My tabby cat
Is ensuring our survival,
Bringing sacrifices of small rodents
From the garden.
No morsel for his appetite,
He places them reverently
On the stone in the ancient way, [Read more…] about Today’s Featured Poem: “The Sacrifice”
How Traumatic Brain Injury Changed My Life
On June 2, 2012, I sustained a concussion. Some of you who follow my blog already know this. I must admit that at the time, like most people, I had no idea how serious a concussion can be. Over the next few months, I learned first-hand that a concussion is a brain injury that “may take 3 to 6 months to heal.” (Picture me doing the air quotes, and you’ll see why below.) Another name for a concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury.
It’s referred to as “mild” only because your head isn’t split wide open and you aren’t laying unconscious in the ICU. [Read more…] about How Traumatic Brain Injury Changed My Life
One Year Later
So…today it has been one whole year since Alf departed this world. I have been torn in my heart all day. Part of me wanted to blog, to commemorate this milestone and honor his memory. And part of me wanted to have nothing to do with thinking about it, because it is still very painful to remember that he is no longer here with us. To remember how much I love him, and how much I miss him. I don’t know if anyone can even begin to imagine how much I miss him. Even now, as I write these words, the tears fall. This, THIS is what I was trying to avoid today, this feeling. But with grief, there is no way around it. One must, as always, journey right through the heart of it to get to the other side, to get to the healing.
Today’s Poetry Selection: “Blodeuwedd”
![Great-Horned-Owl-Landing-8[1]](http://blackhorseconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Great-Horned-Owl-Landing-81.gif)
The owls hooting outside my window on these long, dark winter nights reminded me of this poem, which is based on a tale from the Welsh Mabinogi. You can find this selection and many of my other poems in the collection “Purple Roses & Other Poems,” available through Amazon.com. This Wikipedia entry summarizes the story: Blodeuwedd. I include it here so that those with no knowledge of the tale may better understand the poem.
Blodeuwedd
The wind sighs through the browning, brittle leaves
dark and withered under threatening sky
The owl calls ‘who?’; her question pierces
the heart and soul of this lonely place. [Read more…] about Today’s Poetry Selection: “Blodeuwedd”
Happy New Year!
© Cindy L. McGinley
Happy New Year! May 2015 be the year your dreams come true!
When I reflect on the past year (2014), I realize that I had a mixed year; some good things happened, but some not-so-good things, too.
The not-so-good things: Alf, my soulmate, my equine anamcara, died in April, and though I knew it was coming and I knew I would be spun into a hard grief, I had no idea just how long that melancholy would last. In addition, my mother was in and out of the hospital with congestive heart failure and then finally went into hospice care in October with end-stage renal failure. I had to take yet another leave of absence from grad school to help get her affairs in order, putting me now a full year-and-a-half behind my original schedule toward attaining my Masters degree in Counseling Psychology/Equine-Assisted Mental Health.
But then I look at the good things, and realize that maybe, in spite of my overall sadness, 2014 wasn’t really so bad after all. For instance, [Read more…] about Happy New Year!
