Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Dear Friends


I seem to have been spending all of my
"Time Coinage" everywhere
but here, and there has been 
little savings of the coinage to spend
reading and leaving comments
on all of your lovely places.
Please forgive me.
I do hope to build up my savings account
and be a much better "Spender"
in the new year. 
I just have a wee mosaic to share here.
I hope that you like it.


...and perhaps just one more
which holds that which I love in Nature...
some you have seen before.


I do sincerely wish you all the best
in the New Year.
May it be all that you hope it to be.
May it be filled with good health
for you and those whom you love.
May peace for all of us
wrap around this world of ours.
May small joys and much comfort
be a part of every one of your days.

Thank you all for enriching my life.
With love, Ellen.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

A Very Late Goodbye

to October.
Dear October,
You were the best.
If Autumn were a seasonal sandwich,
you were the goodness,
the nourishment
and the tastiness
lying between the bargain supermarket
white bread that was September 
and now is November.
You were everything I wished for
and all I needed.
You were all glory
with your brilliant reds,
coppery yellows,
joyous orange
and freckle-flecked browns.
Each day was a gift,
below me, above me and around me.
Dear, dear October,
you are #1 in the Calendar of My Heart.













****************************************************

Many thanks again for all of your notes
of kindness and support.
I have learned a very important thing
through all of the worries concerning my siblings.
I have known the importance of giving
thanks for all the good in my life,
but now I understand and am determined
to practice the act of being Thankful For That Which I Can Do.
It dawned on me that we are all blessed
to be able to do the simple and most mundane
tasks that each day always brings...
the washing of dishes
the washing of clothes
the constant clean up
the running of errands
the things that are not always welcomed
or enjoyed, or even those tasks
which seem tedious and never-ending.
I am blessed because I can still do these things.
There will come a day when like my siblings,
I'll not be able to.
I'll take them on gratefully for as long as possible.
And should I forget and relapse
and turn the air blue with my language,
do remind me with a good slap!
Love and thanks,
E.


Sunday, September 29, 2013

Dear Ones

                                                                                 
Dear Readers,
I want to thank you for your generous support, your goodness,
graciousness and your loving words sent my way.
I am finding it hard to express
my gratitude and the feeling of warmth
and comfort I have received from you.
We all struggle at times, I do know that.
I hope that I could and would do the same
in return to all of you.
I am doing much better.
I know that I may never, ever understand my beloved brother
when I talk to him on the phone.
Strokes happen.
I went up last Saturday
to see my sister.
It was a good visit,
but the onset of dementia is frightening.
Disappearing ink covers the pages
of so many collective memories...
and who will be left to read them with me?
It has been both difficult
and wonderful to be back at school, 
but who can comfort a mother
who's son was involved in an accidental shooting
with a hunting rifle...
and the same person who lost her sister-in-law
two days later. She was also a friend
and had worked in my school office for years.
I had all of their children in my classroom.
And, my feral kitty, "No Ears",
who has been here for several years,
the one who finally came close enough
to my hand when I fed him...
to feel his soft (tho. ratty) fur
brush up against my hand.
He must have crawled up into my car,
because the next day 
I drove to the post office...
at a distance of nearly seven miles.
When I stopped, I saw a grey streak
run out from under the car.
I knew at once what had happened.
Tears all the way home
and the feeling of such responsibility.
There is a part of me
that keeps hoping he will turn up.
It's the heart part..the brain knows better.
So, enough here about sadness
and heartache.
I am so behind on reading
and leaving comments,
and I have this silly feeling
that I should never post
until I have left a message of thanks to all of you.
******************************************************
I will stop soon and leave you with
some lovely photos of the sky
at my sister's.
And, guess what?
I took them with my phone!
I have never done that before.
Also, if you have blueprints for building an ark,
please send them my way.
It has been an absolute gully-washer
for the last two days
and I am not happy with Mother Nature
who is ruining the colors of my favorite time of year.
Love times ten, E.
Here are the clouds. 
I hope you enjoy them.




Again and again,
you have eased my heart.
I have been reminded that we
are here for such a short time
and that time is filled with such beauty
along with some pain.
It is the human condition,
but aren't we blessed to hold that which is lovely
and comforting and surprising and wonderful?
Such life filled with wonders
and thankfulness, and the beauty
of the world with clouds, rain, sunshine,
color, warmth and.............
YOU.
E. with so many xoxoxox's
                                             

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Sometimes

Sometimes you don't know what to write.
Sometimes too much awfulness happens.
Sometimes it concerns your brother
and your sister,
the loves of your growing up...
whom you are losing,
and the disappearance of a beloved cat.
Sometimes it concerns the loves
of your working life..
Twenty three teaching years
in the small town..
Twenty three years 
out of thirty plus
in the classroom.
So much loss in the last few weeks.
I have tried to write about it,
but I just cannot.
It is my story, but not my story.
Many children who were in my classroom,
and most of all
my beloved teaching partner,
have gone through so much.
I don't know what to do,
except be there for them.
I am back in the classroom every Tuesday
to read stories and do art projects.
For me, I pull up photos
that give me comfort,
and I am spending time
with D. in the Grasmere Journals.
I am pressing leaves
and gathering all Fallish things..
knitting mindless things..
I am baking bread and making cheese...
and, I am giving thanks to you,
Dear Readers, for being with me.


And, I am hoping to be back soon.
Oh, and yes and yes...
I saw the otters the other day while crossing the bridge.
Spirit lifting it was.
A reminder that goodness comes
even when times are just so hard.
Love, so much to all of you,
E.



Thursday, August 29, 2013

August in the Garden








Candle flame yellow..
our patty pans have been spectacular


Hops that when dried
will be mixed with home grown lavender
and buckwheat hull...
a lovely lulling sleep pillow to make

Fuzzy furry visitor

Proof of an organic plot

We do have tomatoes
but they live somewhere else
and have been quite bizarre this year
with curled leaves and cores
so tough they are hard to slice,
but delicious nonetheless.
Plenty
Bounty
Earthly Goodness
With appreciation and affection,
E.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Hello Sunshine
















Wishing all a wonderful week.
E.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

The Little Green Jewel


is still here,
although there have been
a few sad days
when I could not find him.
My son has declared,
"You have
separation anxiety, Ma."
Probably so!
Here are a few more
photos from the last few days,
and a new discovery
that probably explains
where he has been.


Are you able to see
the reflection in his eye?
Those are the fir trees
in the distance.


Here he is moving away
as if to say,
"Please grant me
some privacy."
The brownish colored curve
on the left in the photo
is an old wool hat
that I found on the ground
one day and carelessly
tossed up there.


And, here he appears
to spend most of his day,
even in the heat..underneath the hat.


Oh, he has been a most welcome guest
and such a little wonder.
I believe that he is
a Pacific Coast Tree Frog,
aka Chorus Frog.
Chorus Frog is so much more lyrical,
don't you think?
Wishing all a beautiful weekend,
and sending thanks for such thoughtful comments.
E.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A Potted Jewel...


....an unexpected guest
a joy to the eye
a delight to the heart
a gift to my day



found the other day
in a pot of succulents
a darling of design
a gift with a capital G



I stayed and admired
his luminous eyes
that reflected all around him
I wanted to borrow his eyes
that gather the wonders
that surround him
and reflect the beauty
of all he sees
I spritzed him with some 
cooling water
he looked at me and was
still as still

I like to think that
he smiled at me
and said, "Yes,
it's a hot and sometimes
mournful world we carry."
He gave me more
than I gave him
Never underestimate
the power of small

Goodness to all who come here
Ellen.