Trip Around the Sun (Jimmy Buffett & Martina McBride)

Posting this at 12:10 a.m., August 5; today is my 67th birthday!  What a boring, nondescript number/age but, hey, I'm just glad to still be on this planet, not only doing well but Doing Good, as evidenced by my new ventures (elaborated on in my last few blog posts).

It's actually been a good year since August 2020 (of course the bar was low from last year's sh*tshow), as we celebrated the election of a new President and Vice President (Joe and Kamala!), and are having regular press conferences again (Jen Psaki!)... most of us have chosen to get the COVID vaccine (if only we could convince the hold-outs to step it up, as their hesitation has allowed the Delta variant to run rampant)... we're watching the year-delayed Olympics... we're in process of auditioning a replacement for Jeopardy's Alex Trebek (I have some favorites, of course, including this week's David Faber, who I'd never even heard of before Monday)... live music and hugs are back in my life, although cautiously, given the aforementioned outbreak... my grandson Colin has only gotten funnier, more verbal, cuter (as if that were even possible!).

Doing my first volunteer stint this morning from 9-11 a.m. in the community outreach garden (so excited!), have plans to get together with Rob and Sarah for lunch (the new vegan wrap at Pollo Tropical), and not a clue what's in store for the rest of the day, but I have no doubt I'll be pleasantly surprised with well-wishes of all types.

I am still without social media so, I would love to ask, as I did last year that, at some point, if you are reading this, could you please wish me a Happy Birthday in the Comments box below (moderated, so it might not show up right away!) and let me know what you're reading (or not... 😍 )

Thanks in advance for celebrating with me, and much love always... 💖

My NR:  My Autobiography of Carson McCullers: A Memoir by Jenn Shapland

Also, bonus horoscope overview; interesting reflections/predictions, and some of it is already happening!

Leo has a reputation for being self-focused, but this year you will feel as if the self you've so carefully constructed is being unraveled. The people you feel closest to will offer you reflections about who you are, and the truth may bring about a shift of radical proportions. 

New people will come into your life to assist you in uncovering more of your uniqueness and even eccentricities. Allow yourself to become a wilder, stranger version of yourself. 

With partners and close friends, there may be challenges as you learn more about what you need in order to feel loved. The key to success this year involves letting go of stubborn tendencies with regard to your significant others, and instead allowing more freedom and space between you and your beloveds. 

if you set love free, it could lead to even more security. 

Take time in late spring and summer to reevaluate your own aspirations and dreams for your life. Is the universe urging you to take on more of a leadership role in your community? Are you striving to live up to ideals that are unrealistic?

Are you too scattered to come up with a plan for the future? 

You are learning how to balance your desire for social stimulation with the need to make a lasting contribution to the world. 

Rather than than over-relying on yourself, listen to your chosen family and the broader community to see how your creative gifts may be best utilized. 

~ Rhea Wolf © Mother Tongue Ink 2020

SONG:  Trip Around the Sun by Jimmy Buffett (with Martina McBride)

BOOK(S):  Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life by Cleo Wade

Shit I Can't Remember: Organizer, Log Book & Notebook for Passwords and Shit by Phil D. Organizers

POEM:  A Whole Other Stage by Judith Viorst

I've reached the stage where my lawyer, my broker, my allergist, and my president are all significantly younger than I.

I've reached the stage where I recognize, when I'm buying new living-room drapes or a new set of dishes, that they're likely to be the last ones that I'll ever buy.

And when I'm starting to tell my friends some really terrific story, and I ask them whether I've told them this story before, and no matter what story I've started to tell, they say yes,

I know I have reached a whole other stage.

I've reached the stage where I find that most of the spaces I used to park in are now too small for my car.

I've reached the stage where I'm no longer able to call myself middle-aged because that's what my children are.

And when going to see two movies at two separate theaters on the same day, followed by eating a sausage-and-anchovy pizza, is what I'm defining as orgiastic excess,

I know that I have reached a whole other stage.

I've reached the stage where a lot of the reading I'm doing is at the market checking salt-free and fat-free and expiration dates.

I've reached the stage where nobody bothers to look at my driver's license when I want to purchase tickets at senior rates.

And when I'm out of town and I phone my husband at six A.M., and I ring and ring but he doesn't answer the phone, and my first thought is not infidelity but cardiac arrest,

I know that I have reached a whole other stage.

I've reached the stage where the people with whom I once discussed Marcel Proust are discussing inheritance taxes and living wills.

I've reached the stage where I couldn't leave my house for twenty-four hours unaccompanied by eight different kinds of pills.

And when I have to admit that, offered the choice, I'd - unhesitatingly - give up a night of wild rapture with Denzel Washington for a nice report on my next bone density test,

I know that I have reached a whole other stage.

QUOTE(S):  "And so it is of human life the goal to seek, forever seek, the kindred soul." ~ José Martí

"To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says:  Leave no stone unturned." ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton

In My Daughter's Eyes (Martina McBride)

Despite this crazy coronavirus, it was a lovely Mother's Day weekend, starting off Friday afternoon with a meet-up at the park in our old neighborhood, where we mostly watched Colin run around.  No wonder Sarah is so thin...  ;-)

The boys presented me with cards and flowers; Sarah brought a card, Parlour Vegan pastries, and a painted rock from Colin; and I gave her a bag o' goodies from Natural Life (dish towel and wine tumbler), in a Strong as a Mother tote.  We hung out for a few hours, and then all headed home.

Saturday was a lovely day by the pool, as I knew we were in for seven straight days of rain, and yesterday delivered on that promise.  I spent many hours on the balcony, enjoying the much-needed precipitation and the peace it brought, drinking coffee, reading, and eating cinnamon rolls Sarah and Colin dropped off (in a surprise hit-and-run).  I thought about taking a nap but never did, Chico ordered delivery from the Hollybrook restaurant, and we watched Bad Moms later in the evening (totally inappropriate and hilarious!).  Before that, though, at 5 p.m., I tuned into the wonderful online concert described below:

Inspired by Billy Bragg's recent Mother's Day video release for his song "Can't Be There Today," City Winery and Bragg are co-producing a special multi-artist Mother’s Day concert that will be broadcast on YouTube on May 10th, 2020 beginning at 5PM Eastern Time. 

100% of net ticket proceeds will be donated to the The United Nations Foundation fund addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We've invited artists from the extended City Winery family to perform with Billy, Rosanne Cash, Mary Chapin Carpenter,Steve Earle, Shovels & Rope, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Thompson, The Indigo Girls, Jorma Kaukonen, Todd Snider,  KT Tunstall,  Loudon Wainwright, Amy Helm, Jospeh Arthur, Stella Donnelly, Andrew Bird, Fink, Joan Osborne, Hamilton Leithauser, Valerie June, The Mountain Goats.  With More to be Announced... WFUV's Rita Houston will host the event. Families around the world will be able to connect virtually through this shared experience, celebrating all mothers everywhere through music while supporting those in need.  

"The coronavirus pandemic is going to affect our lives in ways we've yet to grasp," says Bragg. "In the coming months, most of us will be forced to miss family gatherings, including Mother's Day which in the UK fell on the first weekend of isolation. My new song touches on the emotional cost of this crisis."

Click on this link to watch archived replay, and maybe donate something as well.  The music starts at the 3:50 mark.


All this to say, I feel very lucky and loved...  💖



SONG:  In My Daughter's Eyes by Martina McBride

BOOK:  What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-one Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most by Elizabeth Benedict

POEM:  My Eighteen-Month-Old Daughter Talks to the Rain as the Amazon Burns by Dante Di Stefano

Lark of my house,
keep laughing.
—Miguel Hernández

this little lark says hi
to the rain—she calls
river as she slaps
the air with both wings—
she doesn’t know pine
from ash or cedar
from linden—she greets
drizzle & downpour
alike—she doesn’t
know iceberg from melt—
can’t say sea level
rise—glacial retreat—
doesn’t know wildfire—
greenhouse gas—carbon
tax or emission—
does not legislate
a fear she can’t yet
feel—only knows cats
& birds & small dogs
& the sway of some
tall trees make her squeal
with delight—it shakes
her tiny body—
this thrill of the live
electric sudden—
the taste of wild blue-
berries on her tongue—
the ache of thorn-prick
from blackberry bush—
oh dear girl—look here—
there’s so much to save—
moments—lady bugs—
laughter—trillium—
blue jays—arias—
horizon’s pink hue—
we gather lifetimes
on one small petal—
the river’s our friend—
the world: an atom—
daughter: another
name for: hope—rain—change
begins when you hail
the sky sun & wind
the verdure inside
your heart’s four chambers
even garter snakes
and unnamed insects
in the underbrush
as you would a love
that rivers: hi—hi

QUOTE:  "I do want to try to explain my evolving definition of the word Mother. I am starting to understand that the word works better for me as a verb than a noun. Mothering is a choice we make, like loving is a choice. We do not need to have given birth or to have signed adoption papers to Mother. To Mother, to me, means to nurture. To heal, to help grow, to give. And so anyone and everyone who is involved in the healing of the world is a Mother. Anyone who tends to a child, or friend, or stranger, or animal or garden is a Mother. Anyone who tends to Life is a Mother. Tomorrow is a celebration of all the healers and hopers and lovers and givers and tend-ers." ~ Glennon Doyle