Tag Archives: Spring

Mandala Monday ~ It’s Been a While

Life is a wheel

constantly turning

ever-changing

staying the same

 

Around and around

right side up

upside down

perspectives in flux 

 

But the Center never moves

 and for that I am truly grateful

 

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2021

20210711_212521

Hi friends, it’s been a while! I hope this finds all of you well and that you have beauty and joy and love in your lives!

Things have been extremely challenging for me recently, but in this moment I am ok, filled with gratitude. 🙏

I haven’t been feeling as creative as I usually am, but I have made a few nature mandalas since I was here last and thought I’d share them with you.

My garden is a bit lacking this year, so I haven’t had as much to work with, but I’m sincerely appreciating and enjoying what I do have.  I just harvested some yellow beans from my veggie garden and they were actually what sparked the inspiration for the mandala above. Here it is with the beans…

😁

And here is a mandala I made a couple weeks ago…

And a few others…

I also made a little mini wreath one day just for kicks…

I used peppermint for the base and it was very fragrant!  I’m so grateful for my sense of smell.  And for all my senses.

Well, I guess that’s all for now. I gotta go get ready for work.  Thanks so much for letting me share!  I hope this brightens your day in some small way! 🌼 May it be happy and blessed, and may the wheel of life spin you in beautiful directions today!

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Peace and Love 1

Welcome Spring

Serene pools created as the warming sun transformed winter snows, reflect the barren landscape of early spring, clothed in amber and gold, soon to join the fresh, lush hues of the evergreens

As these overflowing reservoirs spill out, carrying their replenishing waters to share with all living things along its journey across the land, streams of abundance flow, with laughter, singing a joyful song

 

Welcome Spring!

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2021

Happy Spring to those of you here with me in the Northern hemisphere! Of course, the date on the calendar doesn’t necessarily always match whatever the weather is doing wherever one may be.  Here in my area of Minnesota, we are having some beautiful weather at the moment – although that can change dramatically on any given day.

The above photo was taken on a lovely walk I went on the other day on a trail along Nine Mile Creek. It’s so hard to capture the full beauty of a place or a moment. One thing you probably can’t get the full effect of from the photo I snapped is the ‘serene pools’ I mention at the top of the poem. In the upper middle part of the photo you can just barely see it, but the calm waters so beautifully reflected the landscape there.  It was the stream I was mostly trying to capture though, but the whole scene was so lovely.  And the sound… gosh, it’s wonderful to hear flowing waters again after the long winter…

Hope you have beautiful sights and sounds to enjoy wherever you are on this first day of Spring! I’m off to take full advantage of our nice weather! Many blessings to you, my friends!

 

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Peace and Love 1

 

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~✿

Peace and Love 1

Wordless Wednesday

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Peace and Love 1

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~✿

Peace and Love 1

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~✿

Peace and Love 1

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~✿

Peace and Love 1

Welcome May!

Warm sun

fresh air

bird song

blue sky

new green

first blooms

 

Welcome May!

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2020

 

Be still

soak in

breathe deep

in hale

ex hale

 

Grateful heart

 

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Peace and Love 1

Mandala Monday ~ Spring Bouquet

Finally, a bit of creative inspiration!  Leave it to the blooming things to help that arise within me.

My soul has been craving fresh flowers for months and nothing is blooming here yet.  With everything shut down since mid-March, I haven’t been able to go to the usual places to get my flower-fix this spring, so it’s been a bit of a struggle for me.  Winters here are LONG and things are only just now starting to green up a little.  My brother came to my rescue when he sent my mom and I a lovely spring bouquet for Easter.  And I don’t use the word ‘rescue’ lightly.  Oh, I tell ya… much, much needed.  Especially with everything else going on in the world right now.  I was so grateful to have something blooming and full of life!

The bouquet lasted a nice long time and we’ve enjoyed it immensely.  When I noticed the flowers fading, I decided to take them outside to try to extend that enjoyment a bit further by creating a mandala with them.  I can’t even tell you how good it felt to sit out on the ground and play with flowers, making them into a whole new type of arrangement. 🌸

Here is another variation of the mandala I made…

After playing around with them for a while, their petals began dropping fast, so I plucked off the rest of them and am in the process of drying them out for some future possible use.

My daughter creates stunning jewelry and has a few designs where she makes cabachons, encasing various plants, pieces of nature, and other things in resin, and then wire wraps around them.  So maybe she can use some of the petals to extend the beauty of the bouquet even longer.  Here is a pendant she created for me for my birthday last year using a butterfly wing I found while out on a nature walk with my granddaughter, some Hawthorn blossoms we picked together, and a lock of my granddaughter’s hair. These photos are used with permission and taken from her Instagram account…

How meaningful (and beautiful) is that?! 💕

While I’m at it, I think I’ll just post the link to her Etsy shop too.  She does beautiful work and takes custom orders.  Now, more than ever is the perfect time to support artists and small businesses.  😉

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RachaelsWireGarden

 

~

 

 

I hope you are all doing okay and staying well.  May you have a beautiful and blessed week.  Wishing you joy and inspiration, and as always…

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Peace and Love 1

Mandala Monday ~ Something Bright

 

Something bright for your Monday!

 

How are you guys doing? I hope you’re all alright.  I know I’ve been quiet here – I just haven’t been feeling very wordy lately.  I’ve got lots of love going out to all of you though xoxo…

 

 

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Peace and Love 1