Sometimes we can become so commercialized that we lose the true essence of who we are.

Celestial Seasonings always had very sweet illustrations on their tea boxes. They also had poems on the back and sides of the box.

Truthfully, I like the tea, but I really bought their tea for the poems and illustrations. The boxes were quaint and humble and they made me want to purchase them.

Sometimes we get to the point of where we think we need to change our "packaging".
We think we need to be more like someone other than us.. When really our appeal are those quirky and quaint things about us.

Most people don't want commercialization they want realness.

They want authenticity... I know I do.

Be real.

Be who you really are. Flaws and all.

Like yourself for you and others will too.

xoxo Nita

I Guess I Needed the Train to Break Down...

I have been gone since Monday. My sewer exploded this week in the house. Right after I posted Feel Alive Monday. (the irony) LoL


Elizabeth and I spent the past week with my best friend Jeanne while our problem was fixed. I was very upset that it blew up, and aggravated. One more thing to add to the list of bad things that have happened.


But sometimes when things like this happen we need to look at it like a gift.



If it had not happened, I probably wouldn't have got to spend time with Jeanne and hear her tell me about Baba Yaga.

Baba Yaga is a witch from an old Russian folktale.

Jeanne thinks she looks like her, but she doesn't. Baba Yaga is very horrible looking hag, and eats small children in the Forrest. She flies around on a broom made of silver birch trees. Baba Yaga lives on a house supported by giant chicken legs.

Modest Mussorgsky a Russian composer made her story into a famous musical work during the 1800's. It is one song included in, Pictures at an Exhibition. I have a clip on the side bar for you to listen to of the song.

While we were gone Elizabeth and I ate lunch one day in an old cemetery, and threw bread crumbs out for the birds . We sat by some little children's graves. My heart is always drawn to them..

I also got to hear Jeanne tell me stories about her beautiful children when they were little, and stories about her childhood. Elizabeth, Jeanne's daughter is amazing. She has her Mom's blue eyes.

When John had his accident she came and took me and my Elizabeth out for meals. She has one of the kindest hearts I have ever seen. I love Jeanne's family and I am glad they adopted me. I needed adopted.


So when things are falling apart don't get upset. Try and see the good things. It is hard. But there is so much life around us. And maybe, we are supposed to have the train break down..

I have an assignment for you today. Have you ever seen the movie, Maud and Harold? If you can rent it and watch it. It is one of my favorite movies. I leave you with two songs and a quote today.

xoxo Nita


My song for you today are: Breakdown by Jack Johnson
1st video, pick a clip

and Baba Yaga
2nd video, pick a clip

Treat a person as he is, and he will remain as he is.

Treat him as he could be, and he will become what he should be.

P.s I need to write a little bit about Elizabeth today. I wrote a small line about her tests coming back in a week or two but it wasn't enough.

When she went in to get her test done. She was so brave. To get a bone marrow test you have to have a hole put in your hip bone with a needle, a big needle.. It hurts very badly.

They made me leave the room before they started and Jeane was waiting for me in the waiting room. I cried because I wanted to hold Elizabeth's hand. But she was so brave.

When she was done the nurse said she only cried a few silent tears. I wish I could always protect her from everything that hurts but I can't. I can only put my trust in God, that He will take care of her. That He will take care of both of us. If you feel alone today, please know God will take care of you. Sometimes we go through things that are so gut wrenching and hard we want to give up. But don't, hope is just around the corner.

love nita

Feel Alive Monday..

This is my dog walking hat..I think I posted a picture of it before. But I am writing about it again because when I wear this hat in public I get some funny looks.

But you know what? I don't care. I love this hat. It makes me happy.

What have you stored away because you think others might not like it? Get it out. Wear it. If it makes you happy..


1. I have something I want you to do today. Get a notebook and write these exercises down. We are going to do something fun. Please take pictures if you have a camera.
{pick one or more of these to do this week}

I sing everyday. Just puttering around cleaning and doing chores.

If you like to sing, never let anyone stop you from doing it. Even if you can't do it very well.

Observe things around you today. Sight, Sense, Smell, Sound.. Jot down everything you notice for a few days.

What kind of music do you like? Go to You Tube and listen to some new music. Write yourself out a playlist.

When is the last time you actually tasted your food? Do you just rush and hurry and eat? Slow down and enjoy your meal today. Make your table pretty. Put some flowers on it. Or use a table cloth you have been saving. Buy some new plates. I just bought two new plates from Target. They are the color of Robin's eggs. Beautiful..They make me so happy looking at them while I eat. And they were only $2.00 a piece!

Many days I go outside and I close my eyes and I just listen. I listen to what is going on around me. Listen today. What do you hear? Tell me about it I want to know.

I have a scrap bag of material, and I get into that bag sometimes and I feel the textures of the different materials in it. It has velvet scraps and cotton and just a variety of different materials. When is the last time you felt the clothes you were wearing? Feel your bath robe. Feel your silk shirt, or your cotton shirt. Being able to experience the gift of touch is such a gift.
It makes me feel alive.

I got this idea from my friend Nina at Ornamental

Take a piece of paper and write encouraging things down on the paper and then cut them in strips and let them go out on the wind. She did that. And I thought it was pure magic. What if someone was walking down the street and found that scrap of paper with something beautiful on it that "you" had written and it made a difference in their life. That would be so cool.

Look at "your" world today with new eyes. Try to look at something around you differently than you ever have before. Our lives are just a blip on the radar than we are gone. We are surrounded by sadness,and pain and mean people. We have to fight for a beautiful life...

I don't want to seem like I am some sort of Pollyanna. I'm not. I have so many things to be sad and overwhlmed about right now. And I am dealing with things that are hard to deal with. But I am choosing to find the good things in life. It makes my day better.


If you want write your experiences down we will do something very neat with them. Write how each exercise made you feel. That is important. Because you are important..
xoxo Nita

Today's music is by Alexi Murdock
1st video just pick a clip
my favorite is Blue Mind..
{thanks Roxanne}

If you have time I hope you can listen...the video is visually stunning

P.s just found out Elizabeth's bone marrow test is this week please say a prayer for her..

Green...

{wild violets in my yard}


I found these wild violets today, under the Fir tree where I buried the Sparrow last year.

He had been attacked by the neighbors cat.

It felt like a gift finding them where he had been buried. Poor sweet Sparrow...




(yellow pansy getting ready to be planted in my yard)

Have you ever had a chance to smell a Pansy? They smell so wonderful, almost as good as a rose.

I use to have tea parties all the time for Elizabeth when she was little and I would sugar the pansies up and decorate the little tea cakes with them..She loved it.

Pansies are supposed to represent thoughts..

What thoughts do you have today?



(Tree and roots at creek)

One Summer day , when I was a child my sister and I walked down a dry creek bed. This creek..

We walked for hours and we saw so many amazing things..We were not afraid. Not like today, when there are so many things to be afraid of..





















(rabbits & mint & ivy)

Two little rabbits guard my mint. They know I like to make tea with it.







This is the Robin's egg I was telling you about!

Isn't it beautiful?








(Willow leafing out)


John's favorite tree was a Willow tree.

In English legend, it is rumored that Willows represent sorrow..















(Little Love Dove)

I took this last year. I love her face. It almost looks like she is smiling.


A bird came down the walk.
He did not know I saw.
He bit an angle worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sideways to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all around;
They looked like frightened beads, I thought.
He stirred his velvet head.

Like one in danger;cautious,
I offered him a crumb,

And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
too silver for a seam
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leaps, splashes, as they swim.

Emily Dickinson

Tonight's songs
Colors by Amos Lee
1st video, pick a clip

All The Wild Horses by Ray LaMontagne
2nd video, pick a clip

{ one of my favorite photos i took last Summer}

I found a Robin's egg on the ground today. I held it in my hand and imagined what it's life would have been like if it had been born.

Have you ever done that?

A few days ago I sat in the park for a couple of hours just thinking and observing.

These are a few things I noticed:

1. A strong wind came up and some leaves danced across the road and then collapsed on the grass

2. I saw a blue headed Black bird fly so swift and straight that it made my heart sing..

3. I saw the boy who use to tease my dog with a stick. He is a man now with a beard and glasses (weird)

4. I saw a Blackbird walk through the shadow of a Sycamore tree

5. Robins fly close to the ground while Blackbirds fly higher

I leave you with a quote from an old book I found:

All of us need encouragement. It is a tool that increases our confidence and inspires us to act with courage, spirit or strength.
That is what we need!
We don't need anyone around us that discourages us..
Instead we need "encourager's" in our life.

xoxo Nita

Tonight's song, Colors by Amos Lee
1st video, pick a clip