Friday Gratitude
Water Lily - Conservatory of Flowers, San Francisco, California - October 2003
Sometimes I'm just blown away by my wife, in a good way. Not only does she help me through spots that are really tough for me, but she does it without it feeling like she pushing me along or dragging me a long with her ideas. Plus there's the whole being involved with an adult, someone who really is my partner. Who throws down with the tough shit and just starts getting stuff done.
We each have our own stuff we're working on, which makes things a challenge sometimes. Then there's the stuff that arises out of those raw moments when our own respective history and the baggage chafes together. It is hard, sometimes it is really hard. But I feel like we're really working on it together, as equals.
Today she went and picked up Mom from the hospital since I had 4 meetings sandwiched around teaching yoga... out at my office in the Southern Burbs. She took Mom to her apartment in the Eastern burbs, changed up her pill boxes, redid her insulin, found her walker in the closet, and made sure Mom went down to lunch. Then she made us dinner tonight and we watched a movie I'd wanted to see. Yeah, she's awesome.
Delicate flower.
Pink petals rising from muck.
Stronger than it looks.
More Goslings & Creative Thinking
Spring Goslings - Wilsonville, Oregon - April 26, 2012
CK and I trying to bring some creative thinking to things with Mom. Still in the planning stages, but we have some ideas that we're going to look into to see how feasible they are.
Today at work I took a little break and sat by the stream that runs through the campus. Nearby were some more of the goslings we see each spring, I think there's almost a dozen of them around the campus. Goslings in spring are definitely a perk!
Small feathered beings
Carefully guarded over
By cautious mothers.
Cherry Blossoms & Avoidance
Cherry Shrubs - Wilsonville, Oregon - April 23, 2012
Busy day and a therapy appointment in which I avoided talking deeply about what's been bugging me. Some days are like that.
The tomatoes we planted on Sunday are looking happy under their cloche. We hope to have fresh tomatoes by June!
Near the door I most often use to the building my office is in are some cherry shrubs of some sort. Delicate, pale blossoms, but instead of a tree they are pruned, shaped into spare, but tallish shrubs. They just started to bloom within the past couple of weeks. Once they're done they will have red leaves through until autumn.
Delicate blossoms.
Pale pink against the blue sky.
Fleeting spring treasures.
Enticing Bees
Bees & Purple Flowers - Parkdale, Oregon - October 2010
When we pay attention there's quite a lot to worry about. I worry about bees. Colony collapse disorder is something we should be more worried about. We depend upon bees in ways most people don't appreciate.
As much as we think about veggies to plant in our garden, we spend some time thinking about flowers to entice pollinators, like bees to visit our yard. Besides the general loveliness of the flowers we've been adding, they bring bees. It makes me very happy to see the bees buzzing around, gathering pollen. The big, fuzzy bumble bees particularly make me smile.
Watching the bee fly
I am full of gratitude:
Her work becomes food.
Winter Haiku. Spring Day.
Earth day today and Portland was blessed with puffy white clouds against a blue sky, shining sun, and weather warm enough for a t-shirt. Our new fence was struck today, with well-placed posts setting up. A bed is cleared and ready to plant as well. Tomorrow may find us on a picnic or at a nursery buying veggie starts!
Today we had Indian food, shopped at the Japanese market, and I plotted art projects today and made a Japanese inspired, spring dinner with grilled tofu, asparagus, snow peas, a sushi roll and rice balls. It really was too nice a day to beat myself up over not having gotten more useful things done.
Here's a winter haiku for a spring day:
White clouds. Blue water.
Winter sun brings welcome warmth
To the grey season.
Water Clouds - Powell Butte, Portland, Oregon - January 2011
Aloft
Aloft - Westminster, Colorado, May 2011
Gorgeous burst of red.
A quick movement, nearly missed.
Butterfly aloft.
Siddhartha Dreams of the Way
Siddhartha Dreams of the Way - Portland, Oregon - October 2011
Dreaming of The Way
Siddhartha settles into
This present moment.
April in Portland
There reaches a point in Portland where the days really start to get longer and a little warmer. CK's Mom would still say it is cold here, but in Portland we're finally happy to put on light jackets, squint at the UV, and delight in the dryness of our stroll through the park.
This evening I got home and took Dora up to Peninsula Park for a quick walk. It made me late for a meeting, but it was so worth it. She rolled in the grass in doggy delight until a happy string of drool was plastered across her snout.
Most people in Portland are funny, smart, sweet and kind. Yes, there's a lot of weirdness, but I think Portlandia does us a disservice to some degree. And when the sun begins to shine and flowers pop out of the grass, people smile with such utter joy that I'm filled with such gratitude for my home.
Flowers peek from grass,
Lift up faces toward the sun.
Petals seeking warmth.
Tiny Flowers - Peninsula Park, Portland, Oregon - April 18, 2012
Spring Life
Goslings - Wilsonville, Oregon - April 17, 2012
I have the distinct pleasure of working at a campus that's a dedicated bird refuge. Small ponds and running water dot the campus and we see a fantastic variety of avian life. CK even gave me a bird book as a Christmas gift and I keep it on my desk in my office.
Spring brings flowers, rain, and both Canada and Cackling Geese. The Cackling look the same as the Canada geese, only smaller, and the flock largely together. We get to see them pairing off and today I spied eggs alongside one of the ponds near my building. I also spotted a first group of fuzzy goslings, which I stopped to admire despite the hissing parents.
Angry parent goose,
Hissing in disapproval
As I praise goslings.
Spring’s Arrival
One Continuous Peel - Portland, Oregon - November 2011
At last Spring's arrived
Bringing flowers and sunshine
To brighten the gray.