Grow Up!

July, 2009

Quick and quirky ~
that flash in the pan, 

or dash down the street.

childish learning happens 

like hanging a coat on a hook 

taken down when the wind is high and it’s time to go outside and play, slowing only because someone said to or when an older body demands rest and relaxation 

And yet quick and quirky brings 

colour and movement to life, sparkle and shine 

only slowing long enough be an adult 

with measured steps, steadfast action and thought. 

Quick and quirky should live on the playground 

where we learn all the things that life will throw at us, 

how to spin them around to our benefit, 

how to take a lemon and make lemonade or 

how to brush dirt from a scraped knee 

and get back on the swing.

“Who makes quick use of the moment is a genius of prudence.”

~ Johann Kaspar Lavater, German theologian

(1741 - 1801)

Not Quantity ~ QUALITY ~ Theme for March 2024

Quick and quirky….

Unusually calm……

Active and aware…….

Longterm plans……

Ideas that perk and burble

Tenderness is so………

Yachts lined up…….

“To assess the quality of thoughts of people, 

don’t listen to their words, but watch their actions.”

~ Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

Community Gardens

Beneath the blooms 

tangled vines grow

sprouted from the soil

Community is like that
rooted in the histories 

of residents new and old

With each new resident,

another flower can grow

in the garden that is community.

“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.”

~ Ruth Reichl, author

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Winter's Blush

On a day clouded and grey, 

reddened branches

brushed with glittering frost

welcomed me as I passed.

“Nature is full of genius, full of divinity; 

so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

 

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Nature's Decor

Bejewelled in ice and snow

 ~ the return of winter’s cold.

“You can’t get too much winter in the winter.”

~ Robert Frost

Heart Beats

A reflex reaches my smile

When I see a baby smile

or hear a baby’s gurgle

When I see a baby’s yawn

When soft fingers touch mine

or tiny toes peek from a wrap, 

my heart beats with joy.

“Sometimes the littlest things take up the most room in your heart.”

~ Winnie the Pooh

Book Review: A Promised Land by Barack Obama

A Promised Land was a pleasant surprise to me. I had purchased this autobiography just as another book to read. Not politically astute, I have been interested in the surface politics that our journalists, debates and TV cameras show us. However, Barack Obama takes us past those glossy images and scripted sound bites. He shows himself as not only a politician but a solid and compassionate man. He doesn’t just describe people, he describes the scenes around them. His mother, his grandmother, and through his life the many people that surrounded him. As he rose in government circles from community organizer to senator to the presidency, the surround became closer and more restrictive. His job was to choose and to lead the many teams of staffers throughout his rise. From election campaigns all the way to the Oval Office. 

Michelle Obama made certain he was still participated in their family life as much as possible in the White House and on extended trips, whether political or their limited personal vacations. Michelle’s mother Marion Lois Robinson, lived with them in the White House and provided Michelle with a steadying influence as they raised their girls, Malia and Sasha.

He describes his basketball games with close team members in down times that relieved the tension of the day; card games on Air Force One as they travelled the globe to or from International meetings; explicit management of the SEAl team that captured and killed Osama bin Ladin; dinners with global leaders and respecting but not bowing to the many cultures in attendance. At the same time, recognizing each man or woman as human being subject to his or her culture and experience. He is blunt about who Mitch McConnell is, or Vladimir Putin is, or any his detractors.

This blog post is a poor representation of A Promised Land by Barack Obama. Suffice it to say, that I will never listen to any news reports, debates or see TV representations again without recalling the depth of the politics of one man and his family. He does discuss racism, but it is not the premise of his book, nor is this a flag waving book. It is an honest book. 

“The idea that our common humanity mattered more 

than our differences was stitched into my DNA.”

~ Barack Obama, A Promised Land

Title:  A Promised Land

Author: Barack Obama

Copyright: 2020 

Publisher: Crown, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York

Type: Presidential Memoir

Format: Hardcover

ISBN - 978-1-5247-6316-9 (hardcover)

ISBN - 978-0-593-23904-9 (Deluxe Edition)

ISBN - 978-1-6347-3 (ebook)

Photograph credits appear on pages 707-712.

Book design by Elizabeth Rendffeisch