BON VACANCE

My mind reels with the possibilities! 5 days. No responsibilities. No structure to my time.

Certainly there is a feeling of longing and absence. Simultaneously there is an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the ability to step away and be..."independent".

Like the elf who wants to be a dentist in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, my mouth is learning to form this very foreign-sounding word. In-de-pen-dent.

My days are anchored by a familiar routine for which I am truly grateful. I am blessed with an amazing daughter. We are both experimenting with this new-found independence!

Summer sleep-away camp.

Today my one thing is: GRACE.

I will savour the slow and beautiful in all that I say and do.
How can I define the word grace in how I choose to live today?

I'm curious - what does GRACE mean to you?

ONE Thing

“Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!"
Og Mandino

Deliberate action.

My golf coach reminds me that once I start to swing just think of ONE thing...

Plan, strategize, put everything in place and then once you're there just think - what's my one thing right now?

One thing.

Right now my one thing is typing this blog post.

When I'm finished my one thing will be sharing the end of this day with my family.

In this moment, what is your ONE thing?

POSTCARDS

I am enjoying blissful day dreams of recent sweltering summer days...cold ocean swims and bare skin nestled into warm sand or against scorching pool tiles...



This chilly, drizzly July weather is good for crafting and letter writing...shrinky dinks and postcards to far away places all happened today.

I wrote a special someone a stack of sleep-away camp letters and postcards today. Hard to believe!

I recall my father writing long letters to me in college and paper-clipping articles from the Wall Street Journal against their yellow legal pad pages. His precise, fountain pen print was unmistakable. He took the time hand-select intriguing stamps. At the time, it was a pleasure to receive mail, of any sort. But I must admit that I rarely made the time to write back to his considerate correspondence.

I get it now...I am hoping for a stack of postcards in return next week...I'll even stop by the Post Office to hand-pick some playful stamps.

And yes, there will be a care package!!! Summer camp is so...super:)

How often do you check your mail box? Do you ever get anything good anymore via snail mail?!

I read about this incentive project to encourage letter writing called Vive La Snail Mail on the Shutter Sisters site. Check it out if you're like me and LOVE to find your actual mail box full!

MARCHING

I have a new-found fascination with marching bands...

There is something so enthusiastic and proud about this summer tradition.

SUMMER TRADITIONS

Thought I'd share a glimpse of our weekend...Coronado Fourth of July parade...Part 1.
ENJOY!

BLOOMING MOST RECKLESSLY

"Everything is blooming most recklessly;
if it were voices instead of colors,
there would be an unbelievable shrieking
into the heart of the night."

Rainer Maria Rilke

CREASES AND FOLDS

"I am too alone in the world, and yet not alone enough
to make every hour holy.

I am too small in the world, and yet not tiny enough
just to stand before you like a thing,
dark and shrewd.

I want my will, and I want to be with my will
as it moves towards deed;

and in those quiet, somehow hesitating times,
when something is approaching,

I want to be with those who are wise
or else alone.

I want always to be a mirror that reflects your whole being,
and never to be too blind or too old
to hold your heavy, swaying image.

I want to unfold.

Nowhere do I want to remain folded,
because where I am bent and folded, there I am a lie.

And I want my meaning
true for you.

I want to describe myself
like a painting that I studied
closely for a long, long time,
like a word I finally understood,
like the pitcher of water I use every day ,
like the face of my mother,
like a ship
that carried me
through the deadliest storm of all."

Rainer Maria Rilke

I love Rilke's ability to create these stark visual images with his words. A recent book wove German poetry into it's narrative...what a lovely reminder of its beauty and sadness.

In the places where I am folded I am a lie...like the crease of well-read letters...the stories we tell ourselves and others to get through the day.

I am grateful for the beauty of these words, the company of wise people, the truth that I know to be myself and the courage to write a very difficult letter.