by Kat | Jun 19, 2023 | General, In This Moment
The best thing for any day is poetry… and today is no exception! I stumbled across this beautiful poem by the brilliant Tracy K. Smith (you can listen to her read it here)
And if you want to hear the Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters… well, enter the rabbit hole here!
Wade in the Water
by Tracy K. Smith
for the Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters
One of the women greeted me.
I love you, she said. She didn’t
Know me, but I believed her,
And a terrible new ache
Rolled over in my chest,
Like in a room where the drapes
Have been swept back. I love you,
I love you, as she continued
Down the hall past other strangers,
Each feeling pierced suddenly
By pillars of heavy light.
I love you, throughout
The performance, in every
Handclap, every stomp.
I love you in the rusted iron
Chains someone was made
To drag until love let them be
Unclasped and left empty
In the center of the ring.
I love you in the water
Where they pretended to wade,
Singing that old blood-deep song
That dragged us to those banks
And cast us in. I love you,
The angles of it scraping at
Each throat, shouldering past
The swirling dust motes
In those beams of light
That whatever we now knew
We could let ourselves feel, knew
To climb. O Woods—O Dogs—
O Tree—O Gun—O Girl, run—
O Miraculous Many Gone—
O Lord—O Lord—O Lord—
Is this love the trouble you promised?
Tracy K. Smith, “Wade in the Water” from Wade in the Water. Copyright © 2018 by Tracy K. Smith.
See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Jun 12, 2023 | General, In This Moment
Brings some much needed rain! I am hoping that it washes away much of the pollen that is making me miserable! (as well as bring a bit of life back to our very dead lawn!)
We did have a good weekend… there was a happy hour that might have celebrated a certain indictment! I made the NYTimes recipe for spinach artichoke dip (and it was insanely delicious!) A couple of weeks ago I picked up a set of these produce containers that Carole had raved about a few weeks ago. They are crazy… and amazing!
But perhaps the best thing of the entire weekend was this little cutie wandering into our back yard Saturday afternoon and spending a few hours with us!
So tiny and so stinking cute! For a few hours I felt very much like dear Margaret Renkl with her Comfort of Crows in my own backyard! (An added boon… that rabbit in the end of the brief video is the Papa Bunny who has successfully watched over his third nest of babies in our yard this year!)
Today I am going to savor the rain as I sit in and paint a bit today! Happy Monday everyone!
See you all back here on Wednesday with some unraveling!
by Kat | May 26, 2023 | General, In This Moment
It has been a week my friends. Hard things… so many hard things. So this LONG weekend my plan is to just be gentle with myself.
Rejoicing —
This year my poppy feels like it looks like this and while it is not quite that amazing, this morning there are 17 blooms open with at least 3 dozen more waiting in the wings! Don’t ask me about the remainder of my garden… it has been a rough winter/early spring in my yard. However, I have become a Master Weed Cultivator! HA!
Interesting —
Here in Pittsburgh, we are so blessed to have Rick Sebak… he is our Local Treasure and loves to bring to light all things Pittsburgh in the very best way. He has a new podcast, Gumbands, and I have listened to the first two episodes and I love them. They are brilliant. If you once lived in Pittsburgh – you will love them. If you ever visited Pittsburgh – you will love them. If you ever contemplated moving to Pittsburgh – you will love them. In other words, you don’t need to understand Pittsburgh or Pittsburghese to get them. He has smart conversations with fascinating people…
Fledgling —
This word has been niggling around inside me for the past couple of weeks now. I have been a diligent watercolor student for almost a year now… and yet… stepping outside the lines of the lesson strikes fear into my heart. But my latest class has been all about values… and this has me thinking about the practice of watercolor in entirely different ways! Ways that include trying my hand at paintings that are not “a lesson.” I got a new, larger sketchbook and have been doing a few pencil drawings. My next step is to do some Value Studies and begin the process of taking all that I have learned (it is is so much!!) and making it my own.
Final Friday —
It is the last Friday in May, the start of the long Memorial Day weekend. For me today, I won the battle and purchased some plants to fill a few planters. (Steve thinks buying flowers for planting is the largest waste of money on the planet.) I have some tomatoes that will go into a few containers as well. Nothing says renewal to me than having my hands in the dirt with the hope that what I am planting will grow and flourish. I need some of that renewal badly this weekend.
I hope that your long weekend provides exactly what you are in need of. See you all back here on Tuesday with my May Word update!
by Kat | May 22, 2023 | General, In This Moment
is a good day to check in with myself…
Why? Well it really feels like May is racing by much too quickly! And thanks to our brief, but spectacular, vacation there was no “Welcome May” post and so I am feeling a bit adrift this month. I have accomplished much…
but…
Yes, that but has been hanging over me… leaving me with that feeling that I am forgetting something important. What? I have no idea, but I feel a bit off… so today I am gathering all the loose ends.
Cold weather clothing will be carefully tucked away (the last wintry sweaters will be washed today!)
Next, I have several lingering knitting projects that need to have a plan. I will sort them, figure out where I am, and I am feeling a bit of a Summer Knit to get them all done. Stay tuned… I hope to have an update on Wednesday!
Then comes the Great Catch Up on Temperature Circles… I got a bit behind thanks to that vacation and I have about 22 days to get myself current… so just all.of.May, LOL.
Along with the ‘regularly scheduled’ Monday things means my list is FULL!
How about you? What does your Monday feel like?
by Kat | May 12, 2023 | General, In This Moment
Last week’s break was such a good thing for me… mentally. I did not blog and I did not spend much time on social media… the total time I spent was picking photos for two IG posts from Erie. Posting and not scrolling seems selfish as I am writing this today. But being away from social media has given me lots to think about and while I am not at all ready to give up my blog, perhaps I am ready to give up social media.
But while I mull all that over in my brain… I do have some AMAZING finds for you this week! Things that will get you outside, give you things to think about, and perhaps discover something new! Let’s get started:
Thing One —
Tomorrow is Global Big Day! That’s right, another bird count day… an important one because we are at the peak of migration season! Recording the birds you see or hear is super fun… and super easy! All the “how” details are here so get out there and look for birds!
Thing Two —
This one has been loudest in my brain. I have listened to this episode twice and I have it saved so I can listen again. It is the Emergence Podcast discussion with Jenny Odell about time. I am on the waitlist for her book so I can delve deeper into her thoughts on time. One thing I know for sure, I have been working on incorporating more vertical time into my day… less horizontal time and my gosh, I love it!
Thing Three (a) —
This week, The Slowdown podcast has done something amazing… Major Jackson has spent the week discussing poetry with a guest host… a young guest host! It has been so much fun! I have LOVED the poems the kids have selected, I have LOVED the conversations the kids had about their love of poetry, and I have really LOVED the poetry word games that Major Jackson played with the kids each day. If you have children in your life… queue up The Slowdown and introduce them to the joy of poetry!
Thing Three (b) —
It has been the week for Discovering Youth Poets! Twitter has become less of a hellscape since I discovered Joseph Fasano and his “daily poetry thread” But really, his poetry prompts for kids might be my favorite and have blown me away! And he has a prompt for Mother’s Day!
And there you have my finds for today… enjoy your weekend and Happy Mother’s Day! I will be back on Monday with a new Museum of Me exhibit!
by Kat | May 8, 2023 | General, In This Moment
The vacation was… interesting. There was a significant amount of rain and the beginning was very cold. However, I am very happy to report that my Handspun sweater and newly stitched sweatshirts were PERFECT in every way!
One of us had plenty of things to occupy their time on a rainy day (or days)… reading, knitting, stitching… and one of us did not. So if you are reading between the lines here… I think you get the picture of how some of the week went.
I did more knitting on a vacation than I have done in a long time… (I finished that first sock and am almost done with the second sock…so yeah, a lot of knitting! Ha!) I’d have read more if someone had not been complaining so much… sigh.
I think the rainy days provided some of the most amazing skies! And the unseasonably cold weather that kept the trees from all leafing out made it so easy to find and see birds! And see birds I did! We saw Bald Eagles every day but one… so many eagles! We also saw so many ospreys! Going a week later than we usually go also meant warblers… so many different warblers! I saw 21 *new* birds last week. I saw Baltimore Orioles and Orchard Orioles! Rain or shine, I simply love quietly walking through the woods listening to the birdsong. And PT is a wonder, I was able to do the hike out to Gull Point twice! And walking with walking sticks provides a pretty good workout! (although perhaps that is a sad state of affairs to confess… but gosh I was just so happy to be mobile!)
Despite the weather, I also channeled Vera because I saw so many turtles and although they were not at all easy to catch with my phone camera… I did manage to get one!
One small brave little turtle!
The other very good thing was the “Treat Dispenser” that is now Icing on the Lake… and the cocktails at Cork! (And the food was not bad either!)
All in all, it was a good week… even with the rain! But the Mondayist Monday on earth is Re-entry Monday! See you all back here on Wednesday with some raveling!
P.S. Today my youngest turns 31… how is that even possible?! Happy birthday, Sam!
