I passed by Gail Town a little while ago. It's a little while after sundown there (AND in our dining room!), and I really enjoyed its appearance... in the shadows, but still accented by some warm lights from the hall night light. Gail Town is growing! Tomorrow, we're having a very small family New Year's Eve gathering. I plan on just moving the structures as close as possible, to the end of the table... and placing the foods and drinks, buffet-style, on the table. We'll serve ourselves and then find seats in various gathering-spots. It'll be fun. And it'll be fun to share Gail Town.
I just finished enjoying a lazy rest on the couch (glass of wine, feet up, laying my head back and day-dreaming) and I made my first "mindful" visit to the gazebo. May I share it?
My first sensations are of being already seated... at the rear bench, facing the entry. To my left, a mariachi guitar, sombrero, and posters. To my right, a vase of flowers, and bread and fruit. Some of my favorite things. Looking around, I appreciate the festive luminaria lanterns. Beautiful.
My standard process for mindful excursions like this... explore and experience each sense, enjoy the moment, and if it seems right, contemplate any emerging issues.
Sooooooooooooooooooo...
Sight, taste, smell, sound, touch (order them any way you like).
The sights are of my little town... so safe, familiar, pretty, comfortable. I can let my eyes rove the buildings and remember the fun of building and later visiting them. Closer to me, I can look at the gazebo. There are refreshments ready. A guitar if I (or somebody else) feels like playing. What a beautiful little gazebo, in a peaceful little town, and I am nestled in its embrace.
The tastes? Only my warm tastebuds contemplating the nearby refreshments.... oh, and maybe a bit of idle lip-licking, enjoying the last remnants of the infamous cherry-chapstick...
The smells? The always-there smells of the desert/prairie... bittersweet aromas of the sage bushes, the sunny-dusty panhandle winds. The wavering smells... of the gazebo's fresh paint, the bread/fruits, the drying spices and herbs from the chukka drying rack...
The sounds? Maybe some mechanical clinks or taps from the cycle shop. Maybe Nature's evening sounds... night winds, gentle hoots from pygmy owls. Maybe some cooking noises from the chukka... sizzling chorizo/maize filling for travel-breads. Ooooooh, add that to smells!
Touch. I like to go foot-to-head. My feet, in sneakers, are planted on the wooden floor. Legs at ease. Butt comfortably resting on the cool wooden bench. Hands on my thighs, fingers gently interlaced. Back resting against the railing. Gentle winds ruffling my hair. Eyes closing, enjoying...
My thoughts?
Time to start looking to 2018. I've had a lot of challenges, crises, tragedies, blessings, gifts, distractions...
I bet you have too.
I will be devoting this next week to making some lists, setting some goals, writing some affirmations. Yeah, January 1 is a somewhat arbitrary reckoning point, but...
As my big sister Marie says... the year, the planet's cosmic ellipse, is important, from the intimate and subjective to the public and scientific. Even critters' lives follow the ellipse, the seasons, the year, the renewal, the re-doing, the re-starting. The New Year, for me. Now. I had to blink and think and just sit back. I never put it all together just that way.
But I did, and I was mindful about that, tonight, in the gazebo.
AHHHHHHHHHH!
Eyes open, back to "real life". Enriched!
Thank you all, and... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
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