wednesday

i was reminded yesterday of a line from a poem by ts eliot. "...the still point of the turning world..." some times in contemplating newness in life, old life seems to be tapping its foot impatiently. "don't forget you have to complete ten tasks and then do your mother's grocery shopping... before you can play."

early this morning i thought about the still point. i shifted the thinking away from the to do list. and imagined the still point flowing out as activity that is a natural outflow of the as yet unknown. sure the list is still in my pocket. it will be a busy day. but allow for a porous day too. let newness stream in through the pores of the usual in unexpected ways. and breathe newness out as well. do something unusual. like yesterday i tried a new technique in the lab. and of course ran into problems so had to come up with new solutions to fix the problem. the whole day felt different. curiosity - keeping curiosity alive - that's it isn't it?

teaching an old dog

I should view learning as a gift at my age. I mean, my ability to take in new info about the limitations of my knowledge and, yes, expertise. It's good to be able to acknowledge that i do not know everything about editing and writing or, when i feel especially open-minded, that I don't know everything about anything. Who could? Anyway, in an effort to keep the mind sharp, I welcome my 'lessons' as gifts from the universe designed to keep me thinking critically, taking in new info, and - the - hardest task - assimilating that new info into my everyday life and work. Namaste.

posting alert

in a good drawing or painting the space around the subject is as important as the subject itself. in a great painting the perfect balance of space, light, subject and artist's soul sings to the eye. and an unspoken, unthought, conversation between artist and seer begins.

so it goes the same way in a good day. or a great day. space. last week i was operating on no space. no listening. doing doing doing all the frantic doing toxified my days. crowded in on me. burst like little unexpected grenades of crisis and irritating minutae. the more crowding, the more strategizing on my part, the more doing.

space why not sit down for five minutes and give up? why not take a walk? why not call Mary? why not? think of this day like your composition. are the face and hands of the day going to press against the edges of the paper? compose with a light touch. allow some breathing room. enjoy a big white open area of raw paper. ask. listen. kick back as they say. keep it simple and light. make a joke. as the buddhist says drop the story line.

Looks like I am over the hump...apropos of hump day, today, Wednesday. In case someone reads this and thinks that "humping" is a sexual act, well, it can be but in this context it's a term from rail yards. Yes, I lived near a huge, multi-track, intensely busy railroad yard for a couple of years.

Anyway, this yard contained a couple of artificially built mounds or small hills over which a railroad track was laid. This mound was called a hump. When large trains (some 200+cars), with 2-4 engines at each end, needed to 'download' some of their coal cars or wheat cars or lumber cars, they would back slowly, arduously, up onto a hump. At the point in the train where an uncoupling of the unwanted cars was needed, someone would manually operate the coupling mechanism between cars and, with a little extra push by the engine, the uncoupled section of train would roll down the opposite side of the hump, sometimes faster than the engine backed up the cars.

So, over the hump has this industrial origin. In the common vernacular we call Wednesday hump day because "it's all downhill after Wednesday." Meaning that we have maanged to climb through our work week and made it to Wednesday, after which we had only 2 more days to endure before the weekend.

Blog blahs

Blog, blag, blah, blah, blah…so much going on in my life and so little worth writing about.

There’s Hugo the Huge. Our new black retriever mix has settled in so well. He seemed to be eager to bond and went from spouse’s side to mine all evening long. And he peed on every tree on our property, no small feat, then twice, thrice.

My work, goddess willing, is very promising. I really like playing with words, concocting strategies, marketing plans, proposals. Okay, so this is just the first but it’s a good one.

And then there are my relationships. Nearly a week spent with Linda doing my (our) favorite things: watching movies, playing scrabble, doing yoga, and skiing. What a gift her friendship has been, is, and, I hope, will continue to be.

Linda’s visit was followed by a brief weekend with my daughter Jennifer. More skiing, scrabble, yoga. Jennifer’s energy is enlivening to all around her. Her quest for purpose is noble and unwavering. Having her in my life is pure joy.

My partner Laurie has inspired me to pursue this work of writing, editing, strategizing. Only with her support can I be successful. She is steadfast in her belief in a benevolent Universe, one that bestows great things on those who seek.

So, I’m glad I blogged today. It allowed me to take a piece of time in which to be grateful.