Big news!! 

Writing in a sweet little chocolate shop on the shores of the Mississippi in Wabasha, Minnesota! This week I've been spending time detoxing from pandemic stress and finding joy in exploring locales near home, exquisite self care and writing outside of my home.

I've learned a lot while writing and editing my first novel. A strong critique group continues to offer me new insights and edits. Looking forward to a writing marathon this weekend and some time outdoors. Snow begone!

 Mood Board for my novel! 

I was interviewed today for a local podcast. They asked who my fave sports team might be. I answered NERDS. 

Brunch with friends, purchase of season appropriate gnomes and clearing the labyrinth garden has sealed my readiness for Spring. 

Now back to my regularly scheduled Works in Progress. Word count. Word count. Need some mysterious skies to distract and inspire me.

 

Currently writing two manuscripts since I've finished my science fantasy book, The Girl Who Had a Name. I'm writing the second book in this series and I've revived a southern gothic magical realism novel from a few years back. So many choices...why stop with one.

A wonderful wedding!

It was a joy to marry Tony and Dani this past weekend at Wildridge Golf Course in Eau Claire!

However shelter’d this port and however calm these waters,

we must not anchor here,

However welcome the hospitality that surrounds us

We are permitted to receive it but a little while.

Come, I give you my hand!

I give you my love more precious than money,

I give you myself before preaching or law;

Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me?

Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

- Walt Whitman

Poetry Month Continued....

Poetry Day 5;

Sisters at the Beach

We sit at the edge of the surf
Sand scratching our swimsuits and
Waves crashing across half buried legs

Summer is unfolding slowly
Bent paperbacks rest on faded beach towels
The boombox plays your favorite mix tape
We are set with Bums bummer tshirts
Flipflops and a cooler with ice tea and
Pimento cheese sandwiches

Gulls beg at shrimp boats and beachcombers
Search for shell sized treasure
We are soaking in ours.

You go lay out and I lay flat in the surf
Covered in sea, salt, sunshine...
Bathed in water and wonder.

Poetry Day 6: 
Falling Inwards

There behind the asphalt window

Sitting kind and frail - she picks the last morsel between her teeth and swallows

Sandwiched between silence and some sense of forgotten
her pale rouged cheeks fall inwards like so many things

A stray hand clutches the edge of a white afghan
the other flutters between the pattern of the chair arm and nervously straightening her hair

A visitor
A memory
Hold it tight.

Poetry Day 7:

The snow is unveiling the ripe earth, melt by slow melt
It is mud season in Wisconsin
where snow boots are decorated in mud
and wet gloppy trails grace your wood floors

Brave crocuses are peeking out
testing the air for Spring
We saw a robin resting in the Mulberry tree
just before driving to school Friday
and the rabbits are looking more
brown than white as they hunt for grass and
other green things

I am itching to plant seeds
ride bikes and go for walks
anything that brings the sun closer
and frees me from the indoors

Spring is less than subtle in Eau Claire
it is more like a happening
some grand party of color
that breaks up the white and brown

When will the daffodils come, asks Ehren
Soon says Mother Nature
Soon says mama

Poetry Day 8:

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice
and "well isn't that nice..."

I was made of hot South Carolina summers

escaping deep into the quiet
of pines and honey suckle
into the whisper and ripple
of the Broad River.

I was made of lazy afternoons with my dog Beau,
wading through creeks, and hopping over rocks
and water moccasins.

I was a tom boy with skinned knees
who loved climbing trees
squirmy tad poles in small pools.

sunning on the rocks in the river
and building twig forts

I was made of sunshine and mud.
Late afternoons, we'd trudge home
covered in dirt, with twigs in our hair, and wet
from the creeks and river.

I was made from adventures in
pine forests, flash light tag and fireflies

...sweet tea and a bubble bath at the
end of a long summer day.

Poetry: Day 4

Kiernan

Wrinkled newborn hands clutching my hand
blue blanket swaddled and tight
I could stare at your face for hours
listening to the soft sighs you make
as you sleep

Yet I will sleep when you sleep
stumbling in a daze of sleep deprivation and bliss
There is no other time I will get to hold
you this long
and no other time you will look to me
for so much

giver of love and milk
singer, rocker, soother

Now you stand at my shoulder
you dance to a beat of your making
dreaming of ballet solos and designing
robots that will save the world

In this stream of growing up
I am continually letting you go as you take
your first steps-
you make wobbly circles on your bike
and keep moving further into your own

As you permit me
a particularly long hug, a snuggle with a book
and the honor of hearing your deep confidences

I think of this connection of hands across your life,
from the very first grip to when I will see you walk
across that graduation stage and take a diploma in that
same hand

I still check in on you at night
watching the soft rise of your chest
as you dream the dreams of the future
dreams of your own making.

30 Days of Poetry - Days 1-3

National Poetry Month: Day 1 

Never really gone...

Finding brief glimpses of the past
breathing like lost glimmers in bubbles in July picnic bliss
You are not where you are supposed to be
Yet you are finding me in my every moment

This is the summer of '82
Where the Riverbanks zoo has yellow jackets stingin
Where the rocks glisten in the Broad River
and yesterday was just a rollerskating bliss and maybe a few
stubbed toes or bent feelings

This is the tide rolling in at Ocean Isle
The crabs that skitter like a wave as I run across the sand
toes sticking to the wet beach
feet too small to keep up
hands to small to reach your hand before
you go.



Poetry month: Day 2 
Breaking

Sweeping away the crumbs 
Not needing what you
Left behind

Walking strong
Courage in stride and struggle
My rearview mirror is empty
And the road ahead
Cries hope

Life is never one path
But breaking a new trail feels right
Not like breaking an egg,
But somehow like being broken open...
Somehow breaking the pattern
And breaking free.



Poetry Month: Day 3

One less step

Eyes flash recognition
There is a small piece of you that understands
the cycle of things
as you step on the prepared, still earth

Booted feet crush seedlings
and the imprint of carelessness
leaves life waiting

This isn't the last time you will
tread or tear what is not yours
but perhaps you will think

before you drop that beer can
before you tread on my children's garden

My small protest will touch something inside
before you rush off
to text, to facebook, to forget
that you did something wrong.

At least I hope so.

Link to Sermon - Exploring Hinduism: Finding Harmony

http://www.uueauclaire.com/Content/Sermons/2012-13/2.24.13.mp3

Healthy days

I'm giving up sugar for a month to work for a month of healthier eating. Diabetes runs in my family, so I am eager to avoid the disease by finding healthier habits!

Never really gone...

Finding brief glimpses of the past
breathing like lost glimmers in bubbles in July picnic bliss
You are not where you are supposed to be
Yet you are finding me in my every moment


This is the summer of '82
Where the Riverbanks zoo has yellow jackets stingin
Where the rocks glisten in the Broad River
and yesterday was just a rollerskating bliss and maybe a few
stubbed toes or bent feelings

This is the tide rolling in at Ocean Isle
The crabs that skitter like a wave as I run across the sand
toes sticking to the wet beach
feet too small to keep up
hands to small to reach your hand before
you go.

Ever Present

Ever present

You are the wave

The flow in motion

You are the thunder

crying out against injustice

Ever present

You are the wind

breathing the breath of inspiration

You are the quiet

offering healing solace.

Ever present

You are the Source

The life-bringer of Spring

You are the Circle

moving in cycles of life and death.

Ever present

You are within us

We are the Circle

moving in cycles of life and death.

Halloween...on the way!

Karl has started decorating the house for Halloween. We couldn't resist the cool temperatures, changing leaves, and rainy weather to find our inner spooky!

Healthy Days Continued

Today was a milemarker day in the results of my healthy eating and exercise. I've lost ten pounds since I've begun keeping track in my food journal and I'm consistently eating more healthy food choices. (Yeah for tangible results)There is still a challenge in getting consistent exercise due to the demands of my profession, parenthood, and other obligations.

The other result of making good food and exercise choices is that I feel like I am taking care of myself. There is more balance in my life and I'm thinking more about my actions and the consequences. Being healthy is the whole package - a healthy mind, body, and spirit.

Getting ready for General Assembly

I've looked over the program and I've google calendered the workshops and events I'll be attending. Now I need to pack the right clothes for Arizona heat!

Healthy Days Continued

This week I've been focusing one eating more raw foods. I have my best success by packing my lunch and having enough variety in the house that I don't get bored!

100 Days of Focus on Health: Day 26 (accountability)

Journalling what I eat is continuing to make me more mindful of what I'm eating. I've also started using the dreaded scale daily to see that I'm heading in the right direction. My other measures are how well I can keep up in my exercise classes and my general feeling of well-being. I'm am holding myself accountable to my goal of better health by keeping these measures.