an energy prayer by a waterfall

Our neighbors left zinnias on our porch.

Things have been difficult and stressful lately. Our neighbors didn't know this. They just cut a bunch of late season zinnias and put them in mason jars and left one on our porch as a gift of beauty.

I love zinnias. I’m tempted to say they’re my favorite, but all flowers are my favorite.

I wish I had a greener thumb than the thumb I have, which is not green at all.

My heart is green, but I can’t get my thumbs to get on board.

Mandy and Anessa and I went hiking at Shaker Village. It was a good hike - easy and beautiful. I’ve hiked there a lot and yet this was my first time on the trail that leads to a waterfall.

My niece is traveling across the country today to go to college. She is flying through the air as I type this. By the time you read it, she will be on the ground in California.

My brother said, it’s not like she’s just leaving…she’s launching.

She’s launching into her life.

I have tried to keep my tears to myself but I cried saying goodbye to her yesterday and I’ll probably keep on crying for a while. I’m so excited for her. I love her so much. I’m going to miss her intensely.

I’ve been working on Red Velvet again. It’s a romantic fiction story compilation that I published as a PDF a few years ago. I felt the urge recently to get it back out and write into it, flesh out some of the storylines. I’ve enjoyed being with these characters again. I’m planning to publish it for Kindle. I hope I can do it before the end of the year.

I have a slow moving commission on my easel. I need to buy some paint. I can feel it coming in. I’m getting a sense of what to do, but it’s taking its own sweet time, and that is fine. That is just the way it is.

A few nights ago, I had rolling night terrors. Every time I would fall asleep, one would hit and I would wake up screaming. I can’t remember who or what was attacking me. Time, maybe.

The coffee was good this morning, hot and dark. I had a peach from the produce stand for breakfast. Roadside fruit tastes so much better than supermarket fruit. Fruit that’s stacked up in baskets.

I have finally figured out what to do with my Patreon. I’m going to write a book there, starting next month, and I feel a lot of energy around this. I think it’s going to be fun.

Next month is my favorite. My brother and my siblings have birthdays, and it’s Halloween. I’m already starting to shift things around in preparation for the Halloween decoration. There may be purple lights on my porch by this weekend.

I’m extremely excited about this exhibition at the Speed. I haven’t been doing indoor things, but I’m planning on masking up and checking this out.

A song keeps playing in my head. It’s Billy Joel, River of Dreams:

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

From the mountains of faith

To a river so deep

I must be looking for something

Something sacred I lost

But the river is wide

And it's too hard to cross

And even though I know

The river is wide

I walk down every evening

And I stand on the shore

And try to cross to the opposite side

So I can finally find

What I've been looking for

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

Through the valley of fear

To a river so deep

And I've been searching for something

Taken out of my soul

Something I would never lose

Something somebody stole

I’m sure I must have heard it on the radio and that’s why it’s set to replay in my head, but someone recently said, pay attention to the music you hear, so I’m paying attention.