Hey everyone… thanks so much for all the kind birthday greetings and wishes both in person and virtually. I always say, and trust me, I do always say this… all that matters in life are the people (and dogs… yes, and cats for the cat people out there) we love and those who love usContinue reading “My Birthday Wish… Let Your Love Flow”
Category Archives: LiFe
Inside The Glass
I feel worn down. This is not an uplifting missive, as is usually my way, about kindness and joy. Though those things are still trying to claw their way up out of me. I feel worn down. This has been a tough few months for everyone, I don’t deny it. The virus, the violence, theContinue reading “Inside The Glass”
The Life And Times of a Sword Swallower
This is the first morning in over 13 years I’ve gotten up and haven’t then heard the sound of little paws coming out to find me. Weston was my shadow. My boy. He wanted to be where I was, most all the time. Following me downstairs when I went to fold the clothes from theContinue reading “The Life And Times of a Sword Swallower”
All These Things
This has been and continues to be a scary time. Uncertainty, hidden threats around any and every corner, so many things to remember. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, remember what you did touch and sanitize all of it, everything, all the time, stand 6 feet away, wear your masks, don’t go out butContinue reading “All These Things”
The Voice Whispers To Me
It’s 6:31AM. I’m awake. In these days of no certain schedule, we try to keep busy, to keep our own schedule. But sometimes we go to bed earlier than normal, or maybe we don’t and I just wake up because my brain never shuts off. It whispers to me, we are not safe. Coffee. WestonContinue reading “The Voice Whispers To Me”
Let's Rodeo!
Here’s the thing… I’ve done this before. This isn’t my first rodeo. I know all about social distancing, quarantine, and sheltering in place. In 2010 I came down with a case of Leukemia. Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia to be exact. From the moment I arrived at the oncology unit I was on lock-down. No person withContinue reading “Let's Rodeo!”
Changes Afoot
Hello all… I’m going to jump right in… I’ve been restless with the blog. Not sure how I’ve felt about it for a while now. Do I get rid of it? Keep going? Change platforms? Change the look? Change? Stop? Change? It’s a sort of weird mantra. This annoying question. I created a page atContinue reading “Changes Afoot”
It’s a New Dawn, It’s a New Day
I’m a huge fan of Nina Simone. My favorite song? Feelin’ Good. I like it in all its iterations I guess. Most people probably have forgotten all about Nina’s version and skipped right to Michael Buble. That’s OK. I don’t think she would mind. Nor would she care about the Muse version. I like thatContinue reading “It’s a New Dawn, It’s a New Day”
Eight Years
Eight years ago today a doctor walked into my hospital room and told me I had leukemia. Since then I’ve periodically asked a question of myself. Not, as you might expect, why me, or even just why. There is no why. It was random, not predictable, and as far as we know not preventable. ItContinue reading “Eight Years”
Gratitude and Grace
I had a great conversation the other night about gratitude and grace and the things that are important in life. It was lovely, and a good reminder. It’s very tough to not be overwhelmed by the things in life that don’t go as planned, the things in the world that are heartbreaking. It’sContinue reading “Gratitude and Grace”
The Whistler
As people begin to change their Facebook profile photos to pictures of their Moms I felt, this year, I needed to do a bit more than that. Yes, I’ll be changing my photo too, but that just doesn’t seem like enough. I needed to say a bit more about my Mom. She’s a good one.Continue reading “The Whistler”
Missing a Film and Missing a Dog
I just now finished up posting all of my reviews for the movies we watched at Ebertfest this year. It was a splendid group of films, as per usual. Lots of things I hadn’t seen this time around, which is always fun. I was shocked I hadn’t ever seen Hair or Being There, but IContinue reading “Missing a Film and Missing a Dog”
52 Thoughts – Tenth Thought
Mind, body, spirit. We’ve been trying to take care of the body part of that equation for a bit now. Joined a new gym a month or so ago. We’ve been going very regularly since save for the time we were in San Jose and then we at least tried to walk every day. MovingContinue reading “52 Thoughts – Tenth Thought”
Our Boy is 10
Today is our boy, Weston’s, 10th birthday. I can’t even begin to express what he means and has meant to our lives. He is cantankerous, mischievous, smart, fun, quirky, and very loving. He is our little Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. He can be very affectionate one minute and try to gnash at you theContinue reading “Our Boy is 10”
52 Thoughts – Ninth Thought
Be kind in big ways and small even when it seems a tad difficult. Be present. Listen more, talk less. Close my eyes, turn my face to the sun or the wind or both at the same time and breathe deeply. Spend time on or near the water. Go on long walks with the pups.Continue reading “52 Thoughts – Ninth Thought”
52 Thoughts: Eighth Thought
Forgiveness. I walk down the hallway at night House asleep Creaks and wind and chimes filter in I’m at my in-laws house There’s sickness here And a kind of hope for better … feeling better and being better They love me I feel that It’s mutual I write poems at night when I can’t sleepContinue reading “52 Thoughts: Eighth Thought”
52 Thoughts: Fifth Thought
I’ve been thinking. Today the sky is blue. It’s cold, but beautiful. The birds are at the feeders. The squirrels are trying to get to the feeders. The dogs are chasing the squirrels. They picked up our garbage and recycling today as per usual. I’m listening to music. We’re about to head to theContinue reading “52 Thoughts: Fifth Thought”
52 Thoughts: Third Thought
Lately I’ve been struck by how much our culture has sadly moved to a do as I say not as I do philosophy. If you want to relate it to politics, it’s both sides saying about the other that this or that has been said and it’s terrible, unconscionable, awful, then they turn around andContinue reading “52 Thoughts: Third Thought”
52 Thoughts: Second Thought
People are good. Inherently good. For the most part. I believe this. I always have. We just got done watching the Star Wars films, by the numbers, not in the order in which they were made. Why do I bring this up? Because the whole Darth Vader story is that anyone, if they giveContinue reading “52 Thoughts: Second Thought”
Candy Coated Kindness
We were out and about again today, running more errands, getting ready for some upcoming Christmas festivities. Since we were going out we thought today would be a good day for the candy cane caper. Sounds more adventurous or slightly naughty than it was, but it ended up being pretty nice. We’d purchased a boxContinue reading “Candy Coated Kindness”
Kindness Hits You Where You Live
Today might have been the most simple act of kindness we’ve done to date. We were kind to each other. We slept in, laughed, talked, shopped, did laundry, cooked, did dishes, drank our nightly decaf, held hands, showed each other cool photos online, took the pups for a nice walk, problem solved a couple ofContinue reading “Kindness Hits You Where You Live”
Conserving Kindness
Today K and I made our yearly Christmas trip into Chicago. We usually go to several places on our Christmas trip day, but this time we ended up just staying at the Lincoln Park Zoo all day. We looked at the animals, had several different talks with zoo staff about various animals, ate some lunch,Continue reading “Conserving Kindness”
A Morsel of Kindness
Everyone loves cookies and it just so happens my honey makes great M&M cookies. Today’s kindness was a simple one. She made cookies and we delivered them to three of our neighbors. Needless to say they were surprised and very happy to get them. Nothing like seeing people with big smiles on their faces. KindnessContinue reading “A Morsel of Kindness”
A Pop of Kindness
We decided to go with a fun act of kindness today. We taped a couple of packages of microwave popcorn to a Redbox outside a local Walgreens. The signs said, “Enjoy some popcorn with your movie”. We hope someone does!
Keeping The Cold at Bay With Kindness
We found a big package of handwarmers at the bottom of our hat/scarf bin in our closet. At some point we bought them in bulk. Each little package is a pack of two handwarmers. It’s very cold out today so our act of kindness was to drive around our towns, both Champaign and Urbana, forContinue reading “Keeping The Cold at Bay With Kindness”
