I posted this on my other blog Dreaming Existence and wanted to share with you all here as well. We need to be introspective at this time in our Human history. We need to examine our own intent, accept the pain we try so hard to cast off and know that only together, through loving intent, our better future can be created.
Broken Butterflies
Every now and then I am inspired to share this song, written and sung by a talented lady from my home state. I have loved the melody, slow and melancholic, the words that wind and twist in ways only the individual listening can comprehend for themselves. It is a work of art and has meant something just a little bit different to me at various times in my life’s unfolding.
I was sifting through my endless photos this evening, determined to finally put together that pictorial book of poems that has been infecting my brain for some years now, encouraged by the kind words of my friends and followers. I filed through images of thoughtful monkeys, bright and brilliant birds, as well as so many bees, dipping their faces into stores of golden pollen. Then came the butterflies. As I chose a few treasured images, I came across this one in a series I took while at a lovely garden in Roswell, Georgia. I know a lot of people who would have just passed this one by, deleted the images, or cast it aside as defective. I am not one of those people. I often photograph the worn down, the damaged and dying within Nature’s fine tapestry of living things. I see the beauty in every stage of existence, so when I saw this image it struck me as poignantly appropriate for me-for so many-at this time.
I have felt pretty broken lately, the weight of the unknown pulling me to the ground when I long to soar with the freedom of the familiar taking me to the heights of joy. It has been heartbreaking to see the fabric of our lives slowly coming unraveled in spite of our best efforts to hold it together. It’s not about resistance to change. It’s not about adaptability or rigidity. It’s about feeling helpless in spite of putting forth my bravest face, rallying myself to count my blessings, focus on the positive and not get caught up in fear.
The simple truth is that we are faced with the total unknown at this most profound moment in modern history and the way our society is handling this challenge is the most troubling thing for me. So much anger, impatience, intolerance, insensitivity, arrogance, greed and denial has taken its toll on those who are
seeking a positive solution, taking comfort in what can still be counted on. For me, that is Nature. This is a most most frightening world where now, more than ever, people are afraid of other people. We don’t know who may be carrying a virus, who may hate us, or who is as fearful as we might be ourselves. If we are being responsible, we wear our masks in public or work places, but that leaves us almost faceless to others, unable to show expression and share smiles. The worst part for me is not being able to just give or receive a hug. I’m a hugger and value human touch. I can’t travel to other states to visit my family and old friends, fearing exposure due to those people who refuse to even try being safe.
I feel broken, often frozen emotionally by the need to not cry anymore, to not be ashamed of how my country is presenting itself to the rest of the world, and by the need to just breathe. Then I go outside, thankful that at least for now Nature is not the enemy. The air is no more toxic than usual, the water is no more contaminated, the animals are thriving and the sky hasn’t fallen. Like my tiny friend above, I feel the need for sweet rest on a soft blanket of love, waiting for healing.
More than anything else, the song speaks to the way we communicate, the words that spill from our mouths, often in careless ways, whether intentional or not. It speaks of the lies that break our spirits, our hearts and our faith in a better world.
In conclusion, I say we toss our fears into the bottomless pit of misery and stand together, heart to heart, as we help one another to heal. Our light must shine on even through the darkest of days. Our wings may be broken, but together we can reach the heights and color the skies with hope. The old tapestry may be unraveling but lets create a new work of art as we pick up the frayed ends and begin again…finally united
This post brought to you by .Linda Hill’s SoCS prompt Do visit her blog to read more great posts and meet some amazing writers.
Sup-pose you want to grill burgers for the big holiday. You know, the one that falls in the middle of the week and you can never get additional days off around it so you either pretend you aren’t going to, but get really drunk and just suffer through the next day-OR-you act all grownup and just enjoy a mid week break with some good food and try to avoid the crowds (although you dream of seeing fireworks from the rooftop in DC or Lincoln like your kiddos are doing). Since we sup-posedly wise up as we age, I felt it prudent to stay in this year. Perhaps I didn’t care about missing out. Perhaps I wanted to snuggle in with hubs and be creative and do all those things I miss out on when I am just bustling around. Either way, we wanted burgers. Did I mention we were avoiding crowds? That includes the maniacal scene that would be playing out in every grocery and conveninece store across this great flag-waving holiday-loving fireworks-exploding country. Now, just sup-pose two very sup-eriorly intelligent humans (insert crying laugh here 😂) were not prepared enough to pick up hamburger buns from the store.
I mean we are trying not to eat a lot of bread, especially processed white killer bread. But you really are sup-posed to have that junk on this auspicious holiday. Hubs offered to go to the store-half a dozen times or more-but he seemed so serene sitting there over his puzzle and I didn’t want our day ruined by a cart-pushing wise mouth or grocery employee with a grudge for having to work. What to do, what to do? Oh! I’ll just make some. I mean, I have been trying to find a good bun recipe and so far all previous attempts had been mediocre. What better time than a free day with no pressure?
Now, even though I still have a shelf full of my favorite cookbooks, I must admit to using the internet for recipes more often than not. It is just so easy and I can actually combine ideas that way.
A word to the wise and unaware here. A lot of people out there can’t cook; and often this fact spills over into their recipes. I can only hope it was typing ommissions because obvious things like baking powder left out of a cake recipe is going to really tick off that person trying a 27 ingredient Chocolate Decadent Roller Coaster Fudge Cake recipe for their big party. Thankfully, I have been cooking long enough to recognize an obvious ommission, but in others the ‘missing link’ was not as obvious. This time, though, I found what I think is the perfect sup-per sandwich roll. If you love burgers and have a breadmaker, you can easily have these in about 2 1/2 hours. Bon Appetit’!
This #SoCS post is brought to you by Linda Hill . Visit her blog for the prompt to meet other consciousness revelers and read about her new book! Today’s word was ‘sup’.
I found the recipe at Genius Kitchen and have saved it to my desktop so as never to lose it. I hope. 😏
I added sesame and poppy seeds after the egg wash and used olive oil as well as sea salt. It looks like a recipe you could play with. I have not tried my Bob’s Gluten Free flour mix yet as I wanted to test the integrity of the recipe first. OMG! We loved them. Have a look.
This dough did perfectly in the breadmaker which I have had for almost 20 yrsYou could so so much with the dough which is slightly sweetAt first I feared that they didn’t rise enoughBaking always finishes off the risingI know. I was trying to get their best side.Can you smell them?Okay, a perfect burger made using our gifted Omaha Steak patties too. There’s Barb’s contribution Dan!Of course I had to make homemade Thousand Island dressing, for that Big Mac effect.😉I even shaped a few hoagies knowing we would have Italian sandwiches the next day-old Pizza Hut style. Yuuum!
Yeah, even though we no longer eat fast food, you can see how my food memories have been shaped by them. 😜
I hope you all had a relaxing and/or fun holiday and enjoy an even better #free48!
Oh. We heard lots of fireworks going off in surrounding neighborhoods, but his was the extent of my visual; and I had to brave the mosquito hoard to get this one! Yep, I was a total whimp.
"I have enough time to rest, but I don't have a minute to waste". Come and catch me with your wise words and we will have some fun with our words of wisdom.
Dreaming Reality 
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