City Mouse/Country Mouse …A Book … and a Sailing Adventure
Reaching for JOY
It’s been over a year since I wrote to you from Serenity Rose on our search for Shangri La and country life….and as so often happens when we make PLANS, Life threw us an interesting detour along the way.
It’s a bit of a story how we came to be living and loving our new digs in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood.
Let’s just say it got Cold living outdoors.
Our new home on Park Drive in Boston’s busy, bustling Fenway Neighborhood. Admittedly, this confused Serenity Rose.
But despite swearing I would never live in the heart of the city, it’s been an incredibly creative time for us. It was a place to plant some new seeds who’s cheerful, bright heads are starting to poke through the soil.
A little more (below) about our rooted, city adventures this past year, but first, I’m so excited (and a little nervous!) to share the fruits of one of these seeds… announcing that my first book, Be the Magic , is slated (Goddess willing) to launch on February 25, 2023!
Please stay tuned for details on a launch party in PA on February 25th, and a Boston release party March 4th.
Coming February to a bookstore and Amazon near you! You can read more about it here.
Although I’d morphed into one of those bloggers I swore I would never be (the ones who post for a few months and then go AWOL), 2022 was largely spent writing and nurturing this little book. Here’s a little of what it’s about.
If you’d like to receive updates about the release, events, and new posts, (which of course I hope you will), you don’t have to do anything - this site will be replaced with the book’s site and you on are “on the list”.
But if you’d rather not get yet another email in your inbox, please unsubscribe, (with love), at the bottom of the page - I won’t be offended!
Might I suggest Be the Magic become an uplifting companion to your morning coffee?
I’d been threatening to write a book for the past 3 years but just couldn’t “get around to it”. Talking to a friend shortly after moving to the city, I suggested that I needed to have my plane grounded so I could get to writing the book. Six minutes later my ankle was broken, my plane was grounded and the book was started. That seed was clearly ready for planting - Such perfection! Who knew I was such a master manifester?
Boston Black Ice + Snow Sprinkles= A Broken Ankle
Life in the heart of the city turned out to be incredibly vibrant and energizing. And the beyond-magical Muddy River winds right through our neighborhood with incredible bird life and even endangered frogs thriving in her mud. But for the first time in 30 years, I found myself without any significant gardening space.
Something had to be done.
I decided that the public, weedy beds at the super-busy Audubon Circle intersection had my name on them. One morning a lightbulb went off…
I would create a Hummingbird/Butterfly Garden to honor the land in this asphalt jungle; to give a little gift to the pollinators and a gift of joyful flowers to the thousands of 2-leggeds who walked by these beds each week. The seed was planted.
Organizing with the Neighborhood Association and Allandale Farm, a few neighbors joined me to plant over 1000 hummingbird and butterfly-attracting annuals in this loud and busy intersection.
With 1000s of people passing through this frenetic intersection daily, maybe this beauty-making could soften the hearts of the horn-honking drivers and stressed pedestrians. I met countless people as I tended the beds through the summer…people stopping to ask the names of the flowers, who planted them and to offer thanks for the beauty.
It just may be the most satisfying garden I’ve ever created.
Making magic with new friends.
Color for Hummingbirds, Salve for Citified Human Eyes
Other adventures included completing a 7-month Forest Therapy Guide training to become a certified Forest Therapy Guide (something else I’d been threatening to do for years - a dormant but persistent seed); leading walks in collaboration with small groups and some folks from the Boston Ayurveda School.
I’m just a few months away from being an “official” Positive Psychology coach (after decades of practicing on Dave I figured it was time to expand my reach).
And I’m now adding some Sound Healing to my mix of tricks after spending December in California.
I was also so lucky to spend a lot of time in Europe this summer, meeting incredibly fun and loving “new” German relatives who may have turned us into avid soccer (sorry! I mean football! fans), and visiting friends in the beloved English countryside..
Diane’s wonderful “newly found” German relatives!
Summer sunset over Heltersburg Germany, in the magical Palatinate Forest in the Pflaz
Dave planted his dream- seed of joining the “Panama Posse” 4 years ago. This year it germinated.
Having spent the last 5 years sailing his way from the Pacific Northwest to Mexico, Dave joined the “Posse” last fall, (a support caravan-community of boats traveling, each with their own itinerary, between Mexico and the Panama Canal). He and his jaunty crew left Puerto Vallarta, Mexico last November (2022), making his way along “The Happy Coast” of Mexico, to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and as of this writing, enroute to Costa Rica.
Traveling with the dolphins, sting rays, masses of turtles and breaching whales seems to be very happy-making for Dave. That and seeing every sunrise, sunset, moonrise and the endless stars over the ocean. He is a fish-whisperer, after all.
But it’s not all rainbows and unicorns on the boat. A few days ago, potential disaster struck as Navigator lost her steering as they limped into an anchorage in Nicaragua. But the boating world and the Panama Posse is a strong community of helpful folks and Dave, as most of you know, is about the most can-do person on the planet. So, he’s jerry rigged a repair as they head towards emergency help in Costa Rica.
Never a dull moment on a boat!
Dave and the crew of Navigator “surfing the bar” into an estuary in El Salvador.
Dorado for Dinner
Diane visiting with Dave, Navigator & Crew in Bahia Cacaluta, Huatulco, Mexico for the holidays
And Serenity Rose the Motor Om? Well, she’s snugged up for the winter in Westport. We’re not quite sure when she’ll ride again. Dave enjoyed her a bit as his “man cave” this past summer, and they seem to have formed a special bond.
But maybe you have a little fantasy about going off in a camper van for awhile? Hmm…should we talk???
Serenity Rose all set for winter camping…
which is great if you don’t like toilets or running water.
How long will we be in the city for? We don’t know! We’re finding the magic and following the breadcrumbs, loving where we’re at, and, so curious to see what’s next.
As always, thanks for reading and know that we Love to hear from you – please share what seeds you are planting and how they are growing!
May 2023 bring you so much goodness, love and magic.
D&D, Sent with Love from the Road
Christmas sunrise in Huatulco, Mexico
“Always be on the Lookout for the Presence of Wonder”…E.B. White
*** Next posts from Be the Magic book site - see you there!
