4/23/24 World Book Day

 4/23/24 World Book Day

Happy WORLD BOOK DAY Everyone!

I'm looking forward to reading Rita Mae Brown's recent releases Feline Fatale and Hiss and Tell.

In other genres, I absolutely enjoyed Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza and Honeymoon at Sea by Jennifer Silva Redmond.

Whatever you are reading, I'm wishing you joy, thrills, enlightenment and whatever else you find to grasp in the multitude of works presented to our generation. We live in a wonderful era of works available at our fingertips, past and present. 

Right at this moment, writers are penning the works of the future. How exciting!

Read on, 

Loraine

1/1/2024 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

1/1/2024 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dear Fellow Travelers,

Every New Year has its own new beginnings, a fresh start, a new-ish feel. If we could bottle this and drink from it daily, each day would hold its own delightful newness. Perhaps we can. I will endeavor to do so. Will you?

It is a challenge to feel optimistic these days with wars raging, politics fracturing countries, Mother Earth showing us the results of our actions, and our everyday hurdles. Yet there are still blessings to behold and silver linings to discover.

Sharing joys, giving thanks, reminding each other how important we are to one another and being kind to ourselves, all such things brighten our world. And that brightness can reach the dark corners.

As the line from Puff the Magic Dragon goes:

“Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff

And brought him strings, and sealing wax, and other fancy stuff”

Watch for the fancy stuff, like strings and things, words and thoughts, leaves waving in the wind; some can be held, some seen, and some felt. This moment holds eternity, it is eternity, all bottled up and ready for us to drink it in.

 

Cheers!

Loraine

12/31/21 RMB A Mother’s Light

 

12/31/21 RMB  A Mother’s Light

 

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

New Year’s Eve thoughts…The last two months have felt like two years. Recent turmoil regarding health, home repairs, jobs, family, oh yeah and the ongoing pandemic, have snowballed. Sometimes if feels like we are grasping at straws just to hold on to some semblance of sanity, some normality.

The author Mike Dooley surmises not all thoughts are equal, that the positive outweighs the negative by ten thousand-fold. I believe it. Those straws we are grasping at, they are golden, strong, everlasting straws of hope and light.

 

The summer I turned nine, my father introduced us to a pretty lady with short reddish-brown hair that drove a cool green Nova. She was bright and lively. She was a kid at heart and loved to play games, a rare adult who still relished having fun. She became our stepmother and brought with her a new brother and sister into our family. Ensuing evenings were spent drinking Alabama sweet tea and playing raucous games of Parcheesi, Yahtzee, and so on.

Patricia “Pat” Gulick taught elementary school much of her life, often tutoring some kids after hours, collecting clothes for those in need and helping the less fortunate any way she could.

Some months shy of fifty years later, she remains young at heart. She still loves games and watching her Alabama Roll Tide College Football games with her brother.

The challenges she faces now are big. And when she said come visit me now, we did. From California we flew to spend a few days with the lady who helped raise us, played games with us and shared her life with us.

Her love of music and art live on in our memories and belongings as we enjoy all that she created and gave to us.  

On one of those few precious mornings with her, I emerged from the spare room to her sing song voice “Good mooooorning”.

She visited with us every day to tell stories and share her history. Those words, those moments, and the time we still have with her, they are loaded with those golden straws of light, laughter and love.

Seizing the light,

Loraine

10/31/21 RMB Two Accidents

 

10/31/21 RMB  Two Accidents

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

While driving home last night I found myself in a lane blocked by police cars surrounding sideways vehicles. The accident so recently happened that the police had not yet started directing traffic. Drivers edged passed the incident, finding clear paths wherever we could, allowing for a bubble around the wreckage for those involved to reset their lives; for the police to help as best they could.

On another street, eight miles away, I found myself approaching more flashing lights, another accident. This one had flares surrounding the cops and the broken cars. One officer waived us into a side street.

Neither had an ambulance. Hopefully there were no serious injuries. Needless to say, I drove even more carefully than normal the rest of the way home.

Life takes us down paths. Sometimes there are hard stops and resets, as with those in the accidents. Sometimes there are detours. Often there are bumps that leave bruises.

We have choices and every choice comes with some sort of obstacle. The paths we take may be difficult, but here’s the rub. The chirping bird, the dazzling sunset, that special song, every path has them and so much more.

The joy we carry within has a matching vibration in something right before us. Let it connect and suddenly a touch, a sound, a thought, a site, becomes delightful, eternally linked to our souls.

Face each day as a quest for the uplifting magical essence in life and it will be found. Face each obstacle knowing that what is in you is grander than whatever it is.

These are the lessons I’m reminded of as I follow my path, detours, obstacles and all.

Onward we go,

Loraine

8/31/21 RMB August Farewell

 

8/31/21 RMB August Farewell

 

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

As we say farewell to August, the birds chirp to one another, the sky is white with clouds, dogs bark in the distance and leaves rustle in the trees.

August 2021 takes with it my eldest sister Deb Hills who goes on to join my eldest brother Rocky Gulick. Both faced physical challenges, and both were the first to stand up for the less fortunate. They stepped in when others needed a hand. And gave with full hearts.

Life goes on. Grief can be a tremendous hurdle. But life goes on. And we do the best we can, for ourselves; the best we can for others.

When the dogs bark in the distance, and the birds chirp, and the leaves rustle, join in with a hello of your own.

Enjoy moments, catch the magical seconds, smile just because now and then.

Every voice is precious. Every breath counts, however invisible until they are gone, they count. Remember that.

Rest in peace my Sister.

 

With all my heart,

Loraine

5/31/21 RMB Memorial Day Fact

 5/31/21 RMB Memorial Day Fact

 

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

Exactly two months have disappeared by since my last letter. Forgive me if I ramble in catching up.

April’s adventure was moving, box by box, three friends, all on the slower side of 55 spurred one another on, joked, laughed, shed a few tears for the beloved desert home that will be missed, then shared meals to celebrate each day’s work. Finally, sore and satisfied, within our allotted week, the mission was complete. Now Teddy works daily at unboxing, rediscovering treasures and recreating “home” in her new Bear’s Den.

In May I got my first pair of reading glasses ever. Hence, reading is more fun. I got new regular glasses for the first time in 10 years. Hence, driving is more fun. I look from street signs to store signs, finding some readable that were not before.

I finished the enlightening Animal Magnetism and now Cakewalk is next up, along with a few other books on tarot, healthy recipes, and Pimsleur’s Spanish II.

For Cinco de Mayo I received my first covid vaccine and on June 4^th the second awaits me. Too many lives have been lost to this virus and it brings to light the many that have been lost for other reasons, diseases, wars, crimes, etc. I can’t help but feeling that we are the cure, our minds, our motivations, our efforts, we can make this world, all our lives, better.

Today is Memorial Day. Wikipedia says:

On May 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC, formerly enslaved African Americans honored hundreds of Black soldiers who were killed in the Civil War and buried in a mass grave. They unearthed the bodies and gave each a proper burial and held a parade in the soldiers’ honor. This memorial honoring of Black fallen soldiers is believed to have been the first Memorial Day before it later became a recognized holiday.

Kind of adds to the echo of black lives matter, not necessarily the movement, but the fact.

 

June is calling, may it ring in joyfully,

Loraine

3/31/21 RMB Words Emotionally Absorbed

 

3/31/21 RMB Words Emotionally Absorbed

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

While still enjoying your Animal Magnetism, I am also reading A Little Bit of Tarot and just finished Badass Habits by Jen Sincero.

I recently listened to the audio book Barefoot Executive on cd in my car. The author Carrie Wilkerson is like an Energizer bunny in business. Her drive is inspiring and she shares tons of how-to information about getting your business started. Her motto seems to be “if I can do it, you can do it”. However, it dawned on me that each of us is so individual and so unique none of us can accomplish something JUST because someone else accomplished it.

We each have our own hurdles, our own issues, our own skills, motivations, etc. Until we re-package all that we learn and mesh it into our own magical force, one that takes our uniqueness into account, what we accomplish from the knowledge gained is stunted by an invisible force.

Whatever we learn, whether from the Barefoot Executive or Jen Sincero or Mike Dooley or history or anywhere, needs to be digested for it to be of its ultimate value. It needs to be consumed on an emotional, physical and mental level. That information, inspiration, knowledge and education must be mixed into the elements of oneself, as one would mix dough for bread. You can’t take the base of flour and toss all of the other ingredients on top, slide it in the oven and expect a loaf of bread to rise from that heap.

Yet that is what we do, what I do, when I read tons of books. I acquire bits of info, tack them on my mental corkboard and hope all of the pieces will one day fall into place, that I will lose weight, have my own business, get my house in order, etc.

It feels as though there is a door or perhaps the proverbial window to the soul, that needs open to allow the message to seep in deep. Words read and noted on the mental corkboard are helpful, but words embraced and absorbed are transformative.

As we grow, we are trained by nature and nurture to be strong, independent, and complete. In that process of completion, the exits and entrances are sealed up tight. It is why falling in love can sometimes feel painful, the heart literally aches for the object of affection because those barriers must be breached to allow the relationship to flourish.

It is why our mystic skills and our 6^th sense is often muted, they need that window open to breathe. I will be more conscious of this in the future. While reading, I will make an effort to absorb concepts.

I can relate to Jen Sincero’s writing, which feels down to earth and allows for individuality in her suggestions and guidance. Wisdom resides in her words, with a little spice mixed in to boot.

Letting words in,

Loraine