Holidazed and Confused

I've missed Friday the 13th, pi day, and the Ides.  I did however see a sliver of the moon this morning on my walk home from the gym.

All my reading this month has to date been deferred to finish a baby blanket.  I'm in the final spring to see who will arrive first.  (In a recent video call, I was described as "aggressively knitting*.")

I hope you are enjoying this week's sunshine and have finished A Passage to India in time for this month's GBC.

*I'm not sure there is such a thing.

I Got Card-ed

It's my favorite day of the year:  the day I sit on the floor at my coffee table eating cake and drinking reading water writing Christmas cards.  It's nearly impossible to feel anything except gratitude at this moment.  I hope each of you are having a great December and I hope our paths cross soon over holiday travel.

December is our "bring your favorite" holiday piece to the club.  The reads are always festive and occasionally leave you with a little something in your eye.

Have a Ball

May your weekend be shiny and bright!

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

O'Hare International Airport
November 2014

Musings

The phrase on repeat in my head is that sometimes you have to let something go in order to pick something else up.  The door opening and closing as some say.

I've been reading quite a bit more but writing a bit less here.  Instead, I've found myself penning postcards like mad with a bit of poetry sprinkled like a Southern seasoning here and there in pinches or handfuls, depending on the day.

I'm grateful this week for stamps, safe journeys, family visits, books, and songs that still make you pause, standing still in a public place.

Hallo

Hoping your Halloween not bland
and that costumes are nothing but grand
And if travel you do,
hope all on time too
and music is only the good bands.

National Poetry Day

October the 2nd, wouldn't you know it?
The day of course to celebrate a poet.
Rhymes, meters even haiku,
Ever memorize a poem or two?

In celebration of such a day
Our little GBC writer did play.
Casting a few lines here and there
Post reading water without a care.

Choosing Hope

I hope everyone had a fantastic long holiday weekend and avoided sunburns, poison ivy and water-ski injuries.  I hope you laughed with old friends, made new friends, and enjoyed moments alone when you needed them.  I hope you had cupcakes and reading water as a splurge dinner while you made cookies (though this is not recommended as a nightly activity).  I hope car trips were filled with great shuffles of random bands and that all are safe and happy.

We're not far away from the July read The Beekeeper's Apprentice.  I hope you're making great progress.

60 seconds

I hope you have a nice long weekend and have the opportunity to take pause for those fallen. The holiday dates back to 1868 with the idea to decorate graves for those lost in war.  Three p.m. local is the recommended time for a minute of silence by the National Moment of Remembrance.

Union Station, May 2014
Chicago, IL 

I Didn't Hear a Peep

"For Children: You will need to know the difference between Friday and a fried egg. It's quite a simple difference, but an important one. Friday comes at the end of the week, whereas a fried egg comes out of a chicken. Like most things, of course, it isn't quite that simple. The fried egg isn't properly a fried egg until it's been put in a frying pan and fried. This is something you wouldn't do to a Friday, of course, though you might do it on a Friday. You can also fry eggs on a Thursday, if you like, or on a cooker. It's all rather complicated, but it makes a kind of sense if you think about it for a while." 

- Douglas Adams, Salmon of Doubt

Author's note: I had a fried egg on a Friday.  I think I'll think about it for a little while.

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days

It's a month packed full of birthdays including one of our very own GBC tomorrow.  A Wednesday mantra with good wishes for a year of blessings:

Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love

- Rumi 

a Run, a Drive, a Dance, a Twist, and a Song

I wish I were a better writer so I could adequately capture the emotions around weekend events and convey them with sequenced letters to assemble words into pictures so that you could see them too.

A hill that was steep but you managed it.  The woman, your mentor, who said she heard your breath "rattle" which you normally associate with death in the South so your mind drifted early to the memorial hours before you would attend.

The woman who wore red instead of black and you thought it was a much better sentiment and that if the moment comes and you should wear black, perhaps you would want to wear red because that is her favorite color:  the color of nails, toasters, cars and who knows how many dresses.

The elderly woman listening to Irish music who kept tapping her feet while she sat beside her friend.  You suggested that she had a dance in her and she told you she was busy dancing with ghosts.

The teacher who moved your spine into a twist of epic proportions while you held your foot with one hand.  

The collections of voices raised into song that makes your list of unexpected beauty in a town not known more for rockets than music.  

No books.  Five stories.  

It's a Wrap

The year is winding down in a slightly different way than what I had planned. To this end, I'm going to take a bit of time for the more traditional pen to paper writing and work through a few items on my reading list. Best wishes to you for a happy, healthy end of year.  It's been fun reading with you in 2013.

See you in January!

All in the Cards

My week in a table:

1 month ago	60 stamps
1 week ago	1 photo
1 week ago	50 photos
Monday night	0 stamps
Tuesday am	Still can't find stamps
Tuesday noon	60 stamps
Tuesday night	Not enough photos
Wednesday morning	10 stamps
Projected Wed noon	40 photos
Projected Wed just after noon	40 stamps
Net:	10 stamps on hand
	60 lost stamps
	A lotta hand-written notes

A continual loop of a disproportionate stamps and cards, but a lot of fun.

P.S. If you get a mid-year note with gingerbread house stamps, don't ask any questions.

11 Days of Christmas

We're into the tipping point of the rest of the year flying by in a series of:

• manic Amazon purchases which has ensured you will sign up for one more year of Prime
• crushed visits to your local bookstore where you end up buying things for yourself
• last minute Christmas cards and hoping that you don't repeat last year and send multiple cards to people (running count three).  You write personalized messages so you're left wondering if you repeated or contradicted yourself.  This is of course the downside to pairing writing with reading water.
• commitments to baking cookies that seemed like a really good idea at the beginning of the month
• desperate knitting which seemed like a great idea in November
• multiple holiday parties
• crazy road trips
• panicked purchases of pink lipstick to go with a crazy dress that you just had to have for the party*
• Starbucks visits where they start making your latte the moment you walk in because they know what kind of week you've had

culminating in some amazing visits with family friends and potentially one frozen blogger.

Happy holidays ahead! Hope you enjoy every second.

*You waited too long to find a dress.  You have limited options and tried on six.  This was the one the sales person recommended.  You agreed.

Tree-ting Yourself

I'm a little late for a Friday photo but long work days and reading water sometimes take precedence. After an early morning cardio session that will leave me unable to climb stairs the rest of the day, I'm finally feeling a bit motivated to bring the holidays indoor.  I might even open up the porcelain Peanuts Nativity Scene which has been boxed (and moved 4 times) since 2005.  Hopefully Snoopy is still in tact.

Happy December y'all.

Washington Square to Empire State
New York, December 2010

Grateful

This is the weekend I tend to take a moment to reflect on the 2013 reasons to be thankful. Over the last week however the singular thought was "gratitude".

This year I felt there was a big distinction.

Maybe it is the normal byproduct of aging, maybe it is the last minute vacation trip turned memorial, maybe it was holding a small child who gave implicit trust, or simple appreciation that I won't tolerate crazy in my daily life.  My core list includes a gratitude that I'm not afraid to take risks and that I love to read.

You have your list too, and I hope you had a moment this weekend to celebrate good fortune (and good books).

Seeing Stars

Happy 4th (and 5th) -

Americana
Nashville, July 4, 2010

Russian Through

Happy Father's Day greetings - I hope you all had a very fine day.

From The Guardian, this list of 100 Greatest Novels of All Time, should keep you busy.  After you have recovered from your flashback to high school English class, how many have you read?  I think I'm just over a quarter (thanks to my Russian writer reading phase).

How ever did I miss number 89, The Periodic Table?

Pinch Me - I'm Lucky

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Hope you weren't green with envy.

The weekend was a special treat in that I got to hang out with GBC P@1ge.  This morning we compared our unfinished places in Carter Beats the Devil and weighed the virtues of the Kindle and the Kindle Ap.

Don't worry, we both will finish the book.

4/4, 3/4, 4/4....14

I find myself randomly humming songs.  I think sometimes, my brain catches a rhythm  and my mind finds a song to keep time.

Today's ear worm as a 14th day mantra from Lennon and McCartney

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.