Chase-Salerno Family Events

I’m so excited about getting ready to launch my new energy and healing arts business, “Wyld Acres.” Below is a blurb about the work and a photo of my office (the former guest room next to the kitchen). Mike is working on my website (wyldacres.com) but here’s some info in the meantime.
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INTRODUCTION
My individual healing sessions are designed to meet you where you are and to employ techniques that will help to bring “you” back to “you.”

As human beings, we are constantly expending energy as well as absorbing it from others. Energy can get blocked in our bodies, and as it builds up, different kinds of issues can arise. This work helps to balance out the energy in our bodies, which can strengthen us and offer clarity.

People come to energy work in a variety of ways. Some people come to a session with a particular concern, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. Some seek the deep relaxation this type of work can bring. Some, like me, become interested in this field simply through idle curiosity.

My fee is a sliding scale from $75-$125 per hour.

BIOGRAPHY
Erica Chase-Salerno was introduced to energy healing through Reiki in 2000, during her involvement in the spiritual growth program, “Wellspring.” She studied with Sr. Doris Bissonette, RJM, became attuned and certified as a Level 1 practioner in 2001 and gained her Level 2 certification in 2002 while pregnant with her son.

During her pregnancy with her daughter, she felt a unique connection with this baby being inside of her and experienced an ongoing communication together. She felt like she needed some support around this phenomenon, and worked with Nancy Plumer, a teacher and practitioner of the One Light Healing Touch school, during the last trimester of the pregnancy in 2006. Erica has since become a student of the One Light Healing Touch school and is incorporating these additional skills into her practice.

Wyld Acres is the name that was revealed to Erica during meditation. It actually names their land as well as her healing arts business. “Wyld” is an old spelling for “Wild,” but it also means “Croft”: a small plot of land, often with a house on it, that the owner or occupier farms. “Wyld” also stands for (W)hat (y)ou (l)ove (d)oing.

Erica lives with her husband Michael, son Declan, daughter Quinlan, two greyhounds, and some free-range chickens in New Paltz, New York.

A shot of Declan fighting some tough monsters this week and one of Quinn enjoying a musical quacking toy from Declan’s baby days.

The kids had fun making holiday cookies this week, or I should probably say that Declan had fun making cookies, Quinn had fun dumping flour on her shoes.

Music time with buddy Norah

Playdate with Livi

Happy Birthday, Gemma! Here’s to a happy, healthy year ahead!

We visited Gemma on her actual birthday (same day as Halloween!) to offer our well-wishes, but we hosted an official cake and ice cream celebration for her this past Sunday. Grandma and Grandpa Chase came down to fete the birthday gal, too, indulging us with some outrageous cheesecake and delicious cheddar cheese! We also got to see Grandma’s beautiful pictures from her recent European trip!

“Frosting” Gemma’s birthday cake

One of us is still “helping” with the frosting, one has moved on to the sprinkles stage

The candle stage!

Make a wish #1…

Wish #2

Testing out Papa’s ice cream

Enjoying lap-time with Grandma

Here are some pix of the kids’ Halloween Party, followed by trick-or-treating at four homes in our neighborhood. Declan was a Transformer, “Optimus Prime” (the good guy) and Quinn was a kitty cat.

Declan in his full get-up and buddy Olin

Lining up for the Halloween pinata!

Here’s Pirate Mike following a family tradition….clearly a Salerno can’t have a party without fixing something!

Trick-or-treating at the first house!

Quinny caught on to trick-or-treating pretty quickly — our neighbor held out the bowl of Kit Kat’s, and Declan politely took one and put it in his bag, said thank you. Quinn took one, put it in her bag, then picked up two more while we were all talking on the porch. We headed out to the next house before she could go for handful number 3.

Here’s a Halloween preview for you……

Trick-or-treating at SUNY New Paltz on Sunday

Here’s our little Transformer, “Optimus Prime” doing crafts at SUNY

Carving his “scary monster” pumpkin all by himself this year!

So proud of her brother’s pumpkin!

This is a special edition blog – couldn’t wait!

On Saturday night, I was working down at the kitchen table and heard some commotion outside at the birdfeeder. I was like, stupid racoons! and ignored it. A little while later, I heard more noise, this time out by the recycling containers near our cars, and I flicked on the outside lights, which usually scares away the racoons. The noise continued.

I looked over and didn’t see anything, just black…that’s odd, what’s this large, black mass moving around along with the recycling can…..yikes!…..That’s no racoon!!!…..MIKE!!!! COME DOWN HERE!!! (“What’s up?”) MIKE!!! BEAR!!! He ran downstairs, and he caught a final glimpse before the bear headed off into the woods. I had a bag of garbage on the front porch that I’d intended to put in the can at the end of our driveway later on, and it had disappeared, meaning that the bear was on our front porch, too!!!

Oh, and no, in case you’re wondering, the dogs who were resting inside a few feet away from the door didn’t alert me about the bear. I guess I can’t blame them for anything – I was a few feet away from the bear too, just on the other side of the house next to the kitchen window that overlooks the birdfeeder. I had a front row seat to this and missed most of the show!

We’ve lived here almost 10 years, and never had a bear experience. Had no idea they were even in our woods! Figured they were just on the nearby scenic Ridge, which is what I’d been telling Declan, who has had some out-of-the-blue bear concerns lately. So much for that! I was phasing out the birdfeeders anyway, since the squirrels are such a nuisance, and I was just finishing our last bag of feed when this happened. The chickens were asleep in the coop during this adventure, and it doesn’t appear that the bear bothered with them at all.

We are closing both entry doors now in the evenings (last night we just had the screen doors closed, for ventilation), and that’s the end of our birdfeeding and temporary “I’ll stick this garbage bag outside and get this in the can later” habits, at least until hibernation season is in full swing. It was thrilling to be visited by a bear, but something we don’t want to repeat by accidentally encouraging it.

I’m taking the whole thing as a positive sign because bears are considered powerful spiritual medicine totems. My Reiki healing practice has been pretty active this week, so maybe this bear was attracted by some of the energy going on, as well as the easy-access snacks!

Nikki sent us this link from a local newspaper about increased bear activity lately in our area:
http://www.freemanonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18940361&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=74969&rfi=6

Here’s a pic of my poor birdfeeder!

Declan loves playing soccer and he’s enjoying the fall season so far. The kids are still getting used to which goals are theirs, what game boundary lines are, etc. Very cute. It’s kind of a family event each Saturday morning – Mike takes Declan so they can be on time for the practice; I meet them at the field as soon as I can with Quinn; and when they’re not in Cape May, “Gemma and Papa” set up their lawn chairs and stay to watch. It’s no problem in the beginning of practice – Quinn gets doted on in each person’s lap. Then she comes looking around for Declan and wants to play, too! We might be signing her up for her own league in the spring….

D’s favorite position – goalie! He likes kicking the “target” away from the goal, plus it’s OK to use his hands.

This was at a local arts festival, the kids could add their own art to the mural.

Our family visited the Liberty Science Center recently, here are two shots from our outing.

The weather is definitely “feeling fall,” lately. Mike turned the heat on this a.m. for the first time this season. It was fun selecting pictures for this week, seeing the many different outfits we were wearing depending on the temperatures that day.

Is anyone else out there reading “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert? I’m loving this book!

Playtime (during our weekly social night when we get together for dinner with Norah and Luca and their parents).

Dinner time during social night with Norah (2 yrs.) and Luca (19 mos.)

Making breakfast

We took in a local fall festival with Gemma and Papa this weekend at Adams, in Kingston – this is one of the many free bounce houses/slides they had there.

Post-pumpkin-picking fun at the farm down the road from us, October, 2007 (Declan, age 4) and…

Same place, Declan, age 2!

We finally took a little family vacation to Cape May (originally scheduled for August but postponed due to some of Mike’s work commitments) and had a great visit. The weather was unbelievably warm (80’s in October!) and we enjoyed lots of time in the sand and sun, as well as a stop at the local zoo and playground.

We found these beach treasures while looking for seashells

Rockin’ and rollin’ at the shore

Declan invented a game called “Jump Barnacles” where you jump over the wave coming in, then run to catch the next one. Or something like that. I kept losing…

Declan just received this gift of sidewalk chalk paint – he was so excited to try it out at Gemma and Papa’s Cape May house in their paved driveway. D and Daddy played lots of Tic Tac Toe together.

Quinn thought the sidewalk paint was cool, too!

Yum!