Home Is Where the Heart Is

I've always had a strong definition and connection to the word Home. Home is comforting, loving and sacred. Home is gentle and strong. Home is welcoming and joyful. Home is a container and a location. Home is where the heart is. Always.

Over the last four years, I've come to know that home isn't always a physical place, but often times a feeling or a state of mind. Home is tranquility. Home is when our souls are at peace in our borrowed bodies.

Physical homes aren't much different. I have found myself quite attached to my physical homes in this lifetime: my childhood home is sacred ground to me, and I revisit often; and I've lived in the same rural area all my life. This is good, and fine and well, but my heart seems to be outgrowing this haunt. It seems to have been expanding for the last two years, seeking to look past the boundaries of familiarity and into the unknown. Is there more home to be found? Is there another place where my heart could possibly feel the same comfort I feel now? Of course.

If we as humans are capable of anything sacred, it is adaptability, growth, change and expansion. Alchemy.

When I met the love of my life this year, I expanded my version of home. It was him. Anytime I am with Jim, I feel like I am home. But physically, we live over two hours apart. A part of our hearts stays with the other during this distance. It is not easy right now, but necessary for us to make the transition we want to make smoothly and with grace.

Jim and I decided weeks ago, that we couldn't live without each other. Ours has been a beautiful love affair from the word go, and we both knew without doubt or resistance that a move would soon come to pass. The big move is now two and half months away.

Sophia and I will be moving to Jim's hometown. Jim's stationary employment, and my blossoming writing career (which I can make an office almost anywhere) made it an easy choice to head his way. I grew up in small town USA. He grew up in the city.  It is going to be a huge transition for Sophia and I.

I've had a lovely sense of anticipation since making the decision to leave my hometown. I can visualize a beautiful future for our merging families, and being with Jim every day will be a blessing beyond my wildest dreams. All this is lovely, so right and good. And yet I still have the normal anxiety that anyone might feel when leaving their home -- especially heading from the country to the city. But I trust this process, and you will come to know that I see life through a very symbolic lens.

I visited Jim in his hometown over the weekend. Driving through the downtown, I looked to my left and a huge billboard with the name HERMES was stretched across the cityscape. Hermes is the Divine Messenger in Greek mythology. He is also my patron. He watches over me, and he was clearly welcoming me to Jim's hometown. A sign.

We had a lovely lunch at one of Jim's favorite comfort food restaurants. There we visited with his sister, who I am very fond of, and I met his brother-in-law for the first time. On one of the walls was a mural of a Phoenix. My magical name is the Phoenix Spirit. The phoenix is one of my totem animals. I was being welcomed a second time. Another sign.

Jim and I then decided to make a trip to one of the local malls to take care of a few to-do list items. While there, we found the above whimsical picture at an Earthbound store. Jim calls me Red Fox. We felt called to grab it, so it went home with us. And I can't wait to hang it in our new home soon. The fox is quickly becoming one of my animal totems. It symbolizes passion, determination, cleverness, focus, wisdom and adaptability. Yes. That. Adaptability.

It was a lovely day spent with the love of my life in his neck of the woods. I felt so welcomed, but it wasn't quite done. On my way out, I had not even gotten out of city limits, when I saw a beautiful red fox dash across the road. I gasped, awestruck. The third sign, that this town was where I needed to be. While a part of my soul will always live in the stunning Illinois countryside, my heart seems to have already moved away. In fact I saw it running across that highway -- happy, wild and free even in the city, and it's only a matter of time before my body gets the chance to make the transition too.

Home truly is where the heart is, and my heart is with Jim on Love Street.

- Lenora

Wicked Fixins'

We decided to celebrate the release of Lenora's sneak peek chapter one sample by having a home-cooked dinner. The meal involved little in preparation and you can expect @30minute of preparation before having to actually cook. I used three separate skillets and cooked according to the sequence and directions of the recipes below. Including preparation, the time for the entire meal is @1.5 hours, preparation to dishes cleaned.

What Your Gonna Need
(2) 6oz. Filet Mignon
Olive Oil
(3) Garlic cloves
(1) bunch or package frozen spinach - allow time for frozen to thaw completely
(6) red potatoes - small
(1/2) Onion
(1/4) cup sliced almonds

Fried Taters
Add @4tbsp olive oil to a large skillet
Warm oil on med-high heat
Chop the potatoes and add to the heat as you go
Stir potatoes into oil and reduce heat to medium
Dice 1/2 of onion - add 1/4 to same skillet - aside other 1/4 for next skillet
Cover skillet with lid, stirring and flipping frequently with a spatula

Stir Fried Spinach
Add @2tbsp olive oil to medium sized skillet
Set skillet and oil to stove top and heat at medium heat
Mince three garlic cloves - set into warming oil
Get and add the extra 1/4 onion diced from the fried potato recipe
Heat garlic and onion until garlic is golden brown, stirring entire mixture frequently
Squeeze / drain frozen spinach before adding to skillet
Add spinach to skillet and stir into garlic, oil, and onion mixture
Add sliced almonds to mix and stir once more
Aside stir fry off of heat and cover skillet with lid

Pan Fried Filet Mignon
Add @1tbsp olive oil to small skillet and heat on high
Add rinsed Fillet Mignon pieces into pan, let stand @2minutes
Flip fillets and let stand another @2minutes
Reduce heat to med-high and flip each fillet every minute or so
Cook to desired doneness

Plate the drained fillets first.
Add the oil from the fillets skillet into the fried potatoes skillet, stirring into mix
Plate the fried potatoes
Plate the spinach stir fry
Served best warm versus hot and with tall glasses of water

CONGRATULATIONS,  LENORA! This was a wicked good meal that really hit the mark for timeliness and tastiness. Thrive with this nourishment, Darling.

- Jim

Click on the cover, and then FREE DOWNLOAD to view the sneak peek!

Walking Into Spring

It is seldom, in the lives of men, when a well deserved walk in the woods is taken as that: A well deserved walk in the woods. Not because we sincerely wanted to. This walk was out of necessity, it felt. The Spring brings this out from within us all. The Spring deserved our appreciation for welcoming us into it's home again. The Spring does that, you see. The Spring necessitates re-birth and shedding of the Winter's dark. It is seldom appreciated as just that in us meager men. We chose instead to walk and walk we did.

Our journey started as a trio in search of water, sheds, connection and wildlife. We spearheaded the journey across, over, and under electric fence. We maneuvered past them artfully under the full gaze of chicken hawk, turkey vulture, and buzzard. These three may have been the same bird. We think they were just out enjoying the air with us.

Our next front was encountered just outside the barbwire and hot wire when we encountered Joker, a horse. Joker had seen us well before during the initial embarkment. It was immediately apparent that Joker wasn't joking around with us. He attempted to accept out good graces, but in the end he was still living in the Winter. Anxious, confined, and unwilling to encounter the Spring travelers. We kept our distance and stepped precariously around the minefield of Joker's Winter meals past. We spied the gate and made subtle haste toward the exit. Joker remained as his winter mindset - cold, oppressive, and harsh. We left him to thaw in peace.

Then came the mighty wounded oak. Even with his boughs broke, his less than majestic stature, foregone in exchange for survival, he was still magnificent. Head slung low and holding on to life and the regrowth of the Spring, we sent him our own healing and took from his what he always gives freely in the Spring. He gives proof positive the Spring has arrived. He was still strong so we felt perfectly well under his unbalanced weight.

The Spring lead us next across logs, through ditches, up and down cattle trails and alongside deerways. We met the stream with welcome arms and the Spring helped expel some of its chill since our last walk in this beautiful area of the woods. The stream pointed us to a great sycamore tree that seemed already reaching for the Summer in its bends. This is where we saw another stream converge with the stream. A great spot for the target that sat stoutly with splattered proofs of the sure-sightedness of hunting men.

The Spring had filled our lungs and legs by then. A sprinkling of rain tempted us a hasty return, but the Spring assured us to rest assured and stay a while longer. We trekked up hill along another deerway and came to a den. The critters within, not unlike Joker, hadn't been out lately and their yard was a mess. We also saw a couple turkey roosts along here and caught our breath around the base of the next mighty oak. He had been lashed once by lightening, but wore the scar proudly. This tree had some real energy and gave it freely and without quarter. He pointed the way back home. He had seen the second party on their way to meet us and told us so later.

We encountered the next two walkers and passed along to them one from our party. They went in search for the secret staired tree while Lenora and I went to see her old sandbox. She had to sit in it again and play for a few happy minutes. The Spring reminded her that her imagination blossomed here from an early age and that was good.
- Jim

Winter Walk