Spiritual Journey Thursday & Poetry Friday: New Year Musings & My OLW for 2023!

Margaret at Reflections on the Teche is hosting our first Spiritual Journey Thursday of 2023 with a reflection on purpose, her OLW for 2023.

 

The Poetry Friday Roundup is with Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core.

I composed this post in my writer's notebook*, the first time I've written in it in some time. It felt good to sit in my recliner, notebook in hand, to think about the new year and a new word. I was proud of myself for writing early, but then yesterday was crazy. So my SJT post joins my Poetry Friday post.  

(*I just discovered today that Ralph Fletcher has a new and expanded edition of his book, A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer within You. It releases on January 10. Hurry now to place your pre-order. I loved using this book when I was teaching. I'm sure I'll find a young writer or two who would appreciate this new edition of an old favorite of mine)

This acrostic poem reveals my OLW for 2023 and some of the feelings I have about approaching a new year.

 

Goodness me! 

A new year's arrived. 

Time to still the

Hustle. Watch for 

Enchantments. Find hope and goodness.

Revel in wonder.

 - Ramona Behnke

 

My next poem brought to mind a familiar poem by Bobbi Katz "What Shall I Pack in the Box Marked 'Summer'?"

 What Will I Gather in 2023? 

Words, Moments, Stories

Photos, Empty Boxes, Loose Ends

Friends, Loved Ones, Ancestors 

Hope, Goodness, Faith

Laughter, Love, Light

- Ramona Behnke

 

I'm still not sure where my journey with gather will take me, but for now it feels like a perfect word to guide my steps in this new year. Leave a comment and tell me what you will gather in 2023.

Sharing Our Stories: 2022 End of Year Favorite Photos

Some years I revisit the photos that I've taken and create a top pics of the year post.You may recognize some of the pictures from sharing on previous blog posts, but these are the photos that capture the joy of the past year in nature. No photos of people, just photos that bring the joy of particular places and seasons close to my heart. I hope you'll enjoy this brief journey through 2022 with 22 of my favorite photos.

 

 Goodbye to Mercer Island, home for 25 years

 

View from vacation house in Chimacum, WA 

where we celebrated 40th wedding anniversary

with our children and grandchildren

 

Sunrise in Kirkland from bedroom window

 

 Kirkland sunset

 

  

 

Fall at our Kirkland home

Slice of Life: It's a Process!

Today was not a snow day in the traditional sense. Kids and teachers had to go to school. We had snow flurries all day, but not much accumulation. This retired teacher had a busier than usual day. Daughter came over to pull out the Christmas decorations. Our smaller home means less space. So it's only the "dearly loved" that make the cut. And I realize that more donations need to be made, even though I thought I'd done a good job downsizing the decorations before the move. I remind myself, "It's a process."

When the grand boys returned to their house, they played outside in the snow. Morning play was met with wet pants and underwear, so they opted for their snow gear for afternoon play. And then big brother came home from school and it was time for more snow play until it was dark. Just ask my daughter, "Playing in the snow (even when there isn't much of it) can be an all-day process."

Tonight was book club. I didn't want to go out in the snow and several couldn't attend in person, so we opted for the pandemic model and had a Zoom book club meeting. It may not be optimal, but it allowed for the most participants to come. I'm getting to know a new group of book lovers in my new congregation. Making new friends is (you guessed it!) a process. But it's definitely easier with a shared interest.

I like making new discoveries at our new place. And today, I spied my own little Christmas tree in the back yard. It's been there all along, but it's a stand out star with a few flakes adorning its green needles. I'm learning to find the beauty in my new surroundings. "It's a process."

Slice of Life: Friends Old and New

I opened Amy's invitation to write and found this quote: "I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new." -Ralph Waldo Emerson 

I have written less lately than I have in a long time. But an invitation to write about friends is an easy one. Friends keep me sane and make me laugh, friends help me remember (that's why we need old friends), and friends offer listening ears, helping hands, and comforting embraces.

We recently moved (just thirty minutes away) from where we lived for twenty-five years. It's hard to grow new friends. It's a quick drive back to visit my old friends and I do it often. 

But I'm beginning to discover new friends too. I'm grateful for the smiles I receive at church, the new friend who notices me sitting alone in Sunday School and joins me on an empty row, the new friend who sent me a text (after I asked for a ride to book club) "Looking forward to spending more time with you," the new friend who sat beside me and giggled during Sunday School as we decided that Psalms was written for senior citizens with its many admonitions about falling, the new friend who made time to ask how I'm settling in, a new friend who loves picture books as much as I do (I find myself tucking new finds into my church bag to share with her), and the easy camaraderie that came with my first book club meeting last week with new friends. 

And finally a note to my dear slicer friends. I've met a few of you in person. But we don't have to meet to be dear friends because of the connections we've shared through this community. However, there's a special feeling that comes when we embrace in person. Some of us won't be at NCTE, but we'll be thinking of those of you who will be there. So enjoy that slicer dinner and those occasional meet ups! I look forward to hearing from you next week as you share the joy that comes from finally attending another NCTE in person. 

I'm a firm believer in the song I learned as a Brownie scout: "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." I love filling my life with friends. They are one of life's true treasures.

Spiritual Journey Thursday: Finding the Holy

Fran Haley is hosting our gathering today on the theme of holy. Her post reminded us that "...the holy is always there, like a luminous lifeline." The holy is not something to be reserved for Sundays or holy days, but surrounds us every day, if we slow down and pay attention. 

A favorite author of mine, Emily Belle Freeman, in her book Becoming His: A Daily Journey Toward Discipleship points out that becoming holy might ask us "...to lay aside the task we are focused on to look for the glory of God in the ordinary details of each day. We must learn to turn aside to witness the miracle in the midst of the mundane." She posits that it is in finding holy moments daily that we can become whole.

Thinking about the miracle in the midst of the mundane sent me in search of this favorite quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful;
for beauty is God’s handwriting—a wayside sacrament.
Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower,
and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.”

And I want to add, "welcome it in every brilliant fall leaf." I love the glory of God reflected in nature and I thank him as I drink in the glory of fall color that surrounds and blesses me. 

These words from Fran's post, "In the end, it is all a matter of opening the soul to seeing," reminded me of this quote from Emily Dickinson:

“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.”

 

Thanks, Fran, for this reminder to open our souls to seeing and welcoming the holy, blissful moments in our days. I know they are there if we look for them. Check out Fran's post at Lit Bits and Pieces where you can find links to more posts from SJT friends.

 

Here are a few pictures of beauty and holy moments I've captured, examples of
God's handwriting in my world. 

 

I welcomed these fair faces at my door this past week:

 

I'll be visiting these cuties this month!

This collection of fall color (I limited myself to seven) 

spans many years, but the last two 

were taken this year in our new neighborhood:

This final pic captures a holy moment last month

as Grandpa readies grandson for naptime:

Slice of Life and Sharing Our Stories: Serendipity at the Mailbox!

An ordinary trip to the mailbox is transformed when a purple envelope greets me (mixed in with the junk mail and black and white of monthly bills). A sticker on the back of the envelope reveals the contents. My errands can wait! 

I sit in the car and tear open the envelope. This treasure was requested from the author by my son. He met Aubrey Hartman in college. He sent me a link to an interview she did with Mr. Schu on his blog Watch.Read.Connect.  I call my son back with terrible news. The novel is slated for publication on May 2, 2023. 

I ask my son to see if he can obtain an ARC (advance reader's copy) of the book. And the purple envelope is evidence of his success. I pull the book out of the envelope. It is wrapped in gold twine with a handwritten note from the author. 

 

 

The cover is stunning: a marvelous depiction of power (a girl riding a winged lion) and terror (a creature with ribbons of green hair, white-orb eyes, and sharp claws).

I carefully peel the sticker (a perfect facsimile of the book cover) from the envelope and press it to the back of the handwritten note. I have a bookmark that will make me smile each time I move it to a new spot in the book. 

I eagerly turn to Chapter 1:

"Far away but not long ago, there was a girl and a house.

The girl? Well, she was nothing special.

But the house . . . was magic."

And I am immediately drawn into the story of Penelope Woodlock aka Poppy, a lion named Sampson, a terrifying water nymph, and the magical Lark-Hayes Manor.

The author's bio on the back flap reveals that Aubrey Hartman, like Poppy, "believes in the kind of magic that's made up of powerful words and characters who curl up in your heart and stay and stay and stay." Welcome to a book that provides that perfect kind of magic! 

You may want to place your pre-order now (and be on the lookout at NCTE for an ARC). Order one for yourself and the middle grade readers in your life who will be entranced by the adventures and perils faced by Poppy and Sampson amidst the once-grand Lark-Hayes Manor.

Spiritual Journey Thursday: In Memory of

Better late than never. Chris provided the prompt for our Spiritual Thursday writing group this month: "In memory of..."

I'm not sure how I missed the first Thursday, but the weeks and months fly by ever more quickly the older I get. I love the theme Chris chose for our writing in October, so here I am - a week and two days late with my October post.

I am no stranger to loss and the grief that accompanies the loss of dear ones. My father died two days after my 25th birthday and my mother died just before my 36th birthday. My brother, Karl, and my sister, Velma, died in December of 2020. I have one surviving sister who is nine years older than I. We get together once a year and our favorite thing to do is to look at photos together and share stories. Memories are precious to our family 

Here's a poem I wrote eight years ago about memories and photos after a visit to California to visit my sister Kay (who now lives in Texas). We hadn't seen each other for almost two years (far too long). I attempted to capture our joy of being together and the special time we spent perusing an old photo album in this poem.

Sisters

shoulder to shoulder

side by side

arms touching

hearts embracing

Slowly 

turning the pages

savoring black and white images

enticed by memories

of days long past

 

Places left behind

but not forgotten

loved ones gone

but still remembered

lovingly captured in time

 

-Ramona Behnke

Earlier this month, a church meeting closed with the hymn, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." I turned to my daughter and explained my tears. When I was newly graduated from college and preparing to leave for an 18 month mission to Hong Kong, this was the closing hymn at my farewell. Nothing unusual about that. But my brother Karl, 2 1/2 years older than me, broke into tears and sobbed as we sang this song. So when we sang it earlier this month, tears fell as I remembered that time 45 years ago and reflected on how much I miss my brother and long for the day when we'll meet again. He left a big hole in my heart and the hearts of all who love him.

You may not be aware that October is Family History month. This blog post of 31 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month reminds us that celebrating this month can be low pressure. There's no need to do something every day, just choose an activity that resonates with you. "As long as you do one thing this month to get to know your family history better or celebrate your own personal story, you can say you’ve officially celebrated Family History Month!"