Before I was pregnant with my now-daughter, I had so many beautiful experiences letting me know what was on its way. My life often forecasts for me. It’s like a prophetic way of knowing your own life. There’s a “wind” of experience that blows through me gently and lets me know what is on its way. In the case of my daughter, her spirit had been with me since my 20s. Yet her spirit was yet in personality form. Now I am watching that personality grow! The elephants have always been a part of her journey; one of her many totems. We share this elephant messenger as well.

This is a picture of one of the most wonderful Turkish coffees I’ve ever had. Note the elephant.

The image above is of an Elephant Ear Plant, as noted in the caption. These are not my pictures, but the rest above are. The drawing of mine and the meditation for me this morning is on this image of an elephant year (keeping typo). My love for nature has me nudged in sharing more:

Elephant Ear Tips to Proper Growing
The two main issues that may arise when caring for your alocasia plants are; dry air and cool temperatures. Elephant ears are tropical plants so are used to very warm, humid conditions. These things can be hard to replicate inside our homes so we’ve come up with some top tips to help you out: Your plant will appreciate medium-high humidity, to help increase humidity daily you can do the following:

Temperature and Humidity

1. Place a tray of pebbles with water underneath your plant to evaporate.

2. Mist your plant daily.

3. Place near a humidifier.

Problems with Elephant Ears:

• Brown leaves: Brown leaves on the Elephants Ear plant could be caused by two problems: Overwatering or the cold. Check your watering schedule and ensure that the soil is moist and not soggy. Check that the plant is placed in an area where it is warm enough, 15°C or more.

• Leaves are dry and/or crispy: Dry, crispy leaves are caused by low humidity. Increase humidity to address this.

• Crown, leaf spot, and stem or root rot: These diseases are caused by overwatering and usually appear as dark brown or black spots on the leaves surrounded by a yellowish rim. To prevent this, avoid over-watering, keep the leaves dry, and provide it with good air circulation. If your plant does get infected, immediately remove the infected and damaged leaves. Treat it with an organic Fungicide.

• Pale/Patchy brown leaves: This is caused by too much light, usually direct sunlight. This may also occur if you have moved the plant from a dark area to a very bright area too quickly. The plant may have been unable to adapt to its new surroundings sufficiently.

• Pests: to prevent an invasion of Mealy Bugs, Scale, Aphids or Spider mites you can spray your plant with warm soapy water every few weeks. This will also keep the large leaves dust free. If you do find that you have an infestation of pests, spray the plant with an ultra-fine insecticidal oil, such as Neem Oil. This will kill the pests as well as the egg.

Elephant Ear Plant Toxicity:
NOTE: The Elephants Ear plant is very poisonous and should be kept away from children and pets.

Source

For 2022, I’m going to attempt the following format: “Adventure Achives” contains material of mine previously unpublished. I will include information about a plant I want to highlight, and a new song that has become highlighted in my life as a new favorite.

Coloring with my daughter is pure art.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

My situation has gotten worse the past few weeks after a short period (2-3 weeks of freedom from pain) but I still managed to pass my last licensing exam even after the pain returns. I did all 5 (in total) so I could be licensed in any state. Sitting for that last board exam, though, that in itself was a miracle.

But at this point, I’m more or less confined to mostly my bed, due to pain. The smallest amount I do causes me to become disabled in pain. It seems I am unable to be picking up my toddler anymore. She’s too young for me to feel okay with this. All the ways forward don’t have the best known results. All the procedures and treatments beyond the conservative ones which I’ve used for the past decade, all have consequences. I spend time in meditation and prayer for the best guidance and to have the best support. I have been a cheerleader for natural and non-pharma medicine but I am greatly disappointed with my outcome with using all medicines (including Western) I can find on the planet, including the one of my own inner guidance. I have surrendered, asked for complete assistance, but I don’t know how long I will be waiting to “find a reason for all this.” On the pain forums I’m on, I truly see many people in purposeless suffering. It’s sad. I’m one of them. I’m suffering. I’ve lost so much of my life to this “my” version of degenerative disc disease with painful herniation/protrusions and painful spinal nerves.

The truth is I feel unsupported, unappreciated and abandoned. I feel isolated and depressed often. I can’t even imagine ever hiking again or being able to take my daughter to the park by myself let alone if I were to be there only briefly with others. It feels like with these back problems I am guaranteed to miss out on enormous aspects of her life; those that would bring special joy.

My daughter needs me now more than ever and so much falls on my husband to do. Our house isn’t getting cleaned or organized as I would do. My life feels so chaotically stolen from me. The bright moments are all shadowed with this looming reality of debility. We have no supports, friends or family nearby. My in-laws just visited briefly. We are all aging. Everyone has some planned surgery. As an older mom, the possibility of these horrific circumstances do exist, and I’m living it. I’ve been fighting for nearly a decade to have the best quality of life for myself and for others and there were times I was winning. I have seen shamans and done so many healing techniques under the sun. I have prayed regularly with silent Unity. But, I’m not—right now—overcoming.

This is suffering. I know very well what it’s like. And, I’m still young.

I’m writing this so I can be less alone, less invisible, less burdened.

My birthday is this Saturday and it will be another quiet one. 41 years old. I will likely be crying as I have for many of my recent days.