Articles by Colleen

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Hello friends! How excited I am to say Spring has well and truly arrived. I am wearing dresses and sandals and my new favorite hat in great celebration. What a long, cold winter. Coupled with wretched COVID, it felt like years rather than months.

We’ve been doing more normal activities, like going to cherished restaurants, and eating in-person at our favorite food cart, which feels like such a treat after so much home cooking.

The garden is really coming to life, too. I’m doing a ton of planting and mulching (we had 10 yards deliverd!), an hour or two a day. This is both to replace plants killed by the horrible deep freeze and slowly fill in brown gaps in need of green and flower. I’ll show you pictures once it is all done. Maybe this weekend, as I’ll have Greg’s hands, as well as my own to finish. Juniper just lolls about and occasionally digs holes where she ought not. She is a dog, after all.

One of my favorite person’s tasks at his new job was to write a bio to accompany a photo, so we did a proper photo shoot. Isn’t he just so handsome? Greg Cooper, you are a looker!

Green mertensia and Juniper giving her best sniff.

The lamb’s ears are really starting to spread their wings.

The daphne bloomed! Hot diggity dog! This will always be the scent of Portland for me. Kinda like Froot Loops, only better.

blueberry scone goodness

Pike’s Peak peek…

Muskrat sighting!

Indian chicken – I combined a Patak’s Vindaloo curry paste with some mango chutney and water, and let the drumsticks braise in the liquid until done. I love it when something SO easy tastes SO wonderful!

I am rather sad to report that this is not my lilac in bloom here. Ours seems to be the only one in the neighborhood that got ravaged by the deep freeze. Luckily, it still has a bit of green on it, so I will prune the heck out of it and hope for it to flower next year.

She sure loves her Pops!

Coffee

Coffee is a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to your older self.

Terry Pratchett

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Those who don’t feel this Love
pulling them like a river,
those who don’t drink dawn
like a cup of spring water
or take sunset like supper,
those who don’t want to change,
Drink dawn, let them sleep.

This Love is beyond the study of theology,
that old trickery and hypocrisy.
If you want to improve your mind that way
sleep on.

I’ve given up on my brain.
I’ve torn the cloth to shreds
and thrown it away.
If you’re not completely naked
wrap your beautiful robe of words
around you.

Rumi

I realized my sidebar photo was nearly six (!) years old, bought a new and very western hat, and decided one should do for the other. So here we are. The hat is sturdy and rather fancy (made by River Junction should you want your own), with the coolest stampede strings (told you it was very) to hold it on my head in a rodeo or the wind, which was whipping wildly!

Awakening

Once you have recognized that there are other realities, other than the one you have been familiar with, your life starts to change. I don’t care whether you got it from a joint; whether you got it from trauma; whether you got it from surfing; whether you got it from temple or church. Whatever thing you did that took you beyond yourself. Whatever it was, if you acknowledged it as real as what you have started from, you are on the way. That is what is known as awakening.

Ram Dass

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