Liebster Award Nomination

Thank you, Thrifty Campers, for nominating me for the Liebster Award! I accept this award and will do my best to carry it forward to others.

There are a few rules to follow:

Answer the 11 questions that your nominator has asked you.
Nominate 11 other bloggers(with under 200 followers).
Ask your nominees 11 questions.
Let them know you nominated them.

Answers To Questions From Thrifty Campers:

What made you decide to join the WordPress community?

I recently retired and wanted to reignite my passion for writing poetry and fiction. I am working hard on the poetry now by assembling old poems and creating ones. Adding audio has deepened my view of poetry. The sounds that come together in the written word are powerful. I find that I don’t suffer from writing block now that I have time to invest in contemplative thinking.

2. What do you love most about the Nature?

Nature is a source of most of my poetry since I love to write about nature at all its levels from the Earth to Source. I believe nature speaks to us through imagery. I love its animals, insects, plants, and stones. I love the universe and all its holdings, the stars, planets, moons, meteors, comets, black holes, dark matter, and the web that holds us all together as one.

3. If you had to choose a favorite wildlife animal, what would it be?

The raccoon. We have been friends with a lineage of a raccoon family over time. Sisters would take on their Moms’ dens while the brothers would roam off for mates. They are habituated to urban life and to our quiet neighborhood by a park. I love watching the moms and their litters of kits run around the patio and watching the kits grow up. Until it got too crazy, making us close off the cat doors at night, the coons would come in to visit. I would feel a cold nose on the back of my leg or a tug on my socks. We were bad. We fed them almonds, grapes, and macaroons. The moms trusted us so much that they would bring the kits in for us to tend to as the moms would lie on their backs by the air conditioning vents with their legs in the air. Once the kits took the vent lid off in the bathroom upstairs and got into the duct work. My husband had to take the duct work apart and coax the kits down a ladder. The moms would bring the kits into the bedroom at night. It just got too crazy. My cats were friends with the coons and pass each other in and out of the house. Until we closed off the chimney access, there was a huge parade of coons coming in the cat door and going up the chimney then coming off the roof and into the cat door again. Yes, we were nuts, but now we close off the house at night.

4. What are you most appreciative for?

Everything and the source of all things, good health, a great family, and the ability to do what I like to do.

5. What would you like to tell me about yourself, in order to be friends?

I’m a good listener, loyal, trustworthy, supportive, empathetic, and sympathetic. I like sharing a good meal and a glass of wine. I’m a Reiki Master/ Teacher, so I hope I provide healing energy.

6. What challenge have you overcome in life?

When I was 6 going on 7, I suffered form measles encephalitis, which I contracted from a mosquito bite. I suddenly lost the ability to walk, move my arms, feed myself, and talk. I had to stay on the living room couch since I couldn’t get to my bedroom. And I could hear everyone doing things in other rooms but couldn’t participate. All I could eat was baby food. Mom put me in a steam tent, which helped me get rid of phlegm building up in my chest, and maybe that saved my life. My parents took me to a hospital, where I went in to a coma. When I awoke, I was able to speak but not to walk. While my parents were gone to close up my dad’s boyhood home, I taught myself how to walk again. I was so lonely in the wheel chair, watching my friends play outside. I’m a big advocate for vaccines. At that time, there was no measles vaccine, and I knew other children who were not as lucky as I was. Only 1 in 1000 children recover from measles encephalitis.

7. To you, what is the meaning of life?

We are here to learn to love ourselves and others unconditionally. There is no room for both love and fear to reside in the heart. We have a choice to choose love and stop the fear-basing. If we can extend the love vibration, we will be at peace.

8. What was the best vacation you have ever been on?

Oh, many camping trips and hikes with my family and later my husband. It’s hard to choose from so many. I enjoyed watching the bears going through the garbage at Yellowstone. I am glad I was found after going the wrong way on the Maroon Bell trail in the Rocky Mountains. I was lost for over an hour, and my husband had to run with all our gear down the trail to get the rangers. On another hike in the Rockies, we traversed some mud slides and narrow, icy paths overlooking dangerous fields of loose rocks for 8 hours of hiking to get to Conundrum hot springs in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness. It was raining when we set up our tent. I was exhausted, so the hot springs felt great! After a bit, we noticed a group of people coming toward us carrying several six packs and boxes of booze. Astonished, I asked how they could carry all that for 8 hours at that distance. They said, Oh we just parked over there!!! You know, by Aspen, I guess. My husband and I have climbed up Long’s Peak more than once. I can’t do the boulders now, but we had many good times on Long’s Peak with the challenges with the distance and variable weather. The marmots shared our lunches. I never went to the Key Hole, but my husband would always go. I stayed in the little house built in memory of someone who fell of the peak and made hot chocolate for hikers. I would ask if they had seen a man fitting my husband’s description. He always did well, though. These are just a few adventures that made the trips so memorable and valuable.

9. Any extraordinary experiences you would like to share with your fellow bloggers?

After the measles encephalitis, I started to see life differently. I think I may have had a near death experience, but as a child, I didn’t know enough to recall any experiences during the coma. I only know that once I recovered, I had a new view of life and God. And I just became so sensitive afterwards. I saw apparitions and had some visions. My parents were worried, so I was teased so much that I buried my new talents, which eventually led to health problems and moderate depression. It is better to accept and love oneself regardless of what others think. It took two cancer scares to make me realize I had to get in touch with myself again. I went on to become a Reiki Master/ Teacher and am back to my writing.

10. What are you passionate about and why?

I am passionate about healing myself and others ready to heal. We can all be healers even with no training. There is so much despair and fear in the world. We bicker and cry out all the time, trying to gain dominance. We all have to be right. Ego is too strong right now. As long as we play in Ego’s shadow, we will not fulfill our life purpose, which is to grow love as part of the creation process stemming from Source.

11. Why is it important to engage with fellow bloggers?

I think we are all blogging to grow our own gardens and build a community. Our blogs are like front porches, where we can meet, share stories, and visit. the Internet has become a neighborhood. It can’t replace a real neighborhood, but it is a space, and spaces have people. Thus, we need to make connections, spread love, and make peace that way.

I nominate:

Here are the questions I am asking of nominees:

What is the theme of your blog?
For you, what are the benefits of blogging?
How do you find balance in life with work, relationships, and blogging?
What is your life passion?
What key message do you want to convey to people as you blog?
Describe your sacred space for writing.
What advice do you have for new WordPress bloggers?
How can people improve their blog posts?
How do you envision life after you retire?
What has been a challenge for you that may have contributed to your creative work?
Have you had any special experiences that you will never forget because of the impact on your life?