IS THERE A ROAD MAP?

Is there a road map?

Coyotes howl in the too near distance as nighttime descends here in the canyon. Busy mind wrestles with the cares of the day even as some small creature is probably losing its last hold on life.

On my mind: Our parents lived to be 90 and 104 so people tend to say things about the long life my siblings and I should expect. But, even without a pandemic, that isn't necessarily so. As I worked on things related to our mother's trust earlier in the day, the fact that my brother had passed not long after mother even though he was just 75 was on my mind. No guarantees.

And so, no guarantees? Then shouldn't we rightly grab onto all of life that we can while we can, living it to what is fullness for each of us? I say yes. Grab onto the mane of that horse called Life and ride for all you are worth.

Sure, there's Covid-19 and I am not advocating tossing your mask, foregoing social distancing, or any other foolhardy actions. But what can you do to live fully within the confines of what is given? Find it. We do not have to live in fear, negativity, and anger. Seek the joy in each day that fulfills you. As that slogan says, "Just do it!" 

Ride with the wind at your back and a smile on your face.

EVERY DAY?

Postcards galore

"Create every day! Make it your job."

Well, my job got in the way of my commitment to twice a week on this blog. It was on my mind to write yesterday, but I just got carried away with a new series of fun pieces and worked on it way into the night. 

How I have found myself creating lately is by finding usefulness in the creations. Cards, postcards, etc.--small things that can be sent to hopefully brighten someone's day. And, it may be my "job,"but it also brings joy into my own day as I work.

So, back to work I go...heigh ho, heigh ho 😃 And maybe I can make up for my oops by posting three blogs this week. We shall see.

WHO ARE YOU? WHO AM I?

What I CAN do

The urge to write "real" persists in knocking on my door. But what IS real? Who am I in all that is going on in the world right now?

Am I the older, wiser person who believes I understand the world? Hell, no!

Am I the Pollyanna who sees all through rose-colored glasses? NOT!!

So what is real for me on this July day 2020? 

I worry. I know moments of despair. I rage. I cry. I wonder why I seem to have no wisdom to impart, why there seems to be no context in which to focus merely on what I can control.
Everything is not fine...and nothing I can do is going to make it so.

And yet...there is the garden to tend. There is the writing I've committed to doing. There are mini-art projects to keep creativity going. There are wonderful and wise books to read. There are Zoom opportunities to hear authors talk about their work. There are YouTube videos where more gardening tips than one could ever use reside. Recipes to try. Friends to contact. Walks in new places and old, and increasing the miles because there is the gift of time.

And, speaking of time, much of what seems to be lost during this pandemic will eventually be restored if history can be believed. But time? It will be gone, not to be replaced or restored. Some things relating to time will just never be. And so I grieve. Being real, I need to acknowledge my grief for not only what IS, but also for what will never be.

That's not negative; it just is what is on this day in July 2020.

IDLE TIME??NO WAY!

handmade cards one way to go

What are you doing with the idle time that seems to show up right along side of Covid 19?

Neighbor Bina and I were talking about how our use of time seems to have changed as the world around us has too. For myself, my brown thumb has been found in the garden for one thing. Might as well grow some of the groceries and have that fresh taste. And of course there's also a whole lot more baking and cooking going on lately as well.

Making cards to send to friends has been one of my greatest pleasures with time to do so. I laugh that sometimes it seems I might be saving the USPS single-handed. 😜

Realizing that journaling and this blog have not really been "enough" for writing, I also asked friend Catharine to share some writing prompts. Got the first one today and had some fun with it here:

Whoosh! Pet poodle Horace at my side as I drove at a good clip around Crater Lake, my orange VW Beetle seemed to break not only the Zen of the moment but the sound barrier as well. (Seems there is more to this story, but I finished with the prompts...can you guess what they were?)

What are you doing so not to have too much idle time (some is good, of course) on your hands?

THE ABC OF IT ALL

Back in March (oh, such a world away now!) and inspired by friend Michael Thorstensen's newest ABC book, the following was created after a mostly sleepless night ruminating.

A is for alphabet, action, Amazon, and attitude
B is for Bed rest, bailout, and bully
C is for coughing, contagion, caring, and cooperation
D is for deliveries, distance, and denial
E is for Economy, e pluribus unum, and extrovert's challenge
F is for facts, Fauci, friendship, and finding ways
G is for generosity, gatherings limited, and global
H is for helping, hopeful, and hand washing
I is for isolation, imagination, and inconceivable
J is for judicious, jogging, and jokes
K is for kissing no more, kitchen time, and knock out drops
L is for listening, loving, and laughing
M is for moments, masks, and moratorium
N is for no touching, nurses, and nesting
O is for ordeal, order online, and oxygen
P is for patience, positivity,and politics
Q is for quarantine, questions, and quiescent
R is for rest, rationing, and reading
S is for social distancing, sleeping, and seed planting
T is for testing, time, and toilet paper
U is for understanding, Uncle Sam, and unemployed
V is for virus, visits curtailed, and vaccines
W is for washing hands, watching, and waiting
X is for X this thing out
Y is for young get it too
Z is for zipped right through the alphabet

Much has changed since March and, clearly, much has not. I'm sure many of you could add to this as I probably could to. We soldier on, as they say. Stay well. Keep a sense of humor. Hope it ends sooner rather than later.

Here's to no more sleepless nights.

(And a thanks to Catharine and her writing class for reminding me of this whole alphabet thing. 😀)

WHAT MATTERS MOST

Essential playtime

"Is your life organized around what matters most to you?" In my earlier counseling/coaching days this was a staple question asked of clients. It popped into my head again today as I commiserated with myself about the many things that seem near impossible these Covid days.

As the question and the commiserations rambled around in my mind I realized that, while there are so many things like time with family and friends and road trips and teaching workshops--things that matter A LOT to me--other things have begun to show up that still feed my soul. 

My brown-thumb gardening attempts are challenging and yet showing signs of success. Finding ways to stay in touch with friends and family calls on creativity at times. Enjoying the time for reading, watching webinars of unfamiliar, often intriguing authors reading their work and talking about the process of writing for them. Taking ever longer walks and exploring new pathways. These things have begun to fill the time in fascinating ways that have begun to "matter" too.

We humans are really pretty adaptive so perhaps what matters most can adapt and evolve as well.

The sun shines not on us, but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. (John Muir)

LEST WE FORGET

Low tide

Feet mooshing in sand

Sun kissing skin

Breeze ruffling hair

Sanderlings skittering

Gulls squatting together

Waves lapping onshore

Glorious

Blessings

Gratitude

Joys of being alive in the moment

WHAT DO THEY MEAN?

With all that is going on in our country and around the world on this July 4, 2020 I found myself turning back to this piece created many years ago. It bears words that from long, long ago that spoke to me then and continue to do so today in the midst of the upheaval.

Again, I ponder the words. What do I find worthy of honoring? What would I choose to cultivate? And what, really, on this Independence Day does freedom ultimately mean to me?

So I thought to share these thoughts and the questions that arose from them with whatever follower chooses to read this sporadic blog and hope that you, too, will be moved by these words from another time and another place that just seem to continue to echo down through the years.