Focus on the Stars

 “I Go Down To The Shore

I go down to the shore in the morning

and depending on the hour the waves

are rolling in or moving out,

and I say, oh, I am miserable,

what shall—

what should I do? And the sea says

in its lovely voice:

Excuse me, I have work to do.”

-Mary Oliver

The work needing done, what could that be. For me it is just focusing on the small glimmers of light and joy each day.

If you recall, last week I needed to put my toes in the sand. So off to the sea I went for a very short visit; never the less, it was good to touch the sea. People told us there were whales frolicking between those rocks, but other than some splashes I didn't see any whales.

Wishing I had some marshmallows and a fire.

I am a water girl at heart; so just yesterday I went down to the Columbia River. What a delight to sit on this deck and watch the boats come and go. One last celebration of summer before school starts tomorrow. 

Fall will soon be here. 

Early this morning, while it was still dark, I noticed a runner go by with a string of colored light draped around him. He was shining the lights in the dark morning hour. It reminded me as we begin to notice the shorter days to bring out the candles and to focus on the light in the dark night.

And still I am finding flowers to shine on my days.

I absolutely love dahlia season. This is my favorite Cafe au Lait, which was planted in my daughters garden. Isn't it a beauty?

And one final light from my past week was celebrating my "god son's" 25th birthday. How quickly they grow up.

What lights of delight are you noticing this week?

Sending love,

Marilyn

Focus on the Stars

"...here it is, hope, in the midst of darkened skies. A candle in the midst of the darkness. A bright morning star, shining the way forward. The call for today—this week—and in the weeks to come, is to remember in whom we are to place our trust. It is a call for us to lift up our heads, to search the skies, and behold the glimmer of a promise—the very hope of the world—given to us to light our way in the darkness and despair of this present time."

 If you would like to read more, the quote came from this link:

 https://stpauls-dedham.org/content/darkness-when-you-can-see-stars-shine  First Sunday of Advent from St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

Returning to my word for the year of HOPE. I knew I had to hold on to it this year. I knew it would be a rough year with my move and politically too. I had no idea how dark our world would become though. Some days only watching for those glimmers of light and hope can I survive the darkness. I image holding hands with each person in despair and walking with them through the mud. I just have to believe we will come out on the other side, breathe in the fresh air, laugh, and sing a new song.

What are you noticing that brings a smile to your heart?

This morning I just had to peek out on my patio and enjoy seeing the birds at the feeder and flowers blooming. There was even a ripe tomato ready to pick for my salad tonight. 

Sending Love and Hope your way,

Marilyn 

 

Focus on the Light

 

“Darkness will always give you an opportunity to create your own light.” Anonymous

 

If you look at the above picture closely you will find wisteria blossoms hanging in a tree. Today, having lunch with a dear friend, we noticed the purple blooms right there beside my car. It's those little "rays of sunshine" that brighten a dark day.

Or you find a glimmer of light sitting along the dark night, just sitting there waiting for you to notice.

 

 

It could just be a single bloom coming up through the dried leaves of a winter garden. Noticing creates little lights of hope, they light the way and brighten the day or the dark night.

As usual you know my wish for you is to always notice what you notice and let it lighten your day.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Focus on the Stars

 

 

“She was devoted to the moon.

In its darkness she found comfort.

In its light she found hope”

Kavi Keethu, unknown author.
Kavi refers to Indian poetry, so not sure this is an actual name. 

 

The first two pictures are lighthouses, one on the west coast and the other on the east coast. Very different, but they do the same job. Their light shines in darkness as a warning to travelers on the sea. It tells them that land is nearby and to take care. In it's way it gives comfort to the sailor lost at sea and shows them the way.
 

As the quote states in other words, there is comfort and safety in small lights or the light from the moon on a dark night.

Hold on! Notice the glimmer's! For soon the sun will shine again. We must not lose sight of HOPE.

 Sending love,

Marilyn

 

Focus on the Stars

 

Spring time is like little lights found coming up from the dirt of life's ground.

"Iain Thomas, a South African author and poet, included this quote in his book “I Wrote This For You” published in 2011. This quote emphasizes that even in the absence of external light, individuals have the power to create their own sources of light and positivity. By applying this learning, individuals can take ownership of their lives, find their passions, and create their own path towards happiness, even in the midst of darkness." 

 I search for those lights appearing all around me. I find them in unexpected places.

“Never fear the darkness, for in it lies the power to create.”  – Brandon Sanderson, “The Way of Kings” (2010)

 And to create is like little rays of sunshine. Flowers are a creation of God. Was God smiling when creating these beautiful things? Did God know we would need them after the dark night of winter? 

Hold on, dear friends! We will survive the dark night and be better for it.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Focus on the Stars

 

“In the midst of darkness, light persists.”

– Mahatma Gandhi, Speech (1947)

I love that this stream under the trees still captures the light through the dark forest.

It seems that having chosen the theme this year has kept me focusing on the same rays of light. On Instagram I find myself saying "In darkness, focus on hope". I say it in so many little ways each day. Then I notice that others are also saying the same thing in their own ways. And in this I am noticing little rays of sunshine, laughter and hope. I know I needed this focus to get me through this year.

This picture was a couple years ago, but you might smile at seeing it. It's funny, but dressing this way to go to tea was hard for me to do. I tend to step quietly, not to be noticed. So wearing a fur coat and sunglasses was out of my comfort zone. But I was glad I did it. It was good for me to be bold. It created a memory of laughing at myself, a little silliness does the soul good. A little light in my day.

 Last Saturday I ventured out to the April 5th "Push Back" demonstration. I went with trepidation and concern for safety, but I went anyway. Parking was found close by and I soon found myself standing on a highway overpass with my sign that says "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" Soon enough cars drove by and I was thoroughly brought to tears at the positive response. There were thumbs up and happy tooting horns. So many responded in a special way to the more than a 1000 people that showed up not far from my home to speak out. My heart swelled with joy to feel validated and for speaking up. We must step out of our comfort zone as often as possible. It creates memories, it makes us stronger, and brings surprises to our world. It is HOPE.

What glimmers of hope have you seen this week? Where are you stepping out of your comfort zone?

Sending love,

Marilyn

 

Focus on the Stars

 

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Cohen, “Anthem” (1992)

 

 

Some days I find it hard to even find the cracks and then I read something or see a glimmer of light shining in the darkness. It brings a smile to my heart and reminds me to focus once more. Just for this very moment, I must focus and see that light of HOPE. Sometimes that sign of light is a bit upside down, like the reflection on the pond.

 

       

                  Sometimes it focuses on a story. It says, "Pay attention!"

 

And sometimes it speaks softly, like music in the ear or whisper of the wind.

This morning in my reading the words it spoke were "Hope and action feed each other." and through the struggle and despair we must find hope and grasp tightly to that concept. Though at times it will feel like a dream and not a reality, we must never let go. We must find the crack in the wall and focus on the light shining through. Can you see the light, the glimmer?

Sending love,

Marilyn

Hope in the Dark Night

 

"Yellow flowers are widely associated with joy, happiness, friendship, and new beginnings." They make me feel happy and give off a positive energy.  Even as a young girl I was drawn to the color of yellow, especially yellow flowers. My birthday flower is the yellow daffodil.

 So with yellow flowers in bloom right now and my word of HOPE, I am becoming more attentive to what is around me. 

This morning in my reading from Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit, I read "To hope is to gamble. It's to bet on the future, on your desires, on the possibility that an open heart and uncertainty is better than gloom and safety. To hope is dangerous, and yet it is the opposite of fear, for to live is to risk."

"Hope just means another world might be possible, not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope."

Thus I take action as often as I can fathom.

 International Women's Day was March 8th and I encouraged myself to step out of my comfort zone and join other women speaking out for sanity in our world. It felt good to see these gentle women speaking for justice and truth in the world. It's important for us to speak up when the opportunity arises. It's important to step out of our comfort zones from time to time. I embrace hope. I embrace uncertainty. And because of that embrace I have HOPE in my heart. 

Hold on to HOPE in the Dark night and Focus on the glimmers of light.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Focus on the Stars

 

 

"However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light."  

Stanley Kubrick 

 

In the late winter and early spring the flowers are my stars. They make me smile and bring hope to my heart. 

Bouquets from the market or a garden touches my soul. I surround myself with the beauty of springtime. I savor it. I hold it in my hands and heart. I search for it.

I smile with each discovery of a flower coming from branches and the ground. It totally delights me.
 

Thus springtime is my time to rejoice and be glad.

What makes your heart happy?

Sending love,

Marilyn

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

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

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

 

Focus on the Stars

 

"Light is Knowledge, Light is Life"

I am not sure where I read the above quote, but it is a good one.

Light is focusing on hope, hold onto it with all we have, and don't let go.

Right before we moved I wanted to have lunch at a restaurant near our house. As I stepped out of the car I saw HOPE in the window of this children's shop. And then the book behind the window was "Climb the Mountain". I knew the move would be like struggling up the mountain, but from the top we would see new horizons. I needed to hold on to HOPE for sure. I needed to focus on the little glimmers of light.

 

 

And then as I was parked in a "NO PARKING" spot waiting to pick up the truck to move, I looked up and saw HOPE once again.

We made it to today. As I sip my morning tea and peak out the window I dream of hanging pictures on the walls and making this sweet little apartment HOME. There are glimmers of the finish line, but still more to do. For today I will keep my eyes on the stars.

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

 When I began thinking of my post for today the line "Joy in the morning" came to mind. It is from the Bible and most references were spiritual. There are even songs about it.

 

May we bloom with the morning light.

Morning Joy by Claude McKay

At night the wide and level stretch of wold,
Which at high noon had basked in quiet gold,
Far as the eye could see was ghostly white;
Dark was the night save for the snow’s weird light.

I drew the shades far down, crept into bed;
Hearing the cold wind moaning overhead
Through the sad pines, my soul, catching its pain,
Went sorrowing with it across the plain.

At dawn, behold! the pall of night was gone,
Save where a few shrubs melancholy, lone,
Detained a fragile shadow. Golden-lipped
The laughing grasses heaven’s sweet wine sipped.

The sun rose smiling o’er the river’s breast,
And my soul, by his happy spirit blest,
Soared like a bird to greet him in the sky,
And drew out of his heart Eternity.

 

Sometimes life is a bit messy and doesn't taste very good.

All references seemed to talk about going through a rough time, like the dark night of the soul, and coming out with the morning light into JOY.

Most mornings you will find me padding around my garden in my robe and slippers. Finding something new in the garden, snapping a picture, and smelling a rose which brings me JOY in the first light of morning. It is what I look forward to when rising. 

We can bloom in the morning full in the light, a beautiful, velvety, glowing rose.
 

There are dark days in the world, some days that are almost overwhelming to me. I remind myself of this line "Joy in the morning", it is a life line that I hope happens in my life time. It is what I dream for my grandson. May that JOY come and we can soar like a bird into the morning light.

 

My morning light.

Sending love and light, Marilyn