Who Was THAT???

Who WAS that harridan, that shrieking fishwife, that hag-like viper who appeared in my yard this afternoon, under the guise of helping her husband clean up yet more tree waste?  Surely, that couldn’t have been MOI?  Stomping her feet and growling and swearing like the proverbial drunken sailor (apologies to sailors everywhere)?  Why, I don’t act like that.  Ever. Well, maybe just this once.  SINCE I HAVE A FREAKIN’ MOUNTAIN OF DEAD TREE IN MY YARD TO BE HAND CUT AND JAMMED INTO FIFTEEN CONTAINERS AT A TIME, WHICH BY THE WAY, IS ALL WASTE MANAGEMENT WILL PICK UP AT A TIME, BUT WHICH MAKES ALMOST NO DIFFERENCE IN THE SIZE OF THE PILE!!!  Ooooops.  Am I yelling again, she asks meekly?

Oh, I tell you, folks…this is the gift that just keeps on giving.  Giving you nightmares, that is.  Not to mention blisters on your hands, fire ant bites on your ankles, sawdust up your nose, and a really foul temper to cap it all off. 

Where is that rainbow when I need it?  As I sit here with an ice pack on my foot–because of course when I tripped, I smacked the foot with the serious nerve damage in it on a tree limb and set off blowtorch-level burning pain–I’m having to dig way down deep for the memory of that “rainbow where one should never have been” miracle.  But it’s still in my Memory Banks somewhere (talk about miracles), so I am working on accessing how I felt that day in order to get me through the rest of this one.  Isn’t that what miracles are for?  To help us through those days when we are so mad our teeth itch and lightning shoots out of our eye sockets?  Yeah.  A good miracle can get you through some pretty nasty stuff.  But a flame thrower would be better.  First, I’d burn down this mountain of debris in my yard, and then I’d go all Chuck Norris on the tree contractor’s backside.   Now THAT would be a mood changer!

Hope you guys are all having a nicer Sunday than I am.  But the good news is, I WILL live through it, the Good Lord willin’ (as my granny used to say), and tomorrow WILL be a better day.  If for no other reason than Mark will be back at work, and the chainsaw will be back in the garage until next weekend.  And that harridan of a shrieking fishwife will probably be gone, too.  Mostly.

Today, I Saw A Rainbow Where None Should Have Been

(Photo found online)

Today, there was a rainbow in the sky, where there never should have been one.  There was nothing like rain around me, as far as the eye could see, and yet, there was this rainbow, directly ahead of my car, where I couldn’t have missed it if I tried.  Honestly, it seemed like a miracle.  I have been down for several days, and a sense of wanting to lock myself in my room for a week or so was hanging over me.  I went to run errands, instead.  After all, if I lock myself in my room, who will feed the dogs, let alone my husband who is hard at work and deserves dinner when he gets home?  So I trudged through the grocery store, then back out to the car, and headed home, thinking about everything I had to do yet this afternoon, and not wanting to do a bit of it.

And then–there it was.  A rainbow. In an empty sky.

If that doesn’t qualify as a direct message to my heart, I don’t know what would.  It was in front of me through every turn I made going back to my house, a seemingly impossible trick, and all along the way, it reminded me to have faith.  Just have faith, and things would work out.  It reminded me that I am not privy to the plans of my personal Higher Power.  It reminded me that none of us are, whether we believe in a Supreme Being  or just in our own inner spirit.  We don’t have access to what that so-called Grand Scheme of Things might be.  Therefore, we must remember to have faith in something greater than ourselves, and move forward with confidence and joy.  We must cherish each day, and forget about hiding away.  We must look for what Sarah Ban Breathnach calls our Authentic Selves, and do the things our hearts tell us to do. We must be grateful for all we’ve been given, and let go of the worries that keep us from reaching our full potential.

Our time here is short.  We need to remember to see the miracle of every rainbow, and to live every moment to the hilt.

Today, I saw a rainbow where none should have been.  How miraculous is that?

Road Trip Miracles September 15, 2012

For years, I’ve played a little game whenever I start out on a road trip.  I consciously look for omens, which I like to think of as little miracles, to cheer me on the way.  Once I’ve seen one, I always feel like it’s a personal message from my own guardian angel that I will travel safely on my journey and back home again.  My husband scoffs, but I don’t care.  My little miracles make me feel good, so for that reason, I believe in them completely.  I’ll GET there, and BACK, darn it!  That’s my story, an’ I’m stickin’ to it.

Today, I headed out to Leesburg to visit my good friend, Nicki, and I started looking for my little Road Trip Miracles as soon as I pulled out of my driveway.  And guess what?  I didn’t make it half a mile before I saw my first one.  The coolest rainbow, EVER.  It spread from horizon to horizon, but was very low lying, in a way I’ve never seen before.  The closest picture I could find online is this one, which gives you an idea of how low and wide it was.

Low-lying Rainbow

Of course, the rainbow I saw was visible from end to end, almost, and it wasn’t a double like this one.  But I just couldn’t get over how low on the horizon it was.  Now I ask you…is that not a miracle made visible?  Any rainbow makes me smile, and one as unusual as this morning’s made me feel good all over.

As good as it was, the rainbow was not the only treat in store for me this morning.  As I headed west on Hwy 46, just a few miles past the busy I-4 intersection, I spotted a flock of about 15 wild turkeys right on the side of the road, grazing in the grass.  I just love wild turkeys.  They are such interesting birds, and so clever.  (Unlike their farm-raised cousins that end up on our Thanksgiving tables.)  The flock looked very like this one.

Wild Turkeys Along Side of Road

And lo and behold, about another mile down Hwy 46, I spotted yet another flock of turkeys, this time, with half grown young mixed in.  The young birds looked very much like the one in this photo.  I wish I had been able to stop and take my own pictures, but there was too much traffic and nowhere to pull over that wouldn’t have scared the birds away, anyhow.  The funny thing is, on the way home tonight, I spotted what looked like the same family group in the same place.  Yeah, another Road Trip Miracle, for sure.

Young Wild Turkey

And two weeks ago, on our way to Gainesville to pick up my 7-year old granddaughter for the weekend, I finally, after more than 30 years of looking and hoping, saw my first Florida black bear along the roadside on Hwy 19, just south of Hwy 40.  Now I know there are lots and lots of black bears in these parts.  People see them all the time.  A friend of mine who lives in the Ocala forest area has trouble keeping them out of her bird feeders and ponds.  But for some reason, I have hiked MILES of Florida trails for years, and never spotted one.  I was so excited to see a young, maybe half grown, bear standing next to the woods, I almost ran the car off the road.  I couldn’t get a picture of him, but I promise you, he looked just like this.

Young Florida Black Bear

Now I know that many might think that while it’s nice to see some wildlife and rainbows here and there, there’s no reason to consider them miracles.  And it’s okay if they prefer to view it that way.  But for myself, I like to think that there are miracles all around us every day, if we just open our eyes and look for them.  I try to do that regularly,  but never with more vigor than when I’m starting out on a road trip.

Hope you remember to look for some Road Trip Miracles the next time you head out on the highway.  It makes the journey a lot more fun!