Archive for June, 2009

Bibb Bridge Wetumpka Alabama

About 7 years ago I was living in Belgium and was planning my return to the United States. My husband and I were at the time looking for a home BEFORE we returned so we could be ready. We had a few options we were looking at and thanks to the Internet we began searching for places we would like to move to.

In our search we came across this beautiful little town with an “old-timey” bridge running over a river. Both of us agreed that, “wouldn’t it be great to live in a place like that!” (Of course never believing it could happen) But that town with that bridge is exactly where I have been living for the past 7 years and not in town “proper” but about 10 miles out of town in a wooded area.

I am a morning person, every morning I take a walk. I usually hear cars way off in the distance. This morning was a rarity for me. I actually saw a passenger plane flying overhead. Every morning I see birds and rabbits and sometimes deer. But today was a red letter day! As I took my pooch out with me to get the morning paper at about 5:15 a.m. it was just getting light and it was very cool and still. It felt so good because we have been having blistering heat here for over two weeks. And mornings like this it is not unusual to wake up to close to 80 degrees at dawn. Today is only 64 degrees out there and it feels so cool. And so, to relax I took a deep breath, cleared my pooch around the truck in the driveway and there it was! It sounded so loud I jumped a foot! An owl sitting in the tree next to me hooting and to add to the morning off on a tree about 30 feet away was his mate returning the call! Oh man! I was excited and so I was my little wolf-dog! That woke me right up and here it is hours later and I am still excited about it!

And I couldn’t wait to share with you. THIS is why I live where I do. Not to mention that 15 minutes from my house is a National Park my husband and I go hiking in.  People ask,” where do we go for vacation” and we say, “we go home”. Why would we need to go anywhere else? People pay money to go where we live. And I appreciate it. I have never lived in a place like this. I have lived in large municipal areas like the San Francisco Bay area, Brussels Belgium, you know, places where there are lots of people and things to do. Sometimes I miss convenience or conversation with people but then when that happens I just go out my front or back door and look around letting the feeling fade away.

Hearing the owls this morning was great! I remember about two years ago walking out in the backyard after dark and coming face to face with an owl. But being a city girl I said to myself, “nah, I must be imagining it”. But now that I have lived here longer I know there is still so much to see. And yes, I was not imaging it. Some days it is hummingbirds, bluebirds, cardinals or wrens I spy flitting about. Other times, like this morning I get a real treat. Just last week there was a hawk just sitting on a wire nearby and a little way down the road sat a crane not suspecting how beautiful of a sight he was. But this morning was a red letter day. To hear an owl and his mate in the early morning hours was very usual for me.

It has been a harrowing week in the entertainment world. Just yesterday we heard that Farrah Fawcett lost her battle to cancer at the age of 62. Farrah took us all on the road with her in the documentary, “Farrah’s Story” that was aired on NBC, May 15, 2009. She shared her struggle with nearly 9 million viewers.

What Farrah did by creating this documentary is, she helped everyone see how a battle with cancer can play out and to not give up, no matter what. And so we were not as shocked or surprised to hear she lost her battle as we could have been.

Farrah was a product of her time. We, as baby boomers, best remember her on “Charlie’s Angels” as Angel, Jill Munroe. However, she also received both Emmy and Golden Globe award nominees for deeper, more serious roles. And another fact I did not know is she has performed off Broadway. As well as her famed partly nude picture in Playboy at age 50!

I think what got me thinking about Farrah Fawcett is all the news about Michael Jackson. Just thinking about how both of these entertainers affected us. For me, personally Farrah Fawcett affected me more. Why? Because she was living with something all of us deal with….aging and disease. Michael Jackson was a shock whereas with Farrah Fawcett we all knew about her battle daily. And yet both entertainers remind us that health issues are very real.

You know I never even watched Charlie’s Angels or followed Farrah Fawcett’s career. I vaguely was aware she was married to Lee Majors for a time and of course I knew of her marriage to Ryan O’Neal. But I think what really hit home about her is how “human” she became at the end of her journey. We all have a story, all it takes is hearing about someone to know their story. I am not even sure why this woman matters to me other than the struggles she went through.

What I want to remember Farrah Fawcett for is that long flowing hair with the big toothy smile. A pretty woman with a gentle way about her.

Gray hair is not really gray is it? It is usually well, white! So where did gray hair get the bad rap and why does gray hair dredge up negative thoughts of aging? My hair is white. What is known as “gray” can be anywhere from gray or yellow. Some people even have the “salt and pepper” look. But my hair is white. I like white, it is pretty.

I am gray. In fact, I am premature gray. Not a thing I can do about it either. I started the fight against gray in my twenties. Ever so slowly as it took over I did what any normal woman would do, I starting coloring it. At first this was not so bad. In fact, it was fun. It was like changing contact lens color, something to add to my looks like well, glasses or jewelry. But then what was a gradual process began accelerating in my thirties.

I was coloring my hair once a month then every three weeks then every two weeks. It was beginning to become a major chore and the fun was over. I didn’t like the hassle. Then I hit my forties and decided this is getting really old, I mean old! No not me, I mean coloring my hair. But I couldn’t give it up because peer pressure demanded I was too young to be gray so, I kept coloring.

Then an amazing thing happened. When I moved to Europe I noticed that women did not have the vanity issue about aging and coloring their hair. And in fact, women all over were coming into their own beginning to accept and embrace their age and so I decided to bite the bullet and stop coloring my hair. And oh man! It was pure white! Not gray, that denotes a bland color doesn’t it? But my hair is white. Really WHITE! and it is healthy.

The first couple of years it was white I didn’t think much of it except what a relief not to continue a bi-monthly ritual of coloring. But then a unique thing began to happen. People would walk up to me and ask to touch my hair. There I was in Brussels Belgium walking through the Grande Place and a Belgian lady would approach me and ask to touch my hair. “It is pretty” she said, “how do you make it like that?” All I could say was, “it is just natural”. I started feeling pretty good about my white hair then I came back to the United States and first on my list was to fit in again with a cut and a dye job! I went to a stylist who wouldn’t color my hair. She said, “Why would you want to do that, it is beautiful?” And so I didn’t think about it again for years then about 6 months ago I decided I need a change again and so off to another stylist. She went on about how pretty and healthy my hair was and “how do you keep it so healthy?”

And so I decided to keep it gray. Or should I say white. I am in my fifties so it is starting to fit me and when I started this blog, Gray Gaia, it felt right to keep it gray. There are some famous women who wear their white like Helen Mirren or Jamie Lee Curtis. Though I am not famous and just a regular gal who is living a regular life I do love my white hair!

Summer is upon us. It is starting to ramp up to be a very hot summer. But this craziness about our country is bogging us down. In the movie Forrest Gump he ran across America. And just kept running and running then one day he stopped. When asked why he stopped he just said he thought it was time to go home. He was done with that part of his life. I get that. I have been running from project to project, job to job. Moving here and moving there all my life. And this summer I just feel like it is time to go home. My muse had not been as active as it has been in the past. Which tells me a lot of why I need to go home.

And with so much that has gone on in America and is going on I am moved to share my all time favorite poem and it seems to say a lot about where we are and who we are:

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

By  Robert Frost

Right now we are all under what Winnie the Pooh calls, “a little black rain cloud”. If you watch the news we get a steady diet of negativity. I say lets not play that game! We can’t fix this mess with worry, either way as Frost says, fire or ice will do the job. But what we can do, what we should all do, is find that place to enjoy the little piece of earth we have. So I say, lets be like Soliel, the goddess of summer. Lets be alive and full of energy.

Soliel was gracious and strong.

Soleil is full of life, energy and love.

She is nurturing, gracious and strong.

Soleil represents fertility and blossoms in full bloom.

She is the richness of the green earth,

and the warmth and heat of summer.

She is the Mother of all living things.

So lets reach out and embrace summer in its fullness. Maybe redecorate our home or dust off that bathing suit and go to the beach. This is the time of year that all the summer goddesses are in the air. Get your favorite jewelry out and wear it! Embrace the summer! One of the scariest things I ever did was stop and relax. The silence was deafening and heavy. But once it is overcome you hear birds and wind and mowers in the background and airplanes. The sounds move to the foreground.

Then to see all the things around us, I mean really looking. I have been “looking” lately and I can see I wasn’t paying attention.  Like recently I went to visit my daughter and her family. My granddaughter and I got up before anyone else and just sat and talked for almost an hour. I saw how pretty she was, how smart she is and how lucky I am she is in my life. And she is only 6 years old! It was one of those moments in life I won’t soon forget. We embraced the morning. It was great.

Now I am energized to embrace the summer! Thank you “Q” mom for giving me such great grandchildren!!!

I was cleaning out some old photo files the other day and ran across this set from the Africa Museum we used to visit in Belgium.