Monday, February 17, 2025

Focus on the Stars

 

 

Flowers at the market while "out and about".

  Recently I heard of Rebecca Solnit's book, Hope in the Dark – she notes that big disasters are times when people remember their inner strengths and create bonds with others that would seem impossible in "normal" reality.  "People who lose everything often speak of these times as "the most alive, most meaningful moments they've ever known".

"Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of radicals at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable. Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide reading of environmental, cultural, and political history, Solnit argued that radicals have a long, neglected history of transformative victories, that the positive consequences of our acts are not always immediately seen, directly knowable, or even measurable, and that pessimism and despair rest on an unwarranted confidence about what is going to happen next. Now, with a moving new introduction explaining how the book came about and a new afterword that helps teach us how to hope and act in our unnerving world, she brings a new illumination to the darkness of 2016 in an unforgettable new edition of this classic book."

 I have not read this book yet, but have ordered it because I am focusing this direction in the year of 2025.

Driving along the Willamette River not to far from my new home. Winter still resides there, but I have hope for Springtime to come again and show it's green color on those trees. Each season has it's own color and each season gives us hope that life moves along.
 

It is very much opposites such as fear and hope. I have heard how those that suffer great loss, such as the homes that burned in the recent fires in Los Angeles, still hold on to the glimmers of what they still have in their health and dear ones surrounding them.

 

Actually found in my house garden last week.

Leaving my garden to move into an apartment, how can I still notice the small glimmers of joy and hope by changing the way I think of my adventures each day? I would walk in my garden each morning to post a picture on social media from the garden. I miss that a lot, but now I am noticing what I see when I am "out and about". Still noticing the glimmers of light brings me joy. 

So in our despair and angst, let's continue to focus on the little things that bring us joy, supporting those around us, and looking for ways to make small differences.

Sending love,

Marilyn


Friday, February 14, 2025

A Snowy Day!

 

My view just yesterday across my little patio.

The Snowy Day is a 1962 American children's picture book by American author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats. It features Peter, an African American boy. It was written to encourage everyone to slow down and notice the small things in life, something I try to do here on this blog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmZCQfeWjeQ&ab_channel=EJKFoundation

As a white man, Esra Jack Keats was one of the first to write a children's book with multi-cultural children. His book has been banned recently because of that. When my children were young, Ezra Jack Keats, was a favorite author of theirs and visited their school on author's day.

 

This morning and last evening, sights of snow from my window. Many have walked their dogs past my window and I love seeing them out enjoying the snowy day.

 

Sending love and warmth on this Valentine's day. Hoping you are warm and cozy, tucked inside on this snowy day. Now I must sip some tea.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Monday, February 10, 2025

Focus on the Stars

 A dear friend shared this prayer with me recently and I thought it would be worth sharing with you. It fits so well with what I try to share each week, to make sure we notice those small things, the everyday things. As I settle into my new home I am once again beginning to notice those little things. I find it is time to pull out the calendar and set dates with friends for a cup of tea or an adventure. It's time to go for walks and "notice what I notice".


I am noticing the small lights and glimmers when out in the evening light. Light is capturing my hearts as I focus on HOPE. But I am also noticing the earth is struggling to come alive once more and sing to our hearts.
 
 Dear God,

All I can think to say this morning, is please guide my attention to that which is worthy of it.

When I am overwhelmed by everything that has to get fixed in this broken down world, show me what is MINE to do then please give me the strength to do it and the humility to rest afterwards.

Open my eyes to behold that which is hopeful and lovely and to know that the terrifying and malicious will always be there and that looking away for a moment is not callus, it’s calculating.

Guide my attention to that which is worthy of it: making art, cooking food, loving people, noticing birds, petting dogs, contacting friends, and doing the work that is mine to do.

And when I am scrolling through meaningless videos, once again wasting more precious moments on this Earth than I realize, snap me out of it, Lord and help me just go for a walk or something.

In your holy name,

Amen.

Nadia Bolz-Weber 


 Sending love and peace in this crazy world,

Marilyn

 

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Trees

 

 
Yesterday I again walked through the garden at my house. I wanted some pictures of "the tree" in the backyard. The character of this old tree is amazing. In places it looks like it is pregnant. There are holes where critters live or have lived. It has a history of bees, birds, squirrels and raccoons.


Trees – by Joyce Kilmer

written in 1913

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

 

My mother loved poems and this is one I remember her sharing with me. Trees sends a strong message against deforestation. It highlights how trees are important to all living creatures. The poet says that if trees are cut, then there will be no shadow, no forest, and no shelter for the birds and insects. Trees planted throughout a city can lower the temperature by several degrees. Trees intrigue me with their different shapes and character. I love painting them when doing my small watercolors.


 



 

Scrolling through the past few months of pictures on my phone I see plenty of trees. I love noticing trees around me. One thing I enjoy even in my apartment now is looking out and seeing trees. I am a "tree hugger" for sure. Thankfully here in Oregon many others love trees too. Do you have trees surrounding you? Are you a "tree hugger"? I hope so!

 Sending love,

Marilyn

 

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Focus on the Stars

 

Elizabeth Bunson is an artist I follow on social media. Recently she had a series called "focus on the glimmers".  That thought has stuck with me as I focus on HOPE this year.

What does it mean to focus on the stars or glimmers of light? The joys and kindness, civility. The glimmers of hope in a dark world whether it is something beautiful or a person's smile. Let's surround ourselves with beauty in this dark world. We are worth savoring a beautiful cup of tea, a sunrise or sunset, a rainbow, a flower at the market or a kind word spoken.

Bright shiny red on my toes makes me smile.

Pretty things at the antique mall. Oh, do you see that light?

 

Silly smiles from my daughter.

Flowers in anyone's garden.



 Let's join hands together each and every day. Focus, focus, focus and see the glimmers of hope, let the light shine.
 
Sending love,
Marilyn

Friday, January 31, 2025

Some Days

 As I sit in reflection over my tea this morning, I am enjoying the little bouquet I picked at my house in the garden just yesterday. I am reminiscing on the day just yesterday. Some days are just like this, but it wasn't just an ordinary day. It was time of goodbyes.


Yesterday I walked through the house that I had lived in for 22 years. Where did all that stuff come from? Wow! There is a lot waiting for buyers tomorrow to carry away little and not so little treasures. I feel like I moved a lot, but yet there is so much left behind.



I was their care taker for awhile. Now someone else can enjoy them.


 
I saw a cookbook waiting for someone to buy and realized there was only one recipe in the book I enjoyed; so I photographed it to still have.


Estate sales are fascinating me now. The company actually brought in some more stuff just to make it look full; though most of it was our stuff. The pricing fascinated me and I could tell the person doing the sale knew his stuff. My antiques were priced appropriately.


Can you believe it, but after walking through all the stuff in my house I took myself off to the antique mall. It is my peaceful place. It's not where I necessarily buy, but love taking pictures. And who did I run into, but the guy doing our estate sale. I knew he had several booths there, but didn't expect to see him.

I love the displays of live plants at the mall.

Isn't it beautiful?


Then I came back to the house for another walk in the garden and to pick a small bouquet to enjoy on my tea table this morning.


In the bouquet is a camellia bud and daphne buds, plus a bit of rosemary and tea to sweeten the deal. To me it is a lovely bouquet of remembrance and love for the garden. I will miss the garden more than the house.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Monday, January 27, 2025

Focus on the Stars

 

“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables 

About all the energy I have to share at the moment is Monday's post, but hopefully next month I can share more. My "live-in gardener" (now I need a new name for him) and I are still digging out of our house. It was a rough week this past week and still we have more to do. Much to our surprise,while trying to get our son dug out of our basement (still going on) my husband ended up in the hospital for a day and a night with a kidney stone. So a lot of the moving and cleaning went to me. I cleaned up some of the yard and kept my son moving forward, plus some dear, long time friends came one morning and helped move some furniture to our son's apartment. How amazing those little thoughtful gifts of help have been. They are like glimmers of hope. Hope that very soon it will be finished. Friends and our daughter have been our stars.

I took a few walks in the garden and was amazed at what is waking up.

The daffodils are coming up.
 The hellabore are budding and the daphne is beginning to bud.
 

I think what I will miss most are my walks in the garden.

This week the estate sale team will be working in the house and my husband, son, and sometimes me will still be in the basement working too. Then in one week the real estate team takes over. Yes, there is a light, at least a glimmer, at the end of the tunnel.

Are you seeing any glimmers of Hope/light in these dark times? I hope so!

Sending love,
Marilyn