Visits To Steve's Folks in Victoria, Texas

Whenever we go over to see Steve's family in Victoria we try to make it to see the otter in the zoo there. The second photo is Steve resting his eyes @ the zoo. The third picture is Steve standing by a tree growing inside a BBQ restaurant we stop to eat in when we're enroute to Victoria.

Carnival Cruise December 2009

Of course my favorite part was getting to see the Mayan ruins in Cozemel. Who woulda thought I'd drive a four-wheeler to get there? And then there's always the fun of drinking crazy drinks with your friends. We got to see fantabulous shows on the ship and even got to watch movie JULIE AND JULIA when we got fogged in and had to stay an extra night aboard ship.

Thanksgiving 2009

Never pass up a waterfall. We found waterfalls both going to and coming from our Thanksgiving visit to see our daughter Sarah-Star in Huntersville North Carolina. We have a lot to be thankful for as she is going to marry Al Wiest 10-10-10. We got to share Thanksgiving with his family. It feels so good to expand the circle of family we have to love and care about. Another thing we have to be thankful for is the fact that she has become such a wonderful cook. We hope we get invited to eat Thanksgiving dinner with them often!

My Birthday Trip To Cedar Key January 2010

Who says there isn't any romance in the world anymore? My life is full of it. My husband Steve took me to Cedar Key in Florida for my birthday. What do I love about Cedar Key? It's got that old Florida feel like I remember seeing in my childhood. It's like a piece of the past that's been untouched by time. We got to meet Steve's cousin Jim and his wife for lunch at Stumpknockers in Dunnellon one day. We stayed at the quaint Cedar Key Bed and Breakfast. We saw sunsets and sunrises that were breathtakingly beautiful, ate good seafood and visited art galleries. We even found a jeweler who made a garnet birthstone ring I got to design for my birthday present. My heart's desires have a magical way of being dreams that really do come true and I owe alot to my life partner and compadre and traveling companion.

Renee's Artwork On Beach Bazaar Building

Okay, now lean your head sideways to view the first one because I haven't figured out how to turn pictures right side up in my blog yet. Here are some pictures of the building my artist neighbor friend Renee decorated. It's called Beach Bazaar and it's shaped like a sandcastle. Renee has taken pieces of mirror and colored gemstones to decorate around the windows, doors and balconies. The mirrors flash brightly to attract customers driving by but you have to get up close to appreciate all of the jewel tone colors in the stones she has laid out in each space. It's fanciful and beautiful. She's promised to come lend her helping hands when we decorate our gypsy wagon.

Renee has also painted 14 oval canvases for my CAYCE CARDS: GYPSY-SPUN DIVINATION. They depict beach and water scenes with beachglass or seagems to show the numbers. She even has merbabies and a merking and merqueen to show the face cards.

She will always will be dear to my heart because it is her magic fingers that braid and bead my hair. Who else do you know who has painted a giant purple octopus?

February 2010 Memories

When my friend Claudia from the north came south to visit in February she saw snow here but we also went walking on the beach to find seashells. That's something she can't do in Pittsburgh! I am busy writing on my CAYCE CARDS: GYPSY-SPUN DIVINATION. Claudia brought the 14 oval pictures she painted for the AIR/swords suit of the cards. I took all 56 of the paintings for the 4 suits of the minor arcana to my printer friend Nall to have them professionally scanned. Now it is March and the spring equinox has spun its way past us. I am now sending letters to possible publishing companies. Our Search For God @ Fish River group that meets here @ the house Sundays @ 6 is finishing Bruce Lipton's book BIOLOGY OF BELIEF this coming Sunday. Then we're going to study Gregg Braden's new book on FRACTAL TIME. The Love & Light Ladies group that meets on Mondays is in the middle of Kala Ambrose's 9 LIFE ALTERING LESSONS: SECRETS OF THE MYSTERY SCHOOL UNVEILED. I'm reading Walter Starcke and Joel Goldsmith books for spiritual nourishment and rereading Christine Feehan's Drake sisters series for fru-fru.

I keep myself busy journaling 8 different ways which is part of my new year's resolution. What about you? What are you doing on your path with heart? Have you read any good books lately?

February 5, 2010 Friday

Up Close Revelations In A Grain Of Sugar
This morning while enjoying breakfast at the Harbor Restaurant in Mobile's Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel I had one of those aha! experiences when I noticed that one single grain of natural raw turbanado sugar was casting a shadow on my teacup's white saucer. There before me was one teeny tiny grain of brown and golden yellow sugar with its gray shadow growing beside it. It made me look at other shadows on the table where my husband Steve and I sat overlooking the harbor. The sleek salt and pepper shakers that seemed to be of Danish design cast their own unique shadows. My fork held over the white square plate where my omlette sat cast a shadow going from the plate's edge to the omlette in the middle of my plate even as my fork was posed above the plate's upper rim. All through our morning meal my eyes kept returning to the small shadow cast by one simple granule of sugar. I thought about how many times there are things right before our eyes and we don't even see them. The night before my breath had been taken away by the marvelous stage setting of the 61st annual Polka Dot Mardi Gras ball with its balloons fashioned to resemble giant jelly fish dangling down from the ceiling rafters and its spectacular stage setting designed to display the queen's exquisite under the sea flowing train with its sparkle, shimmer and shine. The rainbow wings of their emblem gypsy's costume glittered and glowed. Sometimes when you look at certain things it is like they radiate and you see them as if through magical rose colored glasses that make them stand out dazzling- a vision of awe and wonder before your eyes.