I will be taking a break from blogging this week. Hope to see you back here soon, and have a happy week!
I will be taking a break from blogging this week. Hope to see you back here soon, and have a happy week!
I will be taking a break from blogging this week. Hope to see you back here soon, and have a happy week!
I have a travel essay entered in the WeSaidGo essay contest!
You can read “The Bits and Pieces Tour” here. Please stop by
and take a look.
Elsewhere on the internet:
Change your password, change your life! What a great idea.
Read about how the lowly password can remind you of what you want more (or
less) of in your life.
Don’t let these habits steal your happiness.
Want more reading time? Check out Gretchen Rubin’s “13 Tips for Getting More Reading Done.”
Interesting piece on how getting rid of expectations can
help you “master the art of living.”
These made me laugh (and almost made me miss working
in an office).
Visit A Blog Made Vibrant for a free downloadable “Emergency
Mood Booster” worksheet.
Have a happy Friday!
Introduction by Ted Kooser: Readers of this column
during the past year have by now learned how enthusiastic I am about poems
describing everyday life. I’ve tried to show how the ordinary can be made
extraordinary through close and transforming observation. Here Tess Gallagher
goes to the mailbox to post a letter. We’ve all done that, haven’t we? But
notice how closely she pays attention to this simple experience, and how she
fits this one moment into the meaning of her life.
Under Stars
The sleep of this night deepens
because I have walked coatless from the house
carrying the white envelope.
All night it will say one name
in its little tin house by the roadside.
I have raised the metal flag
so its shadow under the roadlamp
leaves an imprint on the rain-heavy bushes.
Now I will walk back
thinking of the few lights still on
in the town a mile away.
In the yellowed light of a kitchen
the millworker has finished his coffee,
his wife has laid out the white slices of bread
on the counter. Now while the bed they have left
is still warm, I will think of you, you
who are so far away
you have caused me to look up at the stars.
Tonight they have not moved
from childhood, those games played after dark.
Again I walk into the wet grass
toward the starry voices. Again, I
am the found one, intimate, returned
by all I touch on the way.
“Under Stars” copyright 1987 by Tess Gallagher. Reprinted
from “Amplitude: New & Selected Poems” with the permission of Graywolf
Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota. Gallagher’s most recent book of poetry is “Dear
Ghosts: Poems,” Graywolf Press, 2006. This weekly column is supported by The
Poetry Foundation, the Library of Congress, and the Department of English at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“The best moments in reading are when you come across
something—a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things—which you had
thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone
else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as
if a hand has come out, and taken yours”
—Alan Bennett, The History Boys
Last week my friend Kerri came to stay with me, a most
welcome visitor. Kerri and I have been friends since college, and now have the
misfortune to live at opposite ends of the country—me in Florida, and Kerri in
Washington. We haven’t seen each other in more than a year, and there was much
talking (an understatement), eating, puzzling and general merry-making. We
crisscrossed the state meeting other friends, both mutual and new to me (hi,
Deb!). Despite our late hours and our busy schedule, I feel refreshed and
energized by her visit. There’s nothing like the tonic of time spent with a
good friend.
Beautiful St. Augustine:
 |
| Castillo de San Marcos |
 |
| Aviles Street--purported to be the oldest in America |
 |
| St. Augustine Lighthouse |
 |
| View from the top of the lighthouse |
Our 1000-piece puzzle. It was tough!
The beautiful Rainbow River (we floated down it on inner tubes with our friend LuAnne):
On the morning
Kerri left, we had a most unwelcome visitor—a coral snake:
Prudy was stalking it (!!). We quickly got her
and it out of there.
My life
would be barren without friends—they are essential for my happiness. I’m
incredibly lucky to have the ones I have. I need to make sure that time with
friends stays at the top of the priority list.
What have you done with
your friends lately?
 |
| I miss her already |
 |
| Photo courtesy Bill Davenport |
Introduction by Ted Kooser: The Impressionists, on
both sides of the Atlantic, gave us a number of handsome paintings of rural scenes, and here’s a poem by the
distinguished American poet, Catharine Savage Brosman, that offers us just such
a picture, not in pigments but in words.
Cattle Fording Tarryall Creek
With measured pace, they move in single file,
dark hides, white faces, plodding through low grass,
then walk into the water, cattle-style,
indifferent to the matter where they pass.
The stream is high, the current swift—good rain,
late snow-melt, cold. Immerging to the flank,
the beasts proceed, a queue, a bovine chain,
impassive, stepping to the farther bank—
continuing their march, as if by word,
down valley to fresh pasture. The elect,
and stragglers, join, and recompose the herd,
both multiple and single, to perfect
impressions of an animated scene,
the creek’s meanders, milling cows, and sun.
Well cooled, the cattle graze knee-deep in green.
We leave them to their feed, this painting done.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry
Foundation www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also
supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2014 by
Catharine Savage Brosman, whose most recent book of poems is On the North
Slope, Mercer University Press, 2012. Poem reprinted by permission of Catharine
Savage Brosman. Introduction copyright 2014 by The Poetry Foundation. The
introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
Note: I'm taking a more relaxed approach to blogging this summer, so occasionally I'm going to rerun a previous post. I hope you enjoy this one, from 2010.
This is what happens when 95 degrees meets inattentive gardener:
Here’s the same plant after a drink of water and a good night’s rest:
This little ornamental pepper is amazingly resilient—I’m sorry to say this is not the first time she’s wilted in the heat. Still, she survives, even after freezing temperatures in the winter and practically dying of thirst in the summer.
If you look closely, you’ll see a few peppers still a bit wizened from their lack of water. Just like the peppers, we often wear the battle scars of what we’ve been through—in our faces, in our eyes, in our hearts. Yet still we come back for more, still we reach upwards toward the light—even though sometimes that light scorches us. For us, a drink of water and a good night’s sleep may be only the beginning of what we need to recover. We may need a box of assorted chocolates, an hour of solitude, a friend’s ear, or even professional help.
If you’re struggling right now, wilting in the sun, reflect on what you really need to get through today, and the day after, and the day after that. Be an attentive gardener—don’t wait until your leaves are drooping and your peppers are shriveled before you give yourself that cool drink of water that makes all the difference. I promise you’ll feel better in the morning.
 |
| Photo courtesy mconnors |
“They say the movies should be more like life—I think life
should be more like the movies.”
—Myrna Loy
Which movie(s) would you like your life to be more like?
When I was a child visiting my grandparents for the summer,
my grandmother often insisted that I take an afternoon nap. I detested this
practice because I didn’t need a nap: I was far too busy running through
the cow pasture or swimming in the irrigation ditch or lying under a tree
reading to take a nap. Plus I was far to old to be taking naps!
What was wrong with her?! (I realize now she likely needed a break from me and
the nap was her tactful way of corralling me for at least an hour. And yes, much
to my chagrin, I often fell asleep while lying on my bed, staring at the
ceiling.)
Naps are wasted on the young. I don’t know about you, but there are
many days I’d love to have the simple pleasure of an afternoon nap! Occasionally, I do take one, but I live with pets who have no compunction
about sleeping whenever and wherever they want to. Need proof?
Perhaps we should follow their example and indulge ourselves
in an afternoon nap now and then this summer!
 |
| Photo courtesy Ryan McGuire |
Introduction by Ted Kooser: I’m especially fond of sparklers because they were among the very few fireworks we could obtain in Iowa when I was a boy. And also because in 2004 we set off the fire alarm system at the Willard Hotel in Washington by lighting a few to celebrate my inauguration as poet laureate. Here’s Barbara Crooker, of Pennsylvania, also looking back.
Sparklers
We’re writing our names with sizzles of light
to celebrate the fourth. I use the loops of cursive,
make a big B like the sloping hills on the west side
of the lake. The rest, little a, r, one small b,
spit and fizz as they scratch the night. On the side
of the shack where we bought them, a handmade sign:
Trailer Full of Sparkles Ahead, and I imagine crazy
chrysanthemums, wheels of fire, glitter bouncing
off metal walls. Here, we keep tracing in tiny
pyrotechnics the letters we were given at birth,
branding them on the air. And though my mother’s
name has been erased now, I write it, too:
a big swooping I, a hissing s, an a that
sighs
like her last breath, and then I ring
belle, belle, belle in the sulphuric
smoky dark.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry
Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher
of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2013 by Barbara Crooker from
her most recent book of poems, Gold, Cascade Books, 2013. Poem reprinted by
permission of Barbara Crooker and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2014
by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as
United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
from 2004-2006.
Do you ever have words or phrases pop into your head,
seemingly from nowhere? I do—I had it happen to me this weekend, in fact. I’ve
been working really hard the past couple of weeks, on both writing projects and
around the house, and even though I was happy with what I’d accomplished, I was
feeling a bit tired out. My mother-in-law was coming to spend the night with
us, and I was looking forward to a three-day weekend. But sometimes it’s hard
to switch from all-out work mode to relaxation mode. Fortunately, my
subconscious kicked in with these words:
“This is your one, beautiful life. Enjoy it.”
So instead of fussing and over-working this weekend, I
relaxed with my family. We sat on the lanai and floated in the pool. I made
cinnamon waffles for breakfast and we ate ice cream while watching Independence
Day on TV. Yesterday I slept in until 8 a.m.—almost unheard of because
usually my pets wake me up long before that. Before I did anything, I asked
myself, “What do you feel like doing now?” (Not “What should you be
doing now?” “Should” was banished, at least for the weekend.)
Even though it’s Monday and time to get back to work, I’m
going to continue to hold those words in my heart: “This is your one, beautiful
life. Enjoy it.” Even while I’m cleaning bathrooms, or feeding the dog, or
writing an article. This is my one, beautiful life.
“Experience has taught me that the way to a joyful life is
always fraught with fear, that to find it you must follow your heart’s desires
right through the inevitable terrors that arise to hold you back. If you don’t
do this, your life will be shaped by fear, rather than love, and I guarantee,
the shape will be narrow and tiny compared with your best destiny.”
—Martha Beck, The Joy Diet
Today I’m joining in a meme I read about at A Work in Progress, and originally started by Simon at Stuck in a Book. His
instructions were as follows:
I’m going to kick off a meme where we say our favourite book author, song, film, and object beginning with a particular letter. And that letter will be randomly assigned to you by me, via random.org. If you’d like to join in, comment in the comment section and I’ll tell you your letter! (And then, of course, the chain can keep going on your blog.)
You, my dear readers, are welcome to play along. If you’d
like me to assign you a letter, please comment below. You can participate even
if you don’t have a blog—just leave your favorites in the comments.
My randomly assigned letter was “G,” and here are my
favorites beginning with that letter:
Favorite author:
Elizabeth Gaskell. I have a couple of favorite “G” authors, but I think
Elizabeth Gaskell ranks first. I’ve read North and South and Cranford,
and have Wives and Daughters on my TBR pile.
Favorite song: “Gonna Get Over You,” Sara Bareilles. This
was the hardest category to choose, but Sara is one of my favorite singer
songwriters, so she gets the nod.
Favorite film: The Great Mouse Detective. I love this
animated movie starring a Sherlock-Holmesian mouse. Ratigan, the villain, is
voiced by Vincent Price. Great fun.
Favorite object: My girth, which keeps the saddle on
my horse, is definitely one of my favorite objects!
 |
| Girths are not necessarity MY favorite objects... |
OK, who wants a letter?
If we haven’t done it ourselves, we’ve known people who have, it seems: taken a vacation mostly to photograph a vacation, not really looking at what’s there, but seeing everything through the viewfinder with the idea of looking at it when they get home. Wendell Berry of Kentucky, one of our most distinguished poets, captures this perfectly. [Introduction by Ted Kooser.]
The Vacation
Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
He went flying down the river in his boat
with his video camera to his eye, making
a moving picture of the moving river
upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
toward the end of his vacation. He showed
his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
preserving it forever: the river, the trees,
the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat
behind which he stood with his camera
preserving his vacation even as he was having it
so that after he had had it he would still
have it. It would be there. With a flick
of a switch, there it would be. But he
would not be in it. He would never be in it.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry
Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also
supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Poem copyright ©2012 by Wendell Berry, whose most recent book of poems is New Collected
Poems,
Counterpoint, 2012. Poem reprinted from New Collected Poems,
Counterpoint, 2012, and used with permission of Wendell Berry and the
publisher. Introduction copyright 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The
introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
“Books are the plane, the train, and the road. They are the
destination, and the journey. They are home.”
—Anna Quindlen
I picked up Agatha Christie’s Death in the Air last
week because I had a sudden urge for one of her books (and I can use it for the
Vintage Mystery Challenge). That got me thinking about books in which planes,
trains and automobiles figure as settings or are otherwise integral to the
story. Below is an incomplete list of transportation-related titles. Given my
love for mysteries, crimes figure in many of these stories (and trains seem to
be especially lethal!). Some of these I’ve read (in bold), and others I
discovered in my research for this post. Many of these books have been made
into movies, if you prefer your transportation stories on the screen.
Planes
Death in the Air (alternate title, Death in
the Clouds), Agatha Christie. Poisoned darts and Hercule Poirot.
The Flight of the Phoenix, Elleston Trevor. A plane
crash in the Sahara—how will the surviving passengers make it out alive?
I Was Amelia Earhart, Jane Mendelsohn. A
“brilliantly-imagined” telling of what happened after Earhart and her navigator
disappeared near New Guinea.
“The Langoliers,” a novella found in Four Past Midnight,
Stephen King. And you already thought airplane travel was nightmarish.
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupery.
Described as “a fable of love and loneliness,” this involves another plane
crash in the Sahara.
Non-fiction bonus: Listen! The Wind and North to the Orient, Anne Morrow Lindberg
When I Fell From the Sky, Juliane Koepcke
Trains
The Lady Vanishes, Lina Ethel White. Where is Miss Froy? And
why does no one except Iris remember her?
Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith. Explores the dark
psychological forces under the surface of everyday life.
Murder on the Orient Express and What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!
(Also known as 4:50 From Paddington), Agatha Christie. Two lethal train rides.
Murder on the Ballarat Train, Kerry Greenwood. Yup. Stay off
the train.
The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars, Maurice Dekobra. More
adventure on the Orient Express.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, John Godey. Peril on a
subway train.
Around the World in 80 Days, Jules Verne. Boats, trains and
hot air balloons!
Non-fiction bonus: The Railway Man, Eric Lomax
Automobiles
On the Road, Jack Kerouac. “The Bible of the Beat
Generation.”
Christine, Stephen King. A boy’s first car, as imagined by
Stephen King.
Sideways, Rex Pickett. A wine country road trip.
The Pull of the Moon, Elizabeth Berg. Who hasn’t wanted to
get in her car and just go?
The Long Way Home, Karen McQuestion. Four women on a road
trip from Wisconsin to Las Vegas.
Non-fiction bonus: The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson
Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck.
I see several titles here I want to read (I
can’t believe I’ve never read Around the World in 80 Days or Travels With
Charley, for example). As I said, I know this list is incomplete—have I left
out your favorites? Please share!
Welcome to the summer edition of Link Love. Pour yourself a
cold drink and explore some of the Internet’s bounty.
Twelve rituals happy, successful people practice every day.
As Marc writes, “Am I willing to spend a little time every day like many people
won’t, so I can spend the better part of my life like many people can’t?”
Simplifying life often means getting rid of things. Click
here to read “10 Things to Add to a Simple Life.”
Ever wished you could read more about the good happening in the
world? Check out http://thisgoodworld.com/,
“…a search + discovery platform that
highlights and supports businesses doing good things.”
If you’re like me,
you struggle with feeling driven to do more. I loved this thoughtful post at
Always Well Within that helped me see my “driver” I a new light.
Here’s a list of the
100 greatest non-fiction books, according to The Guardian. How many have
you read? I’m embarrassed to say I’ve only read eight.
What kind of life do
you have? Brendon Burchard briefly examines three types: caged, comfortable and
charged. Click below:
And finally, just for
fun, five minutes of my favorite comedian, Brian Regan:
