Featured Ponderings Wanderings

The Importance of Lungwort

March 11, 2017

(Moss and lichen, but not Lungwort)

I woke up this morning to the sound of voices in the house. Not unusual, since my husband gets up early and likes to watch the news. I find it unsettling, the sound of strange voices, and whatever dream I am having just before waking up usually takes a strange turn as I drift from dreamland to somewhat awake. This morning, I was unprepared for the tornado of emotion that struck, when he came into the bedroom and asked, “Do you know Meadowdale Beach Park?” His perfectly innocent question took me on a ride of memories and emotions that left my mind reeling, and me weeping. Fortunately, he had already left the room… Continue Reading

Featured Ponderings

Go Ahead, Make My Day…

February 16, 2017

Most evenings, I ask my 15-year old son the same litany of questions: How was your day? Anything interesting to report? Did anything good happen? Did anything bad happen? Did you do anything to make someone else’s day better? Because he is a 15-year old boy, the answer is usually “Fine” to the first question, and “No” to the remaining ones. Although getting actual word responses versus grunts should be considered a win, I always try to press a little on the last question, because I want him to be a leader, and I want him to understand the importance of his actions, and how they affect other people. I want to encourage him to reach out to others, and do his best to bring out the good in those around him. I want him to develop people-skills that will benefit him for the rest of his life. When I ask him if he smiles at people, he tells me that he only smiles at people he knows, because to do otherwise would be viewed as “weird”. I find that so sad, but then I have to remember, I am not in a huge urban high school, trying to tread lightly and make it safely through each day…

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Featured Ponderings

Call Me Loony…Confessions of a Moon Worshiper

February 11, 2017

Another full moon tonight…one would think it only happens on a rare occasion, I look forward to it with so much anticipation.  But every month, like a trusted friend, it comes again.  The nights leading up to it, I can’t sleep, or if I am able to fall asleep, I wake up as it passes by my window, crossing the night sky and nudging me as it begins to set.  The winter moons, especially, seem to line up just so with my bedroom window.  Tonight is the Snow Moon.  Sharing the billing this year is a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse, as well as Comet 45P, both highly touted celestial events. I watched the moon as I drove home from a late night at work, and realized later that I had seen the eclipse, without knowing I was seeing it, because I had misread the time. It was beautiful and moody in a dark hue, and we gazed back at each other the whole drive home… Continue Reading