September 27, 2022
Gleanings
- On a hot August morning in 2008, I titled the blog on a whim, and began sending out posts to the universe.
- An optimist at heart, I loathe to be maudlin, but realistically, even if I live to be 102 years-old like my Grandma Princess, I am well over half way there.
- Instead, and for many happy years now, I’ve been striving to enjoy every moment exactly as it is: The chores—cooking, cleaning, laundry and gardening. And the activities—watching the Jays, hiking, paddling, swimming, cycling, and, of course, photography. Living each moment as it arises, unadorned or improved, has given me a much fuller feeling of contentment.
- It’s also a bit like this blog post: I’m just trying to make the excellent link between still life and poetry. But I think it’s there without me nattering on about it. Or maybe it’s something I need to write more about, longer, elsewhere. And probably will.
- Fast forward several years, and I have still never hosted a holiday dinner. The china only gets used twice a year, on my daughter’s birthdays, when I serve boxed macaroni and hot dog coins off of it. Instead, it is the place we eat super together every night, often shoving aside an avalanche of paper or Lego to make room for our plates.
- A commitment to be with the sunset every day of this, my 37th year.
- In that intoxicating conversational flow from book to book, from book experience to book experience, from insight to insight, here are some of the flashes that glinted off the waves.
- Bring in the sheets, soft yellow (your favourites), bring in the towels, fold them, the scent of sunlight and early fall air (on the mountain trail the other day, you both noticed the change), bring in your bathing suit for this afternoon’s swim, pack it damp for a road trip tomorrow, when you will drive up Highway 5A, stopping at Nicola Lake to enter its cold familiar waters, stopping by the pine as you return to your towel, crushing its familiar needles in your hand.
- I’m experiencing a lot of thrill lately, and I just wanted you to know. There is a beautifully flowering tropical tree INSIDE MY HOUSE.
- Once, maybe as recently as pre-Covid, I would have referred to those as “simple joys.” This summer they were everything.
- It seems many of us recognize autumn as our favourite season, and the reason is partly attributed to nostalgia. Nostalgia is typically derived from positive past experiences, and at 64, I have a lifetime of memories – no wonder I feel nostalgic!
