I do, and have always loved Autumn and Halloween-time (October/November) Mike and I were so excited to have children so we could dress them up and take them trick-or-treating haha and save for a couple of hiccups with Amelia having a fear of skeletons, they have both also loved this time of year and dressing up. We (or should I say “I”) would throw a Halloween party each year when they were younger, I’d let them invite whoever they wanted and I would invite my friends too and they would dress up and participate in all the shenanigans. I’m glad we have that collective memory of Halloween’s past, plus I always took lots of photos. This year I’m bringing back a former costume but will make it scarier than when the kids were little. If it turns out well, I’ll add a photo later. I get a combination of excitement and fear, kind of like the feeling I realized I get when I’m about to say something aloud in a group of people – my heart begins to race. Doing the Quiet Work retreat at the beginning of the month has really helped me to pay attention to what makes me ‘work’. My heart racing is a feeling but it does not define my emotion at that moment; my heart can race for any number of emotions, not only fear but also excitement of sharing a thought. I do know for a fact that it does that when I am about to say something to someone that I think they aren’t going to like or agree with. I’m going to pay attention to see if it also races when I am going to say something that someone will like or maybe even love. Honestly, my heart races just before I hit ‘publish’ for each blog post.
Some little red moments from this month – I love to see a little tree trying to grow in a weird place (I’ll say to myself “bloom where you’re planted”) I know they need to be pulled out (I’ll say to myself “sorry little tree”) but I do appreciate what it takes for a living thing to thrive. The wild strawberries growing within the English Ivy in the pot next to my front sidewalk was a nice surprise. I’ve been leaving native plants around my yard rather than pulling them out. If a bug or animal needs this plant (weed) for something, who am I to rid the environment of it? Maybe my yard isn’t looking as put together as it has in the past, but I enjoy knowing that wildlife is enjoying my yard. The last little bit of red was a lady bug that landed on me after an 1100 ft elevated hike during The Quiet Work retreat. We’d climbed up Crabtree Falls in George Washington National Forest with our crew, part of the way up we hiked in silence which was super cool – as other hikers walked past I heard one say “that sure was a quiet group” haha the leaves were already falling, the path was a little wet from the rain the night before, the air was a little humid and the falls (below) were breathtaking from every vantage point! Excited to take my ‘campers’ who come to Aunt Dianne’s wellness retreat”
The retreat was something that I was interested in participating in when I first saw it advertised over the summer. I love the teachers who were hosting it, with promises of yoga, mediation, soundbath, art, hiking, wilderness, healthy food, moments of silence, time to quietly work on self… I told my dad about it and said “I’ve always been new-agey as you know” and he gave me “THE” look that I always laugh at – it’s not an eye roll or a side eye, it’s more a combo of them that only he can do. Like a “duh” look anyway, I love saying things to him that elicit that look and me doing new-agey things is a guarantee. When we lived in Manassas together the fall semester of 1987, I didn’t go back to Longwood (bad grades/no financial aid) and took classes at NOVA I used to listen to a New Age radio station that popped up on WJFK and he’d come into my room and give me the look. When I took Yoga as my PE in college the next semester he wasn’t so sure. The final straw was my switching over to a vegetarian diet in 1990! He did always support me, complaining all the while. Turns out, I was just ahead of my time LOL!
I LOVE DOGS: This little block of info is for me to remember good neighbor dogs that I loved completely and were taken from us too soon.
Oakley was the biggest galoot, the hugest Golden I’d ever met, just a big sweet bear of a boy. He loved his family, he loved his littermate sister Annie and I do think he loved me. I sure loved him. I was honored when I was invited to come and say goodbye to him before he crossed the rainbow bridge. He’d hidden his pain until he couldn’t anymore. I’d let Annie and Oakley out the week before and took this sweet photo once we came in and I sat on the floor with them. They were happy to just lay up against me while I did my NYTimes games. My neighbor took the second photo after I came in the door and Oakley greeted me with a slow tail wag.
The next goodbye is for Buddy. He was the BEST friend of Finn and then of Uli; he was the epitome of an English Golden Retriever. Creamy, the sweetest, loved every being he met.
He loved having his little bossy Boston Terrier come over for some hardcore play.
When we rescued Uli – who knew little of walking on a leash – I knew Buddy would be his first ‘pack walk’. Uli didn’t play as hard as Finn but he loved visiting Buddy’s house. When I read the text that Buddy was gone, my heart broke in two and I cried for that sweet boy, I loved him so much. I’ll miss seeing him turn around when he heard my car, stop in the street and wag his tail like crazy til I rolled the window down to say hi to him.
Little gallery below in appreciation of how cute Uli is when he uses things to rest his handsome head. He loves his stuffed animals so much, it melts my heart. Iris on the other hand is not snuggly, so when she does something cute like make herself comfy in the clothes I’m folding out of the dryer or headbutting me so that I’ll pet her – I try to capture the moment!
Things that made me smile – my granola (recipe from the retreat!) a cool and delicious non-alc cider from our rare Friday night out – yoga THEN dinner THEN ice cream AND THEN a fun ghost tour!
I’m going to wrap up this blog with a story from today, as I was driving to my dads down a two lane road, I saw up ahead in the sky that a big bird was flying and seemed to be following the roadway. I slowed down a bit and realized I was watching a Bald Eagle, I’d just seen one on Rt 3 and my dad lives between two rivers so it isn’t unusual to see them. I saw two fly over his house last week. But this one… it was National Geographic right before my eyes – this eagle changed it’s flying pattern and started to descend then swooped down to the road, talons first and picked up a dead squirrel and then swooped back up and banked right and into the trees. I WAS STUNNED! It was like it was snatching a fish out of the river. I managed to get a photo of it flying away with it’s breakfast. What a moment. I wish I could watch it again. When I called Mike to say “you will never guess what I just saw” and he said “did you finally see an owl?” I said “this might be cooler”.
That’s all for now. I have more photos and things to say but I’ll save for next time. Bye for now.
