Box up Some Sunshine and Happiness

Sunshine and happiness.


I had it.  It was there.  For two glorious months I felt better than I had in ages.  June and July were wonderful!  Swimming every day.  Lots of sun.  Family visiting and friends around.  Happy.  I felt happy.  


So tell me!  Was it the sun?  The exercise?  The lake?  The people?  The fact that work was in a relatively slower period?  Less financial stress?  How do I capture that happiness, box it, and save it for a rainy day?  


And nope I don't expect every day to be like that.  But today I'm tired.  It's stormy, cloudy, and dark.  I really hate shorter days, and these days are going to keep getting shorter for 3 months.   


So I'd like to be able to open up a box of sunshine and happiness whenever I want it.  Gosh, is that too much to ask?


Hmmm... actually, I already feel a little better.  Maybe writing about it is the secret.  Maybe a light box, physical therapy, baths, and more family and friends are all I need.  And a hug and a guitar.   And a pizza.  And...


Maybe I just need a nap.  I feel the zzzs coming.


G'nite.

Settling in to fall...

Though it’s not officially fall yet (9 days still), I have the feeling that I’m settling in to the season. Long sleeve shirts, jeans, enjoying Spartan football, rooting against the Buckeyes, J. E. T. S., Jets JETS JETS!, cheddar cheese, Triscuits and sausage, thinking about apples and caramel, the smell of fires burning around the lake, and, of course, school starting for so many young folk. Some older folk have started school again too.

Yes, I’m definitely smelling, seeing, and feeling fall. I’m inside more and thinking about future fall and winter activities. And I’m starting to do the stuff I like inside – playing guitar, learning something new – in this case it’s some new recording software, and mostly curling up under a soft blanket.

In the past, I’ve loved the end of summer and start of fall, because I’m not a fan of feeling hot and sweaty. Fall brings that lovely sweater weather. But things change.

I live on a lake now. Bring on the hot weather and let’s keep it longer. Yep, I no longer mind hot weather b/c it just means I’m in the water. Plus, for the first time in 20 or so years, I don’t have season tickets to watch my Spartans. Between the cost of the new home, and the football days starting to feel like work during the last couple seasons, we decided not to purchase them this year. So here I sit in a comfy chair watching the Spartans pummel the opposing team. (There is still a half to go though so I don’t want to be over confident. Love my Spartans but for a while there they did have a history of fading in the 4th quarter.)

I’m enjoying this. I’m warm, comfy, the bathroom is nearer and cleaner, and my dogs are so cute all curled up. I miss my fellow tailgaters. But I know many of them aren’t doing the big tailgate anymore either.


Yep, times change. And the strangest part of today is that I think I like the change. ME! Lisa! LIKES CHANGE! So, the big question of the day is: does this mean I’m getting older?


Happy Saturday!
Lisa


And to all those still grieving their losses of 9 years ago, please know I remember, and I’m saying a prayer for you.

Mary Oliver's wild geese

Just sharing today:

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/oliver/online_poems.htm

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

© Mary Oliver. Online Source

Back to the Basics

Sometimes the best way to start is to review...

I'm starting to learn how to record using some really simple recording software... at least "they" say it's really simple. I find the older I get the harder it is to learn things. So I'm trying not to frustrate myself.

Well in trying to sit down to play and learn the recording software, I decided to start at the beginning with my guitar too and review some basics with the free lessons that came with the software: basic strumming patterns, root notes, basic pentatonic scale, basic major/minor chords, etc.

What I found was some stuff that I sorta knew but not in full - like pieces of the pentatonic scale but not some of its simple uses and not the variations of the blues scale - the added fourth sharp note.... or whatever it's called. I never learned much of the theory as a teen when I took lessons. Like all things - I took the easy way. I went right for some three-chord songs, so I could get right to the music.

So, here I am watching these beginning lessons for guitar, an instrument I've played for 30 plus years, and suddenly this very old thing seems brand new and yet familiar all at the same time. Some things I knew instinctually make a lot more sense.

Moral for today - sometimes when you are stuck, it's best to go back just a step and review. Suddenly you may find yourself seeing new directions.

An Early Summer Sunday

June 27, 2010

An early summer Sunday.

I remember that morning.

In fits and starts.

Through a haze and in pieces, moments, vignettes.

The first words.

Mom at the table.

John through the curtain of the side door window,

while Dave tried gently but knowing it would break his heart.

Taking off - going for a bike ride.

A moment of what? Hopelessness? Despair? Or curiosity? Luckily just a thought.

Amazed that a mile and a half away word had already spread faster than my ride.

And then the days. The daze.

Family, food, people’s faces in and out.

A camper in the driveway for overflow.

Seeing him there.

Watching shoulders heave.

Tears and tissues and stories.

Flowers. A Frisbee.

Mass

Friends

Hackie Sak.

And then a family “vacation.”

And a fight.

And a walk.

And home to a table piled over with cards, letters, sympathy, and love.

Everything. EVERYTHING changed.

An early summer Sunday morning and 27 years gone by.