Category Archives: Life

strong like mama.

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love his parents for this. 

 

“strong moms raise strong children who can change the world.”

– Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech (2014)

calm and happy nature.

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trail gate ahead. and love. and maybe bananas.

the future is bright. 

 

“he who is of a calm and happy nature, will hardly feel the pressure of age.”

-plato

 

 

 

photo: bandemeer park, ann arbor, michigan, usa – spring 2024

 

 

on earth day.

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“no water, no life. no blue, no green.”

*sylvia earle

 

*Sylvia Alice Earle is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer.

She has been a National Geographic Explorer at Large since 1998.

 

 

 

image credit: mayo clinic

miracle mile.

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built in 1960
less than 3 years after i was born
this magical miracle mile movie drive-in and i grew up together
i never got over how wonderful going to see anything was
pajamas with feet, blankets, popcorn, sticky lemonade
jockeying for space with my sibs in the station wagon
never made it through a second feature
carried sound asleep into my bed
stories still playing out in my dreams.
“isn’t if funny how day by day, nothing changes, but when we look back, everything is different.”
c.s. lewis

 

 

small cheer.

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a pop-up restaurant appeared in the cozy corner of our classroom
everyone was welcome and helped in the restaurant after their meal
so many delicious foods
made with care
no one left hungry 
people came and went and shared plates and talked and laughed
it was a feast for the senses.
“small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.”
-william shakespeare

like a holiday.

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Paul Klee, Forest Architecture, 1925, pen and watercolour on paper mounted on card

swiss painter, draftsman, and printmaker 1879-1940

 

“art should be like a holiday;

something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently, 

and to change his point of view.”

-paul klee

good things happen.

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 yet another

delightful encounter

with a stranger

at trader joe’s

when checking out

my cashier

put the chocolate i was buying

into my hand

 ‘i know this isn’t going far.’

 spot on.

working there a long time

knows what chocolate means to some people

  rarely looks them in the eye

 the chocolate gave him a reason to do so

i told him to

have a good day

he told me to

have a good life.

‘good things happen when you meet strangers’

-yo-yo ma

with feathers.

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i’ve had a feathered visitor

a robin

courting me for the last two days

 wonder what he wants to tell me?

will he return today?

hope that i’m home if he calls.

* robin symbolism means different things in different cultures and the message robin brings has different meanings at different times. A robin brings hope, renewal, and rebirth. Robin symbolizes new beginnings, new projects, and a sign of good things to come. – bring it.

“hope” is the thing with feathers –
that perches in the soul –
and sings the tune without the words –
and never stops – at all –
-emily dickinson

 

kinder-garden.

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jane

today the kinder saw the space where they will create their garden.

 

“why try to explain miracles to your children when you can have them plant a garden?”

-*janet kilburn phillips

*Janet is a gardener who found that she had to employ a growth mindset when she moved to the United States from England. She had previously been creating English cottage gardens but encountered challenges when she tried to grow them in a drastically different climate and in heavy clay soil. After experimenting with her gardens she created a CD called English Cottage Gardening — American Style. She adapted and persevered and found a new way to succeed at something that she loved.

 

 

a noble thing.

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the dandelions have returned, and i couldn’t be happier.

“Every year,” said Grandfather. “They run amuck; I let them.

Pride of lions in the yard. Stare, and they burn a hole in your retina.

A common flower, a weed that no one sees, yes.

But for us, a noble thing, the dandelion.”

-Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

 

 

 

art credit: garth williams, (the rabbit’s wedding) –  rabbit basking in the moonlight