Beginner's Heart

Today was the FIRST DAY of Farmers Market! Always a kind of holiday for me: the return of a Saturday ritual. I get up, throw on clothes, hop in my car, and drive to midtown. I don’t worry about my hair, or what I wear, knowing that although I’m sure to see someone I know…

  When I was about the age of the picture, I asked my grandmother (who was probably 10 years older than I am now) how it felt to get old.  She laughed ruefully & shook her head. I look in the mirror, and I wonder: who’s that old lady?? I don’t feel old on the inside.…

I love to cook. At least most of the time. And when I’m happiest doing it — making something I like to eat, w/out a deadline or people I worry won’t like it — cooking feels much like meditation. So does gardening, or making tea. I’ve never gotten to where washing dishes does this for…

Today when I filled bird feeders, I looked out over the yard. Everywhere there’s the flush of rose & pink, and the backdrop of pale green that only comes in spring. Once I had the sunflower tray filled, the fat squirrel that’s half-tame was in it, stuffing fat cheeks. And the finches are on one…

A discussion on my FB page began w/ my heartfelt anger at recent attempts (many successful) to discriminate against gay & trangender men & women. An old friend & former colleague pointed out that most Christians (at least here in America) are far more familiar w/ the 10 Commandments than the Beatitudes. It was a…

My dogs are pretty indulged. Even (dare I confess?) spoiled. They have soft little beds in their kennels, fleecy things I wash regularly, and replace when the dogs chew holes in them. There is an American-made brand of good dog food, and shots, and pill for allergies & arthritis. But my dogs are NOT my…

I am very lucky: I have a relatively large network of family. Three sisters, a brother-in-law who’s great, lots of nieces & nephews, even two aunts still living. I also have a large family-of-the-heart: BFFs, ersatz brothers, cousins, and just folks who feel like family. Each as different from the others as gardenias from roses,…

As I often do when I’m worried or beset by whatever, I cleaned out a closet the other day. And rediscovered things I’d forgotten: a quilt my mother made me when I married; a quilt my sister quilted from a quilt top my grandmother made. And because my household is a place of some fragility…

I’ve looked everywhere to find the photographer/ artist who made this picture. It would be wonderful to thank him/her, because I love it. And I live it, although I’m not quite as old as the woman in the picture. But I’m certainly not as young as the dancer, either! I once asked my grandmother, who must…

I never intended to know a boatload about amaryllis. Nor did I anticipate I would become a refugee camp for them: taking them in after holidays, nurturing them to health, then finding homes for them. Even w/ all the many I’ve given, I still have one HUGE pot of several mixed together, and a only-slightly-smaller one…

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