Beautiful June

It's a glorious Saturday in June. My yard pales in comparison to this exquisite photo I found in Bing (after reading dear bloggie friend Dancin' Fool's blog and swiping a photo from said Bing!) Had to make it as my new header photo perhaps to stay the entire spring/summer. Isn't it beautiful? Wouldn't you want to be there having a picnic, playing a drum or a flute or a harmonica? Enticing the birds to sing for you? I spent some time out in my yard photographing the 7 pink water lilies blooming this morning and the two bullfrogs hanging out amongst them. Got some photos of other flowers and Tuffy, of course. He loves to pose, but he would never admit it...too aloof for that! He gave me a gift of "rubbing his scent" on me as I stood in the yard. He isn't one to do this hardly ever, instead he loves to "scent" just about anything besides me and his "daddy" ... so we are always thrilled when he graces us with this gift. Thanks, Tuffy Boy! I just hear the "noon whistle" blowing off in the distance ... at 1 pm! Ha! This daylight savings time ... shows you how important a noon whistle is. Time is irrelevent, esp on a Saturday in June.

***

Today is my good friend Juergen's birthday. I'd like to say he'd read this, but I know he won't. Fortunately, I sent him a photo card of Tuffy Boy taking a catnap, which I urged him to do for his birthday. I think I might be doing some of that this weekend as I'm short on sleep.

***

We had surprise visits from friends Wally, Patti and Evelyn who live in Georgia now. We had lunch with them yesterday and all talked furiously ... and ate dessert, us "girls" anyway! Yum! I had coconut cream pie and they both had awesome looking hot fudge somethings which I dipped the old fork in a few times (with invitation!) Sure wish we could've visited more but they are probably on their merry way back to Georgia as I write. Thanks so much for thinking of us, Buds! It'd been a long time.

***

Also had a great visit with my cousin Jimi Lee right after I got home from work. Each time we've gotten together recently, it's like time stands still and we are talking nonstop for 5-8+ hrs at a stretch! But it doesn't seem long to us. It's like a crash course in getting to know a relative you only "thought" you knew. I so very rarely see family members that it has meant so much to me.

***

Tonight we are going to a friend's house to watch new episodes of Dr Who on BBC TV. We don't get that on our cable so it gives us a good excuse to go have fun at someone else's home and catch up and play with the little dog, Baby, and little cat, BP (for "back porch"). Jan is an awesome person and her home is decorated so uniquely, her sewing all her drapery and curtains and painting her walls quite intricately in interesting color combos. Then there's that big screen TV Jeff loves ;oD ... and the Heineken. Anyone out there a Dr Who fan?

***

As for me, I am feeling pretty peaceful and happy. My neck hurts somewhat from a rather heavy workload this week, after having extra time off and only working 3 days, I made up for it with the workload and messages that came in. One day I could swear I spoke with about a thousand people, but I think I exaggerate. And to think I am not one who likes to talk on the phone much! ha ha! What webs we weave, eh? There I am stuck in the middle of my web I've woven of working for two separate psychiatric practices ... and there was a surge of calls from those wanting to be seen for first time appts. I have at least 6! to call back on Monday.

"Here I come to save the day!"

It means that Mighty Kylie Mouse is on her way!

Mr. Trouble never hangs around

when he hears this mighty sound:

"Here I come to save the day!"

It means that Mighty Mouse is on his way!

***

Sending love and highest and best wishes for

a beautiful first weekend in June!

(Hi to Rhi, Dancin' and Muhd...my best

blogging buddies!)

Voila!

XO

Full Moon Croon

Preparing for a 4-day weekend ahead and sending Love and Peace to all those who stop by. I would like to post a few items now that I read late last night. I have many books transcribed from talks given by the "politically incorrect mystic" (as he called himself) Osho. I also have the metaphysical "tool" published after his death, Zen Tarot. Last night before I went to sleep, I chose a card which turned out to be "Let Go" ... and this a.m. I chose a card called "Aloneness". I would like to transcribe both of those here for anyone who might find something poignant in them as I did. I feel a little too weary myself to compose much in the way of a post, but that doesn't mean I don't want to share something with you. Forgive me for now and then using others' words to convey something I deem important, so that you will know that I am thinking of you and sending you my love, from your SisSTAR xo.

#8 from Water: Emotions...LETTING GO

In existence there is nobody who is superior and nobody who is inferior. The blade of grass and the great star are absolutely equal...But man wants to be higher than others, he wants to conquer nature, hence he has to fight continuously. All complexity arises out of this fight. The innocent person is one who has renounced fighting; who is no longer interested in being higher, who is no longer interested in performing, in proving that he is someone special; who has become like a roseflower or like a dewdrop on the lotus leaf; who has become part of this infinity; who has melted, merged and become one with the ocean and is just a wave; who has no idea of the "I". The disappearance of the "I" is innocense.

Commentary: In th is image of lotus leaves in the early morning, we can see in the rippling of the water that one drop has just fallen. It is a precious moment, and one that is full of poignancy. In surrendering to gravity and slipping off the leaf, the drop loses its previous identity and joins the vastness of the water below. We can imagine that it must have trembled before it fell, just on the edge between the known and the unknowable.*To choose this card is a recognition that something is finished, something is completing. Whatever it is--a job, a relationship, a home you have loved, anything that might have helped you to define who you are--it is time to let go of it, allowing any sadness but not trying to hold on. Something greater is awaiting you, new dimensions are there to be discovered. You are past the point of no return now, and gravity is doing its work. Go with it--it represents liberation.

************************

and...

IX - ALONENESS.......

When you are alone you are not alone, you are simply lonely--and there is a tremendous difference between loneliness and aloneness. When you are lonely you are thinking of the other, you are missing the other. Loneliness is a negative state. You are feeling that it would have been better if the other was there--your friend, your wife, your mother, your beloved, your husband. It would have been good if the other was there, but the other is not.

Loneliness is absence of the other. Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive. It is a presence, overflowing presence. You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.

Commentary:

When there is no 'significant other' in our lives we can either be lonely, or enjoy the freedom that solitude brings. When we find no support among others for our deeply felt truths, we can either feel isolated and bitter, or celebrate the fact that our vision is strong enough even to survive the powerful human need for the approval of family, friends or colleagues. If you are facing such a situation now, be aware of how you are choosing to view your 'aloneness' and take responsibility for the choice you have made.*The humble figure in this card glows with a light that emanates from within. One of Gautam Buddha's most significant contributions to the spiritual life of humankind was to insist to his disciples, "Be a light unto yourself." Ultimately, each of us must develop within ourselves the capacity to make our way through the darkness without any companions, maps or guide.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And one more from Guide for the Advanced Soul (as from previous post) .... I will open the book up to whatever page my Higher Self chooses, just for all of YOU out there ... for a special message for your Memorial Day weekend, as you remember those who have gone before you, as you understand that you a "Light Unto Yourself" and I honor you as I do those I remember with love and respect and the highest and best Life has to offer:

(wait for it............;oD.......drum roll............)

"Have you learned lessons only

of those who admired you,

and were tender with you,

and stood aside for you?

Have you not learned

great lessons

from those who braced

themselves against you,

and disputed the passage

with you?"

--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

and:

"Rest satisfied with doing well,

and

leave others to talk of you

as they will."

--Pythagoras

With Love from Your

SisSTAR XOXOXO

From RUMI

God picks up the reed-flute

world and blows.

Each note is a need coming

through one of us,

a passion,

a longing pain.

Remember the lips

where the wind-breath

originated,

and let your note be clear.

Don't try to end it.

Be your note.

I'll show you how it's enough.

Go up on the roof at night,

in this city of the soul.

Let everyone climb on their roofs

and sing their notes!

Sing loud!

-Rumi

(from A Guide for

the Advanced Soul

created and handwritten by

Susan Hayward-

copyright 1984)

Let the Sun Shine

After so much rain and thunderstorms for days on end, it is a gloriously beautiful Saturday and I wanted to wish everyone a happy and loving weekend. This photo was from a friend's blog as he wrote about his friend's death as a tribute to her ... I wanted to copy the photo here with the intention that all of us have had losses of friends and loved ones and those losses impact our lives in many ways. Sometimes it has felt like my whole life has been one of loss and grief of some form. I want to honor those who are grieving or ill or considering losses of various forms, be they actual deaths or the demise of a certain relationship, the loss of a beloved pet, the loss of what "might have been" in many scenarios. I know from my experience that to be brave enough to face my losses and grieve has not always made me popular with others, but with plumbing the depths of my grief feelings, I have learned that I am far more capable of feeling the joy and love of life even more, and realizing that life is very short ... then those others who have not always appreciated my sorrow, depression or sadness on the one end of the spectrum are fully able to enjoy the laughter, happiness, lovingkindness, peace, joy, humor, acceptance of others, that I am able to muster on the other end of the spectrum. Feel your feelings, people ... it's not always necessary to wallow or dwell, but it is important to FEEL and, for my own desire, to understand, if not the "others", then to understand myself. That's been important to me most of my life. So enjoy the rain and the sunshine, the flowers and the weeds, the mud and the grass, the lush greenery leafing out everywhere ... enjoy your own image in your mirrors and realize that, with a sense of wonder and amazement, and with a bit of imagination, joining you in that mirror image are all those "others" who you've known, who have taught you by example good or bad, who have impacted your life and who may or may not still be actively a part presently. Let go of sadness as you can and open to the wonder of joy-filled moments. Reflect back to everyone the pure YOU that resides within you and resonates out and away, blessing others as you are blessed by others. I sincerely feel blessed by you out there, and I send you my love ... from
Your SisSTAR XOXOXOXO.

Over the Hump Day TGIW

What a pair!

***

I ran across a few things after an old friend stopped to bring me 2 photos she'd found of her mother's. My mother had given her mom 5x7 photos of me and my baby brother when I was under 2 and he was just a few weeks old. Seeing that photo of my brother really brought a sting to my heart. I was happy to have the picture and talk with an old family friend. Her family hadn't known my brother died nearly 4 yrs ago so it was fresh ... and the respect and profound understanding I felt when both of our eyes teared up. Her mom was like a wonderful aunt or 2nd mom. She died 10 yrs ago. Whenever I get nostalgic, I seem to rummage through my "stuff" -- be it old photos, letters, poetry, writings, articles, cards, etc. That is what I did when I got home from work and was alone ... rummage. So, wanting to share a few of my old "writings" I thought I'd post a blog. I'm pretty sure I posted "Ize Have It" before, but I want to again, so bear with me. The other seems to be an answer to the proclamation at the top of the notepad: "Things to do:"..........

(so, here follows that)

***

Go to work late--breathe deeply

Leave work early--don't look back

Write lists of "TO DO" -- look at 'em a few days, weeks, months ... and cross many off as lack of time, real interest isn't hard to find -- it hits you in the gut and a tingly, exciting feeling bursts through.

You are goin' on down the road, feeling bad -- would rather not be in the situation I've had to be -- errant way, trespassing on my Soul with your thoughts setting things clear for us to hear, fear or cheer!!

I choose cheer!!!

Burma Shave

Choo Choo

chugga chugga

Choo choo choo

OK!

-klh

"keep laughin' honey!"

***

AND:

THE IZE HAVE IT

Today should I:

organize

theorize

categorize

patronize or

platonize

Or should I:

compromise

and close my eyes

to the

few tries

to recognize and

legitimize

reasons for my

heavy sighs?

--no more

whys

--no more

lies

--no more need

to eulogize.

--klh xo

Happy Full Moon in Scorpio today

Happy Full Moon!

Looked out at the night sky last night and it was just beautiful. When I was a kid I saw the moon not with a face but with a figure similar to Mickey Mouse shooting a bow and arrow in it. It took me far into adulthood to realize that others did not see this!?? Then I spoke with my Dad one time and he said he always saw an archer. Hmmmm! Do you suppose he told me that pre-memory recall? Then I had an album (remember those?) with all female musicians my brother gave me and one of the songs was "Woman in the Moon" and it was so beautiful. Then I began to see the "face" on the moon as a woman's and last night she was perfectly upright with her melancholy face and her slightly Mona Lisa smile and she was peachy colored. Since I work for two psychiatrists and fully believe, from experience, that there is more, shall we say, emotional ups and downs, "mental" activity going on during the lunar "lunacy" ... there were more than double the messages today, some quite frantic to be seen TODAY (didn't happen). Fortunately, I felt pretty balanced and peaceful and capable today and happy to help others.

I got a fwd of "animal lovers" photos today and copied a few, the above post being one of them. I call it the "yin/yang cat and dog" and even though it's not related to a full moon per se, it is a testament to being able to get along.

We are so excited that our niece, Becky, is coming to visit us this weekend. We have probably had a total of 2!!!! visitors briefly so far THIS YEAR! so to have someone we really love and want to visit with spend the night, well, it's such a great reason to clean the house - ha ha! She is driving 2 hrs to get here and we appreciate the effort. (And if you're reading this, Beck, thanks so much for coming!! We'll do our best not to let you down!)

I got to sit in my McIntosh Apple Tree today before work. It is in full blossom as are the other trees in our little orchard, and I hope the blossoms will last for awhile so I can sit there again and maybe get to whistle-call back and forth with some migratory birds like tanagers or orioles that like to feast on the blossoms. I can sit in the crotch of the tree and they never know I'm there. It is one of my favorite things to do ever. I always thought it'd be great to build a tree house in that tree, but I somehow don't think that's going to happen. But I can dream!

I wish you all a wonderful springtime, lots of flowers to pick and smell and put in pretty vases, and feast your eyes outside in Mother Nature with the beauty and the bounty that is our Home. Thank you, Mother Earth!

Love Your Mother!

and

Love from,

Your SisSTAR

Kylita

XO

xo

x

Tuffy Boy

TGIFF yeah two "F"s

In a perfect world, this would've been my cat as a kitten growing up with his own "bunny" who he learned to love and Bun loved him back. But not my Tuffy Boy! Nope! Right out the kitchen window last Friday night saw him unburying a baby bunny from its nest in the purple creeping phlox (he'd already gotten 2 that Jeff witnessed earlier in the week). I kept trying to "teach" him not to go there. I was a fool, but I love bunnies, too. So in horror I go chase him away and the Mama Bunny was trying to divert his attention at her and as he chased her Mama Mia was chasing Tuffy with a birch tree branch and then went up on the rock wall and retrieved the baby bunny so he couldn't finish eating it ;o( He had killed it beforehand, thankfully for that! And he ate its leg. Oh, Jesus! It was very sad. I wrapped him up with his bunny fur nest pieces and gave him a funeral in the trash bag. The next day I came home and saw something yellow in the myrtle groundcover. I thought it was a flower. It was a little yellow finch ;o( ... I do believe it ran into a window and broke its neck, as it wasn't bothered in any other way (unless Tuffy sat on it and suffocated the poor thing). I looked at it, its black little beady eyes staring at me ... its little feet as if on some invisible perch. There's a singer I really have started to like the last year named Imogen Heap from England and she sings a song called "Little Bird" ... I was playing that CD that night. Yes, Little Yellow Bird got a gentle wrapping of pretty paper toweling and a funeral in the trash bag. Then we got ants all over in the cupboard the next day and Jeff had a huge massacre and cleaning out the cupboards, putting any food not in cans in the refrigerator. So as the garbage and recycle contents this week were taken away, I waved goodbye to all the little tiny deaths and funerals going by the wayside. Such is life.

I had a really nice long talk with my niece tonight. She occasionally reads my blog and that makes me happy. (Hi, Becky!) Looking fwd to her visiting us soon. It'll be grand!

Well, I've been writing and writing ... letters, emails, blog comments, posting this ... whew! I am just about written out. My fingers get me in trouble. I absolutely LOVE to type! By the time I was in 9th grade, I typed 65 wpm the first semester. Before I graduated high school, I typed 100 wpm. I busted 120 wpm at a lot of job interviews. That was pre-keyboard of the computer type. Some of those are slick, but sometimes I miss that solid stream of thought on the old IBM Selectric with the little element balls of different type. That's waaayyyyy Old School, but I was one of two "girls" in typing in 11th or 12th grade who had the electric typewriters! Geez! Only 2! Now there are computers everywhere ... little children having their own cell phones, laptops, ipods this, mp3 that, apps up the wazoo ... and, phooeeeyyyy! I'll just keep on typing away and occasionally I even use a PEN!!! with INK in it! Do you believe it??? I even use a pencil, a mechanical pencil I prefer but I really don't like using pencil. I love my Waterman pen but the damned ink keeps running out. So ... is cheap better? Sitting here paying for cable, my thoughts and power typing is free ... listening to Imi Heap blasting out ... and waiting for my Honey to come home. Should be soon now. I never even took my nap I needed so badly today. Just feel wired. If I went to a psychiatrist I'd probably be diagnosed bipolar ... but instead I just work for them. Works for me! I'm up, I'm down, I'm over and all around. I'm high, I'm low, I'm whatever the fuck I want to be when I want to be it ... at least in my highly evolved imagination! So...Little Bird, Little Bird, where have you gone?

Don't think poorly of my cat, Tuffy Boy. I love him so much that the fact he is a serial killer of bunnies and who knows what all? (One year a ground hog!) I suffer from my love of him. And it is worth it. I could look at him as "population control". He, afterall, had to get neutered so that in itself has helped not have more innocent baby strays out there with no one to love them and no one to care or shelter or protect them. Whenever I happen to run across that situation, should the horror show itself again right in my face, I will never allow the carnage ... won't allow him to munch down on baby bunnies. There's lots of predators around here ... big! hawks, herons (stabbing and choking down our goldfish and an occasional bullfrog!) ... feral cats ... people!

I got a book at Sally's today called ZEN by Alan Watts. I know me and that book are going to have a really nice relationship. Ah, the sanctity of life in all its myriad forms. And to that I will bid you adieu and wish you well with many blessings. Our Lunaria (a/k/a Money Plant) are growing a lot and some blooming already! So we are growing money! You see, Mom was wrong! It might not grow on trees, but it does grow into a nice shrubby bush and you can have little purple flowers and then make the "coins" ... the part about trying to go out and spend them is another thing, but I digress..................nightie night!

Love from your SisSTAR

New Moon in April

Well, it's not a new moon yet, but it will be on the 14th. I put a new header photo up there of a pic I got fwd'd to me this past wkend. It looks a lot like our kitty, Tuffy, and we do have between 3-7 deer who roam around our little +/- 2 acres ... there's a lot of wild property surrounding us and a little creek for them to follow, but just a very short distance away is one of the heaviest intersections in the county and we are pretty much in the "city" once you leave our road. We get fined now if we feed the deer, but we have always fed the birds and critters and even if we didn't put any cracked corn, etc. on the ground, the deer come right up to the fence and eat out of the bird feeder! I was sitting out in the little orchard (another place they get "accidentally fed" when it's harvest time--since we don't spray the fruit, it is for them and other critters) ... I heard a snort and saw Tuffy walking tenuously out of the weeds and I was on the other side of the old McIntosh apple tree when I turned around and saw a doe staring at me. She came into the orchard where it is mowed and was really, really close to me and kept snorting and stomping her front hooves! I was reading a newspaper and knew that I had to be real cool ... one of my first thoughts was of me being trompled in the face with little doe hooves! So I talked really low and gentle to her and she kept stomping ... and then I put the newspaper slowly up to my face and turned her way and, whew! she went flying down into the wooded area with her white tail up in the air and disappeared. That was a close one...and I'm sure she had a fawn or fawns close by she was protecting. Anyway...I wanted to share that little story, for no particular reason. Everything seems to be mating now ... I saw two mourning doves getting down on the phone wires! That's a balancing act if I ever saw one! And there were two red and black beetles going for it on the rock wall. Birds are doing their little mating dances and cooings and there is a pair (with an extra male hanging around) of mallards in the pond doing some strange head bobbing dance.
Well, speaking of mates ... mine just got home from work and I will close this now and go out and greet him. I feel really blessed to live here in my childhood home with him ... and Tuffy Boy and all the critters and birds......and many memories.
Love from your SisSTAR xoxoxo