"Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful, they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul." ~ Luther Burbank Oh, Spring is just around the corner - technically next weekend. We are seeing bright green grass in our field and these lovely daffodils are in full bloom over at my mother-in-law's house. I … Continue reading Sunshine, Food and Medicine for the Soul
When the kids were smaller, we did Art Excursions on a regular basis. We have been thinking about gearing up for doing that again. We all are fed by art in various ways. We seek out and find things to do with our creative brains and hands. Tonight wasn't exactly an excursion. It was dinner … Continue reading Gearing up for Art Excursions Again
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Gearing up for Art Excursions Again
Sweetness or Stuff
A little memory - a treasure to cherish. Rummaging in the Antique Store with my boys, looking through playthings of the past. They call me to try on a beautiful faux fur, and it fits, and it’s glorious, and I am the toast of the town. The large Islander man at the back counter … Continue reading Sweetness or Stuff
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Learning to Laugh
Always the lists. Give me too much free time between calls at work, and a fairly slow day with no nearby neighbors to visit with, and I used pages and pages of scratch paper to make lists for the New Year. Lists about working out, and menus, and lists of chores and how to rotate … Continue reading Learning to Laugh
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Microcosm & Minutiae
Driving straight into a thick blanket of fog, I wondered about our world, the darkness and lack of visibility we are entering. I remembered the blizzard in the Little House on the Prairie books that hit suddenly while children were at the school-house. They formed a line with outstretched arms - trying to get all … Continue reading Microcosm & Minutiae
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Before These Moments Slip Away
par·a·dox noun \ˈper-É™-ËŒdäks, ˈpa-rÉ™-\ : something (such as a situation) that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible Ben went through a Phantom of the Opera phase a while back, after reading a kid version of the story at school, and made the mask, and … Continue reading Before These Moments Slip Away
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Books will Save Us
I have gotten out of the habit of writing, and my world is suffering. The walls start closing in on me when my creativity is on hiatus. When I am drawn like a moth to bad news, and the marching feet of the demise of our civilization, I sit stoop-shouldered and spineless and terrified - … Continue reading Books will Save Us
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The Stories of our Lives
It all started with Harold & the Purple Crayon. My youngest and I read the story together in front of a blazing fire and he said he wanted to have this book in his collection someday when he grows up and moves out. I told him he would need his own copy because there are … Continue reading The Stories of our Lives
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Today I Choose Love and Light
This morning, I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and my whole spirit calmed down. He lived and was martyred during one of the most awful periods for the church. And yet, his words are like a balm and a reminder of what community is supposed to be like for believers. I do not think we are … Continue reading Today I Choose Love and Light
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Restored
When something takes on otherworldly proportions because of its simplicity and beauty.
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Imagining Pictures in the Clouds
My boys and I see pictures in the sky. We see big, bold, ridiculous, pictures sometimes, and we laugh and point. This is beginner imagination building that we have been doing since they were tiny. Now, they can create a story out of thin air. (The picture here looks a little like Olive Oil, from … Continue reading Imagining Pictures in the Clouds
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Mothers
The conflict happens because she’s right and she loves you. And yet, we strive against all her rightness, her great ideas, Her prodding us into things that challenge and define us. She made memories for us, with the books she read us, The games she played, the places she took us, The worlds … Continue reading Mothers
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Bared Claws
I have heard of the dance of Eagles mating.
I have seen the statue of talons out sharp;
a fierce battle and free fall – wings and bodies
tumbling over one another as they drop to earth.
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Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles
Last night at dinner, we got into a conversation about music lyrics, and my husband and I were both telling stories of growing up in a time when we had to guess at half the lyrics. We had to listen over and over when a song came on the radio, or try to record it … Continue reading Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles
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Poetry in Music and Dance
There is so much poetry in dance, in the way bodies sidle up to one another and barely touch and then move away, only to come back around and move together suggestively, still holding back, still mostly eyes, still only hints at what could happen if both bodies fully engaged. There is love and loss … Continue reading Poetry in Music and Dance
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We could Hug More!
Another bad thing in a world of bad things. I have not become numb, that is not what has happened. I crumble with each new attack, with each new assault - foreign or domestic. And then I disconnect, and block out the media, and become absorbed in my kids' interests and the activities we can do … Continue reading We could Hug More!
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Sugar Sweet
It seems I have been struggling under a delusion that if I could just get my house organized Once and For All, everything would stay put. But it is more insipid than that - there is a strand of Once and For All twirling all through my head. If I could nail down my belief … Continue reading Sugar Sweet
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Inhabit
"At this point in his life, he hadn't started inhabiting his work, like he did later."
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Pre-Pubescent Insanity
I wish anyone had been able to explain these changes to me as a young person. I just thought I was crazy. It's all perfectly normal. It's absolutely completely normal to hit pre-puberty and feel like all is lost and you have no grip on reality.
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Ferocious Calm
I am angry and I feel slighted and perhaps, I'm  being childish; but I want to pout and stamp my foot and behave inappropriately. At the same time, I know this is beneath me, that I can and should rise above. The issue at hand is of no consequence. I am literally upset over nothing, a minor inconvenience, … Continue reading Ferocious Calm
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Monkey Brain and Geese Chatter
In which I accidentally discover the Ridiculously Perfect Meditation Stance for a dork like me!
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Thoughts on Thinking, the Empty Mind and Not-Doing
It's Tao Tuesday - a fun little reminder to think these thoughts, to examine these principles, to engage the spirit and delve into this understanding, or non-understanding as the case may be. One day of the week, as originally instigated by Amy Putkonen over at Tao te Ching Daily. She has a whole list of … Continue reading Thoughts on Thinking, the Empty Mind and Not-Doing
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Horrifying Comparison of Adolescence
This is not a reference I throw around lightly. This is something I have studied. I worked at the Anti-Defamation League in San Francisco when I was younger, helping maintain their library of groups they watched for hate crimes or atrocities in the making. Every day, researchers would hand me stacks of articles from periodicals … Continue reading Horrifying Comparison of Adolescence
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If a Genie Could Grant us Wholeheartedness
My husband and I were solving all the problems of the world this morning over coffee, and again, the discussion of violence in our nation was at the forefront of our thoughts. We were acknowledging that it is difficult to have a conversation about how to solve the problems without people getting heated, and … Continue reading If a Genie Could Grant us Wholeheartedness
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Right Brain, Left Bank and Parenting through Teenage Angst
Being on the right side of the brain is a little like being on the Left Bank in Paris: relaxing while watching the passing show, listening to the music on the corner. It's a place to sit around and tell stories and wonder about it all - and most important, to slow down. Call … Continue reading Right Brain, Left Bank and Parenting through Teenage Angst
