer. For some reason I always need paper to start.

So... it's my birthday today and I don't care about computers - i'm going to go and enjoy my day! i hope you all have a great weekend and hopefully I'll be back some time next week.

...