Rise (Katy Perry)

An amazingly great week, such that I've posted twice (which hasn't happened in a while).  Busy, too!  

Monday was Zoom with Nancy and Judi, moved from our usual Tuesday because Nance and I headed up to SusanP's for Beach Day on Tuesday (it's been a while, because SP went back to the classroom in January, taught three weeks of summer school, and is just now free again, but only for a few weeks until she starts back teaching on August 9); babysat Colin Monday night; Wednesday morning the aforementioned get-together with Cynthia; Thursday lunch with Eric (his birthday was Wednesday, but he had to work), a library pick-up, and an afternoon phone chat with Michele... 💗

I've volunteered to nanny/governess/Lala this weekend for Colin so Sarah can attend both Dave Matthews' concerts in West Palm Beach (I will go up with her this afternoon to hang with the little guy tonight and Saturday, returning Sunday morning; we're staying with friends of hers who have a pool and, much as I'll miss attending the show, which I used to do with her years ago, it will be a bit of a vacation for me, not to mention a chance to hang with my darling grandbaby!

I haven't watched much of the Olympics, but I'm inspired by what I have seen, and read, and what others have reported back.  Proud of Simone Biles for giving herself time and space from all the pressure.  Very cool that skateboarding is now an Olympic sport.  See article below about Pink and the Norwegian women's handball team.  Our DVRs are full, we're all losing sleep, and "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" is a cliche for a reason.  Especially since the Summer Games were cancelled last year because of the pandemic, it's more than a bit heartwarming to escape, even for a few moments, from Delta variants, long COVID, and anti-vaxxers.  

It is indeed Feel Good Friday and, as is tradition, five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten your day/weekend/week.  Enjoy! 

~ Medals That Were Won Not in Pentathlon or 100 Meters, but in Iambic Pentameter:  But few people today recall that poetry, just like the 100 meters, was an official Olympic competition from 1912 to 1948. Sadly, the names of the medal winners are not listed on the International Olympic Committee’s rosters. (When I read the poem below, I of course had to Google the epigraph and d*mn if it's not true.  Wow!)

~ Jill Biden, Changing the Fashion Game:  Cheering the American Olympians, the first lady broke with recent sartorial customs.

~ Pink offers to pay fines for Norwegian women’s beach handball team:  European Handball Federation fined players €1,500 for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms

~ How to Get Things Done When You Don’t Want to Do Anything:  The drive to be your best can be hard to muster right about now. Here are some ways to get your mojo back.

~ Vegan Cinnamon Roll Chair Cinnaholic to Nearly Double in Size with 60 New Locations:  Cinnaholic—which offers an array of customizable vegan cinnamon rolls—has 60 new locations in development across the United States and Canada.  (Um, hello... there's already a Cinnaholic in Coral Springs, and no one thought to tell me?!?  Can you say Road Trip?... 😍 )

SONG:  Rise by Katy Perry

BOOK:  Total Olympics: Every Obscure, Hilarious, Dramatic, and Inspiring Tale Worth Knowing by Jeremy Fuchs

POEM:  Taking Your Olympic Measure by Alberto Ríos

—Poetry was an Olympic event from 1912-1948.

Think of the records you have held:

For one second, you were the world’s youngest person.

It was a long time ago, but still.

At this moment, you are living 

In the farthest thousandth-of-a-second in the history of time.

You have beaten yesterday’s record, again.

You were perhaps the only participant,

But in the race to get from your bedroom to the bathroom, 

You won.

You win so much, all the time in all things.

Your heart simply beats and beats and beats—

It does not lose, although perhaps one day.

Nevertheless, the lists of firsts for you is endless—

Doing what you have not done before,

Tasting sake and mole, smelling bergamot, hearing

Less well than you used to—

Not all records are for the scrapbook, of course—

Sometimes you are the best at being the worst.

Some records are secret—you know which ones.

Some records you’re not even aware of.

In general, however, at the end of a long day, you are—

Unlikely as it may seem—the record holder of note.  

QUOTE:  "Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable." ~ Mary Oliver

Bowl of Oranges (Bright Eyes)

Last Friday, I promised to elaborate on "two perfectly-made-for-me opportunities presented on the proverbial silver platter" at a later date... and that time is now!

~ Okay, I still adore Anne Lamott, and Patricia Lockwood, and Maizy Rae Bukalele... but Cynthia is my new spirit animal!  I was with her for three hours this morning, and she shared her time, energy, and passion with me.  From avocado gleaning (we harvested 2 crates/70 lbs. worth and dropped them off at a local food bank) to fire cider (she gave me her recipe!) to CSAs (starts up in the winter, and I plan to join), and everything in between, I learned so much, and will also begin working in the community garden every Thursday.  As I said:  Mind Blown!

I am excited about life again, re-emerging from my comforting dormancy to challenging growth, with this new connection making me feel that I am exactly where I need to be, finding the balance between doing well and Doing Good.

Cynthia is writing a few books:  the focus of one is Sustainable Ways to Make the Community Better (she is most definitely a conscious bridger, which Dar talks about!), another a cookbook (for some of the less common foods that are able to be grown prolifically in our area), and a few e-books about herbs and their uses for illness/health/women/aging, etc.  She does speaking engagements, teaches classes, sells the fire cider, tinctures, herbs, plants, seeds, etc. from her home.  What an inspiration, and I am beyond excited to contribute my enthusiasm as well as skillsets to The Caring Community!

~ Then, my friend Sandy, knowing of my obsession with language as well as my craving for intentional connection, told me about this project, which spoke to me too.  "We’re willing to bet you’re just like us— eager to make a difference and craving a chance to use your words for good. We hope you know you serve a purpose here and that your words do count. If you’re looking for ways to start shaking up the world today, browse our ways to get involved..."  I just bought the very cool Sun Science stamps and, having no commitments tomorrow (after a very busy last three days), will sit down and write to all five spotlighted recipients (with five new prospects each month).  The World Needs More Love Letters indeed... 💞

My gifts of “time and talent" (I *did* donate "treasure" to various causes/organizations/individuals throughout the pandemic) have gone under the radar during these last 18 months... and it feels like a new day, month, year... 💫

NR:  Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Crosby

SONG:  Bowl of Oranges by Bright Eyes (thanks to my son Rob for the heads-up to this song... 💓)

BOOK:  Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

POEM(S):  The Seven Of Pentacles by Marge Piercy

Under a sky the color of pea soup

she is looking at her work growing away there

actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans

as things grow in the real world, slowly enough.

If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water,

if you provide birds that eat insects a home and winter food,

if the sun shines and you pick off caterpillars,

if the praying mantis comes and the ladybugs and the bees,

then the plants flourish, but at their own internal clock.

Connections are made slowly, sometimes they grow underground.

You cannot tell always by looking what is happening.

More than half the tree is spread out in the soil under your feet.

Penetrate quietly as the earthworm that blows no trumpet.

Fight persistently as the creeper that brings down the tree.

Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden.

Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar.

Weave real connections, create real nodes, build real houses.

Live a life you can endure: Make love that is loving.

Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in,

a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside but to us

interconnected with rabbit runs and burrows and lairs.

Live as if you liked yourself, and it may happen:

reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in.

This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always,

for every gardener knows that after the digging, after

the planting,

after the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes.

You See, I Want a Lot by Rainer Maria Rilke

You see, I want a lot.

Perhaps I want everything:

The darkness that comes with every infinite fall

And the shivering blaze of every step up.

So many live on and want nothing

And are raised to the rank of prince

By the slippery ease of their light judgments

But what you love to see are faces

That do work and feel thirst.

You love most of all those who need you

as they need a crowbar or a hoe.

You have not grown old,

And it is not too late 

To dive into your increasing depths 

where life calmly gives out its own secret.

QUOTE(S):  "The power of imagination makes us infinite." ~ John Muir

"In times to come, when we are all gone, people not yet born will walk in the sunshine of their own days because of what women and men did at this hour to feed the sick, to heal and to comfort.” ~ John Dwyer

All Shall Be Well (The Accidentals and Mary Gauthier)

S invited me for coffee at her home yesterday morning, along with her friend C, who used to live next door but has moved a few towns over.  They have been getting together every Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon for *many* years, and S felt C and I needed to meet (soulmates, she called us).  Confused yet?... 😍

D*mn!  The force is strong with those two.  I felt an instant connection, and it was the most delightful two hours I've spent in a very long time (other than reading - ha!).   The conversation was easy, entertaining, stimulating.  If you know me at all, you understand that I feel I am in the right place at the right time when everything just clicks.  So. Many. Clicks!  You will also recall that I believe there are no accidents (Synchronicity for the win).  It was honestly as if metaphorical stepping stones were appearing right before my very eyes (feet?), as one topic of discussion (boom!) led to something else (pow!) which unveiled another epiphany (bam!).

I have mentioned previously that, now I'm retired, job/career-wise as well as from the concert series, I've been struggling with re-finding my Life Purpose.  I know I have a lot to offer, but it's been on a back burner during the pandemic... and I'm now ready to shine my light and spirit back into the world again.

All this to say, I have been handed two perfectly-made-for-me opportunities on the proverbial silver platter, which I will discuss more in detail next week.  For now just let me say that I am throwing myself All In with both, at least a once-a-week commitment for now.  For the first time in a while, I am very Very VERY excited about the Future with a capital F... 💖

My sweet grandbaby Colin turned three years old this past Wednesday; he deserves a full blog post and, by god, he'll get it... next week!

Long-story-short (look for the Extended Dance Mix, also next week), my dear friend Melanie *finally* had her long-awaited kidney transplant and, because those operations are not cheap, our mutual friend Dave set up a GoFundMe page.  Please contribute if you're able... 💞

NR:  Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

It is indeed Feel Good Friday and, as is tradition, five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten your day/weekend/week.  Enjoy! 

~ Why Jane Goodall Still Has Hope for Us Humans:  Wherever the story of our natural world ultimately lands, Jane Goodall will have earned a proud place in its telling.

~ These vegan crayons are made from green onions, purple potatoes, corn, and other would-be wasted vegetables:  Created by a mother in Japan, the Vegetable Crayons use discarded vegetable waste to create safer and more eco-friendly crayons for kids. 

~ When My World Fell Apart, I Turned to Puzzles:  A woman found that when her life was unstable, jigsaw puzzles provided a reliable solution.

~ RealWomenRealSongs Season 3:  This page serves as home to 28 women. They are all songwriters and all committed to writing 52 songs this year.  Each week the women will be given a prompt to write their songs from. And on their specific day of the week, they will post their newly-written, untweaked songs RIGHT HERE for your listening pleasure.  We hope that you will follow their journey: the ups and downs, the writer's block, the grand successes when they get it right. AND we hope that in in watching them take risks and being vulnerable with their dreams, YOU will become inspired to create something of your own, be it a song, a painting, that book you've been dying to write...the possibilities are endless! 

~ What Matters in a Name Sign?  We look at the origins of name signs in deaf culture, including one recently assigned to Vice President Harris.

SONG:  All Shall Be Well by The Accidentals and Mary Gauthier

BOOK:  How Far You Have Come: Musings on Beauty and Courage by Morgan Harper Nichols

POEM:  I Am Much Too Alone in This World, Yet Not Alone by Rainer Maria Rilke

I am much too alone in this world, yet not alone

    enough

to truly consecrate the hour.

I am much too small in this world, yet not small

    enough

to be to you just object and thing,

dark and smart.

I want my free will and want it accompanying

the path which leads to action;

and want during times that beg questions,

where something is up,

to be among those in the know,

or else be alone.

I want to mirror your image to its fullest perfection,

never be blind or too old

to uphold your weighty wavering reflection.

I want to unfold.

Nowhere I wish to stay crooked, bent;

for there I would be dishonest, untrue.

I want my conscience to be

true before you;

want to describe myself like a picture I observed

for a long time, one close up,

like a new word I learned and embraced,

like the everday jug,

like my mother's face,

like a ship that carried me along

through the deadliest storm.

QUOTE:  "Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions." ~ Albert Einstein

Cosmic Egg (Carrie Elkin)

Hey, Peeps!  I hope all is well.  If you have the time/energy/inclination, pop in below and offer up a comment (25-words-or-less or a lengthy treatise) on how you are doing... 💞

It's been quiet, here on the blog and in my real life... and I realized I not only don't mind, but I am actually loving it.  I shared a meme with someone the other day that said:  "People who say 'go big or go home' seriously underestimate my willingness to go home.  Like, it's literally my only goal."  Or, in my case, it's *stay* home.  The pandemic was the catalyst for me to channel my inner hermit, and I am feeling no desire to emerge from my cocoon, even now that it's safe to do so.  I have never feared alone time; rather, I actually relish it, probably going back to the days of when the children were small, my husband was traveling, I read the last bedtime story, shared the last sips of water, tucked everyone in, and then... silence.  Aaahhh!

I'm still ordering my groceries via Amazon (Whole Foods) and Instacart (Sprouts and Costco; continuing to boycott Publix!), Target is still the only store I have physically stepped foot in, still no live music opportunities (other than Dave's house concert a month or so ago).  I'm still scheduling catch-up phone calls once or twice a week with various friends (although this last week got away from me).  Inspired by the article on The Value of Letter Writing (below), I will toe-dip back into the world of actual penned correspondence soon... 😍

I did venture forth into the medical world last week to have a routine colonoscopy (it had been 11 years since my last one); there were not only *no* polyps, but my colon was declared "spic 'n span", and she said she'd see me in ten years (thankyoujesus).

I am not making as much progress as I'd like on my To Do (Ta Dah!) List, but I have been reading so many wonderful books (Brandi Carlile's memoir!), viewing some great British crime drama (thanks, Judi!), and cooking up so many delish dishes (the best curry I've ever put in my mouth!).

I was sad to hear that singer, songwriter, slide guitarist Ellen McIlwaine died a few weeks ago.  I discovered her in college (early-70s) and, in addition to her original work, was completely enamored with her cover of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home”.  Wow!

The pandemic has changed me in many ways and, for the record, I like "The New Me":  speaking up/pushing back more... a lower tolerance for things/people that don't bring me joy... feeling a greater need to live in/embrace the moment (probably spurred by the tragic collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside)... trusting my intuition of self-worth and self-confidence... the continued pursuit of brain challenges (NYT mini-crossword puzzle and Spelling Bee, Jeopardy, reading like a motherf*cker)... taking much better care of myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually... all adding up to more awareness/mindfulness in every aspect of my life.

N(ow)R(eading):  A long-distance friend and I began our own Party-of-Two book club a few months ago, taking turns choosing monthly selections.  My pick for July/our third is The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, which was recently declared the 2021 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Fiction.

It is indeed Feel Good Friday and, as is tradition, five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten your day/weekend/week.  Enjoy! 

~ 50 Reasons to Love Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’:  The singer-songwriter questioned everything on her fourth album. Twenty-five musicians speak about the LP’s enduring power on its 50th anniversary.

~ LeVar Burton’s Quest to Succeed Alex Trebek:  If the right person catches the right project at the right time, the culture will always hold that person close. Do it three times, as LeVar Burton has done, and our relationship becomes something even deeper. 

~ If You Give a Mom a Cookie:  If you give a mom a cookie, she’ll ask whether you remembered to turn the oven off after you baked it.

~ Oliver Burkeman's last column: the eight secrets to a (fairly) fulfilled life:  After more than a decade of writing life-changing advice, I know when to move on. Here’s what else I learned


~ The Value of Letter Writing:  There are so many different kinds of letters that I’ve written and received over the years. I remember running to the mailbox as a child and as a teenager, glancing quickly through the stack to find my name, immediately turning the envelope to identify the sender—a girlfriend, boyfriend, crush, or my twelve-years-older brother who often lived elsewhere—and then running to a quiet place where I could read and re-read my letter in private. 

SONG:  Cosmic Egg by Carrie Elkin (Cosmic Egg symbolism, dreamwork, and meanings)

BOOK:  Hatching the Cosmic Egg by Michael J Dorer, Andrew Kutt (Composer), Beth Wilson (Illustrator)

POEM:  Born. Living. Will. Die. by Camonghne Felix

          for my favorite auntie, Jeanette

Sometimes I think I’m never going to write a poem again

and then there’s a full moon.

I miss being in love but I miss

myself most when I’m gone.

In the salty wet air of my ancestry

my auntie peels a mango with her teeth

and I’m no longer

writing political poems; because there are

mangoes and my favorite memory is still alive.

I’m digging for meaning but haunted by purpose

and it’s an insufficient approach.

What’s the margin of loss on words not spent today?

I’m getting older. I’m buying smaller images to travel light.

I wake up, I light up, I tidy, and it’s all over now.

  

[Camonghne Felix:  “This poem is an ode to my auntie, who is the freest person I know. In her garden in Antigua, she grows mangoes, which represent the sweetness of life and the serenity of self-sufficiency.”]

QUOTE:  "If life's journey be endless, where is its goal? The answer is, it is everywhere. We are in a palace which has no end, but which we have reached. By exploring it and extending our relationship with it we are ever making it more and more our own. The infant is born in the same universe where lives the adult of ripe mind. But its position is not like a schoolboy who has yet to learn his alphabet, finding himself in a college class. The infant has it own joy of life because the world is not a mere road, but a home, of which it will have more and more as it grows up in wisdom. With our road that gain is at every step, for it is the road and the home in one; it leads us on yet gives us shelter." ~ Rabindranath Tagore