simplicity, embrace me

hello all,

i write from my kitchen table as the sound of rain pitter patters the deck. we are in the midst of a magnificent and much appreciated summer thunder storm.

i've been thinking a lot about simplicity recently. how hard is it be just live a simple life? i think ideally it would be easy.

clear the physical, mental, and emotional clutter. grow, appreciate, sustain, learn, and love. i'm going to try and live more simply. not that i lead an extravagant life by any means, but i would like to intentionally spend more time just being still and doing simple projects.

for example, i am enamored of this butter churner. how nice to make your own butter. better yet how amazing would it be to milk the cows contributing to this thick delicious spread. i recognize it's a utopian fantasy and that the minute i actually had to churn butter i would grow weary of it and head down to safeway. the churner would probably turn into a vase or some receptacle for lentils. ah fantasies. i am much enamored of milk maids.

do any of you struggle to live simply?

fondly,

your very own aspiring dairy queen

a thought

some poemish passages, much like "Footprints", are overplayed. i recognize the below passage lives in cliche land, but i can't help how much i like it. the words and the sentiment ground me.

God, grant us the...
Serenity to accept things we cannot change,
Courage to change the things we can, and the
Wisdom to know the difference
Patience for the things that take time
Appreciation for all that we have, and
Tolerance for those with different struggles
Freedom to live beyond the limitations of our past ways, the
Ability to feel your love for us and our love for each other and the
Strength to get up and try again even when we feel it is hopeless.
-Reinhold Niebuhr


photocredit:{brasilphotos}

run bravely

it's a day for this...

i love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. life's a bitch. you've got to go out and kick ass.

and...

i long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.

thanks maya angelou...

photocredit: {latartinegourmade}

i'm leaving on a grey hound louisiana bound

happy tuesday evening duckies,

as many of you know i work at a homeless and near homeless outreach center in the front range of the rockies. today our center's lobby was a colorful canvas comprised of families clutching their leases visiting us for rental assistance, formerly middle class workers accessing our food bank in a desperate move to limit costs so they don't lose their homes, teen lovers, and our chronic homeless clients who are as much a part of our neighborhood's fabric as the outline of the rocky mountains west of our small community.

it was a normal bustling day. perhaps the most pervasive sound though was the buzz from our homeless clients about the mass influx of jobs being advertised in louisiana and texas. usually our chronically homeless clients have a defeated look in their eyes. even though they are remarkably resilient, you can look at their faces and see a road map of their struggles with finances, street life, mental illnesses and very often substance abuse. today every man i spoke with who grasped the green jobs to help clean up the oil spill flyer was lit up. all of a sudden there are thousands of jobs available along the gulf. many of these men have never left colorado and have spent the vast majority of their adult life in one city and now they are getting ready to pick up and move

many of the men had secured funding from churches to buy grey hound tickets down south. they are leaving with the packs on their backs and the hope that maybe with a job that is part of a movement all the pain and dramatic monotony of street life will be washed away. i am excited for them. i am happy that there are jobs and i left work today with the hope that these jobs will pan out and that these men who so desperately seek community and meaning will find some peace down south. i also left worried for their health. these jobs are being mass advertised in low-income communities around the country. poor and often immuno-compromised populations are swarming down to a highly toxic waste site.

so tonight, sending out a good thought for all the people who are packing up their lives and moving to the gulf. may their journeys be safe, their work be effective and well received, their bodies protected, and their spirits be lifted...

photocredit: {oilspillphotos, gulfspill, studiomunophotography, julieharrisphotography}

the un-secret garden

in the heart of my city lives a compact, colorful, and fragrant paradise. walking into the garden reminds me of embarking on the second chapter of book that will become beloved. i immediately loose touch with reality and submerge. when i dive head first into fantastic foliage, the terrific tundra, and the tantalizing tropical conservatory i see...

snogging and the like

the wind if blowing, the rain is falling, the heat is rising up from the pavement inflating my skirt. it is a colorado afternoon.

i spent my morning at the denver botanical gardens, which is one of the lovelier gardens i have ever visited. it is full of fragrance, color, texture, and today it held the vows of many young couples.

a few of the smaller gardens were closed and housing weddings. i peeked through gnarly bonsai like tree to spy on a lovely wedding of a man and a woman. each member of the couple said their vows and then their young daughter also said vows to her parents.

my favorite line:

mommy and daddy, i promise to help with dinner. i promise to love you and let you love me even when i am angry at you.

photocredit: {eric cousineau}

tattoo

i am contemplating a tattoo...what do we think. it would be subtle, simple, and strategically placed...

any suggestions?

tattocredit:{betsydunlap}