Simple Woman's Daybook; I'm Back

 

http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

For Today...
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 

Well, it's been almost a year since I did any writing here. I am back. There are things inside me needing to be said. Hopefully they will prove worth reading, and maybe give you something to think about (if there is anyone left out there reading this blog!). I have written prolifically for the last two years straight - journaling, letters, the best poetry I've ever written. But have shared these writings with only a tiny handful of people, mostly only with my friend Irv. Suppose it's time I talk to the wider world. Here goes.

Outside my window...

somewhere, is a garden plot...MY garden plot...at the Community Garden in town. Which happens to be located right next to where I now live. I have requested a plot and am anxiously [read: increasingly impatiently] waiting to hear if I got it and which one is mine so I can start rototilling, staking out, and planting my salad garden and flower/serenity/playtime paradise. I have more plans, and more seed packets, than the state allows. ;) But no plot. Yet. Maybe today.......?

 

I am thinking...

a lot about how to be virtuous vs. how to be true to oneself. You might think these go hand in hand. Well, not always. Because virtuous seems to refer to how others see you, what your reputation is, and how you conduct yourself in the world according to the world's ideas, schemes, and models. True to oneself is much more subjective, more introspective, harder to find and understand, and then harder (for me) to embody. Of course it would be easier if we all agreed to the same "rules" of how to live this life. But we don't. And no, even guides like The Bible and other holy scriptures are not clear, in my opinion. Too much room for interpretation, too much space for disagreement. Only I can know myself though, really, and at the end of the day, it is I that has to go to sleep and wake up to me. I need to find a "me" I can live with. Even if you don't approve. Even if you don't agree. Even if it wasn't even remotely what I expected or envisioned. Is there virtue in that? 

 

I am [so] thankful...

for Sarge, my very dear old friend who recently passed away. Buddy, if you could go, I would take you out for lunch today - how about at The Brown Bag Deli - and then a visit to the Bead store and League of NH Craftsmen Gallery and the jewelry store your friend owns. Everyone loves to visit with you, Sarge, and I love to hear your stories and share mine with you. Just about everything is fair game. And you are always interested in what I have to say. We laugh a lot. Then we can stop at our favorite cemetery, where your sister and my dad are buried, on the way home. Put a rock on her gravestone, prune the flowers on top of his gravesite. And then I will drop you off and you can quick pick some dandelion greens from your yard for me to take home for salad (they aren't too old and bitter yet). I love you Sarge. Always will. xxoo

 

I am wearing...

the green shirt that always makes my boobs look enormous, the one with the Eiffel Tower on it. I can never decide if I really like this shirt.

 

I am creating...

[well, I should say I am trying to create...] a home, a safe and comfortable place for my two babies to come to, rest their heads, decompress from their busy days, and feel at ease. I am trying to create a place of love, happiness, honesty (we feel and express our emotions), and forgiveness. A place where "I love you" and "I'm sorry I hurt you" roll easily off the tongue. A home in which art and music are made, the body bursts into dancing and laughter, sometimes tears, sometimes wrestling, and always learning. A home where friends feel welcome, family wishes they could come more often, and the ones who live there are happy to return. A place where you can be nourished just by stepping through the door.

I am going...
to travel this summer, for a few days, with the friend I made on the Washington trip last summer at this time. Rachel has become a very integral and important part of my life and mental health :), and I look forward to exploring the Berkshires with her, on garden tours, and presumably, tours of wine and cheese. Mmmm, wine and cheese....

I am wondering...

how long it will be until the time where not everything in my life is in flux. I have been in an unbelievably uncomfortable state of transition for the last two (or more) years. It has gone on so long that I have almost gotten used to the feeling of continuous angst, and answering people's questions with, "I have no idea; [insert any topic] is a shit mess." That said, I sure would like one or two things to get sorted out, resolved, and hey, even get a chance to settle in for a while. You know, relax.......wha??

 

I am reading...

well, listening to, We are Water on 19 discs in the car. I am on disc 13. Wally Lamb does it again, folks. Fascinating, intriguing, complex, thought provoking, anger provoking, DEPRESSION provoking, and generally, hard to turn away from. It's not as devastating (to me) as She's Come Undone or as life-changing as I Know This Much is True, but it's massive and it's good. So many different viewpoints explored in one dysfunctional family - that's always thrilling. Again I found out that Rebecca does not share my taste in authors - shocking and disconcerting as always, and also interesting. I know this because I was listening to the discs all the way down and back from Pennsylvania to her house a few weekends ago and told her about the book. Which led to a great book discussion and a long list of "must reads."

I am hoping...

to get laid.

 

I am learning...

so much about the field of education that I will probably work in this industry for several years. I have some other aspirations, and they include going back for a Master's, but will save those for another day.

In my garden...

will be flowers - large, tall yellow and also medium red sunflowers, irises, potted flowers including bunny tails, bunches of nasturtiums, lavender, clover, chives w pink flowers, marigolds, red flowers from red runner beans, and whatever Rachel's little heart desires (I sanctioned off some spots for her growing pleasure). Also, salad - funny-colored carrots (pink, purple, orange, white!), peas (maybe), pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, two kinds of lettuce, and herbs: dill, rosemary, basil. And succulents in a beautiful blue ceramic pot next to the wine center, I mean sitting area, I mean wine center. :)

 

In my kitchen...

is a mess. Where the hell are the butler and the maid anyway? Did someone give them the week off??

 

A favorite quote for today...

"Be true to yourself and let the chips fall where they may." Also, "Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe." [it usually is....]

A peek into one of my days...

get up super f-ing early, hang w kids, try to get kids dressed/fed/pottied/brushed/out the door without Armageddon ensuing (today = success! thanks to Jack and Lucy's hard work), drive to Henniker for daycare/school dropoff, drive back to Concord for work, work 8-4 with some time jammed in there to run home and collect stuff needed for tonight, pick up kids in Henniker immediately after work (=continuous rushing), take them to Scott's to hang out with me and maybe eat early dinner, drop at Maddie and Lukey's for playdate while I go to school meeting re: Kindergarten registration, pick up sleepy kids, drive home to Concord, put kids to bed (try to force toothbrushes into their locked mouths while they sleep to remove "sugar bugs"), flop onto couch to watch Weds night sitcoms and crash, be pissed I forgot to buy ice cream on way home (really hate that), think about going to bed early, don't go to bed early because Nashville is on at 10 and c'mon now...., pass out to be quickly awakened by "Mommy, Mommy" from Jack a few times and then Poof - morning again! Rinse, repeat.

 

One of my favorite things...

is writing letters on beautiful cards in Gibsons' new coffee shop "True Brew." It's nice in there, sunny and quiet but bustling, a nice combination.

Post Script

This is us.

 Me, loving my job as an event planner for education professional development

 Jack (3 1/4) and Lucy (4 3/4)

Me and the babes, last fall

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned.
~Ally

 

hot enough?

 

Liquid Summer

by writersprompt57

Into,

deep liquid summer,

 

languishing

and lengthening,

 

as salty sweat,

in primordial descent,

 

runs down our oozing bodies,

making 

 

its way,

to the sea.
 

Simple Woman's Daybook

http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

For Today...Monday, June 1, 2015 (which happens to be National Cancer Survivors Day)

What a wonderful day, June 1. Summer! And a shout out to Aunt Anne, Amy, Doris, Grammie Ruthie C., Grandma Dorothy, Emerson, and all the other amazing friends and family members who have managed to kick cancer's ass so far!

Outside my window...

Birds are singing their individual, melodic songs. Jackie's love for birds (and all things sound, really) is giving me a new love for the sounds around us in nature, and specifically, a desire to learn more bird calls.

I am thinking...

About what is really important in a marriage. I have been thinking about this all year (decade, lifetime...). For me, the most important things are: that the two people mutually share love, communication (especially verbal, but also affection and acts of service), sex, and the willingness to resolve conflict together. And loving Christmas can't hurt either. I just added that last one in there for fun.

I am thankful...

For a loving family - my first family of Mom, Dad, Lauren; my very loving and accepting extended family, whom I miss terribly on a pretty much continual basis; and my created family of friends and of the "family unit," being Scott, Lucinda Grace, and Jack Lawrence. Though all of them challenge me in a thousand ways daily, they also make me a much better, stronger, more loving and compassionate person, and they all bless me with endless unconditional grace. Thank you for being mine and I will try to be my best for you.

I am wearing...

my favorite purple shirt. Periwinkle. What a great color.

I am creating...

a manuscript of poetry, mostly new writings from this past year (some of my best, I think), that I would very much like to read publicly soon, like in Mom's circle, and that I hope to turn into a book, possibly titled, "Hard-Won Truths: Poetry on Love and Life."

I am going...

to Washington D.C. in a couple of weeks on union business - my first trip away alone without the kids - and I am excited. Have nothing, absolutely nothing, to wear. Hope to fit in time for a museum or two. Haven't been to Washington since I was a teenager, and a lot has happened there since then. Would love to go with a history buff, or with a week's time to meander in my favorite style of exploration (museums, churches, monuments, tour the White House, great restaurants and music, ride the bus all over the place, that sort of thing). But this will be a short trip, and I will be traveling with work friends (=basically strangers). So I am keeping expectations low, will be thrilled with anything, and am hoping very much the hotel has a pool! Yeehaw!

I am wondering...

how to create the type of family and life I want to have, as it does not seem to fit in the traditional mold, and almost none of the models shown to me seems quite right for me and Scott. I am wondering if God's grace is big enough to make a new path for us. I believe it is. But apparently grace does not equal easy or straightforward. I suppose that is okay (and fitting).

I am reading...

The Five Love Languages again. I am learning a lot about things I could have (should have?) done differently in the past and trying to learn as much as I can for the future. I think my love language is "words of affirmation" closely followed by "physical touch." Regardless of your relationship status, I would recommend this book because it is highly insightful and helpful in understanding yourself and the others with whom you live, work, and play. I remembered it as being more religious and preachy than it actually is - a nice realization that I can read it again with no personal hindrances.

I am hoping...

to visit my friends one of these years: Rebecca and Andrew, Kate, Amy, Juli Squires, Beth/Doris/Kelly in CA, Davy J in NYC, Robin in Canada, Prudence, and all the other old, tried and true friends whom my heart longs for with enormous weight.

I am learning...

how to honor time for myself, how to protect and cherish it - that quiet, that stillness, or that blessed exercise, whatever - even if it sometimes makes me lonely because once I spend time with myself, there is no more time left for friends. It is just.so.important. Healing and energizing. And VITAL for figuring out the thorny decisions I am facing and honoring the suffering and joys that are happening amidst everything else.

In my garden...

is nothing. I asked Irv to build me a raised garden bed/trough for our porch, so I could garden with Lucinda (and Jack). Then I got overwhelmed with every other effing project that needs doing and told him to hold off. Now I am waffling back the other way and thinking how nice it would be to have something living, growing - like fresh lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, herbs, and cucumbers. Honestly, I have no idea how to garden. I remember years playing in my mother's garden in Brookfield. It was so beautiful, so organized, so full of life (and worms)! Someday. Truly, someday...

In my kitchen...

are several groceries to make several delicious, home-cooked meals and it's been too stinking hot to turn on the oven or stove to make any of them. My little daughter loves to help me cook, and we really enjoy making muffins and cookies together, or quiche, or soup. All of which I have the ingredients for...maybe this afternoon, as it is cool and rainy today...

A favorite quote for today...

A peek into one of my days...

[nobody wants to see that kind of crazy. I live with toddlers. 'nuff said.]

One of my favorite things...

is writing alone in a coffee shop for hours, while drinking a delicious coffee or mocha or cappuccino. Even better, doing this with a friend who enjoys the silence too for reading or writing, and every once in a while, coming out with something you just have to share, then back to your book...deeeeelightful. (Miss you, Kate, and Juli.)

Post Script

(this amused me this morning...)

(hahaha)

Love, Ally

The Rabbit Hole: W.S. Merwin, for a Wednesday morning

The Rabbit Hole: W.S. Merwin, for a Wednesday morning



Perfect for this Wednesday too. 

Elegy for Smoking
by Patrick Phillips

It’s not the drug I miss but all those minutes we used to steal outside the library, under restaurant awnings, out on porches, by the quiet fields. And how kind it used to make us when we’d laugh and throw our heads back and watch the dragon’s breath float from our mouths, all ravenous and doomed. Which is why I quit, of course, like almost everyone, and stay inside these days staring at my phone, chewing toothpicks and figuring the bill, while out the window the smokers gather in their same old constellations, like memories of ourselves. Or like the remnants of some decimated tribe, come down out of the hills to tell their stories in the lightly falling rain — to be, for a moment, simply there and nowhere else, faces glowing each time they lift to their lips the little flame. --- This could not be any more accurate! I wish I had written this poem. I LOVE it. ~Ally

oh do I love this poem.

Invitation to Love
by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Come when the nights are bright with stars
Or come when the moon is mellow;
Come when the sun his golden bars
Drops on the hay-field yellow.
Come in the twilight soft and gray,
Come in the night or come in the day,
Come, O love, whene’er you may,
And you are welcome, welcome.

You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,
You are soft as the nesting dove.
Come to my heart and bring it to rest
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.

Come when my heart is full of grief
Or when my heart is merry;
Come with the falling of the leaf
Or with the redd’ning cherry.
Come when the year’s first blossom blows,
Come when the summer gleams and glows,
Come with the winter’s drifting snows,
And you are welcome, welcome.

ordinariness is lovely

Take Love for Granted

by Jack Ridl

Assume it's in the kitchen,
under the couch, high
in the pine tree out back,
behind the paint cans
in the garage. Don't try
proving your love
is bigger than the Grand
Canyon, the Milky Way,
the urban sprawl of L.A.
Take it for granted. Take it
out with the garbage. Bring
it in with the takeout. Take
it for a walk with the dog.
Wake it every day, say,
"Good morning." Then
make the coffee. Warm
the cups. Don't expect much
of the day. Be glad when
you make it back to bed.
Be glad he threw out that
box of old hats. Be glad
she leaves her shoes
in the hall. Snow will
come. Spring will show up.
Summer will be humid.
The leaves will fall
in the fall. That's more
than you need. We can
love anybody, even
everybody. But you
can love the silence,
sighing and saying to
yourself, "That' s her."
"That's him." Then to
each other, "I know!
Let's go out for breakfast!"

"Take Love for Granted" by Jack Ridl, from Practicing to walk Like a Heron. © Wayne State University Press, 2013. Reprinted with permission.