(not necessarily in that order)
My once a week fast day is almost over and I have to say, I’m really beginning to enjoy it!
I like waking up once a week and realizing I don’t have to do any food prep for a whole day!
Yes, I get a little hungry, but I’m discovering that it’s actually a good day to get things done, because I want to keep my mind and energies occupied.
Best of all is that I get a huge dose of feeling that I love myself enough to do something really good for me!
While we didn’t have the serious symptoms reported by some of our friends, we also didn’t entirely escape more of a reaction to our second vaccine shot.
Sunday was a bit of a wash — lethargy, a wee bit of achiness in the muscles, plus Ramesha had a mild fever and some headache. We weren’t able to accomplish much, which I guess is okay since it was Sunday.
But today, while an improvement, still wasn’t a hundred percent. Which means that tomorrow I have to really get crackin’!
I heard this amazing recording of “The Last Rose of Summer” and it touched something very deep inside me. It’s not just that my friend, Sofia Sala, has an incredible voice and exquisite artistry. It’s the depth of feeling that she conveys through the words and the music.
Then, not more than thirty minutes later, I read on another friend’s Facebook profile this poem by Mary Oliver titled, “When Death Comes.” It felt like a one-two punch of profound depth combined with extreme beauty.
I’ve been reflecting on both all day.
When Death Comes
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox;
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.
~ Mary Oliver
Getting our second COVID shot was — at one and the same time — both a tremendous relief and hugely anticlimactic.
Interesting and strange that something so small and seemingly insignificant is more or less our “get out of jail” card. I mean, two more weeks and we can go visit my Dad!
Woohoo!
Everything was sooooo beautiful at the beginning of my walk today, I just had to try and capture a teeny bit of the magic in a video.
Our neighbors have amazing gardens filled with happy birds. I hope you can hear the birdsong — talk about making a joyful noise unto the Lord! They are singing their little hearts out!
“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”
~ Hugh Laurie
This really speaks to me today. How much time I’ve wasted trying to be ready when, “generally speaking, now is as good a time as any!”
I love this image — relaxed (even a little too much so, considering the left elbow leaning on the desk) and obviously just playing for his own enjoyment. This is definitely not someone working on an upcoming audition or recital program!
Leave it to the great Norman Rockwell to totally capture the mood of the moment.
Well, o-kay! I am well and truly back into high gear with my healthy new regime.
I’ve almost finished the first week of another Challenge, which means I’m wrapping up my once-a-week day of fasting.
Our power was out (PG&E was replacing a pole) so I worked from the office all day instead of at home, which I think made it a little easier. It also helped that I had time sensitive projects to complete; there’s nothing like a deadline to make time fly by!
I’m also enjoying getting back into my walking routine. I have to confess that I hardly walked at all during the two weeks between Challenges. The “daily tracker” simply works for me, big time!
Come the end of this current Challenge, I’m going to have make my own “in-between” tracker so that I can stay…well, on track. 🏃♀️
Trying to come up with a blog topic, but all I could really think about is how late it’s getting and wanting to go to bed. This poem from my childhood popped into my head and I decided to go with it!
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod (Dutch Lullaby)
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe—
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
“Where are you going, and what do you wish?”
The old moon asked the three.
“We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!”
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in that beautiful sea—
“Now cast your nets wherever you wish—
Never afeard are we”;
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam—
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
‘T was all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought ‘t was a dream they ‘d dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea—
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one’s trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
–by Eugene Field (1850-1895)
Experimenting — yet again — with another communication platform for our choir (this time it’s groups.io) and feeling rather confused.
I see that it works for other choirs, so I guess I’ll just keep plugging along. The clarity will come, I’m sure.