Happy Equinox

Good Bye Summer

Today is the last day of Summer 2016. This summer blessed me and my family with new adventures, new friendships, and a new place to call home. It has brought huge transitions into our lives and I am so grateful for the new beginnings. 

My daughters and I, summer of 2016.

Nature In The City

As he cawed out my name for a second time, he roamed the sky. 

Circling above, he pointed to the trees. I followed. 

Looking up at the majestic beauty, I was reminded of the importance of being able to fly. 

My heart soared.

Nature In The City

He Cawed my name...and I followed, leaving behind the web of illusion.

And took me to a place where I could reflect upon life.

A New Fun Project

Once I reached ten poetry & prose challenges I needed to change things up a bit. LOL The life of being adhd.  But I have a new interest to share with you. Getting to know my Pentax camera has led me into a creative direction that allows me to reflect my love for Nature's Spirit. But the back story first.

Hooray...I have finished the first draft of my book Flight of the White Crow. This book is a collection of my personal paranormal and mystical stories that date back to my childhood and up to the present time. I also offer some of my own theories and reflections in the book. The process of picking up the old manuscript and diligently working through it to the end has been very enlightening, healing, and a great sense of accomplishment. I have also decided to do my own book cover, which means, getting a good picture of a crow. This need for a good photo has led me on an adventure with my camera. In trying to get that great photo, I began to open my eyes up to the nature that surrounded me here in the city. Also, having just written a book of my spiritual journey, I have  rekindled my relationship with Spirit at a deeper level. No, I am not a religious person, although I do respect those that are, but rather Spirit for me is in everything from the butterfly to the great universe. So as I was searching for my Crow, I began to see that the idea of nature not thriving in a city is an illusion, and began taking photos to illustrate this point. When one steps away from his or her technology and material things, and sits quietly, then he or she can see that they are surrounded by the spirit of nature. 

My camera is a Pentax K-S2 DSLR camera with a 18-50mm lens. Years ago I used an old Cannon that was a complete manual camera. Back then it was rolls of film and no option of digital images. Now it seems that everyone photo-shops their pictures to enhance colours, remove imperfections, and alter the reality for creative purposes. I can totally see why people do this, especially for creative purposes such as a book cover. But for this project that I am embracing, I will be keeping my photos authentic. I will use different modes such as forest setting, sky setting, fast moving object, etc. Since I am working with nature, I will let nature express itself. Here in Edmonton, Alberta, some days the sky is the most amazing blue and other days it is a white wash.  The only Photo-shop I will use will be to crop a photo. 

I hope you enjoy my journey while I embrace nature in the city.  I will attempt to post a picture every few days. 

Face Book Memories

I'm sure most of you that read my blog have a face book page and are use to seeing "your year ago face book memory".  Sometimes I cringe at my past memories, but then remind myself of the personal growth I have achieved. lol  But this morning I was happy to see a memory from last year and I wanted to share it with you here. It is actually two-folded. One part is the reminder of how much I like Mark Romero's work. When I healed my psoriasis condition it was while I was listening to his music. I really do think that he is a person of integrity and is doing what he is doing for all the right reasons....and his music really is beautiful. 

Second...birds are important to me as I love them dearly. I find them incredibly good at being messengers from the the spiritual perspective. So it was really nice to have a reminder of this day because my personal world changed drastically soon after this. Good - bad...who knows....change is change and it takes awhile before we see how our life unfolds, but I think I achieved a lot of personal internal growth in this year.   So here it is....

Face Book Memory from a year ago....

While I was playing this video four blue jays and some other bird I have not seen before came to the tree out side my window. At first they were squacking but when I turned up the volume they all became quiet and just listened. It was a really lovely moment. Really love what this guy is doing with music. I'm pretty sure his techniques are from a lost art.

Keeping Life Simple

I've been working on my website for the past few days. It has a completely different feel from the last one. Instead of focusing on being a publishing house, it is focused on me being a writer. It took a little bit of soul whispering, but I understand now that building up a publishing house isn't the life I want to have. I just want to be a writer and create my own books. I don't have huge ambitions, just want to be happy and live a creative life. I think this is being authentic.

My daughter and I went to a cafe the other day. Can you tell which writing gadget is mine???  lol   And check out these adorable drinks. Mine was the kitty and she had the bear. Not only was it delicious, but artistic. This is the Gama Cafe on Whyte Ave (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). Such a cute little cafe.