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Round the Bend into 2013
The month of December was the most challenging month of 2012 for me and my families. After wok on December 30th I took to the deep woods for renewal and although the light was low I captured this image of reflection on the Dead River in Marquette, Michigan. I tromped thru the snow and reconnected to my soul.
Events have caused some energy leaks in my spiritual sheath, often referred to as our aura. At the end of the work-day (at what I refer to as my day-job), I’m not happy with the person I was during that 8 or 12 hour shift. It has brought me to my knees in tears. I keep bargaining with myself that I can do this, and over and over again I find bitterness poisoning the positive and healing I strive to be.
In reflection, I know where I’ve been and where I long to be so I am looking around the bend in the river. My theme word for 2013 is Transcend.
Fairylands and Forty-Seven
Photo by Mike Hainstock
I’m blessed to live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and to have The Wilds so readily at hand. Saturday I worked a 3pm to 11pm shift followed by the morning shift on Sunday 7am-3pm. I only managed 4 hours of sleep between the shifts. I think I surprised Mike when I came home and said, “Grab your camera–let’s go!”. So Sunday, around 4pm we headed out, guided by our intuition, and landed down a gorge near a waterfall in Fairyland where I fell in love with this tree. I could have taken a nap and listen to it whisper secrets!
Photo by Kim Nixon
Sunshine is like the equivalent to “the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down” allowing me to sing in the face of negativity and danger! And I’ve been focussing on spreading joy and disconnecting from the negative that tries to swamp us down. Imaging and Imagining the life I want to lead is key!
Photo by Kim Nixon
Blossoming and branching and keeping that sense of discovery is important. What will sparkle in the sunlight under trees near flowing waters? You’ll never know unless you venture down into the gorge. Facing fears and trying new things isn’t so bad. The last time Mike and I visited this particular bend in the Carp River I was very afraid to walk over a log bridge. My fear of heights and falling so irrational. The creek is really only a foot or so deep, come on fall in I dare ya! (I can laugh now). I walked over it twice with ease on Sunday. Magical!
Photo by Kim Nixon
I am forty-seven and it is a magical age. I’ve having another spring and I can unfold, blossom, soak in sun, and enjoy the wind. I’m going to grow, heal, learn. I feel like singing often. I listen to my intuition and I can hear the little magical beings of the deep forest calling.
Getting the Shot!
- Photo by Mike Hainstock ~ Kim, Behind Scott Falls
I crawl behind frozen waterfalls! The rush of the water sounding like water left on in an overflowing cast iron bathtub with claw-feet. The water spilling over and down into the first floor flat. You could see water moving in the ice. I felt very alive!
Oh, and BTW Mike is behind the same waterfall. Crawling in the cave spaces!
The waterfall is Scott Falls just past the Autrain Bridge in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. See the photo of the falls in summer (also from behind the falls looking out). This photo is available framed at Zero Degrees Artist Cooperative in 8×10 metallic print.
Photo by Kim Nixon ~ As Dreamt
Slowing it Down
Photograph copyright ~ Kim Nixon ~ All Rights Reserved
The goal is to slow down enough to read, stretch, and breathe deeply. The goal is to snowshoe, ski, hike and take photos of frozen white crystals of ice. The goal is to play with my grandson, connect with my children, and make family meals we all enjoy. The goal is to decorate and create a home, a safe nest from the world, a retreat that replenishes the soul.
The best $10.00 you will ever spend may be on this book, Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It [Paperback] by author, Henriette Anne Klauser.
Please share what books have inspired you to make changes and create abundance in your life!
Snap goes the Winter
All around the dogwood bush the frost chased the ice…? Snap goes the Winter! (Wink)
Photos taken on November, 28, 2010 at Piers Gorge, Norway Michigan
NaNoWriMo–Day One
In My Own Backyard--Abundance!
NaNoWriMo Excerpts:
Abundance and making things happen. All around me have been signs of an abundant life and sometimes I am lucky enough to take notice. Like yesterday when discovered the grapes withering on yellow grape vines in my own backyard. At first, my mind went straight to how we had wasted an opportunity. Then I looked for that unseen benefit and the birds jumping around the yard and I thought my little tweeting friends were happy due to the abundance in our yard. These grapes would keep songbirds happy and well-nourished. And the textures and color opened my eyes, brought me to a pause and centered me.
River Sitting--A New Pastime
River sitting, a new pastime. Saturday I attended the Farmer’s Market and bought potato soup from Dancing Crane Cafe. I took my tiny carton of soup out to the woods at Songbird trail and sat in a third world crouch, back up against a tree, camera slung over my shoulder, sipping soup and watching water flow. I could hear the roar of the waves at the delta. Lake Superior was a force. She was making herself hear. But I took refuge under pine. Wintergreen with red berries hinted of winter. It was Devil’s Night. Michael’s Birthday. I was coming to terms with working a weekend, working the 3pm to 11pm shift, missing Michael’s Birthday, missing Halloween and my Grandson, missing Mike.
Self Portrait in River
I looked at my refection in the water and I thought it is a good time for change, my body is healing from Celiac, and I now have the strength to move forward. The sky is not always blue like on this Monday morning where I write from the sofa in my living room. Some days are gray and raining drops fall on the river. But we have soup. We can create and choose inner warmth and we can still appreciate the day. These are the steps I am taking. This is the courage to change.
You can’t do it wrong…
“You can’t do it wrong,” Says Cindy. On Saturday morning we sit discussing life . Me with a cup of coffee and her with tea. Mike asleep with the cat. Yesterday was Bob’s Memorial at Prince of Peace church. Family gathered for dinner around the edges of the garden, good conversations and connections with nieces and nephews, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Several photographers took in the beauty of family and nature. Life grows. And you cannot do it wrong. Everything is as it should be. Through tears, longing, sadness, and laughter.
It was a Holy Friday and Bob’s ashes were committed to the ground months after his passing. He has roots in the earth and on the railroad tracks of this world. All family gathered and celebrated. I think Bob would have been happy with the conversations around his mother’s garden last night. I imagined him, at times, sitting and talking with brothers and uncles.
The awareness that we can’t do it wrong. That we are right where we need to be on our own individual paths, and that the paths intertwine with everything and everyone. This can bring some peace as we deal with what we see as a separation. Bob’s passing.
Allium Dreams
I have always wanted the big purple spray of delicate blooms in my gardens. This shot was taken down the hill from my home under a tall tree in the shade with a circular polarizer filter on my Canon s5 IS. I was headed to the lake front. I found the filter plus shady into light conditions gave me bokeh. Then in PS7; I used actions from Optikverve with their Virtual Photographer freebies and created this image.
Thursday at Wetmore Pond
I once read a quote on “Ground of Being” and I like to think of the Wetmore Pond area as my ground of being, walking beneath old growth hemlock, the magic of the bog mat, climbing Hogsback, or even crossing the road and going to the shore at Wetmore Landing where I can lay out on a granite boulder and slip into freezing cold Lake Superior, this is the land that renews my being.
On Thursday of a very busy week, my “Magic Man” took me to the trails in search of morel mushrooms. The nights had been balmy but with not enough mositure, we soon abandoned our hunt for shrooms and fell in love with minutia and reflections–of course we both had our cameras.
Mike took the new shot that appears as my avatar here at WordPress. It is one of the few shots of myself that I have tolerated, in fact I am quite enamored of this shot. I actually look healthy, young, and not so chunky. I feel and look happy and vibrant. Good Job, Mike!
Create With Kim 
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