i had just recently become a pre-teen
this was the
top hits playlist
of the week
on our local station
i can hear most of them still in my mind
how things change in half a century
how they stay the same.
—
“music is the soundtrack of your life.”
-dick clark
this tiny dog
has lived a full life
gifted to me by my dear friend
having once
belonged to
her husband’s mother/grandmother
i would love to know its story
it has seen the world and is beautifully imperfect.
—
“art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness.”
~ Anni Albers
The New York Times recently published an article in which they discuss the power of scents to transport us. “Scents and memory are inextricably tied together – the smell of a grandmother’s house, a childhood pet, or a particular brew of morning tea.” NYT restaurant critic, Tejal Rao, has even has created a “Smell Museum” of her life in LA, cataloging the aromas she encountered in her home and office. The paper asked readers to send them their scent memories. This got me thinking about my own scent memories:
Freshly cut grass – brings me back to my childhood Saturday mornings, waking up to my dad mowing the lawn, windows open, curtains blowing
Jergen’s Lotion (Original Scent) – Almond and Cherry – the lotion my mother bought and we all used
Coffee brewing – When I was pregnant with my first daughter, I was drawn to this amazing aroma and I never have stopped loving it
Baby’s Heads – Always takes me instantly back to when my babies were little
Herbal Essense Shampoo – (Original Scent )- My teen years, and trying to figure out life, I felt beautiful when using this shampoo on my hair
What are some of your scent memories? Good or bad –
—
“nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it.”
—
credits: NYT – Jaspal Rivait, Melissa Kirch, Tejal Rao
“read to your children all of the time
novels and nursery rhymes
autobiographies, even the newspaper
it doesn’t matter; it’s quality time
because once upon a time
we grew up on stories in the voices in which they were told
we need words to hold us and the world to behold us
for us to truly know our souls.”
-taylor mali
—
in honor of world nursery rhyme week
—
image credit: 1930s vintage etsy art
(not me, a famous model who is a couple of years older, but we share a strong birthday spirit)
—
it has been my birthday for 5 hours already
and according to my math
each year
i become less worried
about life
and
i become more excited
about this day
in the exact same amounts
which equals out.
—
“surround yourself with people who are more excited about your birthday than you are.”
-word porn
full deck of cards found on election day
did the player win, lose, or draw?
—
“life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.”
robert louis stevenson
fashion fad: mittens are the new shoes.
—
“organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”
-a.a. milne
feeling safe walking the streets of ann arbor with these powerfully kind grandies
—
“sports are sports. it’s all about how we carry ourselves out of the ring.”
-george foreman
“MYSTERIES, YES”
Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.
How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds
will never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.
Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.
Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.”
― Mary Oliver, Evidence: Poems
little one comforting the littler ones.
—
“if you have an impulse to kindness, act on it.”
-douglas coupland
I didn't have my glasses on.... 