Settling In & Tending Our Wild Gardens...

Dear Ones...

So tiny Penny and big brother Sam are settling in. I write with them next to me snuggled together in their bed. This is one of the joys of life at Dragonfly Cottage. When a new little arrival is finally just a part of the family and no longer "the new kid on the block" you know that you have crossed another threshold, the family expanded becomes the family simply as it is. 

This is my attempt at updating the blog more often. Somewhat random thoughts as they float through the hemisphere of my brain like clouds in the sky. And so I was thinking, just this morning, as I walked around the yard while the dogs did their business, and meandered over to the Wild Garden, that place where I break all the rules and cast seeds with wild abandon, and imagine that I am doing it just as Mother Nature intended that this is the way we should live. The garden will result in a helter skelter topsy turvy cottage garden with a tangle of flowers in abundance. I just love this. Imagine how rich our lives would be if we weren't so darned careful and cautious about every little thing.

When you see fields of flowers no one planted them in careful rows. However the seeds were originally planted finally they were left to their own devices, flowered, went to seed, the pods burst and were carried on the wind, and each year the wild flowers spread further and further until there was such a glory of flowers you wonder how it could have possibly happened. When I become The Whirling Dervish Of Seeds this is exactly what I am trying to achieve, and I have done it again and again and again, which makes me wonder. Unlike the areas of my garden that are carefully and artfully planted, and the roses which need much tending, and the flowers in pots amidst flamingos, gnomes, and other magical garden creatures, the wild garden allows some place in me that longs to just burst forth, no matter how the world around me might take the outcome, to be fully and freely me. Too, in such a garden, as the years go by, what were originally many kinds of flowers will settle into fewer. Only the strong survive. Which made me think that...

... we should do this in our own lives. In my own particular case I have struggled terribly, when working on the present book, after many false starts, to find just the things I want to write about, the things that matter, the strong pieces that will hold with time and spread across the land having, I fervently hope, a lasting effect, resonating with people long after they have read the book, a book that hopes to heal the heart, lighten the mood, touch the soul, make one smile, and perhaps tear up a little, moves the reader to rejoice and see through my words into their own lives. I am only a vehicle, a way to find your own true heart. This is what my writing was meant to do, has tried to do for so many years. 

 And so there is only one way to approach this, to write it all, to write with wild abandon, not to worry if it's "right" or really belongs in the book. Like casting seeds in the garden helter skelter, I am doing the same in the pages of the book I am writing, and as I go along some pieces will fall by the wayside while others cast their seeds allowing the book to grow and grow and be the book that will birth all the ones to follow. In any case this is the method to my madness, my writing practice, throwing all the pieces and bits of my life into the soup -- pugs and parrots and garden and my philosophies about life, washing the dishes, trying to live mindfully, meditating, praying, walking barefoot, falling from grace, getting back up and starting all over again. I will write about many things and the book is telling me what it's supposed to be. My typical blog entries here have taken me sometimes days to write, carefully composed, and this has meant that there were too few entries and that I have lost touch with the frequency of interraction with my readers and a more natural way of being with you here. I think of Colette's line, "What's the point of this wish, this journey, this magical flying carpet?" In terms of a blog I think it should be more free-flowing and in the moment. My blog is teaching me how to write a blog entry. And it's about time. 

I am about to take a nap with the three pugs. They have been waiting patiently because it is past our usual naptime so I will stop here and come back tomorrow. These entries will be the warm-up times for working on my book and I love the freedom that that will bring. Like new little Penny I am settling, finally, into a routine that works. As I have more and more to do -- I got my certificate for having achieved Reiki II status on Sunday and in just less than 3 weeks will do my one on one several hour session with my teacher to become a Reiki Master. There are several other modalities I am working on, bird cages to clean, African violets that line a long counter overlooking the forest that hides the back of the cottage from the world with the Magic Ship at the back, to water, laundry to do, life to live, and I will be talking to the trees and the roses that are growing, cheering them on and wonder of wonders glorying in the roses that were, a couple of months ago, barely slips of plants now almost all in flower -- I am more and more organized so that I am accomplishing much more in less time and it is a joy beyond measure. 

Let's dive in wherever we are and not worry about what comes out and if it all makes sense and if people care because we are changing our focus, whatever is going on in our lives. Let's have fun. I think that's the only way to approach life. 

I will now curl up under a pile of pugs and take a nap so that I can get up and write late into the night. I love my life despite it's ups and downs. I ride the teeter-totter that my days bring with more equanimity and simply being alive is a relief. I am here, it is now, everything will get done soon enough. I am tired of worrying. I am going to allow myself to be happy. Imagine that!

The pugs and I send you love, and now we 4 will all go to snore together...