My Shadow

I've been preoccupied; hell, even downright busy!? With company like this tho', how could I possibly give a damn?! If there's anything to be concerned about, it's cuteness overload. There's a whose-a-what not done & the which-teh-evers waiting.. Yeah, but have you seen my Shadow? =^@.@^=

A Bit of the Mountains

My mum’s in the mountains with Granddad just now and, though it’s incredibly hard not to be with them, a small ziplock bag makes me feel closer to them. Sometime back – no doubt Momma’s last visit to see her Dad – she sent me a care package, including this surprise ziplock from Granddad. He was purposely sending me a bit of Camp Nelson, the closest thing I had to home growing up and a tangible connection to him – the closest thing I had to a dad. Nostalgic at a glance with its wee pinecone and selection of acorns, unzipping this seemingly simple bag transports me as he included Bear Clover* in it.. This fragrant plant is also known as “Mountain Misery” yet one whiff leaves me anything but miserable. Nothing quite smells like Bear Clover; it smells like the mountains!

A peek into my drawer of necessary things:


A closer look with too much reflection

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*Bear Clover is a plant that grows in abundance in the Sierra Nevada mountains, known as a sort of ‘catnip’ for bears.

Simply Celebratory

My Hunny and I were at a graduation for the marvelous CHEFS certification program that some friends of ours are going through. The true celebration was the meal so the tables were made appropriately celebratory, yet simply so.. Decorated with confetti, they had the certain je ne sais quoi they needed and I couldn't help thinking of our goddaughter – knowing she would approve – so this one's for her:

Can a tree a day..

..keep anarchy away?

"If we don't make earnest moves toward real solutions, then each day we move one day closer to revolution and anarchy in this country. This is the sad, and yet potentially joyous, state of America." ― Louis Farrakhan

Earth Day

Green, living/alive
Seeking to thrive..

Nature seeks naught but need
No need to waste; waste not, want not

So much we can learn
Ideas taking seed

Using what's needed
Sharing what's not

Built-in recycling
Reuse revives

© Dorian Dorey Rhodes 22 April 2013

I celebrated Earth Day in my own little way, as I do most holidays: the design on the tank is a tree too so that darling pin will likely stay a permanent companion. It was a free gift found at San Francisco's annual Earth Day Festival. I also came away with far more paper flyers than makes sense for such an event. Thankfully, a lot of the paper was recycled but I'm hoping to see more information disseminated electronically in the future; sigh.

Pain is inevitable..

..suffering is optional.

I'm in the process of attempting to quantify something I've always lived with yet has never been fully diagnosed; Although I've been in pain for as long as I can remember, my pediatrician was unable to determine why. One example is that my chronic stomach aches were explained as stress yet I've since learned that Migraine often presents as stomach aches in children. The few jobs I've been able to hold over the years have each made the pain and accompanying syndromes worse, to the point that I'm no longer able to maintain one activity for any length of time. My Hunny explains it better than I can:

"Dorian has about an average of three good hours of energy output per day, whether it be working on a light task, exercising creativity or even socializing with other people. After a certain threshold there is a rapid decline in mental acuity and rest is needed. Short naps don't do the trick as they do with most people, rather, a period of several hours is needed to “recharge,” and this can be spent either sleeping (although it is difficult for her to fall asleep) or engaged in something passive like television watching, as long as it doesn't take much thought or creativity. Reading takes too much mental acuity during this time and will often sap her energy further.

Her level of chronic pain on a daily basis takes its toll and often tasks her energy reserve early in the day after such chores as showering, preparing a meal or getting ready to go out. After the three-hour period her mental acuity declines to the extent where she has trouble tracking names and events, and her memory fades a great deal. She often experiences confusion during this time, and will frequently lose track of her own whereabouts and any tasks that need to be done will quickly be forgotten if she is stressed. When leaving her residence or a place of business if she has been out, she frequently forgets such simple, everyday objects such as her cane, bag and/or sunglasses - needing to return to retrieve them. This happens more often than not."