Awake!

Quote of the Day:  Today is life - the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto. Dale Carnegie

When you awake for breakfast, I have fresh bread and coffee waiting.

Awake! a great word for the Advent Photo A Day Project (click pic at the side for more info). Last night, I made sourdough bread with oats and molasses. It drove us crazy to smell it baking. We couldn't wait for morning, so the Chef and I had a slice before going to sleep. Mmm. Home-made fresh bread is a process, and certainly worth the wait. You keep the sourdough growing on the counter, or in the fridge. You must feed it and stir it to keep it alive. Then, when you're ready to bake, you take a scoop out of it, add more flour, yeast, and other yummy ingredients. Then, wait for it to rise. When it's risen, you punch it down, knead it, and let it rise again. Then, you work it over one more time, forming loaves, letting it rise, until finally, by the end of the day, you can bake it.

And, too, we pursue our dreams, waking and sleeping, working and kneading, adding ingredients, and waiting. When all that hard work finally meets opportunity, we will awake to a new day and taste the goodness of our creations. 

Today, as we awake to almost a foot of snow in Minnesota and temps well below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, we carry on. We don't let the weather hinder our plans. Krista and I are driving to St. Paul to see The Wizard of Oz at the Ordway. We are awake to new opportunities, awake to more adventure, following the snow covered yellow brick road. I'm sure Oz is warmer than Minnesota!

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Where do you think you'll go if you follow the red brick road? What have you waited for?

The Travel Bug

 

Quote of the Day:  Taking a page from my own photo album (circa 1988).

 

Here I am having a snack at the airport/train connection in Frankfurt, Germany, during my study abroad experience. I wrote: The starting point of a one month tour of Europe.

(My early days of "blogging!")

Top picture: Me at the Frankfurt station.

Bottom picture: Me and Ric at the Munich train station, heading to Italy.

 

Last year, I posted this picture of my First Born, graduating high school, here in Minnesota, and heading to Texas Tech University for school.

 

Bobby who says, "Texas or Bust."

 

This year's cake (if we'd gotten one) would say, "Spain or Bust!"

Yep, he's taking the summer semester in Spain. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Again, I can only blame myself. I spent a full semester in Germany, January-May 1988, and added one more month of travel before I came home. It's an experience of a life time.

 

Bobby, ready to board the airport shuttle to start his European Adventure!

 

I sent a text message to his dad after I wiped a tear from my eye: He's off on the Lakes Express.

Reply from his dad: I am a combination of nervous and excited for him.

Me too, I wrote back.

 

What an exciting time of life, to be 19 and have the world at your feet. I feel so many emotions. I wish I could be there with him to make sure he gets safely to his destination and connects with the group. I'm proud of him for braving it on his own. I want to experience it with him, but know that it's his journey to take. So, with a tight squeeze and a kiss on the cheek, I sent him off by saying, "I love you. Have fun, and be safe."

 

Go. Create. Inspire!

 

Journaling Prompt:  Write about your own grand adventures, or sending off a loved one. (I don't know how the military moms survive it. It's tough enough sending them off for an education.)



 

Open to Zipping off on a Bike

Quote of the Month: Open the window in the center of your chest and let the spirits fly in and out. Rumi
(My theme for this year's A to Z Challenge is Open.)

Millie and Willie Cottonpoly, a sock puppet creation, are here to tell you their story during the April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

Millie and Willie are up for zipping off on new adventures - any mode of transportation will do!

 

Millie:  Well, we finally have some spring time weather. The snow is melting. The trails are clearing off, and the open road awaits.

 

Willie:  There's just something about packing my bag, loading my gear, and hitting the road that gets my heart beating a little faster.

 

Millie:  I wonder how far and wide we'll go this year, Willie?

 

Willie:  This past March, when I was blowing out all 65 candles on my birthday cake, I wished that for whatever time we can hang together, Millie, that we'll always have new adventures.

 

Millie:  For an old pair, we do get around, don't we?

 

Willie:  Millie, when we celebrate your 70th birthday this summer, I want you to feel like you're on top of the world.

 

Millie:  Well, then, let's get pedaling.

 

Willie:  Wooo Hooo!

(Starts whistling I've been working on the railroad.)

 

Millie:  Oh, for Heaven's sake. (rolls her eyes, blows him a kiss and whispers.) Don't ever let the adventures end.

################################

 

Go. Create. Inspire!

 

Journaling Prompt:  Write about your dream trip.

 

That concludes the blogging from A to Z Challenge, April 2013. It has been a wild and wonderful ride! We'll be doing our reflections on the challenge post next week. Thanks for all your reading, writing, and connecting!



Open to Adventure

Quote of the Day:  Go forth seeking adventure. Open your eyes, your ears, your mind, your heart, your spirit and you'll find adventure everywhere. ~ Wilfred A Peterson

Open the window in the center of your chest, and let the spirits fly in and out. ~ Rumi

Favorite Photos Friday:

Adventures happen on the 4th of July when celebrating with friends and family at a lake home.

Adventures happen in the kitchen when you get creative with your oft-requested fruit pizza. I'm calling this

Variation on the American Flag.

Krista, Publicist Extraordinaire

Adventure happens on a friend's screened-in porch.

JeMA, Artist and Writer Extraordinaire

Especially when you add ingredients like wine, chocolate, creative spirits, and an openness to dream and scheme about more adventures.

Mary, fueling up for more adventures

Adventure comes from being open, trusting your intuition, and listening to the voices that say, "It's okay to jump on the bike!"

The Biker Chef

Seriously, with a look like that, who could resist?

The open road, whether physical or creative, awaits you.

Jump on the bike and start your adventure today!

I'll be on a blogging break next week as I go on an adventure with my family.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Do one adventurous thing today and write about it. Make a list of adventures you'd like to take.

O is for Opportunity

The Quote of the Day that inspired my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme -
A Word for the Day that takes on many meanings.

Quote of the Day: A writer lives in awe of words for they can be cruel or kind, and they can change their meanings right in front of you. They pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator. John Steinbeck

Word of the Day: Opportunity

You know the definition of luck; it's where Hard Work meets Opportunity. Freedictionary.com has some great examples.

1.

a. A favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances.

b. A favorable or suitable occasion or time.

2. A chance for progress or advancement.

Synonyms: opportunity, occasion, opening, chance, break
These nouns refer to a favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances. Opportunity is an auspicious state of affairs or a suitable time: "If you prepare yourself . . . you will be able to grasp opportunity for broader experience when it appears" (Eleanor Roosevelt).Occasion suggests the proper time for action: an auspicious occasion; an occasion for celebration.
An opening is an opportunity affording a good possibility of success: waited patiently for her opening, then exposed the report's inconsistency.
Chance often implies an opportunity that arises through luck or accident: a chance for us to chat; no chance of losing.
A break is an often sudden piece of luck, especially good luck: got his first big break in Hollywood.

Love that Eleanor Roosevelt quote. A big part of success is saying Yes! to new challenges and working towards a goal even when you aren't sure you're making any progress. You might say that I'm lucky to be invited to theaters like the Guthrie and the Children's Theater in Minneapolis to write reviews. I certainly feel lucky. Every time I walk through their doors and pick up my tickets, my heart pumps a little faster and my senses come alive. And, to think, it all started with my blog. My best writermamapal, Roxane at Peace Garden Mama, had been blogging for a year or so and encouraged me to start a blog. After I'd been blogging for a year or so, I saw, via facebook, that the Guthrie was looking for bloggers to come to their shows and write reviews. Without a moments hesitation, I signed up. Anne, the PR person at the Children's Theatre, found me online and invited me to shows there. Now, I'm doing something I love and getting a good education as a playwright as well. The theaters benefit from having reviews online. I'm making more and more connections, and the circle is widening.

Each time I go to the theater is a new adventure. I get to bring a guest, and this time my cousin Angie accompanied me.

The view from the 9th floor where they have shows in the studio is one of my favorite places. I'm usually here at night and the view of the city and all its twinkly lights is so romantic. Angie and I were here for a matinee, and it was the first I realized that the window is tinted yellow. It's bright and beautiful up here, warm and magical. Angie liked looking at the patterns below.

The Level Five Cafe has delicious food and it is so convenient to eat there. Since it's part of the theater experience, the seating host asks what show you're seeing. He hadn't seen Time Stands Still, yet, so I gave him my card and told him to watch for the review. Our waiter, Michael, was great. He said, "I'll start with the quiche of the day." He didn't need to go any further. He had us at bacon, ham, cheese, and squash.

I dove right in. I was hungry. It was delicious. The crust was light and flakey. Then, I pulled out my camera to share with all of you because I knew you'd like some too. Michael popped on over to ask how we liked it and jumped in a picture.

Isn't that great! He's cute and funny. We said no to dessert, and he said, "So, the dessert card didn't do its work." I said, "It didn't have pictures." (I can't resist a good lookin' dessert.) This was a perfect segue for him to talk photography. He was admiring my camera, asking about its features and if I'd go with the lower priced one or spend the money on the upgrade. I said for me it's a part of my creativity and I use my own photos on my blog. I'd love to get the better lens, then I'll have more options for my photos. He said, "You've sold me." (I'll have Nikon send me my commission check.)

It's fun that we had a camera theme to our day since the play was about a photo journalist and one of the people on the panel after the play was a local photographer.

Keep doing what you love. Keep building your brand and honing your skills. You never know what opportunity is waiting to meet you.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  When has hard work met opportunity in your life? What do you hope will happen with what you're working on, now?

Adventure Awaits the Daring, or Run! You're going to miss the bus!

Quote of the Day:  Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is a fitting quote as I describe further adventures with Krista Rolfzen Soukup and her boys on our Spring Break, daylong, excursion into the Mini-Apple (Minneapolis). I would also like to remind all you readers that I am a country girl. I learned how to drive on gravel roads where you drive down the center unless you meet a combine or large tractor, then you both hug the side of the ditches.

After our lovely lunch and visit to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, we headed out onto the streets.

I barely had time to stop and take a picture of an interesting looking house and a few letters for my AtoZ Challenge posts. I had to run to catch up as Krista yelled behind her, "Let's take the bus!"  The next thing I know, I'm crowding in behind her and the boys, trying to make room for the other riders, and Krista hands me a twenty dollar bill. I look at the bus driver, and she says, "I can't make change." I look back at Krista, rather bewildered. I am a country girl and have no idea how much it costs to ride the bus. If I'd known I was going to hop on a bus today, I would have found out how much it was and had the exact amount of money ready to go. The very kind bus driver added up our total, an even $5, which luckily I had in my wallet, as we were already on our way to downtown Minneapolis.

The bemused (I hope) regular riders explained how to open the side seat once the man in the wheelchair exited. The bus driver gave us a message about needing the whole village to raise up a child and shut all the windows so she could turn on the air conditioning since it was an unusually hot day for mid-March in Minnesota. Normally, we'd be needing our winter coats, not extra deodorant. When Krista got up to shut our window, the riders told her to give it a harder shove. (Thanks, folks. We're from the country.)

Once downtown, we noticed that the buildings were way taller than the Brainerd water tower.

The boys thought it would be fun to go up to the observation deck of the Foshay Tower. I was against it, being a very grounded acrophobe from the country. I barely climbed past the second overhanging branch of a tree when I lived on the farm.

The boys said that they could stay up there all day. (That made me glad that I'd faced my fears and stepped out of my comfort zone.)

The view from above.

The residents' private patio.

Krista and her boys enjoying a little more breathing room on our bus ride back towards the theatre. We had a momentary pause at one stop, so the bus driver sang to us an Irish song that her grandmother had taught her.

City bus drivers are cool.

Now that I'm an official bus-riding city girl, I'm ready to...

Go. Create. Inspire!

(Honestly, I'd enjoy the city much more if it wasn't so noisy and there weren't so many people.)

Journaling Prompt:  Have you ever jumped into adventure?

Fall is My New Year

Quote of the Day:  Though I have seen the oceans and mountains, though I have read great books and seen great works of art...there is nothing greater or more beautiful than those people I love. - Christopher De Vinck

Our Second First Day of School

Bobby, the senior, stayed home on the official first day of school (district policy).

Our last First Day of School with Bobby, the senior.

Sigh, you can't stop the river of life from flowing.

The Fall of the year is my New Year. It is the start of a new school year. I have a senior, an 8th grader, and two 6th graders. Marking the growth of children is an excellent way to prove that nothing stays the same. I don't want them to grow up and leave me, and yet, I can't help but celebrate with them as they reach new heights, learn and grow, and seek their own adventures.

The Fall of the year is also my birthday, Sept. 6, this year, the first day of school. What a celebration it is! I started celebrating last Thurs. by going to the movies with a friend and watching The Help. It's an excellent movie. It translates well from book to silver screen, and so well cast, acted, and filmed.

Over the weekend, I saw family. My mom baked my favorite birthday cake, German chocolate with the coconut/nutty frosting, and I stayed overnight at my sister's house. Monday, I had lunch with my best writer-mama-pal, Roxane, in Fargo. Tuesday, I sent the younger boys off to school then joined many mothers and others at the coffee shop.

Erika, Mary, Lisa, JeMA

I had lunch with my big boy, the senior.  The food was delicious, and the company was delightful. My big boy wants to be some kind of engineer. He's a techie, creative, and kind. We had a great conversation. He even asked me what I thought I might do once all the kids graduate. (I don't even like thinking about it, but I know I have lots of options.)

The boys had a great first day of school. We went out for supper (no kitchen duties for this birthday girl), and hit sack early.

Today, my group power class will enjoy my "Birthday Track" and later in the week, one more birthday lunch with a friend. I think everyone needs a week-long birthday celebration, don't you?

Go. Create. Inspire! And, fill your days with those people you love.

Journaling Prompt:  If you were free from social and family obligations, where would you go? What would you do?

Slip Slidin' Away

Quote of the Day: from the song River

It's coming on Christmas

They're cutting down trees

They're putting up reindeer

And singing songs of joy and peace

Oh I wish I had a river

I could skate away on

This is what it looks like in Minnesota already.  November is a transition month.  The temps aren't cold enough for just snow, so we get freezing rain.  I left for a weekend women's retreat at Mount Carmel, near Alexandria, MN, when the roads were dry and the sunset so beautiful that it was distracting. I slipped home on icy roads and sang in my head, "I wish I didn't have a river of ice to drive home on." 

The theme of the weekend was Advent and Mary, a time of waiting and anticipation.  It's what I needed to get me in the holiday spirit.  I listened to Christmas music there and back.  I like Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong.  She has a recording of River that is filled with longing.

Once again, I had the opportunity to lead the women in making journals and writing.  We used poetry and the art of Mary for inspiration.  A few women created their own art and poetry.

(Nancy is a preschool teacher.  She's flashing me her "preschool" grin!)

Here's the beginning of my own journal entry while at the retreat.  I titled it Longing: 

My creative spirit longs to soar.

It won't allow its voice to be silenced.

Stories play out in my mind.

Characters have conversations with me.

Even as I push the ideas away,

they reappear during long drives, awakenings in the night,

or while stiring spaghetti sauce.

Once, while I was practicing a difficult piece of music, I hit a high G flat, and the idea for a story hit me so strongly, that I stopped playing and began writing.

Creative Spirit, thank you for filling me up and empowering me to spill out all those words and rhythms,

Into the Beautiful...

Click here for my post on Emily Dickenson's poem As Imperceptibly as Grief and the change of seasons, in nature and in life.  It's one of the poems that I shared at the retreat.  The final line to that poem is "Into the Beautiful." That's where we're heading as the seasons change from fall to winter, into the Holidays, Advent and our time of waiting, getting ready to receive all the gifts and promises of Jesus' birth, and hope for our inspiration to grow.

We're watching and waiting.

Journaling Prompt:  What are your traditions as you prepare for winter, the holidays, the next season of life?

Adventure! Who knew?

Quote of the Day:  Mommy, your blog is just going to get bigger and bigger. - sweet, sweet words from my encouraging sons

One look at my flag counter and you'll see - I really get around - the cyber globe, that is.  My most recent visitor was from Italy which excites me to no end as I've recently been awed by the beauty and food of Italy from watching movies like Letters to Juliet and Eat, Pray, Love.

When I was in college, I studied abroad in Germany for a semester and traveled around Western Europe: Italy, Austria - where I met the pen pal I started writing to in the 5th grade, Holland.  Our group had a long weekend in Prague which was a huge learning experience to be inside a communist country.  I visited relatives in Norway and Sweden (Hi! family from the old country!)

I determined that my word is Adventure!  In the book and movie, Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert talks with her friends about how a place or person has a word.  Rome's is sex.  She thought New York City was succeed.  After seeing the movie with some friends, we talked about our word.  One gal liked saucy.  I didn't know until the next day that I'd named mine.  I had talked about my travels while in college, and how I'm getting out in the world again, traveling to PA in the fall for a writer's workshop.  I told them that I do have a sense of adventure.

My boys asked me about my first plane ride.  It was when I was 18-years-old.  I boarded the plane in Fargo, ND, and with a few stops along the way, ended up in Frankfurt, Germany.  How's that for your first flight experience!  That trip was mostly touring with a short home stay and meeting some families and students in a Gymnasium (Germany's word for high school).  My second big trip was back to Germany as a college student for a study abroad program.  I was there for six months.

My kids were shocked that I was so brave.  They see me as safety mom whose afraid of anything that goes too fast or too high, and makes them wear helmets and check in with me all the time - you get the picture.  So, when my oldest son heard about my adventures, he said, "Well, you like to travel.  When we're all grown up and gone I suppose you'll start traveling again."

I paused, "Yes, I think you're right.  That will just happen naturally because I'll have more time to do that, but it's not like I'm sitting around thinking, hmm, as soon as these kids are gone, I'm outta here."

Adventures can happen in big, long flights across the ocean, or they can happen when you venture outside your own door and move out of one comfort zone and into another one.

Today is my birthday - think I'll go have an adventure!

Photo taken at Aalgaard Studios by my grandpa Arne Aalgaard.

His adventure brought him from the old country to a new one, but that's a story for another day.

Journaling Prompt:  What's your word?  What is one of your greatest adventures?

Boy Use for Ordinary Things

Quote of the Day:  Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Albert Einstein

Boys can invent a new use for nearly any household object.  The vacuum and its parts have been a sword, a knife, an instrument, and a communications hose...I think.

I wore my hair short for years.  It was wash-n-go easy when my babies were small.  I wanted a new look, grew it out, and got a few hair things...or...

A blindfold.

When I can't find my favorite hair clip, I ask the guys, "Where did you put the catapult?"

"Stop launching rocks and let me put my hair back."

I've also noticed that instead of taking the easy way, say, the stairs, the boy will hop the stone path, scale the fence, walk the railing, jump from the highest step, or crawl through the gap, just to get to the other side.  So, I asked a boy, "Why do you do that?"  He said, "Because it's more fun."

Okay, so the next time I need a pot lid, I'll look in the costume box with the swords and armor.  My vacuum parts should also be there, or under a tree.  I need to buy a few more catapults, I mean hair clips, so I don't have to dig through the Legos or look under the couch when I need to pull back my hair for some serious house cleaning.  (Despite their need to shoot things from water guns to marshmallow pellets, they have poor aim in the bathroom.)

Boys have a primal need for adventure.  I've seen whole crews of them disappear into the woods, "spears" raised to hunt wild animals.  Of course, the "spears" are anything from sticks to golf clubs.

That type of wild imagination is fascinating to watch.  It inspires me to write "off the page" and challenges me to give boys the kind of adventures they crave.

For more fun stories on raising boys, and their creative use for common objects, see Peace Garden Mama today.  My writer-mama-pal, Roxane, has three boys and many adventures of her own.

Journaling Prompt: What unusual use have you, or your kids, found for ordinary things?  What adventures did you have with them?