Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 7/15/22

1. HR’s pizza! Oh my. Goodness.

For some reason (maybe because we’re watching Only Murders in the Building) HR chose a murder weapon to slice the masterpiece.

2. Waking up to a brand new day each morning. What an incredible blessing! (Especially after the picture above.)

3. Elephant Ears.

Stop it! On the plant, not on me!

One of my top three favorite plants in the whole wide world. Here’s an old post about the reasons why …

4. The sleek new white chairs in my therapist Rubi’s office

I am a firm believer that therapists ALWAYS strategically place items in their waiting areas with hidden (HA!), underlying (probably-childhood related) purposes. Here’s my theory about the photo above.

On second thought, I’ll just let the redecorated room itself—and the therapists whose clients wait in the room—speak for itself and themselves:

“Hi there. And welcome back! Look at how fresh and clean everything looks in our, we mean YOUR, waiting area. A tabla rosa-ness to it, don’t you think? This session you’re about to have can be a new beginning to your mental health. But remember we have to do it in 50 minutes. Sit down and make yourself comfortable.”

“The slanting brown legs on the chair? We’re glad you noticed, but come on, you get that, we’re sure. No? Being grounded of course. Connecting to Mother Earth. Therapy doesn’t go straight down and to the point all at once, for goodness sake. It has to slant, meander, hiccup around for a spell. Sometimes quite a spell. Over MULTIPLE 50-minute sessions. And the FOUR legs? Why earth, wind, fire and water, of course.”

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I’m sorry but I need to interrupt the room and the therapists for a second here. I took the above photo three weeks ago when the room was just being redone. Look closely at the seat part of the chair. See sort of a crack or opening? I did. And since Rubi had not called me back yet, I looked around to make sure there were no hidden cameras and did what comes naturally to me. I snooped. And, lo and behold, when I placed my hand on the seat part, it was loose. I hoisted it up. It had not been screwed down yet! Okay, again sorry, back to the room and therapists’ spill.

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“You might notice the chair is a bit wobbly. That your butt moves up and down and side to side while you’re sitting. No worries. You won’t fall out of it. Just steady yourself. After all, you’ve just got a few loose screws. WE MEAN THE CHAIR HAS GOT A FEW LOOSE SCREWS!!!”

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“Hi Neal,” Rubi greets me at my session three weeks ago. “Come on up.” I follow my therapist to his suite but quickly look back at the chair. And it seems to wiggle and wave a bit. I can’t tell if it is taunting or encouraging me.

5. Clouds.

I hope clouds bring you joy this weekend.

Posted in The Artful Dodger, Unexpected Art

“The Artful Dodger“ #10

A blog category about finding “art” in unexpected places and situations.

So I was minding my own business, sitting in my study chair …

… meditating on why the Kardashians are still “a thing,” when Robert, who had been in the kitchen working on his ice cream sundae, barreled into the study and shoved this in my face …

“OoKaay,” I said, but really concentrating on Kim’s issue with her bangs.

“No, look, Neal!” (R only calls me by my name when he is animated). “LOOK.”

“Uh, that’s the top of the fudge jar,” I observed.

“No, no,” he squealed, “your Artful Dodger blog category. LOOK.”

Then I saw him! A cute little brown puppy!

Aww. Isn’t he adorable?!

Posted in Lean in to the Lovely

Leaning in to the Lovely

There is just so much ugliness and negativity in our world today. Many of us are struggling with heightened anxiety because of the nearly constant bad news showing up on our devices and making its way into our minds and bodies.

So I am going to try (emphasis on “try”) to lean into the lovely when I see it.

The endangered Longleaf Pine is my favorite tree, so on our travels, I love looking for Longleaf’s relatives. Here are some cousins HR and I saw while up in the Catskills recently.

I’m leaning into the lovely, life-enhancing pines.

Can you smell them? Deliciously healthy fragrance.

I LOVE pines!