Hello Again!

Hello again, my friends,

Remember me?
It has been exactly 5 years since my last entry on my blog as of December 2011. Wow! Time flies.
So much life's memories, joy & struggles have been lived since....

I decided to start this discipline again today with no expectations or goals to meet but to just simply put my day's thoughts here. A very poignant year for me to return because it is a turning point in my life as I've reached that magic benchmark age of 50 since April. Yikes!

For some people, it's no big deal. It's just another birthday. It's just a number.
For me, it's has been a "wake up" call and a soul searching opportunity to re-evaluate what has worked and what has NOT worked in my life thus far in all areas of life.

Being ME...an easily bored, require more fun, sometimes crazy & definitely a free-spirited WOMAN!
Marriage ( Our age differences and our years together, approaching 14 years next April)
Family (Defining what's real, what's a loving family and where I belong and feel at "home")
Career ( ...or lack of it because I have been a stay home wife and taking an opportunity to create a creative outlet to have some form of success in this area)
Finance. (My husband's corporate career is ending so our lifestyle will be different and new challenges ahead to be more resourceful)
Health. ( Menopausal stage in life to accept & a new body to learn)
Self-Esteem. ( Happy in my own skin. Defining MYSELF from others (social media) expectations and/or judgements
Total FREEDOM to be YOURSELF!

I will share my thoughts candidly as I blog these areas as each day unfolds.
It's my personal time to be brutally honest to create the life I really what you live.
You will know when it is the right time for you. I hope by sharing that you will know, you are not alone in this journey of life. It's a gift. Lets give it the attention it deserves.

A common question I have been asking myself this past 6 months....
Does this person/relationship or situation brings positive, joy, peace, happiness or negative, drama or  pain in my life?

To change it...Are you willing to learn to walk away from pain & gravitate toward the joy?
Are you willing to learn new disciples?
Of course, some areas will be more challenging than others to change. Learning to walk away from people is the hardest for me but it's a must to reach your peace.

It starts and ends with YOU! It's UP TO YOU. It's YOUR LIFE. Only YOU have the power to change. You can't change people or circumstances around you but you can only change YOU.

We are human. We are still learning...
For me, I can only hope that my next 50 years will be even better when I am open to learn, to share, to express and to explore new disciplines & new perspectives.

This resonates with me today. I hope it does for you too.
One Day At a Time:
This is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone.
Do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come.
Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering. Unknown author.

May we focus on just TODAY... with a grateful heart & with more JOY!
Let's be thankful for whatever God gives us today and make it count.


Namaste,
Hai

Georgia's Pear Ambrosia Jam Day

Are you getting a repetitious, even a boring impression that I LOVE my home and what it holds for me by now? Good! lol ha-ha 
I love to share my rainy autumn day in Georgia, today.
Today is beautiful! 
To me, it's what NOT to love on a rainy autumn day here in Georgia?

Yes, I tend to focus and share so much about my life centered on my home, my husband and my simple heart here at our Yellow Cottage. That's just simply who I am and what I love most, to share most!  I am truly a simple home-girl in my comfies when I am in my barbie-size cottage kitchen and LOVIN' IT so much!

A rainy day like this today is so special for me to slumber in bed just a little longer this morning before I get to harvest my last ripe pears to filled a bushel full.

Nowhere to rush out on a day like this but to slow down and to sit down on my porch to peel each pear while my Teddy Bear always sits next to me for company. 





The rain has been steadily and gently watering my gardens nicely all day. Thank you, Mother Nature! I love rainy days because I know my gardens love it too!

From time to time, I glanced over my working hands, peeling the sticky pears over my lap as I take in my home, my stillness, my peace to just be with today's dark skies. Simple pleasure to look out over at my gardens and to see beyond our plain two acres of open pastures, feeling the cool wet rain on my face and hear the rain drops against our tin roof porch, I feel all of life in today's presence.  It's a perfect day!

I see our working white truck parked nearby a pile of woods as my next task for another day.  My thought wished my husband was there right then. He often works on our many chores around our cottage with his white truck. 


I miss him. I miss his presence here today to be with me in my stillness. I miss all the noises he makes when he works from one project to the next project, around our home. I miss his labor of love for us, today as I sat here. 


I miss hearing his country western music he often plays on the radio to keep him company while he works, sweats and always with his oversized cup of water, sitting nearby.

My true love is presence in my heart today as he is working hard in a corporate office for us so I can be at home.  If only he is here to complete that perfect picture on this rainy day for me. So, I set that happy thought aside with knowing that he will be home soon.  
I even love the heartaches of missing my husband today with the excitements to meet up at the airport on Friday and meet our friends for the evening in the city. My heart is so full of life, just "being" still.

Well, I got back to "doing" my tasks at hand to get these pears ready to be cooked. 



I brought them inside and chopped them up to cubed sizes; add my pineapple cubes and orange slices before I can simmer them slowly for the next 4-5 hours before I get to put them in jars.

So, on this rainy day, I am enjoying making my jams from our orchard.  I make it every year, whether it is figs, blueberries or pears each year. I enjoy sending them out to friends and family for the holidays to eat them from our yellow cottage farm. I am making my Pear Ambrosia Jam, today.

I am not an expert or even good at making preservatives or jams but I do attempt at it each year to honor them and then give them away to others to enjoy. These fruits have been given to us so abundantly so I feel bad if I don't at least attempt to use what God has given to us on our abundant little lot of land in Georgia. 

I get so much joy of home and the simple spiritual connection in the ritual when I make them. The smell of  cooking pears on my stove has permeated our little cottage on this rainy day while I write my blog about it.

I am CENTERED and at PEACE to be with myself. To be so content, safe and grounded at home in this simple way on this rainy autumn day in Georgia is a greatest blessing for me.  


I am truly living my happiness, my simple life that I have dreamed so often. 
I am standing in the midst of my dream.

My Teddy Bear is always near to keep me company

 With Love & Happiness,

Hai

It's a Colorful Monday~ Day 68

Happy Monday, already!  Let's get it started!
So, just color me with "HAPPYNESS" today, please! :)

Our colorful cottage of "happyness"

Painting has never been my strong suit but it is more fun to have the results in seeing my favorite colors be a part of our world.  This was my painting weekend ( more painting to finish but that's for another weekend with my hubby.)

 I am not afraid to live with bright colors! And thank goodness, James and I mutually like and enjoy bright colors in our world, together! :)

We get to create our own surroundings! Why not surround yourself in your favorite colors of "HAPPYNESS, today!"

I am excited to step out onto this, on this Monday morning! Yup!... it's gonna be a colorful day, indeed! :)

With Love & Colors,

Hai