A Thought From My Youthful Gatherings

William Ellery Channing wrote:

To live content with small means,
To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich;
To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.
In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.

Think You Are Having a Bad Day?

Some of these have got to hurt in the morning, but I found them funny. So much for my maturity.

A Thought for Food - for Thought

Julia Cameron wrote:
"Only recently recognized as an addiction, workaholism still receives a great deal of support in our society. The phrase 'I'm working' has a certain unassailable air of goodness and duty to it. The truth is we are very often working to avoid ourselves, our spouses, our real feelings. . . Play can make a workaholic very nervous. Fun is scary."
My favorite memories are the times we had fun together. When we worked together, it was fun.

Quenching Spring Fever

Came home from school on this warm afternoon fired up to get spring rolling, determined to start the annual fruit tree pruning. Snow still on the ground so I put on my irrigation black rubber boots that come to the tops of my calves. Oiled the lopping shears and headed for the peach trees. I was so eager, so excited. The sun was warm on my face and I unbuttoned my jacket. By the time I got to the first tree in line, snow had filled my boots and my feet were wet. Soon they were freezing. I got one tree mostly done and had to quit. I did find the buried water hose for the horses and thawed it out so they could have fresh water, though. Then a friend came to visit and gave me an excuse to wait for a couple more days. My spring fever has abated and cooled a little until my feet warm up, but by Friday will be raging again I'm sure.

TOUCHES I LOVE

Touches on the outside:

Grass under bare feet
Fingers in my hair
Sunshine on my shoulders
A child's hand
A spouse's hand
Breezes through my shirt
Rolling sweat
Blue-white winter days' sharpness against my cheek
A horse's muzzle
A cat's tongue
A dog's fur at the base of his ear
A horse's heart beat between my legs
Water sliding along my body when swimming
Cool summer sheets
Warm winter fleece
Silk
Satin
Flannel
Bread on my tongue
A roll in the snow when super heated
A waterfall on my head and shoulders
A snowflake on my nose
An autumn leaf resting in my palm
A massage
A full stream from the tap on my toes
Hugs
Kisses
The weight of quilts in winter and nothing in summer
Cozy sleeping bags
Tugs on the belaying line
An all over brush scratching
The grip of a butterfly
Skinny dipping

Touches on the inside:

Music
Laughter
"Heart sneezes"
A nice meal
Learning
Hugs and Kisses
Love
Light and color
Exercise
Rhythm
A good reading book
Chuckles
Things of the Spirit

Touching Thoughts

Since touch is something I have come to realize is very important to me, I am going to put a few things as I come across them together here. Maybe I can come close to expressing some of what I feel, some of what I understand through touch of all kinds. This will be a changing and growing blog, I hope. To begin:

". . . we are not endowed with real life, and all that seems most real about us is but the thinnest substance of a dream---till the heart be touched. That touch creates us."

Nathaniel Hawthorne (from his notebooks)

I'm not a poet, either, but . . .

Velvet reds, maroons

Fires orange, showers yellow

Renewing autumn

(a humble attempt at Haiku)