No, we haven't left town, decided to no longer post, or gotten lost on the way to spring! We are in the midst of a little remodeling - and all the rest of life have been pushed to the edges. In the meantime, we are down to a microwave and washing dishes in the laundry room. A bit like camping out!
After living with a narrow corridor kitchen for almost 14 years, we decided it was time to make some changes. By pushing part of the kitchen wall that separates the kitchen from the living room back just 10 inches and the other half of the wall 14 inches, we will have a far more usable kitchen.
A mere matter of inches. After beginning the project, both of us wondered in our innermost heart if we were being foolish. But when the project was far enough along to actually envision the endproduct, The change was even greater than we had hoped. A mere matter of inches.
A bit like the rest of life (which is pushed to the edges). How many times have any of us hesitated to make some small change in our lives -because we thought such a little change would not make a difference? The opportunity slips by and we live with the inconvenience. Realtors call it being house-blind. We work about our idiosyncratic life-styles, when just a "matter of inches" could make such a difference. And our dreams pass us by.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
It Was a Good Run!
Ten years ago, Pilgrim Press published the book Jill Geoffrion and I wrote, The Labyrinth and the Enneagram. It has sold steadily since that time. The book was the result of three years of teaching at Wisdom Ways Spirituality Center.
However, ten years is a long time in the publishing world. This spring, Pilgrim Press decided it was time to stop printing it.
A decade is a good number - and time to reflect on the changes in my writing life over that period of time. As with most major events in life, its publication seems both like just yesterday and and so long ago, I don't remember even where I was in life at the time.
What I do know is how I have moved from part-time to full-time writing. I teach poetry at The Loft Literary Center, something I never could have imagined ten years ago. I have published a book of poetry, Waiting For the Heat to Pass, and just yesterday picked up boxes of my newest book, There is no Future in the Past: A Travel Memoir. And another book of poetry is in process, this one a collaborative effort with Clem, my beloved colleague. And we still dream of putting together a book of his poetry and my photography from the work we have exhibited.
Some of these events in my life are the fulfilment of dreams, but a lot of it is the willingness to follow those dreams into unknown territory. To live out dreams I never knew I had!
However, ten years is a long time in the publishing world. This spring, Pilgrim Press decided it was time to stop printing it.
A decade is a good number - and time to reflect on the changes in my writing life over that period of time. As with most major events in life, its publication seems both like just yesterday and and so long ago, I don't remember even where I was in life at the time.
What I do know is how I have moved from part-time to full-time writing. I teach poetry at The Loft Literary Center, something I never could have imagined ten years ago. I have published a book of poetry, Waiting For the Heat to Pass, and just yesterday picked up boxes of my newest book, There is no Future in the Past: A Travel Memoir. And another book of poetry is in process, this one a collaborative effort with Clem, my beloved colleague. And we still dream of putting together a book of his poetry and my photography from the work we have exhibited.
Some of these events in my life are the fulfilment of dreams, but a lot of it is the willingness to follow those dreams into unknown territory. To live out dreams I never knew I had!
Friday, April 29, 2011
The Sun is Shining!
The sun is shining, the temp may hit sixty, and the deck chairs are emerging on the deck. What more can one ask in life!
Now to rediscover my favorite rake and check out what that big, fat, pregnant bunny has been nibbling on for lunch. The forsythia bush by the garage door is in full bloom and has been substituting as a sun in minature, as we have waited for a truly spring day to arrive.
Breathe deep and for at least today, put aside all the worries of a world that struggles.
Now to rediscover my favorite rake and check out what that big, fat, pregnant bunny has been nibbling on for lunch. The forsythia bush by the garage door is in full bloom and has been substituting as a sun in minature, as we have waited for a truly spring day to arrive.
Breathe deep and for at least today, put aside all the worries of a world that struggles.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Proving Who You Are
There are rumors that in order to get a passport for the first time, you will have to: provide addresses of all the places you have lived since you were born; your lifetime employment history, including supervisors' names, addresses, and phone numbers; personal details about your brothers and sisters; your mother's addresses a year before your birth; and any religious ceremonies around your birth.
Of course, the first thing that came to my mind is that these proposed requirements are just another hoax.
Sorry, folks. Although I could not find the actual documents in the labyrinthine sources called the Federal Government, I did find enough information to ascertain that something is afoot.
And Obama thought that he had problems with the birthers!
I don't know about your personal history, but when I reflect on mine, the only thing I can conclude is that it is a good thing I already have a passport. Not like the 70% of US citizens who do not. Because I cannot provide the above information!
The house in which I was born in SW Minnesota no longer exists. I know, because we have looked for it. I have no idea what the address is of the second house in which I lived in another small town. My mother's address - same thing.
Employers and supervisors - good luck. Does that include the babysitting jobs that were my first employment as a teenager? Supervisors is an even murkier area, since as a teen I didn't even know what a supervisor was when I taught grade school kids how to swim. Then there was college and what today is called work study. And now in my life as a self-employed person. All those clients whom I saw? All the people who have bought my books and my photography?
Fortunately I would be spared the religious ceremonies question, since I am not male and Jewish - and my baptism took place months later. And checking out Jewish circumcism ceremonies has a whiff of Nazi Germany to it. To say nothing about Islamaphobic sentiment, so in vogue these days.
Clem's history is even more vague. He lived above a barbershop on the Iron Range (making him technically a Ranger, something only a Minnesota resident would get). Then there was the trailer he lived in that moved around the state following his father's itinerant employment.
And does residence count when we lived in a campground for a while, between moving from one state to another?
I always have thought, even before our global connectedness via the Internet, that all national boundaries should be abolished and people could live and travel where ever they wish. Just think what that would do to all the ethnic wars that are so popular these days.
There was the story of the little boy, whom everyone was frantically searching for, who declared when he was located, "I wasn't lost. I knew right where I was." Just like him, I know who I am, even if everyone else doesn't.
At least since I already have a passport, I still can cross the Canadian border for a little recreation in the North Woods.
Of course, the first thing that came to my mind is that these proposed requirements are just another hoax.
Sorry, folks. Although I could not find the actual documents in the labyrinthine sources called the Federal Government, I did find enough information to ascertain that something is afoot.
And Obama thought that he had problems with the birthers!
I don't know about your personal history, but when I reflect on mine, the only thing I can conclude is that it is a good thing I already have a passport. Not like the 70% of US citizens who do not. Because I cannot provide the above information!
The house in which I was born in SW Minnesota no longer exists. I know, because we have looked for it. I have no idea what the address is of the second house in which I lived in another small town. My mother's address - same thing.
Employers and supervisors - good luck. Does that include the babysitting jobs that were my first employment as a teenager? Supervisors is an even murkier area, since as a teen I didn't even know what a supervisor was when I taught grade school kids how to swim. Then there was college and what today is called work study. And now in my life as a self-employed person. All those clients whom I saw? All the people who have bought my books and my photography?
Fortunately I would be spared the religious ceremonies question, since I am not male and Jewish - and my baptism took place months later. And checking out Jewish circumcism ceremonies has a whiff of Nazi Germany to it. To say nothing about Islamaphobic sentiment, so in vogue these days.
Clem's history is even more vague. He lived above a barbershop on the Iron Range (making him technically a Ranger, something only a Minnesota resident would get). Then there was the trailer he lived in that moved around the state following his father's itinerant employment.
And does residence count when we lived in a campground for a while, between moving from one state to another?
I always have thought, even before our global connectedness via the Internet, that all national boundaries should be abolished and people could live and travel where ever they wish. Just think what that would do to all the ethnic wars that are so popular these days.
There was the story of the little boy, whom everyone was frantically searching for, who declared when he was located, "I wasn't lost. I knew right where I was." Just like him, I know who I am, even if everyone else doesn't.
At least since I already have a passport, I still can cross the Canadian border for a little recreation in the North Woods.
Monday, April 25, 2011
last snow of the season
a lone daffodil bud
pierces the leaf cover
it opens toward
sun and warmth
then, knighted in the night
with a cap of snow
it bows gracefully
for a moment -
honored by a transient
crown of white
I feel honored
this early spring morning
to be greeted
by a lone daffodil
-Earth Day, 2011
Clem J. Nagel
The snow that banketed
the ground that night, melted
by noon the next morning.
The lone daffodil still is in
bloom in our backyard!
Comments are welcome! Just click
on the word "comment" below.
pierces the leaf cover
it opens toward
sun and warmth
then, knighted in the night
with a cap of snow
it bows gracefully
for a moment -
honored by a transient
crown of white
I feel honored
this early spring morning
to be greeted
by a lone daffodil
-Earth Day, 2011
Clem J. Nagel
The snow that banketed
the ground that night, melted
by noon the next morning.
The lone daffodil still is in
bloom in our backyard!
Comments are welcome! Just click
on the word "comment" below.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Finally the Rains Have Come
Spring 2011 has not been a spring that has caused Minnesota gardeners to get excited. Day after day, the skies have been grey, no rain, and temperatures in the forties and low fifties. The result? The wisdom of growing things has meant spring stopped dead in its tracks.
Lots of grumpy gardeners this spring. The only good thing is that they have consoled themselves by meticulously reading the Friend's School Garden sale catalog. When we leave catalogs at public places, they are quickly snatched up. And the energy level at the Fairgrounds this year should achieve record-breaking highs.
Last evening the rains finally came. The "good for the ground" rains as Clem calls them - slow, steady rain absorbed by the thirsty earth. A little warmer temperature and spring just might burst forth.
Waiting is hard - and it teaches us patience. There is the waiting for the birth of a baby. Those last weeks when friends say "not yet?" While the woman's aching back begs for relief. There is the waiting for Christmas and all the family stories of children who search for ways to "investigate" what might be waiting for them on the gift-giving day. And there is keeping vigil with a dying person. Those last days or weeks when you hope to say everything you want to say, including what didn't get said over the years of busy lives.
Our waiting here for spring has been compounded by waiting for my newest book to go to press. The process has been like this year's spring. Our hope is that in several more weeks the printing will be complete and we can experience the satisfaction that is like no other. Holding in our hands the concrete evidence of so much thought and work.
Waiting for the rains. . . As hard as waiting can be, we are called in our lives to be flexible people . Gardners' carefully kept records of when particular spring bulbs bloom are guides, not rules that the earth is to adhere.
But it doesn't mean we periodically aren't peering at the ground, bent over, searching for the promises of spring pushing their way upwards and looking for the sun.
Lots of grumpy gardeners this spring. The only good thing is that they have consoled themselves by meticulously reading the Friend's School Garden sale catalog. When we leave catalogs at public places, they are quickly snatched up. And the energy level at the Fairgrounds this year should achieve record-breaking highs.
Last evening the rains finally came. The "good for the ground" rains as Clem calls them - slow, steady rain absorbed by the thirsty earth. A little warmer temperature and spring just might burst forth.
Waiting is hard - and it teaches us patience. There is the waiting for the birth of a baby. Those last weeks when friends say "not yet?" While the woman's aching back begs for relief. There is the waiting for Christmas and all the family stories of children who search for ways to "investigate" what might be waiting for them on the gift-giving day. And there is keeping vigil with a dying person. Those last days or weeks when you hope to say everything you want to say, including what didn't get said over the years of busy lives.
Our waiting here for spring has been compounded by waiting for my newest book to go to press. The process has been like this year's spring. Our hope is that in several more weeks the printing will be complete and we can experience the satisfaction that is like no other. Holding in our hands the concrete evidence of so much thought and work.
Waiting for the rains. . . As hard as waiting can be, we are called in our lives to be flexible people . Gardners' carefully kept records of when particular spring bulbs bloom are guides, not rules that the earth is to adhere.
But it doesn't mean we periodically aren't peering at the ground, bent over, searching for the promises of spring pushing their way upwards and looking for the sun.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Lincoln Envelope?
Dear Keepers of Official U.S. Documents,
I am of the opinion that I have uncovered something of historic value that
quite likely ought to be archived somewhere in Washington, DC. I can't
believe what I am about to tell you.
I found this very old envelope in a side pocket of an old storage trunk in
Wanamingo, Minnesota. I almost didn't pay heed to it. On the front of the
envelope was a "to do" list which at first didn't catch my eye. That was . . .
until I read it!
Does what I found have value?
Respectively submitted,
Clem J. Nagel
To Do Soon:
-Finish the speech for Gettysburg
-Give more thought to the idea of a floating dry dock
-Empty garbage as soon as I return home
- ( ? I was unable to read this third entry)
-Decide what to do with the problem in Mankato
What triggered things for me were the words "Gettysburg", "dry dock", and
"Mankato". It could only mean one thing. Abraham Lincoln must have scribbled
the list down while somewhere away from home.
Then, I turned the envelope over and couldn't believe what I saw! Whoever
had written on the back side of the envelope was obviously confused in trying
to come up with a phrase to begin some kind of a speech. Therewere crossed
out words, notations in parentheses and. here and there, comments clearly added
by someone else who must have known the writer.Was that person riding with
Lincoln at the time? Mysteries!
It was fascinating, to say the least.
Here is what was written on the back . . .
Gettysburg Address
(years?)
Fourscore and seven days ago (3 score and 27 years ago?) our country . . .
2 x 2 score and (fore?) four (4) years ago, our country . . . Abe, that
doesn't add up, just take my word for it!
Perhaps, just possibly use "A long time ago?" (not sure)
31,755 days ago, our country . . .
Abe, don't use this ! ! !
One score, 7 years and 21,900 days ago, our country . . .
Abe Dear, keep it simple! Just use 87 !!!
Love,
Mary
87 years ago (or maybe, just fourscore and seven years ago?) I'll have
to give it more consideration . . .
Comments are welcome! Just click on the
word "comment" below
I am of the opinion that I have uncovered something of historic value that
quite likely ought to be archived somewhere in Washington, DC. I can't
believe what I am about to tell you.
I found this very old envelope in a side pocket of an old storage trunk in
Wanamingo, Minnesota. I almost didn't pay heed to it. On the front of the
envelope was a "to do" list which at first didn't catch my eye. That was . . .
until I read it!
Does what I found have value?
Respectively submitted,
Clem J. Nagel
To Do Soon:
-Finish the speech for Gettysburg
-Give more thought to the idea of a floating dry dock
-Empty garbage as soon as I return home
- ( ? I was unable to read this third entry)
-Decide what to do with the problem in Mankato
What triggered things for me were the words "Gettysburg", "dry dock", and
"Mankato". It could only mean one thing. Abraham Lincoln must have scribbled
the list down while somewhere away from home.
Then, I turned the envelope over and couldn't believe what I saw! Whoever
had written on the back side of the envelope was obviously confused in trying
to come up with a phrase to begin some kind of a speech. Therewere crossed
out words, notations in parentheses and. here and there, comments clearly added
by someone else who must have known the writer.Was that person riding with
Lincoln at the time? Mysteries!
It was fascinating, to say the least.
Here is what was written on the back . . .
Gettysburg Address
(years?)
Fourscore and seven days ago (3 score and 27 years ago?) our country . . .
2 x 2 score and (fore?) four (4) years ago, our country . . . Abe, that
doesn't add up, just take my word for it!
Perhaps, just possibly use "A long time ago?" (not sure)
31,755 days ago, our country . . .
Abe, don't use this ! ! !
One score, 7 years and 21,900 days ago, our country . . .
Abe Dear, keep it simple! Just use 87 !!!
Love,
Mary
87 years ago (or maybe, just fourscore and seven years ago?) I'll have
to give it more consideration . . .
Comments are welcome! Just click on the
word "comment" below
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