Many Thanks

to Mitzi Miles-Kubota for her post http://mitzimileskubota.blogspot.com/2009/08/grams-lessons-lead-to-this-video.html. It is my inspiration for my blog today. This is the next to the last weekend I will be here in Flagstaff, and I want to really "use it up". I want to hike and bike and go outdoors and enjoy this cooler weather before I head back to the valley. My time here has been wonderful, enchanting, positive, productive, friendly, lively, happy, lonely, full, quiet, loud, and full of lessons-one being frugality but not stinginess.
The difference between the two is this; frugality means to use what you have wisely- namely time, talent, money, love, and when the need to replenish arises, you are willing to add more and use that without hesitation. Being stingy comes from a place of lack, being afraid to use what you have because you think no more is coming.
Everything you do, everything you give is given back to you many times over. What you send out is what is returned, be it positive or negative. You attract what you give, and if something is unsavory, it mirrors something in your own heart which you don't like or need to work on. If you are stingy with your gifts, the lack is reflected back at you and the emptiness remains that way.
On the other hand, that which is freely given always comes back! It might return to you in a different form, but the spirit of the gift remains the same.
Please, practice frugality if you must, but give freely and without reservation. And, give some things to that most important person, yourself.

Where there's smoke

there's fire, and that has been the case today. A wildfire about 12 miles SE of Flagstaff has darkened the skies and littered ash here today. Makes you really appreciate being able to breathe, as the air was very smoky today.
We really should pay better attention. Bob and I decided to hike in Thorpe Park today, there is a trail near Lowell Observatory. Good thing we didn't take Jewly with us, she would not have made it halfway. I almost didn't, either. Note to self, if the air smells like smoke, it's probably not a good idea to hike. It feels like my lungs are on fire tonight, and my eyes burn, too. This is a lesson in how quickly the environment can change, and how fragile it really is.
One of the many reasons I am up north this summer is so that I can breathe, the air in Phoenix is very smoggy. This fire caught and spread quickly, and the beautiful pine air has been replaced by smoke. The winds will hopefully clear the air by tomorrow, but I was reading that the precipitation is about half of what it normally is. That makes for a very dry forest and easy kindling. Prime for small fires to turn into larger ones.
Maybe it's a metaphor for life. Tend to the smaller fires before they turn into the giant blazes. Make amends for small hurts before they become large wounds. Take care of the little annoyances before they become big problems. The list can go on, but you get the picture. Love a little and it spreads beyond your reach. And that is the way it's supposed to be.