“It doesn’t matter how old you are, there is a little child within who needs love and acceptance.”- Louise Hay
Do you still wish upon a star? I do, because my own inner child is blissfully naive and unsophisticated.
Star light, star bright, First star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, Have this wish I wish tonight.⭐
I wrote a letter To my inner child And, I told her How loved she was by me And, if no one else Ever told her so She knew How loved she was, by me
⭐
And when We grow up We must never forget That hidden, down deep Within us Is our forever inner child Resting, silently within us Forever waiting Forever hoping That one day We shall Remember it
⭐
And, if a star shall fall Down upon the ground Why, I shall pick her up For she longed to be found I shall hold her forever Forever in my heart Knowing that we shall never Ever again, be apart
By Athey Thompson from A little Pocket Book of Poems
The last week has been heavy with sad and tragic events from around the world. As we leave June and enter another month, let’s lighten the energy with a beautiful quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about planting kindness wherever we can.
“Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine, Kind words, and Kind deeds.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Here’s confirmation.from San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department:
Coroner Identifies Remains Located in the Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area on June 24, 2023
DATE/TIME: June 24, 2023 / 10:00 a.m. INCIDENT: Human Remains Located LOCATION: Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area DECEASED PARTY: Julian Sands, 65-year-old resident of North Hollywood, CA
UPDATE- June 27, 2023: The identification process for the body located on Mt. Baldy on June 24, 2023, has been completed and was positively identified as 65-year-old Julian Sands of North Hollywood. The manner of death is still under investigation, pending further test results.
We would like to extend our gratitude to all the volunteers that worked tirelessly to locate Mr. Sands.
Hopefully, this information will offer some kind of solace to family and loved ones.
Latibulate is a word we definitely need to bring back into daily circulation!
It’s the the action of hiding oneself in a corner: verb, 17th century English.
To be in our latibule (noun) means a cozy, safe place, special to you, hidden away from everyone, in an attempt to escape reality; also to lie dormant.
A place to meditate? A she-shed? A man cave? A blanket fort?
I always thought it’d be so cool to have one of those hidden rooms, to be accessed only by those who knew which secret panel to press in a bookcase.
Or if you’re mom to a toddler, it could even be the bathroom, where we can hide for a few minutes of privacy and silence. Maybe. Maybe not.
“Mom/Grandma, are you in there? Whatcha doing? Can I come in? The door won’t open!”
Angel Boy 2.0 no longer joins me in the bathroom. That was a tradition we agreed to stop when he was four and he kept his word. Now that he’s seven, he likes his own private time and we all respect that, too.
Angel Girl, not yet four, is more fluid in her boundaries. She’s in that in between stage; not quite a big girl but no longer a baby. Sometimes she likes company and a chat, sometimes she likes to brush her teeth with me, mirroring all of my actions. Yes, it’s as adorable as you could picture it.
Especially now, we all need a place to latibulate away from civilization, far away from the madding crowd.
“Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learned to stray; Along the cool sequestered vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.” – Thomas Gray
I’m not talking about that song by the The Romantics, but a secret spot I discovered while out walking yesterday.
I can’t believe I’ve lived here for decades and never knew about this little beachy secret. One other person was there with their dogs and we vowed not to disclose this classified location…
Pretty cool, huh?
Looking to the east…
And to the west…
I MIGHT be persuaded to share the coordinates of this idyllic site, but you’d have to also be sworn to secrecy.
It’s been a long time since we heard any news about Julian Sands. It’s now possible there will be a sad closure to his disappearance.
According to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the body was discovered around 10 a.m. in wilderness near Mount Baldy and was transported to the coroner’s office for identification next week.
Hikers Discover Human Remains in the Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area DATE/TIME: June 24, 2023 / 10:00 a.m. INCIDENT: Human Remains Located LOCATION: Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area On Saturday, June 24, 2023, at about 10:00 a.m., civilian hikers contacted the Fontana Sheriff’s Station after they discovered human remains in the Mt. Baldy wilderness. Fontana Station deputies, along with the Sheriff’s Department’s Emergency Operations Division, responded to the scene. The decedent was transported to the Coroner’s Office, pending positive identification. Identification should be completed next week at which time we will update this press release. No further details are available at this time. Additional details were not immediately available.
Sands, an avid hiker and mountaineer, was reported missing January 13 after setting out on the peak that rises more than 10,000 feet east of Los Angeles. The region was pounded by severe storms during winter.
On Friday, his family released its first statement since Sands’ disappearance:
“We continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer,” the statement said.
Julian Sands is a British-born actor best known for his role in the 1985 film “A Room With a View,”
A June 17 search for Sands, the eighth organized search with a rescue team of about eighty volunteers, was unsuccessful. Hundreds of hours have been put into the search … through the use of helicopters, drones, and other tactics.
I’lll update as more information becomes available.
“In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.” – Kahlil Gibran
My thoughts are about as insignificant as a drop in the ocean, but I’ve memorialized my observations as a way to try and wrap my brain around the tragedy that unfolded the last few days about the Titan submersible.
I’ve lived near the ocean most of my life and while I love it, I’m afraid of it at the same time.
I CAN swim but it’s not my most favorite thing to do; in fact, my chest gets tight and I can start to hyperventilate simply thinking about putting my head under water — even though I know I have done it many times.
The Angel Kids aren’t like me — they’re half dolphin — both of them, and swim and jump in the waves and dive and try to surf and paddleboard with no fear of the power of the ocean.
When I first learned about the concerns regarding the loss of communication with this tiny little submersible while it attempted to reach the wreck of the Titanic, the idea of being crouched into a tight space, freezing cold, in total darkness, with limited oxygen, miles away from help — was a recipe to ignite some of my worst fears.
Lost and alone, in the dark, unable to breathe, under the sea.
I don’t like to take the Bart tunnel from San Francisco to Oakland and can’t even think of an incentive that could motivate me to endure a two-hour ride on the Chunnel from London to Paris.
Yesterday, the United States Coast Guard said that an ROV found the tail cone of the Titan 1,600 ft from the Titanic, and the ROV then found additional debris consistent with the “catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.”
The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” said Rear Admiral John Mauger.
Officials said that the location of the debris field matched “the location of last communication” of the submersible. The time of the implosion has not yet been determined.
From the Rear Admiral, “I offer my deepest condolences to the family. I hope this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time.”
OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operated the Titan, released a statement on Thursday saying that they believe all five passengers on the submersible had been “lost.”
Presumed deceased are Paul-Henry Nargeolet, Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, and his son, Sulaiman Dawood.
Also from OceanGate, “These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” the statement said . “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”
What I find utterly fascinating and darkly eerie is the connection to the wreck of the Titanic.
From NPR: “The OceanGate executive who was piloting the submersible on its fateful Sunday dive is married to the descendent of a couple who died in the very shipwreck his expedition aimed to see.
OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush is married to Wendy Rush, the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus, who choose to remain onboard the sinking Titanic together so that others could escape to safety in their place.
They were the real-life inspiration behind the heartbreaking scene in James Cameron’s movie in which an elderly couple embraces in bed as water rushes into their room.”
There’s been a disgusting amount of unkind and vicious commentary on social media about the fact that these men were millionaires and billionaires.
In my opinion, it doesn’t matter how entitled they were or how much money they had; this is a tragic, horrible way to die.
From Julias Kim via Twitter: “There isn’t one person who is hating on billionaires right now that wouldn’t take a billion dollars if it was handed to them tax free…Beware. It’s a slippery slope when we start devaluing lives based on how much money people have.”
Yet…there’s this:
As every news report led with the OceanGate submersible, how many international efforts coalesced to rescue hundreds of migrants from the ocean off Greece?
It seems as if that catastrophe garnered little to no attention.
I feel terrible for the migrants who drowned in the waters outside Greece AND for the people who died aboard the Titan.
And yes, it’s possible to feel compassion for both.
Happy first day of summer and the longest day of the year!
Until recently, I hadn’t known about the practice of celebrating Litha during Midsummer. Litha is a pagan holiday, a time of light, purification, and healing; to reflect on the light and dark within us and the world.
It’s time to appreciate everything we have in our lives and to be grateful for nature and all that she provides.
Pick some flowers to honor the season or build a fire or light a candle. A fire lit on Litha is said to be very powerful and magical.
“Write down your hopes and dreams and burn them in the fire, to do this on Litha night will bring you your desire.”
The Sun
Have you ever seen anything in your life more wonderful
than the way the sun, every evening, relaxed and easy, floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills, or the rumpled sea, and is gone– and how it slides again
out of the blackness, every morning, on the other side of the world, like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils, say, on a morning in early summer, at its perfect imperial distance– and have you ever felt for anything such wild love– do you think there is anywhere, in any language, a word billowing enough for the pleasure
that fills you, as the sun reaches out, as it warms you
as you stand there, empty-handed– or have you too turned from this world–
or have you too gone crazy for power, for things? – Mary Oliver
“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has the power to move you, if the simple things of Nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.” — Eleonora Duse
Don’t these clouds look like they should contain a message from the universe?
I love to look up and see blue sky and white clouds. No filter needed, that’s for sure.
This is honestly the first day we’ve had a sunny and warm afternoon. I don’t know where those clouds came from or what they mean, but no rain fell or is anticipated.
Today is the last official day of Spring. The Summer Solstice occurs Wednesday at 7:58 a.m.
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 