Desert Magnolia

Hard to believe the Summer is nearly gone. Hard to believe that this weekend is Labor Day, after which we'll refrain from wearing white ..shoes, pants, hats, etc. Or maybe not. As summers go, this one has been good, but mostly uneventful, which is ok. We've gotten rain for the first time in years (lots of it), which has been good. We've had fires everywhere, which is not so good. Son is back in the UAE, which is good, but means he's far away and if it's possible to miss someone more because they're further away? I do. He's working like a dog, but says he loves it, so we're happy about that. Not the dog part, the happy part. Daughter is playing soccer, and has begun her senior year of college, after which many possibilities exist, but no real plans yet there. We'll see. We just want her to have some fun, have a good season, and kick butt her final year of college. We are doing what we do. GG is settling back into the school routine again. I...

GG (hubby) works hard to keep our yard gorgeous. We have an amazing garden, water features, grass, fruit trees, and a gorgeous Japanese maple that has found a home in the Buddha corner of our yard and is thriving after nearly dying from our climate. When GG was driving our girl to the East coast this summer, I took care of the house and yard and stuff and whined mightily. Doing that on top of work and school was a lot, and some days I felt like there weren't enough hours to handle everything well. Anyway, the grass needed mowing, and GG decided to handle that task before dinner Sunday night. I was inside studying (I know, I am so boring right now - finals are a killer), and suddenly he burst in the back door with a red face, and FURIOUS!  He's a mellow guy, so this behavior is startling, to say the least. Apparently we have a hornet's nest in a wall next to the grass. And one of those stinging insects attacked GG. He said he felt a sudden searing burn on his leg, ...

I recently had a conversation with someone who found out I have a blog, and who decided I needed advice on how to market and monetize it. As well-intended as their opinion was, I smiled and politely declined to 'sit down over lunch and map it all out.' In fact I had to suppress the urge to smack them, which caused me to ponder about my nearly violent reaction. Here's what I came up with: This is my escape from all the hype and marketing and spin, and, God forbid, 'monetizing.' Not only does the idea of promoting Desert Magnolia beyond my close group of friends/fellow bloggers make me nauseous, I really don't think it's geared toward a general audience. I expound on shit even I don't understand using hindsight as a lens, and wouldn't subject the rest of the free world to my mental aerobics. They've done nothing to deserve that. You, however, are here because you either like to be, or because you lost a bet and were forced to come here, or...

Today the scientific community announced that, and I shit you not, MICE CAN COUGH!! Immediately my strange little brain went to the mouse meeting following said announcement: Fellow mice, we've been outed. Our ability to actually fully cough, vs just utter gentle throat clearing sounds, has been discovered by those ridiculously curious humans who will stop at nothing, nothing mind you, to reveal the secrets of our treasured species. From this day onward, all mice soldiers will be issued lozenges lest they feel the slightest tickle in their throats. You will immediately pop a lozenge and relieve the tickle before you commence with operations. Just let your fellow soldiers know what's up by pointing at your throat then making the universal sign for 'shhhhh'..... All civilians will also receive prophylactic lozenges, to be taken in any situation where a cough is imminent, and humans are present.  Please attend your next neighborhood watch meeting, where ample supp...

Or, and much more eloquently stated: “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” –Buddha Recently I've begun to trust my inner voice, my intuition, my instincts..whatever you want to call that gentle guide that is so often, if you're me, hushed by the 'logical' side of our mind. Logic is overrated. I mean, it comes in handy for legal arguments (sometimes), and for justifying certain purchases that mean you spend to save, and that kind of thing, but mostly, it's overrated. The most insightful, creative, and yes, HAPPY people I know refuse to rely solely upon logic to make life's decisions. Instead they embrace that they know a lot, and they trust in that knowledge. Can I say that having reached the mid-century point, I  have accumulated experience that reaches across all aspects of life. Relationships. Work. School. Parenting. Writing. Loving. Diplomacy. Bullshi...

Right here is where I need to be, I suppose, but I have to say, I'm having a hard time being right where I am most given moments. It's like when I'm at school I'm worried about work. And when I'm at work I'm worried about studying. And in both places I'm hoping I'm managing to be a decent spouse, mother, and friend. Most days, I'm just not sure anymore, though I'm trying my best. I worry that my execution isn't as smooth, anywhere, as it should be. I feel like I'm much more than I've ever been, but less defined than I'm accustomed to being. It's like giving birth to oneself, but being both the mother and the child. It's not scary, just odd, and like a metamorphosis is taking place, the end result of which contains enough of the unknown to be a little intimidating, but the momentum I've created is carrying me now and really all I'm doing is just going with it. At one point during childbirth with my son, the d...

Mind, Body, Green is one of my favorite websites. It's spiritual and positive and you can find all kinds of articles that resonate at that moment in time and it just resonates for me. They have one entitled: 30 Things To Do Before You Die , and I realize that I have a whole lot of stuff to work on, in fact I will never ever be bored if I choose to focus on these. And I might end up feeling a whole lot better to boot. You know that phrase, 'leave the past in the past'?  On this list it's Let go of your past. Easier said than done, yes? When I consider how much time in my life I've spent reacting to new people, relationships, opportunities based on my prior experiences, it blows me away. And it's seldom fair to the new person or relationship or opportunity that's in front of me. Ekhart Tolle believes that it is possible to absolutely positively let go of the past, to release it by being 100% present as much of the time as you can. When I first re...