Vision Board Gathering

I have always believed in the power of envisioning what you want in life and then working towards that goal. Only in the past few years had I learned about making Vision Boards and have learned the powerful way they can manifest changes in your life. So after making the last one in June of last year and finding this home that I love I decided that one of my first events here would be a Vision Board and Pot Luck Gathering.
Of course a major snowstorm decided to come the week of the event leaving my driveway unreachable and the only way to get to my house was to walk down the drive or across a field both covered in inches of snow.

I was surprised and happy to see the replies to my invite on Facebook and delighted at the people that came and shared in this my first event of many at my peaceful mountain home.
Food , music, sharing of stories, magazines strewn about and scissors cutting while minds were taken to new levels of deep understanding of their own inner thoughts and longings.
When the event was over and the last guest made their way home my whole being and home still vibrated from the great energy shared. I look forward to many more gatherings.

My life in the country

The above sign hangs outside the door to my house. Although for me this is true I am very aware that here also lives poverty, homelessness and hunger. I write this humbly tonight from my warm place I call home and am aware that others are not able to do so.
I am enjoying life in the country just 15 miles from downtown Asheville. It seems like much farther away because of all the hairpin curves leading up the mountain to Gerton that I now call home.  I have loved this road for the past 15 years that I have been driving it while doing social work and home visits around this area while a HIV/AIDS Case Manager.  And even if I didn’t want to drive this road to Gerton I would have no other choice as there is no interstate exit to get off that will get you directly to my house. That is one more reason that I love it here.  I love downtown and have for many years and have enjoyed my time living where I could walk to it from my home. But the time came when I wanted a different experience of living here in the mountains. I love being able to look out every window and see woods and mountains. I have neighbors but they are off through the trees and although I am getting to know some of them – I am happy to not look out my window into theirs.  We get together monthly for potlucks at a small community center and this has been going on here for over 50 years. I now feel that if I needed one of them at any time all I have to do is call. I remember living where I did not even know my neighbors names although they were just on the other side of the wall when living in apartments or condos.

When I first decided to move here I remember many asking me – why do you want to move way out there away from everything? I laughingly inside remember me asking the same question to a friend of mine (Micah) whom I house sat for on many occasions that lives out in Weaverville.  Now I know and understand.

Moving away from what I asked myself? I felt then and now know I was moving towards things to be closer to nature and things that bring me back to my grounded place..my center..my balance.  Trading the pavement for pine trees and the noises of the city (although I always found it quiet in the places I lived near downtown) to the noises of nature. The birds are more abundant here and they get really close without being scared away. The deer and wild turkey walk through my yard along with many other creatures of the night I am sure as I find their tracks in the daylight.  

The trees that once nestled my house from view now have lost their leaves and have left me with the view of mountains from every window.  On one side is Bearwallow Mountain and the other Little Bearwallow-while the other two side present me with Little Mount Pisgah and the other smaller one I am not sure if it has a name – but it leads to Chimney Rock and the roaring Rocky Broad River. There is also a small stream that runs below my house and although I cannot see it I hear it daily and it comforts my soul.  My living room has 5 windows that run from ceiling to floor and allows me a picture to the world outside. I also have 5 other windows in the same great room and always have a different view on things if I choose. I like the variety and the choices they offer.

I travel to downtown Asheville 4 days a week to work and to shop and experience all that I love about it. I then come home to what seems like a different world – but to me is also Asheville. I feel I have not taken away from but added to my experience in living in Asheville NC a place that I love and am experiencing from a different view after moving here 15 years ago. Yes I have come home to “my place” here in the mountains and I am grateful and find reason to be so more every day.

I can walk in either direction from my house and find marked hiking trails and more are being made as the land around me is part of the Mountain Conservatory and will not ever be built on – or at least during my lifetime. I have a post office and a fire department just around the bend and the community center with a newly opened health food store. A country church is available for my viewing pleasure of a gathering if I choose to attend. 

Just a short distance from me is Hickory Nut Eco Community and another curve or two away is Laughing Waters Retreat Center where they hold many interesting workshops and gatherings.  At the foot of the mountain on my way up is Flying Cloud Farm an organic garden with a honor system produce stand as well as Hickory Nut Gap Meats for organic eggs and meat. 

On the way up and down the mountain are many pastures with beautiful horses grazing and playing which adds to my pleasure as I have always loved horses.  And the road to my house is said to be the oldest stagecoach trail that was known in this area. 

This mixed with some of the research I have done of this area when the Native American’s lived here informs me that no wars were ever fought on this land adding to the peacefulness that I feel here. It was said if different tribes met here that they had to make peace till they got off the land of this area. And of course the stories of the little people here..the “moon people” that hide behind the trees like fairies.

Oh no - I did not move away – I moved towards ME and my serenity and peace here in these mountains I love to call home. And tonight as I sit listening to the wind blow outside and the cold of winter settles in - I too will settle here and continue planting my roots where I may grow with the trees and stories of this land. I do not own this place nor does it own me..we just share in the daily wonder of it all and for that  and much more I am grateful!

All things are endless

Sitting here tonight after my work week has begun and ended I am thinking of how all things come and go in time. But they also continue on in another time and realm of your life. Work weeks go by and end where you hopefully get some down time to regroup and recharge. I am finishing up this semester at school only to take a break and begin again in January. The leaves once on the trees and then my yard have been lovingly blown away and placed gently where needed to nurture the plants and help shield them till time for them to once again bloom. 

The birds I viewed all day outside my windows having their daily journey to a fro to feed and back to nest have rested for the night. They too will return in the morning as I awake and hear their songs and watch them fly  from trees to the bird feeder on my porch and back again and again until they are satisfied.

The fire I lit earlier has dwindled down to just a distant glow but awaits me should I choose to light it once again. The warm nights of summer are fading into cold where I find other ways to enjoy this place I call home. I find myself inside more than out and seeing things from a different perspective.  For me that is kind of the way I view all of life.  I venture out into the world and work and communicate face to face while going through my daily activities only to return home to shut out that part of the world and let the other part in. This part of my world is full also of different things such as writing, homework for school, connecting on Facebook my sort of life through a different window – the one of my computer and the internet world. But none the less I do not view it any different than my face to face interactions during the day. I do not value my time and friends there any less or more than the other. Instead I find it another way to express myself and stay connected.

Some of my friends I connected with before my world of internet connection do though find it troublesome and disconnected at times. I do not mean it to be that way at all. If I can’t see them and they join me in this new world of communicating we could be just as close if not closer as I seem to be in a phase now where I may share more in this space.  It does not mean that the other has ended but only that it is continuing in a different form. Once again things do not end they only go on to the next level or change of being in my world. Sometimes I may not feel like heading back to town or wherever to connect face to face but that in no way means that I do not want to connect. It is kind of like becoming unplugged from one world into another and all of my friends are still there.

As I grow older I realize the importance of change and acceptance of things as they are and not as always I think they should be. I go with the flow and let in and out what is necessary to do so. At the same time I realize that there are doors and windows everywhere in life. I just must see them and make use of them and not block them out due to my own fears and insecurity. I am at a phase in my life where I am doing more things that require me to be at home at and my computer, online classes at school because it affords me an opportunity that otherwise I would not have. I am writing now for different small local publications and using my photos for more than just posting on Facebook and others are appreciative of them. I also am blessed with a place that I do not care to leave too often as I find sanctuary here. This has been a long time coming or at least to the degree that I so view this place I now call home. I have lived many places and had many homes but this place is one I have dreamed of for many years. I am grateful and want to partake in all it offers me and to share it with others. 

I love having company but I also value my alone- ME- time. I don’t feel it is selfish to do so anymore as I may have in the past. I always give OF myself and now is the time to also give TO myself. I am glad that I can acknowledge this and partake of it. 

A recent big change occurred in my life this past summer when my ex husband Vince died and left this realm of life as we know it. But I don't think that is the end of life. I have many of his books and CD's here and that is strange to me as I had not been with him for over 20 years and now he is a part of my life again in a different form. Strangely enough since this happened I have been writing like crazy (one of his dreams for many years) and so have others that come to this space and are getting published in major magazines. He lives on here in this mountain space I call home. I carry his spirit forward and share with others. My daughters were there with him when he died and Kim was holding his hand and Gwen is holding on tight to pull his spirit on with the gifts of his life she is sharing with others through his books and things he loved. 

That is how the books and CD's ended up here with me. Oh life is so interesting!
This is one room of Vince's small two room apt near the end of his life and it was lined with the books that he loved.

The picture above is but one of the shelves of his books that I now have here with me.

So life goes on and changes occur inside and outside of me moment by moment and I don’t question it much anymore but just sit and say – Thank You.

Bare trees and new views

As I watch the beautiful fall colors come and go I am reminded once again of the ways of life. We are like nature as our life changes and flows with the seasons outside and inside of us. This law of life applies to young and old alike.

When you think of the urge to hang onto something that needs to go and change maybe one should compare it to the leaves. If a leaf hangs on and does not change it does not get a chance to show its true colors. It instead withers and dies and falls to the ground. If it goes with the flow of nature and changes it becomes vibrant in color and is noticed even if for a while. Of course the time comes that it too must let go and drift off from its place of being and flow into the next journey of change. Whether it blows away to join another or drifts gently to the ground to dissolve and awaken into its next being – life goes on.

So we should let things be as they are. Knowing that all is well and as it should be. No questioning or struggle or holding on or holding back. I will flow gently with the seasons and winds of life.  So tonight I let go of any notions and pry loose my fingers that hold me back and I flow gently into my life. I breathe easily and gently with the leaves and let the wind take me where it may. I am one with nature as it always has been and as it always will be no matter or mind of my state of being. I am alive and a part of everything. I follow the road of my life and join in with all that is and will be and ever has been. And I wish the same for you - Namaste'.

Just a typical day of gratitude

Have you ever just had one of those days when you are so very grateful even for the smallest things in life. Well I call those smallest things the most important. Today was not unlike any other in many ways except that it was a new day in my life. I awoke to the sounds of birds and the view from my mountain home I call my sanctuary. The wind was howling outside and the last leaves of fall were blowing to the ground. It was raining yellow and gold outside my windows. The leaves added to the carpet of color already covering my yard. The birds were taking turns flying to and fro for their morning meal from the many feeders I have placed outside for their eating and my viewing pleasure. My wind chimes were playing a faster tune with the wind. Clouds rolled by as though they were in a hurry although I sat inside and bid my time for the day ahead.The dripping of my coffee pot was the only thing louder than the nature noises outside. I was feeling blessed and grateful once again for this place of peace I have found nestled here in the mountains of Gerton, NC just a few miles from downtown Asheville that I love. I sleepily rose from my bed to greet the day and was once again in awe that I am able to do so here in this space. Each day brings with it a new awareness and appreciation of life. I do my morning ritual of turning on the computer to connect with others in the outside world before I head down the mountain to work. I hear the music of this place and think of this music which also brings me joy of the morning that has broken to awaken my day into this world as I know it and listen to Cat Stevens

Some of my many and varied interests/Loves and things I believe in

The smell of the seasons, raindrops on leaves, and fallen leaves on the ground that crunch under your feet as you walk, snow days that are so quiet you can hear the flakes hit the ground and all the world comes to a quiet crawl,old churches and people of all ages, country roads and stars at night, Big Cities to visit and small towns to live in, road trips with no agenda, poetry and music, tears and laughter, joy and sorrow,challenges and struggles, opportunities and barriers, writing, blogging,reading, Facebook, email, using internet as my in home library, long conversations deep into the night, letting go and letting in, feeding and watching the birds outside my windows, the sound of the wind blowing down the mountain, being surrounded by my collection of music and books and things that bring me peace, Buddha statues, candles, chips and salsa, friends old and new and ones I have yet to meet, learning new things, letting go of old beliefs, welcoming new ones, treasuring each moment and living in the now, remembering the past and looking to the future no matter what it brings, listening to elders and the desire  to pass it on to others, gardens and farms, animals and creatures of all kinds, my fear of snakes and my love of dolphins, Charleston, Folly Beach, England and dreams of places I have yet to visit, shiny things that hang and reflect the light, wind chimes, mountains and deserts and seas, people of all races and colors and cultures, teachers and lovers of life, homeless and seekers of all kinds, rainbows and clouds, snow and sun,truth and activism, sharing and caring, living and learning, getting older, remembering when I was younger, going to places many don't want to go and walking a while there with others, caring for and being cared for, welcoming life and death as a part of all that should and as it is, letting go of fear, letting in hope,wrinkles that I call lifelines and am proud of them, my daughters and all of my family, windows with no curtains, old things that carry with them a history and a spirit of days gone by and those to come.people that aren't afraid to say I love you to either sex, being real, being me, being free to express myself, being heard and listening, my comfortable warm and cool bed at night whatever I need at the time, the ability to be grateful for all that I call my life.
Photography, Cooking, walks in the rain, Sunday Mornings, Coffee, A nice glass of wine,Downtown Asheville, Jubilee, Dancing, The Light Center in Black Mountain, friday night drum circles downtown,sharing, touching, hugs and gentle kisses, butterflies, the smell of wood fires in the winter drifting through the night, fireflies, stars, the moon, the sound of old radiators steaming and clanging or fires burning while they keep you warm, the smile of a person whom you have exchanged glances with, wildflowers and wild people, traveling from my chair with a good book or the travel channel, dreaming, cuddling, looking into someones eyes when they talk to me, reaching out my hand for yours....... I want to meet the real you, not the one you have come to believe you need to be in order to impress others. Anyone interested in taking a walk together a while in this wonderful journey of life to share what we have learned and learn from each other. I am open to all of these  and letting life takes its course.

Photos of Downtown Asheville