A Contemplative Life

Nadia amid the wishflowers, what my granddaughters call dandelions gone to seed. Our chickens are sneaky creatures; this morning as I finished breakfast, I peered out the window and there's Nadia strutting across the front yard. It's not even eight a.m. and she's already flown out of the run, exploring as she is wont to do. Lately I've had breakfast before I feed the chickens, as I'm up early and we don't feed them now until around seven o'clock. But this morning I was mesmerized by a band of heavenly light sandwiched between two pushy layers of cloud that JUST COULDN'T PUT OUT THAT LIGHT! (Lol.) They tried, those portions of the marine layer, squeezing with all their cloudy might, but that light was just like Nadia Chicken; stealthy, smart, powerful in its own not so little way. Nadia's merely a hen, and yeah, she scales the door, and can fly right back in, as my husband witnessed later this morning. But those clouds, that marine layer, my goodness!...

Writing, sewing, um, life. A new day, another chapter in On Being Brave , and the proper photos taken of a brand new quilt! It's a Monday kinda like no other, other than it's simply another Monday afternoon. But joyful bravery adds a new dimension to my life as though I'm the alien, newly arrived on Earth, wondering how cool is this rather gray-skied planet in this little corner of a tremendous world. Washed and decently crinkled; I'll take it! Once again the North Coast is smothered by clouds, but it's good for the Mile Post 18 fire, the inversion layer lessening the oxygen, trapping the smoke, keeping the blaze slightly under wraps. If I was newly landed on this planet, I'd be shocked at how many fires burn, but compared to the enormous fires from years past, California is getting off easy. Canada and the rest of the Pacific Northwest not so much, but as an interloper from outer space, I wouldn't realize that, nor would I actually be aware of how blessed C...

Yesterday's green addition to Peace Round the World. Been up a while now. Not sure why, other than God wanted my attention. And in writing that sentence, there's a meaning behind it beyond someone tapping my shoulder, seeking my attention. When we say or think, "So-and-So wants my attention," often the meaning is they desire our consciousness directed toward whatever it is they wish to show or tell us. But what if our attention to them is so they can love us? That's a novel notion. I've noticed with my grandsons how the younger interrupts the older. They are eleven and seven and I won't even get started with where has the time gone because the time is already gone. It's almost five a.m. as I begin writing this, still dark outside. No stars. Marine layer entrenched. I made a second pot of half-caff tea because the first one was MEH. Only had one cup of it, but something about it was bland and not worth drinking. I used different tea products for this ne...

Like writing. And laundry, lol! That's when I came up with the idea for this post. Because sometimes we are enthralled with certain activities, even the boring things. Like laundry. Actually the title popped into my head earlier today while I was 1) Doing laundry. And 2) In the middle of writing a chapter. Then of course there's quilting, but lately that's fallen to the back of the pile mostly because I still have a wound on my arm covered in Aquaphor that has stained one shirt to the point it's now for when I eat chili or some other stain-worthy dish. So I can't hand-quilt, though my cranky shoulder is better, whew.... Yet I stare at my collected thread basket in the evenings, thinking back to my, ahem, younger years (BIG LOL) when I could sew at will. For now, quilting isn't what I'm talking about, though if you want you can lump it alongside writing as creative things I love to do. Um, what about blogging, Past Me quips. Oh uh, yeah, I nod, looking around...

Written over the span of two days. Grandsons visiting. 'Nuff said.... Part One: While waiting revisions from beloveds on The Deadfern Miracles , I'm living vicariously through my eldest, currently on holiday in our former stomping grounds of England. My husband and our family lived in the UK for almost eleven years, and while hubby and I have visited twice in the last seven years, this is the first trip for any of our kids. So far it's a total WIN, despite the heat, both in London and further north. The grandgirls are finding their mama's childhood home quite the thrill, and my daughter and her hubby are happy, if not at times hot. Temps should cool down this weekend, but the British Museum was affected by the heatwave, several exhibit halls closed, and some exhibits removed. Of course, over five thousand people have died in Europe due to the heat wave, and I don't mean to diminish that. My granddaughters have found it odd how infrastructure exists for keeping peopl...

The state of my work table, and all the totes I someday need to deal with, as I told my daughter this weekend I would attempt to use all my fabric before, well.... I'm back after a lovely weekend spent with family in the San Francisco Bay Area. Events were celebrated, the weather was marvelous, in that it wasn't hot, ha ha. And of course hanging out with beloveds is PHENOMENAL, also altering, in that my granddaughters aren't tiny, my own daughter not a girl, and my son-in-law the master of half-caff almond milk lattes, among his other genial attributes. I am blessed for such a grand collection of humans in my realm, and while we all wish to live closer to another, we're in the same state, and we get together as often as possible. Driving home yesterday, I breathed deeply after crossing the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, because in achieving that feat without any traffic incidents meant I was halfway home, though not halfway in actual distance. Still many miles to go, some ...

So much has occurred in the last few days, so many times I've wanted to sit at my office computer and write a post about.... Not merely chickens, but the beautiful SUN we enjoyed on Mother's Day, how gorgeous Monday was (more sun and quite warm), and then yesterday with MORE SUN! Please understand that after ten straight days of cloudy weather that was at times chilly, feeling the sun on my face has been a treat beyond explanation, and will give me patience during our summer of marine layer mornings that do eventually break into blue skies. Time to blog has been minimal in part due to those CHICKENS, LOL! Ruthie was her broody self, then on Sunday Icey revealed an outdoor nesting spot, nine eggs having been laid at the base of a camellia tree not far from our house. That dang hen! However... 1) She did reveal her location. 2) It wasn't hard to access. 3) It was easy to dismantle. And 4) She's not broody. She was attached to that spot, I'll say, but how we've dea...

I forgot to write it down. But I still wanted to write a post. Not sure about what, but here it is. It's the kind of post that rings of, well, forgetfulness, lol. Also of gratitude. Maybe a little about chickens? Perhaps. Ruthie continues to behave, and she's been cuddling with Camilla in the evenings when they get ready to go to sleep. That's been adorable! This is the sort of post that emerges, possibly, when I'm WRITING, hahaha! Well, I didn't write today, but I did yesterday, and will do so tomorrow. Miracles, or the eventual occurrence of miracles, make for a great plot device. I don't want to give away from where this idea sprung, but suffice to say I received a miracle, and my heart needed to write a novel about it. Oh that's kind of adorable too. Um, I don't like to put a comma after Oh like in the sentence above because I'm not keen on the long pause that a comma demands. I want the sentence to be read as if Oh is Well or So or Indeed . ...

Today's featured quilt was made for my eldest, celebrating her birthday several years ago. She asked for a blue and brown cozy, and I joyfully acquiesced with this beauty, which I enjoyed last night on their guest bed. A deliberate play on words in today's title; I'm visiting my eldest and her family in our former stomping grounds of Silicon Valley. And I'm reminded of a fave book amid my catalogue, Home and Far Away , for how odd it is to return to where one used to live, or from where one originated in some vague manner. Because in returning to a house I know well, and beloveds I know even better, there is a sense of, "Dude! Did I actually live in this wacky big city?" As well as granddaughters getting SO TALL and not being the wee sprites that pop up on computer screen savers back home. And where exactly is HOME? What does that mean in the grand scheme.... Most of these fabrics were acquired at Joann. But those dark blue leaves on faint light blue, from whe...