Butterflies & Dragonflies, Hummingbirds & Trees

Butterlies are Free... and Butterlies are about Transformation...
I've been a doodler all my life. These are some of my recent doodles. My doodles are just as imperfect and haphazardas I am.

The things I doodle seem to spring from some incessant need to express. The end result is... well... expression brought to surface. I sometimes doodle in symbolism. Well, anything that we create is a symbol of something, so that's not so deep. I just happen to love symbolism, even if I don't know what the symbols mean. I love to explore the depths of what a particular symbol might mean...in my own life, at least.

In and of themselves, butterflies are very symbolic, and are very important in my life. They carry me back, in time, to childhood days filled with sunshine and laughter, innocence and pure joy... to days when all we had to do was exist, for the weight of the world was not upon our shoulders. I've always been in awe at the sight of a butterfly. I stare in enchanted amazement at the lightness of their wings, and how they float through the air. On a much more complex level they are a symbol, for me, of change and transformation. I identify, strongly, with nature and feel that all Life is connected and interchangeable... with the changes of the seasons, as well as with all change that surrounds us. If ALL is connected, how can we not change, as other things change?

Sometimes we don't. I believe that is when we become stagnant and cease to grow... and life becomes dull and listless... all joy gone, innocence destroyed. I like to live the sort of life where all of innocence never dies... but, is continually renewed, in freshness, while waiting on the beauty of the next day. Sure, we pass through periods where there is no Light. But, the Sun still exists, even though we cannot always see and feel it. It is not the Light that abondons us, it is we who turn away from it. You can rest assured, it will come back around, and all we've to do is lift our faces up to it, when it shines, and we will shine, too. I believe that, because I am a person of faith and hope. Faith and hope keeps one foot in front of the other... as newly born innocence waits, eagerly, for what excitement is around the next bend. One of life's biggest struggles, for me, is to keep others from robbing me of simple joys. When joy is gone, faith and hope wanes. If faith and hope wanes, there is no reason to exist.



I think this Dragonfly picture is not really complete. It needs some shadowing or something. One day, perhaps, I will share with you what this means to me. Maybe not. We will see?



My Hummingbird

It's been a strange life, but somewhere, while on this Journey, I learned that hummingbirds are good medicine for the heart... that they come to open up your heart, while bringing laughter and joy. There came a time, for me, when an actual person came into my life, who became my own personal hummingbird... for she brought back, into my life, the ability to laugh again, at a time when I had forgotten what laughter was. She brought, with her, her own personal hummingbird story, in fact, about a real hummingbird, whose little baby she had saved from drowning in a pool. She shared of how the mother hummingbird would hang around, forever after, spying through the windows, when she was inside, hovering around her, when she was outside, and even lighting on her arm, forever grateful for what she had done. The Love of this tiny mother hummingbird had served to warm my friends heart!

She was my supervisor when I was living overseas for a short time. Eventually we both came back to the States and continued to stay in touch. In many ways, she may have saved my own life, just as she had saved the drowning baby... for I had been drowning, too, in a very emotionally abusive relationship. When she came into my life, she reminded me of who I am. I had been raised in a family who had a wonderful sense of humor, and who loved to joke and play around. The man that I was with loved nothing more than to tear my happiness and joy down, every chance that he had. He was a severe alcoholic. There was never any laughter. What is life worth living, without laughter, I ask? Just by being in my humminbird's presence, she had the ability to set my heart and soul on fire, with all kinds of giggles, smiles, deep gut and thigh slapping laughter. In her laughter, she is high energy to the max! Yes, she reminded me of who I am... who I am not... and who I was no longer going to be.

She witnessed the end of the abusive relationship, as I shipped myself back home, in the opposite direction, across the sea. She shared in the joy of a new found one, too. This new relationship brought a majical sort of love into my life, like I had never known. And she was there, never faltering, continuing to bring strength to my heart, when this new love suddenly, and unexpectedly, crossed over into another realm. The strength of her love, support, and wisdom... and much, much laughter... have helped carry me to this new place, where life springs anew. These days I am, indeed, like the butterfly, being, once again, majically transformed.

Now-a-days, when a friend is in need of a little heart medicine, I tell them about hummingbirds... and about my hummingbird, named Pamela, and I share of her 'mother and baby hummingbird' story.

It just so happens that one of my best buddies loves hummingbirds. Recently, her mother passed away. I created this hummingbird picture, with her heart in mind. Even so, I can't help but think of Pamela, each time I look at it.

Thank you Pamela, out there, somewhere!




When our roots are strong and deep, to the Heaven's great heights, our arms might reach!


I love and adore trees! When I look at them I see Grace and Beauty... Solidness and Strength... Family and Roots... Balance and Bountiful Expression. And I see change... with the Seasons of our lives.

I mentioned, in an earlier post, that I climbed trees, as a child. And I did. I loved nothing more than to be at the very tip top of the tree, with the wind lightly blowing, the sun brightly shining, as the limb swayed to and fro. I used to pretend that there was some guy, out there in the world, in the top of his own tree, staring clear across the open space... and if I could only see him, I would see that his eyes were staring straight back at me. If only we could see... *sigh* As an adult, I joinded a climbing club. Though I never actually climbed real rock (we climbed man made climbing walls) it did give me an outlet, for a small time, to express that inclination to climb. I was a natural, as were both my boys. I was at least 40, then. Still, I loved to climb.

Four years ago, at age 48, I was still climbing trees.

Three days gone by,
In yonder tree, I did climb,
To see the Skies,
To feel... in my thighs,
All the strength... in me.
Foot wedged, between two limbs,
Back straight against the bark,
That would choose to lithely support me.

Ssshhh (as I giggle)... yes, this is me,
Still strong in my Heart,
The Joy to experience,
Each moment in Miracle,
BEing Alive in this World,
Not merely breathing, in my lungs.

Dreaming of you and me,
As I sit upon that tree,
Here I am,
There you are,
Soon we will Be,
Together in that tree.

Finally come together,
From that childhood dream,
Of dreaming from afar,
Upon you, my lucky Star.
My Dragon-Knight Babe,
My ONE, who's come to rescue me.


That was then. He did come. Then he left this realm. Now is now.