Poetry Friday: "Everyday Grace" by Stella Nesanovich

Head over to Sally Murphy's blog 
for this week's round-up of poetic goodness. 
Thanks for hosting, Sally.

I am sharing poems and moments of light (my OLW) this year. 

" . . .  light does get through . . . "  These words arrived as a gift in Kirby Larson's newsletter this week. Read "A Christmas Miracle" here.

Sometimes we are the recipients of light and sometimes we are the bearers of light. The poem "Everyday Grace" by Stella Nesanovich shows how the "light does get through," even on ordinary days and in ordinary places. 

May your week be filled with moments when you are the bearer and the receiver of light.

Slice of Life: #52 Stories, 1/52: The Roots of my Obsession

I'm attempting to write 52 stories from my life during the year 2020. One story a week, in no particular order, to remember and document some of the memories of my life. 

If you know me, then you must know of my cookie obsession. If I stop at a bakery, I'm eying the cookies. If it's my birthday, I prefer cookies over cake (though it is tough to put candles in a cookie). If it's December, then you'll find me in the kitchen baking cookies to share with friends and family. Actually, I share cookies year round, but December finds me with several tins of cookies in the freezer ready for whoever needs or wants a cookie or two.

This particular obsession had its roots in 4-H. I was one of those small town kids who participated in 4-H. We met in the courthouse on the 3rd floor.

One of the first things we did was learn to sew. Two sewing projects I remember? A scarf that wasn't even sewn, it was merely a piece of fabric fringed on four sides by pulling out threads and a wrist pincushion made of felt, with a piece of cardboard inserted before we stuffed it with cotton. A piece of elastic secured it to the wrist, with pins at the ready for the budding seamstress. All the sewing for this project was done by hand. Was it the beginning of a long career of sewing? Nope, I never made it to the 4-H runway in a stunning handmade dress. With a mom who worked in a fabric store and two older sisters who were accomplished seamstresses, I could always find someone else to sew for me. 

Sewing was not to be my chosen hobby, but 4-H did lead me to a favorite hobby, baking. I remember fondly the cooking demonstrations by our local county extension agent which we willingly devoured at the end of the 4-H meetings. So it should come as no surprise that in third grade, Kay Benham and I decided on our demonstration project - How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

We practiced often, or as often as our moms would allow us. We copied the recipe on a poster so we could refer to it during the demonstration, we measured the ingredients ahead of time and  arranged them in containers on the cookie sheet. We showed how to make perfect drop cookies with a spoon and a knife, no fancy cookie scoops were in use at our houses. This was the 60s and you made do with what you had. We even included a wet washcloth for wiping the cookie sheet or table in case of spills. 

We were prepared. We had practiced. We rocked the demonstration. So why were our mothers quietly chuckling as we returned to our seats? They had both noticed that the cloth we used to wipe down our cookie sheet was the same one we had used to wipe down the table at the beginning of our demonstration after another member's dog demonstration. In spite of this hygienic blunder, we took home a blue ribbon! And I took home an obsession for baking cookies that continues to this day.

Poetry Friday: My first light poem

Head over to Carol's Corner

for this week's round-up of poetic goodness.  

Carol's share is a Maya Angelou poem

perfect for the beginning of a new year.

Thanks, Carol, for hosting this week!

Good morning and Happy New Year, poetry friends!

My OLW for this new year is light and I intend to share many light poems this year. This first one, " When I Am Among the Trees" by Mary Oliver could well be my poem of the year since it combines two favorite things, light and trees. Enjoy this  excerpt from the poem and look it up to enjoy it in its entirety. I found it in my book, Devotions (p. 123). 

"...
Around me the trees stir in their leaves,
and call out, 'Stay awhile.'
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, 'It's simple,' they say,
'and you too have come 
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.'"

Spiritual Journey Thursday: OLW Reveal for 2020

I was vacillating between three words until yesterday afternoon. When I looked at our thermometer and saw that it was in the 50s and not raining, I asked my husband if he'd like to join me for a walk. I have to admit that I lost my momentum of trying (my 2019 OLW) for 10,000 steps at least four times a week during December. And the first day of the new year seemed like the perfect time to return to this important habit. 

By the time we got our schedules synchronized to step outside together, I was totally amazed to see blue sky! And even a bit of sun peeking through the clouds.  And it was at that point that I knew this year's word would be light! (The other two words I  considered were gather and connect. Maybe next year one of those words will walk with me.)

I'm now sitting in the family room typing by the light of the Christmas tree on another typical gray Northwest day. But the memory of yesterday's light lingers in my heart. I look forward to traveling with light through 2020 and seeing what I'm supposed to learn. 

Words that I chose in previous years include listen, savor, stretch, abide, nourish, delight, and try.

And here are a few pics from yesterday's awe-inspiring, light-filled walk!

Slice of Life: The Cookie Trials

I wrote about try, my OLW for 2019 in this reflection early in December. But it wasn't until I was thinking about today's post that I realized how easily our OLW can creep into our daily activities. I'm actually closing out 2019 with my own cookie trials by trying new cookie recipes. Every year I bake the same tried-and-true cookies to share with family and friends, but this month I ventured off that path for my own Great Cookie Bake-Off.

I kicked off my cookie trials with a recipe for Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies clipped from a mailing and stashed in my drawer of recipes for years. I've been trying to replicate a favorite double chocolate cookie from The Bryant Corner Cafe for several years and this one comes very close. I took it to a cookie exchange earlier in the month. It's a keeper!

I tried Scrumptious Orange Bites yesterday. This recipe (torn from a 2012 Christmas Cookie magazine) combines dates, orange juice, orange zest, and butterscotch chips all in one delicious cookie. I'll be sharing them with some friends today. Too bad that my blogging buddies all live too far away for a New Year's Eve plate of cookies.

And today's trials? Part of my ongoing quest to replace the shortening with butter in two of my favorite cookies, Snickerdoodles & Molasses Crinkles. I've been trying for some time and somehow the results never match up in taste to my old, tried-and-true recipes with Crisco. I've already had one failed molasses cookie attempt this month. Fingers crossed that today's trials become tomorrow's blue ribbon winners!

And because I know some of you will ask . . . pics of the recipes!

Slice of Life: Favorite Books of 2019

Our yearly Christmas card includes favorite books, movies, TV, and events for the year. My favorite books for 2019 were An American Marriage by Tayari Jones; They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott; The Line Tender by Kate Allen; Baking Day at Grandma's by Anika Denise; and A Boy Like You by Frank Murphy. 

And then because I have a tough time limiting my favorites to five books, I added a note to my book-loving friends with more favorites. And because I consider my fellow slicers and bloggers part of my community of book-loving friends, I'm including that note for each of you. 

Dear book loving friend,

This note was born when I realized that I left A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader off my list of favorite books for the year. If you haven’t read this beautiful book, stop now and request it from your local library. And then I fear that you may have the same response I did, “This is a book that I simply must own.” Even though I’m at that stage in life where I’m trying to get rid of things, once in a while a thing enters my life that I simply must own. This book deserved a place on my shelf and in my heart this year.

Another book I bought for myself this past year was Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver. Every single time I pick it up and read a poem or two or three, the words fill me with wonder. I’ll share three I loved this morning: “Mysteries, Yes” (p. 85), “Praying” (p. 131) and “When I Am Among the Trees” (p. 123).

And three more favorite picture books – The Scarecrow by Beth Ferry; Rise!: From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou by Bethany Hegedus; and A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation by Barry Wittenstein.

Do let me know some of your favorite reads of 2019!

Warm wishes for a wonderful season of joy, light, rest, and of course, some time for reading.

SJFT: Try, My OLW for 2019

It's the first Thursday (acutally it's Friday 

and I'm a day late) of the month and time to show up 

with my friends for Spiritual Journey Thursday. 
Irene Latham at Live Your Poem is hosting this month

and asked us to reflect on our OLW for 2019. 

I usually write several OLW posts during the year, but I failed to do so this year. There's something that made me feel like I hadn't been trying hard enough each time I contemplated a post. So for this year-end reflection I've pulled a few quotes with try in them from some of my posts this past year.

"And when I make time to be still and listen, I feel fortified and more balanced. I feel more capable of stilling the distractions and of feeling the love of my Savior.  And it doesn't happen as often as I'd like, but I keep trying (and try is my OLW for 2019)."
SJFT post about balance

"I write about my One Little Word that I've chosen each year since 2013 - listen, savor, stretch, abide, nourish, and delight. And I write about it multiple times during the year as I try (my OLW for 2019) to remember it as a focus for my year."

"I write about celebrations. Our Celebrate This Week group doesn't gather weekly any more, but I still try to round up monthly celebrations in a post at the end of each month. Sometimes I fall behind and celebrate two months at once."

Answers written in response Lindy's question, "What do you write about on your blog?"

"And no, I won't get them all read, but it's fun to try. " On my post "Checked Out" in reference to the 39 books I had checked out of the library

"When you read about habit change, one of the truths that emerges is that it's easiest to change bit by bit, not leap by leap. Another one is that you change what you monitor. So I'm trying (ohhh, there's my OLW for this year) again to keep track of how often I hit my 10,000 steps goal for the day. And how am I keeping track? With stars on the monthly calendar in my planner. And how am I doing? Well, a quick look at July shows 13 stars. I only reached my weekly goal (4 days out of 7) one time. But I'll continue to monitor and I'm hopeful that next month will be better. " SJFT post about change

 'I write to try to figure out our world in all its complicated messiness." Slice of Life, Why I Write for National Day on Writing

And so, here I am, one day late, trying to write about my experiences with try. I've experienced a few successes. I've kept track of the days I reached 10,000 steps since July with stickers on the calendar in my planner - 13 times in July & I've done better every month since then with October's 16 times as my best month. I've managed to lose ten pounds this year by taking small steps toward behavior change which works so much better for my personality. And the best try has to be this past week when I finally managed to make a blog book. I've tried several times before and always gotten frustrated, but something about the 45% off Black Friday offer led to a dogged determination this time. As my dad used to say: "That makes twice I've done that, the first and the last." Let me know if you've had success in making blog books and what platform you used. Because mine took hours and hours and I still wasn't completely satisfied, but I decided it was good enough.

I'm already looking forward to a new word for 2020.  I think I know what it will be. But I have a few days of 2019 left to try to find the best word for this upcoming new year!