(Look what I discovered yesterday…the orange trumpet vine is also climbing the foliage above the bottle tree in the front side yard!) Now how did it get there? Another unsolved mystery!)

Dear Reader:

In Awakin. Weekly this past week…the topic was one of alone-ness. There is a vast reservoir of difference between being alone and loneliness. When I think back on times when I have felt loneliness I, ironically, have never been physically alone.

Ever since my epiphany in Provence at the International Creativity Workshops (where I wrote a little story about a “Black Pebble” feeling alone until it realized it was connected to every living object in the world)…I have come full circle in my observation that loneliness is an illusion, instead of a truth, and it is self-inflicted. We are all connected…God never intended  us to go through this life feeling insecure and alone. He purposefully linked us to the rest of life here on earth.

I think part of our mission through our path in life is to come to this important realization, while gaining strength and support from it. We are to reach out to others, just as they reach out to us, whenever sadness, depression and loneliness enter each others’ lives.

We are given so many natural “tools” in which to connect to life and nature. One reader of David Whyte’s article (“Everything is Waiting for You“) Jagdish P. Dave, added this comment to the author’s thoughts.

Feeling lonely, disconnected and depressed is sadly growing more in our society. We are born by intimacy, we survive by intimacy and thrive by intimacy. We need to open our mind and heart to be connected with the world of nature and others like us. We need to make a shift from I-It to I-Thou.

How can I relate to the world of sound if I keep my ears plugged? How can I listen to the live silence of nature if I keep my mind noisy? How can I smell the fragrance of blooming flowers if I keep my nose plugged? How can I feel the warmth of your touch if I keep my hands off? How can I feel your presence if I am not present with you?. How can I see me if I am not awake? The universe offers countless gifts to us. We need to empty our task -loaded hands to receive them. (Jagdish P. Dave)

Yesterday was actually a good day to be alone…while the weather was still chilly, damp, and cloudy.

It made me feel even more secure and warm to be in the house with “pinkie” the bathrobe on… while catching up on some reading and correspondence…connecting me to others through letters and books.

The yellow bench (in the picture above) is where I go to absorb nature’s gifts in my garden, as I listen to the chimes and water trickling from the fountain. Like the comment from the reader above…it is hard to be lonely when one is corresponding with nature…in all five of our God-given senses.

So until tomorrow…the next time you feel lonely…start a diagram connecting you to friends, family, and foremost God…continuing with all forms of animals and plant life. It is then you will realize that no man or woman is ever really alone on this earth. It was planned that way.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Disney has also gotten into making connections of all their beloved movie characters and geographical sites for their movies. The Turners just returned from connecting with many of these fictional characters again…which makes Eva Cate and Jakie ready to dance.

We have had three days of chilly, rainy, damp days with highs in the fifties…the kind of dampness that settles in your bones, as well as, your house. But then…around 6:30 last evening the beautiful sun appeared to tell us good-night and it would see us today…and it has and will, if the weathermen are right, for the next several. Here is the sun appearing last evening….an appreciated sight for all. (Even it appears to a little flickering fairy on the driveway?)

*I like this quote Beverly Parkinson sent concerning a comment on a rich and/or wealthy life she has heard….

“I once read a story about a woman who said she felt rich when ever she had fresh fruit and flowers in the house. Simple is always the best.”