Buddy Barnes

Buddy Barnes

life.love.loss

"The value of things is not the time they last

but the intensity with which they occur.

That is why there are unforgettable moments...."

Fernando Pessoa

if you are a pet owner

or a dog lover

you know

every dog you own is the best dog you have ever had 

you love them

and they are a part of your life

they are family

 they are happy with you, and enjoy every event you attend with them

 they do have their own friends

and always have time for some "full tilt boogie" with those friends

between taking their human for a walk

 they also know when it's time to soak up the warmth of the day

and are always willing to help with anything their family might need from them

 it's a tough job for a dog, taking care of their pet human

but they wake up every day, over and over again, happy to do it

love, work, care, smile, sleep

repeat.

beginning with love

always beginning with love

let's face it

our four legged family members

give so much to us and ask so little in return

which why it is so easy to give them so much and do so much with them

on December 9, Buddy earned his angel wings

too soon, too quickly, and too unexpectedly

 during the time he was here with me as my family

he took care of me as many times as I took care of him

and for that I am forever grateful

the best way I can honor his life

is to share with you a few things that Buddy taught me while he was here

"home" - have an anchor or a place

(find a place in the sun, the end of a runner, your own spot in the room)

"health" - be sure to get your exercise every day

(say hello to another person you pass on the sidewalk)

"humble" - be accepting of everyone

(greet everyone with a smile, stand tall, and wag your tail - adjust as required)

"happy" - smile.  a lot.  smile

(have enthusiasm for what awaits - greet your family with pure joy.  always.)

"heart" - be sure to get your rest - be thoughtful and quiet as required

(take just a few minutes to sit in the sun each day - exercise - live with joy

sit quietly - humans call it "meditation", dogs call it "heart")

 Kristin Van Ogtrop, editor of Real Simple magazine

said it in a way that touched me deeply

"....and when we are feeling particularly sad,

we comfort ourselves with this thought:

when we go to that big house in the sky,

he will be sitting in the doorway,

waiting patiently

to welcome us home."

in loving memory of

Buddy Barnes

12/2008 - 12/2015

Woods Humane Society

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Live, Love, Laugh & Learn

Happiest New Year to you all....

Live, Love, Laugh & Learn.

be.do.create.

2013

natalie.

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

ps - look for Quilters Newsletter Magazine's special publication

Best Fat Quarter Quilts

to see the latest beyond the reef design!!

(we're so proud)

Friendship.

friendship.

friendship comes in all shapes and sizes

it is the family we wish we had

it is our inspiration

our accountability

there are times that we struggle with it

and those are the times, I have found, that you must remind yourself

that your friend may be struggling too

one day one of my best girlfriends and I were at an outdoor quilt show

she is 5'-0" olive skinned, I am 5'-8" and blonde/blue

someone overheard our exchange and asked, 

"are you two sisters?"

and before I could say a word, my friend simply and calmly replied,

"if she was my sister, I would have killed her a long time ago!"

have patience

and be thankful for whatever kind of friendship you have

for it is truly the best gift of all

that friend that makes us more than the sum of who we already are

and urges us to be more than we could ever hope to be

HappiestDays

natalie.

Family. Two dogs, two kids, two adults - and me.

Family.

It's sweet.

It's messy.

It's all around you.  You can't get away from it once you're in the middle of it.

Dogs wake you every morning by smelling your breath, 

then licking your face.

They go room to room checking on every kid in the house.

No matter how old the kid is.

The dog remembers KID.

It's tradition.

Pizza on Fridays.

After running Monday through Thursdays.

Saturdays are hamburgers.

You can count on it.

No matter what time you come home, 

there they are waiting for you.

"should we wrap this up and put it away?"

"no, leave it.  TK will eat them when he comes home"

"I stayed tonite to be with you"

"I'll come home tomorrow to see you"

FAmILy.

cool.

If you've got one, well, it's no big deal.

But when you don't.

Well.

Two dogs, two kids, two adults, and me.

cool.

they all 

sparkle+shine

thank you, all of you, for letting me be family

if only for a little while

Loves,

Natalie.

WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE

Yep. Camp-out.

It's the last weekend of the summer, the long weekend, and a hot weekend in my town.

So hULa and I decided to have a camp-out in the front yard.

In the tent.

Yep.

No, that's not the camp gear in the tent, either.

Colorful, isn't it.

Hey, we were in the yard!!! I didn't hike it all in...

It is a turning point of sorts, this changing of the seasons.

Your kids will be going back to school soon (if they haven't already) and you'll have time to think about color, texture, scale and design...you'll have time to quilt!

I hope you'll visit our website for things to do.

But in the mean time, just for this weekend, I say grab a pile of quilts, comforters and pillows, your dog, your kids, heck, your husband, and have a CAMP-OUT in the yard.

On the deck.

Shoot, this last New Years eve, I had a camp out with my namesake in the DEN.

Don't any of you remember chairs and sheets and indoor forts?

You don't need a 700 acre ranch on the coast to have some fun - - have it where you are.

Because

WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE

SPARKLE + SHINE

2009

natalie.

beyond the reef

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

www.vrbo.com/257702

Christmas Eve is sparkling - shine

There's not much of Christmas Eve left in the day.  It's almost Christmas Day.  But Christmas Eve is still sparkling.  Did you make your gifts?  Did you sew, knit, cook, bake, wrap, trim and craft your way into the hearts of your friends and family?  I hope so.  Because this moment, this one, shining, sparkling moment is only here for a moment.  And then it will never, ever be again.

No, there's not much more of Christmas Eve left in the day.  Share it, as my friend David would say, "...with quality people."

hULa did.  She started the day right - sharing and playing and smiling at her good friend Peanut as the sun rose over Saddleback Mountain.  (later in the day, there was snow on Saddleback...a very low mountain to have snow)  She shared of herself, too.  She and Peanut both took turns running for hULa's tennis ball.  There are those friends that share, that greet us at sunrise with a smile and with their hULa tail wagging, and then there are those that when we greet them, growl at us.  Not hULa.  Not Peanut.  They know that the moment only lasts for a moment, and then it's gone.  That friendship is precious.  And tender.  That it's better to be greeted with a smile than a growl.  That every good moment in our life is fleeting at best.  

As my friend David would say, "Spend time with quality people".  (yes, that's twice I have said it)  hULa definitely knows this lesson.  When in doubt, think like your dog.  

I said I would share the story about Hanukkah yoga - but I think I will save that story for another day.  It is a story of the lighting of the first candle.  Of standing with our own two feet rooted to ground and raising our own two hands to become that light - rising out of ourselves, reaching, growing, shining.  It is a story of going deep down into the dark of winter solstice and coming THROUGH that darkness into the light. It is a story of focus and determination and sweat and tears and, as my friend David would say, "spending time with quality people".  (last time)

So, it's almost Christmas Day, technically.  So sparkle a little longer.  Dare to Love.  Love with a little more abandon.  Dance a little more.  Smile a little more.  Wag your hULa tail a little more.  Don't be the person that goes through life growling and criticizing and always finding or looking for disappointment.  Look for the sparkle. Better yet, BE the sparkle. 

As my good friend - (hah, got you) ANDREA told me just the other day, "Go glitter, or go home". 

I think she really meant so much more than...well...you know.

Sparkle and Shine.

be.do.create

2008

Natalie.

  

"Don't grieve. Anything you loose..."

"Don't grieve.

Anything you loose

comes round in another form."

Rumi

It is a difficult task to Trust in the Universe.  God.  Faith.  Whatever you like.

It is a difficult task.

Some people do it with more ease than others.  Me, I practice.

Take the creative process of art, as an example

My table is a mess with fabrics, pieces cut, tissue overlays, enlargements, sketches, photographs, scraps of - well, my mind, as the case may be.  I am working on a series of landscapes of Hawaii.  One wonders if it will come together at all, or if it will all be lost.  

Faith.

Take the creative process of shaping one's body, as another example.

I took a yoga class from a great teacher yesterday.  She said something that really hit me - we were all in a new pose, and she instructed us to keep breathing.  

She said if we lost our breath, that PANIC would start to well up in side of us, and our pose would be lost.  Panic. Can you imagine?

Trust.

Take the creative process of Love.  Friendship.  Of lives entwined.  Another quote comes to mind, 

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."  Rumi

Can we loose friendship?  Love?  Lives entwined?  Dogs, are a great example of what we should have the greatest faith in...When we are apart from a dog, we miss them terribly.  Grieve their purehappy presence.  But when they see us again, it is like anew for them.  Brand new sparkling, pure, gleefully joyful tail wagging, giggling all over love.  Sooooo happy to see you again.  They do not forget.  That feeling they have IS forever.  Hold on to that.

And believe that softening, letting something go, breathing into something, does not mean that it is gone. 

You can trust that some things ARE forever.

That they can be.

Today, in this posting, I hope for you the pulse of the Universe, God, Faith, Breathe.

Maybe it is more passive than I believe it to be To Be.  Be.

be.do.create

2008

Thanks for thinking of 

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

Natalie.

natalie@beyondthereefpatterns.com

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

www.beyondthereefpatterns.blogspot.com