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July 2010 State-of-the-Household Letter
(Journal/Journal)
... to get physical. Of course I’m doing lots of yoga, the best antidote for an over-filled mind. I’m also gardening, experimenting with paints and papers and colors and shapes (the shy artist in me trying ...
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Remorse, TN
(My Writing/Poetry)
... clapboard and long winter evenings and pumpkins in the side garden. I said for better or worse, but I didn’t really think there would be worse. Who does? But there was. Worse weather. Worse ...
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A New Kind of Balance
(Journal/Journal)
... deck and look at the garden, which is beautiful right now. I am confined to this house, and my whole life is pretty much in my head right now. Thinking, pondering, writing, wondering, obsessing: that’s ...
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Devotion to the Practice
(Journal/Journal)
... to projects that are somewhat outside our areas of expertise and outside of our comfort zone. She is in the process of remaking her large yard into a series of garden spaces. Her desire is to use the ...
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Pop
(Journal/Journal)
... I loved to do I would be incapable of doing. Everything would be difficult. There would be no gardening. No yoga. No teaching. No training with Anthony. No long walks in Winter Park neighborhoods. ...
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The Right Tool for the Right Job
(Sabbatical/Sabbatical)
It’s spring in Florida and the garden centers are packed with frenzied gardeners eager to get into their yards for new planting. I want to be right there with them buying colorful annuals, getting ...
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What is Your Dharma This Year?
(Sabbatical/Sabbatical)
... breath work, training, reading and study of the wisdom traditions, writing, eating well, resting deeply, and working in the garden as much as possible. I want to be very careful about agreeing to do anything ...
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The Worst Thing About Living Alone
(My Writing/Poetry)
... carrots, curry and a little bit of Greek oregano from your garden—and it’s really delicious, and then you eat a bowl standing in front of the TV instead of sitting at the dining room table with a cloth ...
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Day Eight of 2010 Retreat
(Journal/Journal)
... muscles have much to teach us; the body has its own expertise. So, on the eighth and last day of my annual retreat, I went downstairs and stood at the back window to check the early morning garden, ...
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The Story of the Jade
(Journal/Journal)
... reach outward. As I stood looking out at the lushness of my tiny garden, I thought how wonderful to know the jade weathered its disaster and recreated itself. Out of its own dark dormancy it has ...
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Quitting/Not Quitting: All Things Change
(Sabbatical/Sabbatical)
Another rainy day here in Florida. I’m happy for it because my plan is to stay in all day and write. Cool, overcast weather keeps me out of the garden, my primary distraction from the writing ...
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Getting Back to the Writing
(Sabbatical/Sabbatical)
... in Atlanta at the Botanical Gardens. So that was essentially a week away. There went October. The month felt chopped up. I felt harried. I was pulled in several directions. I was not mindful. I ...
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Bring on the Warriors
(Sabbatical/Sabbatical)
... I just can’t do it. I began to maneuver for an escape. I don’t have to write this book. Who would really care? Isn’t making pea soup enough? And the garden, isn’t that evidence of diligence? ...
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Watching Old Patterns
(Sabbatical/Sabbatical)
... I’m working in the garden, which is good. I’m spending too much money out there, which is bad. This all sounds good, doesn’t it? But note my need for some sort of measurement. Some sort of accounting ...
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What I'm Supposed to Do
(Sabbatical/Sabbatical)
... tidying up life, getting things in order, working on the house, taking care of domestic obligations. I organized closets, made over-due doctors’ appointments, re-worked the garden, re-vamped my diet ...
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Annual "State-of-the-Household" Letter
(Journal/Journal)
... sit quietly. I hope to have many hours on the back porch, watching the squirrels and listening to the fountain and forgoing the need to talk about it. 5. My little backyard garden is my avocation, a ...
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Called Away
(My Writing/Poetry)
... days later, I’m in the garden, pruning azaleas, re-potting amaryllis bulbs, and the tab explodes, silent but bright. Huge, trumpet-blossoms of golden yellow, glowing as if ignited from within, converge ...
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And so we begin. . .
(Sabbatical/Sabbatical)
... be here to make changes in the garden. Saturday, Mike Miller and I will build a compost bin. The tasks are endless, aren’t they? So, before God and country, I begin this blog with a commitment to devote ...
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How to Hire a Poet
(Journal/Journal)
... get right in your face, stare you down, and breathe into your mouth--hot, acrid breath. After reading such words, you are flooded with desire; you have to eat exotic food, or dig dirt in the garden, or ...
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What Have You Learned This Year?
(Journal/Journal)
... of Brian's good friends to join me for brunch on my back porch so we could enjoy the garden Brian helped me create and, in our own humble way, honor his life on this earth. As we settled in for a morning ...
