February 2023 – Common Threads

February 28, 2023February 27, 2023

My February Goal Update

On the last day of each month, I update my goal progress in the areas I chose for the year. Monthly goal updates that began a decade ago in 2013 in the Notes app on my phone are now kept in table form on my blog, giving me a way to remain focused on my goals and holding myself accountable in actionable strides. Today, I’m sharing my second goal update of 2023.

Category	Goals	My Progress
Literature	Read Around the USA Give Away Books Send out Postcards Blog Daily (For March plan to participate in Slice of Life Writing Challenge)	I gave away another 5 foot shelf of books. I mailed recipe postcards to my grandchildren. I blogged daily throughout February, marking two full years of daily blogging today. I wrote with Open Write this month. I read my February selection from Colorado: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan I plan to participate in the Slice of Life Writing Challenge each day during the month of March
Creativity	Improve blog photos Indulge in photo excursions	I continued working with my Middle School Writers, and one submitted a piece to the Young Georgia Authors contest I designed a prototype of a story walk planter for our town square I am planning Bloom! for National Poetry Month with our L4GA community partners
Spirituality	Tune in to church Pray! Keep OLW priority	We’ve tuned in to YouTube channels for Dad’s sermons this month in the two churches where he is preaching as a rotating interim. I’ve prayed daily and kept my One Little Word at the helm
Reflection	Write family stories Spend time tracking goals each month	I’ve written some family memories, and Dad has written as a guest blogger, sharing some of his experiences
Self-Improvement	Maintain goal weight Maintain Weight Give away too-big clothes	I cleaned out my pantry and my medicine chest this month, following my closet in January. I still take clothes to donate when they give me any room to take the temptation and eat the cake. I am in weight maintenance range.
Gratitude	Devote blog days to counting blessings	I continue reading in Simple Abundance and counting blessings, especially on family birthdays. I remain grateful for my health, family, and the simple pleasures of life – like savoring Saturdays with coffee and having farm fresh eggs for supper.
Experience	Embrace Slow Travel Focus on the Outdoors	I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count I traveled to Kentucky to visit family over my winter break (slowly – I broke up the trip into manageable driving segments, put the window down, and admired the Kentucky rolling hills and greening spring grass) I traveled to Savannah, Georgia and spent time with my grandchildren strolling along River Street and eating ice cream at Leopold’s.

February 27, 2023February 25, 2023

Gratitude: Aidan’s Birthday

Today is our grandson Aidan’s birthday, and we are so grateful for him!

Aidan Tyler Harris

A grandson who's deeply loved and cherished!
Intelligent
Delightful dinnertime conversationalist
Archery instructor for cousins
Never a dull moment!
 
Travel buddy
Yard runner on the football field
Loves camping and kayaking
Enthusiastic fisherman!
Reader extraordinaire (it's in his DNA)

Hobbies keep him busy
Always happy to lend a helping hand
Reaches out to others
Range putter
Interests span a wide gamut
Seventh grade scholar!

February 26, 2023February 25, 2023

Savoring Saturdays – 1828 Coffee Company Breakfast and Hanging Out at Home

Boo Radley, napping on the back of my chair

Since January, we’ve made an intentional plan to savor our Saturdays by starting with coffee and dialing back the pace of life. Boo Radley and his brothers helped us do that today. All three dogs were in different chairs, in different sleeping positions, strewn across the furniture like cozy throw blankets on this cloudy, cold afternoon – inspiring us to kick back and take it easy.

We started the day at 1828 Coffee Company with a cinnamon roll, a slice of breakfast casserole, cheese grits, lemon biscotti, coffee, and lavender latte. What a feast! What a treasure! The gifts of time, togetherness, and relaxation without pressing deadlines are on my list of gratitudes for today.

And life is far too short not to be counting.

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023

Savoring Saturday – Coffee, Vacation Conversation, and Baby Goats

From Childcraft Volume 1: Poems and Rhymes, my beloved childhood classic that I still treasure today

Saturdays are for savoring – for making time for coffee, conversation, and time to enjoy life without all the demands of work and deadlines. So on Friday night when my sister-in-law called to see if I wanted to ride with her to pick up some farm fresh eggs, I asked if we could make it a post-coffee date. We’ve been chickenless on our farm for over a year now, and my husband and I have been missing the fresh eggs that we prefer when we have breakfast for supper a couple of times each week. My sister-in-law found a neighbor with plenty to spare.

1838 Coffee Company on the Zebulon Square is one of our local coffee hangouts.

My sister-in-law ordered a latte and a chocolate croissant.

My husband ordered his usual cinnamon roll

After lingering over breakfast and coffee in 1828 Coffee Company for an hour, dreaming of planning a summer vacation to Glacier National Park, we made our way down the road to one of several dozen mini-farms in our rural Georgia county, where homesteaders live on self-sustaining tracts of land filled with fresh vegetable gardens, herbs, and livestock of all kinds. They make their own butters and jams, breads, dry herbs for year-round cooking, and aim to live more than 90% off their own land, right down to the soap they make themselves.

Many of the homesteaders here don’t believe in doctors, choosing instead the ways of functional medicine and homeopathic remedies, along with a diet without preservatives and chemical additives. The free-range eggs and chickens without hormone injections are part of a healthier diet. Their commitment to the land is second only to their commitment to God and church.

My basket of farm-fresh eggs that do not have to be refrigerated until washed

As we were picking up several dozen chicken and duck eggs, we also got to hold the new little kids that are 6 weeks old! Baby goats have a way of lifting your spirits instantly as you hold them or watch them scamper about, doing little spinning sidekicks as they jump off of stumps, filling your heart with joy. Their sheer energy and happiness to be alive is contagious!

As we left the farm with eggs and hearts full of baby goat joy, I was uplifted with so many signs of spring – not only baby farm animals, but also daffodils in full bloom and the warmth of sunshine.

Welcome, early spring! I hope the southern groundhog was right.

February 24, 2023February 23, 2023

More Serendipitous Steering Currents of Spirituality

Earlier this week, I wrote a t-shirt poem with my writing group, led by Britt Decker of Houston, Texas with a prompt and a challenge: find a t-shirt hanging in your closet and let it inspire your poem.

So I did. I’d purchased a shirt in November 2022 while in Anaheim for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Convention – royal blue in color, with a red heart and white lettering that says Your Story Matters. I took a picture of it and wrote a simple index card poem, 3×5, three lines with five syllables each:

Your Story Matters

you're a child in God's
great universe so
your story matters

Last week, I shared a post about the serendipitous steering currents of spirituality – those moments of confirmation along the way when we realize fully, without a fraction of a percent of doubt, that He is on the path ahead of us, beside us, and behind us, directing our footsteps and assuring us that He is at work in our lives and all around us, holding the pen, guiding His children.

In my travels this week, I was given the unique opportunity to visit one of my daughters and her friends who attend a devotional and women’s Bible study each morning as part of the continuing recovery and restoration of their lives. They rise early, get coffee, and come together for a time of meditation and devotion. After about 20 minutes of quiet time, one opens in prayer, and then shares insights from the devotion and quiet time, along with an I AM statement.

My daughter opened the devotions on this particular day. She had read a devotion about being a child of God, and how being born into a family of Christians didn’t buy her salvation any more than someone born in a garage made that person an automobile. Her place in the family of God comes only through her belief in him, confession of her sins, and desire to follow Him. She shared her focus verses for the morning – John 1: 12-13.

We went around the table, each sharing our thoughts, and when the last woman shared, she talked about the power of our stories in shaping others and encouraging them.

After the closing prayer, I opened my blog post and showed my daughter the poem. “Did you write that today?” she asked.

“No, I wrote this earlier in the week, ” I explained.

I wish I had a picture of her expression – a perfect photo of the serendipitous steering currents of spirituality.

February 23, 2023February 22, 2023

A Late Christmas Discovery

As I was paring down my book collection (one of my goals this year), I discovered a surprise hiding behind a row of books. Last Christmas, Dad brought me a banker’s box full of family heirlooms wrapped in old towels – carnival glass, books, an antique milk glass lantern, silver napkin rings collected over the years, and a wooden cigar box. He’d wanted the towels back, so in my haste to get everything out of the box and return the towels, I’d set the items on the table to dust and polish later. Somehow, the cigar box ended up behind the row of books and managed to remain there for over a year untouched.

Imagine my surprise when I opened it to discover an assortment of Mom’s jewelry, along with my own beveled crystal earrings I bought as a teenager! I no longer have much of the sentimental jewelry that was given to me over the years, so these pieces from my past are pure treasure.

Angel Aura crystal earrings purchased when I was a teenager

The same week, one of my daughters sent me lepidolite and terahertz bracelets for their healing properties. Lately, she’s been learning a lot about crystals and gemstones from the rock hounding hobby she’s taken up in the Mojave Desert. Mom’s beaded jade necklace was among the cigar box treasures, and I can’t wait to explore the benefits of wearing these various stones alone and in combination with others.

I’ve asked my daughter to chime in on her unique hobby sometime in March, so stay tuned for more information about rock hounding and the benefits of using stones for healing and balance!

February 22, 2023February 22, 2023

Traveling and Writing in Clean Hotels With Great Coffee

Our host today for the last day of the February 2023 Open Write is Stacey Joy, who inspires us to write etheree poems. You can read her prompt and poem here, along with others, and add your own if you wish. I’m traveling through three Southeastern states this week, and I have always found hotels to be some of the best places to write. Until now.

Upstairs

strong
coffee
hot showers
comfortable
bedding, firm pillows
large-screen television
whispery-gray painted walls
white down comforters on the beds
clean desk and chair with working wi-fi
hotel rooms are THE BEST places to write

Fitzgerald wrote books at The Grove Park Inn
Truman Capote at The Plaza
eliminating distractions?
any Hampton Inn will do…..
….unless there’s a toddler
crying all night long
jumping non-stop
on the floor
above 
you

February 21, 2023

T-Shirt Poetry ~ Your Story Matters

Britt Decker, our host at www.ethicalela.com today for the Open Write, shares a prompt that proves that we walk by thousands of writing opportunities everyday. We walk in them, past them, heck – we wear them! She shows us how to take a t-shirt from our closet with words, a picture, or a memory that will inspire poetry. It's as simple as going to the closet and considering all the possibilities. I love how her t-shirts inspire a poem about her own need of distance between work and play. Read the prompt here, and consider writing with us. I bought a t-shirt at the NCTE conference in Anaheim, California last November with a message I enjoy sharing – your story matters. My poem is a 3x5 today - short and simple like an index card - three lines, five syllables.

Your Story Matters

you’re a child in God’s
great universe so
your story matters

February 20, 2023February 20, 2023

Open Write with Stacey Joy

Stacey Joy is back as our host at ethicalela.com today. She is inspiring us to write Golden Shovels, which you can read about here.

I took a line from one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems – The Storm.

Vertigo?

I’m not sure what’s happening with
all of this wild
dizziness ~ {stay under me, feet}.

February 19, 2023February 19, 2023

I Can’t Be The Only One

Today is the second day of the February Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com. Our host today is Britt Decker of Houston, Texas. You can read today’s prompt and other poems here. And you can also share your own! Britt inspires us to write a “Me, Too!” poem. I’m writing mine in memory of and gratitude for my mother, Miriam Haynes, who would have been 80 today. She died in December 2015 after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Miriam

I can’t be the only one whose mother sewed her own formal dresses,
    who made matching clothes like in the Sound of Music, only not from drapes
    who was known as the crab lady on the
    pier of St. Simons Island, Georgia for her fisherwoman skills
    who could fly fish and deep sea fish and throw a cast net, too
       all while driving the boat.
I can’t be the only one whose mother could wiggle her ears, making us laugh
    who could bring a dead plant back to life
    who rescued dogs and made them family
    who knew all the answers when no one else did.
I can’t be the only one whose mother didn’t have enough superlatives
    for all the things she did so well.
I can’t be the only one wishing her mother a happy heavenly birthday today
    missing the phone calls that made the world right again.

And I’m not.  

My brother loved her, too
    and our dad, who still sends us random pictures of precious moments,
         reminding us how blessed we all were

are

forever will be
   
    because of her.

	kimhaynesjohnson on Slice of Life Challenge…
	kimhaynesjohnson on Slice of Life Challenge…
	kimhaynesjohnson on Slice of Life Challenge…
	kimhaynesjohnson on Slice of Life Challenge…
	kimhaynesjohnson on Slice of Life Challenge…