Well, so much for the April 30-day A to Z challenge. The weekend was busy: Holy Week services at church, preparation for the Easter Sunrise worship, and a family dinner kept me busy, and blogging was not a high priority. I’m not even going to try to play catch-up. I’ll just do the best I can.
Today is Earth Day. I went for a walk this morning in a local state park. It was warm and humid. A friend called the humidity we had this morning “air you can wear.” I think some storms are coming in the forecast. I haven’t been in the park since Hurricane Helene blew through last September. The park had closed for several weeks while crews cleaned up the debris and cleared the roads around the campgrounds. There were lots of downed trees along the side of the road through the park.
My walk was a mile and three-quarters and took just about an hour. I make 59 images. And, no, I did not stop every minute to take a picture, even though the number of images and the time suggest that I took a photo a minute. The turtles were out sunning themselves on the fallen logs in the shallow waters, and there were yellow irises blooming at the water’s edge in several places around the loop. There were also lots of folks biking, walking, and fishing. It’s a busy place! And it’s a place of beauty and peace.
The Kinship Photography Collective is beginning a year-long exploration of the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, beginning with the element air. It was still this morning, although there were some ripples on the water. There is an openness over the lake, space to gaze, and space to breathe. Sunlight created trails on the water for the eye to follow. It is likely to be the “calm before the storm.”
This Earth Day, which follows Easter Sunday, I am reminded of the Resurrection and new life. Last September, a storm blew through to damage the island, but this spring, it has come to life. I have never seen the irises before, but I’m sure they must have been there. The turtles are out. Birds hopped away; squirrels ran off and scurried up the trees. There was plenty of life in the park this morning. It is renewing itself daily.
I am behind by three letters. My husband had to have a medical procedure this week, which threw off my schedule and routines for writing. We did get a very positive result from the procedure, and all is well.
The letters this time around are H for harmony, I for inspiration, and J for joy. Ho boy, what letters!
When I think of harmony, naturally, I think of music and the pleasing blend of notes into chords and melodies. I think of the old, traditional hymns I grew up singing in the Lutheran church, of old-time gospel music, and a capella groups like Home Free and Straight No Chaser and Pentatonix. But then, I also think of harmony among people, that quality of “getting along” and how that kind of harmony seems to be a thing of the past, and I wonder how we can get that notion back. I just know that I will do what I can to live my truth and seek that sweet place of harmony with others as I do.
What inspires me? And who inspires me? I am inspired by beautiful writing–John Donne’s poetry, especially the love poetry written to his wife. “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” is one of my favorites. Emily Dickinson’s playfulness: can’t you just see the “narrow fellow in the grass”?; Mary Oliver and her poetry of nature. Who cannot be inspired? After a six-week Bible study combining the art of Vincent van Gogh and the Gospel lessons for the six Sundays in Lent, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday, I am inspired to see the world through the eyes of the artist. And there are people–living–who inspire me to be better and to speak out. One such person is Anne Lamott. Though not a writer of religion per se, she calls me to see the world through the eyes of the Christian and to be an activist in whatever small way I can.
What is more joyful that watching a three-year-old run around his backyard with a bubble blower, making a bubble trail behind him? I gave my grandson a Bluey bubble “machine” on Sunday as an early Easter gift, and he had to go outside to make bubbles. And it was a joyful sight! There is joy in the crop of yellow dandelion flowers in the yard. (I don’t care that they are considered weeds!) The birds chirping in the holly tree by the house or flitting away from the feeders when I go outside, the wind blowing ripples across the pond, bunnies hopping away when I drive up in the yard–all of these bring joy, and that’s just the beginning.
By not starting on April 1, I honestly don’t know if I am at the half-way point in this 30 day challenge, but I’m close. I just have to stick with it for a couple more weeks! For the rest of the day, I will think about these three letters and their words: harmony, inspiration, and joy. Maybe they are more connected than I thought when I started writing this afternoon.
A couple of years ago, a dear friend was diagnosed with cancer. To help her through the hard days, she began a practice of listing “three good things” each day. It’s like a gratitude journal.
We know the research: keeping a gratitude journal or just being grateful improves attitudes and even health. Being grateful makes us happier people. I confess that I am not a consistent gratitude journal person. I keep a journal on paper and online in this blog. I used to post a “thankful Thursday” entry in this space, but have gotten out of the practice. Maybe I should start again.
So, what am I grateful for today?
I am grateful for my family. I visited with the sons, daughter-in-law, and grandson yesterday. It is a treat to be with them for even a couple of hours. I played with Sully. We blew bubbles outside with his new Bluey bubble blower, listened a bit to his Talking Jesus doll, and “ate” carrots while we played “kitchen.” We also played with his monster trucks and made “hills” for them to jump. He is quite the chatter box now at three and a half.
2. The weather is beautiful today–clear blue skies, sunshine, warmth. Spring is here. I could do without the pollen everywhere, but I am glad to see the spring. The jasmine has bloomed already. My rose bush is turning red. Birds are flocking to the feeders.
3. It’s a trivial thing, but I am grateful that I can start my days with a cup of steaming cinnamon tea. (My favorite is the Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice tea). I don’t even have to add sweetener to this tea even though I do sometimes add a spoonful of honey to my cup. I don’t like black coffee, but I can drink this tea “black.” There is something about a good cup of tea that makes just about anything better.
4. This is not so trivial, but I am grateful that I can spend part of my mornings reading my Bible and doing some Bible study. In these times of political and social tumult, God’s word has comforted, strengthened, and encouraged me.
5. I am thankful for books! I have always been a reader. My mother says it’s my escape. And reading is partly that. I can retreat into the world of whatever book I’m reading and get so lost in it that I even forget where I am in the “real world.” I tried so hard to encourage that same feeling in my students.
Gratitude and thankfulness–two emotions that I need to feel all the time, not just when prompted. Perhaps I will begin my “three good things” practice once again along with the “thankful Thursdays” postings.
I will close with a Bible verse my grandmother taught me in Sunday school: “Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good.”
The A to Z challenge this month asks me to consider the blogging family. Once, I followed more than a dozen bloggers, fellow scrapbookers, mainly, but somewhere along the way, I stopped. Blogging seemed to go out of fashion, and those scrapbookers either stopped blogging, or they changed their focus. Or maybe they simply changed media. Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and other forms of social media have taken over. Somehow, I never caught on the Instagram or Twitter. Pinterest sometimes interests me, especially if I am looking for ideas to create something. Blogging, though, has continued to be a way for me to record some of my thoughts–the ones I want to make sort of public, anyway (the rest are “hidden” in my pen-and-paper journals).
Family is a tough word. Who is my family? Is it confined to those who are related by blood? Or is there a broader version of family? Well, it’s both when you stop and think about it. In my little community, it seems we are all family in some way or another–cousins x-times removed, sisters, brothers, in-laws, aunts, uncles–you get the picture. There is also the church family since most of my neighbors and I attend the same church. There is also my book club family, those women I meet with once a month to share our love of books and reading.
There are my sisters, women who are such close friends that we could be blood sisters.
There are so many variations of family. One of the tropes of contemporary literature is that of the “found family,” people who share experiences that lead to strong bonds of kinship. We need those found families just as much as we need our relations and kin. Some researchers suggest that humans are perhaps more isolated than ever because of technology and social media. We can hide behind our screens. Certainly, we communicate with others, but relationships become more superficial. (I won’t even go into the ways social media and on-line communication allow us create new identities.) So, it is even more important that we cultivate in-person relationships with our kin as well as with our found families.
Tough letter: enthusiasm, engagement, excitement, electric/electricity? All of the above?
What am I enthusiastic about these days? What makes me excited? Well, one thing is visiting my grandson (tomorrow!). He is at that age when everything is new to him. He will be four years old in October. I can tell you that he is full of energy. I know he will be going nonstop during our visit.
I am looking forward to some new photography classes through the Kinship Collective. I haven’t been as active in the collective since the first part of the year, but I am looking forward to renewing my love for creating photographic art. I have been participating in the Year of Creative Photography classes since January, and this month’s theme of impressionism has really captured my Interest. I’m working on the more “artistic” elements in post-processing. I have a lot to learn. I created this image last night:
This class reminded me that “way back when”, I purchased some presets/plug-ins from Topaz Labs. I resurrected those, reinstalled them, and played with them this month. I had fun!
E is also for EXPLORE, and EXPLORE is my word for this year. I have done a little exploring—mostly in terms of photography and a lot in reading. I’m exploring new ways of recording my “life” in art and in writing. I have to work on my One Word album. I’m a couple of months behind in recording. Now that the winter doldrums are passing, and the sap is rising, as the saying goes, I will get back into the work of exploring. I have two tools to encourage my explorations–kinds of adventure bucket lists, one for places to explore in South Carolina, and another for personal adventures. I haven’t opened either one except for a quick glimpse. It’s time to go for it!
So, excitement, enthusiasm, electricity, and explorations–all E-words to guide me.
Imagine that! It’s day four of the A-Z challenge, and I’m still in it. While I have a daily writing practice more or less following the guidelines set forth by Julia Camera (The Artist’s Way), daily blogging is not part of my routines. I’ve managed to post once or twice a month over the last year or so, mainly documenting my reading with short book reviews and overviews. Yet i’ve had this dream of being a writer since high school.
I wrote a story that I gave to my high school English teacher at the end of my junior year. It was the last year I would have her as my teacher. Mrs. Richardson taught ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade English; Miss Bedenbaugh would teach twelfth grade English. Back then, we weren’t separated into college prep, honors, or AP classes; we were all treated as college prep students. She like my story, but I wasn’t encouraged to pursue creative writing. After all, creative writing wasn’t necessarily an academic pursuit. It wasn’t until I was in graduate school that I knew that people could major in creative writing! But I was on track for Masters degree in English literature and did not even consider a creative track.
And then came the children, two boys four years apart in age, and a career as a full-time high school English teacher myself. There was no possibility of thinking about creative writing, not with small boys, soccer practice and games, then baseball, and marching band, not to mention Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and church. . . . Did I mention lesson plans and grading and reading for my classes? The dream to be a writer had been deferred once again.
And then came retirement and a free class (though not exactly) with guidance to write that first novel. I did it. I wrote the novel, and. . . . well, it’s still written; it’s just not published. Dream deferred again? I don’t know. Sometimes, writing–or any art–just has to sit for a while before it goes public. The same is true about my photography. I “dream” one day that I will be able to create those fine art photographs in the vein of Ansel Adams and others. And yet. . . dream deferred. I use the excuse that I don’t know enough about photography as art to make those kinds of photos. Still, I dream. Maybe one day. . .
Langston Hughes wrote, “What happens to a dream deferred?” Something’s absolutely nothing happens; sometimes it does explode. I will just have to wait and see what happens to my deferred dreams.
But for the sake of this year’s blog challenge, C is for communication and the many ways we communicate.
We use words, spoken and written. Perhaps the spoken words have the most impact because we hear them and often see the speaker behind them. We hear not only the words but the tone. Those words can be affirming or destroying. I’m sure you’ve heard of the “toothpaste lesson.” Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it can’t be put back. Just so are the words we speak; once spoken, they can’t be called back, especially if they are hurtful words.
We also communicate through gestures. I often used the time out hand gesture when my classes got too rowdy or excited or when I simply needed to get them refocused on a new direction in the activity. Pointing can communicate a direction. Nodding can indicate approval or rejection of an idea or request. Our bodies communicate in a wide variety of gestures.
Facial expressions communicate. Expressions are related to gestures. A smile goes a long way in communicating acceptance, friendliness, affection, and love. The tight lips and “squinted” eyes communicate disapproval, dislike, rejection.
Then, there are the arts as communication. I was reading an article this morning about Picasso’s mural, Guernica, and the message it communicated about the destruction of the village by the Nazis (supposedly as a belated birthday gift to Hitler). The utter destruction of one village and deaths of so many innocent citizens shattered Picasso, and his painting communicated that. And communication is not just for the visual arts, but also for musical arts as well. My favorite Beethoven sonata, “The Moonlight,” communicates such a sense of peace and calm in the first movement.
I think all creatures have their ways of communicating, some profound and some not so profound, but communication makes all the difference.
Today, I will think about what I want to communicate to others in my actions and words. How can I communicate through my words and photography?
Okay. I’m late to the party. That’s nothing new. I had forgotten about the A-Z Challenge until this morning as I wrote my almost daily morning pages. I say “almost daily” because I don’t always write on the weekends. My Monday to Friday routines are thrown off because my husband usually has the TV on before I emerge from the bedroom in the mornings. I have trouble concentrating on writing when the TV is on (but not so much when I’m listening to music).
So, on April 8, I will begin the A to Z challenge. This year’s theme is gratitude for the community, specifically the blogging community. I have a few folks who “like” my reading updates when I post them monthly. But I don’t really blog for an audience (though it’s nice to have readers!); I write for myself.
Today, the letter is A.
The quote for the first challenge day is a really good one, and to begin the April challenge, the focus is on the people who make us happy. I am grateful for some special people in my life. There is my husband of 41 years this June and our two adult sons. The older son is a musician and a middle school band director; the younger–the adrenalin junkie–is a full-time firefighter and EMT. I am proud of them. John always gives me something to think about and challenges my brain. Aaron makes me smile at his actions. Then there is my daughter-in-law, who makes me so proud that she is willing to stand up for the marginalized people in our society. And my grandson, Sully, just makes me smile! He is three years old (he turns four in October). He is almost always happy.
Last spring, I started a very small book club. These ladies are so special. We share a love of books and good conversation. Our little group ranges in age from 18 to 80+ (I’m not sure how old Ms. Biba is). I look forward to our monthly meetings at the local coffee shop. Isabelle, the 18-year-old, gives us so much joy in her enthusiasm for books and the way she just fits in with our group of women who are old enough to be her grandmothers!
Ms. Biba and Shana have been my support group over the last couple of months as our church goes through some changes that are not necessarily the “best,” if I am to be honest. They have had my back, as it were, when I feel afraid to speak my truth. I am so thankful for them. Shana makes me laugh with her zaniness.
This has been a strange month for reading. It seems I have started a lot of books, but didn’t finish them for some reason or another: Persuasion by Jane Austin, Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin (almost finished–I’m on the last chapter), The Let Them Theory (just started, so I can’ complain too much about not finishing that one). . . . I put The Covenant of Water on pause, but do plan to get back to it in April. It is such a beautifully written book that I do not want to abandon it. So, what did I read? A lot of “fluff”!
I started the Locke and Steele series with The Agent’s Demon and The Rose and the Ghost. The Agent’s Demon has paranormal investigator Agent Hazel Locke and her demon partner investigating the Whitechapel Murders of Jack the Ripper. When they discover the identity of the Ripper, they must flee England to Paris to save their lives. While in Paris, they plan to investigate the murder of Steele’s family. The Rose and the Ghost tells the story of the search for the identity of the murderer of Steele’s family, but also includes a retelling of The Phantom of the Opera. Reading the latter book has prompted me to read the classic Phantom although I may be singing the songs from the musical in my head while I read. These were enjoyable paranormal mysteries with a bit of history thrown in, but I’m not likely to reread either of them although I will read the next installment when it comes out.
Ellery Adams is a “local” author from North Carolina. I thoroughly enjoyed her Book Retreat mystery series and started the The Secret, Book, and Scone Society series last year. The Lost Little Library was another fun read that kept me guessing until the end. Nora, Grant McCabe (the sheriff and Nora’s lover), and the women of her book club have two mysteries to solve: the mysterious death of Lucille Wynter, who leaves Nora a book that takes her on a scavenger hunt for various items that will uncover a family secret and the theft of YA books from her book store. What I love about Adams’s two series is the allusions to all kinds of books, so much so that I regret not writing down the titles as I read so that I can read them as well! This is another series I look forward to the next installment.
Another mystery series that held my interest was Mary Lancaster’s Silver and Grey mysteries. Constance Silver and Solomon Grey team up to solve a couple of murders in this series. They work well together, and there are the beginnings of a potential romance. I will be looking forward to continuing this series as well.
I can’t lose when there is a Steve Berry book. The Medici Return is the latest book in the Cotton Mather novels. Mather is a retired agent from the Magellan Billet, a top secret intelligence organization in the U. S. government. In this installment, Mather is sent to Italy to investigate the possible criminal activities of an archbishop. However, things get complicated when a businessman and member of the Italian legislative body claims to be a direct descendant of the Medici family, to whom the Vatican owes a great deal of money. I love all the history and “local color” that Berry infuses into his novels–and the fact that he can keep me guessing about the outcome until the very end.
I am well on my way to meeting my goal of six nonfiction books. So far, I’ve read Maya Angelou’s The Heart of a Woman in her series of autobiographies and Mary Miller’s biography of Belle Baruch, who is responsible for a true South Carolina treasure, Hobcaw Barony, which she set up with the state to be an educational and research facility in the Low Country. This book was interesting in so many ways. First, Belle Baruch was an interesting woman, a feminist and women’s libber before there were such things. Second, she was a paradox, known for her generosity and kindness but also somewhat bigoted and prejudiced. It was her love of nature, though, that stands out. As I read the book, I kept thinking, “Why haven’t I learned about this?” There was so much South Carolina history, as well as U. S. history in the biography. I didn’t know there were U-boats off the coast of South Carolina or that German spies actually made landfall in the Low County. I didn’t even know about Bernard Baruch’s role in history as advisors to seven presidents. It was an eye opening experience reading this book, and we had a lively discussion during the book club meeting.
I will probably finish Women of the Word this week. This book describes a method of Bible study that goes deep into the Word of God. Although the target audience is women, the method of study outlined by Jen Wilkin is applicable to anyone who wants to study Scripture in a meaningful way. I have tried several study methods over the years, but Women of the Word brings them all together. I am also using another method, the James Method, which incorporates many of the same elements (but with different names) as Wilkin’s method.
This morning before I began this post, the Book of the Month Club posted its April selections. I’ve chosen Six Days in Bombay, a historical novel; Famous Last Words (a BOTM exclusive), and The God of Woods (I’m late to the party for this book). Hopefully, I will be able to get into the books more in April.
Oh, by the way, April is National Poetry Month, and my “practice” for this month will be to collect quotes from poems every day of the month into a handmade commonplace book. I am starting with Mary Oliver’s collection, Devotion.
Telling Stories 