Early May Weekending.

This weekend wasn't nearly as photogenic as the last one (or hopefully as this next one promises to be !) but it seemed a lot more typical of weekends around here.

A Friday afternoon pedicure. (which isn't all that typical - I make appointments for every five weeks in the winter and four in the summer ... but I certainly wouldn't mind if this were a regular Friday thing!)

Friday night snacks (back to the typical).

Morning walks to the lake. I took Holly with me on Saturday and went by myself on Sunday. The round trip is three miles and I have to carry Holly for at least 2/3 of that. She only weighs 8 pounds, but still, I was surprised I burned more calories on the solo Sunday walk. (maybe because I didn't pause to take any photos?!) I realized this morning that neither Marc nor I have had to resort to the treadmill in over a week. This is a new - and much-welcomed - return to typical!

Cinco de Derby. fun Mexican is a standard feature around here (that's Ina's grapefruit margarita bottom right ... highly recommended) and we are horse racing fans through the Triple Crown. I think Justified might have a chance...

and that brings me to the center photo. a new knitting project (details forthcoming) and a new book. definitely typical! but oh my goodness - I haven't been this captivated by a book in months. I am loving it!

I guess "typical" is a broad term.

What from your weekend was "typical"?

Tuesdays are for Poetry.

I picked up this lovely collection at a bookshop on Monroe Street when I visited Sara in Madison last February.

I was looking for a book published by a micro press for the 2017 Read Harder challenge. The shop owner thought this book, published by Tebot Bach, might work.

Robin Chapman is a poet like no other I've encountered. Maybe because she's (also)

a developmental psycholinguist (she retired from "teaching and research in children's language development and disorders" at UW-Madison),

with a strong appreciation for mathematics (she mentions prime and perfect numbers and ancient Greek mathematicians in her poems),

who paints (that's her work on the cover)?

I'm thoroughly enjoying this collection and thought y'all might, too.


Known Unknowns

Garden, I call it, our beautiful volunteers -- faces of phlox,
waving arms of goldenrod, monarda's tight fists --
still here after the hottest, driest two months on record,
all their lower leaves withered, sere, height lowered,
many young ones dead; and now at last the rain,
perfume rising up of soil, leaf, flower -- if gratitude
had a scent, my skin itself would join in calling the bees.
And who is to say that this is not the scent of gratitude?
That exchange that might bring rain back again.

I read those lines early this morning, when the scent of gratitude was that first cup of hot coffee. But then, on the trail at the park, the air crisp and clean after a light rain, I smelled the freshly fallen leaves.

What do you call the scent of gratitude?

Sometimes Mondays.

from today's morning walk

...are full of promise.

An Ideal Walk.

This week's Think Write Thursday topic is to write a post describing our ideal day. I've been thinking about it since Monday (when Carole announced the topic) and I still haven't been able to come up with one ideal day. well, at least not one that would fit into 24 hours. So I'm taking the easy way out and writing about one thing that for sure would be part of my ideal day - a walk.

I have only three "musts": outside. at least two (and probably not more than five) miles long. and not dangerous (e.g., no fear of falling off cliffs or into water or slipping on ice).

That leaves a lot of options!

I love walks with a friend. or by myself.

Exploring someplace new or a very familiar path in my neighborhood or local park.

Spring, summer, fall or winter.

A leisurely stroll or a brisk pace to get my heart rate up.

I'm fortunate that nearly all my days include at least one of these ideal walks. and extra bonus that most of them also come with a photo or two (the photos I've included here are from the three walks I've taken with Holly in my mom's neighborhood).

Thank you, Kat and Carole for another fun week! If you're not already playing along, click here to join in!

Five Quick Things.

...on a travel Tuesday. As soon as I post this (and pack the car 😉), Holly and I are headed to Florida to visit my mom for a week.

1. I figured out where all the heat has gone. Here's the forecast where Mother lives. yikes, right?!! I made a quick trip to Loft yesterday and bought three sleeveless dresses - coolest things I could think to wear.

2. Glad we'll have blue skies for our drive.

3. I pulled out a long-time hibernating project yesterday to take as my "coffee time" knitting and was most pleasantly surprised to find I was further along on it than I remembered. (more on that soon.)

4. Gotta love Overdrive audio. I downloaded four books for the trip yesterday afternoon. fourteen hours in the car (seven each way) plus twice-daily walks with Holly equals lots of listening time.

5. Normally, I like to leave dark early for this drive, but since I-85 is still under repair I have to take a slightly different route - one that I'm not totally comfortable with and certainly not one I'd want to drive in the dark. So I had time this morning for all my usual things - a walk to the lake with Marc, pilates, journaling, and a quick walk with Holly. Feels nice to be grounded before we set out.

6:30 am

Next post from Florida! Happy Tuesday!!

Weekending.

I'm amazed a few of the photos are actually in focus because it seems like the last three days were a blur! Beth, Betty and I enjoyed an early walk in the park on Friday (including that awesome bird sighting - a heron, I think) and then they left just after 9am.

I proceeded to church for our first small group discussion about Anne Lamott's latest, Hallelujah Anyway. We laughed a lot, and agreed that while Lamott might not be "suitable" for everyone (her language and her politics are most definitely "blue"), she's certainly got a wonderful way with words and her message is right on target for us.

Then errands, a bit of housekeeping and an hour on the porch to finish To the Bright Edge of the World. Wow. wonderful. and quite unlike me, I immediately went to Goodreads to make a few notes:

absolutely beautiful. Both the writing and the story blew me away. I've never been shy about reading the last few pages before I finish the book (you know, so I could be prepared for the ending), but this time I just wanted to read and experience it as it unfolded. I cried through much of the last 100 pages and I'm not going to say anything more about the book. Except that I'm traveling to Alaska with my mom and siblings this summer on a sort of spiritual journey...and I think we all need to read this book before we go. It might be my next book club pick too.

 I had planned to share the post about Summer Bingo on Saturday, but I was into books and reading - and what to read next - so I wrote that Friday evening instead. and then I went to bed!

Saturday morning I was up early ... good thing because that bingo post wasn't quite right and I was able to fix it before too many of y'all saw it. I'm delighted with the feedback so far! We're now up to over 90 categories; I'd love to have an even hundred if y'all can come up with a few more.

The highlight of Saturday was the afternoon/evening when I got to babysit (Katie & Rob attended a wedding). Having both boys through supper and bedtime is a workout (seriously, I was a little sore yesterday :-) but what fun! and what a sense of accomplishment once they're both asleep.

I spent the night and enjoyed a morning walk with Katie and the boys before I left. Her neighborhood is hilly - even more so than mine (good thing she's young and in shape - she pushed both boys in the stroller!)

Yesterday afternoon was the Spring Women's Luncheon at church. The program was about Seeing Jesus in Art. The presenter shared beautiful images, including paintings, sarcophagi, mosaics and sculptures along with wonderful information about how Jesus has been portrayed through the centuries. In closing, she said that Jesus has not been traditionally depicted as a woman. So she had no images to share, but instead, these words:

See [the face of Jesus] for what it is just possible that it will become: the face of Jesus as the face of our own secret and innermost destiny: The face of Jesus as our face." ~Frederick Buechner, The Faces of Jesus.

We loved it!

Then I finally had time to take Holly for a walk. She barely made it half a mile before she was done; I had to carry her home (thankfully she only weighs eight pounds).

We ended the day with a little knitting. and another early bedtime. It's nice to start Monday with a good night's rest ... and rain. I've got things to do inside today and the rain makes me not want to be outside. It's also nice that Marc had two dry weekend days for golf - that always makes him much happier about going to work Monday morning.

Hope your week is off to a good start, too. Happy Monday (and happy May!)

A Wednesday with Extras.

Long-time (and maybe even not so long) readers probably know that my typical Wednesday routine starts with a walk (lately dark early with Marc), proceeds to knitting class and then to wine and knitting with my sister, Karen. It's a pretty fun way to mark the middle of the week - and with Betty here, we added in a few extras.

First up, we waited until it was light to walk. Hello sunny selfie!

Betty went to Alabama and her husband went to Georgia - this might be the first time she's ever worn a Georgia Tech hat!

A walk to the lake - with a lake view selfie - was high on Betty's list of things to do while she was here. Marc prepared her last night for the hills, and she said she was grateful ... but I think she was more grateful for the training from her hikes in the Colorado mountains (have I mentioned that the cousin who arrives tomorrow lives in Boulder?) last year.

She was proud to tell Marc that she did the whole walk just fine. I told him our pace was a little slower than our usual because we stopped to take photos.

I loved taking photos of my dad composing shots, too. Betty says her daughter likes to take these same photos.

The rest of the morning passed quietly. I'm pretty sure we both knitted at least a little bit.

On the way to the shop for class, we drove by the development where my mom will be moving this fall. Wow! I drive past the site at least once a week and they're making noticeable progress on the homes daily right now. yay for good weather!

I don't have a photo to document the "extra" that Betty added to my knitting class. But I had fun introducing her as "the daughter of the woman who taught me to knit". and then Betty added "and she taught me to knit, too." Betty told me she's surprised how much progress she's made on the sweater. (Wednesdays are usually good "forward progress" days for me, too.)

Karen and I loved sharing our Wednesday evening tradition. Betty didn't share the wine, but she held up the knitting end beautifully. Karen might've even convinced her to try socks. All too soon it was time for the photo we forgot to take yesterday.

And then we drove home ... and the rest of Wednesday played out like it typically does, except that we watched a movie* - and Marc went to bed before it ended and both Betty and I stayed up for the end.

It's nearly midnight now ... for sure another "extra" :-)

It's also nearly Thursday and I can't believe how fast this week is flying by. Good things and all that, I guess. Hoping you've had some good in your week so far and maybe an "extra" (or two)? do share!

*The Man Who Knew Infinity. Marc and I first watched it last weekend and loved it. Highly recommend. and now Betty agrees, too. Also, we all think they should teach "History of Math". None of us had heard of Ramanujan and that seems ... wrong.

Watercolor Wednesday | Here.

from this morning's walk

Here

It's always here, the silent

underpinning, the foundation

beneath the foundation. When

I reach deep enough into darkness,

inside fear, self-doubt, aversion or

despair, there's something so intact

I almost miss it in my focus on

brokenness. It's always here, this

ground of being. Like the water in 

which fish swim, it's easy to overlook

the eloquence of truth. It's here, this

guiding presence, this calm, abiding

stillness. It's here when I don't try 

to make life any more or less than

what it is, when I stop trying to be

right. It's here when I unclench my

fists and breathe, when I let go of the

demand to make life smooth or easy.

It's here, the oneness underlying

multiplicity, the exquisite "is-ness"

of everything. I could shout it from 

the rooftops, but it's true no matter

what I say, and I know you'll find

it in your own time, your own way,

that precious moment when you 

choose to meet life exactly as it is.

~ Danna Faulds (from One Soul: More Poems from the Heart of Yoga)

Eye Candy Friday | A Morning Walk.

This morning's walk to the lake was the perfect way to ease into a day that began too early, mostly because the past two nights have ended way too late.

The sky was blue,

the sun shone bright,

and danced across the water.

Happy Friday! and best wishes for a wonderful weekend!

A Morning Walk in Madison.

Last Monday, I had a little over an hour left in Fahrenheit 451; there's nothing like a little dystopia in your ears to add atmosphere to a quiet, cloudy morning. Henry Vilas Park is about a mile and a half from Sara's (this time, I checked the map before I set out  :-) This was my first time visiting there and I had no idea what to expect.

I wasn't disappointed. The scenery is beautiful.

(no filter required)

I made it back to Sara's with a little more time left in the book (at this point I was listening to the Coda and Afterward) so I kept going. This view is a block past her apartment. I'd seen it many times before, and always thought it would make a lovely Waterlogue.

Hope your week is going well - happy Wednesday!

Saturday Morning.

...back at the park. Blue skies, sunshine, my very favorite place (I wish you could hear the water moving over the rocks)

and a wonderful friend who will balance precariously on the creek's edge for a selfie. Happy to report we didn't get even a little wet.

that's Lauren on the right, sporting new shoes, and me on the left

Throwback Thursday | Bright Blue Weather.

from yesterday's morning walk

It's a newsletter day today and - has sadly become my norm of late - I have much left to do. So a bit of a throwback - this time to last October and a poem my dad shared with me. When I saw my uncle last week we had three lovely bright blue days (and not even much humidity) and he told me he remembered singing this poem and marching around and around his third grade classroom. Somehow his teacher managed to have a piano in her room. He said he never quite knew how she managed that. But a classroom full of singing children is certainly better than a classroom full of screaming ones!

October’s Bright Blue Weather

O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather;

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October’s bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October’s bright blue weather.

~ Helen Hunt Jackson

Wishing you a bright blue day!

Choosing to Pay Attention.

It doesn't have to be

the blue iris, it could be

weeks in a vacant lot, or a few

small stones; just

pay attention, then patch 

a few words together and don't try

to make them elaborate, this isn't

a contest but the doorway 

into thanks, and a silence in which

another voice may speak. 

~Mary Oliver

Wordless Wednesday.