Twenty Things That Nurture Me

Got this from Braja. Check her out (as if you don't already know her blog!)(and if you don't, what are you, living under a rock?? She's a blogging rock star, fer cryin' out loud!!)(No, really, she's at least eight kinds of awesome on a regular basis).

Blue - shades and shades of blue, from palest sky to deepest Atlantic. Contrary to what the psychology world claims, blue does not depress me..it calms, soothes, and even uplifts my spirit.

Music - I love making music for and with others. Drumming and singing together around a fire at night is magic in itself. In music I find peace, power, solace, joy, and connection.

Photography - capturing the world in still frames and showing my often skewed vision to others, sharing moments frozen in time, is a real pleasure.

Fabric - I have a stash of fabric that make my mouth water - colors, textures, patterns, things that literally made me drool. Some of them are grouped together to one day become...something. Some are simply pieces waiting to become...something else. I especially love cotton.

Water - drinking, bathing, swimming...water is a thing of nurturing for me. When I am ill, it's water I want, and no other medicine will quite do.

Moonlight - cool, blue-silver, gentle, her light casts shadows and brings strange life to things...and I love being out beneath her, soaking it all in.

Sunlight - warm, golden, pouring down in honeyed streams...since childhood I have loved the scent of sun-warmed skin.

Earth - rich, heady perfume rolls up from newly turned garden beds, and I breathe it in and am drunk from it. To bury my fingers in her, set seeds to root and grow, is an act of hope, a gift given and received.

Snow - cold, clean, whit, soft, hard, ever changing, ever different.

Someone and the Evil Genius - playing baseball on the driveway, throwing darts in the garage, teasing Rook, playing chess, gardening...there is something tremendously satisfying in watching two people I love being happy together.

Reading - I have had no more faithful, no truer friends follow me from childhood to today than books. I still have many from when I was young.

Cats - furry little contradictions, the wee darlings.

Flowing Water - the sound is a song that I will one learn to sing. I steep myself in that subtle music and am timeless.

Fire - fire runs in my family; we like to burn things. There are two rules of fire here at Casa de Crazy: Fire is always hungry, and fire is never safe. The crackling tune is a counterpoint to flowing water and blowing wind, earth's drums keeping time to it all.

Rain - the smell, the feel, of a summer's rain soaking through my clothes to my skin...sweet...

Flute - I can play or listen for hours.

Singing Bowl - mine is quite large, made of crushed quartz. It has a chip in it but that doesn't seem to make a difference. I will coax it into song, then plunge my head down into the bowl and feel the sound pulsing through me...ahh...

Words - well written, well spoken, well crafted words. Playful, charming, painful, sweet, I've never met a words I couldn't love.

Ancient Evenings Lotion - perhaps a bit shallow, but the smell makes me smile and it does keep my poor abused hands soft and smooth.

Seeds - little bundles of potential, hopes and dreams in tiny hulled packages.