Grammie Butterfy

                         

Em turned "1" August 19th

I have been Grammie Butterfly an entire year now. Met this little bundle of love a little less than a year ago after she came home from hospital. I loved having her visit me this month and explore my world from a one year old lense. The last thing she showed me was that she could run my old Boom Box. She loves to dance and will dance at the slightest beat. She walked over and turned it off, turned it on and adjusted the volume from the buttons on the top of the music box.

https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2874479

Sunbutter Brownies are my "go to" snack this summer that I will continue to make weekly for my school snack. I add cocoa nips for crunch and make them in the muffin tin. I use Trader Joe's peanut butter that has chia and flax seeds.

We had our final 'Good Bye, Friend" to Taylor yesterday at a celebration of life

I bought myself a back to school bouquet of  gladiolas, carnations and a sunflower.

I found a starfish all purple and dead on the beach during our last adventure of beach combing. When I put him in alcohol he turned orange. I placed it on a rock and wrapped rubber bands around to help it dry. The rubber bands popped in the sun this week, so I guess, it is done?🌟

New Year, New Beginings

Everyone is a flutter about the solar eclipse tomorrow. To some it seems like Y2K all over again. To me it means working with a team to keep 1,000 plus children from not looking directly at the sun from 9 am to noon, or any other time for that matter. We will use our rainy day recess schedule and the teachers will take out their class with a lot of instruction and special eclipse viewing glasses. So, many notes home, phone calls and instructions have been made. 

I can't imagine what it was like for the children in 1918. There were no special glasses handed to every child in school, there was no media blitz causing traffic pile ups in central Oregon, there was little warning to many people in rural America, I would guess.

When I think of 1918, my mind runs to the major influenza pandemic of the winter of 1918 to 1919. These people in America had just witness a full eclipse of the sun in June and by the end of the following year between 20 and 40 million people had died. 

As one of my favorite authors Francis Shaffer would say, "So, how shall we then live?"

I plan to live in hope. I am celebrating another anniversary this weekend. 2 years ago, my son and I moved from a lifestyle of destruction, anger and filth...to new hope, health, clean living. We embarked on a lifestyle that we made the choices and need only account for the choices we made for ourselves. Grammie Butterfly, Mum, Sister, Friend and Co-worker, Teacher Deena, Mrs. Burnham are names I hear each day. My Mantra for the school year is, "I feel what I think and I think I am loved." Very simply, if I think I am loved and share love everywhere I go, what others decide to think and feel are not my problem.  This little card titled, "One Click" is what I will hold too.

I've Been To Me

A song from 1976  "I've never been to me", seemed to be a theme for over 1/2 my life. I was 31 when I finally brought a baby home from the hospital. Today at 58, I've been to me... 

🎵 I've Never Been to Me 🎵

Hey lady, you lady
cursing at your life
You're a discontented mother
and a regimented wife
I 've no doubt
you dream about the things you never do
but I wish someone had a talk to me like I wanna talk to you

Ooh, I've been to Georgia and California and anywhere I could run
Took the hand of a preacher man
and we made love in the sun
But I ran out of places and friendly faces
Because I had to be free

I've been to paradise but I've never been to me...

Hey, you know what paradise is?
It's a lie
a fantasy we created about people and places
as we like them to be
but you know what truth is?

it's that little baby you're holding
and it's that man you fought with this morning
the same one you are gonna make love to tonight
that's truth that's love

Sometimes I've been to crying for unborn children
that might have made me complete

I've been to paradise - never been to me

 I lost children before birth, after birth and raised four amazing adults by the grace of God. I had been to Georgia and live in California before 1987 when I married the Preacher Man. Now I am alone.
GOD'S GRACE...That is what is all about. Those first 31 years before I held my first baby to my chest and smelled the baby breath...I am so thankful for the experience of being a mother these past 26 years. The outcome of four amazing adults and our little Em who came to spend 3 days with me at the beginning of my two week vacation.

Em visiting Grammie's peaceful place

Peaceful Place of all Seasons

Spring

Last Summer

Birthday Rocks

Zen Garden, Herb and Basil, Pansies

This summer I have been to Me. I went through counseling, which I recommend for everyone. We all have some "junk in the trunk" we need to get rid of and see through a different lense. By learning what happened in our past that gave us certain uncomfortable feelings, acknowledging that we have a right to have a feeling and then deciding if we need to act or just say, "Yep, that was a feeling".

I'm a child of the 1960's. More flower child than a lot of my peers.  I love fresh air, clean food and kissing babies on their feet.
A recent quiz gave this result as my purpose and and I feel it is spot on:
🦋Your life purpose is to express your emotions and feelings through your art. You were born into this world with a gift and everything that you have experienced in life has led you to this moment where you need to explore and express. You find art through many mediums and forms of expression. Your life purpose is to communicate through creativity and touch other people's lives and souls.🖌

And finally, I took the test and got a "Pink Aura":

💖Love, sincerity, affection and generosity are perfect words to describe you. Your pink aura indicates that you've achieved a perfect balance between your spiritual and material existence. You love to be surrounded by friends and family. You love to love and to be loved, while you hate conflicts and arguments. (Yes I do!)
You take care of your body and spread a positive and healing energy to those around you. The Pink Aura is very rare, so is the person who has it.💗

...the beach is where my heart is

My youngest daughter who lives near the beach was my last family member to see before my holiday ended. I was able to have dinner with her, my oldest sister and daughter's hubby the last night we were on the beach. This little plaque is very true. My heart is at the beach and the rose quarts I found to wear and share are a show that I have found the Rose Aura. I may slip back into my Amethyst Aura occasionally for safety sake, but I know the Rose will always be at the heart of Me.

If you have read my blog before and wonder if I have gone off on a "New Age" tangent...I don't apologize. It seems that some Eastern Religion and Western Christianity must co-habit in me. Yoga and meditation, studying the reasons and myth behind certain Crystals is a way to be informed and excepting. I don't have to embrace all you believe and you don't have to embrace all that I believe. Agree to disagree if you wish. Namesta 🌼Shalom🌻

💖Deena🦋