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