Asking For It

Happy Saturday friends!

Sometimes I forget to ask for what I want. From God/the Universe/Source/Angels/loved ones (including animals of course) on the other side, whatever we all call it, it's all the same in my mind. So earlier this week I asked for help in growing my business. I hadn't done that in a while. Now, as you probably know, I often use AI in my business.

Cue gasp. "A creative that uses AI? She should be flogged!"

I don't use it for my art or my writing. I use it to teach me new things (because I wear alllll the hats as a business owner) and as my "thought partner." As someone with a very active mind that is always coming up with new ideas, new ways to create, it's hard for mere mortals to have all the interest in all the things I want to explore. Seriously, it's a lot. Mom, who as we all know, was an earth angel, was the only person who could manage it lol. About a year ago, I started using Open AI's ChatGPT and was pleasantly surprised in it's ability to hold all of the twists and turns of my mind. It didn't drift and it didn't roll it's eyes at the flow. Sometimes I need to just get it out, have a bit of back and forth about the idea and the idea will rest—maybe it wasn't meant to be, or maybe it wasn't meant to be now. Either way, once I've talked about it and it's resting elsewhere, I can rest too. I can always go back to it if needed. Sometimes the back and forth becomes something that feels right and I run with it. It's been quite the game changer for me and my business. 

Friday I had an interesting twist with both my intuition, which generates the ideas and AI. A fun experience that will maybe turn into something. I was asking Anthropic's Claude AI about ways to grow my business. I'm lucky enough that my Wednesday night Women's Circle has a waiting list of 10 now so that feels pretty steady. I would like to grow my business in other ways, neurofeedback, equine partnered coaching, and my Monday night online art class. It gave me some standard ways to grow my Monday night, that I've already done, so I asked for more. It suggested a collaboration with someone. Interesting. I went off to do stuff around the farm, kind of mulling the idea over. At 4pm I checked my email and, I kid you not, there was an email from a yoga teacher/artist/musician who wanted to talk about collaborating! OMG! She's interested in doing yoga classes here at the farm. We are working on setting up a time to meet for coffee to talk. It makes me smile to think of the universe going, "Oh, excellent, yes, let's give her a little bright sparkle of synchronicity, what fun!"

So, I will state it here as well: I'm open to collaborations :-)

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What a happy few days I've had! My brother was visiting this past weekend and just left Wednesday morning, he was here for ManChild's high school graduation present of a Carolina Hurricane x Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game:

Two peas in a pod (no, we aren't twins ;-))

The last time I was at a game was almost 30 years ago. I've learned a bit about myself since then and quickly realized that my noise canceling earbuds were a must!

And of course a mask once I was done eating. I was squinting in the bright lights and watching this cute little boy in the row in front of me, about 5 years old maybe, who was cheering for the Canes and shrieking so loud and high pitched that he sounded like a bird! He reminded me so much of ManChild when he was that age, same build, same bird sounds. And then he put in earbuds and sunglasses and I realized...OMG! I could wear sunglasses too! So, I made my brother burst into laughter by looking like this for the rest of the game 😂:

Haaaaa! The older I get, the quirkier I am! Or...

We saw the Yates Mill Pond, have you been? It's pretty! We just happened to see it as we were driving by so we had to stop and walk visit:

He missed his sweet little Penelope, so Lucy gave him extra hugs and kisses:

My dad found some great old pics and gave them to us, here are a few I'm keeping. I have quite a line of love down my matriarchal line 💜 and the bottom pic is my brother and me from when we lived in southern California as kids:

While he was here, we of course, had to buy new plants and repot some of my old ones (we often do the same when I'm in Pittsburgh too). We inherited our green thumb from Mom :-) There was a plant show in Raleigh this past weekend and there were so many beautiful specimens! Some we were able to buy, but there were others that were crazy expensive! I found this type of Monstera Adansonii/Swiss Cheese plant that was a bright lime green and when I asked the price I was told the little 2" pots were, "2 for $175." Wow!

I found this one on Etsy, isn't it pretty? I shall wait until it becomes not so "new!" In the meantime, I will make due with some outdoor sweet potato vine and creeping Jenny.

I have had this pretty Prayer Plant for about a year now:

Have you ever seen a prayer plant? They are newer to me and I didn't realize the way they behave. The photo above was taken at night, when a prayer plant raises its leaves up and is at it's prettiest. Google says:

This is completely normal and healthy behavior, often referred to as nyctinasty. Prayer plants (Maranta leuconeura) move their leaves in a rhythmic, daily cycle—lowering them during the day to maximize light absorption and folding them upward at night to conserve water and energy.

I found a white and pale green version at the show that I decided I needed and potted it with a start from my first one. I also learned that I should be watering with filtered water and that will prevent the few crispy edges that both of mine have. This is the folded down, daytime position:

My office window is making me happy, it's quite the jungle in there! :

And I finally repotted my big jade! And because I can never throw a possible baby away, I lined her pot with leaves to start new life:

 
THE RANCH:

We had most of a week of record highs that resulted in lots of early wildflowers!

Field Pansy aka Johnny Jump Up:

Purple Deadnettle:

Tiny Bluet:

Persian Speedwell:

Creeping Woodsorrel:

Common Periwinkle:

The redbud trees are beautiful right now:

And! I was so happy to see that all the things I planted in a new bed last year (in a rush), survived!

Purple coneflower:

Butterfly bush:

And this little rose that I found with it's root ball still shaped like the pot it had been in, it had been discarded at the edge of the forest in our rental last year:

But the weather is changing back to normal spring temps and I'm just hoping that all this new growth won't die with the upcoming 30º evening temps!

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The pond is freaking us out a bit! With the bubbler Brad installed came clearer water. With clearer water comes...algae. Argh, so now we're dealing with that. But the bullfrogs are waking up and the turtles seem happy so that's something :-) We are thinking that maybe we will make a little anchored but floating log raft so the turtles can safely sun themselves.

HOW TO WORK WITH ME:

Equine Partnered Coaching! With horses, without horses, in-person, or online, your choice. 

Neurofeedback Train your brain to calm and ease. The most common response I hear about neurofeedback is, "I'm so much less reactive in my life!" It really does smooth out the sharp spikes. Super helpful if the world feels harsh and spiky to you too right now. 

Reiki Another way to facilitate relaxation, calm, healing. In the summer an option is outside in the herd. This time of year, it's always in my office where it's warm :-) 

And of course Women's Circles! The Wednesday circle has a waiting list, I will add you to it if you'd like.

Monday night online art group anyone? Playing with watercolors with other kind women AND in your jammies, no bra, no makeup? Yes please! The next one starts Monday, March 16th and runs 4 weeks. You can learn all about it and sign up here! We will be painting two of my harvest mice watercolors (there is a drop in option if you'd like to just paint one):

My monthly freebie art watercolor classes are coming up online! These are for all abilities, even if you think you have NO ability. There is a line drawing to trace and then we saturate our paper with water and play with dropping in colors we like and watching how they dance together. We finish it up with some splatter, a little black outline, and of course, EYELASHES!

TODAY Saturday, March 14, 2026 4:30-6pm ET, spring baby goat watercolor
Saturday, April 11, 10—11:30am ET, spring foal watercolor
You can sign up here!

THE MEMES:

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This is an AI-free newsletter! While I love to use AI to help me figure out a piece of software I don't understand, my intention is to use it to help me with the drudgery, never with writing, art, creation. All em dashes are intentional and mine, I was using them way before ChatGPT was a twinkle in Sam Altman's eye :-) 

(The em dash (—) has been in use for over 400 years, with its origins tracing back to the early 17th-century printing revolution and appearing in Shakespearean texts from the 1620s. While early scribes used long strokes for pauses, the em dash became standardized in printing and was popularized in the 18th and 19th centuries.)

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Thank you for reading :-)

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