Ack.

I was on another computer and googled "Musings and Meanderings" thinking I would find my blog, because that is such an original name, right? Wrong!! There are SO many out there with that title it is nuts!
Geeeezzzzz, just when I thought I was being so unique . . . grumble, grumble.

As I mentioned before, some of the pictures on the video for Malene have stories behind them; they are recent, taken after she left us. I'm going to start with one that happened last week on the 11th. Some of you know from my other slide shows that there is a small woods within five min. walking distance from my house. I really like it there. It is actually an official park, set down the road far from the clustered buildings of the village proper. We live in the township. It has a few tended paths winding through the trees and wildflowers, and they have had to cut down quite a few dead trees of late, so there are many stumps and logs to sit on along with wooden benches donated by various area families. It is not heavily used and I like it that way.

I took a walk there on the 11th, with my soon-to-be-broken camera. I was feeling very heartsick about Malene and thought a walk in the woods would be good for me, plus taking photos which often puts me in a meditative-like state. So I wandered about the paths for awhile and then felt really tired. I looked for a bench, but every single one was too sunlit and too warm. Finally I found a nice reliable log and sat, with my camera and my thoughts and I felt just awful. My heart hurt and I felt very alone, not the good kind of aloneness, the lonely kind.

I sat there for quite awhile. There were tears. With my finger I drew /|\ in the dirt beside my log. It just seemed like it would help me not miss her so much. I sat for longer still, listening and looking at the trees and plants, the play of sunlight. Finally it was time to go, I needed to go back home. I readied myself to stand and as I did so, I looked across the path, my eyes drawn immediately to one spot. I stopped and stared. It was a log. And the darn thing was smiling at me!! There was a smiley face! On the log! Not drawn on, not a sticker, but part of the log itself.
I sat utterly still, staring and then I began to smile. "Yeah, yeah, I know," I said outloud. "I'm trying." And I actually laughed. I mean, come on! A log? With a smiley face!? Like the ones in our emails?
I sat and took a few photos of it, sat a bit more, and then I left for home. Hoping the pictures of the log would show what I had seen. And---thank heavens---they did. See for yourself. :)















Oh, one last thing--the rune I drew in the ground was pointing directly, and I do mean directly at it.

Missed one mahre. :)

Thank you all---one more line tho: Ta na mein rydd dan ank rie'e seyr. I've seen most of these words before, but the only one I know is "ank" which I believe means the equilvelent of "and" And I think "ta" is some kind of qualifier? And "dan" means "for" or "to" ? Maybe?? (And I thought English was hard . . .)

A note to my mahre--there are a few phrases in my comments that need translating if one of you could be so kind. Thanks all. Write when you can, k?

Beautiful Sunday

This is from the State Park I mentioned earlier, where my son and his troop camped. We traveled to there on Sunday. Beautiful huge place, full of small hills and nooks and crannies, marshes and forests, and the waterfall. The boys heard coyotes singing at night, talking from bluff to bluff, chorusing. Also a very persistent whippoorwill started singing at 3am from a close by tree.
I took quite a few photos with my new camera. We couldn't stay for long, only an hour. I could have spent hours just at the falls alone. It was a good place for the soul.

Been a difficult afternoon/evening. It was a good day overall, did some special things with my family, but then the feeling of loss hit sudden and sharp and I can't seem to shake it. Well, okay, it isn't as bad as it was an hour ago, so I suppose I am recovering. Two dozen tissues later . . .
Tomorrow we'll be off to a state park to pick up my oldest who is at a Boy Scout camp-out, and from there go to a cook out at my husband's boss's cabin. Ought to be fun. I'll be taking my camera of course! Did I tell anyone that my camera died at the beginning of the week? And that I got a new one, a refurbished Canon, and that it only took 24 hours to arrive in the mail. My need for it was great, it is helping me cope, and so for it to arrive like that . . .well . . .
Soon as I feel up to it I have a story to share about one of the images in the vid. :)

Love to all--ghaven mie mahre, te han.

Qi mahre,

I uploaded the video onto Youtube today. Came out nice.

I never thought I would end up creating a blog. And it is all Jen's fault!! Thank you sista. :) Good idea.

Okay, I'm going to try and upload the video now. I hope you like it. Don't worry if parts of it make you smile, it's suppose to.


I hope it can download to your pc's to see it on full screen. Please let me know if you can't so I can try something else. All the photos are mine.