frost comes
grass stiffens
and I run to find my mittens
frost comes
birdies fluff
got my mittens
where’s my muff
frost comes
wildflowers fading
woolens on my shelf cascading
frost comes
Foggy glass
cloaks my eyes as people pass
frost comes
earmuffs muffle
frozen strangers by me shuffle
frost comes
then the snow
if I don’t feel
I’ll never know
**from One With Willows, 2019
Grateful to loveand to be loved
***And I am grateful for you, my Darling Readers, grateul for your company on this amazing journey, for your willingness to read my scribbles, for your comments and conversations. Thank you, thank you! Wishing you sweetness on this Thanksgiving Day, and the blessings of shalom throughout these winter holidays.
Grateful to feel
The sun in my face
The rain on my cheeks
The wind in my hair
Grateful to hear
Leaves rustling overhead
Children playing down the street
My own breath moving
Grateful to know
The sweetness of this moment
The delight of living
The gift of simply being me
Grateful
Secrets
I long to stand like Ponderosa pines
Breathed and breathing
Naked to the wind and the rain
Poised always to receive
Always to give
Freely
I long to dance like Oregon air
My face open and giddy
My embrace wide as the sky
Moving always to give
Always to receive
Freely
I long to love like Love
Always loving
Freely
Why Autumn?
Why mist upon my upturned daybreak face?
Why endless rainy afternoons or bright forever skies?
Why bashful sun?
Why fearless wind
Knocking down fences and moaning through the rafters?
Why frosty walks and wood smoke wafting by?
Why chilly nights huddled beside you?
Why Autumn?
Why…yes!
Around the middle of June, I decided to try doing sit-ups. My daughter (and yoga partner) was already gone for the summer, and I new I needed to do something, something physical, to keep from losing everything she had taught me over the previous nine months.I hadn’t done sit-ups in years, didn’t especially like them, and frankly thought I would fail. But I couldn’t think of what else to do.
I asked my husband if he would partner with me in this new endeavor, and he agreed. I’m sure he was thinking, "Anything to get you moving…", but he simply said, "Sure."
We started with 20 sit-ups each, alternating turns of 10 sit-up sets. To my amazement, I was able to do them with little trouble.
"It must be the yoga," I declared afterward. "I never could do these before my yoga sessions."
I felt so good afterward, not just physically good, but like I was really doing something to take charge of myself. We kept going. Most important for me, we made exercise part of our morning routine. Every morning, after feeding Ari and spending a little time as a trio–even before we eat breakfast–we stretch out on the livingroomm carpet and get busy. Every morning, day after day after day.
And, what do you know, the number of sit-ups has gone up and up–30, 50, 90, and today I reached 100.
i’m not sure where I’ll go from here. Frankly, I never expected to get this far. My weekly yoga sessions have resumed, and combined with my morning exercise I am feeling better than ever.
And I must let you know what Ari thinks of all this.
While he tried his best to get in the very middle of things when we started–taking his position right where he could block our movements–he has resigned himself to our routine. Once we take our places, Ari now settles down on his doggie lounge, and simply waits.
The moral of the story is that you can indeed teach a dog new tricks. I’m proof of that!
*smiling face*
.
Words flutter between us
Friendly and fanciful
Frolic in the moment
Frisky and free
Only to fall
Feet fumble and hands hover
Moving is all they know
The heart stands at the threshold
Bows when silence returns
Gets down on all fours
Searching for every last feather
Every lost letter of meaning
a telephone is not an eara camera is not understanding
feet walking in the forest
seek a straight path
the heart meanders
the heart listens and hears
the heart looks inward
and waits for understanding
On one foot
…brief updates about me and those I care about
*Autumn is moving into my neighborhood. Our 12-foot sunflower has succumbed to the rains and we will be trying to harvest this giant’s sunflower seeds along with those of its smaller brothers.
*I just finished reading a fascinating book about American literary giants in 19th century Concord Massachusetts: America Blooming. So now I will need to read more about Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Louisa May alcott.
*And to keep the giant theme going, I am less of one thanks to my continued yoga practice and the addition of morning sit-ups. I’m up to 90 a day, hoping to make it to 100 by the end of the year.
**What’s new with you, my darling readers?
How sweet
To see a thing plainly
To glimpse its nature
And its possibilities
You say
There’s something white on the lawn
Some tiny scrap of paper
And bending to pick it up
You see
Wings open to the air
The white creature flutters near
Then away to the garden
Two days later
Clothed in white
From kippah and prayer shawl
Down to my shoeless feet
I stand in the sanctuaryI
Bend the knee and bow
Lower my body and my being
Before the One
All the way down
Touch my heart to the floor
Feel the earth
its rhythm
Press my thoughts and forehead into timelessness
And rising
Feel my wings opening
To the light
To the sweetness of seeing myself
Plainly
To the possibility
Of drawing near
