Birch Island Books

It’s snowing!

Happy 99th birthday, Mother.

The days must not blend,
they must each one be precious and meaningful,
not a handful of diamonds, but a handful of sand with flecks and greys and browns and those little black bits.

Each unique, ancient, weighty.

I am reminded to celebrate days as one celebrates children,
each one unique,
each with a different message,
a different lesson,

Both recalling the ancestors,
and wholly new.

I snapped last night and raised my voice at the dog.
But then I raised my voice to my dear one who tried to help me yell at the dog – no, I get to yell at the dog, you do not get to rescue me or show me I’m doing it wrong or whatever you’re doing.

This is my yell, don’t you dare steal my spotlight.

It had been a perfect storm of things niggling, and my refined, advanced, self-enlightened strategy was to yell. Ah, well.

Begin again.

The snow falls so gently, so beautifully,
into my coffee and onto my face and hair.

!It snows on our NOSES!
!and the snows are MOVING!
!and we shall HERD all the SNOWS!

(I know there are sadness and worry out there),
(but for this moment they belong in parentheses).

Right here and now the world is magic.

A little music and texting with a friend –

lovely start to the day.

We walked in a gentle rain with coffee and peepers.
The dogs were less enthusiastic about the rain than I was,
Yet they bounced as well.

Something delightfully cleansing about gentle spring rains.

To get through this and survive is a good goal,
But to get through this with our family closer than ever is what the gods call us to do.

There’s a sign on the stairwell so that I see it every morning as I head out into the day:

Joy
Love
Clan
Truth
Honour
Courage
Welcome
Kindness
Abundance
Boundaries
Communication
Responsibility

I arranged it by number of letters, but I think that worked out pretty darned well, foundation-and-pinnacle-wise.

Sgiob and I are delighted to invite you on another walk!

Slow and steady.
Now is when we use the stubbornness – which has been railed against in the past –

Ahem.
Now is when we use the stubbornness to keep the Earth spinning:
to waken, rise, walk, dress to our shoes and earrings,

To walk, to write, to reach out,
To go to work

and give my very best to the people who depend on me.

PEEPERS!!

Dear You-all,
for you are super-plural,

There is no one I would rather be on this lifeboat with.

Grace filled the coffee maker last night and put it on the timer,
a tiny act, and
my senses filled with her care and nurturance as I came downstairs.

Mist rose over the beaver bog as we walked
– not too far, I had put on the wrong shoes.
With coffee in hand, I bound my homework to my opening breaths:

“I let go of what does not serve my values now.
Be free, energies, to return to the Great Mother;
Be free to flow, transform, and do your many works elsewhere.”

Breathe in peace.
Breathe out love.

The WIND!
The WIND!
The WIND!

Is in our EARS!
Our EARS!
Our EARS!

And in our FURS!
Our FURS!
Our FURS!

And in our NOSES!!!!

It brings the NEWS!
The NEWS!
The NEWS!

Of all the DOGS!
The DOGS!
The DOGS!

And all the RAINS!
The RAINS!
The RAINS!

That splash our TOESES!