Snovember

Throwback to an old Paint Drawing (miss you, MS Paint)

Yikes, it's November.  This was too fast this year, way too fast.  That quickness of time passing seems to come with age.  My grandmother used to say that "life is just galloping on!" which was confusing to us at the time, because her and my Grandfather used to mostly sit inside their house, make their meals, clean some things, and go to bed.  But that is how fast life starts to feel - by the time I wake up and drink a cup of coffee, the day is almost over.  What happened to the days when that chocolate advent calendar seemed to take forever to eat up?  I feel like I just finished one....

That is why, today, I am so happy that we fell back an hour. It feels like an hour has been added to my morning (even though it doesn't exactly work that way). One whole extra hour!! Hurrah! The tiniest little specks of snowflakes are drifting down through the sky. It's our first day of snow. Jordan is pretending that we're snowed in. This poem I came across illustrates the luxury of a peaceful morning:

“Any Morning”
by William Stafford

Just lying on the couch and being happy.
Only humming a little, the quiet sound in the head.
Trouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has
so much to do in the world.

People who might judge are mostly asleep; they can’t
monitor you all the time, and sometimes they forget.
When dawn flows over the hedge you can
get up and act busy.

Little corners like this, pieces of Heaven
left lying around, can be picked up and saved.
People won’t even see that you have them,
they are so light and easy to hide.

I love time and mornings and having time and mornings.  They have been hard to come by this year.  It's been a hard year, where I've never been so busy or worked so much in my life.  Carving out and protecting time for myself, with others, exploring, and creating, has been critical.  Luckily, my supervisor days will be over in less than a week (!) and I will be stepping back down into a much more manageable schedule with actual time off each week and each day.  I could not have made it through this year without those little pieces of heaven - such as swimming in the gorgeous outdoor pool at Juniper, watching Stranger Things, walks with Summer, planning getaways for days off, watching the unbelievable solar eclipse totality from Smith Rock, and time and trips with family and friends.  Here's another gem:

“Perfection, Perfection”

Killian McDonnell

I have had it with perfection.
I have packed my bags,
I am out of here.
Gone.

As certain as rain
will make you wet,
perfection will do you
in.

It droppeth not as dew
upon the summer grass
to give liberty and green
joy.

Perfection straineth out
the quality of mercy,
withers rapture at its
birth.

Before the battle is half begun,
cold probity thinks
it can’t be won, concedes the
war.

I’ve handed in my notice,
given back my keys,
signed my severance check, I
quit.

Hints I could have taken:
Even the perfect chiseled form of
Michelangelo’s radiant David
squints,

the Venus de Milo
has no arms,
the Liberty Bell is
cracked.

We had a long Winter this past year, followed by a mostly smoky Summer.  The whole state and the upper Northwest corner of the country were all on fire.  Autumn really helped redeem the great outdoors for us.  Autumn is always the reminder that there is beauty in endings - in wrapping up the season of growth - that last colorful, bold statement of nature before all goes quiet.  Exit the deciduous and welcome the conifers, holding down the arbor fort.  They say fire is healthy for a forest.  I am most certainly wrapping up that season of fire and growth and excited for what I hope are more quiet, thoughtful, and creative days ahead.

Red on Yellow

The Grand Larch

Dillon Falls

Along the Deschutes

Drake Park

Deschutes River

In our Neighborhood

Red on Red on Green

On Fire

Fire

The Glow Tree