Author: Liz
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The Bookmark: April
Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book, Vincent vanGogh,1888, oil on canvas, Arles, France. An inch of rain is predicted today, starting at 11. As I am writing the skies are clear. I have plans to pull weeds if it doesn’t rain, and to sew a dress if it does. I guess I…
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An Exaltation of Larks
A little madness in the spring is wholesome even for a king. -Emily Dickinson And what could be madder than the English language? Here’s some perfectly grammatical sentences allowed in English. Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.Will Will Smith smith?The old man the boat.The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.A boat shipping boat transports…
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In Poetry We Say…
Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar. –Percy Bysshe Shelley The Donkey When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn,Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born.With monstrous head and sickening cry And…
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The Bookmark: March
Vincent van Gogh, Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book, 1888, oil on canves, Arles, France. The reading in March has taken me from my armchair to Africa to Europe to Iowa. The time periods spanned hundreds of years from the early 1600’s to 1903. I know of no other hobby that has…
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A Spring Lament
In my corner of the world, spring does not spring. Winter lets go reluctantly. Spring hesitates, makes an attempt and then retreats, again and again. Blue skies, rain, snow, sunshine and sleet take turns. The friction of transition can be mildly irritating or completely exhausting. My emotions mirror the weather. Spring is a restless, achey,…
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Lessons From a Princess
Catherine, Princess of Wales, has appeared on many ‘best-dressed’ lists. Does she have something to teach us? Here are some observations. A princess wears what the occasion calls for. She is traditional and appropriate. She wears formal clothes in the evening, pretty dresses to a garden party, hats in the day, jewels at night and…
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More Than Was Lost Has Been Found
Try reading this poem out loud. When faces called flowers float out of the groundand breathing is wishing and wishing is having—but keeping is downward and doubting and neverit’s april (yes, april, my darling) it’s spring!yes the pretty birds frolic as spry as can flyyes the little fish gamble as glad as can be(yes the…
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The Bookmark: February
Vincent van Gogh, Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book, 1888, oil on canves, Arles, France. Several times this month I heard the excuse, ‘well, it’s a short month.’ I even said it myself in the last few weeks. And every time it makes me laugh. Really, two days make a lot of…
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The Selected Diaries: 5 Things
In February I started journaling again because I was feeling so dry. Inspiration had trickled to the tiniest stream. That’s how I came to this Friday morning and nothing ready to publish here. In looking over the last few weeks, I see snippets of things to share but none of it makes a real article.…
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Create Your Own Happily-Ever-After
I have learned to read marriage advice books with a grain of salt. There might be some small idea that really works for me. I don’t ever expect to do exactly as the author says. And in the process, I noticed there are not a lot of creative resources for the happily married. Most marriage…