Mandala Monday ~ Fruit Pizza

This week’s Mandala Monday is brought to you by… the fruit pizza I made for the 4th. 🎆

Of course I had to use the opportunity to try and create a mandala design out of it  😉

I’m not sure how I feel about the design, but it sure tasted yummy!

 

Hope your week is filled with yummy things!

😋

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Mandala Monday ~ Midsummer

“Flowers are the music of the ground

from earth’s lips spoken without sound”

~ Edwin Curran

Gosh, I love the idea of that quote!

🎶🌼🎶

I created this week’s mandala on midsummer using some randoms that are flourishing in my garden right now.

Have I mentioned lately how grateful I am for my humble little outdoor space?  SO very!

🌱

Here are a few other snaps I took during the process…

And here is the full view of the shot at the top of this post, uncropped…

Of course, my feet!  😁  Toes unpainted as of yet this summer, but still so happy ~ especially in the garden!

 

May your feet lead to happy places this week! 👣

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Midsummer Morning

Stepping out into the garden on midsummer morning, a lush carpet of soft clover cushions my footsteps

Oh how I delight in feeling the earth beneath my bare feet, soothing and arousing all at once

Sweet birdsong and luscious scents fill the air

a light breeze stirs my hair tickling my cheek, I smile as I brush it aside

Breathing deeply I sigh, grateful to be alive

grateful for my five senses, and for the deeper awareness that I am connected to it all

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2020

 

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Green Spaces

Let me escape to the green spaces 

 

Where the air is clean and fresh

and the sweet scent of the earth fills my senses

I breathe deep, filling my lungs with life-giving oxygen 

 

Where I can hear the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees

such a soothing sound

it’s almost a lullaby except for how invigorating it is

 

Where the sunlight flickers down through the canopy above 

 and a playful dance between shadow and light ensues on the forest floor

it’s hypnotic and memorizing, I join in

 

Where everything is vibrant and so alive

every organism living and working together, existing in perfect symbiosis 

I marvel at the wonder of nature, of its continual cycle of birth, death, and rebirth

 

Where nothing is wasted or taken for granted

 

Where there is no hate or division

or politics  

 

 Let me escape to the green spaces 

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2020

 

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Spring Rains

Spring rains wash over me

refresh my heart anew

I need your life-giving drops of hope

so I can continue to bloom

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2020

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Wordless Wednesday

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Mandala Monday ~ Dandelions

Some say a weed, some say a flower

I say

dandelions shine like bright little stars scattered amidst a galaxy of green

warming my heart like the sun

 

Spiral of cheer

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2020

~

Rescued these bright little stars from going supernova by getting chewed up in my lawn mower over the weekend, and thought I’d create a mandala with them.  I was in the mood for a spiral…

What are you in the mood for on this Monday?

 

Wishing you warmth and cheer! 🌞

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Flowery Friday and the New Phone

All the flowering trees are in bloom here right now and it’s so beautiful! 😍  And the weather is perfect too!  Yesterday I was literally outside all day – almost from sun up to sun down. Gosh I’ve needed this. 🥰

 One thing I didn’t mention in my long rambling post the other day is that my beloved phone died.  It was old, as far as cell phones go, I got it in 2015, but it had a great little camera on it and took such beautiful pictures, so I’m really sad about it.  Most of the newer phones don’t even have as nice of a camera, unless you want to spend a lot, which I don’t.  But while I was talking with customer service, crying the blues about losing my nice camera on my phone, the rep told me about this one – the Samsung Galaxy A51, which I’ve fondly named Area51 (get it? cuz it’s called the A51 😉). What… you don’t name your phone?  My last phone’s name was Tink, may she rest in peace.  Anyway, this new one is nothing fancy, but it does have a 48 mp camera and 4 lenses, so hopefully it’ll take nice pictures.

 I was disappointed with the majority of pictures I snapped of the flowering things with it yesterday, the quality that I was expecting just didn’t seem to be there. But hopefully as I get more acquainted with it that will improve. If not, I guess I’ll just have to deal with it. So if you notice that the pictures I share aren’t as nice as they used to be, that’s why.  I did think the shot I shared above turned out pretty.  It was gorgeous in person! 🌸

 

I’m heading outside for the day again today – gotta soak in all the loveliness that I can.  I hope your weather is nice and that there are flowering things wherever you are today.  Wishing you beauty and joy!

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Talkative Tuesday

So, you guys know how I said that I haven’t been feeling very wordy lately?  Well, I think that is about to change today…

Don’t you miss the good old days when I first started this blog when I used to actually ‘ramble’ on ‘Ramblings’ from Jewels?  Or maybe you don’t haha!

Life is ever-evolving and I just try to go with the flow of whatever I’m feeling or thinking, or not.  One thing I always want this space to be is one of hope and joy and beauty.  I always want the energy I send out into the world through my blog, to be of benefit to others in some way, so I’m selective sometimes about what I choose to share.

When I write my poetry – or whatever you call it, I usually like to use the least amount of words to try to convey the deeper feelings and meanings, and my aim is to always be authentic and true to myself.  When I’m feeling despair or sadness, I tend to hold back sharing because I don’t want that emotion to trickle down onto to anyone else.  But sometimes if the words are still beautiful I might share.

But anyway, getting to the point…  Today I’m feeling very wordy and not feeling like being particularly careful about what I have to say. So here I go…

I had an old acquaintance message me this morning on Facebook asking how I’m doing.  It was very nice of her to check in.  However, she happened to catch me just as I had come back into the house after going out to investigate what the trash/debris was that I saw out on my side-yard from my kitchen window.  Do you guys want to know what it was?  Well, I’m going to tell you anyways…  it was a pair of soiled men’s briefs along with a huge wad of gas station paper towels all covered in feces.  Yep.

Well, hey, accidents happen, right?  I can’t think too harshly toward the person who left it there, right?  I should probably feel sorry for them, right?  I mean, it’s no pleasant thing to shit yourself, poor guy, right?  But when you add it to everything else that’s been going on lately – and there’s been a lot, mind you, that’s been going on around here, it set off a chain of rambling to this poor unsuspecting acquaintance who was just checking in to ask “How’s life been treating you?”  Well, like shit, actually, and quite literally, at the moment ha!

Yesterday, I placed an online order for my annuals and some of my herbs and veggies for my garden.  I’m so thankful for the garden centers offering curbside pick-up.  But it was hard, I had to let go and release of bit control, in not being the one to individually pick out each plant myself – and there were some scraggly and lesser quality plants that they had selected.  But I will give them the TLC I give all of my garden and will hopefully nurse them back to good health.  But I only mention that to tell you about what I discovered when I went out to my car to head out to pick up my order…  Someone had broken into my car.  And they had rifled through the glove-box and then left it open, so my car battery was dead.  Nice.  Thankfully, a good friend who lives nearby was able to come over and give me a jump.  The only funny part is that all they stole were some old CD’s out of my center console that were Christian Punk Rock music from like the 90’s haha!  My daughter used to listen to them in the car when she was in like 6th grade.  She’s 28. Yeah, I don’t know why those were still in my car…?  But haha thieves, have fun with those CD’s, I’m sure they’re worth a lot.  Not.  I’m just glad they didn’t find the stash of quarters I have hidden in a ‘secret’ compartment – there’s like 10 whole dollars in there!

The day before yesterday, I went down to my basement to get something and discovered the floor all around my washer and dryer covered in 2 inches of thick, gooey liquid.  Apparently, our giant industrial-sized jug of liquid laundry detergent had somehow fallen off the edge of the dryer and exploded all over onto the floor.  What a sticky, icky mess!  Not easy to clean up.  At all.  Luckily we had some dirty laundry in the clothes hamper down there that we could use to sop it up with.  But each load had to be run through the wash cycle 3 – 4 times to get all the detergent out and it still reeks of detergent.  It makes me wonder how ‘clean’ laundry really actually gets…

A few days before that, I was sitting up in my room having my morning coffee when I heard a noise below my window, like a crackling.  When I looked out I saw a guy taking off on his bike with a huge handful of branches from my rhododendron.  And when I went out to check on it I found a GAPING hole right smack in the middle of my bush.  Remember that ‘rather unsightly hole’ I mentioned in my last post?  Well, you don’t want to see it now – completely butchered.  Couldn’t the guy had taken some from one of the sides, like, just wow dude. I was super pissed!  I planted that shrub for my parents 20+ years ago. It was especially disheartening for me because I’ve been waiting sooooo long for the blooming things to return, like it was as if my soul depended on it, and then someone comes along and destroys the one thing in my yard that’s blooming.  Thankfully, there are more blooming things now – my lilacs are just about to bloom, and it’s only the beginning of the season of blooming things.  I’m thinking I might hang some sort of shiny bauble or maybe hang some sweet sounding little chimes to help pretty-up and fill that gaping hole.

This rambling is getting pretty long.  If you’re still reading, I appreciate you ‘listening.’

You may have noticed that I haven’t even mentioned anything that is going on that is related to COVID-19. Ugh, I hate even typing it.  Since it all began, I have purposely not wanted to give it any space on my blog and purposely haven’t shared about any of the ways it has affected my life.  I don’t know, like as a protest against it or something?  Not that that makes any sense whatsoever.  I guess I figure there’s already plenty of stuff about it everywhere else and I’d rather have my blog be a place to get away from it for a moment.  But I know it helps people to talk about it too.  Ugh, I don’t know.

I will share that I lost my job back in the beginning of April.  It was supposed to just be a furlough, but they decided to let me and around 100 other county employees go instead.  I can’t tell you how sad I was, I really liked my job.  Thankfully, I am being financially provided for temporarily – that was touch and go for a while though, very stressful.  And I know I’m not alone in that.

I’ve been through a wide range of emotions and I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but at the end of it all, the emotion I feel the most right now is gratitude.

I may have poopie pants on my lawn, thieves breaking into my car, a dead battery, butchered shrubs, gooey liquid all over the floor, and no job, but…

Me and mine are safe and healthy, and that’s all that really matters.

 

I hope you and yours are too.

Thanks for letting me ramble today, I told you I was feeling wordy.  I sincerely appreciate you all.

 

Flower for your thoughts…

 

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Mandala Monday ~ When Nature Gives You Wind

You make a mandala with the debris…

We had some pretty strong winds blow through here over the weekend, and sadly, the lilac in my garden took some damage. One of its main branches split. Luckily, that branch was on the backside, so it doesn’t affect the overall appearance from my view. Lilacs are hardy shrubs, so I’m sure it will bounce back.  I’ve mentioned in previous posts that my grandpa planted this lilac for my grandma like 75 years ago, so it has definitely weathered its share of wind and storms over that time.

The lilacs are just getting ready to bloom here and I was sad to lose one of the main branches of potential fragrant blossoms, so I decided to snip some of them off that broken branch and put them in a vase anyway. Maybe they will end up opening? Or maybe not. But they still look pretty in a vase…

The Rhododendron on the front corner of the house is in its absolute glory right now and thankfully didn’t suffer any damage from the wind.  Well, except for this rather unsightly hole…

So I decided to take some of those blossoms and put them in a bowl of water to help preserve them for a little while.  But they were lonely in there, so I added a bright yellow dandelion and a few violets.

I adore violets, sweet little things!

I don’t usually like to pick flowers or things of nature, because then they die, but I’ve been missing my granddaughter so terribly that when my daughter told me they had been out picking violets (we usually do that together each spring), I had to go out on my own and gather some too.  The little basket above is the one my granddaughter usually uses for foraging on nature walks when she’s at my house and I have to admit it made me feel sad to use it without her.  It makes me sad right now typing about it…

I hadn’t intended on sharing anything sad in this post, I was actually wanting to share about how you can turn life’s ‘storms’ into something beautiful, because I do truly believe that, but gosh my heart aches right now.  I blame my sharing about that little basket.

I know I’m not the only one facing heart ache right now and my heart goes out to everyone.  Love and Light to you all.  May you find beauty, hope and joy today.

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿