Photo courtesy Gunter Hofer |
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 2013.
Photo courtesy Unsplash |
“I love the book. I love the feel of a book in my hands, the compactness of it, the shape, the size. I love the feel of paper. The sound it makes when I turn a page. I love the beauty of print on paper, the patterns, the shapes, the fonts. I am astonished by the versatility and practicality of The Book. It is so simple. It is so fit for its purpose. It may give me mere content, but no e-reader will ever give me that sort of added pleasure.”—Susan Hill, Howard’s End is on the Landing.
Photo courtesy Mikael Kristenson |
One of my jobs is to stand guard over our property. This is what I see from my post. Sometimes THINGS rustle around in there and I have to sound the alarm by running around and bucking. |
This is where I do my work with my human. I like it best when we try something new. Or when we stand while she talks to the other riders. I could do that all day. |
We’ve been jumping over this black thing lately. I could do more challenging jumps, but she’s still learning and I have to take care of her. |
This is my best friend. We play together over the fence line, and sometimes he takes off my fly mask for me.
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This thing sometimes dispenses treats when I spin it (you can see my teeth marks). It appeared in my paddock one year at what my human calls “Christmas time.” |
Be it ever so humble, this is my very favorite thing. I’m a man of simple tastes. |
I am handsome, am I not? |
What’s your favorite rainy day song?
Photo courtesy Gabriel Santiago |
Introduction by Ted Kooser: I’ve talked a lot in this column about poetry as celebration, about the way in which a poem can make an ordinary experience seem quite special. Here’s the celebration of a moment on a campus somewhere, anywhere. The poet is Juliana Gray, who lives in New York. I especially like the little comic surprise with which it closes.
Photo courtesy Schicka |
When you’re faced with a big, overwhelming project or experience, how do you cope?
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 2013.
When I started writing this post, I had just gotten back from riding my bike for the first time in…years. My kind husband recently cleaned out the garage, brought my bike down from the ceiling where it had been suspended, pumped up my flat tire, lubed the chain and adjusted the seat so it’s just right. I finally wheeled it out onto the nature trail, and while I hadn’t exactly forgotten how to ride a bike, let’s just say that I didn’t look very graceful doing it. There was some irrational weaving and one or two interesting experiments with gears and braking, but soon I was pedaling happily down the trail. I wasn’t very skilled, but at least I didn’t hit a tree.
Still practicing... (Photo by Holly Bryan) |
Introduction by Ted Kooser: Surely, some of you have paged through an old book and come upon a dried flower, fragile as a spider web, the colors faded. Here’s a fine poem about pressing flowers by Chelsea Woodard of New Hampshire, from her book Vellum.
Photo courtesy Edgar Olivera |
Photo courtesy Michal Kubicek |
Introduction by Ted Kooser: I recognize the couple who are introduced in this poem by Patricia Frolander, of Sundance, Wyoming, and perhaps you’ll recognize them, too.
Photo courtesy Jake Hills |
Photo courtesy Tori Campbell |
Photo courtesy Milada Vigerova |
- Take Tank to the beach. Yes, really.
- Go to the library to write (the only downside is I can’t take my coffee with me).
- Take a week’s “staycation” (or maybe several long weekends?).
- Go to a Tampa Bay Rays game with my mom when she visits in August.
- Sketch in my sketchbook. Maybe even finish—i.e., fill all the pages of—a sketchbook!
- Make homemade frozen pops. I never got around to doing it last summer.
- Try a month of unlimited classes at Karma.
- Spend a day by the pool.
- Go to the beach at sunset with my husband.
- Rewatch The Princess Bride and Support Your Local Sheriff (my cat is named after the female lead in this movie).
- Try the new gelato place in town.
- Make pesto with the basil from my garden. (Done!)
Introduction by Ted Kooser: Of taking long walks it has been said that a person can walk off anything. Here David Mason hikes a mountain in his home state, Colorado, and steps away from an undisclosed personal loss into another state, one of healing.
Sometimes when we search for happiness, we forget to start with the basics. We don’t feel happy because our lifestyles are not conducive to happiness. That’s the premise of Happy Guide, by Michael Kinnaird. This short book outlines a plan for addressing the basics that affect our health, and ultimately our happiness.