Sleep

Sleep

Day lights shut down

Day sounds disappear

Night lights flicker and fly

Night sounds snore and snooze.

“There is a time for many words, 

and there is also a time for sleep.”

~  Homer, The Odyssey

Something's Fishy - #2

Something stirred

inside of my head

it wiggled

it squiggled

but couldn’t be caught.

So I watched and I listened

and let it just swim 

through the reedy ideas 

inside of my head.

It would disappear for a day

then only a few hours

til it had grown larger

this idea of mine.

So I’ll let it grow stronger ~

give it room to become

an idea worth catching,

take it out of my head

and just let it swim!

“The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive

 but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.”

~ John Buchan

March is Epilepsy month: Purple Day for Epilepsy on March 26 

Our awareness day is over - epilepsy is not.

Your Choice

Life is like…

Homemade granola 

Fresh from the oven

Warm and spicy

Nutty and crunchy

Waiting for

Soft, dried apricots

Cranberries and raisins

Or

Life is like

granola shrouded in wax paper 

hidden in a cardboard box

full of other people’s additives

waiting to be part of a life.

“Food is not just eating energy. It’s an experience.”

~ Guy Fieri

March is Epilepsy month: Purple Day for Epilepsy on March 26.

Our awareness day is over - epilepsy is not.

From the Depths

Painting by Ruth Egmond, Victoria artist

If I can’t find the fun

I’m missing a beat

Whether work’s to be done

Or games to be played

There needs an element of fun

It may only be a smile

from deep in the heart

Or a sigh of relief

From the depths of your soul

But if we can’t find the fun

we're missing the beat.

“At the end of the day, if I can say I had fun, it was a good day.”

~ Simone Biles

March is Epilepsy month: Purple Day for Epilepsy on March 26 - Our awareness day has passed, but epilepsy has not.

All Stacked Up

Gathering thoughts 

in lists that go missing

gives me an excuse 

to forget what I know.

Anchoring thoughts 

in a wobbly (?) memory

filled with a lifetime of stuff

is a challenge and

a risk to take on.

Aging has been waved

in my face and my heart ~

‘Memory’s not a safe place to traverse!!’

Well maybe it is and maybe it isn’t

but for today in my home

“Bring it on!”

“He who is not courageous enough to 

take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

~ Muhammad Ali

March is Epilepsy month with Purple Day for Epilepsy on March 26 each year.

Secret: there is a tiny list hidden in a drawer

Webbing ~ 2

Adding another characteristic to my Daily Planning Guide makes it seem too long and complex. When  I look at the wonderful complexity of a spider web shining in the sun I am in awe. In awe of the tiny spider that has the ability to spin such a complex and marvellous home, a trap for food and travel lines from patio table to chair. From branch to branch on a tree or bush. From flower to fence. I know I do not have the human abilities for such complexity.

The quality I considered for an addition to my Guidelines is engagement. Engagement with my project work and engagement with my home. Reviewing the Guidelines, #4 intrigued me. Puttering vs busy work. Changing that wording to Engagement with my home and writing projects adds depth to the seeming triviality of puttering. Meaning and purpose by engaging with my home are ‘trapped’ within just a tiny bit of word crafting.

“It appears to me that almost any man my, like the spider, 

spin from his own inwards his own airy citadel.”

~ John Keats

Don’t forget!  Today is the day!!

March is Epilepsy month: Purple Day for Epilepsy on March 26.

Our awareness day will be over but epilepsy continues.

Old Habits vs New: A Balancing Act

An area of the Daily Planning Guide I have neglected to discuss is balance. Initially, I spoke of needing balance in puttering and completing project work. I have since expanded my view because for any activity, balance is a necessary ingredient. Whether it is having balanced tires so your car doesn’t go all over the road, balanced table legs so coffee doesn’t spill or a set of guidelines for a Daily Plan so that one area of this plan doesn’t take over and run the show. 

Early this morning, as I began my day, I did a fair bunch of puttering. Was it busy work? I don’t think so. Setting a few things straight, rather than twiddling my thumbs, while waiting for the water to come to a boil was comforting. Tidying a few loose ends that I missed last night. In the past week or so, I’ve tried to set aside habits of a life time with the assumption that they had outlived their usefulness. I considered that they were now in the way and should be banished. And so I am returning to old habits of clearing out space. Using these old habits to shape new ways of living. Finding, in corners of old drawers and tucked high on closet shelves, pieces that make ideas appear if by magic. Ideas that find their way into story, poems, and essays. Balancing between the old and the new. We each are the fulcrum on this teeter totter of our lives. Our hands passing into and over the multi-colored depths and surfaces. There may be no real vision of any final outcomes. Final sounds and feels too much like an ending. There is a building of one vision, then another, then another until we can see clearly. How to balance the corners of our lives with the grand scheme laid before us is a challenge offered to each one. 

The completed Guidelines for Daily Planning - for today - have evolved even over the short period of time of a few days. Merging the Blog version and the Refrigerator magnet version, they look very similar, however I’ve set Balance on it’s own and set Puttering vs Busy Work. I’m not willing to give up the Puttering because it is comforting and gives me a secret place for mulling over a stubborn bit of word crafting. Busy work tends to be frantic and my thoughts a bit scattered. Balance can help me to recognize which is which so I can get on with my life and not get caught up in a dizzying spiral.

Guidelines for Daily Planning

1. Preparation
2. Flexibility
3. Balance
4. Puttering vs Busy work
5. Use a timer

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go 

faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, 

you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, 

goals and values are in balance.”

~ Brian Tracy

Don’t forget!  March is Epilepsy month with Purple Day for Epilepsy on March 26 each year.