[sterling & chrysoprase]
Howdy, one and all! I hope you had a beautiful Easter weekend. Rob and I attended the sunrise service at our church where we sang most of my favorite old, soul stirring hymns and uttered to each other and our neighbors:
“Christ is risen!“
“He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.“
After church we hosted a really lovely brunch for our friends. We moved the dining room table out onto the front lawn and stayed out there for the better part of the day while we ate, sipped coffee and mimosas and were generally merry. The weather here over the weekend was utterly stupendous. In point of fact, I still haven’t brought the dining room table inside. It’s located on the front porch now and I’ve been eating every meal out there in the breezy sunlight of spring, watching the snow melt off the mountains and the lilacs bud into their frenzy of eventually voluminous violet and frothy magenta (how I dearly love a lilac). Last night, we went running with a pack of our friends up and around the mountain and all I could really bring myself to say, over and over again, was how lucky I felt to live where we live and call my mountain my own. Sometimes, when all falsities fall away and the scales drop from my eyes, I can see how full and brilliant my life is and my heart feels like it may burst with gratitude. I’m so terribly in love with living and all the good and bad that comes with the effort of rising from bed every morning and going about my day. This is actually my goal for every day of my life, to rise up in the morning with a full heart that recognizes every blessing in my life and then to fall back into bed at night with only gratitude on my lips. It doesn’t sound so tricky when I write it here but the perceived hardships of life can become a cumbersome clutter in the alleyways of the soul. I reckon it really comes down to choosing fullness of heart and joy and thankfulness — all day, every day. Don’t you think?
I choose. Oh I do. I do.
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In other news, a dearly becoming dearer friend of mine sent me a stunt kite. How did she know?!! A kite is one of the best ways to tame and tether the wind. I had a stunt kite when we lived in Arizona and I felt so ALIVE when I flew it. I can hardly wait for the next windy day.
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Do you have best friends who live hundreds or thousands of miles away from you? Do you miss them? What do you do to show them you love them and remember them many times, every day?
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I’m off to run the mountain (oh, it calls me like a siren). Afterwards, I’m going to make a pair of huge, glorious salads for RW and I to dine upon. These past few nights we’ve been making our way through Star Wars and I like to sit and tuck my toes under Rob’s knees and laugh at everything Han Solo says. Then I think about how I won’t have to say goodbye to RW this coming fire season and then I think my heart may explode out of my chest because everything feels so fine, so fine. I’m his Princess Leia. He’s my Millennium Falcon flying scoundrel.
Be well, you brilliants.
xx
Alleluia indeed! Lovely post.
I’ve recently taped a quote to my mirror, and whilst I am brushing my teeth in the morning and evening, I read it, to direct myself and thoughts in a positive direction. Your post makes me think of it.
“Be glad of life, because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars; To be satisfied with your possessions; to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice; to be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgusts; to covet nothing that is your neighbor’s except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends, and to spend as much time as you can with body and spirit. These are little guideposts on the footpath to peace.” –Henry Van Dyke
oh myyyy, thank you for sharing these words from henry van dyke dear beth!!
going to write them on a piece of paper and put it up on my wall : )
THANK YOU!
Sweet ear adornments lady! I love their sexy simple curves 🙂 Most of my best homeys live far away, some just a few thousand miles and some on the other side of the globe! For the ones not in international calling regions, I text multiple times in a week, mostly with nothing too important to say, just a little shout out of love! Often it’s a one liner of an inside joke and then they text back the punchline…so we get to long distance laugh together. I really need to take up a pen more often and get to letter writing, I used to do it all the time and fell off the wagon. The hardest part is that now we are reaching that age where weddings and babies are happening all the time and I really want to be “there”…But I do love it when I get those “thinking of you” texts, makes me feel the love from far away!
a dinning room table in the back yard
heaven
friends far away get little reminders via snail mail, email and voice mail
little trinkets picked up along the way get sent
little messages that pop in my head go out when the time calls
what a blessing those connections are
love and light
you make my heart burst
Oh, those earrings. Reminds me of childhood swings and fearlessness. And that chrysoprase! Gorgeous color.
My closest friends are my family. Nothing like five siblings to keep you grounded and not too big for your britches! Any accolades or success is usually met with a, “Wow. Awesome job. Geez, you’re still such a geek!” =)
I received a “psoas pick-me-up” gift from my little sis in the mail yesterday (one had me hobbling around and whimpering like a baby for a week), which included:
* ‘writer’s candy’: two handmade notebooks
* Dark and Divine coffee (because it reminded her of me–naturally!)
* one of her famed stick-figure cards: me, with ‘awesome hair’ (never happens), in a general Zen pose (not after THAT coffee!), doing a psoas stretch (*whimper*), the ‘palms’ of my feet together (she couldn’t remember the name of the underside–soles–of feet last week. I corrected her, as is the right and privilege of any older sister. And yes, yes she does call me ‘Nana.’)
Then my big sis and I had a long 2 1/2 hr conversation on the phone, until our jaws hurt from talking and laughing, our eyes gritty from a few crying jags, interspersed with “You’re STILL on the phone!” comments from her three kids, coming inside to grab snacks to take out to the tent pitched in their backyard (after their Easter weekend camping plans went awry).
Being on the other side of the Pacific isn’t always easy, but then, perhaps I wouldn’t appreciate these moments as much as I do.
Sending love from the wild and woolly PNW!
xxx
Oops. Sorry. Rambling rambles. =)
practically perfect in every way 😉
much love!
I think chrysoprase is emerald’s wild and crazy sister. She’s that chick with the turquoise aqua hair that you thought was so beautiful walking by. That’s chrysoprase. I finally made something Jillian. Check out my blog. I posted it…
Gratitude, yes. Even when I feel overwhelmed, I’m grateful to be surrounded by so many things in which to joyfully employ my time. Your writing always lifts me, and I’m grateful for that, too. Have a wonderful day.
well, amen.
yes i have a couple friends who live many miles away. i have vowed to write letters to one because receiving a letter from HER in the mailbox is one of the highlights of my life! when one lives in alaska, it’s not like you can just drop everything and bicycle “over there”….but she is my soul friend….and in my dreams i stop by for tea and a chat on her porch.
life is so good. so very very good. i vow to make it so: every day. enough of this insanity, i say!! enough! time to enjoy every bit of the good and everything else that is thrown into the mix of life!!
love you j : )
I love your goal and that is mine too and i get upset with myself when I don’t achieve it everyday…I am going to write this on my wall…let the “scales drop from my eyes”…I do have a best friend who lives in AZ…when we visit it is always the same, fine a place to hike, to have coffee, to do a tiny tiny bit of shopping…we hiked all over together and laughed through good and bad times!
xx
He’s risen indeed! So glad it buoys your soul through every turn to keep that choice afresh – lovely words! And.. lovely works – gosh that greeny blue is too yummy!
Rob? His name is ROB!! That mystery of what R.V stood for has taunted me forever in your posts.. ha!
muah muah muah
Mel ;o)
needle and nest design
There you go again- making me so dang happy to be alive!! Your prose added to the fullness of my heart this morning. To the brim! Oh, and I want those earrings so bad.
They’re like magical stirrups. If I were a teeny tiny ocean queen I would use them to ride my royal seahorses.
Yes! 🙂
Well said, Jillian! We also had a glorious Easter on a sunny spring day which included dining outside, a family dogpile nap outside, and lamb roast from the lamb I processed myself. Many thoughts of new life as last Easter, Cedar and I came home from the hospital for the first time. So many blessings!
Will these earrings be making their way to the shop? Fingers crossed! 🙂
wow! those top earrings are amazing!! love love love the color.
i’m currently working in Southern Africa and feeling oh so far away from my dear friends. i have friends here but they aren’t kindred spirits like my old friend back home. so to stay close we write letters, send long long emails full of daily details, and i actually started a photoblog with one friend. we each take one picture a day. it helps us feel connected, see each others world. it’s beautiful.
Brilliantly beautiful and inspirational!!!!
Loved reading your post!
Lovely work as always.
Sometimes I say ” hello my friend” and blow a little kiss to the photographs or greeting cards I have of those who live far away!
xo
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for these wonderful comments everyone! I wish I had a moment to respond to them all…just wanted you to know I read them and delighted in them. xx