People like January?

Quote of the Day:  from the great cartoonist Bill Watterson
 



This final strip and its message have stuck with me since its publication on Dec. 31, 1995. I loved reading Calvin and Hobbes in the local newspaper. They were always so full of imagination and adventure. When Watterson decided to end the strip, he left me with the image that the adventures continue and that the world is waiting for you to slide down it like a hill of freshly fallen snow. The image that it is a blank page also appeals to this writer and lover of art.

My blogger friend Jen Chandler wrote about loving Januauary. Is she crazy? I wondered. But, after I read her post, I had a newfound appreciation for January, that fresh start, the hills of fresh snow, beckoning me to make tracks.

Lake Carlos near Alexandria, MN

 

Here is an image I took of January in my area. The dead-looking tree in front of a frozen lake. And, yet, there is so much life within both. The tree is not dead. It is in its dormant, resting, stage. The old leaves have all fallen off. New ones will start budding in the spring. It will grow, stretch, and expand, the way our lives do as we open ourselves to new relationships and experiences. And, the frozen lake? Oh, there is so much life swimming around under there. Have you ever walked out on a frozen lake? I rode out on the ice in a vehicle for the first time this winter. I have walked on a lake, helped the guys fish, a little, on the frozen water, and I've skated. But, riding in a heavy vehicle on top of a deep lake...that's a moment to remember. And, for you folks reading this in warmer climates. The lakes really do freeze hard enough to drive on them.  One of my favorite books North of Hope by Jon Hassler has some great scenes on the frozen waters of Minnesota.

 

May your January give you inspiration to make tracks into the new year!

 

Go. Create. Inspire!

 

Journaling Prompt:  How do you really feel about January? Would you dare walk out onto the frozen lake, or ride on it?

52 Weeks

Quote of the Day:  We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

That's what it feels like to start a new journal, and is symbolic of all the new starts we have throughout a year and a lifetime. Think of a new school year, a new job, a move, a new relationship, even eating at a new restaurant. The image of the New Year being a blank journal appeals to me and my new-found sense of adventure. My word for 2012 is Dare!

Dare! is such a strong word. I kept trying to tone it down. I thought, well, maybe daring, but no, Dare! kept resurfacing. It is bold and challenging. So, I thought, maybe my word could be bold. Nope. Dare! still took the stage. Something in the universe is challenging me.

In 2012 we have 52 weeks plus a day, a leap year. What can you accomplish in 52 weeks? I was talking this over with my massage therapist Darcy Peterson Walkowiak. She does both massage and myofascial release. I am wound up pretty tight. I've had some back and shoulder trauma from hitting two deer with my van. I am hunched over keyboards all day (piano and computer), and I'm a divorced mother of four boys. Needless to say, my back and shoulders are tight. Darcy was able to release some of that tension. I told her that during the session, I was in a state of half-sleep. I had visions of sailing out into the fjords of Norway, beautiful and exciting at the same time. I also had images of tiny butterflies being released from my body, like little spirits of energy and light. She said that butterflies symbolize transformation. We also talked about those 52 weeks. If we make just one change a week towards better health, by the end of the year we will see and feel a difference. Plus, one change a week is not overwhelming. I told her my goal as a playwright is to write one new scene a week. I can't even image what great stories might unfold in 52 scenes!

With a challenging word like Dare! and 52 weeks plus one day ahead of me, my heart pumps a little stronger wondering what will be on those pages by 2013.

Cheers to you as you celebrate a New Year.
Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What would you like to work on for 52 weeks? What's your word for the year? Do you know anyone who has a birthday on Feb. 29?

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?

Arms Open Wide

Quote of the Day:  On Saturday, March 10, 1888 a great blizzard prevented his (Mark Twain's) wife from joining him on a trip to New York.



Clemens wrote:


"And so, after all my labor and persuasion to get you to at last promise to take a week's holiday and go off with me on a lark, this is what Providence has gone and done about it. It does seem to me the oddest thing--the way Providence manages. A mere simple request to you to stay at home would have been entirely sufficient; but no, that is not big enough, picturesque enough--a blizzard's the idea; pour down all the snow in stock, turn loose all the winds, bring a whole continent to a stand-still: that is Providence's idea of the correct way to trump a person's trick. If I had known it was going to make all this trouble and cost all these millions, I never would have said anything about your going. Now in the light of this revelation of the methods of Providence, consider Noah's flood--I wish I knew the real reason for playing that cataclysm on the public: likely enough, somebody who liked dry weather wanted to take a walk. That is probably the whole thing--and nothing more to it."


- Letter to Olivia Clemens, March 10, 1888

Mark Twain does have a way with words.  I also like the butter commercial "You can't mess with Mother Nature."  When she wants her way, she gets it - no arguing.

So, like Olivia Clemens, we stayed home over the New Year.  The blizzard of 2010 rolled into the Red River Valley of the North and my family's farm and kept us away.  I'm in central Minnesota.  We had nasty freezing rain mixed with snow which makes the roads horribly dangerous.  The Valley got the blizzard, and our Christmas party/New Year's Eve celebration was cancelled. 
After several hours of pouting and phone calls and fussing about that which I cannot control, I went out for groceries, talked to my good friend, took a nap, then rallied enough to ring in the New Year with my boys.  We had ribs, chips & dip, rootbeer floats, movies, games and fun. 

I got up early to enjoy a quiet cup of coffee and journal:
2011, bring on your surprises, crack open your changes, and let me run with my arms open wide and leap into new possibilities.

The new year is like the start of a new day.  You've rested.  You're refreshed and you feel strong and full of hope.  And, look at all the new, white snow! - a fresh, clean canvas just waiting for us to create.

I'm sending out light and love to my dear friend, JeMA as she and her family roll out in their RV to explore the country.  Their New Year is already filled with mystery and surprises.  While I know we are always connected in spirit, I will miss her presence here in my little spot of the world.  She is the kind of friend that we all long to have.

May your New Year be filled with surprises and blessings beyond belief!

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What is something new that you're looking forward to in the New Year?