{"id":630,"date":"2017-01-01T01:07:46","date_gmt":"2017-01-01T09:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janemarshall.com\/?p=630"},"modified":"2017-01-01T09:44:01","modified_gmt":"2017-01-01T17:44:01","slug":"a-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/?p=630","title":{"rendered":"A New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A good rain has finally come to California and it feels like heaven. \u00a0Driving this morning, I noticed a group of shore birds huddled together on a sandbar along the river mouth, while the ocean churned a dark grey-blue behind them. I love these days of wild weather the best and my heart soaks up the rainy weather like a garden left too long without tending. \u00a0Some of that which I have planted in my life may come back and flourish, but I see that some has withered and will need to be plucked away to prepare for new growth. Our lives are gardens, after all.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It \u00a0is dark and quiet outside now and I find that I miss the fireworks and sounds of celebration in my neighborhood as the People stepped out on a cold night to bring in their new year. \u00a0Sweet sounds of happiness coming from all corners of my little world. But, as I sit here well after the midnight hour, I realize that the silence is more precious to me and harder to come by. \u00a0I have always been something of a night owl and it is silence that I love. \u00a0The chi of the world is calm and it is easier to relax thoughts into expanded places. Sometimes, I will happily lie awake in peace, \u00a0just listening to the night for hours. \u00a0It nourishes a deep part of me. \u00a0The sound of the train off in the distance making its way along the coast. \u00a0His breathing. \u00a0\u00a0I miss the sound of owls, for their talk makes my heart sing, though even here I will hear the occasional coyote yipping in the distance, mixed with the sounds of faraway dogs barking their messages to each other. I need to know I am a part of Nature, not the societal construct. So, I listen. \u00a0I remember who I am. That is when peace washes over me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Jane Marshall<br \/>\nDana Point<br \/>\nCalifornia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A good rain has finally come to California and it feels like heaven. \u00a0Driving this morning, I noticed a group of shore birds huddled together on a sandbar along the river mouth, while the ocean churned a dark grey-blue behind them. I love these days of wild weather the best and my heart soaks up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janemarshall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}