Solar Return | Enchanted Seashells

Wishing a very happy International Woman’s Day 2025 to all strong, intelligent, talented, and simply wonderful women of this world!

Today is International Women’s Day, but really, EVERY DAY should be a day to celebrate women, to encourage a world where difference is valued and celebrated with all the ways we can forge women’s equality.

IWD began in New York City on March 8, 1857 when female textile workers marched in protest of unfair working conditions and unequal rights for women. It was one of the first organized strikes by working women, during which they called for a shorter work day and decent wages.

For me, even more important than a single day set aside to commemorate women, March 8 is the day to rejoice in the birth of Angel Boy 2.0 on his ninth solar return.

I don’t know how it happened, but that child is nine years old today! How is that even possible?

I still think of him as he was learning to walk…

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He’s awesome at sports, obsessed with the Dodgers; he’s a great reader, also in the advanced math group, and that makes me very happy.

Happy nine years around the sun, AB 2.0!

Here’s a unique and cool way to wish someone “Happy Birthday!”

“Happy Solar Return!”

It was the occasion of MY solar return and one of my gifts was an A M A Z I N G windchime.

I thought all chimes were pretty much the same with only slight variations in tonality and musicality, but I was SO wrong.

Apparently there’s a whole world of chime tones and chimemakers. What a beautiful passion to share with us!

I don’t know much about music, but when I heard these chimes for the first time, it was as grand-sounding as a symphony.

Of course, I had to research the company. Woodstock Chimes are the original musically-tuned wind chimes, tuned to appealing melodies and scales from around the world.

The company was started in 1979 by self-proclaimed “old hippie” and Grammy Award winner Garry Kvistad.

My chime gift is called the Tree of Life, adorned with crystal accents along with “soothing sounds that offer tranquility and space for reflection”.

“With its promise of eternal life, the Tree of Life myth exists across cultures and dates back to ancient times. It is a representation of mankind, symbolizing how we are rooted on the earth even while we are reaching for the stars…two birds are nestled in the tree’s branches with crystal accents in a bright, bold green; the color of growth, renewal and spring.”

Listen for yourself: https://www.chimes.com/products/tree-of-life-chime

This was a splendid way to celebrate my solar return! I sure wish I was at that lake, but this is a much better photo than the ones I took. Mine is hanging on my deck and the crystals catch the sun and scatter all the colors of the rainbow.