Tag Archives: Changing of the Seasons

Sep 11 2022
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Childhood Comfort Food: Served with Memories

“Food is a lot of people’s therapy — when we say comfort food, we really mean that. It’s releasing dopamine and serotonin in your brain that makes you feel good.” — Brett Hoebel

Definition: “Food that provides consolation or a feeling of well-being, typically any with a high sugar or other carbohydrate content and associated with childhood or home cooking.”

Note: This reminiscence was originally written as a response to the prompt, ‘childhood comfort food’ for my Door County Write On LGBTQ+ Writers Group.

September in the Midwest is my favorite time of year. It marks the changing of the seasons, the end of summer and the beginning of fall; warm days and cool nights when one grabs their favorite sweatshirt or sweater while still wearing shorts — comfort and comfort food season. Continue reading →

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Sep 12 2019
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Dispatch from the Hideout: Premature Hibernation

“In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.” ― Albert Camus

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” ― C.G. Jung

Though it’s not officially autumn yet, I feel the urge to go underground, to hibernate prematurely. Like caterpillars who cocoon in a chrysalis and emerge in a new form as a butterfly, it’s my desire to find a safe place to enable transformation.

The world seems like it’s becoming more threatening, whether it’s our natural world and the consequences of climate change, or our political environment and the actions and policies by those currently in power. On a personal level, things sometime happen to us — and for me — how I respond makes a difference in my emotional and spiritual health and serenity. While there are storms happening outside of me, there’s also turmoil and uncertainty stirring within. Continue reading →

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Aug 27 2017
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Seasons/Change

“Memories recycle of seasons past
of people absent and places far away.
I soothe myself with the solace of ritual.
There is comfort in repetition
and wonder in change.” — From the poem, The Solace of Ritual, Linda Lenzke

It has been and continues to be a hellavu week, a reminder of the power of nature — the relationship of the sun, moon, and earth — and how it impacts the weather. Beginning this past Monday in North America, we witnessed the total or partial eclipse of the sun, depending on where we landed on, or near, the path of totality. Continue reading →

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Nov 01 2015
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Living the Mole Life

“…we can’t live in the light all of the time. You have to take whatever light you can hold into the dark with you.”  ― Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty

Last night was Halloween, also known as Hallow’s Eve or Samhain, the Celtic festival that bridges fall and winter, when people light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts and the darkness. On State Street here in Madison, Wisconsin it was Freakfest. Before we went to bed, we turned our clocks back an hour; it was the last day of Daylight Saving Time (DST) and though we gained an extra hour of sleep, we begin living the mole life again.  Continue reading →

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