Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Emily



I've been blessed.
Over the past 24 years of my Real Estate career, I have met so many wonderful people. I get up close and personal, after all, it is their homes that I am involved with. I hear so many wonderful stories of children and husbands and in-laws and pets and secrets.
I'd like to share one secret with you.
I have a lady client who is Ninety years old.
She is bright, and witty, sophisticated, she's a naturalist, a hunter, and a pilot. Like airplane pilot! She's won all kinds of Bridge awards with her card skills. She lives alone on a beautiful secluded 90+ acre estate. She drives all over the tri-state area just to play Bridge.
She's a Mother of 4 adult children....a few rather local, and one as far away as Peru.
She is always dressed to the nines. Even just relaxing in her own living room. Listening to the birds. Her skin is beautiful; her eyes sparkle. Her heart is wide open, and, her smile radiates contentment.
So yesterday, as we were wrapping up our little visit together, and I was secretly admiring her grace and beauty... I just had to ask her... 'So, Emily', "What is your secret?"...She is very soft spoken, and after a brief moment I thought she whispered.."Tranquility". Oh, Okay I thought. That sort of makes sense. Tranquility. I repeated...."Tranquility"?? "Oh, no, no, no she said....it's WHISKEY"!!
What a Pip!

With love and hugs and Cheers!
xo

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

gratitude


"The Place I want To Get Back To"

is where
in the pinewoods
in the moments between
the darkness

and the first light
two deer
came walking down the hill
and when they saw me

they said to each other, okay,
this one is okay,
lets see who she is
and why she is sitting

on the ground like that,
so quiet, as if
asleep, or in a dream,
but anyway harmless;

and so they came on their tender legs
and gazed upon me
not unlike the way

I go out to the dunes and look
and look and look
into the faces of flowers;
and then one of them leaned forward

and nuzzled my hand, and what can my life
bring to me that could exceed
that brief moment?
For twenty years

I have gone every day to that same woods,
not waiting, exactly, just lingering.
Such gifts, bestowed,
can't be repeated.

If you want to talk about this
come to visit. I live in the house
near the corner, which I have named
Gratitude.

~Mary Oliver


I am so happy to have learned about Miss Mary Oliver.
Have a Happy Kind of Tuesday!
With love and hugs and gratitude.
xo

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Just words

"On some hill of despair,
the bonfire you kindle
can light the great sky-
though it's true,
of course,
to make it burn
you have to throw
yourself in."

~Galway Kinnell


Happy Weekend!
With love and hugs.
xo

Thursday, June 23, 2011

A Long, Dark Night...


Or should it read..
"Zen and the Art of Driving
Into a Tornado"...
Or; "The Night the Whole Town
Turned Black"?

My commute home is rather short.
15 minutes tops.
Rather uneventful on most days.
Unless I happen upon a bear.
Or a random Poppy.
Or a rainbow adorning a beautiful sky.
Or a magnificent sunset.

But yesterday, all hell broke loose.
I drove into a tornado.
Just as she touched down.
With phenomenal fury.
I have to say, it was the scariest drive of my life.

I have never seen such wind.
Or torrential rain.
I was blinded by a wall of water.
Blowing trees, flying garbage cans,
dismembered limbs, huge limbs, wires snapping in every direction.
And fire.

And then...a total blackout. And an eerie sense of quiet and calm.

The stregnth of the storm stopped me in my tracks.
Literally.
I prayed that I would make it home safely.
And once again I was reminded that my life
can change in one split second.
And there are situations completely
out of our control.

And today is a new day.
It's ours to enjoy!

So, here's to poppies and rainbows
and safe arrivals...
to everyone!
With my love and hugs.
xo

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Spring into Summer



"Solstice"

"Summer Solstice is one of the great turning points of the year, when the sun is at its peak and the days abound with the promise of life's fullness. It is a serenely powerful time in which the beauty of the natural world can infuse our spirit, bring us alive to the present, and perhaps awaken a deeper sense of relatedness to the community of life, to the Earth, and to the cosmos."
-Paul Winter

Happy Summer!
With love and hugs.
xo

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Father's Day


A sweet and fragrant bouquet
in honor of all of the sweet Dads.
The Dads whose tender, loving hearts
and tender, loving hands
have molded such beautiful children.
It's a hard job.
It's one that never goes unnoticed.
A particular thank you
to my Dad, and my children's Dad.
The best by far.

With love and hugs.
xo

Friday, June 17, 2011

Hope



Happy Friday!
With love and hugs.
xo

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Time


We need time
to dream,
time
to remember,
time
to reach
for the infinite.
Time
to be.

~unknown~

With love and hugs.
xo

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Cruisin' Along


Life's Honeysuckle Highway
in search of
the Strawberry Moon!

Sweet Tidings!
With love and Hugs.
xo

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Happy Tuesday!


Sunshine and blue skies to you!
And...don't forget...
Raise your flag!

With love and hugs.
xo

Monday, June 13, 2011

I Love My Harley


I belong to a club.
Ladies only.
Motorcycle club.
Dangerous Curvz, that's us.
Yesterday we all took off
and attended the
Motorcycle Safety Club's
Experienced Rider's Class
at the County College of Morris.
It was an all day safety exercise
in stability, swerving, stopping,
acceleration, curving, weaving,
swerving, stopping, acceleration
and stability.
Over and over and over.
It was exhausting. And invigorating.
We all rode our own bikes in the class.
Unlike the beginner's class where they supply
the bikes. If you want to call them that.
Suzuki 250. No Harley's!
Luckily, the rain held off,
I guess that's because
we were all prepared for thunderstorms!
The morning ride down Route 80 was misty,
a bit foggy, but relatively quiet.
Except for the roar of the Dangerous Curvz!

Happy Monday!
Got Bike?

With love and hugs.
xo

Friday, June 10, 2011

Being Me


"Some mysteries I'll never understand:
the way the earth rotates around the sun,
three minutes shorter every day.
Or the way the dead are gone.
Or putting down the phone.
Or turning a corner.
The future: that's another whopper.
We can never know what we can never know,
except, that
whoever you are, and whoever I am,
you made it alright to be me."

Driving Lessons 2006

Happy Weekend!
Hope you're wearing some happy feet!
With love and hugs.
xo

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Sir Charles


"If you don't live it,
it won't come out
of your horn."

~Charlie Parker

Happy Heat!
With love and hugs.
xo

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

The Significance of One


It was 33 years ago today
that my brother took his life.
A day that changed me forever.
His death did not make headlines
in People or Time.
It did, however, headline my life book.
I look back all the time and remember
Jimmy.
And his wonderful ways.
And his happy face.
His exuberance.
His hard work.
And his Love for his Family.
And me.
I dream of him. Still, he looks the same.
It's been such a long time.
Yet it seems like only yesterday.
I try to take a lesson,
a message,
anything.
All I get is Sadness.
I miss you, Jim.

xo
With love and hugs.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

What If?



"Ralph Waldo Emerson
once asked
what we would do if
the stars only came out
once every thousand years.
No one would sleep that night, of course.
The world would become religious overnight.
We would be ecstatic, delirious,
made rapturous by the glory of God.
Instead, the stars come out every night
and we watch television."

~Paul Hawken
Entrepreneur

Happy, Sunny Tuesday!
With love and hugs.
xo

Monday, June 6, 2011

Monday in New Jersey



Seems like it was just Friday.
Mondays roll around fast.
I like Mondays.
And every other day, too.
Except.
I hate to leave the porch.

Hope you have a fine Monday.
With love and hugs.
xo

Saturday, June 4, 2011

A Whirlind of a Week




First it was Boston.
Just Fabulous.
Then up to Maine.
Beautiful and Engaging.
Last night,... New York City!
Times Square on a beautiful
Friday evening... it's absolutely Magical!

It's been a fabulous week
spent enjoying music, love and laughter
with all of the people that I love the most.
A few were missing.

Thank You, Everyone!

With love and hugs.
xo