I want to share with you my other hobbies/passions, which is making jewelry. I’ve been making it for about 11 years now. I work mostly with real stones, and am very into the metaphysical aspects of these stones. I sell my creations on my Etsy store, www.sundogsdesigns.etsy.com. Below is a picture of a pendant I just finished and listed on my site. I would love to have you visit my store, and my Sundogs Designs facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/Sundogs-Designs-127759197243692/ and maybe throw me a “like” if you like what you see! If you are looking for something in particular, you can reach me at Livelikewater@comcast.net . Here’s the picture!

Love and light, everyone!

I was at my house yesterday, alone. We’ve both been nursing colds, his worse than mine. Because his is worse, we’ve been staying at his house, because between the cold and his rotator cuff surgery he’s just more comfortable there. But I needed to get home to get some more meds and I wanted to finish up my writing prompt for my next writers group meeting on Sunday. I need to be alone and undisturbed to write these days, it seems.

I got to my house around noon, and ate some lunch. Then called my financial advisor for some advice. Not like I have a lot of money, just that what I have has to last me. Or I’ll have to get a job, horror of horrors! I called my attorney in CT, regarding an old issue she is still having to clean up from my now almost 9 yr old divorce. A property settlement.

I called Dan back, he’d called while I was on the phone with one of them. He had some news about the new fuel pump that is going on the boat, I told him about my calls. All of it was productive. A bunch of angst was allayed. We planned tacos for dinner, or taco salad to be more accurate. Then I turned to my computer and the draft of my prompt (published as Transformation, yesterday).

I re-read it, and I could see that the spiritual aspect of it had been left out. I changed a few things. What had been a yellow bird appearance, became a horde (Is that the right word?) of dragonflies, which many people believe (I almost said know, but not everyone knows it) to be a symbol of transformation. Ahh…there I had it, I went and changed the story to include them and left out the yellow bird singing. I was finally happy with the writing, and finished it off.

Then my son called. He manages a retail store in Denver, and was kind of stressed out by having corporate, national, visitors coming to his store. He’s been out of manager training for less than a month, so wasn’t feeling real secure. He called me to tell me how well the visit went. How the corporate exec who was there said out of the 72 stores he’d visited across the nation, my son’s was the cleanest, the best looking store he’d been to. My son was so up, I was so happy for him!

Around 4 PM I got in the car to head back to Dan’s, stopping at the grocery store for a few things we needed for dinner along the way. As I got on the entrance ramp to the highway, one of those almost complete circle deals, I was pointing due west. I was blinded, (metaphorically), by a brilliant light coming through some of the high wispy white clouds that were floating around in a brilliant cerulean Florida sky on the 70° afternoon.

I realized the spot was not the sun quite quickly, because the sun was even more brilliant than the spot in front of me. I got my sunglasses and could see the slight vertical rainbow next to the spot, and realized it was a sundog!

Now, sundogs require ice crystals to be in the air, up high, at just the right angle. In Florida they are pretty rare, as you’d expect. Not often cold enough here to form ice crystals at any level. But there it was.

For me, sundogs have always been a good sign. Not so much “good luck” as “things are going to be fine.” They are so amazing to see. They take my breath away. A cosmic phenomena extraordinaire. I was told once that they forecast bad weather, but that’s never been true for me. When i’ve seen them generally the next day has been like today, sunny, clear and gorgeous. They showed up when I needed a sign during my divorce. They showed up the day my Supreme Court decision regarding said divorce came through. It occurred to me as I drove down the highway with a huge smile on my face, that my efforts this afternoon, in dealing with issues, with working on my prompt until I got the right spiritual undertone, not to mention my son’s success were actually the universe working in my behalf, (and my son’s and Dan’s!) and me allowing it, listening to my inner self, and going with the flow, were all being rewarded by the sight of this brilliant sundog. A sign. I think they are everywhere, we just have to be willing to see them.

As I got off the highway and turned my head left to see oncoming traffic, I found the other sundog on the other side of the sun, even more brilliant. This one stayed as I stopped at the grocery store, and was only fading slightly as I got to Dans, and excitedly told him about the sundogs. He indulged me, and came outside where we could see them both, on both sides of the sun.

I’ve been a little worried lately with this wild economy, and other issues. Yesterday, I was able to turn down the noise and allow the silence and stillness to take over, and, as it always does, the Universe let me know it heard me, and not to worry. The same message as always: Everything is going to be ok. All is well.

Here’s wishing sundog sightings to all. Love and light too!

Note:  This is a post for a writing prompt for my local writer’s group.  The prompt was the picture below, which was one of the sand sculptures in a world-class competition held a few miles from where I live on Treasure Island, St. Pete Beach, Florida.   Picture was taken by myself.

TRANSFORMATION

Running, as fast as his stout legs would carry him. Running across brush, and tree roots, and puddles filled with leaves and other debris. Tom looked back over his shoulder. He couldn’t see them, but he was pretty sure they were on his trail. He was afraid to stop, and listen, afraid to lose time and distance from them.

Oh what a stupid thing he’d done! He knew it was risky but was sure his luck would hold out. Not so, this time. He’d opened his mouth one too many times to people he shouldn’t, just to feel like a big shot. He should have known, should have learned by now, that eventually, no matter how lucky you are, the luck will run out. He’d been playing 2 ends against the middle, and now both ends were unified in their desire for justice. You know, street justice.

So he ran, he ran until he collapsed. Or maybe he tripped. Or just fell down. But at any rate, he found himself face down in the sandy wet dirt. He leaned forward on his hands so he could get his knees up under him to get up. But his hands just pushed through the sand, offering him no support whatsoever. He tried to scooch back on his knees but they too just sunk into this wet sandy muck. He lay still for a few moments and tried to gather whatever wits he had left (which, he was realizing, weren’t much to begin with or he’d not have been here….)

As he tried to pull his arms out of the mire, his knees went deeper. His feet, well dammit, they were attached to his knees, weren’t they? They followed the knees into the muck, and he finally came to the realization that he had fallen in quicksand. He raised his hands and clutched his head, trying to keep it from exploding.

What if, he thought, panic-stricken, they came upon him NOW, trapped in the muck? What would they do to him? Laugh? Shoot? Beat him? All of the above?  Certainly not help him.  His heart raced as he imagined the torture he might have to endure. Terror raced through his heart and mind. He held his head tighter, covering his ears, eyes tightly shut, feeling faint. In that moment, he saw his life, his values, his priorities, his behavior, and had the realization that he’d done himself in. He was in quicksand, and sinking.

He had been holding this position for a few minutes, as he contemplated how he’d ended up in this mess, when he felt something on his arm. Reflexively he opened his eyes to find a large and beautiful dragonfly perched on his arm, staring into his own terrified eyes. He realized there was a whole spiral column of these dragonflies from his arm to above his head.  Tom stared at the dragonflies, which hovered around him without a sound.  In fact he realized that there was only silence now.  There were no angry voices approaching, no one breaking twigs on the path, only the sound of the breeze ruffling the leaves on the trees far overhead, and birds chirping every once in a while.

So, he wasn’t being chased, at least not any longer. But he was stuck in quicksand. It occurred to him that if he could figure a way out, he might live. And if he lived, he thought, he had a lot of questions he needed to ask himself, and answer. First things first. How to get out?

As these thoughts swirled through his head, the dragonflies began to move as one entity, away from him, only to land about 5 or 6 feet away, on a large branch laying on the ground. There were still leaves on the branch, as if it had just been blown down.

The dragonflies began to fly in a spiral pattern, around up, back down, as if they were trying to get Tom to notice the branch.  Finally, the huge dragonfly which had been sitting on his arm flew straight for his eyes, stopping just short of his nose, shaking him from his reverie about them, seeing the branch they were all abuzz about.

Tom reached out slowly for the branch. Very slowly he began to try to move his body toward the branch, thinking it might somehow help him out. With each movement, he was getting sucked down further, but he was almost within an arm’s length. He kept believing that this branch, laying on the ground would help him. “It’s gotta help me. Gotta.” he repeated it over and over as he finally was able to reach it. He pulled on it, and it refused to move. He pulled harder, still, it didn’t move.

Again, he pulled. He realized he was pulling himself up. The branch wasn’t moving. He could see the notch of a lower branch jutting out from the main one he was pulling on, digging into the ground. Which appeared to be solid! Arm over arm, he pulled, and each time pulled himself out of the muck a little more. When he finally got half his body up onto the ground, he was able to pull his legs up out of the quicksand.

Free….

He lay there on the ground, catching his breath and doing something he’d never done in his life….praying. Thanking whatever powers were out there for his life. Thanking the dragonflies, thanking the tree that shed its branch that saved his life. As he lay there, looking up at the sky, with clouds floating by, through the tops of the trees, it began to occur to him that perhaps something amazing had happened today. He thought about the moments when he held his head, sure he was about to be tortured. He thought during those moments that he’d done himself in, with his big mouth, and oversized ego. He’d seen and regretted spending his life trying to prove he was tough, living on the edge.

And then, the column of dragonflies flew over to him and hovered over his chest. Over his heart, he realized. His heart! They began to fly an intricate pattern.  As he watched, he could see that the dragonflies were creating a heart whose point was at his own heart.

He knew, even though he didn’t know, that everything, from the chase to the falling in quicksand, to the dragonflies, and the pulling himself out, right to magical dragonfly heart, was the universe, not only working in his behalf, but carrying a message to him as well. It occurred to him that everything that happens to us brings us to where we are.

He’d heard once, that ruin is a gift, the road to transformation.  Of course he’d scoffed at it when he’d heard it before.  Not so this time, as it echoed through his brain.

Less than an hour ago, he’d been on the verge of total ruin.  And here he was, alive, safe, sound, and now, willing, and amazed….  He got up, dusted himself off as best he could and walked out of the woods, transformed.

By Deborah E. Dayen

Well, it’s 2019. Since, according to numerology, that “2019 is a number 3 year in numerology, making it a year for creativity, self-expression, and alignment” I thought maybe I should start the year out by writing. It’s been a struggle lately, but maybe I’m ready again. Like maybe my writer’s block has gone into remission, temporarily anyway. We’ll see.

We had a lovely New Year’s Eve. We had a couple who are good friends over for dinner. She is one of my best friends and part of my writer’s group, he runs the Open Mic that we go to regularly and is a wonderful musician. Then we all went down to the waterfront and walked from venue to venue enjoying the atmosphere and festive vibe. We weren’t drinking (because we’d had enough with dinner) but we were swaying/semi-dancing to a great band for awhile. It was so nice out, about 70° and dry. Perfect Florida winter weather.

We went back to their house which is only a few short blocks from the water, and hung out til midnight, toasted our champagne toasts and went home. It was the most pleasant, relaxed and lovely night we’d had in a long time.

Today, after I’d taken down the small amount of Christmas decorations I’d put up at the last minute, we took a walk down to the Clam Bayou in town. It’s a lovely park that runs along a bayou with fishing piers and hiking trails overlooking the waterways. We saw fish in the bayou, which was wonderful because they had disappeared with the last bout of red tide.

We saw about 4 large boats (around 30’ to 35’) which had been blown hard ashore in the big storm the week before Christmas, that just happened to hit at a full moon tide. I’ve put a picture of them laying on the rocks on the shore.

As we walked along the sea wall of the inlet to our marina, a dolphin began to swim in the channel of the inlet, playfully diving and swimming on the surface. Always a good sign in my book!

Then we walked over to the gas dock to check out a 74’ yacht, which was getting diesel. As they filled the boat, Dan began a conversation with the owner (I assume he was, maybe he was the captain, not owner though) and found out the boat holds 1600 gallons of gas which will take him 200 miles, he said. So….diesel gas, $3.95 a gallon, x 1600 gallons…$6320 to go 200 miles. GULP. $31.60 per mile! Geezus, talk about having money to burn!

We headed home, and made a lovely dinner for ourselves. It was a great way to start the new year. We’re looking forward to the new year together. I’m feeling very blessed at the moment, to be sharing my life with this man.

I know this reads more like a journal than a blog, but I wanted to share these pictures, and hopefully a little of the energy.  And the sunshine, lol.  Love and light to all.  And Happy New Year!

I haven’t been around much lately. There’s not been much time to give to my writing during what turned out to be very busy holidays. Today I am trying, and have started a few things, none of which are ready for publication. I think I have a slight case of writers block, but it might just be that I have other stuff to deal with for the time being.

So, I just want to say thank you to everyone for being here, and I hope the holidays were/are peaceful and happy for you. I’m looking forward to getting back to my regular schedule, as well as the onslaught of visitors that may descend upon us in the next couple of months.

Life continues to be rich and full. I am so grateful to have Dan to share my life with. So grateful for my friends and family, and for the opportunities that have been given to me. Grateful for so much. Particularly grateful, at the moment, for the change in the weather from a typical New England November to typical Florida winter. It’s about 80, sunny, and dry. Life is good.

Love and light to all. I’ll be back one of these days more regularly.