Harmony Hill…Where Mountains Meet Magic!

Last year was a dismal year for wild blackberries and raspberries, so it was exciting to see all the fruit budding on the thorny bushes this Spring.  We have hoped for a bountiful harvest as we’ve watched and waited with great anticipation for the first signs of ripening.

As I was walking down the road from checking in a guest today, I spied the glimmer of bright red mixed in amongst the greenery….and sure enough upon closer inspection I saw the first of the ripe wild raspberries!  Oh my heart gave a quick leap, but may have been second to my outstretched hands as they plucked sweet, juicy tidbits and stuffed them in my mouth.  Visions of fresh wild raspberry on my cereal and in my dinner salads entered my mind; what didn’t enter was the fact that I was in a tank top, shorts and crocks or at least it wasn’t until I was waist deep into brambles did that fact catch up with my brain to override my quest for the really plump ones just a couple steps further in.

Foraging will begin again tomorrow albeit with long pants and sleeves properly adorned.

Jana

I am sitting in my office this morning, going thru emails and such and enjoying the views….the grass so green from last night’s rain, the dead branches waiting by the fire ring to be burned, the new hooks in the 2 trees where I now hang my hammock to watch the sunsets, the trees with determination to not let those 2 nights where the temperature dipped to the 20′s and browned the newborn leaves to mar their spring into summer look, the myriad of white blossoms on the blackberry bushes [I hear that means we are going to have a plethora of blackberries this year.  I can't wait since last year we had so few].  And I can’t fail to mention the white tail deer moseying along the knoll’s edge, nor the robin who keeps hopping around so joyfully.

I have 4 large windows in front of me at my desk.  On one of them, something with wings – not sure what it is, clung to the window, clawing at the glass, obviously wanting its freedom.  So I opened the window [it opens vertically], giving that little creature all the freedom of the entire outdoors.  He remains clinging to the window even tho it is open.   I’ve been watching it for 15 minutes now.  He seems afraid to let go of the window and fly away.

I think that is how we are sometimes.  We want the freedom to create and live our vision of what we desire and yet, when the opportunity presents itself, there we remain, clinging to our past and current lives, not even aware that the window is open and all we have to do is let go of what we know, and fly into our freedom.

This morning before I meditated, I was reading in Alan Cohen’s Handle with Prayer the following:

“You will get as much as you ask for.  Ask for all that you want.  Many of us are too well adjusted – we adjust our request to what we expect, rather than daring the universe (and ourselves) to match our vision.  If you aim low on the pyramid, you can’t miss the target – but you do miss the view from the peak.”

So my friend is still sticking to the window.  Shall I help him find out he is free???? And what about me?

Chris Rosenthal

..are all over The Hill and countryside.  The maple buds are discarding their little red jackets.  The white blossoms of the choke cherry are stunningly present.  The colt’s feet are popping up right where they were last year.  The wild leeks are showing up right on time and so delicious when I sauteed them in a little olive oil and garlic to augment an evening meal.  On my way back from the chalet to my house yesterday afternoon, I picked a few trout lilies in the path, added them to the asparagus at the last minute, and oh, yum!

The labyrinth meadow is a bold green carpet.  The dandelion leaves are sprouting, preparing for the coming out of their stem and flower.  We are going to be making dandelion wine at our spring weed walk in May.  The woodpeckers and robins and chickadees are boisterously calling for mates.  Benches were resurrected from their storage place under the chalet and put in their place around the labyrinth.

Before the week is over the snow plow will be taken off the truck and the snow blower will be off the tractor, both tucked away for their (hopefully) long summer’s nap.  We’re taking our chances, I know, to remove them before the end of April, but I figure the odds are in our favor that snow has forgotten where we live for awhile.  We can’t remember such a spring as this!

I want Jana to hurry up and get back up to The Hill so we can put out the chimes for Whimsical Meditation Corner.  Last Sunday Jim took the chain saw and we walked the lower trail, cutting the fallen branches and replacing some of the logs lining the trail, so it’s all ready for the hiking!  And I’d like to get a new trail down to the spring before the end of Spring.  The mountain chalet has had its spring cleaning and I’ve washed most all the blankets and slip covers and curtains for the treehouse yurts.  We’ll be cleaning the yurts next week, so they’ll be ready to open by May 1.

Come enjoy Spring with us.

Chris

March is usually a hefty snow month for us.  You know, one of those winter months where, when you schedule something, it always has an asterisk.  All plans have an added…..*unless there is a storm.  But this March has been different.  By the 4th day, the temperatures rose above freezing and the couple of feet of snow from the last storm in February, as well as the snow beneath that had been compacting during the winter months, all began a slow methodical melting.

By the 3rd week, everything that had been hidden for the season was visible.  Last fall’s leaves nestled in the ground showed their shades of brown.  The greening of the umber grasses began.  We heard song birds.  The buds began to swell on the maple trees.  Even the blackberry bushes are showing life.  Days are sunny, sweather weather.

Spring Interrupted

Then this morning we awakened to a winter wonderland.  Tree branches were covered an inch thick with that familiar glistening white powder.

The deer were easy to spot against the encompassing whiteness.  Rabbit tracks are easy to discern.  Its only 2 inches so no need to plow.  Besides the sun is out now and weather underground says it will get to 40 degrees tomorrow.

I’m going to relax and enjoy this brief interruption of Spring.

Chris

From my personal perspective, I believe we reach a ‘certain age’ where we seem to realize that our lives have spun ridiculously past us and somehow become a blur.  We all of a sudden realize just how much ‘time’ has really gone by; how many friends we’ve lost touch with, how many ‘I’ll call you’s” have expired, how many things that should have been important were brushed aside with the well worn phrase of “I’ll do that when I have more time or I make more money”.  And here’s the thing, you wake up one day and realize you never did get the extra time or make the extra money.  One day you just happen to stop long enough to look behind you and what you see is a long trail of things left undone littering the journey that is your life.

That’s when it hits you.  You can’t get back there from here.  You will never get those moments back again…sorry Dorothy, but you can’t just go back home and find everything just like it was before you were sucked up into the tornado that we know as ‘Life’.

Why is it that we don’t feel our mortality when we’re 20 or 30…even 40?  A good dose of your own mortality keeps a healthy perspective on why it’s not a good idea to just call when you get more time, etc.  Maybe that sense that we have when we’re young and immortal, that it’s ok to live on the edge would be lost or maybe we wouldn’t get as much done, be as productive stopping to smell the roses all the time….we’re supposed to ‘get it and growl’ when we’re young so we can enjoy the fruits of our labor when we reach this ‘certain age’.

Here’s what I do know…having just turned a ‘certain age’, I find myself doing a quick check up from the neck up when I hear myself say “I’ll do it tomorrow when I have more time”.

Go ahead and stop to smell the roses, make the calls, take the trips, stay connected….none of us are immortal regardless of our age.

Jana

Our wish for all of us for 2010:

May you know how loved you are

May you reach to touch the highest in you

May your limitations know no boundaries

Seeing with your own inner vision

May all your dreams come true.

Chris

Just to let you know, I am looking out on snow covered hills and mountains and everything in between.  There are two big round ‘holes’ in the snow right outside my window…evidence of the sleeping spot for the nite chosen by two deer.   The trees all have a thin coat of ice…our own littler Narnia.  Today, I’ll put on my boots and trek thru the snow-laden trails…don’t need snow shoes yet, cause the snow is so light.  And if it’s anything like the past few days , I won’t have to plow our road till just before the sun sets.  We’ve been getting a couple of inches or so each day….easy to plow with the old rusty GMC.  Every year I think …..this will be the last year for this old truck, but it just keeps on plowing.

The snow is so quiet.  it invites you to touch and taste and explore for awhile…..and then go inside to a cozy fire and cuddle up with a novel you got for Christmas.  Although The Hill is always a great place to do nothing, this is my favorite time to slow down, reflect, envision, listen to my inner self.  If you come for a spell at the Chalet, I’ll invite you up for tea if you like.  We might even share our musings!

Chris

Recently, someone asked Chris when the best time to visit Harmony Hill was.  A loaded question as far as we’re concerned…we’re completely, utterly prejudice.  Some people, like my kids who live and love it in Florida, think it’s freezing when it gets below 60….Winter in the Northeast would not be a good recommendation.  But, if you’re like Chris and me, the Winter wonderland that the Northeast becomes is one of the most beautiful times of the year.

When we first purchased the property in December ’02, I was up here alone living full time in what we now refer to as the ‘Mountain Chalet’.  Being a Florida native, the only time I saw large quantities of snow was on the occasions when I’d get somewhere for a few days to “snow ski”…and I use that term loosely because you can’t do that activity a few days out of  the year and not really and more accurately term it “snow careening”!  I remember the thrill I’d feel looking out seeing the snow falling and hurriedly I eat breakfast so I could go out and play in it.  Boogie, the wonder dog, and I would get dressed (he had his own boots and winter coat of course) and go out snow shoeing on the trails.  Boogie would run, leaping in and out of the deep snow, which at times would be chest deep on him, plunging his nose down in it to get a better whiff of whatever animal scent he’d picked up.  Boogie was a chocolate lab and was never happier than when he was following the nose and never funnier than when he’d pull it out with snow all over his face, whiskers frozen and look at me like he’d just won the best doggie prize ever!

Built as a respite and art studio for the previous owner, the Mountain Chalet was already here when Chris and I bought the property. It has an open sleeping loft,  huge skylights up above and floor to ceiling windows on all sides.  No matter where you stand you can look out and literally get the feeling you are outdoors.  I’ll never forget the night I awoke to what seemed like alot of light for middle of the night….in fact, it seemed like somehow the whole house was lit up.  Half asleep I presumed I had left lights on.  It was so bright I didn’t need light to head downstairs to see.  The minute I set foot downstairs, the light flooded in but there were no house lights on at all….groggy,  I deduced it must be a full moon out.   I remember questioning that logic, because it was so bright in the house.  But, as I stood and turned, looking from window to window, wall to wall of glass, sky light to sky light overhead….I knew I wasn’t wrong.  The moon appeared directly over the meadow in front of the chalet.  It was the brightest, fullest moon I think I’ve ever seen and the light was being made even brighter as it bounced off the snow out there.  I ran to the front door, slipped on my boots, put a jacket over my PJ’s and out I went onto the deck.   I wish I’d had night time photography available so I could have captured it in a way that everyone would be able to see what I saw that night.  I wish I could do justice in describing what I saw , but I don’t think I possess the ability to come close with mere words….here’s as close as I can get; The night sky was a dark, black backdrop, not a cloud to be seen. Stars and the Milky Way were so close it felt like you could reach up and touch them and there were a bazillion of them.  The moon was huge and hung low right over the two acre meadow out front.  Rays of light shone down on the snow and the entire meadow sparkled like millions of diamonds scattered on the ground.  I ran off the porch, out into the meadow and stood with my arms outstretched, reaching up feeling like the moon beams were flowing in through my finger tips and I swear I had a sensation of energy surging into my body.  I have seen many full moons, in many locations…but I have never seen nor experienced one like I did that night.  It was a magical event, something someone may only have the opportunity to experience once in a lifetime. The moon beams etching the moment into my memory banks forever.

Boogie is no longer with us.  He is laid to rest in this very meadow and every once in a while when the moon is full and I catch it hanging over like it did that night, I imagine I can see him bounding through the snow, looking back at me saying “Hey Mom, remember that night when I chased moon beams for you  in the snow?”

So, perhaps it is easy to understand why Winter…to me at least….is a very special time to be at Harmony Hill.  When the snowman cometh I know from a very personal experience that extraordinary things, magical things are possible here.

Jana

As a transplanted Floridian who is fortunate enough to have been geographically repositioned in an area where I get all four seasons,  it occurred to me today that the seasonal transitions are a bit more interactive than I may have given them credit for.

At least this was what I was thinking as I walked down our half mile long driveway to drop off mail.  Suddenly I stopped…right in the middle of the road and stared down at the ground covered in orange, red, browns and yellows, and began to ponder this thought in more detail.  For sure, each season has a distinct obligation, a practiced response if you will, in announcing itself for the benefit of us poor, dense humans.  For the barely aware, we assume this is,  for the most part,  played out on a visual level.  We know, for example, that when we see snow it is Winter; when we see colorful leaves it is Fall; when we see buds on the trees it is Spring and when we see the growth of Earth’s bounty, basking in the bright warmth of the sun that it is Summer.

Surrounded by Nature as I was, I made an additional mental leap …surely Nature would have been elevated to a much greater task than just a visual display for the benefit of mortals with low awareness levels?

The Universe [my opinion] is a great contingency planner, so it stands to reason that Nature would be in accord with the Master Design Plan….to not only mark the transition of man’s path through time with the ebbing and flowing of seasons but, and here’s the great part, to deploy this in such a way that this passage of time would be identifiable and verifiable by said mere mortals on every level bestowed them!  Clever Universe…it would never assume that one’s eyes alone would always be available to translate to the brain that one season had begun as one ended.

So, I closed my eyes and the first level of awareness to kick in was smell.  I could smell the crispness in the air, the slight odor of leaves as they began to decay. I could smell the earthy, yet fragrant smell that only Autumn has.  Opening my eyes, I reached up to catch a falling leaf and felt it in my hand noticing how it was crisp and crunchy.  I now possessed an acknowledgment on three levels of awareness instead of just the one.

Stop for a moment and think of the different acknowledgments Nature gives to herald each passing and arriving season….this is exactly what I did.  I stood there and realized that Nature doesn’t care if we’re visually impaired, have no sense of smell or taste and could care less if we can feel with our fingers or toes…the only way a human could miss Nature’s seasonal clues is if your body were no longer in proximity to what was happening around you.

I had two other levels of awareness with which to experience this fabulous Fall of 2009, so I walked briskly back to my yurt. I poured and savored the flavor of fresh pressed apple cider as I tasted Fall and then I listened to the sound of leaves falling like rain on the yurt roof ….and I knew I was experiencing my last available level of awareness…the Leaves are Leaving….it is clearly, at all levels, Fall.

Jana

This is an ancient (from ‘my’ day) adage expressing a juxtaposed dilemma… despite the fact that the cobbler mends and makes shoes, he doesn’t have time so his own children go without them.  I’m gathering that this relates largely to the fact that all too often we work to create many things but don’t actually take the time or have the time to enjoy most of what we create ourselves.

I bring this up for a good reason, because of a personal experience that caused this reality to hit home today. Recently, I have struggled with clarity about my role as it pertains to a business venture I’m involved in outside of Harmony Hill. Without going into the gory details, suffice it to say I have been left feeling like I was falling short, my personal capabilities inadequate for the task. I found I was frustrated over not being able to think of exactly what I could do to be the change agent in this business venture that I desired to be.

Being a long time student of the teachings of Abraham by Esther and Jerry Hicks, I knew my strong focus on really wanting to contribute was shooting off “rockets of desire” and so it was no surprise to me when one day, about  two weeks ago, I received clarity.  Clearly I could not alter my education nor my personal expertise , at least not in a timely manner….but here’s the ‘aha’… the Law of Attraction and my belief in those Universal Laws were always within my power to access….no formal training required!  Just like the Noetic Science in Dan Brown’s, “The Lost Symbol”;  “mind over matter”, “ask and you will receive” …”focus and create”.  Excited,  I realized I could make it my ‘job’ to visualize and create. By focusing my intention,  I could literally manifest the people, situations and events that we needed to succeed!  I started work at my new job immediately. I sat inside and meditated. I sat outside and meditated. I tried with great intention but something about my ‘work’ environment felt missing.

What does my ineptitude and epiphany have to do with cobblers and children with no shoes?  I simply realized this….I live at a retreat center. I have 70 acres in some of the most beautiful country I’ve ever known at my disposal. I personally conjured up and created, on this land, a space we call “Whimsical Meditation”.  With it’s open air gazebo lined with fanciful wind chimes and woodland creatures, it sits like a gem tucked into the woods. And, as the woods open out onto the adjoining meadow it has the most gorgeous vista…one that has always reminded me of a backdrop for the Sound of Music. It is a magical place. It is a reflective place. It is a metaphorical ‘work place’  for all who seek a canvas in the mind on which to create….and here’s the point in fact… Until today, I had never personally sat there.   I envisioned it, I helped to physically create it but sadly until today, I had never taken the time to make myself a pair of shoes.

Carpe Diem…Carpe  Calciatus,

Jana