Last month, I started writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa. I’m continuing this month so that I can experience the entire deck of prompts. Today’s prompt is about what brings peace and what is not peaceful in your day. As a fan of visual poetry, I chose the form of the breathing wave today the way it may appear on a screen in a medical office (scroll fast and you can see the wave appear in the line breaks.
For five days this month, three of my writing communities intersect on the same day. I’ve often had folks ask me how I manage three writing groups at once The secret is in the streamlining. For The Stafford Challenge, we write a poem a day for a year. For the Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com, we write a poem a day for five days a month and every day in April (you can read today’s prompt by Sarah Donovan here, inspiring writers to write about a place to breathe), and for The Slice of Life Challenge, we blog about a life moment. The magic of making it happen is to figure out which one works as a one-size-fits-all writing and to get started. Today, I’m using the Open Write prompt linked above.
A Place to Breathe……hmmm…….there are several of those, but what comes to mind lately is Ace Hardware.
After church, we piddle around on Sundays. Sometimes that means going to the hardware store so we can replenish our birdseed supply or pick up something we need to work on around the house. My husband likes looking at the lightbulbs, and I know I will always find him on that aisle. We live deep in the rural countryside of Georgia, so it doesn’t take much to entertain either one of us.
Me? I look around, but I discovered a secret thrill that takes me to the Magnolia Home paint chip section, and I have to be secretive about my mission so no one else discovers it. This hidden pleasure would surely draw all the crowds from their farms and tractors, but I only want to share it with those reading my blog so that my place to breathe remains mine alone in this town.
Colorful Story Paint Chip Haiku
did you know that there
are stories on the backs of
Magnolia chips?
these are the kinds of
deep-breathing exercises
perfect for writers
colorful stories
that’ll take your breath away
and make you want to
write your own colorful gems
about your own hues
just take a deep breath
close your eyes, go someplace loved
pick up your own pen
Take a look at these colorful, brilliant gems pictured below! Sure, it’s a marketing strategy, but I’d pay a little more for a gallon of this paint just to line the pockets of a writer who took the time to make all the right words work.
And then, after the Magnolia Paint chip section, I’m off to the garden section, where the herbs have just arrived in 4″ pots, where I picked up four patio tomatoes before they were entered in the system earlier this week – – -stood and waited for them to be buyable. I smell the rosemary and dill, and then…..smell the summer salmon on the grill.
Then a bag of birdseed and clear hummingbird mix for the hummers due to arrive this week according to all bird count maps. I’ll boil water and clean out the glass feeders, hang them by the front porch…..and sit with a glass of blood orange iced tea spiked with honey. And I’ll listen for the familiar hum and the steak of green glimmer. I will hear them before I ever see them.
And last I’m off to the lightbulbs, where he will be standing, holding a box or two, saying what he always says: you just can’t find incandescent bulbs anymore, and we need them for the heat in the well. And I’ll do what I always do: I’ll show him the heat bulbs like we used for the chickens, and he’ll act like it’s the first time I’ve ever suggested it. He’ll put back his box and pick up the heat bulbs, and then we’ll make our purchases and drive home after an exciting piddle through our local Ace Hardware Store.
This December, I’m slowly making my way through Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year by Beth Kempton (2019), and in Part 3 starting in Chapter 7, she presents ways to preserve the quiet times by savoring the “hush.” She encourages time to reflect on Christmas and suggests ways to avoid stress during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
I’m particularly excited for the moments of hush this year. My youngest daughter is scheduled to be induced two days after Christmas. She’s pregnant with her first child, a son, who will be named Silas. This gift of a new family member is the most precious gift of all, and while the moments of hush will be few and far between with the constant needs of an infant, the moments of watching a baby sleep will bring deep peace and joy. I plan to be there to celebrate the birth and get to know this new little one.
Indeed, a baby changes everything – especially at Christmas!
The relaxed pace of the week after Christmas affords down time for many, where the world takes a deep pause from work to play and spend time with family. Many businesses in our area are closed from Christmas until New Year’s Day. It’s the perfect time, Kempton writes, to take stock of your house, take mini-breaks, reflect on the past year and plan for the new, to write, and to engage in other creative projects. She encourages us to take a digital detox day by turning off all electronics and not checking email. In fact, she suggests that a day in nature is a great way to hit the reset button for deep thinking that is free of distraction. The chapter is loaded with specific ideas such as hibernating with hot chocolate, flipping mattresses, taking blankets outside to watch the moon and stars, taking mini-trips to local places such as museums or movies, and flying kites on the beach.
The week between Christmas is the best time to reflect on the past year, and to begin thinking about the One Little Word to guide the next year. I’ve loved the power of the word for the past several years, and while I’ve kept the word PRAY for the past two because I can find no better word, I will take a second word for next year because one is calling to me. I’ll keep PRAY as my guiding word, but there will be another that will travel with me through the year as well. I’ll think of them as the focal and diopter lenses on a camera. One big word, and then a refining word. More on this later.
Here are some questions Kempton urges us to consider for reflection between the week of Christmas and New Year’s Day:
When did you experience joy?
What was especially tiring?
What was magical?
What was calm?
Whose presence was challenging? a delight?
Which of your efforts were appreciated, and which felt like a waste of time or energy or money?
What was your single most favorite memory this Christmas?
Which preparations did you enjoy the most?
What would you like to do differently next Christmas?
I already know that putting up the smaller tree was a good move for us, given that I got sick before Christmas and battled an upper respiratory infection that left me fatigued. We were late putting up the tree and figured that since we would have minimal activity in our own home to celebrate, we didn’t want a lot of decorations. Still, we love the lights of a tree for ushering in Christmas Spirit first thing in the morning and in the evenings while we are home, so we pulled down the 7′ pre-lit pencil tree requiring no assembly rather than the 12′ pre-lit tree that goes up in three tiers and requires ladders and three full boxes of ornaments. And we are enjoying it just as much. It may be the new standard for us. Already, I’m not dreading having to “take down Christmas.” It’s simpler this year, and it feels more manageable, allowing me to look forward to less work in the aftermath of the holidays.
And there will be fresh. pumpkin bread, a treat I reserve for Thanksgiving and Christmas and that has been the trademark bread in my home since the mid-1980s when I got the recipe from a cookbook at a bridal shower. Everyone loves this recipe, and I’ll link the recipe here.
Try a loaf for your family. Have a cup of coffee by the tree in the early morning with dogs piled in your lap next to the fireplace, and feel the comfort and warmth of fresh bread before the rest of the household rises. It’s a magical treat.
In April, I took a girls’ trip with my sister-in-law to north Georgia and North Carolina. We ambled around Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, Georgia at a leisurely pace, admiring the tiers of tulips and daffodils before embarking on the scenic drive to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, where we sat by the huge stone fireplace and sipped coffee in those relaxing wooden rocking chairs you see in the mountains in places where life is simpler and a fresher type of air cleans the lungs and awakens the senses.
Big stone fireplace at Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC
“I’m loving this,” I told her. “I don’t feel rushed, and it’s a more relaxed pace than the itinerary I usually keep when traveling. I zip from place to place, and I don’t generally sit down and breathe until day’s end.” I was especially thinking about the EF Tour I’d taken with students to Europe in June 2019, when we’d visited four countries in ten days with a full day of air travel there and back as two of those days. It had drained every bit of me!
Quote on the rock of the Grove Park Inn Lobby – there were many of these all over the place
Sitting in the huge stone-walled lobby, I noticed the quotes on the rocks in the wall. On a breakneck-paced trip, I would have never noticed such a detail. As I observed more, I discovered that they were scattered throughout the hotel, and I visually scaled the walls on a self-secret scavenger hunt, making pictures, taking the time to ponder each one and to consider why it was selected out of all the quotes they could have chosen to etch there.
Grove Park Inn Gingerbread House, winner of the 2021 competition
We stumbled upon the gingerbread house display from the annual competition and noticed each captivating detail of these winning designs. Further down the hall, we found the desk F. Scott Fitzgerald used during his time at the Grove Park Inn. Our room was directly across the hall from the two rooms that were “his” at the inn. We strolled through the gift shops, too, taking time to peruse the books about the history of this historic hotel. We each bought one and returned to the great fireplace to read them.
Open Windows at The Grove Park Inn – Historic Section – Asheville, NC
That’s why months later, when I saw the book The Art of Slow Travel, I knew it would be my next read. Four months into 2022, I was already beginning to realize that a more relaxed pace when traveling has more than mere physical benefits. Throughout 2022, most every trip that didn’t involve our camper held a hard lesson about taking life at a slower pace, lugging less on the journey, and savoring more tranquil moments.
My experience goals for 2023 are to cut back on entertainment in the form of concerts, sports, plays, and movies and instead focus on the experiences that are found outdoors – kayaking, hiking, long walks, conversations over orange spiced tea and playlists by the fire pit (my son and daughter in law gave us one for Christmas). It’s time to open the windows and relax the pace. To breathe. To embrace slow travel not only on trips, but as a daily living practice.
Common Threads 