August retreats. It hands us back the year. Summer isn’t truth, but it is (as Harris Telemacher recites) “What we wish were true.” So many of us Shove out this Season of perspiration, lazily Forgetting how it Slows us Beguiles us Presses us to hold still Find the windy spaces With a friend In the…
Category: Outside
My god what is that burning orb!
This Orchid and I
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… we don’t know Anything about each other. Curving leaves Hidden roots One long dead Stem. How much Attention Does she need? Day 25, A River of Stones
On a Hot Day
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hose crawls through the holly bush coughing hot leftovers into a blue backyard lagoon Day 19, July, A River of Stones
The Wall
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This heat has No name at all until You remind yourself He. Is. There. Exit the climate-controlled Iceblock Bedroom Only to hit The Wall. Day 11, A River of Stones
Back of My Hand
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I-74Across the Mississippi–That Familiar vein throughMy life I Cross this morning east.Your still flatness hides Lonely strongCurrentsPulling me back. Day 9, A River of Stones
Iowa Storm
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Into the northwest On a thick summer Evening come Leaden skies Like a bad dream. Day 5, The River of Stones.
Sunset Pinks…
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… layered and wilting into golden reds– You put Disney Princess blush To shame
Perennial Work
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Our house had so many little projects after we moved in. Not the least of those was the gardens. The previous owner had some kind of psychotic idea of planting… Which is to say, she is exactly like me. So I really love to putter in the flower beds and took on the notion that…
What Can You Do in 10 Minutes?
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What can you get done in 10 Minutes? Right now, my kids are brushing teeth and puttering about in the last few minutes before school, I am stealing away (aside really… they are right behind me!) to post here. So many times we say “I don’t have time!” Yet what happens when we make a…
The Lawn Mower Heard Round the World
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My husband is mowing the lawn right now… Shhhh. Can you hear that? No that isn’t (just) the sound of our gas-guzzling 42″ Ariens Super-Deluxe Tractor Mower/Cheese Slicer. That’s the thundering palpitation of his heart. Damn, some things a woman just CANNOT get in the way of, no matter how environmental-y she is. A man and the…
On Being Underscheduled
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Ahhh. Today was one of those most perfect days. I was so happy because my zen-wonderful brother-in-law/sister-in-law and their kids were visiting. They have such a nice way of arriving with their own unplanned, unhurried, not-worried manner. They are — or seem to be — just quite happy to hang out at our house and…
Stress in the Rearview Mirror
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This picture reminded me instantly of our summer vacation in Maine and of floating on my back, gazing at the blue sky and hearing only the sound of my own breath. But then, it also reminded me of this new feeling I own… a tight grip on my heart that comes from the constant stress…
“Well, at Least She Wasn’t Fat”
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Two things inspired me to write this post about fatness today: 1. Seeing myself in a too-small bathing suit the other day (it really was too small… I almost couldn’t get BACK out of it). I’m not fat, but wearing the wrong clothing will make any flawed human weep. 2. Reading Patti at “Still Breathing”‘s…
The Swimming Lesson
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Our town has a big indoor pool, circa 1943, that offers the world’s cheapest swimming lessons, for all ages. This is most excellent for us since we have 152 kids living at our house (Note: for those “interested parties,” who print out my blog for so-called legal reasons, please read the definition of hyperbole, as…
Depending
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I’m on the train on the way to meet two old friends in New York. A part of me is terrified to put my foot on the platform at Grand Central. I am a traveller. I don’t stay put. I go places. Yet in the last 8 years I’ve mostly been with my travel companion,…
