I was so excited to find my very first two crocus of the season peeking their sweet lilac heads out from the front bed. They courageously bloom amidst a sea of abundant bulbs that are all reaching with their green stalks and buds to the sun, ready to greet the season of emergence.

I love how resilient and determined they are amidst still-freezing nights – continuing to power on.

Even though we have almost a week of colder weather returning with some snow and moisture pretty much daily, the promise holds strong and reminds me that everything is temporary, resiliency is a superpower innately available, and nothing stops energy from consistently recreating itself.

I’m feeling some assurance that I’ll get to see more blooms before we head off to blossom in new ways ourselves.

And speaking of blooms, I received a surprise, belated birthday package in the mail on the 24th, the day after discovering my crocus Earth stars. It came from a good friend of mine whose business is called “Starship Bloom” that includes such offerings as magickal realism embroidery art.

Not more than a couple of hours after opening the package and finding one of her incredibly beautiful pieces of two coyotes under a Pink Moon (which happens to be what April’s Full Moon is called) with crystals and sparkly beads, a pack of coyotes started howling loudly from very close in the forest out back. We heard them while sitting in the jacuzzi watching the sunset. And then upon going to bed, the pack sang once again to the night sky moon. My friend and I have a lot of intertwined experiences – one of which has been ongoing cosmic coyotes and sighting a pair on the same day. The framed art now sits bedside with a grid of amethyst I have there.

Another of her pieces is headed to me of a spirit bear “The Great White Bear” from the stars walking in the liminal space between Earth and Cosmos. It will balance the left side of my night stand – the perfect companions for dream journeys.

I find it important to support the in between spaces where dreamscapes reveal the truer states of multi-dimensionality that I’m learning to weave more into waking life.

Before this week’s dip in temperatures, we had warm days in the 60’s, which we embraced for our earliest-ever kayaking immersion.

On the 25th we had a successful and gorgeous maiden voyage of our new replacement blow-up kayak.

Our other five plus year old one had a tear we discovered when we tried to do an even earlier paddle and float on the lake during pre-Spring warmth.

This was a beautiful gift to be able to enjoy before we head out too.

And I imagine with the current storm coming in, we may get another day or two of skiing in before we leave, and the ski resort closes, as well.

While things oscillate and may seem unready to anchor one way or another, we always have the opportunity to embrace what is here now and enjoy that rich gift as it is.

It’s been a back and forth see-sawing of weather that mirrors these slower prodding forward days. Everything feeling to point to not rushing ahead, and embracing the moment. But I do see how what might feel like a step backward has been equating to two or three steps ahead after. Like a rubber band, I’m feeling the release about to happen. Weeeeee!

Sometimes the slowing down and being extra present and patient can really help tend to details that create greater resonance and alignment for springing forward.

We’ve been continuing to prep a lot before our travels, which included getting our yard cleaned up. You may recall that I’ve been doing this myself the last couple of years – raking all the pine needles and bagging them, branches, and pine cones from the seasons past.

With our being away during the usual time for this and missing yard waste pickups, we decided to have it done early and get that Spring clean in ahead of schedule. I hadn’t the ability to do it this time, so our people who do snow removal were kind enough to come and they had an opening literally the day before the weather shifted.

Sometimes delegating is important and more productive than trying to do everything yourself.

They did an amazing job and it feels so good to have everything cleared – so fresh! This provides me the opportunity to put my garden statues back out so the fae and forest animals will have their enchanted space even if I’m not there for a while. I’ll do that once this storm front passes.

We plan to get the driplines up and running as well before leaving…so everything should be in place.

It will be fun to see what we return home to in the garden and yard.

One step at a time…we’re getting things ready and prepared without rush. I’ve been embracing a slower pace since my birthday with getting things done without any pressure what so ever and sometimes just doing one bigger project, or portion of one, a day.

It’s been a nice change to slow down and not fill my day with only some of what can be the more stressful kinds of things. I’m making bigger windows of time for relaxing and just being, framing the smaller windows of focuses, as our countdown to departure edges closer.

I’ve been enjoying not having pressures around things and creating calm spaces of flow.

Things do still get done, but as they are meant to rather than by agenda, and this creates greater sense of well-being in the process. This has also allotted me extra time for a few more blogs than I thought I might have ability to share. So, I probably will have time for another before leaving.

It’s been interesting to have deer energy with me a lot since Spring Equinox and the antler and bone finds. It reminds me of my dream last year of finding the spiraling/ascending dream antlers and stag being prominent, followed by a lot of encounters with stag and deer in waking reality.

Well, it continued on the 26th with finding a much longer deer leg bone – interesting the bones have all been legs, as legs represent movement forward and ability to navigate life’s challenges.

I’m sensing a lot of renewal energy from these finds, but also the message of softening, trusting, and being in the flow of alignment with life evolutions instead of resisting or trying to control them.

That speaks to what I’ve been leaning into more and more and feel a greater peacefulness from this.

I wonder if that’s been other’s experience more these days too?

And that energy of inspired beginnings is being supported by today’s Aries New Moon and Solar Eclipse. This is not only a period of taking charge within one’s own life and harnessing what inspires you, but also inspiring others by your own example of visionary leadership and embodiment.

While some may feel less inclined to make major moves, some of you may be ready to leap forward and the energies are right there to help you.

New Moons are great for setting intentions and reflecting upon steps to take toward manifesting things in your life. The Solar Eclipse brings some really transformative energy into the mix and combined with Aries, you could really create a strong momentum of change.

So you could strategize some plans or self-reflect, if in fact you feel you’d like to create something new in your life.

You could also just nestle into the joy of now with fullness of heart gratitude.

And for others, this could herald a time you might want to challenge your comfort zones to move toward greater authenticity or new versions of life experience.

It’s all a choice and perfect however you decide.

Personally, I’ve both been enjoying the present ease of things, but also feel growing excitement for broadened experiences both in exploring more of life and exploring more of my creative potential.

And although we haven’t yet even embarked on our long journey, we’ve already put three backpacking adventures on the calendar (including some with friends and some on our own) and secured permits for those that required one. Two are new hikes/locations and one is a favorite we plan to use as our gateway back into the great outdoor immersions awaiting our arrival home.

So, we’re indeed embracing the Aries spirit for travels and nature expeditions and I’m also accepting the same invitation in my project world by seizing the courageous energies to help get me over the hump of any unfounded fears. I plan to begin some of this while we’re gone, using the inspiration of new experiences to guide the way.

Where in your own life do you feel called to create something new?

Are you comfortable where you are, or are you itching for a little more excitement or wonder in your life?

It’s a great time to feel into your own heart and follow the flow of what you find there.

It will be your own version of peace, joy, and adventure, as we all march to the beat of our own drums.

NOTE: The beautiful ocean jasper is still available for two more days only. On March 31st I’ll be removing the listing in order to finalize shipping on the 1st and won’t offer anything more until I return: Crystals & Crystal Skulls