Shel Graves' Sensorium

Taste: vegan worcestershire sauce; apple cider  Sound: squelch; aroo-roo-roo Smell: cider and cinnamon  Sight: the bridge lit up at night; fawn colors; steam  Touch: warm beverages  Intellect, ideas, and dreams: Gratitude for the present. Ten of Cups the bliss card --cats  Grateful for: Sam. My home. Autumn leaves. Color.

Taste:  Nocino and Pumpkin Amaretto cider Sound: om mani padme hum; chewing; October wind; humans saying, "Meow!" Smell:  spiced cider Sight: Morning sun shining softly through the leaves; horse chestnuts, chestnut, hawthorne; pink, orange, yellow dawn  Touch: blustery, unfocused, scattered  Intellect, ideas, and dreams: Grief is love. Loss. Nostalgia. Cravings. Sugar cravings. Coziness. Quotes:  "There's a lot of things that I think we should let them do because that's what they want to do." - Maria Karunungan of Fetch the Leash in Bark! by Zazie Todd "When grief arises, be still. Sit with it. Let sadness flood you. Don't stay in it too long. You don't want to become overwhelmed. But dip in and fully experience what it really is." --Oct. 18, A Daily Dose of Now by Nita Sweeney  Grateful for: Voting. Connections.

Taste:  maple Sound:  Susan Garrett; snuffling, snoozing Smell: maple Sight: Morning sun shining softly through the leaves; horse chestnuts, chestnut color, hawthorne seeds, pumpkin color Touch:  smooth seeds Intellect, ideas, and dreams:  "The presence of this happy animal life was not the only change which had come over the interior of this stone cottage." — Silas Marner, Eliot uses the appearance of kittens, cats, dogs, and donkeys to show the marked change in weaver Silas Marner's character and life. Grateful for: bucolic scenes

Taste:   blueberry lychee and blueberry pear Sound:   contented dog grunts; alert barking and grumbles; a seal growls Smell: Oscar de la Renta and White Shoulders Sight:   the harbor seal’s feet slippers and powerful glide forward under water their spotted skin; the gloomy green oily water; the thin stork; green wax and candlight Touch: sticky Intellect, ideas, and dreams: wasting money that should have been spent on animals; blogging success; extravagance; what if you could have all of the dollars wasted back? Grateful for: seals; Good Morning Habitat

Taste:  salt and butter Sound: cronching; harp music; “oboe of the violet twilight” - Eva Saulitis, Prayer 12, Prayer in Wind; dogs tags jingling one heart-shaped realy the tags on a small peaceful dog with no fight in her  Smell:  palo santo Sight:  maimed corpses - rat and cat Touch:  holding hands, smush body Intellect, ideas, and dreams: She is too eager and I am too generous.; strix nebulosa, barred owl; cupreous, glacial erratic; tefferel  Grateful for: poetry, the backyard, the cherry tree

Taste: golden kiwi cider, cherry and tarragon cider  Sound: paloma and aubergine  Smell: lilac blossoms  Sight: purple lilacs  Touch: nose to palm  Intellect, ideas, and dreams: singing in a dream an operatic neighbor; dancing in a French musical wearing yellow dresses; being soaking wet and finding a dry towel  Grateful for: creamer, Sam, watching dogs play, mom

Taste: carrots and snap peas; sweet plum wine in dream, a vivid taste Sound: Golden Rule song  Smell: Italian Roast Coffee  Sight: eggleaf spurge - euphorbias; punk and white cherry blossoms, cherry petal carpets Touch: nose to palm; dog on lap Intellect, ideas, and dreams: the Year of the Wood Dragon; “compassion,” blowing on the back of a neck; hiking up a mountain in snow; falling to my knees weeping  Grateful for: dogs, cats, animals, plants, house and home, books, libraries, reading with dog on lap, Sunday