1. Morning walks. We walked some unusual routes and times this week because of snow, cold, and then mud, but it was still so pretty out there. People who’ve had the surgery I’m getting on Wednesday all say that the three things that are most important for recovery are: drink lots of water, walk and walk and walk and walk some more, and “don’t trust your farts.”
2. Snow. I know lots of people are ready for winter to be over but I really like the snow and even the cold — not the gray sky though, never that. On Monday we were supposed to wake up to maybe a few more inches, and instead we got NINE and everything was canceled — SNOW DAY!!! The only drawback was the ground cover meant that the robins had to come to our bird feeder and those dudes are messy! Poop on and in the feeder and the whole thing went from filled that morning to nothing left by the end of the day. Thankfully once the snow melted they left the seed alone for the little birds and went back to pulling worms and bugs out of the dirt.
3. Hanging out with friends. I got to spend two whole hours with Chloe’, went out to dinner with Chelsey and Jon, caught up with Mikalina, and made art with Janice. I am calling this week’s collage “Church of the Wild.”
4. My big “Christmas” cactus finally bloomed. My friend Susan, when I posted that it was late but lovely, suggested it was an “Easter” cactus. 🙂
5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. I have been soaking it all in, knowing I’ll be away for a bit. Eric and I went to our first movie in an actual theater in three years! Every single day here with them is the best, my favorite.
Bonus joy: good books (just finished Cloud Cuckoo Land, so good!), listening to podcasts, watching good TV, naps, grocery shopping, soft sourdough sandwich bread, Squeezed Vitamin Water, knowing I have everything I need, canceled plans when I can’t “people,” other people’s dogs and kids, a new notebook, stickers, Dot’s Honey Mustard Pretzels, down blankets and pillows and coats, wool socks, finding replacement bulbs for my HappyLight which is over a decade old, peanut butter and banana, refried beans, sweet potatoes, raspberries, writing in the morning while I drink a mug of green tea, the pool, the hydromassage chair, sitting in the sauna with Eric, pay day, clean laundry, health insurance (although, universal healthcare would be even better), good neighbors, the river and the trees, all the early flowers starting to bloom, bird song, how cute Ringo can be when he’s being so bad, libraries, flannel sheets, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.
And then there’s you, kind and gentle reader. I don’t tell you often enough how grateful I am for you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. ❤
8. The Dewdrop Podcast Episode #1: Turning Words With Hozan Alan Senauke. “Vanessa Able talks with Hozan Alan Senauke, Abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center in California and author of the new book Turning Words. In Zen tradition, ‘turning words’ are words that can help one turn towards awakening or change a person’s direction. Alan shares various examples of turning words he has encountered in his life, including a powerful encounter with his teacher Sojun Weitsman Roshi, whose lasting teaching has been to ‘let things fall apart’.”
9. Wisdom from Kerri Kelly: In the latest newsletter from CTZNWell, Kelly says that we must cultivate “a capacity that inspires us to go beyond pessimism and despair towards courage and creativity. We can appreciate small steps in the right direction while also holding healthy dissatisfaction for what more needs to be done to reduce harm. And we must practice every single day becoming who we need to be in order to meet the moment and shape the future.” There are also some great links in this edition, such as Woke Is Just Another Word for Liberal and The High Cost of Being Poor.
10. Wingspans, a gorgeous post from Gretchen Schmelzer about our shadows and cultivating a state of awe.
14. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: A Spring Prayer (“Shozan Jack Haubner presents a prayer for the chaotic awakening of nature that is spring”) and First Light (“Diane Ackerman, best-selling author of A Natural History of the Senses, offers a series of meditations on dawn and decay, koans and creation”).
15. Wisdom from Danny Gregory: “Becoming an artist doesn’t mean quitting your job or renting a studio or buying supplies or taking a workshop or getting a degree. It doesn’t mean slogging or suffering either. It means showing up. Day after day. Step after step.” Read more from Danny’s Essays here.
23. The Making of the Cranberries’ Haunted Farewell. “Dolores O’Riordan’s band and family talk about her troubled last days, the songs she left behind and the creation of the band’s final album, ‘In the End.’”
24. Manliness, a hilarious Instagram Reel from Nicolas Lacroix.
29. Our Film Critic on Why He’s Done With the Movieson The New York Times. “After 23 years as a film critic, Mr. Scott discusses why he is done with the movies, and what his decision reveals about the new realities of American cinema.”
33. Honoring the Full Range of Grief: staying open to meet the moment with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommeron the Breathing Wind podcast. “In this week’s episode, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer cries and laughs her way through an expansive and nourishing conversation about grief, creativity and love. We talk with her about poetry as a practice for meeting each moment, her unfolding journey through devastating loss and where those experiences of creativity and grief intersect. She also shares how she’s been carried by an immensity of love since the death of her son Finn, in the same year that her father died, and how grief has deepened her trust in that love while inviting her, over and over again, to say yes to the world.”
34. The State of Women… Isn’t Working. “Our 2023 State of Women Report, a study of 4,500 women conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of theSkimm, discovered that, while women are exhausted and disappointed, they have not given up. They have simply given up on the illusion of external support. The findings show that women are making seismic changes to how they live, finally prioritizing their own needs because no one else will. Instead of resignation, they are exhibiting agency, and a willingness to make tough choices to secure their own futures. Here’s a glimpse of just how disenchanted women are with the unfulfilled promises of equity and societal support, according to our study.”
37. The Signature Story Quilts of Artist Faith Ringgold. “An appreciation for the 92-year-old African American mixed media artist, activist and role model who continues to live creatively.” In related (quilting) news, Pieced Together—African Quilts of India. “Learn about the tradition of Siddi quilts and how well-worn and discarded clothing becomes the visual history of a family and helps provide a source of income for women of the Siddi communities in India.”
38. Monday Meditation, from Jena Schwartz. I don’t know which I love more: the picture, the words, or Jena herself. Yeah, who am I kidding — it’s Jena.
39. A wise reminder from B. Alan Wallace: “The problem is that when we focus on mundane concerns as a means to happiness, life becomes a crapshoot. There are no guarantees. If you aspire to material wealth, you may not get it, but if you do, there is no guarantee you will be happy. If you aspire to pleasure, once a stimulus is over, so is satisfaction. There is no lasting happiness in scurrying after praise. People who are respected and famous tend to have the same personal problems as everyone else. The fatal shortcoming of the eight mundane concerns is that they are counterfeit Dharma, misguided ways of seeking happiness, and by habitually mistaking mundane concerns for genuine Dharma, our efforts to achieve genuine happiness are continually undermined.” The eight mundane concerns are also referred to as the eight worldly concerns (or truths, winds, preoccupations, attachments, or dharmas) or the eight hardships or the eight vicissitudes. They are: gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, and fame and disgrace.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 