If we were having coffee: Traveling edition

Brilliant spring color.

Each day holds a surprise.  But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us.  Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy.  It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.

~ Henri Nouwen

A small sea of warm colors.

If we were having coffee, tea, or some other beverage, we would be meeting somewhere in South Jersey (New Jersey).  I’m here to visit with my family, mostly my father.  I haven’t seen him since Thanksgiving and that seems a long way away.  I am so glad you could join me here.  Hugs if you’re amenable to them.  It’s good to see you again.

How are you?  Has life been treating you well since we last chatted?  Have you traveled anywhere or seen any new sights?  Have you taken any good walks or hikes?  Spent time in the woods or the meadows or by the sea?  Have you read any good books or watched any good films?  Grab a beverage (my treat!), have a seat, and let’s get caught up.

It’s a colorful life.

Before we get to anything else, I will once again have to apologize for being a poor friend and not keeping up with you.  With the advent of warmer weather, life has run riot and become hectic for me.  I am a lazy gardener with not-the-best gardening habits but nonetheless, I try to keep up with the weeds and the planting and the mowing and all of the other outdoor chores that ask me to cast off my winter sloth and come play, come work, come enjoy the lovely weather.  I have thought about giving up posting for a while, but as you know, my blog started as a journal or a diary to chronicle my adventures and that continues to be a big part of its purpose.  Life moves so quickly these days that it would take me a long time to catch up if I decided to take off a month or two.  Better to keep up with it as I can (which, I have to admit, is not that great; I still have photos from our trip to the Outer Banks that I haven’t shared).

Nothing wrong with being the different one in the crowd.

If we were having coffee or tea or something else, you might have noticed that I redecorated Ye Olde Blogge.  I’m not sure if I will stick with this theme.  I like it because it reminds me of where I write and work with my photographs.  In my physical world here in the office/creative space, there are post-it-notes gathering on the wall to my left, reminders of things I want to put in my novel or write about here on the blog.  Bits and pieces of poetry.  Sometimes I rearrange the notes and it becomes a poem.  Then I scatter them again and start over.

The new theme I’m using is called Scratchpad.  I’m not sure about the sidebar.  It takes up so much space.  When I have time, I’ll play around with things and see if I can get everything to fit just the way I like it.  I received the notice about the new theme and accidentally clicked on “activate” when I meant to “preview” and took that as a sign to try it out for a while.  I’ve had the other theme, or one like it, for so long that I know something new will mean an adjustment period if I want to give it a fair chance.

Healing mandala.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I finished reading Everything I Never Told You.  I thought it was an excellent, well-written book, and I highly recommend it with the caveat that the subject matter can be somewhat depressing.  I had a hard time putting it down, and might have finished sooner if I’d had time to do nothing but sit and read.

I am currently reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman which I expect, just from reading the first few pages, I’ll love because, as you know, I love a good fairy tale.

Altar in the Great Hall.

If we were having coffee, tea, or some other beverage, I would tell you that I went to Salisbury University on Thursday afternoon to see the visiting Tibetan monks create a mandala sand painting in The Great Hall of Holloway Hall.  Their visit was endorsed by the Dali Lama, and the purpose is to promote healing and world peace.  I wish I could be there for the dispersing ceremony today, but I feel blessed to have been able to witness some of the creation.  You can see a time-lapse video of the making of the mandala here.

Colorful sand.

If we were having coffee or something else to drink, I would tell you that back on the ranch, the landscape is greening up nicely.  The wild cherries are blossoming while other trees are now leafing out.  The meadow is a mix of brown and green, mostly green these days as the new growth replaces last year’s dried grasses and flowers.  I would also tell you that the bugs are going to be bad this year.  I was sitting out by the Pocomoke River on Thursday morning, enjoying the sunlight, the birds, and the flow of the river, when a hoard of biting black flies found me.  Worse yet, I discovered a few ticks later when I decided I should do a tick check even though it seems early to have to do that.

Details.

They shared a map with us on the news the other day showing that this area has the type of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus.  For that reason, and others (because Zika isn’t the only illness carried by mosquitoes), the CDC is advising us all to avoid mosquito bites.  As things warm up, it will get buggier and buggier, and the mild winter we had won’t help matters.

The big picture from above.

If we were having coffee, tea, or some other beverage, it would be time for me to turn the chatting over to you while I finish up my drink and get ready to go see my father.  Thank you so much for traveling along with me.  I always enjoy our coffee chats.  I don’t know where I’ll end up for sunset this evening, but will try to get a glimpse of it from wherever I happen to be.  Sunset is a minute earlier here than it is down our way at the ranch.  I think it’s at 7:39 PM today.

Be good, be kind, be loving, be well.  Just Be.  🙂

Meditative work.

This post is in response to Part Time Monster’s #WeekendCoffeeShare.  Thank you to Diana for hosting it.  Also, a big congratulations for the #WeekendCoffeeShare being featured on WordPress’s Daily Post.  So glad to see it being shared among the rest of the community!  Put the kettle on, start the coffee maker, open a bottle of wine, or whatever your preference is, and join us.  I’d love to hear all about what you were up to this week.