Tag Archives: lists

Winter Ingredients for a Contented Life

photo by Sylvia (Percy, my daughter’s dog at 2 months)

good health—the positive management of your health

enough food—bowls of berries and platters of cheese, black beans, red tomatoes and good chocolate 

the love of another person, or of an animal

safety—a warm home without fear

steaming cups of coffee and strong, black tea

good books on frigid mornings

candles that smell like balsam, like cherry pipe tobacco, like spicy cinnamon

old photos 

tattered quilts

pine cones and dried flowers in vases

love letters tucked away with ribbons

crunchy walks in the snow

a good type of tired—from puttering in the house, from doing good for others, from shoveling someone’s walkway, from reading an entire book of poems in one night

freedom to get things wrong and freedom to get things right every once in a while

photo by Sylvia
photo by Sylvia (a winter sunset to the right of my back yard with deer)
photo by Sylvia (Percy, my daughter’s dog today at 4 months)

Taking Stock in November

photo by Sylvia

This list inspired by the lovely Pip Lincoln from meetmeatmikes.com

Getting: a holiday list underway

Cooking: mashed potatoes and cornbread and sautéed cauliflower

Sipping: Christmas Tea from The Secret Garden

Reading: All Adults Here by Emma Straub

Thinking: family time is such a wonderful thing 

Remembering: my extended family in Ohio that I miss and those that have passed on, remembering them with great love

Looking: at the leaves, always and still

Listening: Elton, Johnny Cash, Jerry Rafferty

Wishing: for peace and safety

Enjoying: British shows on BritBox

Appreciating: how we change as life goes on

Wanting: patience

Eating: pumpkin things

Finishing: the last box of Raspberry Coffee

Liking: rainy, grey days

Loving: sunny, bright autumn mornings

Buying: Christmas trinkets

Watching: the crows in the afternoon

Hoping: the world can find a place of peace

Wearing: green amber earrings from Italy

Walking: every day is always the goal

Following: the local parks and conservatories and museums on instagram

Noticing: a kindness here and a kindness there

Saving: screen shots of beautiful images from instagram for inspiration

Bookmarking: clever interviews with authors I like

Feeling: grateful 

Hearing: so many voices of pain and sorrow, knowing we are all one, wishing we were all one

photo by Sylvia

instagram.com/wolfnevemama/

A Catalog of 4 Days

photo by Sylvia

we pulled the leaves from the dill plants and the night fell with its fragrance 

with their humble happiness, the pumpkins beckoned

there was a bit of melancholy about the place; the distressed beauty of willful neglect but also a prescience in the way the sun fell in random slices through the thick afternoon clouds

she laughed when I ran outside to shoot the morning frost on the leaves and so I scampered, crunching the grass, taking the shots quickly, leaving an exhaled breath behind me

photo by Sylvia
photo by Sylvia
photo by Sylvia

Temporary Things

photo by Sylvia

youth, sadness and shooting stars,

rainy mornings and happy afternoons,

sometimes a broken heart and sometimes a broken promise,

anger and a small child’s laughter,

a full moon and an autumn breeze,

a late summer sun on fresh flowers, 

a day at the lake, a lark, a laugh, a life

instagram.com/wolfnevemama/

photo by Sylvia

Things that Fly

photo by Sylvia

butterflies and dragonflies and dragons (admittedly not far since their wings are often smaller than their bodies)

insects and bats and some squirrels (although in a mostly coasting fashion)

planes and helicopters and some pigs (almost never, but who am I to say?)

imagination and time (not exclusively when having fun) and excuses (some are said to not fly, but the best ones often try)

instagram.com/wolfnevemama/

Hours of the Night as Book Chapters

photo by Sylvia

Chapter 1:00— A Velvet Night Seeps Through the Cracked Window

Chapter 2:00— The Dog Dreams of Chasing Rabbits 

Chapter 3:00— Awakening— Is it Morning?
(alternate title: Please, Let it Be Morning)

Chapter 4:00— Is the Appointment Today or Next Monday?
(alternate title: A Shopping List)
(alternate title: Scheduling a Car Inspection)
(alternate title: Childhood)
(alternate title: Why Would She Say That?)
(alternate title: Where Did I Put That Gift Card?)

Chapter 4:30— The Dog Goes Outside—
The Deer are Surprised, Quietly Resentful, Finally Resigned

Chapter 5:00— Hot Tea, Honey a Blanket and a Book

Chapter 6:00— Morning Coffee and Toast

Chapter 7:00— The Blue Light of Daybreak, Finally
(alternate title: Where is my Camera?)
(alternate title: The Deer are Outraged Again)

photo by Sylvia

My thoughts in the middle of the night

photo by Sylvia

i think of the lantern flies hibernating in the winter
(their beauty and their destructiveness)

i think about the sculptural tree fungus
(some fungus is good and some is harmful)

i grieve the space dog, Laika
(why, why, why did they have to send her into space?)

my lost heart locket haunts me, 50 years later
(if i bought another, would it heal the longing?)

maybe some tea would be good right now
(lemon ginger or peppermint?)

instagram.com/wolfnevemama/