…I want to beg you, as much as I can, my dear sir,
to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart
and to try to love the questions themselves
like locked rooms and like books that are
written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers,
which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answer.”
The lemons are just HUGE!!
Saturday's Poem...
Take Love for Granted by Jack Ridi
Assume it’s in the kitchen, under the couch, high in the pine tree out back, behind the paint cans in the garage. Don’t try proving your love is bigger than the Grand Canyon, the Milky Way, the urban sprawl of L.A. Take it for granted. Take it out with the garbage. Bring it in with the takeout. Take it for a walk with the dog. Wake it every day, say, “Good morning.” Then make the coffee. Warm the cups. Don’t expect much of the day. Be glad when you make it back to bed. Be glad he threw out that box of old hats. Be glad she leaves her shoes in the hall. Snow will come. Spring will show up. Summer will be humid. The leaves will fall in the fall. That’s more than you need. We can love anybody, even everybody. But you can love the silence, sighing and saying to yourself, “That’ s her.” “That’s him.” Then to each other, “I know! Let’s go out for breakfast!”
Ride your horse along the edge of the sword Hide yourself in the middle of the flames Blossoms of the fruit tree will bloom in the fire The sun rises in the evening. – Zen Koan.
I have been on the hunt for a bag of buttons...I think are Somewhere...but where?
They are the buttons collected over many years of vacations. Perhaps I gave them away? I do have a tendency to do that. So, speaking of that...
In my search, I found these patterns for quilts I will never, ever make. It's time to face that reality and let them go. I still think that both are really pretty. Just not for me.
Along with these, I found two blank board books, one white and one black. I've never found a great idea to use with them. I still don't have one, but I think I'll think on it a bit more for now.
Lastly, I pulled out the bag that holds yet another unfinished project. This one is the makings for a quilt based on a set of "wood-like" 10X10 squares and very soft flannel in green and brown. The plan was to use a boarder around each square. I may have even cut those out. I've had this for more years than I can remember. I know I'll never actually make it, especially since I donated my sewing machine (and I feel like this is a machine project). I have no idea what I shall do with this one.
Now, if I could just find those buttons!
May you find what you're looking for
May you enjoy the surprises you find along the way
~AS USUAL, CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE,
AS I KNOW SOME FOLKS LIKE TO REALLY LOOK CLOSELY! ~
J. sent the mail out today, so if you were in this round,
you got an email from me with a head's up and a
wipe it & wait COVID warning!
Oh these days!
If you weren't in this round, well...I'm not done yet!
Plus, many of you have had mail come your way in the past,
in some way or another. So we're all good, yes!
If not and you are in need for a little mailbox love, just let me know!
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This song came to mind when I was thinking of this post.
I love this song, even more so because it was introduced to me
by a very dear, dear friend, in a very good time in my classroom days.
Anyway, I used to do this song in my Pre-K class, where I taught with kindred souls.
We had a blast together.
I'd act out all of the lyrics and we'd all sing together
I usually stopped using the cassette tape once the children
had learned the words and melody enough.
I loved teaching this way.
I'd usually introduce it sometime in early February and the children would write letters to their families, celebrating Love.
We then would take them on the college campus where I taught and the gal in the mail room would run them through her machine, adding the postage.
Soon enough, the children and their families would get mail at home!
They would always be in awe of the speedy postage machine.
This song was my addition, once gifted by my friend/co-worker, to a fully in place Center Tradition. Our school was great that way, full of rich experiences shared over time.
So, these days when I mail things out,
I really do feel like 'I'm mailing myself to you' ~
well, at least a piece of me, a piece of my heart!
It's such a jaunty song, great for singing along.
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Other local happenings here, and by local, I mean inmy house and directly
outside my window/sliding door (I have one of each!)
I finished the book I was reading last night.
it's funny that I've had it since 1979, tried to read it a couple times, and then finally did.
I guess the timing was right.
It's one of my 'run away from it all' type books, that I've mentioned. Note to self: Find or Create Book List for these books!
My vintage run away, nature, poetry books.
Some belonging to my mom years back.
All from the 1970's, except
"Women Who Run with the Wolves" ~
which I also have not made it through yet, but hang onto just in case.
I'm thinking "Blue Highways" or "I Heard the Owl Call My Name" ~
both of which I've started and never finished.
Actually, maybe that's what I should name this collection!
As I've been wont to do recently, after finishing a book, podcast, movie...
I go off exploring the characters, people, locations and so on.
Google is a wonderful tool for this.
When I finished this book last night, I wondered what he had done since.
Little did I know that since the late 1970's, Peter and others from this first book
did more traveling, more walking, wondering,
searching and finding (or not).
SPOILER ALERT:
If you think you may read this book, you may choose to not follow the links.
There's something special about going in cold,
really absorbing what the author has put out there for you to discover.
If you do read it, let's talk!
There was a lot to consider as I read, putting the story in the correct time context,
with all of the attitudes and happenings of the time. I also reminded myself of the author's age at the time of his journey.
In the end, I'm glad I did finally read this book, as it gave me lots to ponder.
And I sure have time for that!
I've also continued to clear. Almost anything is fair game to get
gifted, shredded, thrown out and so on.
I'm really on a roll with this and it feels so good.
I'm encouraged by my successes, driven by the goal of getting this done
while at home these days and inspired by the fact that I am feeling better.
My fever has stayed below 99 degrees (most of the day) for the past few days.
Hooray!
I am bound and determined to use this energy while I'm home and I've got it!
Today I found the original drawing I did after buying my sewing machine
in 1980, at 21 years old.
I bought it on lay-away, making three $25.00 payments before I could bring it home.
It was old, heavy and threaded at the time.
I didn't want to forget how to do that.
I used this little drawing a lot at first.
There are a lot of memories tangled up with that machine.
Some of them, already recorded here (including a photo)
Maybe more to record someday, we'll see.
The thing is I've really been considering for almost the whole year here in the new place,
if I really need to keep the machine.
I haven't used it for years.
Don't have a good place to use it.
don't even know if it is in working order at this point.
Or if I'm a cloth-maker at this point either.
If anything, I have two simple quilt ideas, that may or may not ever happen.
Of course, then I remember the stories, the past. sigh
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THEN THIS AFTERNOON TWO MAGICAL THINGS HAPPENED!
First, a beautiful little being, a butterfly followed J into the house!
It had entered through the patio door and he noticed it moments later,
behind the blinds in the window.
He gently caught it up to be released,
but there it sat for moments, before fluttering off.
I don't need to add more, just enjoy.
THEN HOURS LATER WHEN I WENT TO UPLOAD THE PHOTOS...
I knew it was pointless trying to catch a photo of it flying away,
but I took one anyway.
I of course, did not see the butterfly in it at all.
But...WAIT...Zoom!
Huh, what's this in the tree?
Why it looks just like a Tree Tiki Monkey!
Look at that grin!
The light was so different by the time I actually looked at the photos,
that I couldn't see the little Monkey anywhere.
Not even a branch in that spot.
I'll look again tomorrow.
May your days be filled with productivity and good memories and dreams and magical surprises! xo
