These darker days are days that feel light to me, a quality versus some quantity. There are car rides to see Christmas lights and walks after dinner, a blanket of sky dotted with stars and a moon fading to new. Poetry and seasonal essays, tea and twinkle lights. Darkness that is light, a quality richer than any quantity. … Continue reading infusions
Tag: family
all in
She tells me she has a Norman Rockwell picture in her mind. A picture of family gathered round, everything and everyone cozy, food abundant and delicious, a picture that is perfect. The picture is not her own (it’s Norman Rockwell’s) (it’s one you might see on social media). I tell her our Thanksgiving wasn’t Norman Rockwell either. It was … Continue reading all in
simple
I find a scrap piece of paper in my desk drawer with this quote scribbled on it: All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world. (E.B. White) I read it and my heart explodes… no, not explodes… rather, expands, opens very very wide, fluffs its feathers … Continue reading simple
lingering
We have visitors. My sister, my brother-in-law, my nephew, which sounds very my-ish, though how else to say? They do not belong to me, are not mine-mine, though they are mine in heart speak, if there is such a thing, and I think that there is. It’s a quick visit, one dinner, one sleep, one breakfast. It’s good to see … Continue reading lingering
museum
The first cherry tomatoes are ready for plucking, eating, admiring and so I pluck, I eat, I admire. There is one tomato that remains in the admiring phase, rests on the kitchen windowsill. I look at it multiple times a day while standing at the sink to wash dishes or hands. I don’t know what it is about … Continue reading museum
reverence
The first of the cosmos have come up, self-seeding from last year, and the year before, and…. Along with the zinnias, this summer’s haphazard garden is shaping up. I walk to the shed to get the lawn mower, notice a tomato plant. Another dear plant has self-seeded and, for a moment, my heart skips a beat, reverence rooting … Continue reading reverence
a string of good
I see my friend after several weeks’ time. She makes coffee, I bring olive oil cake swirled with blueberry jam, we sit on her porch. It’s a perfect summer morning, a perfect way to begin the week. The rest of the week is good too, though busy. My writing project is challenging my brain in new ways and … Continue reading a string of good
works of art
The words in my journal, of late, are of softness and breath, of dreams and process, artist and voice, life and wonder. Repeatedly they surface, on this page and that page, on the page that’s written two days later, as if something in my subconscious is coming up for air. I breathe, I dream, I iterate. I … Continue reading works of art
just snow
There is snow, then ice, which makes for heavy and tedious shoveling of a not-short driveway. The saving grace is the four of us, shoveling in unison. The air is crisp and cold but our bodies are warm and we are strong, especially together. I am keenly aware of opposites this week. The cold, the warm. The wakefulness, the … Continue reading just snow
unlocking
I didn’t grow up watching It’s a Wonderful Life but thanks to one of my brothers-in-law, my husband and I have a now-long standing tradition of watching It’s a Wonderful Life each year. The kids watched with us a handful of years but it’s not their cup of tea. My husband and I continue our tradition regardless. As has always been the … Continue reading unlocking