Category: Reflection

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Falling in Love with Art

My older daughter sent us a digital photo frame to which family members can upload photos so that they will appear like magic on the scrolling screen in our living room. I set it up, added the app, and invited all the kids to upload their pictures, expecting the fun surprises of noticing the new ones each week or so.

“Wait,” one son interjected. “Let me make sure I understand. So we can add photos that will just show up in your living room when anyone may be visiting?”

I warned him not to get any bright ideas and to keep it clean. Imagine my amused horror when a daughter zoomed in on a family photo where she’d been standing with her thumbs in her belt loops but actually shooting a bird. And someone added a picture of some stranger in a jon boat holding his arms out to show off a fish, but the fish is photoshopped into the photo several inches from his hands. They also add their favorites through the years, right back to all the times that made us laugh so hard our stomachs hurt. And some of family members no longer with us that are especially touching now. It’s my favorite art in the house ~ photography entertainment where my family members are in the frames.

there we are, kissing in front of Cadillac Ranch

Johnson Rt 66 Trip June 2023

spray painted on a vertical hood

there we are, coffee and breakfast in Tulsa and

standing in front of the Blue Whale of Catoosa

brothers on a bench in El Reno

and our feet on a painted street sign

and look! there’s Boo Radley in the kayak

wearing his Nemo life vest

ready for adventure, whatever that means

oooh, and there we all are in

Tennessee in the VRBO on the mountain

playing dominoes and talking trash

and all the kids in the pool

rocking the place with waves

the littlest smiling, showing off two

recently cut bottom teeth

the others lined up on the front porch

steps eating watermelon

and us eating seafood listening to

Suno songs about us eating seafood

an engagement, a wedding, a cup

of coffee in Starbucks

and watching the Blue Angels

from the heat of a parking lot

and the oldest grandson

eating a Biblical meal

Poppy in the oldest pub in Boston

eating oysters

and us in the sun in Kennebunkport

each memory scrolls by

smiles in these moments

of living and holding presence

belonging for our time

as we live it

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Falling in Love with Silent Book Club

I have another new book club, and I hear that this kind is sweeping the country. It’s all the rage right now. I’d heard of Silent Book Clubs, and the idea was intriguing. My first thought: I can read silently at home in my pajamas in my favorite chair; why do I need a silent book club? Then I was invited to one, and I went as a guest. I was delighted to be surrounded by readers who were completely immersed in the joy of actual reading – – something we don’t see at most other book clubs, since we read ahead. It feels reassuring to glance around and see others taking in print, not distracted by the dryer buzzer or the dogs or the kids or anyone asking for anything.

My friend Janette is one of the most avid readers I know, so it’s no surprise she has begun hosting the Silent Book Club Flint River chapter here in middle Georgia. You can check out and join the page to follow all of our book adventures and see what folks are reading by clicking here. It’s not the only book club the two of us attend together, but rather than being a club with a common title and established meeting location for discussions each month, the meetings are created pop-up style in various locations, and each reader brings whatever book they’re reading at the time. We know there’s going to be a meeting when we follow the Facebook page and see the time and location. We show up with our book and read for an hour in a room full of old friends and new friends. Some read from Kindles, some listen to audiobooks, some read hard copies, and some, like me, even bring noise-cancelling earbuds or headphones to play nature sounds as they read.

Reading downstairs in 1828 Coffee Company in Zebulon, Georgia

If you don’t have a Silent Reading Club chapter near you, consider starting one. Until then, join us – no matter where you are in the world. Find out when and where we are reading, then do the same from your favorite comfy chair….or bench….or beach towel. Send a picture of you and your book and say hello on the Facebook page. Let us know that you read for the hour. We can’t wait for you to be a part of all the fun and to create new opportunities for reading wherever you are!

Silent Book Club reads

in adventurous places

world page-travelers

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Small Rituals

Georgia Heard’s Substack offers writing calendars that work for both children and adults. Here is her February Valentine Mini Writing Calendar, inspiring us to fall in love with the everyday. Day 6 asks us to fall in love with love with a small ritual that brings us comfort or joy such as morning coffee, walking the dog, or lighting a candle.

Do Tell

for me, it’s when

we come home

from anywhere

even if we’ve

only been gone

three minutes

to check the mail

here they come

all three boys

ears flapping

tails up

pawing our legs

Come, play!

they say

but it’s when

they turn

take off

and hit full

speed down

the hall

racing for

all they’re

worth to

wait for us

in our

chairs like

old friends

ready for

coffee and

conversation

on the couch

that really surges

my joy meter

tell us, what is

did you do with

your wild and

precious day?

they ask,

licking our faces

and we tell them

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To Love a Word

Check out Georgia Heard’s Substack for monthly writing calendars that work for both children and adults. Her February Valentine Mini Writing Calendar, inspires us to fall in love with the everyday. Day 5 asks us to fall in love with love with a word, one that feels good to say, then to write it down and let it lead.

Since my One Little Word of 2026 is Onward, I’m choosing it today.

Onward

onward: mountains call ~

fresh, clean air…..majestic views

…..babbling creeks….ONWARD!

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Falling in Love with the Living

My friend Margaret Simon shared Georgia Heard’s Substack with me, and I love reading about her travels and writing experiences – and her book recommendations.

I love that she offers writing calendars that work for both children and adults. Here is her February Valentine Mini Writing Calendar, inspiring us to fall in love with the everyday. Join me with a journal and a pen – and fall in love with the living!

Day 4 asks us to fall in love with love with something living: a tree, a spider, a dog, a person, and then to describe it with care. I’ve been house hunting in the place where I plan to retire, and watching carefully for signs of just the right vibe. My brother reminds me: You’ll know it when you find it. I chose a sign along the way ~ a friendly daffodil ~ and wrote a shape poem, also known as a concrete poem.

Welcome Wagon

the first daffodil of springtime

waves from the base of

a wooden fencepost

along a countryside road

like a welcome wagon friend

in Blue Ridge, Georgia

as the snow

melts

and the

sun rises

a beacon

of light

yellow and

bright

charms my

soul

the universe

speaks

I listen

(it’s still

winter)

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Loving Light

My friend Margaret Simon shared Georgia Heard’s Substack with me, and I love reading about her travels and writing experiences – and her book recommendations. You can see her posts here.

I love that Georgia offers writing calendars that work for both children and adults. Here is her February Valentine Mini Writing Calendar, inspiring us to fall in love with the everyday. I’ll be starting this today and walking with Georgia through the week. Join me with a journal and a pen!

Day 3 asks us to notice light and how it lands, how it moves, and then to write about one moment of light that stayed with us.

Weekend Waffles

the hexagon window

in my reading room

throws a morning sunbeam

onto the wall

opposite my bed

its tiny square panes

within look like

buttery waffles

syrupy and warm

drizzled in sunshine

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Falling in Love With The Ordinary

My friend Margaret Simon who blogs at Reflections on the Teche shared Georgia Heard’s Substack with me, and I love reading about Georgia’s travels and writing experiences – and her book recommendations. A couple of months ago, she shared that she was reading The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life, and recommended it on her post. I picked it up and loved every page of it. I think what I enjoy most about her book recommendations is that they are journey-related and not necessarily bestsellers that everyone would naturally pick up and read. I like books that take me down back roads, and she does a splendid job of sharing sacred places, both inward and outward.

Georgia Heard offers writing calendars that work for both children and adults. Here is her February Valentine Mini Writing Calendar, inspiring us to fall in love with the everyday. I’ll be starting this today and walking with Georgia through the week. Join me with a journal and a pen!

Day 1 asks us to fall in love with love with something ordinary: the sky, a pencil, a crack in the sidewalk, and to write a few lines about what we noticed.

Sunday Brunch

chickadee chirped

from the wreath on the front door

I could see her

through the swirled glass

seeking shelter from the icy wind

diving in and out of the bucket of seed

I’d left on the porch

I scooped up two handfuls

scattered them on the sidewalk

she invited her friends

to Sunday brunch

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January 31: War and Peace

My friend and writing buddy Glenda Funk of Idaho joined the slow readers’ group of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy for 2026. I’d read about this on a blog post by a writer in our Tuesday group and been intrigued. Sharon Roy was choosing to write a haiku after each of the 361 chapters., where readers read one chapter per day and listen to a podcast about it. The irony! War and Peace in haiku! I smiled and secretly wished I’d joined but feared I was too late. Next year, I told myself.

Then, I sent a picture of a stack of books through a text exchange asking Glenda which poetry book I should read next. Glenda is the most voracious poetry reader I know. She is a fast reader and is a good matchmaker to suggest the next book based on poets she knows her friends like and those she thinks they will enjoy next. She shared that she was still reading Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan because she is also reading War and Peace.

And that’s when it happened. Her next text had me joining a Substack group to be a slow reader this year.

Here is actual text footage of how a reader gets sucked into a challenge like War and Peace :

Screenshot

You know those movies where someone misses the train and has to run down the tracks and make a jump for it, praying they catch hold of the book party caboose? That was me. Instead of getting on at the station when it was pulling out on January 1, I waited until the last possible time to feasibly begin – – around 8 p.m. on January 30. Flailing hands and flying hair in a flurry of free-spiritedness like who cares if I have to read 31 chapters of War and Peace to catch up with everyone else? Like I’m some sort of reading ninja. I’m not. I have 31 chapters of War and Peace to read, and now I’m in a war zone with myself looking for some peace.

Perhaps I will use my silent reading hour this morning that I was going to use at the Silent Book Club on the Zebulon square in 1828 Coffee Company to catch up. Extreme weather caused its cancellation, so now, instead, I’ll be reading all all day at home, apparently with snow falling, by the fireplace with my own home brewed coffee in the way I always dream,. Or maybe I’ll finish Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover, this month’s Kindred Spirits reading group pick. Or, perhaps – just perhaps – I will pick a poetry book to devour. A Bit Much by Lyndsay Rush has my eye. Let’s face it: most likely it will be all of the above.

What are you reading today?

Tossing you a snowball – stay warm!

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January 30 Blue Ridge

One of my favorite places to visit is Blue Ridge, Georgia. It’s nestled along the northern edge of the state within lunch-driving-distance of both Tennessee and North Carolina, just beneath the upside-down T lines where three states meet. Mercier Orchards is there, and you can buy a peck of Georgia apples year-round. Or you can go to the Blue Ridge Arts Center and learn how to make stained glass and look at all the art on display. Afterwards, you can stroll all the shops and find practically anything you might want to buy – a cabin, a canoe, a leather purse, a pair of handmade earrings crafted by a local artisan, and all the best in outdoor survival gear. You can even catch the train downtown and take a ride through the Nantahala Forest and go to Bryson City, North Carolina, all comfortable in a train seat with a book as the scenery changes throughout the journey. No matter what you choose to do in Blue Ridge, it’s a lovely way to spend a day!

I wasn’t taking the train yesterday, though. I was doing something far more adventuring. I was visiting an elementary school media center as we gather ideas for our own updates in our county to connect them to our reading initiatives. All the while, though, I was thinking about that train. How reading takes us places in time and space. In a library, you have the world at your feet, and if you aren’t in Blue Ridge long enough to take the train, you can read The Book Thief and travel by rail through another country, straight through history. Or you can choose The Polar Express and sip hot chocolate on the way to the North Pole. Or you can go somewhere warm – like Poppy and Alex in People We Meet on Vacation, which I just finished by audiobook earlier this week during another bout of vertigo.

When I met Tillie the Library Turtle, I stepped off the train and out of the vacation and waded into a stream in New England with Sy Montgomery and Matt Patterson, flashing back to Of Time and Turtles. Libraries are filled with little worlds, all rolled up into pages and pages and memories – and that is great in Blue Ridge and everywhere else!

books take us places

no matter where we are now

books give us the world

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

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January 29 Brussels Sprouts, Smoked Salmon, and Eggs


This cold weather has my memories of Alaska swirling like magic-dust snowflakes of wanderlust. I’ve been there twice, both times on cruises – so even though I tasted none of the “local” flavors of the non-touristy places in the nation’s largest state that was anything but a folly, both times I’ve indulged in that spectacular smoked sockeye salmon that is sliced thin and served with eggs, capers, lox and bagels. We’d go to brunch, and they’d serve it as an early tea time with breakfast for late risers being more of a light lunch.

The cold weather brought the memories, but the threat of power outages last week brought shopping for things we could eat with minimal preparation. I found a good brand in Publix over in Peachtree City and gave thanks for the fish, imagining it swimming upstream to spawn, trying to avoid the fish-spearing claws of grizzly bears out there standing on those shallow rocks as ribbons of fresh red fish flitter past their feet. The one I was holding made it back home to do its one last thing before ending up in a sliced and packaged fillet.

I always boil all of our eggs prior to a winter storm. We’ve discovered that they keep fine in a cooler on the back porch and can feed us for days on end. And when we put a little sliver of salmon on top, it’s just the ticket for an Alaskan meal right here at home in middle Georgia!

Sockeye Tanka

red sockeye salmon,

boiled eggs, roasted Brussels sprouts

Alaskan dinner

right here in middle Georgia

mid-week special treat