I saw geese mamas ushering their new broods to the water on a walk break this week—which led me to remember how many good and wondrous things happen just out of sight a lot of days…
like the driveway feather waiting for me to find…
Nature’s Gift
…the way our world smells after a clearing rain and the child who reminded me of that…
…how rain led to some happy mud puddles but also some necessary clean outs
and progress in increments or big versions still counts as win here.
Take out pizza because 🍕is gift, actually,
in so many ways, and eating it for breakfast is evidence of plenty/leftovers/choice…
…and we are already at the end of April and this list, so I choose this poem to share as we go on about our busy days:
A sunny visit in a new coffee shop with an old friend
Words on the page…and finding old words that remind me of the value of ritual and routine and returning to oneself
Sofia’s rainy day list of things to do-those small sincere joys we can give and reciprocate
The power company’s lineman who repaired my transformer in a steady rain
His genuine and almost surprised tone You are most welcome, ma’am
Which left me considering how small it is to say thank you and how rare for some of us to hear it
Taylor Swift’s new album and the student who met me as I arrived on campus with the news of that. Words as gift. More on this I’m quite sure…but a quick one thing I admire about Swift is her bullshit detector and her refusal to be a victim. More of us doing that, please and thank you.
Seven good things in a brief lineup here…so many more. When we start noting, we are rewarded.
I hope you are rewarded in the coming week. Be good to yourself. Listen to someone new. Thank somebody.
Another birthday in the books last week, and gratitude for family and friends who honored the day with special moments. 🎂
Granddaughters who are currently enamored with the magician’s code and how one keeps pulling all manner of objects from my ear. The best part is her reaction to my reaction…is there anything more joyful than a child’s laugh? Listen for that in your comings and goings this week. Notice it as the gift it is. 🪄 🎩
Wildflower bouquets. Receiving one and knowing these moments are simply a window of time. Children grow and become busy with so much; when someone offers a wildflower bouquet, I hope you recognize the gift of that. Added bonus: a child who agrees to a picture. That sometimes is fleeting, too. 🌸
Beautiful offering
Funny stories told and shared… 🤭
Daily routines and rituals…and freedom to choose how our days will run in the background of life… 📝
Spring’s gifts of puddles and purple irises this week. 🌧️ 💜
Knowing how to prepare a meal and realizing that, too, is worthy of praise. 🍽️
I hope in this month of April (oh, it’s National Poetry Month…I’ll add one as a bonus 😊 below), you’ll honor the gifts of your life. I hope, like me, you’ll never exhaust the list. The more you notice, the more arrive. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
A Gift
By Czeslaw Milosz
A day so happy. Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden. Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers. There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess. I knew no one worth my envying him. Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot. To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me. In my body I felt no pain. When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.
—-
And, as all things are connected it seems, this poem reminds me of a young man who read the poetry of Milosz to me in Prague…and how that moment’s memory has always stayed with me.
Easter greetings to the Christian readers here… I hope you’ve had a lovely day and made good memories. The bloom in the picture was only a bud the afternoon of Easter Saturday…what a difference a day makes, right? 😉
That full bloom iris greeted me this morning and reminded me how much good can come in a truly short time. Always be on watch for it.
It’s been a busy few days here with grandchildren dyeing eggs (and that brought back memories of my children doing the same— as well as my mom doing the same with me so many decades ago. Memories hang with us.) Traditions. ❤️
Little Easter baskets and fillable eggs and cascarones and children’s happy voices …
…and those children coming in with pre-birthday gifts as we were able to celebrate together this weekend…
The mailbox has been a treasure trove of happy mail recently, and I will always marvel at the magic that seems to bring a card or parcel from place to place. Today, it held homemade baked goods, too…all the ways friends show up with love and light.
I sent some good mail of my own during the past few days: a stitched contour portrait is on its way to Australia thanks to India Flint and her ever busy way of connecting creatives through stitch or words or art.
Friendships…and the ways we witness one another through good times and bad 🌟
Full moon glow a few days ago that led me to stand in wonder…the beauty of this world…
Books and journals and coffee cups and flowers…all the usual suspects that bring joy 🦋
Recipes…and time to make them…
And as I enter a new year, I honor the tradition of staying up to meet the day—happy to see another year and hopeful for the good it will bring…
So many times I wanted to post because I knew I missed last week, but I decided a catch up today would do. The message really doesn’t change:
Find beautiful moments. Surround yourself with good people. Learn from a child. Laughter is life. Carry on.
Solo goose the last few days…so Mama is likely on her nest just out of sight…
Wisteria appeared in its purple glory, cascading like clusters of grapes among telephone poles and adding a shot of color to still winter shrubs…
Dandelions have come, too, and while some of you likely hate them, Sofia christened them wish sticks and we are happy happy to see we have plenty of chances…
I was able to participate in two granddaughters’ school event this week, and I’m always glad to see happy children, beautiful classrooms, and a whole host of people…ones who come to witness and celebrate handprints and seedlings and book fairs…
Speaking of celebrations, a dear writing friend received good news and will have one of her poems published this summer. When that happens and with her permission, I will post it here. How truly good to see someone following the call to write and earning deserved recognition. Good news lifts us all. May we have more of it…
Blackwing pencils…one came to me from the friend mentioned above and reminded me how the little things really are not little at all…
Well, let’s see. One more thing—-how about some lines from the nature loving poet Mary Oliver to send us paying attention into the new week:
This, from her book Upstream:
“Teach the children…stand them in the stream…rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms. Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
“A grateful person will never be poor. The grateful heart sits at a continuous feast.” —Ancient Wisdom
Nice words to start this week’s post—ones I believe and I hope you do, too.
What feasts did you enjoy this week? It seems that there are always so many to recall:
Children burning energy at the playground…
The public playgrounds/parks available for our use…
Recent show try-ons with little girls jumping up to test run their choices—-shouldn’t we all be doing that? When does that see how it feels to run in them become only memory? I prefer their ways 😉 👟 🏃🏽♀️ …
Making it to the early voting line with a child in tow—and the welcome she received from all around her. Children being out the best in us…and honestly, more of us might show up to vote if we received the welcome she did. 😊
The first red geraniums of the season on my porch …
The markings I put on corners of the fitted sheets so I get it right the first time 😅🤣…if you have battled that hot mess you know 😂😂
…
life. Today I sat in the March sun and stitched a meditation (thank you for teaching the process, Liz Kettle.) I used indigo dyed wool from a years ago workshop in NM. I smiled as the dye still stains fingers after all this time. I was present, calm, focused. 🧵 🪡 ☀️
Looking for the first jonquils…it’s time. My phone’s record of memories shows there was a year when they’d be prolific by now. 11 years ago—abundance. I’m looking for just the first one. It will be enough. ✅ I’ll post the field from that long ago time, though, as a reminder to notice the beauty when it is presented…it can be fleeting.
Fleeting blooms 2013
Kid art ✅
Poetry sketching with a new group of students ✅
New routines adopted ✅
Good words—this week, from Michael J. Fox:
“And if you don’t think you have anything to be grateful for, keep looking. Because you don’t just receive optimism. You can’t wait for things to be great and then be grateful for that. You’ve got to behave in a way that promotes that.” ✅
Farewell, January. You gave me some good people, beautiful moments, necessary reminders. ✌️
National Day on Writing—a student exploring solitude
Hello, dear reader,
The last seven days gave me some good gifts…
I celebrated the National Day on Writing with a class of high schoolers on the college campus. Visiting a park across the street to spend a few minutes of solitary writing time worked its magic on a few of them. So, I celebrate the truth that sometimes pushing through and doing the harder things is worth the effort. We cannot make someone see something they are not ready to see or enjoy writing or the arts or nature…or anything. But, we can open a door. Offer an invitation. Create a space for light…
Grocery store pumpkins. The price is right and some little ones were happy. Maybe roasted pumpkin seeds and a carving are in the cards by next weekend…
Yellow butterflies seem to have taken the place of hummingbirds for now. Beauty in all its iterations…
FaceTime with a granddaughter this week…
Boarded, Landed, and other travel messages an adult son sent without me asking— maturity and all the simple ways we can show respect and care to others…
The hibernating (AKA lost) teddy bear was uncovered this week—one we thought was surely gone has returned, delighting a little girl…
Calendar countdowns—I’m entering my favorite time of year now…glad to witness it once again.
Happy week, friends. Be good to yourselves and look for the little things to celebrate. 🌟
The calendar says fall. TX says where… but maybe by week’s end we’ll get a not 90 day. One must hope. Forecast says likely. 🙌🏼
Leaves have not been up to their usual autumn magic, but there are signs of trying.
Beginner
The garden spiders are busy and a few littles have joined in the naming: Sally and Izzy are still daily regulars, but Sunny Star Scout (fave name 🤩) must be otherwise occupied …we expect her return any day. 🕷️ I know all are not spider lovers, but these are my returners. Sally always sets up on the side of the garage. Izzy chose the dog food bin this year, but she waves a happy leg at me each morning as I gently get Ada’s breakfast without disturbing her glorious weaving. We seem to understand one another.
Sally
The days aren’t fall cool, but outside is bearable, so that’s the win. Little girls were joyful with jump ropes and sidewalk chalk and swings and driveway races. That’s good. ✅
Little boy wearing a cowboy hat greeted me at his house with “ampoline ampoline!” on his busy way to the swing and see saw and trampoline…then sat happily in the backyard dirt and sifted through his goldmine …stopping multiple times to bring me treasures. A child who notices. 🫶
Gifts from a 2 year old 🍂
I hung the pumpkin front door decoration, and as is my custom, also plugged in the white lights on my beginning tree—this year it will live on the sunporch where it’s already bringing us moments of joy. We have decided it will be our art tree. I’m looking forward to how it transforms by December. So much to be said for creating spaces that we enjoy. The days are busy. White lights in the early morning and late evening are luxury. 🌟
Beginning tree 🌟
Little things. Passing moments. Noises and silences and all the gifts those hold.
May your week be filled with treasures you are able to notice. ✌️
Ah, a Sunday in August. School is back in session for some of us…others have a few more days of freedom. I witnessed a bit of the “first days behind the scenes” this week as my youngest granddaughter started school, and I’ll start with this: thank you, experienced teachers. Teachers who greet with a smile, extend a hand, place a new book dedicated to a child in a backpack, arrive and teach/mentor/model/, often with no expression of gratitude. Thank you for caring for our most precious ones. Thank you to those who give their all and then go home to children of their own. If we can give nothing else to our educators, let us give them the respect they deserve.
Maybe I should keep with a school theme, but I’ve been noticing flight this week—how some of us still stop when we see an airplane above us—why? Maybe in awe of the miracle and science of it…maybe to bless its going forth…maybe to say soon…regardless, noticing the wonders of the sky can be a special practice.
Three granddaughters gathered ‘round my back-porch table and noticed other fancies of flight: the ever present hummingbirds, dancing monarchs, double egrets one morning, and of course, cardinals. So, gratitude for noticing. How rich to see, and to see that others see, too.
Other goodnesses: little hands waiting for and giving pink polish manicures…💅🏼
Other hands guiding a sister with a water play toy…and my own inner hesitation to bring yet another mess forward was silenced by my thoughts of water dries. Kids grow up. Let them play in peace. Relative peace. 😅
Next up was a foray into fake snow making—and I must admit that baking soda and a drop of water occupied some little hands for a good while. ❄️
Grateful for a house where children play and learn and wonder. Grateful for their jokes and insights and my food one calls slowfood (versus fast because even that gets old sometimes). 😉
I’ll end with that landed text from a loved one. Grateful for safe travels and adult children who are thoughtful enough to let moms know all is well. That’s a lot. 🛬
Blessings for your new week. I’ll be greeting new students to college classes midweek, and I’m sure there will be stories and insights ahead. ✌️
A blog reaching out to victims of abuse and others in need, providing insight about abuse, hope for the future, and guidance to see THE LIGHT that lead Secret Angel out of the darkness of her own abusive situation and helped her to not only survive but to overcome.
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