Thursday, December 29, 2011

Bon Annee!!!...


A very Happy New Year to all!!!

a Huge toast to 2012 "clink"
 to a year of Love, new opportunities, Peace
and new journeys...

new beginnings, the blending of individual lives,
a deeper soul felt existence,
a time to forgive past mistakes, to cherish new moments,
to understand that by our mere appearance on this planet
we matter...

to embrace that it is never to late to change or Love
or forgive...
and that this act of self forgiveness
eradicates all the chains that bind our hearts,

to allow the universe to provide us with what we need,
versus what we think we want...
and to let go and keep hands outstretched,
so that those open hands are able to receive
what is intended to come our way...

to cultivate our passions,
and live each moment with honesty,
remembering that we are indeed all connected,
and that you are just as valuable as I am..
celebrate our differences as beautiful
instead of a negative,

may your 2012 be filled with
more hugs than handshakes..
more smiles than tears,
and more sunshine than clouds...

see you all on the flip side!

Ry

Sunday, December 25, 2011

a shining star in the East...



Merry Christmas everyone.
may the blessings of this season, brighten your days,
bring peace to your loved ones,
and fill your home with Love




Tuesday, December 20, 2011

1 hundred in 20 eleven...


well I made it.  this is officially my One Hundredth post! I never would have thought last January, when I began this new endeavor, that I would hit this milestone in a year. As I look back, I can see how my writing has changed, I see the fun posts, and I see some filled with deep pain and loss. I thought it fitting, to take a stroll back through the past 12 months and bring what I felt was a highlight from each month and share it again with you. Each post title is a link back to the original.


January - writing, the process...

As a child I stood on the shore of the world,
bathed in the light of Something or Someone I as of yet did not know
caressed by the breeze and warmed in the Light,
my Soul was filled and my Spirit took flight,
like so many wings above me



February - there is a purpose...

But in the midst of all of this, as usually happens for me..something began to bloom.. there is a purpose to that which serves to knock us on our butts, which clears the mind of all the "small stuff" we gather around ourselves. The sudden clarity of my existence, what really matters, and what really doesn't. We are here for a reason, each one of us has a purpose for being where we are, who we are. Some become Leaders, teachers, scholars, but our own lives, how we live them, how we love them, is always why we are here. I read a quote the other day that ran something like "your life is precious and has value, if someone else could do what your life is intended to do, you wouldn't be here" and that shifted me. 


feel
the breath fill you, welcoming in all that is history,
know that it changes you, heals you, educates you
taste it's dreams and colours, bask in it's flavours
feel it's tears, acknowledge it's essence
                                                                           exhale..
and repeat..
for you are also now it's history

April - who will people say you were...

of all the stuff that we gather, that fills our shelves and closets and garages to overflowing.. the picture albums full of snapshots, the jewels, the must have latest gadgets.. is this who you are? the loved ones left behind to clean up or clear our your treasures may find items that make them laugh or cry, pause to relive moments together, but is this all that is you, your essence? will they say you always drove the nicest car, lived in the best homes, took the most expensive vacations, threw the best parties.. or will they say you were loving, and caring and had the biggest heart. Will they say you were full of Joy, full of compassion and hope.. that you lived each moment to it's absolute maximum..

        when there is nothing left of you but sweet memories.. who will people say you were...

           

May - if...
                 if you didn't know, you are loved in the same way as you loved us, 
without judgement, loved for who you are, 
for all those things you went out of your way to do, things that were not your responsibility,you took them and us on as your own, 
because you wouldn't have had it any other way..
if this is to be our final chapter, there is comfort in knowing that we shall meet again.. where the sky meets the stars, I shall find you again one day, free and young and whole...



June - miracles...
I was blessed to witness a miracle today, a miracle of life..

I was with a loved one when she passed away..I say miracle because that is exactly what it feels like it was.. a calm and peaceful end to a wondrous love filled life.. I feel somehow honoured to have been near as she slipped quietly from this world, free of her struggle with illness, much like as in life with no fuss... I sit here only a short couple of hours after saying my final goodbye with a kiss to her forehead and a last touch of her loving hands.. and I am at peace... my heart is broken, shattered and I am missing her sweet laugh already, but to have been present and having her allow me to be so, has no words yet that quite fit the moment... only a stream of tears...




July - holy ground...

your wish for me is to be all this and more, never striving to deny me anything, only to add to who I am and who I can be... grounded in lessons learned, dreams fulfilled, a destiny before me larger than anything I could have envisioned on my own... 
stay with me on these sacred grounds, 
guide and shape my being into value for this place... 
move my hands and my thoughts into actions of compassion and empathy... 
dry my tears and refresh my spirit... 
knowing you are always near, always ready, always loving... 
grounds my faith and steadies my feet for the next step...



when my time has come, know that I am just over the horizon, walking ahead on to the next adventure for my soul to experience, but I am also as close as your next thought of us together... what we share is never lost, only packed temporarily away until the next time we unwrap the moment and let it touch us again... 

good bye's are never forever, just momentary... know that when it is time for you to take your journey, when your time too has come, that I will meet you with outstretched arms, smiles, laughter and tears of joy as you appear in the distance, with each step moving closer to our blessed reunion...


September - feels like home...

so elemental in essence, sheltering and safe,
an essential blend of who and what and where I want to be...
what it feels like, that intangible almost indescribable shangri-la,
 all encompassing spirit fulfilling
place to be comforted and peaceful and blessed...
feels like home... feels like the sweetest symphony,
treasured like the most exquisite pearl...

feels like home...

October - at a loss...

I hold fast to the knowledge that I am loved, and that I Love.. my existence is filled with an array of amazing persons whom I adore... I understand more clearly that to love them and cherish them, adds colour and texture and depth to my world, and that it will also in time add sadness and grief as we inevitably lose one another... all part of the same painting, all plants in the same garden of life... for to love someone today, must include that they were brought into life to live their seasons, to flourish and then decline and fade away... just as summer roses or spring tulips burst forth into life, blossom and grow, and then fade at seasons end, so to will we fade at our seasons end...

November - transformed...

this is a story of Love which has no bounds and no chains... free to be explored and ingested and danced and sung... just one day like this, feels divine, the prospect of another and another and another feels almost indulgent, but they are ours to be lived... hand in hand, heart in heart we tread onwards to this destiny laid before us, a gift of here and now, a reward for the battle scars of the past, a reward for the unending faith that yes, this is possible and I will claim my share...



It has been quite a year. Lessons, tears, pain, but also knowledge that all of these mold and shape this person I have become, different than last year, and not the same as even tomorrow. There has been laughter and friendship, community, togetherness and finally the sweet sweet embrace of Love...

to those of you who have walked this road with me, I say Thank You, for your words of encouragement, your comments, and your being there in spirit... 
words are often my comfort, my way of getting out what my soul needs to share and shed... 

a toast...
to another 1 hundred with you... Happy New Year...

Monday, December 19, 2011

short shortbread...


so I'm not a baker per say, well let me rephrase that, I can bake, cookies,croissants, bread etc, I just prefer cooking to baking... I think its all the sifting and measuring etc.. with cooking I can just add stuff as I wish, a pinch here, a sprig of that.. much more enjoyable for me..


that is until we come to Christmas time.. and Shortbread... the stuff of Angels and by far my hands down favourite Christmas baked goody. I have to admit I have put away a fair number of these delights in my years and look forward to this tradition.
The recipe that I have shared below is the simplest and most delectable I have found. It is originally from my Aunt B's mother, and has always been referred to as Granny's Shortbread. Light and melt in your mouth, it has become "the" shortbread all others are measured by.


 I take this every year into my office as I am repeatedly asked by my coworkers if I am making it again.I still make it the same way I was first taught, a small round fluted cookie cutter, rolled thin and pricked twice on top with a fork. No sprinkles, no chocolate, just the cookie itself to melt and dissolve on your tongue.



Granny's Shortbread

1 lb Butter
1 cup sifted Icing Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
4 cups 5 Roses All Purpose Flour ( use a very fine baking flour)

Soften the butter to room temperature, mix in the Vanilla , the Icing Sugar and half the flour. Add the rest of the flour a little at a time until you have a stiff and non-sticky dough. The dough can be refrigerated covered, until you are ready to roll it out. Roll out to your desired thickness and place on an un-greased baking sheet. The number of cookies will depend on the thickness of the cookies that you desire. Cook at 275F until done. The trick with these is to basically dry them out, and not brown them. They should snap gently in half when done. Remove quickly from the baking sheet and place on cooling racks to stop them from cooking further. These also freeze very well in a tightly sealed container.
Simple, seasonal, and so delicious!



Finally, my wish for all of you. 
May the Christmas Season bring warm memories, 
Joy and Peace to you and yours. 
May these last 12 months be remembered with fondness 
and may you carry forward the lessons that they have taught you. 
Hold your loved ones close, 
make that long overdue telephone call, 
and celebrate our differences as gifts.

Merry Christmas

Ryan, here at Current Ripple.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

moonshadow...


looking more like Halloween than 13 days before Christmas,
these fog filled, late fall sky images caught my gaze last night...
cold and damp outside,
the moon faded in and out of sight as the rolling heavy blanket of moisture drifted above...

 



naked Cherry and Apples branches paired with evergreens
caught the subdued rays of the moon...
mysterious and ethereal in its ghostly luminescence over the landscape...
as if playing hide and seek with my gaze...

 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

backwards glance...


a backward glance is about all I wish to give to 2011, except for a handful of amazing moments, the rest can get chucked in the crapper for all I care. This year has been like no other, full of bad news, sadness, grief, loss, pain and questioning. far too much questioning..

and then, from out of all the crap, is blossoming a love story, new and fresh and full of promise and happiness.. through the fire of this last year, comes a rebirth of hope and joy, a freshness like the boughs of fir that adorn our mantles for the Christmas Season..


those memories that rocket through your head when you smell fresh baked shortbread cookies lining the racks in your mothers kitchen, it's the instant fresh scent of snow in the air and you know that by nightfall, everything will be a clean glistening white.. frosty and clean again..

sort of what I wish for 2012, a clean and fresh start, a shedding of the strife of 2011... a return to blissful days and dream filled nights of what lays ahead.. a deeper connection with friend and family, a changing of the Guard so to speak, with new sentinels standing guard over those whom I love..



as we approach the turning of the year, I wish for peace.. hopefully in every sense of the word.. peace in my soul, that my days will be filled with tranquil moments that allow me to peel away the scars of the last months..

my wish for all of you is the same, that this new year, this new start be filled with the fulfillment of your dreams and aspirations.. that you are able to shed that which held you back or slowed you down..

 

so I say to you 2011, thanks not for them memories eh,

oh, and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!