a little heartfelt devotional thought...

"O God

the reflection of whose transcendent glory

did once appear unbroken in the face of Jesus Christ,

give me today a heart like His...

a brave heart,

a true heart,

a tender heart,

a heart with great room in it,

a heart fixed on Yourself..."

-John Baillie

A Diary of Private Prayer

wishing you strong hearts today and every day...

morning came whispering into the bohemian's bedroom window.  she opened her eyes to a crashing, smashing headache. she made it to the medicine cabinet for meds and to the fridge for the icepack.  as she lay snuggled in her blankets, willing the headache to go away and praying that it would happen soon, she realized how thankful she was for her life...

•  she didn't have to get up to go to work
• she didn't have to go anywhere!

• she had pain meds
• she had her ice pack
• she had her fridge freezer to freeze her icepack
• she had fuzzy blankets to keep her warm while she froze her head
• she had a soft bed and a quiet house...

..

• she had her beautiful gorgeous mountains just outside her window, even though at the moment they were lost in the haze of forest fires burning to the east...

• she had lovely summer memories of her outdoor room in which she and her fairy grandchild had frolicked all summer long...

• she had the memories of their shared laughter, and snuggles...

• she remembered how the fairy grandchild was so eager to help hang clothes out on the clothesline...

• and the way the fairy grandchild loved the grandmother's books... (and loved to rearrange them!! ahem...)

• and she remembered the beautiful sunsets brought on by the smokey haze over the valley...

• she thought of women she had met during her travels in other parts of  the world... the ones with no meds, no beds, no refrigerators, no just-for-fun outdoors rooms because there was hardly an indoor room!

• oh yes! the bohemian was extremely thankful for what she had!
• and extremely thankful when all her pain-lessening techniques helped and she was able to get out of bed and slightly function the rest of the day!!

the bohemian thanks you for your visit and wonders: what are YOU thankful for today?  don't forget to go outside and play... if you can.   warm, sunny indian-summer wishes to you...  and may there be no forest fires burning near you.

telling on grammy...

                                                oh hi there!  i'm helping grammy today... 

i know it looks like i'm just getting into her cupboard but you gotta understand. grammy's a little OCD. if you don't believe me, just ask her kids...they'll tell you. about her cupboards, where everything goes back exactly where it came from. about the charlie brown christmas trees for them to decorate, because grammy's tree had to look just so... about grammy refolding bath towels after she had them do it, because they all had to look the same on  the bathroom shelf... and see here...

how all her cans are lined up in fastidious order? (she says it's so she see at a glance what she needs to buy at the store) she LOVES the way it all looks, ARTISTICALLY. and she's just plain a neat freak!

so i'll just shuffle these... and move this one over there... i'm helping her, you know. to just be free. free of all this nonsense. doesn't she know how freeing it is to dump all the toys out of the toybox so you can choose the one you want?!  yes, i'm just helping her...

she'll thank me later. i know she will. when she sees what i've done, she think of me and smile. because she loves me that much! and she knows i'm helping her.  go ahead... try dumping all your toys out where you can see them! it's sooooo much more fun that way!!!  i can't wait for the days when she gets her artist materials out and lets me create with them!  i'll show her how to be free with them, too!  here's wishing you such a blissful day playing with all your stuff!  and don't take life too serious...it's not good for your inner child!  now go play...

a journey of hints...

the bohemian traveled into the city by the bay.  it was much earlier than she usually arrived there. she was on a food fast so as to give blood at the laboratory...  it was a misty, slightly eerie morning, putting her in mind of Autumn and Halloween. and vampires, what with the blood-sucking and all that spookiness in the air...

she noticed things she didn't usually... like rusted gates...

and stone steps disappearing into the darkened recesses of old buildings...

and black cats looming out of the mists...

spooky silhouettes and  haunting shadows...

and windows shaped like crystal balls...

but THIS window... oh this window made her smile so big!!!  and she immediately thought of COFFEE!!!  and so her journey into the city by the  bay was sweetly capped off by a tall *bees knees latte at the black drop coffee house...  (more smiling!!!)

* this delectable treat is a coffee latte with honey and essence of roses... oh joy, oh coffee bliss!!!!

  "I know the night is near at hand:

the mists lie low on hill and bay,

the Autumn sheaves are dewless, dry;

But I have had the day..."

-Silas Weir Mitchell

(of course that dewless/dry part isn't really descriptive of this part of bohemia but lately it HAS been pretty dry! the fire-danger-meter stands at HIGH right now...  no end-of-the-summer campfires. no s'mores.  but O! the berries! they are just dripping off the vines!!! grazing along the edges of the property puts a giant smile on the bohemian's face! YUMMY!)  the bohemian is wishing you a lovely fall season with crackly leaf carpets and crunchy brown nuts and late late warmth-of-summer days as the season slowly turns into autumn. and of course: coffee bliss to you all!