Your gift for haiku never ceases to amaze me! Have fun with your posse. :) I'm glad you don't have to spend most of your time ALONE -- having spent so much of it as caregiver to someone bed-ridden, is

Oh, you live up to it, my exulted image of you - you really do! (I have this unshakable conviction that Niko is nodding in agreement) How kind of of you to offer to send this herb for grief. My niece happened

Awww thank you! I LOVE YOU

I used to trust doctors and hospitals. No more! Now I'm trying to learn herbal remedies, as it's so hard to find a naturopath or a witch doctor. In my grandma's day, there was an old woman in town, a

Ooh I love this "rant" - so many many tangents to pick up. I'll start with an "ooh I need to read this" - Lionel Shriver 's The Movement of the Body Through Space ("....an older

I'm glad you see that - she is an amazing person - she just doesn't BELIEVE it yet!

Eep! Instead of going off to declutter, I called up another chant. Because, anxiety attacks, and people seeking tranquility. And because EVIL - Call it what you will - @owasco mentions the dark forces

There may be some truth to that. Happify Your Life by Laura LaBrie This author went into third-world countries aiming to lift them out of their poverty, only to find hers was the impoverished life, and

@perceptualflaws I'd be happy to beta-read anything you care to share. I'm a backslider of a writer. It's gone beyond "I write but do not share" - I simply DO NOT WRITE - only in fragments here

Good for you, enjoying time in nature, and writing a book! I'm reading one now via NetGalley - The Understory It was this line that reeled me in: "Walk in the woods with me." That's the invitation

If dark and evil forces really do operate (sentient! willful! knowing!), how do we thwart them? Who will listen if we say "Look!" as we pull back the curtain, and "Hear this" -- So

Our goblin in the magic fireplace - LOVE this image! And our world will shift, if we believe. When we see through our illusions, our hard work is over. Is it? Herbalists (Sajah Popham, Matthew Wood) sound

YES - " If I try to avoid it or suppress it it only gets stronger." What you resist persists Sounds like you were trying "exposure therapy," which did not work for my OCD friend who

A panic attack - you! Somehow I imagine you are so far above the rest of us in your ability to cope, to find beauty, peace, joy, and solace in nature -- and to express it so well in poetry. For you to

#ThankYou so much for the kind words! Me: loving, thoughtful, generous. Who'd believe it??? You do - God bless you. Checking in here, vs checking email - it's hit and miss with me. Mea culpa! Looking forward

Thank you Josie! I realize I'm not her rescuer, and I do try to convince her that she is not a VICTIM. The past is past. Live in the now. Her parents are dead. New tormenters have come along, but she lives

What she said! Thanks @iskawrites. I'm reminded of all those trendy books promising us we can "manifest" what we want. The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life by Bruce Wilkinson,

A little girl raped by her own father and abused, verbally and physically, and mentally tortured, somehow has grown up and made it to age 55, but she has severe OCD and wants to die but won't kill herself

I #love it when old books are still relevant - and easier to read than today's! Textbooks. Grade school, high school. My kids brought home these cluttered, overly-visual school books full of photos, bold

It's richly imagined, for sure - the 'trees' are more like bamboo, and the description is lurid, and the contagion is all too believable (Wuhan labs, anyone?). I loved seeing engineers and road builders