2020 Pinatas -

If 2020 were a Pinata -

And Another Poem that Fits - by Tom Foolery -

This is a great recitation/story - 

Wendell Berry's "The Peace of Wild Things" -

I love this piece - 

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.


You can listen to Berry read this here.  

Exhausted - Self-care -

Holy shiz, I am beyond exhausted. Worn down. Depleted. Nearly empty.
And I fear, we've only just begun.
Even finding words to write on this blog have been difficult at best.
Self-care - sure.
An absolute necessity.




And yet . . .

Empathy -

Story Prompt - Lay of the Land - Cultural Landscape -

How does the landscape of where you were reared and where you currently live, define you - literally (heat, cold, humidity, dry, trees, prairies, deserts) and figuratively (cultural landscape)?

Have there been places where you've lived that you have taken something with you - language, foods, customs, names (understanding the names), even architectural styles?

I'm from "Southeastern" Idaho, not even Idaho; the "Southeastern" is a strong element in my upbringing, from the wind, to the potatoes, to the dry heat and dry cold, to the love for freshly groomed fields, crops just harvested, and of course, Lodge Pole pines.

More to come -

Writing Prompt - Chores -

Story Prompt -

Do you have a favorite house/yard chore? One you dislike? Can you make a cake as well as mow the lawn? Were/are chores defined by gender in your home (no sides here, just a thought)?

I like to dust and vacuum, and weeding is a favorite outside chore. When I lived in Brigham City many years ago, my friend, Renea Allen, and I bought extra-long telephone cords, so we could talk on the phone while we cleaned, baked, did the laundry!

I don't like folding clothes, or ironing them. I enjoy working with shop tools, but I don't care for mowing the lawn.

You?

I wrote a poem about vacuuming several years ago (Oct. 3, 1993), and it still applies (and Jenna says it works with lawn-mowing too):

Around and around
Back and forth
The vibrating beat of the vacuum.
Back and forth.

In a noisy world of my own
The toils of the day
Go
Around and around
Back and forth.

Sift and sort
Push and pull.
I move the sweeper
Through the mindless
Clutter.

Sift and sort
Push and pull.
I move thoughts
Putting order to a
Cluttered mind.

Inhaling the excess off the floor,
The vacuum leaves paths of clean.
Ready for a new day
New activity.

Inhaling
And exhaling
I too have cleaned a path
Ready for tomorrows.