March 2023: Books, Birthday, and more

"Aries Goddess Signature-living a fierce, vulnerable, full-hearted YES to life and all parts of ourselves (fearful and brave) is how the delicate flower emerges from the rock." ~ Mark Nepo

Birthday Breakfast

Couple of years...

Decades ago...

Enjoy spending time with this peanut then and now

First time on a horse, for me, and a great guided trailride for all. Photo by Logan xo

Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Happy Birthday to Logan!!

Kristen Helal's   mine

Logan's 27th Birthday

Mom bought us the beautiful candle

Quilt making Queens, Loretta, Lynette, and Shabazz

Reading some excellent "children's" books

Sunrise at Crescent Beach and McCook park

The Lord's Prayer by Jen Norton

Ultimate healing (21) Umbrage (39) Unexpected grace (43) Help, Thanks, Wow By Anne Lamott 

Vichyssoise fog (55) Help, Thanks, Wow By Anne Lamott 

"What bubbled up that made you Want to...

eXplore more?" Stephanye Clarke

Zambia and Zimbabwe, Summit for Democracy, birthday spent far away from family. Thank for all that you do, Scott Bates!!

Celebrating Spring Equinox

Aries

Balancing point

"...Droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licóur..." Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Prologue right there on page 2 :)

Energy of spring Equinox

Falling on March 21, 22, or 23

Gnarled branches represent the twisting path of life. p. 30

"Holi : the Joyous and colorful spring festival of India is associated with the defeat of the demoness Holika..." p. 15

"If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb."  ~ Farmers Almanac

Journey from death to life p. 4

Ken, on the Wednesday before Easter, we should pretend we're in

Lebanon on "Job's Wednesday" and not clean house, which attracts ants, but instead, go to the beach for a picnic and first swim of the year! :) p. 18-19

"March was the first month of the Roman year until ... 46 BCE when January and February were added" p. 3

"March comes in like a Lion and goes out like a Lamb”

Nowruz : Persian New Year

Our Lady, the Life-Giving Fountain p. 27

Picnic Day: Monday after Easter

Queen of Heaven p. 43

"Reference to astronomy, referencing the position of the constellations Leo (a lion) and Aries (a ram, or lamb) in the night sky – it quickly evolved into a succinct summation of March’s changing weather as the...

"...Seasons change from winter to spring in the Northern Hemisphere." source

Tansy Cake were the prizes awarded to the winners of the Easter games. Tansy is a bitter her, therefore good for cleansing the body in spring..." p. 53

Unlike the Autumn Equinox, the Spring Equinox is associated with many holiday customs. p. 2

"Vertú engendred is the flour" [Virtue engendered is the flower] p. 2

"Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth" [my favorite line]

XV, for Kristos voskryesye - Christ is risen." p. 50

Yugoslavia: the Easter Hare makes a nest in the stables and young folks look for eggs in the hay." p. 65

Zoroastrian seven S's: seeb, sonbol, seer, sumac, senjed, sabzeh, and samanou p.31

Inspiration from books, movies, even scrolling...

Absurd and Antediluvian... (ridiculously old-fashioned) p. 36 Small Victories by Anne Lamott

"Beautiful moments heal, as do real cocoa... a walk... " p. 103 Small Victories by Anne Lamott

Cute Cottage

"Death is God's no to all humans" p. 120 Small Victories by Anne Lamott

"Emptiness can be filled only with love... a nap... or maybe, perhaps,a fig." p. 103

"Flecks and nuggets of gold that Feeling grief will give you." ~  Anne Lamott Small Victories

"Growing up is not going nearly as efficiently as I had hoped." p. 111 ~  Anne Lamott Small Victories

"Haphazardly Haranged and laughed at me. " p. 244 ~  Anne Lamott Small Victories

source

Inspiration comes in many forms

 source

"Jiggles you free from clutch and quiver..."p. 115

 Living room Light at 49P

Mom, Nancy Thomason 💕 1954

Nancy Ann Thomason 💕 1954

"Oh no! Your magic hat!" cried the cats 'Now you'll NEVER be able to make the dog disappear."

Persian mystical Poet, Rumi "Where there is ruin there is hope for treasure." 

Quiet here at Westerly side of Pawcatuck River

River bend cemetery looking downriver toward Westerly Yacht Club from the Law Family plot

 "Softness and illumination" p. 35

"Through love, all pain will turn to medicine." ~ Rumi qtd. p. 103

"Unfurl your fingers, hold out your palm,  openhanded" p. 115

"Vessel to the giver" p. 104  ~  Anne Lamott Small Victories

Whitman's song of myself "To touch my person to someone else's is about as much as I can stand."

Xylaria polymorpha, commonly known as dead man's fingers, is a saprobic fungus. It is a common inhabitant of forest and woodland areas, usually growing from the bases of rotting or injured tree stumps and decaying wood. Source

thanks, Greg, new FB friend :)

"You have to be grateful whenever you get to someplace safe and okay, even when it turns out it wasn't quite where you were heading." p.68 ~  Anne Lamott Small Victories

"Zinging like electrified molecules." p. 239 "Zucchini seeds don't grow tulips." p. 278 ~  Anne Lamott Small Victories

New look at Love ❤️

"Alithea, how can it be a mistake to love someone entirely?" 3000 years of longing

Based on short story: The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye by A.S. Byatt

Beside you, where I used to lay... But there's a danger in loving somebody too much...

"Cautionary tale"

Djinn (Arabic: جن‎) are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic culture and beliefs.

Danger in loving somebody too much

Enchantment of our own stories ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

Filled with dread and panic when we can't contain the chaos ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

God's love IS enough

"Humankind is a wonder, Alithea ... Humankind, what a conundrum " ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

Is it too much? Is it all too much to ask? ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing It's sad when you know It's your heart you can't trust... And It's sad when you know it's your heart they can't touch" source 

Just to have somebody by my side

Keep seeing you walk through that door... Keep losing my place...

"Love is not something we come to by reason... Love is a gift. A gift of oneself given freely. It's not something i couldever ask for." ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

Makes a sound like thunder... Makes me feel like rain / And like a fool who will never see the truth,  I keep thinking something's gonna change."

"My name is Alithea. My story is true..."

Narratoloist who sought to find the truths common to all the stories of humankind. A

Our solitudes to be together ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

Queen of Sheba... quite a story ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

Realm of Djinn... ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing   Reason why people don't stay who they are...

Songwriters: Glen Burtnik / Patty Smyth

 source

Undying, Unfailing, Unlimited ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

Vapor ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

What are we to do with longings awoken? ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

exchange for his freedom ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

"You want us to make love-craft?" Yes ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

"Yes I may have hurt you / But I did not desert you / Maybe I just want to have it all" source 

Zefir is a young woman who feels trapped, one who wants to gain freedom so she can travel the world and pursue knowledge. While Zefir and the Djinn initially get along, Zefir eventually lashes out at the Djinn due to her captivity and academic frustrations. (source)  ~ Three Thousand Years of Longing

Imagine a Day by Sarah L. Thomson paintings by Rob Gonsalves

"Alive" by Big Daddy Weave click here to listen and see the lyrics

"...Build the world around you  

Come to the end of your rope and you let go..."  

...Dive down through branches or swim up to the sun...

"Everything happens for a reason but you don't know what you don't know..." ~  "Joy in the Morning" by Tauren Wells

"...Float on a puff of air to summon back the blue"

"Giving in to your feelings is like drowning in the shadows...Grace will be there..."  ~  "Joy in the Morning" by Tauren Wells 

"Grace and daring are all we need to build a bridge" ~ Imagine A Day by Sarah L. Thomson paintings by Rob Gonsalves and Sim & Garfunkle's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" listen here

"He's not done / No, He's not done with it yet ~  "Joy in the Morning" by Tauren Wells

"Joy in the Morning" by Tauren Wells Click here to listen to this beautiful song

not to Keep strangers out, but to welcome them in.

 when your house enfolds you

Like a nest, rocking gently in the autumn wind." 

"Mr. Bojangles...dance..."

Not sure why, but I when I heard this song shortly after reading/seeing this book, it seemed fitting.

Only the beginning of what we can explore ... when you build the world around...

Piece by Piece  

Quiet eyes: Howard Thurman, an African-American theologian, philosopher and civil rights leader, wrote in one of his Meditations of the Heart: "look out on life with Quiet eyes."

Roots drink up Rivers... 

 Sarah L. Thomson, author

Twigs tangle in clouds and a Tree is a ladder between earth and air

 when everything you build Touches the sky

Underneath, a road you have never ridden on before

Violet enjoying this book 

"When you forget how to fall."

"When you come to the end of your rope and you let go..."  ~  "Joy in the Morning" by Tauren Wells

eXplore 

You don't need wings to soar   "just" a 

Zest for life and a willingness to IMAGINE!

Love learning new words... revamped a post from Sept 2011

Argiope aurantia: actual name of what I had always called a "banana spider"  (2011)

Bella Monica - now! lunch! yeah!!!  (2011)

Cary High School  (2011)

Doodle (2011)

 source (2023)

Focus group and garlic Soup :) 2011

Grackles, Gregarious passerine birds in the icterid family Genus Quiscalus 2023

 2011 AND 2023

 Italian Restaurant for our secret lunch club (2011)

Jennifer, John, and Susan (2011)

 source 2023

Ken! I finally found the word "teenitsy" again in this 2011 blog post

 Lunch at Bella Monica [our secret club] was the "hidden" message in the original post from 2011

 Mussels Diabloover spaghetti

Nibblets at lunch with friends

Old Raleigh Village

Prior to all four of us leaving Meredith for our next adventures 

Quiscalus: avian genus of some species of grackles, gregarious passerine birds in the icterid family. They are native to North and South America. The genus was named and described by French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1816.

Read but not    Recommending (2023)

Starbucks for dessert (2011)

Teenitsy : these grasshoppers are an example of "teenitsy"

 thanks April 

Unable to find this word anywhere now 🤷‍♀️

Validated by April Richards, CCL student worker at MC - wow- more than a decade ago now

 Walking: this week's topic in Living Juicy

XO" by John Mayer listen here