Word for the Week

 

Right now here in Oregon we are having the worst heat wave in history. It is suppose to hit 113-115 today. All I can think of is how to survive this heat. Most of us don't have AC because we haven't needed it in the past. In my house we have two window units and one nice fan, which is keeping my house in the 80's. All I can think of is to keep the house dark and remain still. Not much movement is happening except to cool off by a fan. It almost feels like the beginning of the pandemic where it was so quiet and no one was about. I was at the market at 7AM just so I wouldn't have to go out in the heat of the day.

Home again and popsicles made of fruit juice and coconut water, plus dinner will be gazpacho (cold soup). The gazpacho is chilling in the refrigerator along with a couple cheeses and fruit.

Since my car has AC we went for a drive on Saturday and ended up here. Even on the farm it was quiet and no tractors were moving. Everything was "still".

The meaning of still (adjective): not moving or making a sound.

 

The only movement was the bees busy gathering pollen for the honey sold at the farm.

Yes, we came home with honey and cherries.

On a cooler day I could imagine sitting quietly at this table sipping my cup of tea and smelling the flowers. But for today I will remain in my quiet, still house sipping iced tea, water, or savoring a popsicle in my freezer. I think one thing I love about sipping a cup of tea as it causes me to sit still and ponder the day.

What do you do to stay cool on a hot summer day?

Do you find yourself sitting still?

PS: Sorry I didn't have a second post last week. I just couldn't think of anything, but remaining still and cool.

Word for the Week

 

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean —

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down —

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

 

Happy Summer Solstice, the first day of summer.

As I searched for a poem for you to celebrate Mary Oliver's poem just seemed to work. It fits with my last post too. Did you notice when the sun went down last evening and when it rose this morning? I snapped two pictures for you. One is as the sun was going down shortly after 9PM and then this morning as the sun sent shadows across this same spot in my garden. The sun was up quite early and I tried to ignore it, but finally it said "time to get up" and see the sun.

The long days of summer are here.

Let's savor the days and the light.

Take it in and hold it tight.

I find the warm days slows me down and I want to just sit under a shady tree and read or maybe nap.

Summer is the word this week. Savor and Delight in it.

 

What Will You Do?

 As summer comes this week to my neighborhood I am thinking about just last year and the contrast a year makes during this time of pandemic. Last year at this time we were hiding away in our homes fearful of what was happening and trying to stay safe. Just this past week my church and my women's group have both started meeting in person after 15 months of zoom and isolation. What a difference a year makes right this very minute.

There wasn't much socialization going on here in the garden house.
 

So I am wondering what will I do differently this year?

How will I celebrate a bit of socialization?

Have I learned anything about myself and made any changes?

Finally some play was done here recently.

I have thought of how as a child I was outside playing with all the kids in my neighborhood from early morning until the sunset or my mother called me in for a meal. I loved hanging out at the local swimming hole/pool with tons of kids splashing in the water to cool off. We laughed, screamed, and just loved making noise. We crawled and dug through dirt and came home filthy without a care in the world.

I am a very organized person and one thing I have learned through the pandemic is I need a little less organization and a bit more carefreeness (hummm?not really a word is it?) I need to hang out, laugh, scream, make noise, dig in the dirt, and come home filthy. We change, but some things do stay the same.

My ex-son-in-law sends me pictures of my grandson quite often and a few days ago he sent me a picture that really touched my heart. Three boys in his neighborhood asked my D to read to them. Can you imagine? Four boys sitting on the front step reading a book at the beginning of summer vacation? This picture is what inspired me to think of what I would do with one wild, wonderful summer.

I will continue walking in my neighborhood and garden.

I will connect with nature and with friends.

I will make a bit of noise, even if it is humming a favorite tune.

I will hang out by some water and splash around a bit.

I will find a friend that likes to laugh and laugh with them.

I will let a juicy peach run down my arms and delight in the warmth of the sun.

What will you do?

Happy weekend, dear friends!

Go out there and do something fun!

Word for the Week

 

When you see a castle or some ruins do you imagine what it was like to live there? Can you picture yourself there? When I walked here once upon a time I could feel the spirits of those that once lived there. I imagined what they were wearing and how life was during that time.

As I was thinking of the word Imagination the following song came to mind. I love imagining for fairies dance in my garden.

From Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:

 

Pure Imagination

 

Ladies and gentlemen

Boys and girls

The chocolate room

Hold your breath

Make a wish

Count to three

Come with me and you'll be

In a world of pure imagination

Take a look and you'll see

Into your imagination

We'll begin with a spin

Traveling in the world of my creation

What we'll see will defy explanation

If you want to view paradise

Simply look around and view it

Anything you want to, do it

Want to change the world?

There's nothing to it

There is no life I know

To compare with pure imagination

Living there you'll be free

If you truly wish to be

 

Sometimes when out hiking and I find a hole in a tree I just know gnomes and fairies live there.

 

Doesn't this look like a giant lizard on the beach? I imagined him there coming to life when the sun disappeared each night. During the day he becomes a piece of wood, but at night he swims in the sea and dances in the moonlight.

And a parrot once lived there too. She left her picture on the rock to remind us of her visit.

 

Play with me and let your imagination free.

Have a week full of imagination!

To See Takes Time

 "Nobody sees a flower, really

it is so small

we haven't time,

and to see takes time,

like to have a friend

takes time."

~Georgia O'Keefe

The quote by Georgia O'Keefe has been a favorite of mine for a long time. This morning as I continued reading Wintering by Katherine May I came across this very simple sentence and was once again reminded of this quote. The quote from the book, "Just waiting for me to learn how to see it."  It seems like I keep focusing on noticing and seeing. For sure, it keeps jumping in front of my thoughts and words, maybe it is the book that is reminding me to notice and see.

Sort of a silly pictures. Yesterday I visited this museum with my grandson and as we entered I snapped this picture. The sun was shining on my screen, so I couldn't really see clearly what I had snapped. When I downloaded the pictures I just had to smile because it looks like the dinosaur is about to invade the museum. I loved noticing this creature sitting out in front of the museum just waiting for us, daring us to enter. Oh what fun we had seeing the dinosaurs inside. After the two of us enjoyed the museum we went for a walk along the river and found some boulders to sit on while we nibbled our snack. What I loved seeing were the clouds above the city, wildflowers along the river, and a great view of downtown Portland. I loved that the two of us enjoyed noticing together.

How do we take the seeing and noticing to the next step? Do we just acknowledge it and go on? Do we ruminate or savor it? Or do we find we need to take action? 

I am fascinated by these thoughts.

I want to be more open to noticing/seeing, receiving more, and releasing to the universe more love.

Take time to see with our hearts.

Happy weekend, dear friends!

Word for the Week

Many times here I have made the statement "notice what you notice". A friend uses this phrase quite often when she gives sermons or talks in public. I love the concept of it and have picked it up to use also.

Recently I have been reading Wintering, The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. Because of the title I was holding it to read in Winter, then I thought that is silly. I will read it now; so I began reading and quite glad I have.

This morning as I was reading I began thinking of that word notice again. Here is the sentence that pulled me into these thoughts. "The year will move on no matter what, but by paying attention to it, feeling its beat, and noticing the moments of transition--perhaps even taking time to think about what we want from the next phase in the year--we can get a measure of it." She also talked about just noticing the sunrise and sunset as we travel through the year and how that changes with the seasons and how that effects us. It just seems to be those little things that sometimes get overlooked and life flies by without us noticing.

So I will ask you this morning, what are you noticing in your day this very moment? Did the sun come up a little earlier today? What flower is blooming near you? Is there something deep in your heart that you haven't brought yet to the surface to notice? Dear friends, let's together "notice what you notice" and then smile at the knowledge of noticing those little things.

On the Wild Side

“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

Recently my "live-in gardener" and I went exploring on Sauvie Island. The island is about 1/2 hour drive from our home and on the Columbia River and Willamette River. We stopped by the farm store and bought our first Oregon strawberries, which are soooo good. But then we decided to explore a dirt road we had not been on before. There were wild roses, a killdeer bird by the road, more birds, and even a duck blind. Now I want to go back and just sit for awhile in the duck blind and watch the day go by. Being in nature just soothes my soul and I want to either sit quietly and soak in the day or dance in a field of clover while picking a bouquet of wild flowers. I must return here soon and do just that. It is good for me and I have a feeling it would be good for anyone to dance in wildness. Happy weekend, dear friends! Now go out and dance or sit quietly in nature.