Win an Inn with Writing

A friend posted on my timeline a photo of this inn and the caption "this has your name written on it." A 200 year old B&B in Maine available for the winning 200 word essay. The owner wants to retire after 22 years. She won the inn in the same way in 1992. The picture alone set me to dreaming big. First facts were fantasy-fulfilling. $125 entry fee, 7,000 entries (which will net the current innkeeper her retirement fund.) Favorable odds. And a beautiful story to share. The adrenalin raced through my system. Picture: writers' retreats. Plein air watercolor groups scattered on the lawn. Lending a hat to a painter who forgot hers. Equinox, solstice gatherings. My canoes back, settled on the lakeshore, eager for leisurely paddling. A barn to put the boats when the snow settles. Snowbound, reading seed catalogs and researching recipes. Chopping wood. A kitchen garden I do not have to abandon each year, planting perennials. My dad, having projects to choose from. Harmon House, with guest rooms becoming where we live. White Mountains. And so near, Hermit's Island where I fell in love with windy, rocky coasts and Maine at 16. I dreamed in color, seeing satisfied guests, worthy work, a beautiful setting. I had 24 hours of manifesting the vision. Then my Capricorn side stirred. Taxes, grass cutting, insurance, maintenance, isolation, laundry, dishes, cooking, coordinating healthcare for my brother, uprooting my 88 year old father away from local family. Hard work I can do, assuring contented guests I can do. Soothing disgruntled demanding people I can do. But I'm a senior citizen. Maybe the current owner who wants to retire is my age. It's a conundrum. My friends say go for it. My niece counseled perhaps there's another dream I can pursue. The deadline is May 7. I have a little while to discover which road I'll take. Is it worth $125 to stick a toe in a dream? Today I think yes. Tomorrow I may dare a different dream.

Serendipity or Bunglebosh?

Sometimes my Pisces sun/moon combo picks a fight with my Capricorn rising. Yeah. Truth is this yin/yang is ongoing, and it's probably true for lots of people. Is it? Depends on whether I'm in the mood to feel mainstream or bizarre. I always answer football victory questions with "on any given day," because any football team can win. Even the Detroit Lions. On any given day, I believe serendipity is real. Another day, I wander in bunglebosh, malarkey, and juju. My reliable raucous alarm clock (a gift in the early 80s from my roomie Cheryl, who went shopping for a clock that tipped my bed and dumped me on the floor) has a snooze alarm that donates 9 more minutes of sleep. I know from experience that it can only be slapped 3 times. But it's lost that prohibition. It can bless 9 mins. infinitely. This October, I'm having 9 minute speed dreaming episodes. These are so vivid, colorful and weird, I started a dream journal. Last night a character named SETI, Sedhai? showed up. "Not from Chicago, Detroit or Philadelphia." So where is she from? Is this a spirit guide I need to listen to? A traveler who got sucked into the 9 minute vortex? Early Sunday - I did the math (ugh) and discovered I'd hit the snooze 23 times. Each of those 23 9-min. dream sequences had a bird drawing in it. Not a real bird, an art bird. Stone? Painting? Symbol? A sandpiper, other wader? What's up with this bird? Today I went looking for a piece of my art for this post, and found this bird. I drew a page of aboriginal drawings to entice a project from a Native American intuitive healer a few years ago. And here it is. The bird. Not exactly the bird, who I wrote was green/blue with wavy lines for wing feathers, nevertheless it's the bird. The 23-times bird was facing the other way. Does that mean I'm moving in the wrong direction? Is this a serendipity or bunglebosh day?