Category: local fun

Give me the flowers

by Karen, posted in Angels, Grace, local fun, Metaphysical healing, my one word

This month, I felt drawn to attend one of Melissa Boyd’s programs where she channels messages from spirit, but I had no one to go with. By nature I am an introvert, and typically I am not a person who likes to go Tulipsplaces alone. Other than, you know, a coffee shop with a book.

Anyway, this month marks the 20th anniversary of the death of my mother (on leap day).  I think that’s why this month, I felt there was a good chance I might get a message from her, so I put on my big girl panties (actually, my big girl thermal panties -it was -3 degrees!) and went by myself.

Right away, I noticed the pretty pink vase with 3 tulips on the table. Three is my favorite number, and tulips are one of my favorite flowers. I thought that after the program, I might ask Melissa who did the flowers for the event so I could get me some of those flowers, and get me one of those pink vases.

Anyway, in the last ten minutes of the program I realized that I was not going to be one of the lucky ones who got a channeled message. I felt that my mother was there, though! I felt sad and disappointed that she didn’t get a chance to speak to me. I consoled myself with the knowledge that the other people present needed their messages more urgently than I did.

But you know, I wanted some validation that she really was there.

And then I heard Melissa say that she intended to raffle off the vases of flowers.

🙂

So I sent my mother a message: “Ma, if you’re here, give me the flowers”.

They called the first number.

Mine.

Thanks, Ma.

Postscript: It gets better. When I got into the car to go home, a song came on the radio. Here’s an excerpt:

“And I have need for nothing more
Oh now that I have found
That You are here with me
Yes You are here with me.”

(From Mountain of God by Third Day)

 

We joined them

by Karen, posted in Angels, family, local fun, Metaphysical healing, teens

IMG_4711We saw the sign last week, inviting us to join them for a concert, and after some maneuvering of the work schedule, join them we did.

What a good decision my daughter and I made.

The performances were amazing. Men and women of all different ages and backgrounds took turn standing up on the stage and sang most beautifully the songs they had chosen for us.

Their voices were accompanied by quite accomplished musicians, which elevated their songs just a little bit more.

Many of the songs we knew, but some we heard for the first time.

There were several people who I have been casually acquainted with for years who possess incredible voices and until tonight, I had no idea.

We may not really know the people we see every day as well as we think we do. We all have something shining inside us. What a gift these men and women gave us tonight by sharing their talents with us.

Thank you!! 😊❤️

Simplify: Who, me?

by Karen, posted in education, local fun, the beach, writing

IMG_4542I went to a class at the Wells Public Library this week. Lisa Luken of Simple Joy Living, LLC spoke to us about simplifying our lives by streamlining (as well as getting rid of) our stuff. Her tagline is “Simple. Joyful. Organized. Intentional. Living.”

Great, right? Who wouldn’t want that?

I had a ton of ideas fill my monkey-mind within the first fifteen minutes of Lisa’s talk. Some were related to organizing my clutter and some were about…other things. Still, they were GOOD IDEAS! There’s something about the energy of a group that can stimulate thought processes that lie dormant when one is home. You know. Sitting on the couch. Eating ice cream. Watching The Good Wife.

I returned home with renewed enthusiasm to rid my home of clutter. I bagged stuff up. In this case, it was mostly books. And then, some escaped! Two of them went back to their original places on the bookshelf when I wasn’t paying attention!

Not good. I have to do better. Because, as Lisa pointed out, if I am not home dusting, rearranging, storing, and otherwise picking-up-and-putting-down my clutter, I could be doing something that I really love to do. Like going to the ocean. Or walking the labyrinth at The LoveLight Center. Or revising my second novel (working title: How to Stay Married in Midlife).

Or, you know. Sitting on the couch. Eating ice cream. Watching The Good Wife.

🙂

SoulCollage Intro Class

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, friends, local fun, SoulCollage

Last weekend I finally was able to take the SoulCollage Intro Class at Bean Tree Place that I’ve been wanting to take for over a year. The planets aligned (and my daughter’s cheering schedule ended) and it finally happened.

It was worth the wait.

It was a just-big-enough class of four students plus the facilitator, Nancy. Nancy had done a lot of prepping for us, including laying out some snack-y foods (hello? Standard Bakery Scones? LOVE! And my go-to chocolate, Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Kisses…but I digress) in her bright, sunny kitchen. After the introductions, we got to work.

I made four cards, and after the class I made another four. This is one of my favorite ones that I made in the class:Fire and Ice SoulCollage

Any other people new to SoulCollage out there?

New kid in town

by Karen, posted in Angels, local fun, my one word

abionesMaybe you, like me, have wondered about the new signage in front of a house on Rt 1 in Wells, the one that says The LoveLight Center.

What’s up with that?

I saw a flag waving “OPEN” at me yesterday so I took a chance (remember, I’m brave in 2015!) and ran in. I met the most lovely woman, Emily Karparis, who mentioned that the interior is still evolving, but then she took some time to introduce me to the space and invited me to come again.

Which I did. Today.

🙂

I have so many good things to say about The LoveLight Center! The little shop inside, Abionesa, has so many of my favorite things on display! Every one of women that I met who work there are so welcoming! The playing of the crystal harp for which I was lucky enough to be present was very powerful!

In this post, I’m going to tell you about the Angel Room. For ten bucks, you can sit in the Angel Room for (up to) fifteen minutes. And do what? Think. Meditate. Pray. Listen. Ignore the pleading bleats of your cell phone. Appreciate the beautiful blue color of the walls. Contemplate the enormous crystal (like, ‘as big as your head’) on the table in the center of the room. Watch the vortex of swirling snow outside the window.

I did all of these things.

It was worth every cent.

Before you enter the room, you can pick up a typed affirmation from the basket, or choose a stone to hold, or just ‘come as you are’. I chose the affirmation-if the universe had something to say to me, I wanted to hear it.

Here’s what it said:

IMG_1057

 

 

 

 

Done.

There are pictures of the Angel Room on their Facebook page. Check it out. Oh, and stop by and say, Hi!

 

Leisure time: top 10 activities

by Karen, posted in books, local fun, movies, NaNoWriMo, the beach, writing, yoga

IMG_9607I have the next few days off and am thinking of fun ways to spend it:

  1. Go bowling
  2. Go to the movies:  I want to see St Vincent, The Judge, and that Steve Carell movie about the terrible, very bad day.
  3. Get up early and go to yoga
  4. Go see the ocean!
  5. Check out the Craft Show at the JHS
  6. Work on my plan for NaNoWriMo beginning 11/1
  7. Attend a memoir writing class (if I can just get in my registration under the wire….)
  8. Start my next knitting project
  9. Read one of the hundred or so books I have in piles waiting for me
  10. Go to the Health and Wellness Expo in Portland

Of course, I may just lay on the couch and watch The Pioneer Woman on the Food Network.

 

 

Passaggiata

by Karen, posted in family, health, italian, local fun

I live in a rural part of my town in Maine. There are few places that I can get to on foot that wouldn’t require packing for a half day passaggiattatrek. That’s why I looked forward to the Bean Supper this year. This is a destination that I could comfortably walk to and from and to which there was a good chance I could convince my daughter to accompany me.

As we walked along my road, the word ‘passaggiata‘ came to my mind. This is, as I understand it, the Italian custom of taking a walk through the town after dinner.  Historically, this is something my family has only practiced on holidays.

You know, hardly ever.

Other than the walk we took after Thanksgiving dinner one year, I am hard pressed to remember any other times we’ve done this. Why not? Okay, in the summer it’s because I am no match for those horseflies that will use every ounce of energy they have in their creepy little bodies to enter either my nose or my ears or, failing that, sting the crap out of me. But this time of year there is no good reason. Oh, yes, one: I’m too lazy.

Well, tonight I am happy to say that we walked to dinner, ate, and walked home. The rain felt lovely. Despite the deluge that was predicted, it remained fairly light so we didn’t get too drenched.The company of my daughter was much appreciated. I even entertain the thought of doing this again tomorrow night.

We’ll see.

At the movies (or, Hell is other people)

by Karen, posted in local fun, Party for one

I was done with trying to align the planets so that I could go see a movie with my husband. I decided that, if I wanted to see This is Where I Leave You at the theater, I would have to go by myself. I rarely will cough up the cash to sit in a theater to watch a movie, but for this one, I wanted to make the effort (Hello? You had me at Tina Fey. And Kathryn Hahn).
movie stubI was lucky enough to find a niche of time in which no work schedules, carpooling, medical appointments, or householder responsibilities encroached…so I went for it.
I entered the darkened theater and took my favorite seat on the left in the last row. As my eyes adjusted, I realized that there were four others in there with me: three women and a man. (HINT: This is where the Hell part comes in).
One of the women hacked and coughed continuously, to the point that I almost regretted declining that Whooping Cough shot earlier this week…almost. The other two women talked non-stop. The man was silent…until he wasn’t.
What was great, though, was that it was worth it. The movie was mostly absorbing and funny (reference: Tina Fey) and loud enough to drown out much of the talking. I think the best part, though, was that I could laugh out loud and tear up at will, without worrying about embarrassing various family members that might have accompanied me to the show. So yes. I laughed. I cried. So there.

Best line (that I can remember) from the movie:
“Cut yourself some slack…Anything can happen. Anything happens all the time.”

One brave thing, part 2

by Karen, posted in fitness, health, local fun, Midlife Crisis, no fear

I went to the Aqua Yoga class on Monday morning, despite my trepidation. I got my big girl pants on (read: found a bathing suit that fit) and I went. I pulled up to the door at 8:59am. This is significant because usually I am at least a half an hour early for everything. Because it was so late, though, I didn’t have time to hesitate. I just got out of my car and went right in.

As soon as I entered the pool area, I knew I had done the right thing by finally going. The instructor was playing music for the class and the song that was on was this: “Happy” by Pharrell. People that know me know that this is my new favorite song!  Because I heard the Happy song, I was immediately put at ease. I took it as a sign that I was in the right place.

Two other positive signs:

  1. The instructor, Jennifer, reminded me of one of my best friends, Karyn.
  2. One of the other women in the class reminded me of my one of my grandmothers.

So how did it go? It was hard! It was fun! Everyone was so nice! I wish I had started going (like the other women had) six months ago!

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An old dog, a new (cheap) trick (part two)

by Karen, posted in local fun, Marriage, relationships

robinThen Cheap Trick (did I mention that’s my husband’s favorite band?) came to town.

Sure, they had come to town before, but he never brought it up and I never did either. It was the elephant in the room until the show date came and went. There were usually plenty of good reasons (child care issues, work schedule conflicts, just a little too far away) why we both couldn’t have gone together to the show anyway. Oh, and also, I didn’t like Cheap Trick. I was perhaps the only person who didn’t think Robin Zander was hot.

Once, years ago, I casually mentioned to my husband that if I spent enough time around someone (read: a guy), I could find something about him to like.  After I got over the shock of realizing that he actually pays attention to what I say, I realized that he also used this to his advantage. Well, to our advantage. He started playing Cheap Trick music in the car when I with him-a cheap attempt to get me to ‘spend some time’ with Cheap Trick.

He also took me to the venue where they were playing a few weeks in advance to get familiar with the area. We spent several hours exploring and learning our way around, thereby exponentially increasing my comfort level.  The end result was this: a week before the show, I was singing along to Cheap Trick songs and looking forward to the show.

Me.

I know, right?

It was awesome. I had a great time. Oh, and now I am perhaps the only person who does think that Robin Zander is hot.

Just sayin’.