Category Archives: Life

never panic.

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summer pie eating in ann arbor.

it’s kind of a sport.

“so the pie isn’t perfect? cut it into wedges.

stay in control, and never panic.”

-martha stewart

so old and wise.

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About Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise

Katherine Rundell – Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and prize-winning author of five novels for children – explores how children’s books ignite, and can re-ignite, the imagination; how children’s fiction, with its unabashed emotion and playfulness, can awaken old hungers and create new perspectives on the world. This delightful and persuasive essay is for adult readers. – Bloomsbury Press

Katherine Rundell says – “There’s something particular about children’s fiction, that can open up new perspectives for adults. The best children’s fiction “helps us refind things we may not even know we have lost”, taking us back to a time when “new discoveries came daily and when the world was colossal, before the imagination was trimmed and neatened…” There’s also something instructive in reading books that, as Rundell points out, are “specifically written to be read by a section of society without political or economic power”. In an age whose political ructions are the result of widespread frustration at the powerlessness of the many in the face of the few, this recognition of how emboldening and subversive children’s books can be feels important.” – Book Riot -Jamie Canaves

Yes to always making time to read children’s books, no matter how old or wise we may get – or think we are.

distraction.

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sometimes you find it

even in the

most unlikely of places

like tucked away

under a picnic table

on a farm with gentle deer

that you feed

 apples and leaves to

while indoor tennis lessons

are going on in the barn

a ping pong table

standing by

waiting to be played upon

a farm house, museum, and gardens

sitting quietly

all surrounded

by corn fields and a golf course

way out in the middle of nowhere. 

“skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion.

everything else is a distraction.”

-talib kweli

two shoes.

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and what was just one shoe

perched up high

has now grown to two shoes

overnight. 

the only thing missing is the wearer

hopefully not sitting

perched here

 tomorrow morning. 

“comfortable shoes and the freedom to leave are the two most important things in life.”

-shel silverstein

empty.

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 this came today

inside of a box of something else I had ordered

maybe it was added as a surprise free bonus

for being such a good customer

there were no directions 

and no warranty

but I am

looking forward to using it.

 

“even in empty space, time and space still exist”.

-sean m. carroll 

 

magic.

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a little magic to wow us at the beginning of the Ann Arbor art fair
“the world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
― w.b. yeats

11.

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50th anniversary of the week of the Apollo 11 moon landing

I was 11

on the cusp of everything 

we went over

to my parents’ friends’ house

everyone was transfixed

air was electric

all gathered around the tv

watching

silent and awestruck

gobsmacked

as the first man walked on the moon

spoke his first words on the moon

 lots of emotion in the house

I ran to the window to look at the moon 

hoping I would see him up there

right in the middle of all of this

the hostess

left to go to the hospital

to have her baby

she named him neil

after that man on the moon.

“we ran as if to meet the moon.” 

― robert frost

 

 

image credit: Ann Arbor district library archives

helpers.

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grandie f and his friends take a short walk

through their neighborhood

(and now mine)

to help bring a few first things over to my new digs.

the friendliest movers ever.

 

“i get by with a little help from my friends.”

-John lennon

 

rejoice.

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headed off on a family fun river raft float trip 

not real relaxing as expected

but lots of adventures/misadventures instead

so many laughs and we all survived

who could ask for anything more?

“rejoice as summer should…chase away sorrows by living.” 

-melissa marr, darkest mercy

 

 

argo park, huron river, Ann Arbor, michigan, u.s.a. – summer 2019

choosing.

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“does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?”
― garth nix
either way, a good choice.
sleeping bear. heritage trail, lake michigan, glen arbor, michigan, usa