Grace #15: Pumpkins

'tis pumpkin season. Time to ride the hay wagon to the fields, to find the perfect speciman. Time to gather these vegetables, cleave them, scoop out the seeds and roast them with oil and salt to crack later between teeth. Time to cook the flesh and make creamy pumpkin soup and spicy bread, perfect with a pat of butter. Time to carve ghoulish faces and light a candle, watch the flame flicker in the dark.


Happy Halloween.

(Art by Lea, age 9).

Namaste...

Grace #14: Neighbors

We have good neighbors. We look out for one another. We may not always agree on things, but we can come together as families and share snow days, Halloween, walks in our street. I am grateful for these people.


Namaste...

Grace #13: Wonder

This is awe.

Peace...





(Photo by Henry Simoni-Wastila)

Grace #12: The Grape

Today I am grateful for the grapes sliced on my salad and the red ones crushed, fermented, and now crimson in my glass. Happy Friday.


Peace...

Grace #11: Filling Us Up

Somebody embroidered the doily.
Somebody waters the plant,
or oils it, maybe. Somebody
arranges the rows of cans
so that they softly say:
ESSO--so--so--so
to high-strung automobiles.
Somebody loves us all.




Perfect grace. Perfect last stanza.
FILLING STATION by Elizabeth Bishop


Namaste...

Grace #10: Why We Write

All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopefless, and brutal. ~Flannery O'Connor

Why do we write? I have been thinking of what moves me to write, and I think this quote comes quite close.

Why do you create?

Peace...

Grace #9: We are always in school

There is nothing so stimulating as learning something new. Today I learned how to really read the first paragraph of a story as a map to its end. What did you learn today?

Peace...