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image credit: vintage halloween
Oct25
teach it to dance.
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image credit: vintage halloween
Tag Archives: life
Oct8
soul of a city.
many parks that i visit
are quiet and solitary experiences
and then there are others
teeming with people and life
and noise and activities
of all kinds
both have such an important place and purpose.
—
“parks and playgrounds are the soul of a city.”
― marty rubin
—
gallup park, ann arbor, michigan, usa
Sep10
extraordinary.
‘bad things do happen in the world,
like war, natural disasters, disease.
but out of those situations always arise
stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.’
-daryn kagan
—
for all who suffer as a result of the disasters
and
for all who arise to do extraordinary things to help.
—
image credit: REUTERS/Adrees Latif- East Texas
Sep5
a lot of life.
detroit city after the game still has a lot of life in it.
—
“this city is what it is because our citizens are what they are.”
-plato
Sep1
deliver.
tiny delivery truck found on the side of a park path
driver must have finished a long shift and was on a break
—
“the universe can take quite a while to deliver.”
-desmond tutu
Aug31
don’t forget.
what a lovely coincidence
that on this day
as i continue on my city parks journey
and drive through a neighborhood
i am lost
until
i come to the intersection of
pamela and patricia
the names of
my two sisters
one still with us
one gone forever
and today –
her birthday
i look ahead to find
they’ve led me
to the beautiful park right in front of me.
—
“don’t forget to leave your handprints on the ones you love
and your footprints around the neighborhood.”
― lisa c. miller
Aug30
worn.
“between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out.”
-iris murdoch
—
street in university of michigan’s student housing area – ann arbor 2017
photo credit: grandie f, age 7
Aug20
the art of doing nothing.
“ah! to do nothing – and to do it well.”
-veronique vienne
Aug19
eclipsed.
for some reason
in anticipation of the upcoming solar eclipse
i decided that it would be a great time
to make 120 ‘solar eclipse’ cookies.
the plan was to give them to 3 different groups of people
who i would see this weekend
the recipe looked quite easy
and fitting in with the spirit of the big day
the idea was to add the sun yellow and moon chocolate icings
to the perfect moon shapes
increasing the dark moon coverage on each one
showing all of the phases of the eclipse
during the process
smoke and grease and sugar and cocoa and lemon
filled the kitchen
it took hours
the outcome was not quite as i expected
i’m not sure what exactly went wrong
but i am sure there were lots of things that did
the end result was best described by
steve carell while in character on ‘the office’ –
“it looks like it was put together by baby monkeys living on a farm.”
i’m going to embrace that and take it as a compliment
i know that the eclipse makes lots of things go a bit off kilter
and i can’t wait to see how excited everyone is
to receive this very special gift from me.
—
“there’s a victory in letting go of your expectations.”
-mike white
Aug18
unsung hero.
got a call from ‘h’ daughter number three
suddenly looking for solar eclipse glasses
we both called all of our possible sources
everyone was sold out
until
my last call
to the 7-11 store
right downtown
in the heart of the student area
the woman on the phone whispered
“the truck just came in with a shipment”
felt like i was in a mob movie
this was magic to my ears
the boys jumped barefoot into my car
we zoomed a few blocks to downtown
quickly pulled into an expired parking space
somewhat close to the store
(disclaimer: all of this was done safely, mom and dad,
so i’m not banned from future care taking)
just as i got out of my car
i spied a meter maid 3 cars ahead
intense and on a mission
the boys would try to talk her out of it
if she wanted to ticket us
just then
the police arrived to have a discussion
with a group of people and their dogs
who had gathered across the street
enough to distract and delay the meter maid hopefully
ran to the store
and straight into a dead stop
right at the back of a giant line
of students ordering up grilled food
paying with change
moving slowly
apparently not needing to be anywhere
found a friendly worker
asked her if they still had the glasses
she was reluctant and nervous at first
looked around
over her shoulder
said she could only sell me one
when i asked her
to please sell me a few more
the godfather/district manager
who happened to be in the store
overheard and stepped in
giving her the nod/authorizing her
to sell me what i needed
she moved me up to her register
rang me up
she was giggling and happy and smiling with the glasses in hand
my unsung hero
who worked small miracles on this day
i knew i had to sprint back to the car
but while i was in there
negotiating my deal
cement workers had arrived
and closed off the sidewalk
took a detour
made it to the car in time
with all the glasses i needed
no harm no foul
the stars had aligned
happy to have pulled off this caper
boys having learned some real life skills
no ticket
so glad to have met a person
who went the extra mile to help
that i gave her a tip
and wrote her a haiku in gratitude.
—
hero haiku
here’s to you hero
big gulp lotto chips seller
you make people smile
—
“for a true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength,
but by the strength of his heart.”
(or her)
-zeus (from hercules)
I didn't have my glasses on.... 