Stain-glass Eyes

I work on weight loss.  I remember the exact year I started on this mad, complicated, endless, frustrating quest.  I was a freshman in high school.  I had a crush on my social studies teacher, John McCutchen.   I found a book on military exercises at home and started.  I diligently worked out every day in my bedroom.  It was the first time I realized I was having seconds, at the dinner table, just like my brothers.  For years I felt like one of the boys.  I played with them, fought with them, competed with them and had no desire to go through, what my older sisters were, to be a “lady”.  It seemed pretty complex and time-consuming.    The nuns, who were my teachers at the the Catholic school for eight years, scared the crap out of me.  It didn’t seem a girl could win in any way, shape or form.   But, when you have a crush on a guy, you realize what girl-hood is or what social norms and body forms should be.  Here I am…still battling extra pounds, still analyz

Rooftop in Ann Arbor   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3gh0oY11Nk     (Link to "WInds in the East") Went early for a walk this morning.  I was thinking, “Ah! this will be my first time at Kiwanis Store’s door when it opens!”  It’s Easter Weekend.  Kiwanis had a large, pink sign announcing this fact.   And the fact they wouldn’t be open today.  So much for being first, the door wasn’t going to open. It was a beautiful morning for catching some shots.  I’m optomistic about my noticings.  So, I wandered up Washington Street.  I ran into a woman walking a Bernese Mountain dog.  It was looking like our family dog, Max!  Big eyes, big body, big gold, white and black colors and big heart.  This Bernese was just a puppy, not even a year old.    A spotted bird's egg, freshly discarded on the cement.   (No trees close by, so I'm guessing an "Unfriendly" was stealing it for their own) Top Down,

Kat (My adopted daughter, from Berlin) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiKcd7yPLdU   "One" - Three Dog Night (Dig those striped pants!  They'd be hot in the "Vintage" sales) Any day is a good day to write.  But, there’s something about a rainy day that gets me feeling more reflective.  I look out the window more often.  I slow down.  I hear Mother Nature whispering to me, “Forget about getting out and doing something.  Rest. Let me do my spring magic.”   So, my hands click away with thoughts I’ve wanted to put down for a week.  They’re about loneliness and being alone.  The thoughts seem to belong together.  They did, in my mind, the first few days after I returned from Tennessee, last week.  The more I thought about my feelings and physical aloneness, the wider the division got between loneliness and being alone. Man Reading On Ferry Boat, on the Bosphorous “If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.” - J

I haven’t posted lately.  I’ve been busy writing in my personal journal.  I normally make a journal when I travel.  I get it ready beforehand, put stickers, blank notes and whatever comes to mind.  This time I added some origami paper I found at a resale shop. My Little Ponies! I started doing it just for the fun of it.  Now, I realize it inspires me to write.  I look forward to the colors and images.  This soft journal, I readied for my trip to Tennessee, has a cover, I duck-taped on, with a Michigan State University logo.  MSU Journal and My Glasses My trip’s difficult to put in words.  It’s personal.   A real writer, I guess, would say, “If you can experience it, you can write about it.”  Crap!!  I AM a real writer.  I’ve already set the premise, with my readers, I see with Stain-glass Eyes.  So, here I go. Sitting, walking, yoga-ing, hugging, laughing.   Cooking, sewing, writing, laughing.   Movie watching, hugging, shopping, planting.