Puddle

 Puddle

Do you ever come across a word that already resides in your mind in one way, but then you see it in a book used in a way you hadn't thought of? In reading A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater with my morning tea, I keep coming across the word "puddle". 

Now for me when I hear the word "puddle" I picture a child with red rubber boots on stomping through water on a rainy day. It is such a pure picture of delight and laughter that I have never thought of it any other way. Now Nigel Slater comes along and he is writing about food with puddles of gravy or a gorgeous red sauce sitting on the plate just waiting to be soaked up by a piece of bread or savored with a pudding or ice cream. It shakes up my thinking on a "puddle". I want to delight in that gorgeous puddle on my plate like a child stomping through it in my red boots. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, there actually was a puddle on my plate of turkey gravy, but no picture of that puddle. It was gleefully devoured.

Then I begin wondering about words that create images in my mind and shake up my thinking. This book with his gorgeous, descriptive words does just that. Here is one line, "To smell steaming rice in the early morning is as comforting as being a baby swaddled in a cashmere shawl". Isn't that imagery amazing? Don't you just want to be "swaddled in a cashmere shawl"? Do we pay that much attention to a particle of food placed in front of us?

The closest I could get to a puddle in my own backyard is sitting in the birdbath. I imagine the birds think of it as their own personal puddle, a place to stomp their feet and splash about while washing their food or their feathers.

We must have rain to make a puddle. With bad times we can make something beautiful. There is a quote that says, "Into every life a little rain must fall".  So let the rains come and in the morning after the rain has passed, the sun will shine and we can dance in the puddles.
 

Find your own personal puddle today and dance.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Words of Kindness and Joy

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9MWiVMYhqA&ab_channel=SBettinaBrand   

Yes, I shared this picture last week, but when I was thinking about kindness this morning I thought about how kind my cousin was to take me here recently. He knows I love to take pictures of nature. Without even asking me, he drove me here and suggested I get out of the car and snap some pictures. It's these little thoughtful acts that surround us with an emotional quilt of comfort.
 

Kindness

by Naomi Shihab Nye 

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

 

And then this past Saturday a friend made reservations, picking me and a couple other friends up for tea time. As I sat there I realized people don't do that normally for me. I am the one doing the organizing. I told the friend that and she said "I know, that is why I wanted to do it for you". It touched my heart.

 

As the poem says, it is kindness I have been looking for this year. It is kindness we need in the world around us and in our world. I hope and pray each of you reading this find kindness in your days.

 

Sending love,

Marilyn

Light in Darkness

 Law of Fair Exchange

I met a stranger in the night

Whose lamp had ceased to shine;

I paused and let him light

His lamp from mine.

****

A tempest sprang up later on

And blew the world about;

And when the wind was gone,

My light was out.

****

Then back again the stranger came;

His light was glowing fine.

He held again the precious flame

And lighted mine.

Author Unknown 

 *****

As winter is approaching I am craving the light. Candles come out as I sip my tea. It reminds me of the need for light when life is most dark. The light, even if it is only a flicker, brings hope to my heart for days of healing, laughter, quiet times, and times spent with dear ones.

May you find glimmers of light in these dark times. May these little signs of light shine on you and bring hope to your heart.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Words of Kindness and Joy

 "Practice being awake." 

Bethany Lee recently spoke at my church and these very simple words got me to pay attention. Bethany has written several books of poetry and plays the harp most beautifully. She is a thoughtful young woman.

Thinking about being awake, what does that mean? Again I think it means to pay attention, "notice what you notice". I can't say it enough. When we are awake we see both the beauty and the sorrows of life. We feel. In feeling it can be painful, but if we pay attention it can also be a growing experience. Growing is good, Being awake is good.

Then laugh and love a lot!

Be joyful!

Sing!

I had lunch a couple days ago with my cousin and his wife. He is a bird person. So after lunch he drove us to one of his favorite places to sit and watch the birds. We weren't disappointed. There was an abundance of birds. He knows I like to notice nature; so he encouraged me to snap a few pictures. The middle picture particularly made me happy, as it also caught the reflections on the water. Isn't it fun when a simple snap of the phone camera makes you smile and feel joy?

 What is making your heart sing today?

Sending love,

Marilyn

Starry, Starry Night

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk

Happy Kindness Day!

Looking back at posts I had started, but never finished, this song had been bookmarked. It is rather sad, but beautiful to me. It speaks of starry, starry nights, how people didn't listen until it was too late. I am planning to focus on those stars with more to come on that next month. I hope you will continue to follow along with me as I look to the stars, as I speak my truth, and as I continue to travel with kindness and joy.

I noticed the moon shining through the clouds as they rushed by during last night, as I woke up to enjoy a couple hours where I couldn't sleep. There were no stars, but I could see that moon, the clouds, the rain, and the shadows in my yard. I could imagine the beauty of the sky and grounds as the sun rose to see another day.

My tea plant (camellia sinensus) is blooming, hope for new growth.

The leaves are puddling on the greenhouse roof. I think they are beautiful.

And if I look closely, I find new blooms still shining on a dark day.

As the sun goes down, the evening sky from my back door.

In the song it mentions a blood red rose. This is the closest to that in my garden each spring.

I pray people wake up and listen to each other, love each other, and show kindness in little and big ways. I need to believe it isn't too late to listen and embrace each other. Notice those starry, starry nights and wait for the dawning day light hours. Be awake, alert, and notice what you notice. Be Kind!

Sending love,

Marilyn

Words of Kindness and Joy

 "Wherever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul." Unknown

 

Dear Friends,

I knew this year would be rough, but this election has pretty much drained me. It is hard for me to focus on the beauty, the kindness, or the joy in life some days. I am shattered.

But in the midst of all the sadness and angst the words that come to me this morning is that in the darkness we must sparkle and shine. How do we do that? Where do we go from here? The quote above sort of answers those questions for me. It might be in the little things that I have shared this year, the noticing of the small things. But also in the "creating beauty". How do we do that?

 

For me it might just be the picking up of an acorn on my walk and savoring the beauty. Isn't it amazing how the nut fits so snugly into the little cap? I often carry it home and admire it for awhile. It might be to pause and admire the flowers or beautiful fruit at the market. It is all about the nature around me. As far as creating,it is my small watercolors I love to paint for friends,just putting a few flowers in a vase to enjoy, or lighting a candle on a dark, stormy night.

Also it is noticing the "sparkle and shine". Last Friday I went to my favorite early Christmas event at the local antique mall. There was plenty of "sparkle and shine". It made my heart happy. I don't buy much anymore, but I just love snapping a few pictures and for awhile be surrounded by beauty.

So, friends, let's notice the "sparkle and shine" each and every day.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Autumn and Hope

 

 

Thoughts by Jacqueline Bouvier (Kennedy) in 1943

I love the Autumn,

And yet I cannot say

All the thoughts and things

That make one feel this way.

 

I love walking on the angry shore,

To watch the angry sea;

Where summer people were before,

But now there's only me.

 

I love wood fires at night

That have a ruddy glow

I stare at the flames

And think of long ago. 

I love the feeling down inside me

That says to run away

To come and be a gypsy

And laugh the gypsy way.

The tangy taste of apples,

The snowy mist at morn,

The wanderlust inside you

When you hear the huntsman's horn.

Nostalgia-that's the Autumn,

Dreaming through September

Just a million lovely things

I always will remember.

 

To me, this sounds a bit melancholy. "I always will remember." Through different seasons of my life I have said "pay attention" for this will be a memory some day. Each adventure I have taken, a memory now resides.

In these dark times, the memories, noticing small things of beauty, will get me by.

Yes, I am sad today. Sad for my country, sad to let those things of beauty go. But hope comes in the morning and I must still have hope and notice what I notice of beauty and delight. 

Sending love,

Marilyn

Words of Kindness and Joy

OK, I wrote this in August and realized I hadn't posted it. As tomorrow is election day I hope and pray a woman will soon be in charge.

Now you might say, "what does that have to do with Kindness and JOY?" I believe Kamala brings to the table just that "kindness and joy"! 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FciQeRGYFlw&ab_channel=Keb%27Mo%27

Put a Woman in charge! 

I hope you listen to the above link, it inspires me.

I believe, as women, our time is coming.

Women have the power to add tenderness and beauty around them. To take something ugly and make it something special. To heal our "booboo's". To cry with us, laugh with us. Yes, you might say a man can do these things too, but I believe a woman adds the gentleness so lacking in the world of men.

I am excited for the possibilities a woman adds to our world. Now normally I am not political here, but our time has come in the US to have a woman in charge. Please vote BLUE 

Sending you love, kindness and JOY in this time of struggle and upheaval.

Peace to you,

Marilyn

Trolls by Thomas Dambo

If you have been following along with me for this year you will know I have been intrigued by the trolls made by Thomas Dambo and crew from recycled material. I follow along with their adventures around the world on Instagram. So I knew I needed to go on an adventure or two to find the six in the Pacific Northwest. The first one was easy for it was in Portland, Oregon. I ventured there three times this past year and seeing it each time just made me smile.

This is the third time I visited with my "live-in gardener" and grandson. Isn't he cute?

 

 

 Pia the Peacemaker on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

My sister-in-law visited Pia with us and it also delighted her.

 Then there was the Bird King on Vashon Island, Washington found in January of this year.

So my adventure in September to visit my sister-in-law and then the tea festival in Seattle also included a search for the final three trolls in the Seattle area.

This one we found in among the trees in Issaquah, Washington.

It was about a half mile hike to find him.

I loved that part of the search included getting out in nature and enjoying a beautiful day.

And then again walking by the water for another half mile along the water front at Lincoln Park in Seattle, Washington. This walk included walking with a friend and a good little visit.

 

 

You can see, these trolls are not particularly small. Sitting or standing in with the trees they just delighted me.

 

And then finally the sixth one is found right in town. We almost drove right past it, but the GPS said it was here at the Norwegian Center in Seattle, Washington.

All six found. The whimsy and humor of the creator just made me smile.

It was a fun adventure.

It got us out in the world, discovering new surroundings.

It delighted our hearts. 

 

Have you gone on an adventure recently?

What were you searching for?

Did it delight your heart?

 

Sending love,

Marilyn