Rain Garden

Sunday Quote

Perhaps, after all, our best thoughts come when we are alone. It is good to listen, not to voices but to the wind blowing, to the brook running cool over polished stones, to bees drowsy with the weight of pollen. If we attend to the music of the earth, we reach serenity. And then, in some unexplained way, we share it with others. ― Gladys Taber

Poems and a creative non-fiction piece

Very pleased to have two poems in the fine journal - Connecticut River Review - they sent me my copy with a bookmark marking where my poems were in the journal. I imagine they did that to everyone's poems that were included and was really touched by that level of thoughtfulness. If you want to read the poems, they are not available online. You can purchase the journal which I would suggest doing as there are other wonderful writings inside or...click on the photo (which will enlarge the poem so you can read the whole thing) and decipher out what my blurry camera delivered. Here is a link to the website although it does not appear to be updated. More good news - the terrific journal JMWW just released their latest - and I am happily included. My creative non-fiction piece, The Opposite of Drowning, may be accessed by clicking on this link to JMWW's website. Enjoy!

You can only drink so much tea

Been sick since last Thursday, think I am on the improving side now thanks to the magic of nebulizers and antibiotics. Everyone is telling me how stunning the weather is, just perfect, perfect end of September, first of October weather. The husband positively sang rhapsodic about it as he left the house. I recall sunlight as I staggered, coughing and wheezing, to the doctor's yesterday. Outside the window it does indeed look nice. You can only drink so much tea, really, and thumb through old magazines, so I thought I would take a stroll around the house. Maybe look for the old boards and brick in the back and make a nice throw together bench for the pumpkins. out past the side where signs of the daughter's visit remain - the cloths from where she washed and waxed her car (unamused by my croaky song of "wax on, wax off" - I really know far too many inane songs from commercials and old television shows). Past the growing moss...very pretty although I am sure some people would be tossing bleach all over it to clean it up. We are not those people. The yard is in a complete lean towards Autumn, lovely, since it was kind of a forgetaboutit summer - too much interior house work, too many outdoor icks like blistering heat and an endless swarm of the most maddening crickets. The late day light is lovely. Into the back where I have old bricks, wooden boards, various yard stuffs...or I had. Now the ivy has claimed it all. I am not about to root through all this - that is what cold winter winds are for - to kill it off so we can find all the junk we bloody forgot about in the stupid yard. Meanwhile it feels like a bug is in my hair. I feel very dizzy. That's the nebulizer and congestion. It is weirdly hot out here. The house where my nice chair is seems far away. What did I come out here for? The yard is full of noise, birds dashing out of thick branches startle me, there is the sound of much movement (who lives in this wee hole? Too big for bees or crickets or whatever, it must be one of our zillion chipmunks). It is so pretty. I feel so out of it. Is this what it is like to be really old and slightly dotty? Or someone smoking plants instead of taking photos of them? I swear, hydrangeas never fail to deliver even as their flowers fade. I swear there is something in my hair. I am exhausted. What did I want? Oh, yes. Something to put the pumpkins on. Oh, the heck with that. I need some Earl Gray.

Sunday Quote

If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong. ― Masaru Emoto, The Secret Life of Water

Studies of a Sunflower

Sunday Quote

Being generous of spirit is a wonderful way to live. - Pete Seeger

OPA! Neighborhood Greek Festival

a sure sign of age...cannot eat beloved candy apples or all the dental work will be for naught! I love the trashy beauty of arcades and summer festivals...always waiting for a Ray Bradbury novel to just kick in at some point. My son and his crew running around, the growing din and neon lights, the dancing Greek girls in the music tent, all fabulous. Good use of a popcorn container - make a hat! The food was heaven - we had gyros loaded with garlicky yogurt sauce and baklava. Walked the long blocks home discussing our brief failed careers as school paper reporters...very funny (we each did a review not well received. Mine was a very earnest review of a horror movie that my timid 9th grade self should not have seen. I wrote it was terrifying. Apparently only my review was!) Ah, husband. After a million years, I still have stories to hear and stories to share... Nice being married to you. And home just in time to catch The Birdcage on tv, a favorite movie - Nathan Lane and Gene Hackman wonderfulness. Opa!

29th wedding anniversary on Sunday

The sliver of a moon hung in a cobalt sky while families and couples filled the high ceiling with happy noise. We had a lovely time at a newish Italian restaurant we had wanted to try. We brought our youngest who is just starting high school to celebrate with us. Love is to be shared, like bruschetta and everybody gets a taste of everybody's kind of meals. Cheers to us.

New short story up for your reading pleasure

Very happy to say that my short story, The Exit, has been published by Lowestoft Chronicle, a wonderful journal of stories and poetry. Click on the story title for the link. Enjoy!

Diana!

It was thrilling to follow Diana Nyad on the last leg of her journey today - what a shining example she is!

Sunday Quote

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about. - Charles Kingsley