enjoy and love adventure - day 42

Yep, this picture pretty much sums it up. I'm one happy bee!

Also looking forward to heading home in a couple of days, giving my sweetie hugs and kisses, and getting back to my regular lovely life with a fresh perspective.

Hope you're all having a beautiful weekend, too!

enjoy and love adventure - day 41

The adventure today has included meditation, delicious food (an incredible nicoise salad with lovely greens and big pieces of perfectly cooked mahi-mahi), beautiful walks (more California poppies), and art-making with my sweet sister. This retreat is a real treat!

enjoy and love adventure - day 40

Here!!

enjoy and love adventure - days 38 & 39

And a little of day 37:)

A beautiful Easter morning rainbow, taken from the kitchen window of the main house in the "compound":



Attending Katie's wonderful performance in The Rainmaker (as Lizzie!):



The meadows were covered in gorgeous California poppies:



Views in and around my little studio home and the rest of the "compound" - such a perfect spot! And the weather was amazing:










And now resting up in San Rafael, delightedly anticipating a wonderful retreat this weekend:

enjoy & love adventure - days 35-37, take two:)

Photo documentation:)

enjoy & love adventure - days 35-37

Having so much fun! This auntie/sister/daughter is in seventh heaven:) Having trouble loading pictures, but will keep trying this week... Hope you're all doing well!

enjoy and love adventure - day 34

Hitting the road and I can't believe that tomorrow I'll be with some of my favorite people on this planet! The only thing that would make it better would be if my sweetie could join me...

My plan is to try to post as much as I can along the way. In the meanwhile, I hope you all are enjoying your own adventures!

enjoy and love adventure - day 33

I do love how all of a sudden everything is green. Like magic!

enjoy and love adventure - day 32

These days I'm living by lists, making sure everything is ready for a trip to see sweet family and go on a much-needed retreat. My sweetie won't be joining me on this ramble, so I want to make sure he has what he needs and I'm leaving things in OK shape here and at work. Wish me luck:)

enjoy and love adventure - day 31

Another delightful day with the Thomases! It's such a pleasure to get to spend time in a lovely, creative atmosphere and they teach a great workshop. It will be a rude awakening to be back in my regular routine tomorrow...

enjoy and love adventure - belated day 30

Yesterday was packed with book arts and I got home too late to post. But it was a wonderful day and due to a last-minute cancellation I was even able to make a book as you can see. Very fun!

The lovely folks who are teaching the workshops refer to themselves as wandering book gypsies, so it seems fitting that when I was driving to work yesterday, for the first time after living here for over 13 years, I followed a string of cars being led by five runaway horses, trotting down the country highway. I cannot believe I didn't have the good sense to pull out my camera to document this wonderful, wild moment. But this video sort of captures what it felt like. (Plus you have to listen for the fabulous soundtrack! This especially means you, Kath and David!)

enjoy and love adventure - day 29

Today we attended an event at the library where my husband used to work. It was good to see friends we don't get to see enough. One of them gifted a Broken Bells album to Rodg recently. I've totally fallen in love with the last song on it, "The Mall & Misery." (The title of which pretty well sums up last Sunday for me...) Enjoy!

enjoy and love adventure - day 28

"[If] you're on the path of truth ... the sacred duty is that you walk hand in hand with beauty in order to discover the real presence of truth."
~ John O'Donohue in The Divine Imagination

Normally a gray Saturday like today might be depressing, but there's been something cozy about a little blast of fall weather. I had a very productive morning, taking care of several errands, but I could feel how the rushing wasn't doing my soul any favors. Now there's a lovely fire crackling and I'm looking forward to curling up by it in a bit and coming back to a more present pace.

enjoy and love adventure - day 27

"[B]reakage, whatever its cause, is the dark complement to the act of making..."
~ Louise Glück (quoted in Beauty: The Invisible Embrace)

Feeling that lovely openness that comes after being broken open. As I was sharing with some dear friends today, I don't mind the state of brokenness, but I hate the feeling of breaking.

enjoy and love adventure - day 26

Today was a hard day. Wandering the aisles of the grocery store this evening I let the feeling sink in and I felt broken and then a new thing happened. Nothing in me tried to fix it. Nothing tried to convince me that it wasn't hard. There was no resistance. And it felt fine. Very interesting. I can only credit listening to John O'D. for about an hour a day with a shift in my perspective.

And then I got home and my amazing personal DJ put an old favorite record on and it was just the right thing. You can listen to the song I'm listening to right now here.

enjoy and love adventure - day 25

"Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."
~ Mary Oliver

"The world is offering itself in every moment to your imagination. And through that imagination you can open the riches of the world, to calm your fears, to satisfy the hungers of your heart, to break out of your own isolation, and to heal whatever is damaged or limited or wounded within you."
~ John O'Donohue

Listening to wonderful John O'Donohue's "The Divine Imagination" in my car I was amazed to hear almost the same line as in one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems, "Wild Geese". Weird, eh? And here's the oddest part. I had no idea what that line meant. In fact I've listened to that disc of the O'Donohue talk 4 times. But I think I'm starting to get it.

enjoy and love adventure - day 24

Stayed out too late tonight attending this month's Indeterminacies program. It was fun but I think I'm already paying for it:)

enjoy and love adventure - day 23

Stormy weather! Nothing like spring in the South:) Delayed ride home this evening when the buses evacuated at the shelter and we all headed downstairs while the tornado sirens wailed. At least I got to chat with a few of my favorite patrons:) Yes, today definitely qualified as a real adventure!

enjoy and love adventure - day 22

When I was a teenager I spent hours and hours and hours at the mall. Now I cannot imagine. Let's just say I am not a practitioner of retail therapy:) At least not for clothing. So today's shopping trip fell under the heading of Soul Care only as finally checking something off my to-do list that has been lurking in the back of my mind, not really as a pleasure in and of itself.

Happier hours were spent watching "Pow Wow Highway", though! Oh, I love Gary Farmer!

enjoy and love adventure - day 21

One surefire way for me to relax and rejuvenate is to watch movies. I've seen some good ones lately!

Today I watched "It's Kind of a Funny Story" on DVD:



And streamed "I'm with Lucy":



And streamed "Days and Clouds" earlier this week:

enjoy and love adventure - day twenty

Today was my first day back at work after a week away. It seemed like a good idea to at least clear out my mailbox so I can start on Monday with a relatively clean slate. It felt great to see dear friends and be reminded of the many things I enjoy about my job. Plus Nashville is in a friendly mood these days. I love how strangers smile at each other in this town.

It also felt great to get on the bus this evening and pull out my current read, Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth - very fun!

enjoy and love adventure - day nineteen

Much of the adventure so far has revolved around this lovely woman - my dear mother-in-law, pictured here on her wedding day. It was wonderful to spend time with my husband's family, helping to distribute the contents of Maxine's apartment, attending her memorial service, and - amazingly - to welcome my new grandniece, Maebrynn (Brynn) Grace, and even get to hold her sweet, little newborn self. A powerful time of endings and beginnings and limbo, it makes me excited to get back to living my own wild and precious life.

enjoy and love adventure - day eighteen

Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, arriving back in Tennessee. What a day! Yes, we've been away helping clean out Maxine's apartment and attending her lovely memorial service. So much to share, but I'm road weary. Meet you back here tomorrow...

enjoy and love adventure - day seventeen

I feel like we've entered a bit of a lull in my reported adventure here, as if I'm treading water a bit. Not to worry. All will be revealed soon. In the meanwhile, here's something I've enjoyed recently:

Monk in the World

Am currently enjoying:

Unravelling #2: Living in My World

Will be enjoying soon:

The Art of Noticing

enjoy and love adventure - day sixteen

Yes, here's to you, my dear readers! And a couple of treasures...

Love this instant visit to NYC thanks to Jen Lee

Care to join me at the Spring Dream Lab? - Pretty great line-up!

enjoy and love adventure - day fifteen

This is my idea of paradise. I love the light and space of modern art museums. This shot of the top of a Donald Judd piece in this lovely space just soothes my soul.

enjoy and love adventure - day fourteen

I'm not going to lie to you. I'm totally addicted to John O'Donohue. I feel like parched earth and his words are gentle rain. I can't stop soaking them up.

enjoy and love adventure - day thirteen

Oh dear. Not even words for today:) Not at all bad, just full, full, full. So here's a little glimpse. More tomorrow, promise!

day:


night: