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?

NOT THE ONLY ONES...

Love it!

This week Merriam-Webster announced the word of the year. "They."
I'm all for it and find the emphasis a definite sign of the times that will prove useful to so many.

But my favorite word? A new one to me (seen to the right.) I love the sound of it and I love what it means. I find myself wanting to use it all the time. It represents something I love, something I long to have more time for.

I suppose I could supply the definition, but that takes part of the fun out of this wonderful word. I hope you will look it up and be as enthralled with the mere thought of it as I am.

(Thanks to Kelsey Paprocki for the mug and the word.)

BORROWING BLOG

She would have appreciated the inherent joy here, I think

A busy week with birthdays, losses, and more, it seems there just has not been the time or the moment to write--though I wanted to, for sure.

And here, some more borrowed words from a master of the written word that I dedicate to an artist gone too soon, Michele Taylor:

When you look back on a lifetime and think of what has been given to the world by your presence, inevitably you think of your art, whatever it may be, as the gift you have made to the world in acknowledgment of the gift you have been given, which is the life itself....That work is not an expression of the desire for praise or recognition, but the deepest manifestation of your gratitude for the gift of life. (Stanley Kunitz)

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

Lately I had been thinking about the column I used to write, Chasing Down the Muse. Vague plans to peruse the many columns and pick favorites to form a compilation roamed around in my mind. Then, too, what about resurrecting some for use in this blog?
Well, when I encountered Boston friend, Jan, this morning on my sunny day walk and she said she missed the column...well, it just seems time to act. So here is one written in February, 2011:

The announcement had been made the day before. It was not as if it were something we had anxiously been awaiting, but as the group of friends sat around the table playing with clay, making ceramic birdhouses together, the subject came up.

As so often happens in these settings, conversations twist and turn in many directions as the focus stays on the work at hand of creation...in this case these birdhouses.

"Did you hear that Merriam-Webster announced the word of the yeat?"
I don't know whether we were all just specially tuned in that week or what, but somehow we had all heard the news. The announced word of the year for 2010 was, not surprisingly to any of us, "austerity."

We batted around our thoughts on the choice and what it seemed to mean to each of us. We even considered what our choice might be for 2011.

"Civility!" I blurted. "I vote for civility to be the 2011 Merriam-Webster word of the year."

....How we speak to and about each other says a lot about each of us--much more than it says about the object about which we speak. If we are to have any self-respect, then the civility we show others is not a choice but a command. Emmylou Harris said it:"...if we don't get our civility back, we're in trouble."

How? Where do we begin to gain or regain civility, respect for others and their rights? How do we create an environment that can help grow peace rather than one that is open to violence and hatred?

Graciousness, kindness, common decency, consideration, respect--each wrapped up in civility--are these just empty words? When we disagree, we certainly can do so respectfully, without attacking the character of another.

Can't we?

Shift to today...February 16, 2019. Eight years have passed. Are we any closer to embracing civility? Or, as I fear, have we gone entirely the other way?

Several years ago the CivilityProject.org shut down after two years of trying. They had reached out to politicians and others to participate. They asked participants to sign a pledge that contained just three items:
1. I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior.
2. I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them.
3. I will stand against incivility when I see it.
How hard could it be? At that time a mere three politicians signed--Sen. Joe Lieberman and Reps. Frank Wolf and Sue Myrick. Not one governor took the pledge.

Where are we headed?

HOMAGE TO ONE OF THE GREAT ONES--MARY OLIVER

For years, go-to reading when the world seems too much or I just need a little lift has been Mary Oliver. Poems, essays...doesn't matter. Each word is exquisite in clarity and joy.

"Tell me what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" How can these words not stop you in your tracks in awe at their impact on you?

"Here in my head, language keeps making its tiny noises...."

And how many times has a woman reading, "For how long will you continue to listen to those dark shouters, caution and prudence? Fall in! Fall in!"  known that the words were meant for her? Mary Oliver was a gift to us all, but, over the years, I have encountered so very many women who, when asked who was their favorite poet, answered, "Mary Oliver" without the least hesitation.

"Clouds rolled from the west-then they thickened, the thunder bucked and boiled...."

Yes, Mary Oliver, rest in peace. For you, the storms are over.The world will miss you, but your words, so descriptive and so immeasurable in their impact, will linger on.