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Oct 8, 2023·edited Oct 8, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

Serendipity has been my Life Planner for many moons, Each .. and .. Every Time a smile spreads through me down to the last cell, confirming my profound trust in synchronicity as my best companion on this Journey. Bring it on! Let it happen. Sometimes it's a surprise that leads me to ponder for a while to know what it is showing me, those times are welcome as well and often even more important. I loved meeting Annie and Buddy today. And seeing them! Annie is amazing. Thank you for the journey. And your eagle stories and photos are stunning!

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Rosi, you are most welcome. Thank you for coming along with me on this journey. I'm right there with you in matters of synchronicity and serendipity. Love the notion of them being your Life Planner.

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Oct 8, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

Beautiful encounters with the Golden Eagle and Annie and her pup!

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Thank you, Nicole.

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I loved seeing Annie & Buddy and hearing of all the moments that brought you to that moment---it's so amazing and mysterious, pondering the timing, like you said. All the pauses and moving-ons, all those ideas and natural impulses that caught and held you and released you, are so real, and then almost unreal, too.

I love how life can be so smooth and certain, kinda like the Golden eagle soaring and circling, and I love how life brought Annie & Buddy, and you, to that exact place, at that very moment.

I liked all your words about Annie.

I like imagining the kindness-was-needed reason, and I love the ways you got there.

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I'll admit it, Toni, I'm always eager to read your notes, to learn about whatever animals you'll glimpse in whatever clouds I might leave, sprinkled and floating within the sky of a story. You are one of those seers who sometimes shine a bit of light into the crevices and folds of something that I've missed, and that sees the giraffe in the sky. I'm so glad that Annie and Buddy spoke to you too.

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Oct 9, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

For a guy who is perhaps too inclined to ‘plan ahead’, this story warmed my heart. I don’t think anything can beat such a wonderful and unexpected opportunity for interaction with another human being or one of nature’s beautiful non-human creatures. Leaves me thinking! Thank you for this powerful story…..an appreciated gift at Canadian Thanksgiving! 😎

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First, Doug, I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

As I said right at the beginning, we all have our own deals to honor and ways of exploring this thing called life. Any that work, any that allow a sense of wonder to infuse us and that teach us day by day to be more curious and kinder... My experience of you has always readily noted both attributes. Looking forward to a conversation and wander one day soon, my friend.

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I bow to your storytelling heart. 💚

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Thank you, Lorene. Big hug of gratitude, my friend.

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Oct 9, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

Well planned events made at the kitchen table may be ok, but too often just OK. But when you put yourself in a situation with just a sense of adventure and an open mind, that's when the magic can happen. Maybe that's the way manifesting works.

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I very much like the way you think, Bob.

Thank you for your generous note.

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Oct 9, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

Love it!

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Thank you, Danyce.

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Oct 9, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

That made me laugh out loud...'if only just until things get a little too weird'... off into the wild blue yonder... ducking the shade here in GA, stop sending that cold stuff down here ;-).

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Oct 13, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

Perhaps opportunities don't happen, you create them. It is the smallest decisions, sometimes that can change your life forever.

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Agreed, wholeheartedly, Ann.

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Oct 9, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

Thank you my friend. Another essay to help make my day.

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This makes me smile and leaves me feeling very grateful, Dick. Thank you for making time for such a note.

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Luckily, David is in London tonight, otherwise I would have woken him up laughing in bed as I read this. I read the whole “You keep prattling on and on about golden eagles and bacon and eggs, Trump geezers and hashbrown shortages…” part in Gaylord’s voice and it cracked me up…

And I’m still grinning as I write this totally inadequate note of thanks to you for sharing this, for sharing Annie and Buddy (who I’ll fall asleep grinning about) and for sharing your good self with both those souls. I don’t know what any of it means, or how it comes to be, but this made me so grateful to be briefly caught up in it all...

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What a gift you are! Now I'm laughing. Gaylord is just the voiceover that little, reader's diatribe needs. You nailed it. I am so pleased that this true story about Annie, Buddy and the sagebrush coffee caper found a place within your smiling heart. I assure you, I don't know what any of it means either... but I do understand that the invitation offered there was about more than coffee. It is a grand and mysterious world that we live in, and ohhh, when it beckons us onto the floor and asks us for a dance...

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I made a playlist this morning titled ‘the grand and mysterious dance floor’ after reading your comment ❤️

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Some may read and just not 'get it', or, far more likely, be too busy, too occupied, by the more important to read this, but many of us read with a deep sense of relation to having been there ourselves, so many times before. Wondrous pauses in the day. We are handed so many gifts throughout our day, pity the one who does not see, or worse, not feel. So many moments in our lives have no explanation other than a gift. They are like rungs to me propelling forward to, lord knows where, but I can't wait for the next one. Thank you.

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You are indeed my people!

What a wonderful addition you have brought to the picnic.

Thank you! Truly.

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Save the planning for auto-repair, livestock feeding, baking, house-building, and a few other things. Even then, keeping in your pocket the old Zen phrase, "not-knowing is most intimate," helps keep a few cracks in the planning walls, though which magic and other kinds of beauty can emerge: like that lovely, decaffeinated gal somewhere in Oregon. Thanks, David. Delightful read. And that crocheted hat!

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I feel as though I am provided a wealth of these encounters. I'm grateful for your capturing of one so beautifully in words and images.

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I honestly don't know quite how you manage it all, Donna.

Respect.

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Oct 11, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

I get your thinking. My most stunning encounters with wildlife always seemed to occur when I had been the most deliberate in my steps leading up to it. I would stand there transfixed by the critter who blessed me with their presence and feel as though I'd been led there intentionally by the powers of the universe. If I hadn't hesitated here, changed my direction there, the encounter would have been missed. I'd always mouth a "Thank you" to the animal and a "Yes" to myself. I hope "your Mary" won't mind but following your encounter with Miss Ann.. the song "Wild Eyed Crazy Mary" was running through my mind.

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This is lovely, a generous little gift. Obviously, no intelligent person would attempt to speak for my dear Mary, but she doesn't generally take offense easily. I may need to reacquaint myself with that Pearl Jam gem. Been quite a while.

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Nov 15, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

It’s stick season here in

Vermont. That time of year when we ‘function’ outside. Gather our nuts.

Rake, trim, cut , blow and put to bed in preparation for the coming season of pure joy and play.

Heading for the front door I can just make out a pale light through the branches of an Oak ,its brown crumbling leaves stubbornly hanging on in defiance of the coming season. Yup, must be about 4:30pm. Daylight shrinking as it races to the Winter solstice.

I settle back into soft leather . Intrigued by the picture of Annie and her pup. Wondering how it relates to the title and where your story will take me? Trying not to hurry through so I can savor every word.

In the Harry Potter books, those with exceptional magical abilities could pull memories from their head. A long thin wisp of shimmering cloud like substance that could be used or stored away in glass.

You weave memories into words . Giving them life and taking us all with you as the story unfolds.

Magical indeed .

And if you give me another moment or two, I promise it will be worth the wait.

When your journey led you to Annie in your bizarre tale, I couldn’t help but think of the old tv show, The Twilight Zone with the incredible Rod Serling as writer and host.

It’s opening monologue;

“You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into… the Twilight Zone.”

Oh, and my only regret once I finished the story , I should have sat down with a mug of hot chocolate at the start.

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Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Lor.... This. This is just magnificent.

A story built upon a story, in conversation with it and with its teller.

What a gift you've brought to this feast...

I love it! Love how you did that!

Thank you!

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Nov 15, 2023Liked by David E. Perry

I’m showing you the smirk on my face.

Of course you know that nothing about my writing is intentional.

Quite the opposite.

Sometimes my words rise to the occasion, but only when inspiration lights my emotions.

I am whole heartedly humbled by your compliment .

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