Little Coffee Beans

blessingway

 

Last week we gathered, down by the river. Women and children from different facets of my life joined together to eat, to share stories, and to extend blessings and love to me and my children.

This intimate and informal blessingway celebrated the new life growing inside of me. Blessings and poems were read, and beads were collected, reminding me of the love, and support of my community as this sweet babe and I prepare for the work of laboring. It was a time, too to honor Zinnia as she transitions into the role of big sister. 

As I worked in recent days, stringing mine and Zinnia's beads, I re-read passages and blessings from that night. These blessings and totems from nature will soon find a place on the birth alter in my bedroom/birthing room.

Here's one of my favorites from that evening:

Ordinary Miracle

I have mourned lost days
When I accomplished nothing of importance.
But not lately.
Lately under the lunar tide
Of a woman’s ocean, I work
My own sea-change:
Turning grains of sand to human eyes.
I daydream after breakfast
While the spirit of egg and toast
Knits together a length of bone
As fine as a wheatstalk.
Later, as I postpone weeding the garden
I will make two hands
That may tend a hundred gardens.

I need ten full moons exactly
For keeping the animal promise.
I offer myself up: unsaintly, but
Transmuted anyway
By the most ordinary miracle.
I am nothing in this world beyond the things one woman does.
But here are eyes that once were pearls.
And here is a second chance where there was none.

                                                                                        by Barbara Kingsolver

Zinnia, little Turnip, and I thank you Mom (Nana), Chrissi, Melissa, Jules, Avi, Kristin, Nora, Henry, Alecia, and Olivia for your love and blessings.

You have filled us up!

And thanks to Mom & Chrissi (and whoever else) picked up my camera to capture the evening.

birthday love

I've had a tradition since my early twenties of making sure I wake up outside on my birthday. This idea was introduced to me by Rosemary Gladstar, when I had the opportunity to meet her after an inspiring lecture she gave many, many moons ago. Being a summer baby, this is an easy task and I've only missed a few outside birthdays in the last twenty years. I've birthday-camped all over Colorado ( and a few other states), but this valley in Crested Butte is by far my favorite, favorite place to celebrate. We debated going this year, but with Steve starting a new job, my birthday falling mid week, and, oh yeah, the fact that I'm 32 weeks pregnant, and driving four hours followed by 10 miles on a crazy-ass dirt road would likely shake me up like a soda can, we decided to stay home. I'm only slightly disappointed. 

I had a lovely day yesterday. Phone calls and emails from loved ones. A few sweet gifts to open. An afternoon with my beautiful niece and Zinnia. And (thanks to my niece) a fancy date night out with Steve. The meal was absolutely amazing, and having a few hours with just my man was the best gift I could ask for. Not to mention coming home to a quiet house, with Zinnia soundly sleeping, and my niece reporting an evening of happy, playful times.

Yes, it was a happy birthday, indeed.

Cheers to thirty-eight! 

around the garden :: sunflowers and friends

This week in the garden, I'm most excited about my first blooming sunflower. This is one of the many, many self-sown sunflowers around the house. We have to thin them pretty aggressively because they will take over otherwise. My experience with all self-sown sunflowers is that they come back multi-headed, almost like huge sunflower trees. They're big and beautiful but they take up a lot of space. We left many here and there around the garden, and in a month or so they'll attract big flocks of goldfinches, coming to munch on the seeds.

Flowers really dress up the garden, don't you think? It's starting to feel like the party of summer is beginning. 

 

 

In other not-so gardening news, check out these sweet garden-inspired cards. These are from the lovely KC of Little Homestead in the Desert. To my surprise, they showed up in the mailbox last week with a kind handwritten note from KC. The detail on these prints is awesome. Honestly, I'm torn between gifting them off one by one in the mail to loved ones - or keeping them all to myself - and making a hanging collage for my kitchen wall. 

Thank you, thank you KC! ox

If you love these as much as I do, and you want your very own set of cards, check out KC's etsy shop. She's selling them for a steal! 

I have to say ~ one of the things I didn't expect when I started this blog was the community support and friendship from women I hadn't yet met. This last year has been such a sweet journey - writing about our life and connecting with all of you in this space. Thank you for coming. Be it every day, every week or every month. I appreciate your comments and the conversations that happen here. You all inspire me daily. 

So, what is exciting you the most in your garden this week?

{this moment}

 {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, {extra}ordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

                                                                                                Inspired by SouleMama

thank you

Thank you friends for your warm response yesterday (both here and on facebook) to our news. We feel loved and supported by the web of hands strectching out to support us on our journey. 

Thank you, each of you, for being present in our lives.

Much Love to you all!

a little self-care

Zinnia and I spent the day in the mountains on Friday at our favorite local Hot Springs. We brought Aunt Bee along with us to celebrate her birthday. Despite a directional oops, (How many times have I been there...? How in the world did I go left instead of right...?) which meant more time driving than we intended, we had a great afternoon of self-care, soaking up those miracle waters.

And the sunrise, moonset alpenglow as we pulled out of Boulder was a beautiful way to start the day. 

What are you doing for self-care these days?

{this moment}

Joining Amanda at SouleMama

in her words... {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, {extra}ordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your moment in the comments below.

Happy weekend!

oh, the sweetness

 

Oh, the sweetness of newborns. I mean, really. Can you stand it?

This is little Zia, daughter of our dear friends, Alisa and Scott. We had the chance to spend some time with them this weekend and it was so sweet, indeed. Zinnia keeps talking about the "babeeee" and Steve and I can't help but reminisce about Zinnia as a newborn - that time of quiet, closeness where we stared at her every move and wiggle with such wonder. 

And every new baby needs a personalized bunting, wouldn't you agree?

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

the part i love

I'm a summer baby. Born in July, and raised-up in the heat of the South. It's hard to ignore my internal yearning for a temperate climate that allows me to run around barely dressed and barefoot. Steve, well he's my winter fella. Born in January and raised in the North East he's at home in sub zero temps and shakes his head as I ask for the heat to be cranked up,"just a little bit more." This is but one of the many ways that we are polar opposites, but our Cancer~Capricorn love connection is undeniable, that's for sure.

What I'm getting at here is the subject of Fall. Yes, I love the picturesque golden hues that light up the sky and the coziness of an evening fire while eating homemade squash soup is idyllic, for sure. But every year I must confess, I dread "sock season."

I know, I know, I know... I appreciate Mother Nature's rhythm and I do see the divinity of it all ~ birth, life, death, decaying, yada, yada, yada. But man, oh man I just do not like being cold. 

This transitional part of Fall where the days are still warm enough for tank tops (!) and the evenings don't bring a frost and I can still see blooms in my garden and the chard has become tender from the chill and the trees still have leaves and I don't really have to wear socks, quite yet... Yep, this is the part of Fall that I love.

After a weekend celebrating toddlers and pumpkins (seriously cute combo), late-garden harvests, walks in the hills and oven roasted squash, I'm thankful indeed for the season of Fall.

remembering :: peace

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. ~ Dalai Lama

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. ~ Mother Teresa

Do not return evil for evil. Avenge not yourselves, but rather give way to wrath; for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsts, give him drink: for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  ~ Romans 12:17-21

What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being. To feed the hungry. To help the afflicted. To lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful. To remove the wrongs of the injured. That person is the most beloved of God who does most good to God's creatures. ~ The Prophet Muhammad

 

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. ~ Mahatma Gandhi