To focus

Remind me next time:
Limit the realm of possibilities to those that will support and contribute.
Stay off the electronics and the fascinating nesting doors that lead to unfulfillment.
Know that the housework will still need to be done.
Print the hardcopy, lay it out, and scribble away.
Assemble, mix, layout, and edit again.

Got the monkey off my back after days of postponing, fretting,
and tending to other tasks:
memorizing a poem,
sewing 6 semi-dresses,
baking 2 loaves of bread,
preparing 2 substantial meals and restoring the kitchen each time,
wondering why other interests have not been more deeply explored.

and yet, and yet a sense of being adrift

until I hear the voice and feel the rhythm running through my hands again

Solar

Get off the damn computer and take a two-hour time-out.

An early Fall mid-morning, with so much fog and overcast conditions that the sun's location was a mystery unless you knew this place earlier.   As the moon began to cover the sun, the sky became slightly darker as though a storm was approaching.  The air became very quiet.  More quiet than usual at this time?  we don't know, but we heard birds, people, and traffic one hour later, far off in the distance, which created stark audio relief to the quieter darkening sky.  As the sky changed, the silence pressed in with the darkness.  When the sky lightened to the glare of overcast conditions, birds began to fly again.  A flock of crows flew to the tall (they must be at least 30 feet) trees in the distance, several blocks down the street.  A hummingbird chirped as it drew from flowers near me.  I returned to my reading, then departed soon afterward.

Time to hit the water soon.

Heightened

News of the sudden collapse and death of someone close in age and temperament reminds me to savor all that is in this life.  No (well, only a few) regrets.

Naturally

In a meeting, seated in the audience, the arrival from a side door, walking through the aisle to sit beside me, started writing in a notebook as I wrote in mine, then we traded books, and after writing in the other's, traded again.  We arose and departed the meeting at the same time, without many spoken words between us. We walked together and said we did not need to leave each other again, because the space needed for our selves was already provided, and space for the other would be constantly attended.  At another location I wrote as you sketched, and we traded media twice again.  And later that evening I sculpted while you read your words to me.

Rapture

What is the term
when the experience
strikes a chord,
when the immersion
of sights
or sounds
slices to your core
and you identify with
and meld with the other
without losing your self;
when suddenly there is not
enough air to breathe
and the aura of the experience
encompasses the universe?

The term has qualities
of being moved,
connection,
and transcendence.

Still

Celeste

Jupiter and the moon were stunning.

Reminder

Writing to a kindred spirit sorts thoughts and brings clarity to several recurring issues.  Kindred is one who is willing to listen and inquire with the intention of exploring perspectives and understanding.

A day

Sometimes churning for future events becomes overwhelming.  Had a semi-comatose day of being overwhelmed, and spent the day in and out of this world, encountering the snake who spoke to me from a corner of the dark cold room, and doing everything except the thing that needs to go out to other people.  Now I sit to focus and dispatch that task.

Yeah!! done!! time to eat, and eat well!!

On to the loom to set order to chaotic strings.

Is this the party to whom I am speaking?

mid-spring

Today's slice: resolving to be the attentive gatekeeper who allows only quality material to pass outside.  Exhausting but gratifying work to see a better product after running it through coarse then finer sieves of scrutiny.  Much sleep has been lost and the mental state is sharp - on edge, more likely.  I remind myself to respond slowly so that I don't alarm others around me.

Meanwhile the garden does not wait and has been moving at its own pace.  Daily progress appears slow but now I need to begin and finish a preparatory task before reaping and using material that comes only once a year.  How many more "once a year" events will come to me?  There is much to do with fewer seasons of time.

Knock-Knock

A stranger (yet who seemed familiar to me) seeking reception dropped in last week, and I said I would learn and carry her information for her.  Don't know why I obligated myself but this seems to be something I can do.  Will not forget the relieved look in her eyes as she recognized some affinity and mutual trust between us after I made the commitment.  Later in the week another visitor dropped by after a long absence, seeking some type of re-connection.   Interesting that what was said reflected their version of the past that was very different from what I thought was happening at the time.