Pamela Leavey

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Category: Massachusetts

Food For Thought: Moments Like These

Never get so caught up in the noise around you, that you might forget that there are also moments like these when in the still you see the reflection of light and color and you are lifted up, if only for a moment, to the glory and the grace of beauty in its purest form.

Sunset on the Merrimack River

Even when things appear to be dark, there is still light behind that darkness. Let that light in. Seek that light. Let the very thought of it envelope you and protect your psyche, now and always.

Namaste… Pamela

Photo: Sunset on the Merrimack River in Amesbury, Massachusetts at Lowell’s Boat Shop.

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Reflections: Affirming Direction

Summer is winding down as the first week of September has brought a preview of the colors of fall to the banks of the Merrimack River and beyond. The other evening after attending the wake of an old friend from high school, I decided to drive down to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge as I had the camera in the car.

Before I even got to the Refuge, I was struck by the late day light on the west facing wall of the iconic Pink House on the Plum Island Turnpike. I quickly veered off the side of the road, parked my car and grabbed the camera. I took numerous shots with both a 70 – 300 mm zoom and a 10 – 24 mm wide angle (both Nikon).

The light was breathtaking. The wall was illuminated with a golden glow that mingled sweetly with the fall tones of the marsh grasses and brush around the house. As I walked back and forth along the roadside with the camera taking shots from different angles with my two lens I suddenly realized there was a Red-tailed Hawk sitting on the chimney of the house. My spirit bird had come to visit.

Always tuned to the energy of the wild creatures and other forces of nature, I was grateful for the visit of my messenger, the Red-tailed. (more…)

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Daily Affirmations: Be All That I Can Be

sandy point trail

Today, I strive to make a difference where ever I go. Today, I strive to touch one life in such a way that I provide comfort, solace and help in some meaningful way. Today, I strive to Be All That I Can Be, to do my best in all that I do. Today, I go forth and do the work of the Spirit that guides me, and trust that it shall not lead me astray. Today, I will trust that somewhere,  somehow I will make a difference; and I am grateful for that opportunity.

Namaste… Pamela

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Musings: At the Water’s Edge

low tide sandy pointMusings on a late summer’s day from my journal…

The tidal waters converged around the sandbar creating a rippling wave that crisscrossed and danced diagonally on the shore. The blue ocean water sparkled in the large tidal basin evoking the vision of a large sapphire sitting in the sun.

As I waded in the warm tidal pool I looked down to see a school of minnows swirling about my feet and my ankles. I imagined that they tickled my flesh as they swam by so swiftly in the sun-warmed water.

What a blessing to have this perfect last beach day soaking up the sun and lolling in the water that was near warm enough to be in the tub. Life was teeming at the water’s edge, from the minnows and hermit crabs to the sanderlings and piping plovers and of course, the large shore birds, the gulls of the Atlantic shore. Soon the cooler fall air would shift into play and the warmer weather birds would migrate.

The vast swarms of swallows had left the refuge just a few days ago. The purple martins were also gone. The songbirds had long moved on. Summer was winding down. The green marshes had been showing a hint of fall color for a few weeks, but suddenly there was a riot of color exploding in bursts across the landscape.

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Reflections: The Bailout Plan

A few weeks ago, I posted a short essay on My Grand Mid-life Crisis Adventure, which ultimately brought me and my daughter, home to live in Massachusetts, although the destination at the time, seven years ago, had been Eastport, Maine. It was the fall of 2008, the economy had tanked and I had been planning our move to Maine weeks before Wall Street had collapsed.

It felt as though there was no choice but to follow through with our move, as my personal economic situation had worsened as did the situation of so many other families living on the edge of poverty.  We took to the road with a sense of humor and deep-down inside a sense of great trepidation. This was our bailout plan, to embark on a cross-country journey and move, that would forever be affectionately known as My Grand Mid-life Crisis Adventure.

The story continues…

The Bailout Plan

There were stacks of packing boxes lined up in a 6’ x 12’ space marked off with red tape in the center of the living floor. I put another heavy 12” cubed box of books on one of the stacks and wondered if I should not try to get rid of more of my books. I swiftly tossed that thought out of the open window of my second floor apartment into the 90-degree heat and mused I would not miss that heat. It was the fall of 2008 and we were preparing for our move from Los Angeles to the Down east area of the northern coast of Maine.

The economy had been slowly sinking for the past few years, and as predicted by many who had seen the economic disaster coming, including myself, the bottom was now falling out. The timing was perfect to move from Los Angeles, where the cost of living was quite high, to coastal Maine where the cost of living was considerably lower. At least that was my frame of thought as I prepared for the 3500-mile trek across country with my 19-year-old daughter, Juliet. (more…)

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Reflections: Maine or Bust… Looking Back on My Grand Mid-life Crisis Adventure

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In the fall of 2008, I embarked on a cross-country, life changing move from Los Angeles to Eastport, Maine with my daughter, her cat, and all our belongings jam-packed into a 6′ x 12′ U-Haul Trailer. The journey cross-country was as jam-packed as the trailer, with my friend Mario behind the wheel, we set out to make it cross-country in breakneck speed, traveling from Los Angeles to Rock’s Village, Massachusetts in 4 1/2 days. Mario had volunteered to get us safely from point A to just north of Boston, from there I would be on my own driving to Maine. As luck would have it, once arrived in Massachusetts, another dear friend, who recently passed away, stepped up and attached my U-Haul trailer to his 8-cylinder SUV to haul it up to Eastport for me. A bit of what prompted me to make the move and what happened once we located follows…

In the summer of 2008, I realized that it was time to leave Los Angeles. (more…)

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