yesterday

“The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them.
The least we can do is try to be there.”

― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Things that make me feel alive :: part 2
the smell of fresh cut grass, the sound of true laughter,
gifted flowers on the dining room table, morning light,
the first iced coffee of the season, sugar snap peas,
and fresh greens, planting basil and how it smells when you
gently brush the leaves, a pot of sunflowers waiting to be planted,
fresh eggs and just baked sourdough bread
butter cups, four leaf clover, lady bugs and, snails,
slowing down, weeding life in the garden.

***

yesterday

“For any writer who wants to keep a journal, be alive to everything, not just to what you're feeling, but also to your pets, to flowers, to what you're reading.”

― May Sarton

things that make me feel alive :: a list
light, all kinds of light
hugs from Percy
birds calls
my walks with Percy
watching the garden wake up
a light spring rain
flowers opening
Baker’s silly routines
an unexpected good book
all the different shades of green
letting go of resentment
true friendship
being heard and understood
love, so much love

***

before breakfast

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

— Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland)

things I believe before breakfast

today I will book that vacation
today I will let a friend know my true feelings
today I will listen closely to my moods
today I will go for a walk in the rain
today I will start to simplify what goes on behind the scenes of this website
today I will carry my camera with me everywhere I go
***

“There are, in fact, certain roads that one may follow. Simplification of life is one of them.”

― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

the dear that crossed the lawn during longevity stick class, the birds announcing them,
stopping for a minute to just watch and listen, the two tiny hummers at the feeder,
allowing myself to unfold with spring, in my own way, feeding my sourdough starter
and thinking of my father, slowing down to allow memories to surface,
and noticing a glimmer of hope within them, finding a little bit more of myself in those memories
and letting go of mistakes and anger

***

the hummers are back

By the way, did you fellows know that a hummingbird weighs as much as a quarter? Do you think a hummingbird also weighs the same as two dimes and a nickel? But then she asked a question of her own: How do they weigh a hummingbird?

- Calvin Trillin

hummers at the feeder, a gentle rain, allowing my thoughts to just be without judgement,
the smell of banana bread baking, reading a really good book with the dog in my lap,
mulling over a new project, a slow day all to myself to just be with my thoughts, knowing…
there are leftovers for dinner!

***

blooming

“And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.”

― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

He and I walk his neighborhood. Along the way I teach him all the flower names. He blooms right along with the glorious colors of spring.

***

a bit of gratitude

“For being human, we remember and forget. We stray and return, fall down and get up, and cling and let go, again and again. But it is this straying and returning that makes life interesting, this clinging and letting go – damned as it is – that exercises the heart.”
— Mark Nepo

***

a morning walk with Percy, looking for bugs, a quick text exchange with a close friend, a reminder to reach out, the late afternoon light, blooming rhododendrons. .