Category Archives: Friends

The Caterpillars that cultivate my life…

Posted on by

5

Near Macomb, Illinois
Macomb, Illinois

I’m in Illinois passing through little towns with bowling alleys and wildflowers growing along the roads. Unexpectedly I went to the Caterpillar Visitors Center where I learned that the company started making equipment in Peoria in 1914 and is now making the largest truck out there that carries 400 tons, has 14 ft. tires and is driven 70 percent of the time by women, because they are easier on the apparatus. My mom’s first job was as a secretary in the Napa Caterpillar office and to this day she speaks of it fondly. Continue reading →

Feeling like tinsel on a tree…

Posted on by

4

In my last post I was welcomed to Chautauqua Institute with the bang of the gate descending on my windshield. In Chicago, it was a parking ticket, minus the bang, but still on the windshield. I had parked in what I thought was an unrestricted space, but the next day I had a $60 fine to contend with. I am going to contest it as the spot was not clearly marked. If they expect me to obey the rules, they need to have some sign of visual notification.

IMG_7727 Continue reading →

Forget-me-not Berkshires, I’ll be back…

Posted on by

0

At The Mount

At The Mount

It has been a magical last week in the Berkshires. We have had hot, humid, firefly-twinkling weather interspersed with drenching rainfall, thunder and lightning. I have a renewed sense of purpose, an excitement building inside, new dreams and goals blossoming, and a firm conviction that I am meant to be here even as I leave for a few months. Continue reading →

Warming up my engines…

Posted on by

0

IMG_7343I am getting everything tuned up to take off for a few months. I had my car checked out, washed her inside and out and talked to her like a beloved pet. She seems as eager as I am to be on the road. We have been partners in this great trek for the last year and a half, and she has been a reliable and constant trooper so I want to give her extra care. I am one of those nutty people who talk to their animals and since I don’t have any of my own right now, my car has gained the status of a pet. I pat her on the console, when I am especially pleased, like I would on the beloved neck of a horse, I give her high-octane gas for a treat, and today I diligently groomed her like my friend de-ticking her dog. Continue reading →

Meet Ali…

Posted on by

0

Ali

Ali

It’s so nice to know my habit of meeting interesting people is still alive and well here in Lenox. Last week I was having lunch in one of my favorite cafe’s when the chef came out and sat at the table next to mine and had his lunch. We started chatting, as you know I do, and he told me about how he has dinner parties and cooks authentic West African food from his home country of Cote d’Ivoire, and how he plans to make enough money to build an orphanage there. I ran out of time to hear the whole story so I gave him my card and we texted and made plans to meet for tea later. Continue reading →

Doubling back…

Posted on by

7

The Berkshires of MA

The Berkshires of MA

I am so relieved. I just made the decision to take to the road again this summer. I had the choice to stay in Lenox, MA and work in the Shakespeare & Co box office but I decided that would take up all of my summer and not further my goals at all. I am proud of my decision, though it was very stressful to walk away from a paycheck, however small, to do what my heart and intuition tells me. Continue reading →

My kind of crazy

Posted on by

0

Ridin’ with her hair in the wind 

And her hands in the sky

Like she’s flyin’

Spring has finally arrived in the Berkshires. The snow is gone, my teaching residency has started, this is my 100th post, and I have moved to a new house share. A lot of changes in the last few weeks, so where do I start?IMG_7003

Continue reading →

Road trip in miniature (Part One)…

Posted on by

0

Susanna, Audrey, Alicia and me

Susanna, Audrey, Alicia and me

My daughters arrived by plane and the laughter, stories, and excitement have been palpable to all around. The dynamic of being with three lovely young women is so enlivening. I don’t want to go to bed, I am so awake, who wants to sleep? I don’t want to miss a moment. So I sit up and write while they sleep. Continue reading →

Room-tripping

Posted on by

5

I love finding a new spot to write, to read, noticing the way light reflects off the walls from a new perspective, even if it’s just sitting on a different end of the couch, or in a new corner, a different chair, a spare bed, a pile of pillows. It helps me to create an open heart, discovering the way candle flicker affects certain rooms, the walls, my eyes, my psyche. It’s important, this change, this seeking for new inspiration, this finding when something works, when it doesn’t, this listening and really hearing, when music touches and lyrics sink into the heart. I melted into a pile of sentiment this morning when hearing a random song, How  Can I Win? on my iPod shuffle from the old musical The Good bye Girl. I heard the lyrics like I had never heard them before.They were for me, today, for now, for my truth. IMG_6361

How can I learn to trust enough

And to stop believing all I hear are lies?

Open my heart but just enough

To keep an open mind but never close my eyes Continue reading →

Elephants, beavers and birds, oh my!

Posted on by

2

Is there a difference between meandering and wandering? Without looking it up in a dictionary I am finding myself defining them in my own terms. Wandering seems to be stumbling about without purpose, seeking and lost. Meandering, as I have been experiencing it since last April, has become an exploration of sorts, not from a place of being lost, but from a place of new adventure. Those are my definitions anyway as I am struggling this week to not feel lost. Some change has come over my days in that I am no longer feeling “meanderest” but astray and wandering about blindly. I am hoping this is a temporary condition and am combatting the aura with writing, reading, walking and mundane tasks that need to get accomplished like taxes and bills. There is an unsettled rest about my week, as I am recovering from an intense two weeks of teacher training in the Shakespeare & Company Month-Long Intensive here is Massachusetts.IMG_6222

Continue reading →