Bent Trees and Gratitude

Some of you may have noticed I have been rather absent lately, both in blogging and in my visits to your beautiful blogs. Some of you also know I went through some health craziness a few years ago. Strangely enough, the crazy and rather massive infection I had from my appendix rupturing ... well, it turns out it had found a place to hide out for three and a half years from all those antibiotics I took! In my left fallopian tube!

Well, poor little tube couldn't take it anymore, and had become very inflamed and was also becoming quite painful. Before going in, we actually had no idea what was going on, just that there was something really weird looking on the ultrasound. (So that was scary.)

Anyway, out it came, just in time before the infection was able to get back into my system. Phew. I'm very lucky. It's four weeks out from the surgery and I am feeling really good now, just working on getting my energy back and thinking about maybe signing up for aTai Chi class. Something new! What do you think?

The gift that health scares give you is a re-boot in the perspective department, and clarity in the form of gratitude and appreciation. It's like the lens of a camera ... all of the sudden there is more depth of field and your sense of everything (life) becomes broader and clearer and in many ways, more beautiful. For that, I am so grateful.

I'm excited to get around to your blogs and see what you have all been up to! Hope you've all stayed cool this summer (unless it's your winter!) and have been healthy and happy and well!

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect.

Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways

and they're still beautiful.

~Alice Walker

Umbrian Olive Grove, Assisi Italy

Pastel with oil underpainting

Blessings and light to you, my friends!