Tag Archives: Spring

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 →

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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 →

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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 →

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 04 2014
1 Comment
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 →

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 20 2014
1 Comment
Posts

Journal/Journey

“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.” ― Gabriel García Márquez

Years before I started writing for others, I wrote poetry and journaled for myself. Sometimes I would share a poem with the person who inspired it yet seldom a journal entry. Journaling by its very nature is a private act, a conversation with oneself, often a daily record of happenings, experiences and observations. Sometimes our loved ones or curious friends or colleagues surreptitiously read our journals. Much is written about the consequences of reading someone’s journal without the author’s permission.

Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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 →

Tagged , , , ,
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 →

Tagged , , , , , ,
Sep 14 2013
3 Comments
Posts

The Changing Seasons

Next Sunday is the autumnal equinox, the official beginning of fall, when day and night are nearly equal. One can already see the sun’s position in the sky changing and its effect on daylight. Soon too, the leaves will change from their verdant hues to vibrant shades of carmine, crimson, burnt orange, golden yellows and finally tawny browns before they fall to the ground.  Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jul 26 2013
Posts

Summer So Green

The past few days have been a reminder of how grateful I am for the bountiful beauty and power of nature. Living in Wisconsin, our lives ebb and flow with the changing seasons, sometimes winter is unrelenting and it’s a struggle just to get out the door for our day-to-day lives. We are restored in the spring when the changing weather brings us hope and quells the itchiness of spring fever. Summer is our reward, a time for leisure and vacations. In the autumn we reap the harvest of the land and prepare for the long, cold nights again, the cycles of change repeated. Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , ,
Newer posts →