A Secret Garden

There was green everywhere. Bright, vibrant, alive. So much of my favorite color in one place calmed me instantly, like a balm on my heart and spirit. Enclosed by high crumbling coquina walls tangled with lacy ivy, and sun-bleached wooden fencing speckled with moss, the garden welcomed me, enclosing me in loving arms. Welcome Dear One. Welcome. Come in. Breathe. Heal.

I took a deep breath, lost in wonderment and unexpected joy. How long had this place been here, hidden in plain sight just off the beaten track? How often had I passed by it and never seen it, never known it existed? Yet the timing was sheet magic. I needed this. I needed this place. The beauty. The peace. The healing. A secret garden of my very own. It was like the one in my dream from so many years ago — not a perfect match, but something in it spoke to me and I grinned at the unexpected connection to my characters revealed to me in that dream, their beautiful story, and the butterfly garden they shared.

Everywhere I turned something unexpected caught my eye: mermaids, fairies, butterflies, orbs spread haphazard, wild and free, spinning, twirling, dancing in the gentle breeze, sheltered in the shade of ancient trees and warmed by the strong Florida sun. Colors in rich profusion sprouted up amidst the greenery, adorning the Earth most beautifully: blues, reds, bronzes, greens, purples, violets, and clear crystalline white.

Thank you. My whisper repeated itself in my mind over and over again as I walked the uneven cobblestone pathway, finding more beauty and hidden treasures behind each twist and turn. I felt giddy, light-hearted — it was just like a scene from The Secret Garden or Harriet The Spy!  (I’ve always loved the gardens from these movies.) Benches awaited me, knowing well I’d have to return one day with a notebook and pen sometime soon, and a table lay tucked away, for the future lunch I’d bring to eat amongst the fairies.

 

I called silently to the trees and flowers, to the fairies tending them, and the wonderful life-force encapsulating this tiny place: Thank you for this. You’re beautiful. Hello! I thanked them for inviting me into their domain to appreciate their lush, wild beauty. The wind tugged at me, playful and free, pulling me this way and that. Look here! Notice this! I happily obeyed — there is no resisting the lure of happy fairies, especially those dwelling in a secret garden. There was so much to see!

Butterflies danced, fairies sang, and my heart soared.

Thank you. Thank you.

I’ll come back soon.

I promise.

❤

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Early Bird

It’s that time once again my lovelies and this week’s challenge is Early Bird! An interesting little challenge if I do say so myself, so let’s see what I discovered in my photo vaults!

And randomly enough, I do happen to have a picture of some early birds:

And don’t forget to check out my latest (and Borgia inspired!) flash fiction– Cantarella — if you haven’t yet already, and let me know what you think!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange

It’s that time once again my lovelies and this week the challenge is Orange, one of my three favorite colors. (Which are green, purple, and, well you know…just in case you were wondering lol!) 😀 So let’s get this thing started!

Orange:

There you have it my lovelies and I hope you feel inspired to share some of your own orange photos (I sadly realized how few orange photos I actually have lol)! And OUAT Season Three Moments will be posted soon — tomorrow mostly likely — so prepare for the greatest Moonstonemaiden list  ever posted…yet!

P.S. The snail was something I discovered one day and nearly flipped out over because of it’s outrageous cuteness, I mean look at that orange shell!!! Needless to say I snapped quite a few photos and then rushed inside to show my mother and brother (who were noticeably less excited than I was I have to admit). After I insisted that we name him — and because all three of us insisted on a different moniker — the poor fellow’s name ended up being the rather dashing: Marmaduke Phteven Sunrise 😀

By Heart

I was skimming through my reader this morning my lovelies when I saw today’s daily post asking for a poem or song lyric that I know from heart and immediately one of my all-time favorite poems came to mind. Dismissing all the song lyrics that followed it 😀 I knew I wanted to post the poem because I’ve loved it since high school and the imagery in it always makes me sigh. It’s evocative, beautiful, and deceptively simple…

Image From Google

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Written by Robert Frost.

Autumn Leaves: You Can’t ‘Autumn Into Winter’

Hello my lovelies! Much to my delight the Daily Prompt today is Fall themed: Changing colors, dropping temperatures, pumpkin spice lattes: do these mainstays of Fall fill your heart with warmth — or with dread? And y’all know how much I love Autumn so I knew immediately I had the perfect post already written back when my blog was still new! I hope you enjoy walking down memory lane with me for a bit and I also hope you feel inspired to run out and get the biggest caramel apple you can find — you know, in honor of Autumn, not because they’re so freaking good and all 😉

Pumpkin Patch Photo Found On Facebook

I don’t know where I encountered the saying “Spring into Summer and Fall into Winter”, but it crossed my mind yesterday when I was pondering my next blog topic and I couldn’t help but smile knowing that we have now entered my favorite time of year: fall! (Or autumn, as I like to call it, but you can’t ‘Autumn into Winter’, so at least sayings wise I’m stuck with fall.) There isn’t much of an autumn where I live, but I enjoy it in theory as well as the one or two weeks of weather-appropriateness that I am given. There isn’t even a change of color here until winter hits and suddenly all the foliage that isn’t evergreen suddenly drops its leaves and turns a stark ugly brown for the next two to three months. The only visible autumn-related color change is in the stores; suddenly everything is a riot of pumpkin orange, butternut squash yellow, apple red, and chocolate-brown.  I love it! It probably helps that orange is one of my three favorite colors, but still, there is something so evocative in these warm, end of the year hues! It’s like nature’s last burst of bliss before the sleeping months begin, one last chance to show the world whatever beauty you possess before it forgets about you again. Autumn makes me think of home and family, of peanut-butter fudge and pecan-covered caramel apples, of walking downtown in the city I’ve lived in almost all of my life and of horse-drawn carriages, of the sudden burst of a still-warm breeze and the thrill of being cool for the first time in almost a year. Autumn is a time for remembering, for coming home and feeling safe.

(Oh, and if you know where that saying came from, let me know in the comments!)

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/autumn-leaves/

Here There Be Snakes!

Ok my lovelies, I’ll have a real post for you tomorrow but today I just wanted to share with you a little snippet of humor I experienced last night! Oh and I just want to apologize for the last week or two if two of each of my posts have been showing up in your Reader but only one being clickable. What can I say, WordPress is giving me hell and not posting right, but I am sorry 😀 And when in doubt, usually click the second link! But ok I promised you a funny, so here you go, (it was my Facebook status last night after I calmed down enough to type lol):

That moment you go outside in flip-flops and are confronted with a snake on your porch blocking your retreat and must resort to flashlight code and wildly elaborate hand signals to get the people inside to notice your distress and reopen the door wide enough for you to barrel back in like a freight train with the leaping grace of a gazelle, but not wide enough to let the snake inside the house…oh yeah.

I Believe

Image From Facebook

Afternoon my lovelies, I was scrolling through my WordPress reader when I happened upon the Daily Prompt for today and it looked like fun so I figured I’d give it a go. First I’m to list three things I believe to be true, then three things I believe to be false…sounds like a good list to me!

So, three things I believe to be true:

1) I believe this blog is a source of great happiness for me and I treasure the friends I’ve met so far because of it!

2) I believe the world we live in is but one among a vast number.

3) I believe history is never history for long, things have a way of circling back.

Image From Facebook

And three things I believe to be false:

1) I believe the notion that magic can only be found is books is false, magic is all around us and if you just take the time to search it out, you’ll be dazzled and left in awe.

2) I believe that saying characters are made-up is false, I could never make my characters up, they are real — perhaps only to me, but they’re real nonetheless and I count them as friends.

3) I believe that the idea of e-books ever being better than an actual book is false, holding a book and feeling the pages between your fingers is one of life’s great joys and you can’t really do that with a computer screen.

Now what about you my lovelies, what do you believe to be true and not true? Let me know! 😀

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/daily-prompt-i-believe/

Dancing In The Moonlight

Dance in the moonlight with moonbeams in your hair. Feel the starshine caress your skin — bright against the inky shadows — and know that magic is alive in your veins tonight. Whatever happens, whatever comes, know this: you are strong. You are powerful. You are free.

Forest Scene- found on Facebook

Daydreaming Of Ireland…And Warmer Weather

Happy Friday everyone! I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything this week, but I have been/still am under the weather for the last several days (which means I am pretty much worthless at the moment).  The weather has turned prematurely chilly here and between that and the unholy war Nature is leveling against my sinuses, I’ve been huddled under the blanket sniffling helplessly listening to music, daydreaming, and trying to catch up on my reading list when my foggy head will allow. I will have a proper post for you all hopefully early next week as I’m hoping to kick some serious allergy/sinus butt this weekend!

Photo of Ireland, found on Facebook

I don’t know about y’all but when I don’t feel well, I tend to daydream about happy things to get my mind off the fact that I can’t breathe through my left and/or right nostril, and that I generally feel like a big blob of ickiness. Ireland is my easy, go-to happy place; I can’t wait until my mom and I actually get to visit Ireland for ourselves! I’m partially Irish (and so is she) and just the thought of roving those rolling, mystical, green hills with my best friend fills me with undiluted joy!  There’s something so magical and intriguing about Ireland, with its haunting music and wonderful stories, that just draws me in and refuses to release me. And of course there’s always a mysterious, lighthearted, quick to smile, and just down-right handsome Irishman waiting to sweep me off my feet in my dreams! (I’ve got my fingers crossed for reality, lol.) I don’t know what it is, but Ireland just inspires me; it takes my breath away and leaves me content and happy just thinking about it.

Photo of tree, found on Facebook

Alas, my cocoon of blanket-y warmth is calling to my frozen fingers and toes! So for now, I’ll happily continue daydreaming of my adventures in Ireland with my mom and falling in love with the (Irish) man of my dreams! Perhaps we’ll all take a side-trip to Spain as well… I figure Ireland is pretty cold this time of year and I’m already partially frozen 😉 I take my leave of you all until next week, enjoy your weekend! But first…what places inspire you to daydream? Is there anywhere you find yourself longing to visit when you don’t feel well? Or do you escape into books or movies?