Author Archives: beth

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About beth

Ann Arbor-ite writes about enjoying life with all of its ironies and surprises.

silence.

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image credit: purpleclover.com

carnival.

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driving down the highway

i came upon this truck filled with fun

and wondered where exactly it was headed.

“i was sure that somewhere a grandiose carnival

was going on in the sky,

and I was missing it.”

-eve babitz

 

give what you have.

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found this sweet surprise

waiting for me in my mailbox

a very old tiny sleigh with a handwritten letter

from a neighbor i’ve never met

who’s lived nearby for over 50 years

she left it for me to add to my fairy garden

when the season is right

she took the trouble to repaint the sleigh

and write me this lovely note

wanting to visit the garden

but too shy to stop by to see it up close

it was such a kind and thoughtful gesture

i wanted to thank her and figured out where she lived

then wrote her a long letter back

to let her know

how much i enjoyed her special gift

and what it meant to me

i really hope that we meet in person in my garden one day.

“give what you have. to someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
― henry wadsworth longfellow

balance.

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glenn frey the cat not the rocker 

 agrees with

patti smith the rocker not the cat.

“in art and dream may you proceed with abandon.

in life may you proceed with balance and stealth.”

-patti smith

the red turtle.

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saw this beautiful film yesterday

very moving and mesmerizing

drawn in mostly soft colors 

it captures the subtleties of

 nature, man, balance, human connections, family,

impermanence, the circles that life takes

very simple lines and images

bamboo, trees, water, sky, people, animals, land

created by three studios in three countries

japan, england, belgium

does not require any translation

as there is no dialogue

except for one word

only lovely music

to take you through this

fairy tale, fantasy, fable, legend

 when you get to the end

the quietly powerful and touching final scenes

will draw you in

it was 81 minutes of

pure perfection in every frame.

“this film was simple and and elemental.

like a picture book that needs no words.”

– a.o. scott – new york times

‘the red turtle’ premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2016 cannes film festival, where it won a grand jury award. the film was also nominated for the best animated feature film for the 89th academy awards.

credits: studio ghibli, wild bunch studio, toho studio, sony pictures classics

lemons.

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who wouldn’t buy from these six?

not many customers were available

 and most who stopped by

had no money on them

so they changed their marketing plan

 added music, dance, costumes

 even an impromptu wedding

and

after drinking away

much of the merchandise

everyone still made a profit

not bad for a day’s work.

“if life gives you lemons, don’t settle for simply making lemonade – make a glorious scene at a lemonade stand.”

-elizabeth gilbert

IT’S HERE!

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my talented and creative friend’s new book –

russtowne's avatarRuss Towne's A Grateful Man

https://www.amazon.com/Flora-Belle-Dreami-Dragon-Towne/dp/1542821312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498081883&sr=8-1&keywords=Russ+Towne+Flora

My latest book, Flora Belle and Dreami Dragon is now available on Amazon.com. I’d be grateful if you’d help spread the word. I believe this book will quickly become one of my most popular titles ever. It has a dragon, a carousel horse, adventure, friendship, fantasy, and more.  Children and adults are likely to be delighted by it.

With Love,

Russ

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more light.

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two grandies reap the benefits of more light,

each in their own way.

“one benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by.”
― jeannette walls, The Glass Castle: A Memoir

summer’s long and lazy river.

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time well-spent on the longest day.

“and so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, i had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”

– f. scott fitzgerald – the great gatsby.

 

poetry is of so subtle a spirit, that in the pouring out of one language into another it will evaporate. -john denham

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water

Everything on the earth bristled,

the bramble pricked

and the green thread nibbled away,

the petal fell,

falling until the only flower was the falling itself.

Water is another matter,

has no direction but its own bright grace,

runs through all imaginable colors,

takes limpid lessons from stone,

and in those functionings plays out

the unrealized ambitions of the foam.

Pablo Neruda

 

killarney, ireland