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.
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. 🌟
Seven reminiscences this time, I think. I never know for sure until I sit here to begin. What gifts has the week prior given me? How many ways do all the crossings connect? ❤️…
Well, last week one of my students wrote to the poet Jan Gray. She liked his poem “Ghazal of Oranges” and set out to find some answers to questions she had. He answered her (not a small thing in this big world), and when I tell you it meant something, it really did. This student has a new view now of literature and poetry and humanity because of her action to discover and his action to reply.
Then, I shared the same poem at my GED class and asked a new student to read it. She agreed, but hesitated at first. She kept going, and at the end, looked up and said, You couldn’t have known, but his first line stopped me. My father died on New Year’s Eve…he, too, loved oranges. I felt his presence all around me as I read this out loud.
I told those students about the poet and my other student…how they will likely continue to communicate through emails now, this unexpected pairing. How odd and beautiful the world can be.
At the end of class, I asked this group to jot down their strengths, any areas they hope for help, anything they want me to know. I do this with different groups because all will not speak freely in a new class with strangers present, but they will usually respond in writing. As I leafed through the set, one student wrote a thank you note to me…a student who only shows up when his work life permits, when he can get there on his motorcycle. He encouraged me, turning the tables and reminding me that how we show up is as important as what we bring. We all just need to hear a kind and encouraging word sometimes…it means a lot to me and I’m sure to the others.
Teachers sometimes hear from the community or parents of students , but when we hear from students, it’s deeper and somehow truer to our ears.
So, all this to say: the value of words. Poems. People trying and succeeding in making meaning. All of us crisscrossing through the world connecting like beautiful threads.
This is counting as seven paragraphs haha…didn’t plan that either, but somehow think it works.
There were other precious moments during the week—saving some like a spool of thread, ready to unwind when needed.
As we enter February, I hope you find ways to express yourself to others—no sincere effort is ever wasted and only transforms into more good.
Some might sigh while others will celebrate the fact that we are three months away from Christmas Day. 🎄 I’m in the celebrate it camp.
A friend posted a beautiful photograph of red berries this week from a walk, and said she was brought to think of me and my love for the holiday. She’s christened me Mother Christmas, and what an uplift that was…to receive such a lovely new nickname and to be thought of when in the beauty of nature.
Thank you, Care.
I’m sure a lot of us often think of others in our journeys as well. Let them know this week. Remind them that our absence is illusion: we are present with others when we call them to our mind’s eye.
I’ve been flipping through a beautiful book my daughter gifted me last Christmas…it’s filled with photos from all of the holidays I’ve been a grandmother. So many sweet memories to look back upon in sequence. All the love that was present then and still continues…and will always carry on, as love does. As good things do.
Lists are in progress, traditions to continue are bubbling up as the busy workdays pass. Things to look forward to and care about are real gifts in a world that wants us to focus on hard and busy and tragic and chaos. My heart has room for holiday thoughts, and I am immensely glad.
Other goodnesses this week:
Spider lilies in bloom along the driveway edge
Two dragonflies with golden wings hovering in front of me in between classes on a university parking lot this busy week
The place where pomegranates should be once the shipments start coming in…I wait all year…the stocker said this week 🌟
And one more gift of an observation from an Adult Ed student: You are unique abnormal. Some might be offended; I felt it was true praise. I don’t want to be conventional, haha.
Maybe it was because I was on the floor creating a butcher paper poem with black marker. I’d left the normalcy of what so many students get accustomed to, and I’d returned to core principles that work and bring me peace: old school words on paper.
I’d been inspired by a conversation and recalled a poem that related…so I did what all good teachers do—grabbed the moment and created a memory.
I find that most of us know what to do a lot of the time. We stop ourselves for various reasons. This week, let’s push on through with the idea, the new routine, the timeline that makes sense to us.
If the intention is good, success will follow.
I didn’t count, but I bet that’s at least seven.
Here’s to you: go into the world and be you this week. ❤️
May has arrived, so I guess she gets to be 1/7 this week.
2/7 Freshly mown grass. It has its own unique scent. Reminds me of fresh starts/clean slates.
3/7 That cardinal that my eldest granddaughter mentioned this week—and immediately asked for my phone camera to document it. She wanted me to see what she saw. Today, her daddy mentioned a random sighting, too. I missed both…because sometimes the things we see are meant for only us to recognize.
4/7 My art life. I’ve been busy painting for weeks now, and a festival I enjoy showing-selling art is next weekend. I hope to report good stories from there soon. Three dear people who came for years to greet me there have passed since this time last year: Aaron, Martha, Betty. Their spirits will accompany me and remind me that life is brief. I’ll miss their encouragement and laughter and presence. I’m glad I shared their life path for a moment in time.
5/7 Seeds. Lots have been planted here, and while the blooms have not appeared, the sprouts have. I never take it for granted. 🌱
6/7 Cards and letters and even a recent email from a decades ago student. She reminded me that the smallest thing we might do is remembered. So, if you ever think what you do and say is meaningless, it is not.
7/7 My April journal. It holds a lot of good things: words, poetry, cards, ephemera. Pieces of a life. I’m grateful.
Welcome a new time, dear readers. Mother’s Day in the USA is next Sunday. I’ll try to post some good things then. Until then, happy May. 🧚🏼♀️💐🌟
We are closing out the last days of January (already!) dear readers…what used to seem the longest month to me doesn’t seem so long anymore. I hope it was a good one for you and that February brings new gifts for us to behold. ❤️🧚🏼♀️🌟
Next week will bring us a fun date—2/2/22–to witness. Not sure how I’ll honor that yet, but maybe you have ideas? Not only do we have all the 2s, but a couple weeks later, we will see a 2/22/22 and it will land on a Tuesday, so we really should do something. ☺️☺️ Things to look forward to…#1 on my list tonight.
#2: The Maya Angelou quarter has been released in the USA. I have asked family and friends and students to be on the lookout for this piece of history…something happy to look for as we make our way along. I hope if you find one in your change, you’ll post here and let me know where you received it. It’s such a wholesome and easy way to be part of the world right now.
#3: Third on my list but first in my heart tonight: snail mail from a granddaughter. She lives in the same town, so it was a surprise to open the mailbox this week and see her careful young writing and open the gift of her art inside. Plus someone (likely her mommy) took part in this sweet surprise by dictating the spelling of addresses, locating a love stamp (❤️), making sure this sweet mail made it to the mailbox. All the ways we receive love and all the people who help make it happen. 📬
#4 Red wagons and the children who ride in them. Ones I love and all the children who get pulled by others into the light of day…into the beauty of nature. And yeah a plug to Radio Flyer Co. for making products that stand the test of time.
#5a: Chianti. Weekend sips. 🍷 And 5b: No work on weekends. It’s a rule I try harder to adhere to these days. 🧚🏼♀️ Highly recommend.
#6: Things stored and retrieved. Years ago in my former life as an elementary teacher, my students created a group paper quilt with various scraps of fabric from my textile stash. For some good reason, that piece of art did come home when I retired. I found it recently and today it came out of storage and will be shared with college students as we read a short story by Alice Walker called “Everyday Use” and then it will find its new place on my office wall. Some things we are meant to keep, and later we learn why. 🌟
#7: Continuing the quilt theme, one I started for myself many years ago is finally getting its binding. It was 70 degrees today, but we are expecting 40s in the coming week, so this is a good time to snuggle under something soft and handmade. Threads and needles and tiny stitches and once again realizing the time for certain things does indeed come when we are patient with ourselves. 🧵 🪡
Have a good week, dear reader. Take care of yourself in this current world. Look for beauty when you can, and know that your time here means something. You don’t have to understand it today. Days are coming when we get to look back and say Ahh. That’s why. 🌟
This past week, I celebrated the National Day on Writing with a couple of classes of college writers. That decision gives me way more than five good things for this post, so here we go:
Young adults exploring the natural world —some sitting and noticing, some standing, some taking advantage of the playground swings in the nearby park we visited, some sketching. All deeply engaged in the moments.
In answer to my question of what was the best part of writing outside, one student’s answer, “Peace…it’s just so quiet.” Yes.
Other words: “We all walked out of those front doors together, all of us —with all our differences— and we became united…and we were free.” Wow.
We are writing sonnets now, and the work we do is influenced by that short time apart from the daily classroom. We draw from the solo classroom of attention. I hope they’ll return there as often as they can. I really think they will. 🌟
The simplicity of teaching and learning…some things really are like poet Mary Oliver told us:
The last quarter of the year always seems to be on roller skates…catch as much good as you can before it zips right by.
Five good things since last time:
Honest hometown service people✅✅
A cat with a Cheeto ✅
A dog waiting at the end of the driveway ✅
Stacks of essays to be graded and some really good words within them ✅
A new vinyl album in Christmas red —I’m on the brink of launching this holiday season, and with the cooler temps that we are finally experiencing, it looks like it will be sooner rather than later. ✅
June already, dear readers! Time is flying fast to me these days. How about you?
This week I’m once again reflecting on five good things from the past week. I hope you’ll do the same. Look for the small decisions, small moments, small victories along with me.
For the past few years, I’ve participated in a daily art challenge called ICAD (index card a day). Its host and creator Tammy Garcia offers a lot of inspiration over at her blog Daisy Yellow. Look her site up for cool ideas and ways to participate:
While I’m choosing to keep my cards private this year, I am participating in a solo way. Actually, it’s hard to post cards and interact with so many other artists when working on a goal of less social media use, so while I will miss it, my personal goals win this season. ✅
Three little granddaughters are sleeping over at my house tonight, and while they started out together, currently each is slumbering peacefully in different rooms/areas. But sleep. Yes, yes, yes to blessed childhood sleep. And adult sleep on the horizon. ✅
I laughed when I looked at my to-do list a little while ago. I must have extremely high expectations of myself to think I’d accomplish much at all today besides playing, cooking, and talking. It’s ok. I’m learning most of my recent “to-dos” can be postponed a day or two with no big problem. That’s good. ✅
I started teaching a new class of college students this past week, and on the first day they participated in an icebreaker activity that resulted in some stories being told that were really moving. I’m reminded once again of the power of our stories. We are writing those stories, and that is a gift. ✅
I think my last thing to list is a culmination of a lot of small things from my journal that I want to remember: saw some California cousins who always inspire me (and don’t we all need people to motivate us?!), killed a poisonous snake in my front yard (not my fave moment, but I’m damn proud that I still have whatever it is that could make that happen), sat and stared at wild roses growing in my backyard, cooked fresh squash and zucchini, held some babies, sang some off key songs. ✅
Good night, dear readers. Here’s to always at least five moments worth remembering not only on Fridays, but every day. ❤️
Hello, dear readers. The calendar flipped to November since the last time I wrote. It is one of my favorite months of the year. It’s a respite time, a time to catch our breath before the flurry of the holidays. A show of color on the trees. A time for reflection. The earth getting ready for a wintery sleep.
We are now in time change land, and usually the return to Standard Time makes me feel re-set, but like many things this year, something still feels off. Maybe that’s why at 8pm I was ready for bed and slept hard for several hours. Yes, I realize it’s not really Friday, but it’s still dark outside and most of the world around my tiny universe is still in dreamland, so I’ll push this post through “as if” it isn’t actually Saturday. ☺️
Saturdays. They make my top five this week.
Generally, I get to Skype with my daughter and talk with my sister on Saturdays, so it’s an easy pick. Their presence in my world, even from far far away, always blesses me.
Journals.
I have filled several this year, and I am centered by the process and discipline of writing every day. After this post, the next thing on my list is writing my pages with cup of coffee in hand. Likely several cups. Ha. A lot gets settled and sorted through that writing time, and I am grateful.
Small talk.
I mean the words from my grandchildren. 🥰 I’ll see them today, and they will fill me up with their commentary on the world. Their turns of phrases. Their I love you moments and their running dialogue with each other and their toys and the world. I’ll listen and engage and be reminded of what it means to be aware of the power in the moments.
Democracy.
It’s a big one on my list this week, this year, this lifetime. Regardless of whether folks agree or disagree with my choice of candidates or political party preference, as an American I enjoy freedom to vote — and a system is in place that makes sure my vote and every vote is counted.
I am grateful for those who are on the front lines working to defend that process. I am grateful for the people, like me, who stood in long lines to early vote. I had special conversations with strangers in those lines. It was obvious we were not all voting the same way, but we treated each other the way I envision America at her best. So I know it is possible. I won’t be discouraged when I have seen civility and decency with my own eyes.
I am grateful for the people who voted by mail. For the ones who walked a long way to mail a ballot. For others who drove folks to and from polling places or post offices. For new voters who figured it out and decided they would keep learning to be better voters every future time. For the ballot. I am grateful for choice.
Several of my students registered to vote (and showed up to vote) this season. I bow to them here. Sometimes when we think our voice doesn’t matter, we discover that there is power in the process.
Tomorrow.
I’m grateful for the thought of it. I am always aware I may not see it, but I look forward to the sun waking me up each day, the slant of light that appears through the bedroom window. Slow wakings without alarms. Possibilities. The season that brings us Thanksgiving, the preparations (in progress of course) for Christmas.
After all, we build better tomorrows by what we do today. So, what will you do today? This week? This season? Will you build a bridge toward understanding and love? Smile beneath the mask I hope you are wearing in public? Look for the light in every human being? Make a move to improve one little thing? I hope so.
Have a good week. Improve your corner of the world. Know you are part of its power. 🌟
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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