While the word is yet unspoken, you are master of it; when once it is spoken, it is master of you – an Arab proverb
Makes a good case for silence.
Archive for the ‘Reflections on the everyday’ Category
The word
Posted in Reflections on the everyday on May 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Life is Beautiful
Posted in Reflections on the everyday on May 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Doorbell just rang. I do not know how many of you remember Walking Man – but there he was, on my doorstep.
Walking Man has been walking for years. A solemn, silent presence in my neighborhood and on my walks as I tread the same streets as he. Years passed and despite the silence, now and then I got a smile, then a greeting – and some time ago, I learned his name and began striking up conversation.
Walking Man turned out to be a highly intelligent high school senior. His interests are not like others, he knows it, but that is okay. He walks.
Today he hand-delivered an invitation to his graduation open house and I was as proud of him as I could be. His hair was shorter in the picture on the card, his eyes could be seen and I commented on their blue blue color.
Graduation. Walking Man is off to university, hoping for some scholarship money still to come in. School is expensive, but it is where he needs to be. I will go to his open house with my children and we will see off this nice young man who once was a stranger.
He is a good man, I hope he has a good life. I will miss him.
A time comes
Posted in Reflections on the everyday, tagged maple helicopters, maple seeds on May 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »
It caught my eye twirling on its downward ride. Standing on a balcony on the east side of town, I saw them coming. Heading west by car the air was thick as they dodged semi-trucks, pattered sidewalks, and gleefully blew across parking lots by storm.
A text from the Neighbor with news – maple helicopters were falling. And indeed they are. On Walkabout, laden whirlwinds delightedly scampered past as gusty breezes arranged others in swirls on the street – blanketing lawn and garden.
Holding on for what seemed forever, they are off. Some will find good ground, others will fly until they cannot. All seek freedom.
Another year, another season, another seed. Onward.
Artistry
Posted in Reflections on the everyday on April 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »
A deft twist, pull, twist, wrap, snip. Movement through space as elegant as any performance artist.
Stitches. Note to self: If you tell your child to aim the baseball at your mitt – do not put the mitt in front of your face.
Humming
Posted in Reflections on the everyday on April 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »
I saw the clouds and saluted the sun. I saw a big tree and an old man. I saw a vole jawbone. A rusting but ready field tiller atop unhewn soil. I saw an ornamental plum, half filled with leaves and neon purple blooms. I saw cars and sky, I saw a gas-powered model airplane spewing a blue plume across a field where light was falling fast. I saw families, and baseball, I filled some pots, I planted some seeds.
It hums – this world. Extraordinary, vibrant, the world out there. I have been looking the wrong way.
Crossing the Road
Posted in Reflections on the everyday on April 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Drizzle brings out the best of spring. Unearthly toned greens, laden lilac bushes as purple as wine. Even the beguiling scent of blooming viburnum does not dissipate in moist air.
And a worm was trying to cross the road. Not a small worm, but a a good 9″ nightcrawler. Easy size to make the catch of the day – or become the catch of the day for nesting robins in the area.
With no company, it looked a bit odd there, a quarter of the way across the street and definitely not headed for safety. Life is like that – get up a head of steam and keep on going, even when safety, or comfort, is not assured – as it never is.
On rainier days when my children were younger we undertook Worm Patrol, rescuing wrigglers facing certain doom in gutter-fed pools of water.
Had to admire the goals of this fella, if it had goals. But it was facing doom just as sure as those long ago wrigglers. Without benefit of height, I doubt this traveler could appreciate the hazards it faced. Present perspective counts more than where you start out – or end up.
I relocated that worm to a lush spot of what looked to be well-aerated lawn. Maybe it cursed me for thwarting its endeavor – we cannot know. Life is like that, too.
Seeds
Posted in Reflections on the everyday on April 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »
The maple trees are thick with seed helicopters this year. Like leaves they blanket trees, and will soon blanket the ground. One tree releases thousands.
Seeds of ideas, abundant, ready to fly. The wind rises. Soon, soon.
Digging in the dirt
Posted in Reflections on the everyday, The Garden on April 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Warm day, weeds taunt, garden beckons.
Funny what you find in a spring garden. Unrecognizable seedlings – could be volunteers, let them be. The odor of musty dirt under edging – unrelated memory of the off-limits head shop in the basement of the used-bookstore a million years ago.
Under an elderberry I even found some self-respect for handling the conflict of divorce that continues to plague my household. And here is some empty space – this year I will plant it full.
Working through a garden is working through a life. Unbidden memory, new ideas, few regrets. Though I garden for just this experience, I remain surprised by venues and vistas available simply by digging in the dirt – expansive travel, exceptionally low mileage. Finding what many travelers of a certain ilk find – that being far from home does not mean leaving it. Wish you were here.
Turn off the dark
Posted in Reflections on the everyday on April 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Faucets, hoses, switches. Regulation.
In recent weeks, the bathroom light fixture once or twice refused to illuminate. It gave up altogether yesterday. My bathroom has no window, a barbarous feature that cannot be helped. Lack of light means immersion in darkness.
The Neighbor, bless her soul, stood side by side with me on the bathroom counter last night, taking down the fixture – connecting, reconnecting – lit by goose neck lamp. She lost a sandal at one point, I had both shoes on, never did figure out the hygiene angle. And Neighbor? Apologies about forgetting the circuit whilst you were wiring – happy you are still with us.
Culprit was the switch – should have known. Flipped off one too many times, decided it was done, leaving that most personal of spaces in a house – the bathroom – dark. But unlike faucets that swamped, or fixtures that drained energy for years, this was a quick fix. Cheap too – $.89 at the local hardware store.
When off, light switches deliver and rest in darkness. When useless, they do the same. Trick is knowing the difference. Hard to be personal in the dark. Let there be light.
April Fool
Posted in Reflections on the everyday on April 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »
April Fools Day. Who is the fool? One who deceives, or one who believes?
The adage fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me defines culpability.
Not a fan of April Fools Day. Life brims with personal irresponsibility – senseless validation of individual drives and feelings through invalidation of the reality of others.
No one, particularly me, needs another day dedicated to it.
Shouldn't...but Do 