Written with my Thursday night group with the prompts: bulgaricus, in an orange room, why is she crying, the farm, he palmed his meds, there is no one there, hey baby, they were new, Kansas, healing, big medicine, Hank 25 years ago, they were young, is it all a sham, poppies like flames dancing, sat, peaceful … Continue reading An Orange Room On a Blue Planet
We’ve all been “sheltering” now, to one degree or another, for seven and a half months. Initially I was both alarmed and secretly pleased—because suddenly I could be my introvert self without apology. My biggest fear was that the whole thing would end too soon—before I completed the half-finished novel I’d been sitting on for the past … Continue reading Sheltering, Part 4
I wrote and published this piece six years ago, shortly after the death of a close friend. I came across it this week, and honestly, I'd forgotten that I wrote this as a Christmas meditation. The idea of surprise is becoming a theme for me this December. Life deals us all some pretty unpleasant surprises … Continue reading Loving Harvey: some Christmas musings
I first wrote and published this piece several years ago when Barack Obama was president and John Boehner was speaker of the house, and we were in the midst of a federal government shut-down. It was a time of great anxiety, partisanship and divisiveness. Things being what they are right now, I decided it would … Continue reading A Prayer for Healing Division
Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, be aware of the grace that surrounds you.
Recently I was doing a yoga DVD and I got my first taste of vertigo. I think it happened when I was doing one of those poses where you’re bent over, your head near your shins, and you lift one arm straight up, then you twist your neck to look at the ceiling. That seems … Continue reading Vertigo
School children rushed up the city street. The shu-shush of their corduroy pants woke the white paper birch trees from their dreams. The children had come from an ocean as green and foamy as champagne. Their skin was translucent like the skin of a yellow plum blushing blue, and their eyes were brown but lit … Continue reading White Paper and Water
This was written with my Thursday night writing group with the prompt, "Don't feed the ducks." It should be noted that the photo above is of Joe Mallard, as his mate Marietta is rather camera shy. Joe and Marietta Mallard were vacationing in Sacramento valley pools they caught sight of as they traversed the … Continue reading The Musings of Marietta Mallard
“Listen, are you breathing just a little and calling it a life?” Mary Oliver I like to imagine that the breath goes everywhere in my body, not just into my lungs, and—hey, it’s just occurred to me—it does!! I know this because I used to teach a very pared down simplified science lesson on the … Continue reading Breathing Just a Little
The day before Easter, just about a month ago, I tripped on a concrete block in a parking lot and fell flat on my face. My chin was cut badly enough to need seven stitches, and my jaw now has a tiny little crack in it. I was blessed in that they didn't need to … Continue reading Gravity: how it pulls us
