I love you guys!
Dear Blog Family,
Wow. Double wow. Triple WOW! I am speechless at your response to yesterday’s second blog about Mean-hearted comments. Now I know where to turn when I’m having a bad day. You guys are the best!
Don’t you ever forget that.
And if you’re having a bad day, please stop by and I will listen with my whole heart and try to ease your stormy weather.
Had to blog early this morning to tell you: I woke up with a light heart, happy smile and almost no memory of why I was soooo sad yesterday.
Aren’t emotions strange things? One minute you can be sniffling in your coffee or weeping in your tea (some of us feel things so intensely, don’t we?) and twenty-four hours later the sun shines (OK, it’s too early to tell if the sun will shine here today, although, yes, perhaps, maybe, it’s looking quite hopeful) and we’re laughing and joyful, yesterday’s gloom already forgotten.
I so often process emotions relatively quickly. Because of that it’s hard to write blogs about these tides of feeling. You feel into the computer, sharing your thoughts, sharing your feelings to the depths of their birth and beyond, and then the sharing helps release them fully to the sky, to the greening earth, to the plucky spring wind. Yet, people are still reading your blog thinking you’re still sad, hugging you mightily, back in yesterday’s mood.
(Not saying this always happens–but more often than not it does.)
Sweet butterfly
So I had to tell you today–everything is beautiful! Remember that crooning song “Everything is beautiful, in its own way…”? One moment please. I shall find a YouTube link for the youngsters among us or the formerly curmudgeon who detested songs like these in their youth and who are now reformed. Or those who simply remember their Sunday School days:
Sing it again, Ray!
Everything is beautiful in its own way, even Mean Comments. Ha ha! It’s much easier to say that TODAY!
Pink spoonbill
Have been thinking about the poor people who subscribe to this blog thinking it’s a certain kind of blog based on reading one or two posts. My blogs keep changing incarnations, constantly. Here is my blogging genealogy chart:
1. Personal blogging
2. Spiritual blogging
3. Year-long outdoor commitment with focus on outdoors, nature, Upper Peninsula
4. Photography blogging with supporting stories
5. Writing blogs with supporting photographs
6. Memoirs (OK, maybe six of ’em?)
7. Funny blogs (This has been a pattern lately, truly getting a kick out of the humorous side of Kathy which surprises and amuses the living dickens out of me every time. Sometimes I sit and laugh here in the woods for five minutes watching funny sentences arise out of the typing fingers. Kathy being funny? How funny!)
8. And now, a cooking blog. (OK, one blog, yesterday morning, although you all missed Katrinka due to excessive sadness. My daughter said she was more upset about Katrinka’s demise than the mean comment!)
9. Stream-of-consciousness blogging.
10. Presence, Awareness and Non-Duality blogging. (My baby blog–Simply Here.)
11. Travel blogger. (These photos, which some of you have seen before, come from Fort Myers Beach, Florida, November 2010.)
Florida sunset over the Gulf
What kind of blogging will rise next?
I want to listen more deeply to what the Universe wants to say…what photos the Universe wants to share…when the Universe wants to remain silent… That is my hope for the upcoming direction of this blog. (And of course it will probably contain ALL of the above kinds of blogging and more, just because the Universe is so multi-faceted!)
Just keep in mind that you might see more breaks in between blogging at times–so don’t fret if Kathy sometimes disappears for a day or six, OK?
You’re wondering about the headline, aren’t you?
The fishing scene to accompany the fishing story
Here’s a cute story my mom emailed yesterday.
The little jewel of our family is a four-year old named Taylor. He is the son of the son of my brother. (One moment while you ponder the appropriate relationship. Got it now? These family ties can be so complicated.)
Taylor–like so many kids–says the darndest things.
He was down in Florida with our extended family this last week. At one point, my brother, Tim, was fishing down by the boat. He caught a catfish, pulling it in flopping on the grass.
My mom told Taylor, “Papa is going to take the hook out of its mouth and throw it back in. That fish is going to be a happy fish.”
Papa obliged, removing the hook and tossing the fish back in the brackish waters of the Back Bay on Fort Myers Beach.
Taylor surveyed the scene with interest before leaning toward the water and saying, “Goodbye fish! HAVE A NICE DAY!”
We’re still laughing.
Goodbye, readers.
HAVE A NICE DAY!
Have a nice day, Bird.
Lake Superior Spirit 
So happy that you are feeling better about it all. Good recovery. Have a nice day!
A new day…a new attitude! Don’t you love it when that happens? Much more awful when the opposite happens and you still wake up with a broken heart the second day. Thanks, Bonnie.
What a lovely, positive post Kathy. As a blogger who is all over the place with her blog, I appreciate you all the more. Following the whims of the Universe seems to be my only pattern in life.
Goodbye fish! Have a nice day!
It’s the BEST pattern, isn’t it Lisa? Hurray for your all-over-the-place blog! I love it when the Universe nudges us what to highlight next. Goodbye Lisa Fish! tee hee
Kathy,
I mark yesterdays blog or your second blog of yesterday to read and never got to it and here is another. Oy Vey!
I find your multifaceted blog to be an extension of you, honest, humorous, spiritual, family person, artist/creative, etc. I don’t want this to go to your head and make you ego too happy!
I love this blog! The last photo is amazing, great perspective! The pink spoon bill in flight good too!
Good morning, Jeff, my ego is quite in check, thank you, after that mean-hearted comment the other day. (Probably the blog you meant to read yesterday discussed that one.) Heck, my ego is sooo quiet it might not exist any more. LOL–right. I am glad you liked this blog and the Florida photos. I remember having such fun taking them that day. blessings, my friend.
Taylor is definitely my kinda guy!
(And by the way, congratulations on going well over 200,000. You’re my hero.)
Taylor was saying all sorts of funny things, my mom said. I love how we keep going back and forth making each other heroes. But thank you for the congratulations–it has been so fun, hasn’t it?
Well done Kathy! You dried the tears (I did too), you stood up tall and proud and said “Have a nice day!” and I call that rising above the pettiness! Well done my friend. ♥ I am so happy that your heart is lighter today and you feel relief from the sadness.
Good bye fish! Have a nice day!
yes indeed.
Good morning, Brenda! (Is it always good morning? I feel like I’m always writing these posts or comments saying good morning, good morning!) My mom asked last night how I would handle this differently next time (leave it to a mom) and I mumbled something, but later thought about it. I don’t think I would have handled it a bit differently. I felt deeply, shared deeply, then released it. Catch and release! lol…
Good Morning my dear 🙂
I happen to look forward to your “good morning” greetings!
hehe catch and release! Now that’s a clever comeback! 😀
Congratulations on hitting that 200,000 mark! Have a nice day!
Lisa, thank you! It was quite exciting leading up to it. Now I don’t care about numbers any more…just about sharing with you guys. May your day be great too!
Good, I am glad you are feeling better today and have a song in your heart and a smile on your face again 🙂
See? if so many people care about you, what is one Voldemort-bully in comparrison..zip nada nothing.
Dumbledore is MY hero! I loved the Harry Potter series. We’ll get that Voldemort-bully ever time. Thanks, forestfae.
Hagrid is my hero 🙂
It is a happy day, most clearly, a very happy day. And I am loving the multi-faucetedness of *it* all, and Taylor’s wisdom! Out of the mouths of babes…..
Hugs and Happy Day to you Kathy 🙂
Colleen, I always chuckle delightedly when reading your responses. And I can’t tell you HOW MANY TIMES you state something which is such a synchronicity. My housewife post is going to appear later today in a blog called Out of the Mouth of Babes http://laundrylinedivine.com/out-of-the-mouths-of-babes/
I think this would be one of the best parts of having grandkids–hearing what comes out of their mouths…
Kathy, I have an old friend with whom I exchange only handwritten, sent-with-a-stamp letters through the U.S. Postal Service, and we’ve often remarked on how the mood of a letter is usually history by the time the letter is received. Actually, we often write our letters in pieces, over a period of several days, and the changes in focus are very clear. Then there is the P.S. on the back of the envelope, the last word in that particular epistle! I’m glad you woke up cheery!
That is an interesting perspective–so true. When we write those long-handwritten letters we’re often starting in one mood and ending in another. Perhaps we don’t always notice it as much with blogging because our blogs–some of our blogs–tend to be shorter. You make me want to write a long handwritten letter. Hope you woke up cheery today! (Do you have snow? we have a dusting of snow.)
Apparently I read blogs before your blog appeared yesterday, so I did not know about the nasty commenter until now. I’m happy you’ve put that person where he/she belongs – out of your heart, into the – I’m thinking sewer is a good place, or septic tank, as the case may be. Because people like that let their insecurities and inner sadnesses rule, let them make them strike out at others whose talents and skills they envy. You will continue to have a happy life, expressing yourself the way you choose, which is how it should be. He/she will continue to have an unhappy life, spewing vitriole until they either help or destroy themselves.
The septic tank would be the place here, Carol. He/she is composting back into the ground where eventually he/she will turn out as nice clean water trickling down a stream through the woods. I am convinced we can all change! I am an eternal–perhaps deluded–optimist.
I see you made 200k well before Friday! Congrats again 🙂
I like your multifaceted approach, and how I never know what I’ll get here. I think it’s odd how long it sometimes takes to get over an emotional response. Did you know that men and women have different chemical re-uptake times in their brains, so that even after rational discourse and a settling of affairs, and woman may still be angry thanks to lingering chemicals?
So long, and thanks for all the fish! (Can you name the author of that quote?)
Good morning, Heather-fish. That is so fascinating about the chemicals! I find that my chemicals linger if I haven’t FULLY been present to my emotion and writing/sharing/thinking about it in a satisfactory way, attempting to find even ground again.
I can NOT name the author of that quote. Will you tell?
Douglas Adams, somewhere in the Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Hey Kathy! Congratulations on getting past the 200,000 goal! That’s fantastic and it’s inspiring for newer bloggers like me!
Don’t forget about the blogs about blogging type of blog. Seems every hardcore blogger can’t resist one or two about that!
Love your photos and your stories.
Dear Patty Fish, I think I am going to call everyone Fish until the end of these comments. I am glad to inspire you! I am glad you are not envious and grumping and saying mean things. **grin** I know your kind of fish doesn’t do that. Yes! Blogs about blogging. That’s a good one. I LOVE writing those! And I love getting to know you.
Dear Kathy Fish,
Enjoying our blogger’s friendship as well! And (huff, huff, wheeze, cough, gasp) . . I made it over 1,000 hits yesterday!
Patty Fish, you rock! You’re awesome! You are the Cat’s Pajamas! You are the Fish with the Mostest! 1,000 hits! That is something to celebrate…to cook something extra-special, to slap yourself a high-five. YOU ROCK! I am running over to your site right now to celebrate with you. 🙂
Very cute fish story…..glad you got over that mean comment so quick! And OMG congrats on crossing the 200,000 mark!!!
Dear Munira-Fish, thank you! It was your TSK! that helped tremendously. **smile** Nothing like crossing the imaginary finish line with some person yelling mean things from the sideline.
Thank you for sharing Kathy … Blessed be.
Dear Elaine Rae Fish (I am calling everyone by their fish name): I love your Blessing Bees. Blessing be to you as well and for your sharing here.
What a difference a day makes! 🙂
I’m glad you’re feeling better.
Dear C.B Fish, thank goodness for that extra day of life! Wouldn’t it be awful to die on a day when you’re in a bad mood versus a good mood? Do you ever wonder things like this?
YAY … Thank You!
Thank you John-fish! Let’s have more fish fry at da Finns!
How creative you are with those photos. I shake my head in awe. I’m a huge fan of photography, which means I so enjoy them. But, I’ve said that before. Love the spoonbill. Have those in our lake here in FL (more like a pond). So glad you’re feeling better today.
Lori, I think photography has helped teach me how to see. I am actually not a visually-oriented person; much more a word-oriented person. I can leaf through an entire magazine or newspaper without ever looking at the photos. It is good to get behind a camera and learn how to see. But you probably already know how to do that much better than me… How lucky you are to be able to see pink spoonbills! My mom and I adore when we see them at Fort Myers Beach. And it hasn’t been too often. Thank you.
I just popped over here straight from Facebook to share a quote with you, but you’re happy today! Nah, I’ll give you the quote anyway – “Someone who hates you normally hates you for one of three reasons. They either see you as a threat, they hate themselves or they want to be you.” Not that Mr/Ms. Nasty Pants actually hated you (that’s a very harsh word!). It was the reasons that brought you to mind.
So whilst visiting, I’ve discovered that I may have been “curmudgeon” in a previous lifetime, as the song you’ve posted, that I once found irritating, now it gives me goosebumps!
I love your “surprise package” blog Kathy. I never know what I will find here, that’s part of its appeal. But it’s because the Universe is so multi-faceted that I’ve ended up with four blogs!
Have a nice day, Kathy; and the fish, and your great-nephew! 😀
Mr./Ms. Nasty Pants. **grin** Now I’m kinda feeling sorry for him/her because he/she must be feeling badly about him/herself. Ha ha, you were one of the curmudgeons! Laughing. (I think Barry would be in that category too. He still may be.) Glad you like the surprise package blog. Sounds like the Universe has given you four surprise packages to share with the rest of us! (And thanks for saying he was my great-nephew. I’m not sure I had that figured out.)
You chose lovely pictures to illustrate how you are feeling today.
I like your list of “categories” for your blogging. Is non-duality something you can explain to me? I’m not familiar with the term.
Yep, Karma, I had to go looking for some happy, fishy, Florida-y pictures. And it was fun to actually sit down and write about all the different categories. Non-duality, yikes! A quiz! How to explain non-duality? Have you read Eckhart Tolle or Adyashanti or Byron Katie or any of these spiritual books? I think they could explain it more succinctly–but here goes–I won’t even look in Wikipedia. Non-duality, to me, is a spiritual realization that dawns that we are all One. In everyday life we think there is something inside called “me” and something outside called “other” but through deep spiritual practices like meditation–or perhaps sudden awakening–we realize that we have never been separate from anything. We are all the Universe, God, essence, awareness, whatever words you want to call it. When you truly realize this deeply you live life energized AS life, no longer feeling that you’re separate from anything any more. That is my deepest spiritual knowing–that we are already “It” non-dual, but I have not fully “realized” this yet. Does that sort of help? thank you for asking, my friend.
Thanks Kathy. It sounds like a concept requiring deep thinking, and really understanding your own belief system about who we are and why we are here. Thanks for taking the time to explain.
It’s only taken 25-30 years of deep spiritual study, meditation and participation to almost half-way understand and FEEL it! You are so welcome.
I completely understand how a blog can be all over the place, cause mine has been just that. I think that may be one of the things I enjoy most about your blog. You have a huge soul–with room for a wide range of thought and feelings. I’m glad you’re feeling better today, my friend.
Hugs,
Kathy
Don’t you love our B I G SOULS, Kathy, so many people opening to such a wide range of themselves? I love yours! And, for some reason, am feeling utterly fabulous today. Wednesday= icka. Thursday=happy. Friday=fabulous. Hugs your way, too.
Phew! I’m one of those people who has a hard time categorizing my blog, too, so I always appreciate a good, all-over-the-place companion in cyberspace! 🙂
Happy to hear you are feeling better today, Kathy. I love the photo of the pink spoonbill. I’ve never seen a bird like that and though (ignorant me) that only flamingos were pink.
I am glad your blog is a wide open vista, too, Dana. Your big big heart calls us over like a pink spoonbill. (I have no idea what the call of a pink spoonbill sounds like.) I hadn’t heard of these magnificent birds, either, until Mom gasped in delight at the appearance of four a couple years ago. Thank goodness the camera was handy. So we’ve both learned something.
I agree with you on processing the emotions and moving on. Yesterday was a frustrating, overwhelming day for me. Thus, my post “Behind the Scenes.” Today, however, is great. The kid has been obedient, the other recovered from whatever ailed her yesterday, and the 8 hours on the job went by without a hitch. Talk about a makeover! Glad you’re feeling better today:-) And yes, I love the fact that your blog is so versatile.
I loved your “Behind the Scenes” post. Makeovers are blessings–gifts of grace, I think. Glad you are having a good day today (except that you posted this yesterday, in which today is tomorrow, or something like that, right?) Blessings! May we continue to deeply process our emotions and then let life move on through us…may we continue to share our gifts with others, even though sometimes we think our offerings are less-than-perfect. I think our sharings are more perfect than we even know…
I really like these positive thoughts, it’s a very good away to start a day and I’m also glad to hear you are felling better……beautiful pictures! have a great weekend:)
Positive thoughts sometimes make our whole day shine, Katy. I love that we can share the totality of ourselves through blogging, don’t you? Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
For share, I completely agree with you, have a great week 🙂
Funny how one hundred positive comments can wash over us without much of a difference in our self-image, and one negative can drag us right down, isn’t it? I’m so happy for your quick recovery. I am new at blogging, and have yet to hear any negativity, but after reading what happened to you, have been working on a “disclaimer” post. It will start by saying that I KNOW I changed tenses halfway through my “Is this really Spring?” post, and that E. B. White is probably rolling over in his grave over it, and – speaking of grave – that the most appropriate tag for my first three posts was “death”…but be kind anyway! Hope it works!
Yes, Cindy, why do we humans allow this to happen? Smiling at your disclaimer–what a good idea. I LOVE changing tenses throughout posts. I love changing points of view, too. You know, you start out with “I” and morph to “you” and finally reach “we”. All in one paragraph sometimes! E.B. White is probably enlightened in his grave and blowing us kisses. Ha ha! Let’s all be kind.
Your post rang true for me today. When I started my blog I meant for it to be a place to promote my wares and give my customers a little glimpse into the process of growing a little crafty biz. Most times I focus on the personal side, thinking “business” is so boring. Now I cover everything from crafting to cooking, from house cleaning to reviewing dives in the Twin Cities.
And when you talk about cracking yourself up? Oh, do I know how that is! I may not crack everyone up; in fact, I may not crack anyone up, but to amuse myself is pretty dang good.
Lastly, the song brought back such a fun memory of my grandma. She’d flit around her house singing “Everything Is Beautiful,” which made me giggle as a child. I’ll never forget her lightly stepping across the kitchen in her pink robe singing that song.
I’m glad things are brighter for you today. Don’t let the meanies get you down.
Now you’re making me want to travel over to the Twin Cities again–after reading your reviews, of course! I am so glad that you understand about cracking yourself up. I’m not sure others get this sometimes. (What does it matter if others get it anyway? I am working on not caring as much.) Once I had a friend come over who watched me blog. She sat there is disbelief while I laughed, snickered, guffawed and almost wept with delight. Love your image of your grandma in her pink robe singing that song. How corny–and how utterly heart-melting.
smiles all around 😉
Sitting here at the computer smiling your way, Little old you. Thank you!
Glad to know today is a good day. Emotional roller coasters for no apparent reason are hard to deal with but to know you are smiling today has got to feel better if not plain old good. 🙂
Oh, yes, those emotional roller coasters for no reason…I remember those well. Especially during my younger years. It’s been a good weekend. I hope this weekend finds you smiling as well, Claire.
I’m happy to know you have overcome the negativity that came your way. Its very important for us to move on happily and let go if anything hurts our emotions. Never hold it tight. Its necessary of us to smile and be happy at least for the sake of the important people that exist in our life, leave out the rest. I’m not sure how correct I am, but the moment somebody tries to hurt me or give bad comments, I filter out that person from my mind.
Sonali, I think each of us finds a way that works for us when we’re hurt or challenged. Who is to say our way is correct or wrong? I discovered for me–that when I try to turn away from the situation too quickly–it often ends up feeling repressed, and I never really deal with it. If I wallow in it too long, it’s counter-productive and feels awful. But there is a fine balance between repressing and acting out that seems to work for me. I like what you say, “Never hold it tight.” That is such valuable advice!
Children say the cutest things. 🙂 Have a nice day too!
They sure do, don’t they, Irene? Just think of the books we could write if we followed little children around recording their cute wisdom. 🙂
It would make the bestseller list, of that I am sure.
Douglas Adams — “So long … fish”. He wrote “The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy” …
Look at all those commentors Kathy. People care. That’s as it should be. You reap what you sow hon.
I swear, how I swear, that I already responded to your comment here. But where is the response? I love that we all reap what we sow. so long…fish friend…
Very nicely-written, uplifting post!
Thank you, Hook. Don’t you love those uplifting days? Hope you’re having one today.
How cute! Kids say the funniest things perhaps because they see life more clearly.
Yes they do, the cute little sweeties…
Still catching up with you, Kathy… Taylor is your grandnephew and he sounds like a delightful little fellow! *hugs*
How sweet that you are reading these “old” blogs, Barbara. Taylor is adorable! I hope I can see him next time I go downstate. Which should be next month or the month after. Really want to visit my mom and dad again.