Happy Solstice!!!!

Happy Solstice Everyone! It is almost 8pm and still light out - my favorite time of the year! (Next to Autumn!)

 I took these images from the National Geographic website. Ive always wanted to go to Stonehenge. I hope its something I get to do one day. I'll be satisfied to view it from afar since I'm not a Druid, but I just want to go there and feel the vibe. There are so many amazing places in the world. Ive been lucky to visit some of them, but Stonehenge would be tops on the list.

Yesterday was my birthday and despite all my best efforts, I ended up doing pretty much nothing. It was a big one and I wont go into which big one it actually was, but I really should have done SOMETHING. It just didn't seem all that important, for some reason. Isn't just being born on the last day of Spring enough? Its such a magical time full of renewed energy that just hanging out seems to be enough sometimes. It was a lovely day and part of Valencia street was blocked off for pedestrians, dogs, kids, and bikes. What is it about walking down a road that is normally used for city traffic? Its such a BIG DEAL!

So I went and took Spike for a walk, stopped by Retrofit to visit Steven. I love his store. He has THE BEST windows! Go visit him. He has some treasures in there!

The night before, I got to go to FatChanceBellyDance's Devotion Show. Everyone was lovely. I forget how spoiled we are here. I got to sit next to Udit from Arkansas who bought my little red dress that I blogged about sometime back. She had never seen FCBD, Rachel Brice, or ANY of the other lovelies perform live - ever! And I needed this eye opener. Sometimes I forget how much beauty and creativity surrounds me on a daily basis. And I forget to be grateful. I get set in my ways. I only see what I want to see sometimes. I only see my problems and challenges. I guess that's human nature. But I would like to cut that s*# out!

 After Devotion, I ended up going out and having a little meal with my old Saaidi friends. We ate here - and I cant for the life of me remember the name of the place - a German restaurant - the decor was a bit spare but  it was pleasant.  I liked the potato salad.  This was the sign above the door! I just had to share............................

I ended the day by having a little Solstice fire out in the back yard. I wrote down all the negative things in my life that I want to banish on slips of paper and threw them in the fire while Sid and Nancy screamed at each other in the SRO next door. The universe must have been reminding me to be grateful for what I have and to remind me that it could always be worse. And it might get worse for a while but we will weather this economic storm and life will go on.

When I was married and and an affluent consumer of material goods,  I had a neighbor who obsessively picked up every penny she saw. I remember so clearly one occasion especially when I was in my driveway cleaning out my car. This neighbor came up behind me, peeked inside, saw the pennies all over the floor, and told me I missed something there..........I thought at first that she was nuts, I mean it was just a hand full of pennies.  But then I realized that she really had suffered during the Great Depression and this was a post traumatic thing going on. I had an aunt who compulsively stocked her garage shelves with as many canned goods as they would hold. She was also obsessive about having things in their proper places. I thought at the time that she was a little "off" (well, my family is......but that's another story), she had a beautiful little house and a good life,  but she had a post traumatic disorder caused by suffering so much poverty in the Great Depression. She died many years ago and it is said that she still haunts that place - replacing tools and items that people leave out - she puts them away. We told her to go to the other side, but maybe it was that attachment to worldly goods. Maybe they gave her such a feeling of relief and well being that she couldn't let them go.  I also think this is why my dad has so much stuff in his house. Things give us this false sense of security sometimes. He doesn't want to feel that poor ever again.

But here we are again. A global disaster. Nobody is spending. If nobody spends, everything goes away.
Ask your friends for help in these times of need if you are suffering.  We might not be able to hand out cash donations, but we might be able to show our love in other ways. I had friends help me out a lot in previous  times of need, Don't be afraid to ask. These are hard times. Baby, but we still have much to be thankful for!

                                                                    Happy Solstice!