Tag Archives: Seasons

Nov 01 2015
Posts

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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Jun 21 2015
Posts

Conversations w/My Next Girlfriend: Episode 9

Note: This is the ninth episode in a series of imaginary conversations with my next girlfriend.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Dear Next Girlfriend,

It’s a cloudy, grey, overcast day — the eve of the Summer Solstice. Showers moved through the area earlier as thunder rumbled and tumbled in the distance. The sun is trying to find its way through the clouds overhead, outside the window where I write. The weather matches my mood as I hope to find the partly sunny outlook or the glass half full way of thinking before the longest day of the year arrives. I’m reflective. I know I’m mixing metaphors — it’s what I do. Continue reading →

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Mar 20 2015
Posts

Spring Has Sprung

Geomagnetic Storms, Aurora Borealis, Supermoon, Solar Eclipse & Vernal Equinox — Two Weeks Later a Lunar Eclipse — Oh, My!

Just when I thought celestial bodies were in equilibrium, rotating in space, pirouetting in perfectly choreographed and synchronized precision, the heavens — which normally provide stability and predictability in uncertain times — erupt in color, play hide and seek and chaos flares. Continue reading →

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Dec 14 2014
Posts

The Third Act of Life

“It’s okay that you’re old; it means you’re not dead.”  ― My niece, Gemma, at the age of 4.

Some say, “Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom.” This was certainly true the day seven years ago when I buckled my then four-year-old niece, Gemma, into her car seat.  She examined my face closely as I leaned in to safely strap her in the backseat of my car. Continue reading →

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Aug 31 2014
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Posts

The Impermanence of Life

“Impermanence is one of the essential doctrines or three marks of existence in Buddhism. The term expresses the Buddhist notion that all of conditioned existence, without exception, is transient, or in a constant state of flux.”  ― Source: Wikipedia

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”  ―  Alan Wilson Watts

Though the weather is summer-like with hot, humid days and buggy nights, autumn awaits around the corner as the sun rises later and sets sooner each day. Children return to school, and families reset their routines. It is a wistful, introspective time of year for me, a time to reflect on my life, to look back at where I’ve been and to what’s ahead.  I often make new commitments and sometimes let go of others. Fall is always a time of change, both externally and internally.  Continue reading →

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May 26 2014
Posts

Home: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

“In life, a person will come and go from many homes. We may leave a house, a town, a room, but that does not mean those places leave us.” — Arik Berk

Yesterday
This Memorial Day weekend I returned to my childhood home. As a family, we celebrated the birthdays of two young men, grandnephews, the next generation coming up. The next day we planted flowers for my mother, their great grandmother, whose knees no longer bend, or are able to stand erect again without pain.

Continue reading →

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May 04 2014
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Posts

Light & Shadow

“Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In many parts of the country this year, winter has been unrelenting and even spring seems cast in darkness, cloudy grey days lingering like a bad mood. People I encounter in both my personal and professional life seem short-tempered and surly, or depressed and sullen. I’ve been experiencing a crisis of confidence in different areas of my life, questioning my choices, judging myself harshly, or needing reassurance. I’m projecting thoughts, motives, and perceptions onto others. I finally realized I need to face my shadow to find the light. Continue reading →

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Mar 08 2014
Posts

March Madness & Spring Fever

It’s finally here, March Madness and I’m not talking about collegiate basketball tournaments and NCAA brackets, no, I’m referring to the time of year, especially in the northern hemisphere, when a number of celestial and biological phenomenon align.  First, the sun shines directly on the equator creating the Equinox when day and night are illuminated equally. In March it’s the Vernal or Spring Equinox this year officially on March 20. Tonight however, before we go to bed we set our clocks ahead one hour and spring forward to enjoy additional daylight. We lose an hour’s sleep and it may take us awhile for our circadian clocks to adjust, yet it is always worth the effort. Continue reading →

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Jan 26 2014
Posts

Winter Blues & Spring Fever

This morning as I write, I’m looking out the window at my desk. It’s an odd-shaped window, two feet wide by four feet high. It’s not quite 6 a.m. on this frigid Sunday morning. I’m on the second floor of the building and one story below the window, perfectly centered, is an exterior light flooding upwards. As the snow falls it’s illuminated, appearing as how you’d imagine snow might look under a black light. The fluorescent flakes fall like diving fireflies, sometimes dancing, circling in the wind. In daylight you’d think someone shook a snow globe. Continue reading →

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Dec 22 2013
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Posts

Snow Days

It is the morning after the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice. Snow in big fluffy flakes is falling sideways, blowing easterly. Yesterday’s ice glazed trees and roads today are flocked in white. It is a snow day in Wisconsin. Continue reading →

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