Mike is in Texas--but not yet to San Antonio, driving his truck through pounding rain. I've made sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving at Will's on Tuesday and I've made Freda's delicious kale and sausage soup for tonight.
Think I'll now just sit down and read the book, I'm Off Then--recommended heartily by Barbel, which I'm enjoying very much. It's a book written by Hape Kerkeling, a German comedian about walking the Camino De Santiago trail.
It's a beautiful rainy day in San Antonio, light rain and clouds, just the kind of day I love for having company and soup and a good book!
Friday, November 21, 2014
On Poetry--by Mark Nepo
"Poetry is the well from which all my books rise. It’s where I always go to listen, always stunned by what arrives. It’s how I remember and refresh what it means to be alive. I bring these poems back from the deep like shells from the sea that we can look at together. And so with each poem, I share the genesis of the poem, then read the poem, and unfold the lessons carried by each.
The truth is that poems come slowly. I have to sit when I’m able and try to make heart-sense of what life has been doing to me and with me. Then the poems break the surface like dolphins after long stretches of going under. Then—like wringing out a sponge—I squeeze what matters onto the page, let it dry, and see what’s there the next day. One by one, the poems gather into an instructive whole.
All this to say that by trying to make sense of my own experience, I’ve discovered a theme to our journey: that we are all reduced to joy, worn away of all excess. To survive this, we often need to hold each other up in order to discover and return to what matters. This learning program explores the essential relationships that keep shaping us."
The truth is that poems come slowly. I have to sit when I’m able and try to make heart-sense of what life has been doing to me and with me. Then the poems break the surface like dolphins after long stretches of going under. Then—like wringing out a sponge—I squeeze what matters onto the page, let it dry, and see what’s there the next day. One by one, the poems gather into an instructive whole.
All this to say that by trying to make sense of my own experience, I’ve discovered a theme to our journey: that we are all reduced to joy, worn away of all excess. To survive this, we often need to hold each other up in order to discover and return to what matters. This learning program explores the essential relationships that keep shaping us."
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Knowing
Sometimes, I say "I don't know...."
"But what would the answer be if I did know?" I ask myself.
When I asked Elena if she liked Santa Claus, she said, "I don't know." Then a beat. "I like him when his eyes are closed in the picture."
The beat between not-knowing and knowing is about four seconds, long enough to formulate something to say that will satisfy a curious grandmother.
In her life, she'll know and not-know a million things. She'll change her mind. She'll get more information, she'll change, she'll discover that some people (even Santa) aren't what they first appeared to be. She'll see and know things I can't even imagine.
At different ages, different truths emerge. When a new thing happens (say, a good person does a bad thing--or a person we've disliked does a good thing), the new knowledge can shatter us until we put the pieces of the story together in a way that makes sense.
Then, what we know is more nuanced, more complex. The line between good guys and bad guys isn't as simple as it is in the video games.
Lines between right and wrong are not as clear as I once thought. Truth is not always self-evident to us all at the same time.
What I loved about writing group tonight was, as always, that each person brings pieces of knowledge and experience that gives me more to know and understand.
"But what would the answer be if I did know?" I ask myself.
When I asked Elena if she liked Santa Claus, she said, "I don't know." Then a beat. "I like him when his eyes are closed in the picture."
The beat between not-knowing and knowing is about four seconds, long enough to formulate something to say that will satisfy a curious grandmother.
In her life, she'll know and not-know a million things. She'll change her mind. She'll get more information, she'll change, she'll discover that some people (even Santa) aren't what they first appeared to be. She'll see and know things I can't even imagine.
At different ages, different truths emerge. When a new thing happens (say, a good person does a bad thing--or a person we've disliked does a good thing), the new knowledge can shatter us until we put the pieces of the story together in a way that makes sense.
Then, what we know is more nuanced, more complex. The line between good guys and bad guys isn't as simple as it is in the video games.
Lines between right and wrong are not as clear as I once thought. Truth is not always self-evident to us all at the same time.
What I loved about writing group tonight was, as always, that each person brings pieces of knowledge and experience that gives me more to know and understand.
Mall Thursday
I usually walk big outer circles in the mall to avoid the kiosk sellers.
But after an hour in the Apple Store, I remembered that Janet O had told us at salon about a kiosk where you can buy a hair curler and get your hair curled or straightened at the Kiosk for a year. What a deal! I bought a turquoise hair straighter/curler--and they threw in two years of free styling and shampoo and conditioner.
I was walking out, feeling pretty, when Rachel from Israel stopped me to demonstrate her red-wine facial products.
She was fun--a woman who could sell anything, probably--but not to me, not today.
"See how dry your skin looks?" she asked, holding up the magnifying mirror. "You don't moisturize, do you?"
I had to admit, I'm rather lazy on that front.
Her skin glowed. "It's my product," she said. Really, it was the fact that she was twenty-something, but I let that pass.
"This jar will exfoliate all the dry skin and your skin will be beautiful like mine," she said. "And if you don't use it, the moisturizer can't work."
"How much?" I asked.
"Three hundred dollars for both," she said, "But I give you a special because it's the holidays. I give you two for $150.
"Not today," I said.
"How much you budget for your skin?" she asked.
"I don't have a budget for my skin," I admitted, sheepishly, not having known before that skin is a budget item.
Now I know.
But after an hour in the Apple Store, I remembered that Janet O had told us at salon about a kiosk where you can buy a hair curler and get your hair curled or straightened at the Kiosk for a year. What a deal! I bought a turquoise hair straighter/curler--and they threw in two years of free styling and shampoo and conditioner.
I was walking out, feeling pretty, when Rachel from Israel stopped me to demonstrate her red-wine facial products.
She was fun--a woman who could sell anything, probably--but not to me, not today.
"See how dry your skin looks?" she asked, holding up the magnifying mirror. "You don't moisturize, do you?"
I had to admit, I'm rather lazy on that front.
Her skin glowed. "It's my product," she said. Really, it was the fact that she was twenty-something, but I let that pass.
"This jar will exfoliate all the dry skin and your skin will be beautiful like mine," she said. "And if you don't use it, the moisturizer can't work."
"How much?" I asked.
"Three hundred dollars for both," she said, "But I give you a special because it's the holidays. I give you two for $150.
"Not today," I said.
"How much you budget for your skin?" she asked.
"I don't have a budget for my skin," I admitted, sheepishly, not having known before that skin is a budget item.
Now I know.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
My Topo Chicas
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| Jennifer, Lindsey, and Mary In Victoria's studio |
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| Victoria, our artist and teacher of art-play |
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| Mike (Chef and Mary's husband) who made us this amazing dinner on Friday night-- with help from Kent, Victoria's husband. |
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| Lety and Lindsey |
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| Jennifer and Victoria |
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| Victoria and Mary |
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| Mary in her house on Friday night. Cindy led us in a terrific workshop on character development photo awaiting permission to post |
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Does anyone remember the movie by that name, starring Sidney Poitier?
I happened to think of it tonight, browsing Netflix, watching a snippet of a French movie, All Together, starring--among four French actors-- Jane Fonda.
As it happens, who's coming to dinner in Texas is Mike, driving here from Georgia for Thanksgiving--which we'll spend at Kate's, a feast around her huge table with turkey and pies and all good things.
I had a full day today with Miss Elena, including watching the entire Wizard of Oz. I watched that movie every year growing up, but I had never noticed that the Lion, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Wizard himself were played by the four men she knew in Kansas!
I have a bouquet of flowers on the table, sent from Mike on Saturday. "Where did you get those?" she asked.
"My friend Mike sent them. Do you like them?"
"They are beautiful, Yenna! AND they are interesting."
Then she proceeded to make our lunch out of kinetic sand, rolling coils and cutting them into slices like Slice-and-Bake cookies, then putting them in her wooden play oven.
"Santa Claus and the reindeers are going to bring me flowers, too," she said. "The talking reindeers and the ones that can't talk."
She saw a picture of Nana and Granddaddy. "Is that Nana's daddy?"
I explained that he was her husband, MY daddy. "Oh yeah," she said, "I know him. He's in Heaven."
Then, after thinking a little bit about it, she asked, "Does he speak English or Spanish?"
I happened to think of it tonight, browsing Netflix, watching a snippet of a French movie, All Together, starring--among four French actors-- Jane Fonda.
As it happens, who's coming to dinner in Texas is Mike, driving here from Georgia for Thanksgiving--which we'll spend at Kate's, a feast around her huge table with turkey and pies and all good things.
I had a full day today with Miss Elena, including watching the entire Wizard of Oz. I watched that movie every year growing up, but I had never noticed that the Lion, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Wizard himself were played by the four men she knew in Kansas!
I have a bouquet of flowers on the table, sent from Mike on Saturday. "Where did you get those?" she asked.
"My friend Mike sent them. Do you like them?"
"They are beautiful, Yenna! AND they are interesting."
Then she proceeded to make our lunch out of kinetic sand, rolling coils and cutting them into slices like Slice-and-Bake cookies, then putting them in her wooden play oven.
"Santa Claus and the reindeers are going to bring me flowers, too," she said. "The talking reindeers and the ones that can't talk."
She saw a picture of Nana and Granddaddy. "Is that Nana's daddy?"
I explained that he was her husband, MY daddy. "Oh yeah," she said, "I know him. He's in Heaven."
Then, after thinking a little bit about it, she asked, "Does he speak English or Spanish?"
Target Tuesday
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| You can buy a glamorous hat from the movie, Frozen. And a Santa Claus cup for your water. |
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| You can try on fashionable frames |
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| And you can buy a box of kinetic sand and make cookies and castles out of it when you get back home. |
Monday, November 17, 2014
"Tips, slips, stumbles, and leaps on the creative journey"
Check out this blog, the post about the two eggs!
It came to me from Pam this morning and it was so good that I signed up for more:
http://quinncreative.wordpress.com/author/quinncreative/?blogsub=confirming#blog_subscription-3
It came to me from Pam this morning and it was so good that I signed up for more:
http://quinncreative.wordpress.com/author/quinncreative/?blogsub=confirming#blog_subscription-3
Life Is Good
Sometimes the most simple phrases have a way of catching on and never leaving us. Like T-shirts that proclaim, "Life Is Good"--which of course it is!
Or "Life is like a box of chocolates."
Or Carlene's "Everything is tuition" or "People are different."
Or my daddy's advice teaching me to drive: "You never know what the other fella's gonna do."
When things go wrong or we're needing a wisdom or insight, we might turn to poetry or music, pow wows with friends or prayers, but we might also be sustained by the simplest sentences hanging out in our minds.
My friend Gary who died two years ago had one that did that for me. "It's a big world," he'd say--whenever someone (or some political partisan) did something inexplicably, off-the-charts, unnervingly--odd.
Never thrown off by other people's beliefs or behaviors, he'd just smile that wonderful Buddha smile of his and say, "It's a big world."
Sadly, he's been gone for these two years, but he left behind a lot of wisdom that comes to my mind just when I need it.
Or "Life is like a box of chocolates."
Or Carlene's "Everything is tuition" or "People are different."
Or my daddy's advice teaching me to drive: "You never know what the other fella's gonna do."
When things go wrong or we're needing a wisdom or insight, we might turn to poetry or music, pow wows with friends or prayers, but we might also be sustained by the simplest sentences hanging out in our minds.
My friend Gary who died two years ago had one that did that for me. "It's a big world," he'd say--whenever someone (or some political partisan) did something inexplicably, off-the-charts, unnervingly--odd.
Never thrown off by other people's beliefs or behaviors, he'd just smile that wonderful Buddha smile of his and say, "It's a big world."
Sadly, he's been gone for these two years, but he left behind a lot of wisdom that comes to my mind just when I need it.
My Topo Chicas
This has been a fantastic weekend for me, attending a three-day writing retreat, planned, designed, and led by my Saturday group, our second annual. We all enjoyed it so much we're on for another in 2015.
Last year we dubbed ourselves the Cake and Salad group; this year we've become the Rag Tag Topo Chicas--named after what was the most popular beverage of the weekend, Topo Chico sparkling water.
I'll write more and send pictures as soon as I get permission to post from my TCs....aka Jennifer, Mary, Victoria, Cindy, Lindsey, and Lety.
Last year we dubbed ourselves the Cake and Salad group; this year we've become the Rag Tag Topo Chicas--named after what was the most popular beverage of the weekend, Topo Chico sparkling water.
I'll write more and send pictures as soon as I get permission to post from my TCs....aka Jennifer, Mary, Victoria, Cindy, Lindsey, and Lety.
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| Victoria and Linda--in Victoria's amazing tree house studio |
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