Dreaming by the window....

My friend Nan asked to see more of Maude on my blog. I have a fantastic picture of her on top of a hill, with a blue sky above her, but can I find it? Nope. Not yet anyway. In the meantime, I snapped this one of her on Thursday. She was dreaming by the window until I called her name. Despite the old saying that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, at the advanced age of 12, Maude has learned a new one: country line-dancing in my new front garden. Maybe that is what she was dreaming about, when I woke her to take this photo!

photo of Maude dreaming by the window by Aisling, May 17, 2007

Shining things...

I'd rather not write about the blizzard raging outside, turning the calendar back to February. Instead, I've decided to share these lovely photographs Haiku took late in March when spring was a shining hopeful thing. I also want to celebrate one of the most precious shining things in my life, my daughter Senryu, who is celebrating a birthday this week.

When Senryu was a tiny baby, she would fight sleep each evening, until exhausted from crying, she would finally let go of her intense involvement in each day. While she cried, I would rock with her, back and forth in the beautiful rocking chair that Limerick bought for me the Christmas before she was born. I would comfort her with music, in that special crooning tone that mothers save for singing lullabies... somewhere between a whisper and a song. What follows is are the lyrics to a song I wrote for Senryu one night just as her eyes drifted closed and she slipped softly into her dreaming hours.

Sweet sleeping angel,
may peace guide your dreams.
May beauty surround you.
May your laughter give wings
to your spirit which dances
and with grace overflows.
May you wake each new morning
with joy in your soul.

I can only hope that she finds joy in her soul each morning, but there is absolutely no doubt that her spirit has wings. Happy birthday, precious Shining Girl!

photos of sunlight on the lupines, & sunlight on the lake by Haiku, March 29, 2007
poetry by Aisling