LET’S HEAR IT FOR PERSONAL GROWTH AND HAPPINESS!

 

A series of essays….

OUR FIRST SUNRISE IN WALES.
WE HAVE CAPTURED THE BEAUTY THAT SURROUNDS US 
AND REVEL IN ITS WONDER!

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Healthy challenges can inspire us to grow. 

I like this sentence. I find it appealing because it takes me in so many exciting directions: past, present, and future.

First of all, I believe we never stop growing in one way or another each day of our lives, no matter our age.

Before I go any further, I would just like to mention why I believe the eclipse this week was deemed extra exciting by so many of us. I mean, besides the fact that a solar eclipse is scientifically pretty phenomenal all on its own! We all required something this exciting to focus on, take our thoughts away from the Big Lies and, ultimately, how much time drumpf must spend behind bars to compensate for them…

Here’s where I give some examples of healthy challenges. Being physically challenged reaps its own benefits and rewards. Keeping the body in motion, we all know, contributes towards proper weight balance, muscle strength, circulation, and so much more. 

Let’s say that this physical challenge is combined with others as in a team sport which may couple physical dexterity with the sharp mental awareness needed to make quick decisions (individually) and blend these decisions with everyone else in the group. The objective is not necessarily to win, but rather to work well within a group of others whether it be sports related, office or work relationships, or being human and relating to the rest of our fellow human beings on a daily basis. 

This latter example, comprised of love, kindness, and understanding, can be linked to our own spirituality. How do we perceive the world to function after incorporating these specific acts into our daily routines? Will we become better people because we have? Yes, of course, we would no longer place ourselves first, rather our goal, if we choose to accept this spiritual lifestyle, is to accept everyone as equals, allowing us to grow exponentially (utilizing our untapped potential) by helping to make the world a better, happier place to live.

Doing something nice for someone doesn't require spending money on them. You can cook someone a meal, let them borrow a favorite book, help them out with something, or do anything else that makes them feel good!

Food. Our eating habits. Forfeiting an unhealthy diet for one that, potentially, makes you grow stronger by providing the body with what it needs rather than pacifying the mind with what society has taught us to crave as addicts of sugar, salt, and white flour. 

Trust me, I have challenged myself for a lifetime to disengage from bad eating habits by incorporating healthy foods into my diet. I blamed the first third of my poor eating lifestyle and habits on my parents. The second third of my life was all on me. Now that I’m in the final third — my aim is to stretch this life out as healthy and meaningfully as possible.

I have always been a yo-yo dieter as I’d work hard to drop the weight, succeed to a certain degree, only to have something, major or minor, trigger the inevitable lapse in mental stamina that was guaranteed to follow.

Now that I am older and getting the hang of minimizing my intake of cane sugar, salt (never truly liked too much salt in the first place), and craving a slice or two of crusty artisan bread slathered in good butter, I feel I can control my weight and combine a better diet plan with more movement and approve of the results.

Inspiration comes in many different forms. Even Monday’s eclipse had a pronounced lesson for us in that there will always be something much larger than ourselves and our solar system certainly proved its point this week! Something small can appear big enough to block something larger. There is power in distance and perspective. Things—just like experiences—are not always as big as they seem. We must give ourselves time. Take a step back. Look not at the shadow, but at the light.

Routines. Enjoying a daily routine can ground us in a way that nothing else can. It keeps us on a personal track that contributes to stability and staying focussed; living each day to the fullest. Each day brings an opportunity for us to experience amazing things, even challenge those things that might trouble and overwhelm us on a day-to-day basis.

Practice mindfulness when doing daily tasks and embrace being in the present moment. Practice gratitude and remind yourself of the amazing things you have to be thankful for. Take time to disconnect from social media and intentionally connect with yourself, friends, family, or your community. Make small steps or a plan to reach a goal — whether it's to cook at home more, journal each day, or publish that novel you’ve been working on for years.

Healthy challenges can inspire us to grow as individuals whether we achieve results on our own or become a part of a larger group. 

Happiness, personal joy and growth, respect for others, can be found in so many areas — from exploring our immediate priorities to helping others. May your own healthy challenges inspire you to grow each and every day.

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

WHY DO BUTTERFLIES STAND ON THEIR FOOD?

 

A series of essays….

COLORFUL PEPPERS DRIPPING LIKE
PHLOX OVER AN ANCIENT STONE WALL

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Welcome to PFC Markets: Connecting customers and market businesses through honest relationships and supporting community and local economies through a thriving market culture.  —  Michigan Farmers Market Association

The Kalamazoo Farmers Market, a PFC (People’s Food Co-op) market, was quite an unexpected surprise when good friends asked if we’d like to join them at the market after moving up to Michigan. We were thrilled to do so considering that one of our greatest adventures while in Europe, especially France, is spending hours at village markets. Not only is this a great way to explore what the area has to offer in fresh produce, spices, local cheeses, sausage and other high quality meats but, these open markets introduce you to the area, small businesses, the local people, and so much more! 

The title open market denotes an unrestricted competitive market in which any buyer and seller is free to participate. It is generally conducted out-of-doors with connecting stalls occupied by the sellers in order to be exposed to the buyers who are eager to see the presented wares. With such a great market strategy employing a double entendre in its title, this concept has connected with us for hundreds of years.

The Kalamazoo Farmers Market will reopen on Saturdays from May 4 through October 26…night markets, once a month, from June through September offer live music, a hundred vendors including artisans selling handmade goods, and a selection of local beer and wine. Also, an indoor Kalamazoo Winter Market is open to the public during the winter months each Saturday.

We were excited to take this special opportunity to meet and rub elbows (literally) with the locals and carry-on conversations about the town and surrounding area. Immersing oneself into the community truly requires getting to know the local farmers, bakers, florists, honey suppliers, and artisans of many beautiful and practical items for yourself and your home.

IN ADDITION TO LOCAL PRODUCE 
THERE IS A VARIETY OF FRESH CHEESE
AND BAKED GOODS

The Kalamazoo Farmers Market did not disappoint us. The day began cloudy and overcast. Then, the sun showered us with its light and Floridian-like heat as we parked our car and walked into the bustling crowd of shoppers. People were clutching their market baskets filled with a delightful conglomeration of locally grown produce with carrot tops, fresh lettuces, and vividly colored peppers dripping over the sides like dense clusters of colorful phlox over the rim of an ancient stone wall.

One does not proceed meekly as you make your way forward among your fellow shoppers within the large aisle separating the vendors on the left and vendors to the right. You must employ a calm, positive demeanor as you find yourself bobbing this way and that, head turned towards the left and body aiming to the right in ‘pretzel’ position, never missing a deal or an opportunity. And, politeness being a virtue as you excuse yourself for the hundredth time after, unfortunately, stabbing someone with your elbow. Farmers markets can be considered a contact sport in many ways!

And, that’s always good because the genuine enthusiasm for the chance to mingle with your neighbors while shopping in a healthy, sustainable manner with the benefit of being a part of the greater community....is never to be turned away. 

MY HUMBLE ATTEMPT AT
CAPTURING THESE COLORFUL BEAUTIES

Our friend, a local artist and talented photographer, spent time that morning taking amazing shots of the many bouquets of flowers offered by several of the vendors. The magnificent and vibrant colors flourished wildly within his camera lens as his close-ups captured the natural beauty of each perfect bloom.

When you shop at the farmers market you support your neighbors; you give true meaning to the phrase ‘know your farmer, know your food’ because you have the opportunity to speak directly with them, ask questions, and learn their stories and practices first hand. At the same time, a large portion of your dollar will stay in the community as you are directly helping local families survive economically. 

After walking along the stalls of over one hundred vendors, some supplying the people of Kalamazoo with their particular wares for many decades, and weaving through the crowd of determined yet smiling faces for over an hour, I was quite satisfied with the items chosen to fill my wicker market basket. Unlike shopping at the market in Bédoin, France, as we do each time we visit Provence, we are not disguising ourselves as locals for the week....now, we are the locals and we could not be more proud! 

I’ve been reading extensively about the rich history of The City of Kalamazoo’s Farmers Market which extends back into the mid 1800’s. Incredible for so many reasons, the market has woven its way through major wars, relocations, economic upheaval, local politics, and has grown stronger and stronger as the years progress.

Gone is the belief that similar European markets hold the exclusive keys to the four categories requested by every market business in order to self-identify their role in a Farmers Market as a retailer, grower, producer, and artisan. And, we should all be fairly impressed by the longevity and constant growth that the Kalamazoo Farmers Market has enjoyed and delightedly shared with the people of this community. 

Dan and I have definitely become a part of this incredible place with the help of good neighbors and friends. We’re looking forward to many, many years of giving, sharing, and participating in local places and events. Our formal introduction to the local Farmers Market has been one huge building block helping to form a foundation of unity and belonging to something far greater and, often, wiser than ourselves.

Answer: Why do butterflies stand on their food? Because they taste with their feet. All living creatures have one thing in common....they must eat!

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

Photos copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All photo rights reserved

RESIDUALS OF HOME IMPROVEMENT

 

A series of essays….

A PORTION OF THE WET ROOM 
IN OUR NEW BATH

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Do you remember spending the day at the beach, hauling sand into the car at the end of the day, and creating a mini-beach on the laundry room floor after extracting towels, blankets, and clothes to be washed from a colorful, canvas beach bag? I know some people who won’t even go to the beach for these reasons. I can’t imagine forfeiting sun, sand, water, and stimulating exercise because the sand gets between your toes (and many others places) during a seaside adventure.

I wonder if any of these same people are adverse to putting up and living with all kinds of home improvement — especially when dealing with drywall and its various stages of installation? 

All efforts are geared towards the final product, of course. 

And, you may decide to vacate the premises as work is being done. However, the process of getting to the end, the completion of all of the long, difficult work in order to enjoy the fruits of your labor, is a topic well worth looking into.

Patience my friend—it requires a magnitude of patience, understanding, and fortitude, especially when doing all of the work ‘in-house’ with your husband heading up the entire operation. Don’t get me wrong, we have saved quite an exorbitant amount of money with Dan at the helm! Paying for labor alone would have eaten up an enormous chunk of our expenditures. His accumulated knowledge of all aspects of construction (residential and commercial) for over fifty years has certainly come in handy each time we decided to improve our immediate surroundings.

We knew that moving up to our little cottage in Kalamazoo would require planning and lots of hard work. There were quite a few major improvements we wanted to make with the kitchen being at the top of our most pressing list of to do’s. Enlarging and modernizing the original 1941 space required incorporating a back porch area that actually doubled the original layout and has provided us with ample room for cooking and entertaining. 

However, before moving in August of 2018, Dan had already changed the façade of the living room fireplace, improved the original bathroom with shiny, new fixtures and paint, and sanded, stained, and polyurethaned the hardwood floors throughout the lower level. Dan and Matt, our son-in-law, demolished the back porch walls in anticipation of our kitchen remodel. 

And, all this time, Dan thought he had actively retired from the construction business!

Not so, my friends! We have been living at the beach (so to speak) ever since inhabiting the cottage full time going on six years now. Drywall dust has crept into every crack and crevice of this house for the past several months and has left its fine coating of off-white powder on furniture, draperies, light fixtures…well, just about everything that is exposed within our 1,600 sf cottage. It’s inescapable!

But, if you said that the end justifies the means, you would be  absolutely correct. Dan, seriously, began this latest project, turning the second bedroom into a main bathroom and the original bathroom into my writing space, back on November 1, last year. Disregarding a small ‘punch list’ for the bathroom and finishing touches to my office, we have rearranged our home to meet our personal needs and have been pleasantly happy with the outcome. 

Even as I document our progress I know that this little beach party isn’t over yet. A tiny portion of our leisure time conversation includes planning the future ‘all seasons’ room just beyond the new kitchen, improving the main bedroom closet, and, possibly, adding a porch to the front of the cottage. I will tell you that these ideas keep us going; give us something to look forward to and plan on. 

Retirement doesn’t have to mean sitting in a rocking chair and watching the world go by. It doesn’t have to mean crumbling into old age and forfeiting the ability to dream by improving your life and keeping the mind active and healthy. The day you stop dreaming about something new, different, and exciting is the day you stop living life to the fullest. It doesn’t matter how old we are…there is something new to learn and extract from the past, present, and future that will broaden our minds and enlarge our lives each and every day. Never stop learning! Never stop dreaming!

So, which shall it be next for us now that the new bath is functional and quite beautiful? I say the back room off of the kitchen. It would be a great spot to daydream in, read a book, and watch the squirrels navigate their own super highways as they zigzag across the backyard chasing one another with joy and non-stop enthusiasm! I know that I can live with the new construction and drywall dust. Dan will say, give me a little bit of time to catch my breath, and then jump into our next project with both feet. 

We know that the pride and joy we feel after each project is completed keeps us going strong and that one of these days (years), our renovated little cottage will give back everything and more from what we put into it after all this time. All in all, this arrangement fulfills us both in so many ways. For the most part, it keeps us dreaming!

(Let me know if you’d like to see more pictures of our progress and ‘before & after’ pictures of the new bath.)

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

DAYDREAMING

 

A series of essays….

MY PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION OF AN
IMPRESSIONISTIC PAINTING ENTITLED:
POOLSIDE (2007)

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

The perfectly angled autumn sun pours its golden light down upon the swirling water while the reflection of a thousand dancing fairies shimmer above me on the high-glossed, paneled ceiling. I am sitting on my lanai and daydreaming. Staring up at the tongue and groove boards, I observe brilliant white light, texture, and fluid movement as the nymphs play their afternoon games of hide and seek. My heart is filled with joy!

I have always been a daydreamer. Sister Teresa understood and encouraged me. As long as I was able to answer her questions when called upon in class, my fantasy worlds were windows of opportunity for me, as far as she was concerned. Yes, she always understood. A fellow dreamer, perhaps?

Not every Sister or lay teacher I had in Catholic School was able to perceive the importance of my mini-travels to the stars and back. Avid reading, however, was acceptable, and I always did my fair share of that. After exhausting Carolyn Keene's adventures with the help of Nancy Drew, I set my sights on F. W. Dixon and checked-out as many Hardy Boys Mystery Stories as they would allow me to each week from our small school library. The bus ride home each day was extensive and permitted me ample time to consume multiple chapters before hearing the whoosh of the bus door closing behind me. 

The addition of writing coupled with the joy of reading came early on in life. By first grade I was begging my Mother to purchase extra notebooks for school, I would turn them into spiral bound journals filled with line after line of cursive script intended for my eyes only. Carefully hiding them in stacks beneath my bed, it was never my intent, at that time, to share my past, present, or future with another living soul. 

The nomadic lifestyle imposed upon my family due to my father's employment made it difficult to hide much beneath my bed for very long considering the floor it rested upon changed from one year to the next. The dust bunnies barely had sufficient time to accumulate. Not only was I a wanderer within my own head but, with each move and having to adjust to each new school, new house, and new set of friends, our small, restless mobile society contributed to my need for movement and travel later on in life.

When my dad decided to finally settle down, he brought us to Michigan where I was enrolled in our public high school that included an eighth-grade level program. Growing-up required bidding adieu to the ladies donning black habits and beaded (rosary) accessories one year and hello to walking the halls alongside a student body that was eighty percent older than myself. I was now changing classrooms each hour and having to consciously recall my locker combination or be left standing alone in the hall like a fish out of water. I survived and matured because of the experience.

It was around this time that two amazing realizations occurred that have served to mold and change my life forever. I fell in love with France, all things to do with France, and knew that I could consciously submerge myself in her culture, language, people, and history and be happy the rest of my life. Secondly, it was time to share my thoughts with anyone who would be willing to read about them. I became a writer at fourteen years old. My first poem entitled "Time" was published in our local newspaper and after that, I never looked back.

There is a fine line between the conscious and the subconscious mind. Traveling between them can be an interesting adventure, especially when the journey itself is used as a coping mechanism allowing you to exist despite teenage challenges. The observation of 'visible energy' surrounding me was developed, encouraged and always felt natural. After all....I had had several years of practice by then. Because we can see light with our eyes, it has special significance to us. Rainbows show how visible energy is a combination of many colors. I often relied upon my vivid imagination to transform a negative situation into a positive experience. 

To this day, daydreaming, triggered by visible energy, attracts me like a Super Magnet. Pulled into a vortex of encircling emotions and ideas, my interpretations can be transformed from the ordinary to the extraordinary in moments. Unlike most of our stage five dreams at night during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep that may be forgotten upon awakening, daydreaming affords us the luxury of sustained recall. In case you were wondering, yes, I do sleep with a pad of paper and a pencil on the night stand.....just in case.

The motion that triggers a reaction in me and stimulates my desire to daydream can be as complicated and exquisite as being transfixed by the languid shadow of the backyard live oak tree as it spills its brilliant summer colors onto the swimming pool's aquamarine ripples. Or, as simple as the sunlight reflecting off of my watch creating 'Tinker Bell' choreography on the family room walls. Light. Motion. A  combination capable of bridging the gap between conscious and subconscious thoughts and my personal recipe for a creative concoction certain to be utilized, expanded upon and served-up with imaginative flair in the near future.

Looking up at my dancing fairies this afternoon as I daydream the moments away, I am reminded of a quote by Sir Richard Branson, the highly successful English businessman and investor who said, "Don't ever let anyone prevent you from dreaming. Imagination is one of our greatest gifts. Don't just dream it. Go out and grab it with both hands." 

Daydreaming is as close to reality as I sometimes want to be and it is much more important than the simple involvement of idle reverie or indulging in pipe dreams. Daydreaming has been and will always be my way of witnessing and then describing the softened edges of a granite hard world.....through the eyes and soul of a writer. Life seen through my eyes!

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

Photograph copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved