Inspired

Five Senses Friday - December '11

The fog lifting in the Fraser Valley of BC.

(taken with my camera phone while zooming down the freeway)

Seeing:       White and grey.  I’ve been away for a week now…checking in with my father in the interior of the province.  It’s colder here than on the coast…below freezing and with an arctic wind blowing. Br-rr.  A few inches of snow fell a few nights ago so it’s looking a little Christmassy.

 

Hearing:     The wind blowing.  Howling, in fact.

 

Tasting:     Ginger Ale.  Dad has been sick and is drinking ginger ale...and so have I. It’s odd the associations this drink brings up for me...whenever we were sick as children, we were given ginger ale and to this day it takes me back to that.  We were never given pop or soda at any other time except at Christmas, so it always felt very special to be sick and get this treat!  It's interesting how these things can get twisted in a child's mind and taken forward into adulthood. What were you given to drink (or eat) when you were sick as a child?  Does it have the association of being nurturing?  I still find a glass of Ginger Ale to be very comforting.

 

Smelling:     Peppermints…how many people do you know who still keep a candy dish full of “sweeties” on their coffee table?  (My dad does.)

 

Feeling:  There are changes afoot in dad’s health and it’s difficult to watch him try to come to terms with this new challenge.  At 96 (next month) change in one's life is not usually an easy process.

And yet, life is always about change.  It seems to me that a successful life can be measured by our adaptability to the changes we encounter along the way…both the ones we think we want and the ones we’re sure we don’t want.  Do we struggle and rail against them or accept them and then look for the "fascination" with where this new step has taken us?  

Not always easy to do, but I'm practicing!

 

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. 

For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

Scott M. Peck

 

Blessings to you all dear friends, in these last busy days and weeks of 2011.

 

October…Five Senses Friday...on Saturday

 

 

This week...

Seeing:  fall colours, dark clouds scuttling across the sky, fields of pumpkins, puddles from last night’s rain and stacks and stacks of fence boards…we’ve been staining mucho grande lengths of wood this week.

 

Hearing:  the sound of breathing...my own breath actually.  I've been breathing deeply...in to the count of 6 and out to the count of 6...rhythmically and deeply. I've struggled with medatative breathing for years but this year it's all come together for me.  I love it.  I crave it and I can't get enough of it.  I've been studying both the physiology of deeply oxygenating the body as well as the esoteric/yogic information and it's pretty darn amazing, emotionally, physically and spiritually. My next step...Kundalini Yoga.

 

Smelling:  Hmmmmm….not much really.  Except for fence stain.  And wet earth. Now that I think about it, my olfactory senses have  been quite underwhelmed recently.  I believe the aroma of apples and cinnamon just might be on the menu this weekend.

 

 

Touching:  brushes. I’ve been holding large brushes while painting the fence as well as smaller brushes while painting a new canvas...and for the first time, I’ve been holding a palette knife too.  So much FUN!

 

Feeling: Content. Awed. Fortunate. Grateful.  (I'm now in the interior of BC to spend the (Canadian) Thanksgiving holiday with my dad and my brother and hoping to get together with friends who are leaving in three days to build a new home and a new life in Panama.)

 

Wake up your senses,

come to your senses and in turn,

you may fire up your passion in all areas of your life!

Corrie Woods

 

(the chrysanthemum in the photograph above was HUGE…at least 10” across!)

Five Senses Friday

 

A quick summary of this week's five senses:

Seeing:  bright green leaves on a blue sky backdrop…a sparkling clean home (and no, I can’t lay claim to cleaning it…I treated myself!)…a brown eyed child…pink, green and turquoise paints…very, very yellow farm fresh eggs…clinging purple starfish…pink/red/grey dragon fruit.  I love this world of amazing colour.

 

Hearing:  summer sunday music in the park…laughter with brown eyed boy as we played hide and seek and he found his papa hiding in bed under the covers...birds complaining about an empty feeder…the ever present cawing of the crows and the what-ever-that-sound-is-called that seagulls make.  I love the sounds they made for the seagulls in the movie Finding Nemo.

 

Smelling:  the salty sea air, lavender, lavender and even more lavender (it’s blooming everywhere right now) I wish there were scent links on the internet!

 

Tasting: those very very yellow, farm fresh eggs…a leisurely lunch with friends…take out sushi…the nutty flavour of almond milk…and even more almond but in dark chocolate…dragon fruit (which is disapointingly tasteless.  I wonder what it tastes like tree ripened?  Anyone ever had it that way?) and sweet/spicy rich chili.

 

Feeling:  WONDER.  A wonder too big for words.

 

We live on the leash of our senses.

Diane Ackerman

 

Wishing you a marvelous and heady weekend of truly absorbing life through all of your senses.  Blowing kisses...

 

Five Senses Friday

 

I’ve been doing “five senses friday” sporadically for a few years now and I don’t know if I ever actually said where it came from. I found it at Abby Try Again and although I just do my own thing when the spirit moves me, Abby does it every week.  It’s a great way to sum up the week.

 

 

Seeing: My beautiful red poppies.  Last March 1st…the day we arrived home from Mexico…Mr. I went out into the garden which still had a skiff of snow lying on it, and scattered all the poppy seeds we’ve been collecting for the past few years.  These are what came up.  We also have pink poppies, white poppies and salmon coloured poppies.  Yup, I love poppies!

 

Hearing: Listening to this…and loving the lyrics…

“Maybe you're the reason why all the doors are closed,
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road.”

 

 

Tasting:  fresh fruit…sweet cantaloupe…chai tea.

 

Smelling: I came across the most amazing sweet peas this morning and buried my nose in them for ages...and kept coming back for more. Mmmmm…heaven. 

And the smell of wet earth from two days of warm summer rain (as you can see by all the rain on the poppies).

 

 

Feeling: like summer is slipping by before it actually starts!  We're heading to the interior next week so, fingers crossed that the weather is warmer and drier there than it has been on the coast.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by my friends and I wish everyone a happy, and relaxing weekend!

 

"Smile, breathe, and go slowly"

Thich Nhat Hanh

Five Senses Friday

 

Five Senses Friday 

Seeing: 

These Chakra Flags hanging between two trees in my back yard.  I bought them just over a year ago on a weekend trip to Milwaukee and finally hung them this week.  They’re made by Jen of Jendala, who was attending the same conference as I was and I instantly fell in love with them.  I needed them.  Seriously, I wasn’t leaving Milwaukee without them.   Jen is a very talented and inspired artist (living and working in California) who’s media is metal and her tool, a hand torch.  Her work is a reflection of her belief that there is a connection between creativity, the environment and universal growth.

 

Hearing:

The sweet tinkling of above mentioned bells in the breeze.

 

Tasting

Licorice allsorts…oh yes.

 

Smelling:

I’ve been walking my local roads and rural acreages where there are many older, well established gardens.  The blossoms on the trees are intoxicating and the apple blossoms in particular have been transporting me back to the years of growing up in a beautiful valley of orchards.   It’s always amazing to me how scent can do that!

 

Feeling:

Good.  Positive. Empowered.  YES!

Five Senses Friday

  

Seeing: rain, clouds, brief glimpses of sun.  Yes, it’s a chillllly spring here on the island.  The plus side is that I don’t feel guilty about staying inside to play!  I actually dragged out my old sewing machine and started some crafty stuff.  When I say old, I do mean old…it was my grandmothers machine and dates from the 70’s, or maybe even the 60’s!  Anyway, my first attempt was seriously a “trial” run.  If my project works out, I’ll post pic’s…or maybe even if it doesn’t!

Tasting:  pineapple and oranges with mango ice cream…and this, after chicken tandoori and cucumber/mint raita, with mango chutney….mmmmmm.  (there seems to be a mango theme happening here).

 

  

Hearing: Laughter. It’s evening and the TV is on…(The Big Bang Theory) and Mr. I. is laughing. The sound of laughter is so wonderful, so infectious, so...happy!

Smelling: This afternoon I was taking some pic’s of some beautiful hand made soaps and the honeysuckle one has a heavenly fragrance.  My friend Martie at So Many Roads is now making and marketing these hand made soaps and kindly sent me some to try out.  Truly, these soaps are so soft and leave my skin feeling very moist.  There’s something quite wonderful about the way this soap feels.

 

  

Feeling:  a little frustrated with above said sewing machine, contented after a wonderful meal and happy to be where I am right now...right next to the laughing Mr. I.  No, my life isn't perfect, far from it, but right here, right now…I am content.  There is always so much to be grateful for and I choose to focus on that. It's not always easy but considering the alternative, I choose to feel peace.

Wishing all of you a very peaceful weekend,

 

Five Senses Friday (on Saturday)

 

Seeing:  early signs of spring here in the Okanagan Valley.  We are in the interior of BC once again, visiting with my dad…making copious amounts of beef barley soup for his freezer.  Our trips here alternate between making pots of soup and chicken pies, which are then piled into his freezer to keep him well fed until we return once again in two months.

 

Smelling:  again…spring and new growth.  We just returned from a walk with Molly along a canal that connects two lakes and although things are a not quite as advanced as they are at the coast, there’s that heavenly scent of the earth as it warms up and comes back to life. The smell of the sap and pitch in the trees say’s “spring” to me too.  (I’m also smelling a dog that needs a bath!

 

 

Tasting:  black tea.  Hot black tea.  Hot decaf black tea. (and maybe a little chocolate too, she says with a barely audible whisper )

 

Hearing: the different birds in this area that we don’t see where I live on the coast.  The quail bustling along with their new families, the call of the red winged blackbirds…and others that I hear but can’t see, so I’m not sure what they are.

 

Feeling:  very, very full.  We went out for breakfast this morning with dad.  I’m also feeling warm for the first time since leaving Mexico…well, maybe not Mexico warm but still warmer than I’ve felt for a month.  And I’m loving it!

 

Wishing you a lovely weekend filled with all the sweet “weekendy” things that you love to do.  What makes a weekend special for you?  I’d love to hear.  (I love to go out for a leisurely breakfast and then depending on the weather, curl up with a good book, immerse myself in some art or go for a walk with my camera…and of course, meet up with friends!)