Timing

I thought about the timing 

of things today. We all know 

about the timing of schedules, 

calendars and day books 

but that’s the working world; or 

getting kids to hockey practice or 

music lessons. One can’t forget the timing that is needed to dance a fast jive 

or a graceful waltz. My concern today was nothing so interesting. This afternoon, while I was at the mall, the little silver gray slider that 

zipped up my heavy coat came off in 

my hand. It was cold, windy with 

snow forecast. Were the planets 

challenging the goings on of the 

miniscule life of my zipper?! The timing 

couldn’t have been worse. It was  

only after I was out and away from home. 

Fortunately I also have snaps on my 

coat so got home without my coat flapping 

in the wind. A quick browse on You Tube 

gave me an answer to my predicament.

”Life is about timing.”

~ Carl Lewis, athlete

Only a Moment

I suppose it has to be a selfish thing

To move ahead in life 

Understanding oneself before others.

But there must full knowledge of 

past, present and dreams. A very time 

consuming thing. I do struggle 

with its meaning although I admit 

to pride on being understanding.

~~~~~

But I do not understand all the complexities 

of how a tree grows. I could study it til 

my eyes burned, become an arborist and 

finally know all about trees, but it only 

takes a moment to look up into their branches,

And be awed by their existence in my life.

“Sometimes it’s not enough to know what things mean, 

sometimes you have to know what things don’t mean.”

~ Bob Dylan

As It Is

There’s only a glimpse

A quiver 

I feel it is right in front of me

In the left chamber of my heart

Or in the folds of my brain

Something I could pluck and plant

Each time I get close,

It slides away from me.

So I do the things I plan

To fix and sort and beautify

Living life as it is

And still

There’s only a glimpse

A quiver.

“You have peace,” the old woman said “when you make it with yourself.”

~ Mitch Albom,  The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Here to Stay

January, 2024

I’ve waited patiently for the snow. 

We’ve had a skiff here and there, 

but nothing that settled in to stay 

‘Look what I brought you! It’s winter!’ 

Well, winter’s here loud and clear. 

Except the gentle silence of snow 

falling through still air has been 

missing. The air has glistened with
frantic snowflakes waved about, 

sent spinning through bare branches,

finding shelter on any corner or 

fence line that would suffice.

I’ve waited patiently for the snow. 

We’ve had big blow with snowbanks

of crisp white that have settled in to stay.

“And finally Winter, with its bitin’, whinin’ wind, 

and all the land will be mantled with snow”

~ Roy Bean, Judge

(1825 - 1903)

Grandma's Kitchen

A delicate, orange thread of yarn magically took me tumbling through the decades to my grandma’s kitchen. That ball of orange yarn, all the way from Sweden, knitted or crocheted into a hat maybe, possibly edging on a scarf was paired with some random cotton for a dishcloth, and I remembered Grandma and her kitchen. 

Grandma was from Sweden. She pronounced my name like no one else ever has, her Swedish accent all but vanished, but slipping out when she said my name. 

My name felt special. Teaching me 

how to say 'thanks a lot' in Swedish ~ 

‘tack så mycket ~ was fun. I still love 

the way it rolls off my tongue. 

Sometimes I say it just for the 

feel and sound of the past.

African violets on the glass shelves 

in the window threw prisms of sunlight 

to sparkle the spotless kitchen. Grandpa’s 

old rocking chair waited for Mrs. Van 

to come for coffee. Always a fresh table 

cloth in her neat and tidy kitchen. Her 

old linen table cloth with the apples and 

vases and a brown singe in the shape of 

her iron in one corner is kept ironed and 

folded. The thin spots in the fabric are 

like these memories, and just as precious. 

“No memory is ever alone; it’s at the end of a trail of memories, 

a dozen trails that each have their own associations.”

~ Louis L’Amour

Between Choices

I asked myself

What is courage?

A tiny voice whispers to me 

that there is no such thing 

until there is a thin veil 

between choices that pull and tug against each other. 

One must win out. 

Heart and soul take charge, 

if only for a moment, to find safety 

past the thin veil between choices.

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we 

truly are, far more than our abilities.”

~ J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

There are Mornings

There are mornings 

when I walk into a darkened room, slide my hand 

on the wall searching 

for the light switch 

then chastise myself because 

there has never been a light switch there. 

It’s on the other wall 

three feet away. 

Some days I laugh at myself, 

some days I’m annoyed with myself for repeating an old mistake and most days I go to where the light switch is, 

click it on, waking me to the reality that is my kitchen

“A well adjusted person is one who makes 

the same mistake twice without getting nervous.”

~ Alexander Hamilton