Spiritual Journey Thursday: Seasonal Bliss

It's the first Thursday of the month and time 

to show up with our friends for Spiritual Journey Thursday.

Carol at Beyond Literacy Link is hosting this month and selected 

Seasonal Bliss as our theme. Thanks, Carol, for creating this 

beautiful graphic to accompany our monthly reflections.

I have to admit that I've felt a bit grumpy about Carol's chosen theme, Seasonal Bliss. I've even mentioned it to a few family and friends and we've chuckled about the idea of bliss this time of year when we've had nothing but incessant rain for weeks on end (with a bit of sunshine a few days ago, just to show us what we've been missing). 

Reading your posts this morning has brought light to another rainy day and joy to my heart. I love Carol's quote - "Joys come from simple and natural things..." I've already texted it to daughter who is speaking on joy this coming Sunday. And so this morning I'm collecting joy-filled moments.

• Beads of water sparkling like diamonds on the tree outside my kitchen sink
• Green shoots of daffodils prepping for their showy entrance, promising spring is on its way
• Pink blossoms (already!) on the tree as I drive downtown
• A chance to write my SOL in front of a roaring fire with snow falling gently when I took a friend to her doctor's appointment (a hospital/doctor's office with a huge fireplace & enormous windows to the outside, thanks to the architect who designed this beautiful space)
• Hummingbirds sipping at their feeder, buzzing me when I happen to step into "their" space
• A dry morning when I "brushed" the dead leaves out of the tree on the driveway with the long utility broom
• Days that are growing longer, giving us more light (even if it isn't always sunlight)
• Playing hide and seek with three year old Jack who hides in clear view with gleeful joy
• Giggling with almost ten month old Robby
• Face timing with perpetually moving, always smiling grandson Teddy (and I get to see him this month!)
• Three friends together yesterday for the first time since mid- December, cups of hot chocolate in hand, the "Call the Midwives " Christmas special on TV, hitting pause when we need to tell stories, reveling in the joy of simply being together (and that we waited to watch this until we could be together)
• The "winter" lights on the deck popping on each evening as daylight ends and evening descends
• This forecast!  (5 days when the sun will peek through the clouds.)
  

Praise to God for seasons, for family, for friends, and for His ever present love. Thanks for reminding me, Carol, that bliss is waiting to be discovered in every season if we just take the time to "Pause, notice, wonder."

Slice of Life #52 Stories: 5/52, A Weekend Trip to the Flat

We're all packed and ready for the drive to Granny's house. But first, we sit in the car and wait for Mom to get off work. Dad drums on the roof of the car and I imagine rows and rows of Army men marching there. Finally, Mom comes out the door of W.T. Grants and we are ready for the three hour drive to McNally Flat from where we live in Tulsa. It's the early 1960s. Kay and Karl are in the back seat, but as the youngest in the family, I get to sit in the front seat between Mom and Dad. 

We head south in our '53 light blue and white Chevy. Most of the drive is on two lane highways, but I know we're getting closer once we turn onto the dirt roads of the flat. We urge Dad to pick up speed for the thrill hill as Mom cautions him, "Be careful, Ellis." It's like being in our own roller coaster as we fly down the hill, that fun feeling in our tummies. 

It's been a long drive and my eyelids are droppy. Sure enough, as soon as I drift off, a rabbit scampers across the road. I sit up straighter, trying hard to stay awake so I won't miss the next one. I watch the glow cast by the headlights hoping mightily for another bunny to hop across the road. My vigilance is rewarded. 

It's impossible to go to sleep now. There's Uncle Aaron's house to watch for and then Aunt Ruby Dee's house. After that it's a short jaunt to Granny's house, but the second best part of the trip is coming. It's a favorite game we always play. As we round the bend, it's a game to see who can shout out, "I spy Granny's house," first! We pull into the drive and tumble sleepily into Granny's house, ready for a weekend of fun at the farm.   

And the best part of the trip? It had to be sitting snuggled between my parents, cocooned by their love, listening to Dad sing and Mom tell stories about growing up in the flat. 

Each Tuesday I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice"

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

This year I'm writing 52 stories from my life.

Poetry Friday: Reaching for the Light!

Head over to Jone Rosh MacCulloch's blog 
for this week's round-up of poetic goodness. 

I'm struggling this week, but continuing to reach for the light (my OLW) in spite of friends' health challenges, two deaths in our extended family, and the state of our democracy. When I read Heidi's review of Finding Treasure last week, I was propelled to pull it off the shelf of books waiting to be read.  And I was not disappointed!

A favorite poem "Collecting Stars!" highlights the joy of fireflies with this opening phrase:

"When darkness deepens

sparks of starlight

dance around the yard."

The poem continues with a familiar image of a child capturing fireflies in a mason jar.

And then closes with these lines:

"those specks of light

aren't made to keep.

So float free - goodbye stars!" 

The book lay open to this page all week. While it may stretch the idea of the poem a bit, it spoke to me of reaching, seeking, and capturing light during dark times. And the act of releasing the fireflies? Maybe it's sharing the light we find with each other.

Here are a few sparks of light I've discovered or leaned on recently:

• A Facebook find on Martin Luther King Day - "Shed a Little Light performed by The Macabees and Naturally Seven 
• John Henry Newman's hymn, Lead, Kindly Light performed by Daniel Beck 
• Verses of scripture - "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105) "And I will also be your light in the wilderness..." (1 Nephi 17:13)
• These words from Jerry Craft regarding his phone call from Kwame Alexander after his Newbery win - “I was so surprised, I thought it was Kwame Mbalia.” When he finally realized it was Alexander, “a light shone through my window on the phone and the angels started singing,” he said laughing.
  
• Playing hide and seek with my grandson & his insistence that an important prop is the illuminated flashlight that we carry when we are the seeker
• The joy of watching grandson revel in light and love at his 3rd birthday celebration
  

My focus for this past month has been a wonderful way to keep my OLW front and center as I've begun 2020. After a month of sharing light, I'm stepping away to my more traditional Poetry Friday posts of sharing poems, poets, or books that speak to me. However, don't be surprised if the light occasionally strolls into some of my posts.

Slice of Life: #52Stories, 4/52 True Confessions

As part of my #52stories project for 2020, I'm looking at monthly quizzes with prompts from Family Search. The January category is Goals and Achievements. While I won't commit to following the prompts for each story, they do provide a starting place. And this week's memory is about a recognition I received that has always troubled me a bit. 

I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. We were making posters for a contest sponsored by a local insurance company. The theme for the contest was encouraging safety on the streets by not jaywalking. We learned about how good posters rely on an image and a few words. My idea was to draw someone on crutches, with a bandaged head and the words, "Yes, I jaywalked."

The idea was all mine. However, when it was time to move the idea from my head to the paper, I realized a major flaw. I couldn't draw, art projects always terrified me, and drawing a person was an impossible challenge. Each time I tried to work on the drawing I would end up in tears. Enter my friend, Elaine, who had mad skills in the drawing department. She helped me sketch out the person on crutches. I outlined and colored the figure, and added the caption to the sketch.  Imagine my surprise when our teacher notified me that I had won third prize in the contest. I remember my dad taking me to the bank and helping me open a savings account with the $15 in prize money. This savings account became the repository for my college savings.

More than fifty years later, I sometimes wonder -  Should I have split the prize money and recognition with Elaine? Should I have refused the prize since I had help from a friend? I wonder if Elaine remembers helping me. I've never forgotten her help. Maybe it's time for me to send a note and half the prize money to Elaine. 

Poetry Friday: "Praise Song for the Day"

Head over to Kathryn Apel's blog,
for this week's round-up of poetic goodness.

 Eleven years ago this month was an auspicious day for our country, the inauguration day of President Barack Obama. I love Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, "Praise Song for the Day," shared on that occasion. And in the spirit of continuing to share poems about light* (my OLW), I offer up the concluding words to her poem:

"  . . .       What if the mightiest word is love? 

Love beyond marital, filial, national,

love that casts a widening pool of light,

love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,

any thing can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light."

You can read the entire poem by clicking on the title of the poem. When I searched for the poem, I found this remembrance of that day from an article in The New Yorker, "A Poet's Tale from Obama's First Inaugural," written in 2017.

Finally, if you're interested in savoring more of Alexander's words

check out her lovely memoir, "The Light of the World."

*Several readers commented that they were unable to read the words when I put the used yellow print for the word light. I'm hoping that giving it a yellow background will remedy that problem, while still allowing me to highlight my OLW. Let me know if this works better.  

Slice of Life: #52Stories, 3/52: Porches

A porch is such a simple word
to contain so many memories.
 


















A little girl standing in her Sunday best 
on a Tulsa porch just barely remembered.
Playing jacks with Dortha on hot summer days,
cool concrete caressing our sweaty legs.
Carol and I sitting on the porch steps, 
savoring bowls of homemade banana ice cream,
listening to the shenanigans
of Dad and Uncle Alvin telling story after story. 
Our first home, our firstborn, Blake, and 
Grandma and Grandpa Behnke
swinging in the porch swing,  
getting acquainted with their new grandson.
A blessed afternoon on the porch 
when Lance rolled our new video camera,
Mom telling the story 
of receiving the letter notifying her
that Dad (missing-in-action during WWII) 
was alive. 
Backdrop to Mom's story is Blake's 
calling-down-the-pipe tunes and needing the 
occasional comfort of his mother's lap .
An afternoon spent on Crystal's porch, 
cousins playing in the yard,
on the swing set, and in the sandbox.
Sara carrying as many kittens
as her arms will hold.
Jack and Grandma watching raindrops fall 
from the front porch,
darting in and out of the gentle Seattle rain, 
laughing and smiling with each encounter.
We need more porches.
We need more time
for sitting and listening,
for making memories,
and remembering.

Poetry Friday: Snow Globe Wishes

Head over to Catherine's blog,

 Reading to the Core  for this week's

round-up of poetic goodness.

It's mid January and holiday books continue to arrive on my holds shelf at the library. December's requests are starting to thin out and I've moved into first place. I'm never sure who has recommended them. Betsy Bird? NYT Book Review? Hornbook? Indiebound? But I'm always thrilled to explore a new-to-me book.

Erin Dealey's Snow Globe Wishes arrived this week and deserves to be highlighted for this week's post. Did you see how I worked my OLW (light) into this review? But the connections extend to the actual book which tells what happens in a family when the worst snowstorm of the year arrives and "Lights go out!"

"Picnic dinners,
     candlelight.
Darkness draws us close tonight."

As the family begin to slumber in their blanket fort, a little girl makes
"Snow globe wishes.
                 Close your eyes." 

As morning dawns (daylight), a whisper from the snow is heard. 
"Children hear it best, they say.
         But,
                 what if
                                     on this snow globe day . . . ?"

" . . . neighbors, strangers, sisters, brothers?"

"  . . . EVERYONE comes out to play?"

The final page reveals a snow globe with the entire community hand-in-hand circling around a tree.

"Peace on earth
    Right now.
      Right here.

              Peace for all
                   throughout the year!" 

Does your soul need some light? Revel in the spirit of winter and the promise that snow globe wishes can come true. You'll be charmed by the rhyming text and portrayals of light - headlights, firelight, candlelight, lantern light, moonlight, starlight, and daylight. Illustrator Claire Shorrock delivers diverse family groups in her illustrations with a lovely light yellow and teal palette complete with glittery snowy embellishments on the front and back covers. I'm adding it to next year's wish list for my Christmas book collection.