comfort

Moonrise

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courtesy of pixabay.  

9:07 p.m. Friday, June 9, 2017.  It’s showtime and we are standing on the crest of the hill, facing east.  Where’s the full moon?  The sky has that summer haze, and the horizon is looking cloudy.  So we wait.

How to Wait for Moonrise:

Stand tall.

Feel the grass prickle your bare ankles.

Wrap your arms around your beloved and inhale his summer-rich scent.

Hear the swallows chortle as they ride the evening breeze.

Notice the cooling air on nape of neck.

Continue returning to the moment and practice patience.

The best things in life are free.  There it is, whole and entire, now visible in the dusky sky.  It travels quickly, changing from white to an orange-mauve hue, gaining in brilliance with every minute.  Yes, I could be in the city indulging in any number of entertainments, but this is where I want to be.  On the hill.

May you find a place, a moment, of beauty today.  It’s worth waiting for.

 

 

 

 

 

Making

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a dahlia at The Bridge of Flowers, near Northampton, Massachusetts, with Darryl and Sherry McKenney

Make a little beauty each day.

It’s all that’s asked; all that’s required.

Just make a little beauty each day.

In 1988, my father died suddenly of a heart attack, and having lost my mother 10 years earlier, I was officially orphaned. Often I found myself in a one-sided conversation with my parents, and once in a while, imagined hearing back from them.

One of those times a ditty began to sing itself in my mind’s ear, and although the melody has been lost, I do remember the lyric:  Make a little beauty each day….It’s all that’s asked, all that’s required, just make a little beauty each day.

Yes. Making beauty.  A roast chicken, a song, an Alexander Technique lesson, a pleasing arrangement of pottery and pictures on the mantle, a linen napkin under the sterling silver at dinner. A kind word, a lavish party.  A photograph.  A friendship. A marriage. A life you can love. It’s enough.

In this spring season, when the natural world is wild with making, may you be inspired to make a little beauty too.  It’s all that’s required——

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Susan and ‘making a dance.’

Idleness

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graphics courtesy of pixabay

1.the state of being inactive. —Syn.  Dawdling, pottering, shilly-shallying

2.disinclination to activity. —Syn.  slowness, indolence, slothfulness

Webster’s New World Thesaurus was fairly upbeat with its ‘idleness’ entry until ‘indolence’ and ‘slothfulness’ made an appearance. Here we enter into the realm of judgment and the expectation that incessant activity and productiveness is a preferred mode of being.

Easter Sunday was a rare day of, yes, I’ll claim it, indolence.  The positive spin would be ‘rest.’  The massive and very dead ash tree along the Rt. 296 lane had finally been removed and Mike was tired.  Our social life found us happily out late the night before, celebrating the season with long-time friends.  The plan had been to hop in the car the next day and get ourselves to the hill, but after sitting on the back porch in perfect bliss with our morning coffees, we concluded a trip to the farm was altogether too much doing.

Or as my godson Lyle used to ask, when I picked him up from preschool and proceeded to run errands, ‘Diana, could we please stop going?’  Yes, Lyle, we could.  What a fine question.  We do not have to keep going.  Stopping is a very good idea.  Essential, really.

We live in a world with very few pauses, and I write this week to encourage the finding of spaces, moments, hours, even a day, to quit with going and doing.  This Easter Monday finds me refreshed* following a rare day of do-less-ness.  Wishing for you the same—-

*Thanks to Beth C. for her delightful uses of the word ‘refreshed.’  

 

 

Dressing for Ease

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“What should I wear to my Alexander Technique lesson?”  My answer:  ‘Wear what’s comfortable. Nothing special or particular is required.’  However, I do have a few directives for my own daily dressing:

No more heels. Hallelujah!

Denim on occasion, not everyday.

Natural fibers only. Cotton and linen are go-to’s, with some wool, if it is soft and light.

Camisoles exclusively.  Read:  NO bras.

 

Comfy Shoes: Easton Shoes  on Kenny Road. Owners Lenny and Marcia Comeras travel the world to bring Columbus the finest in footwear.  Finn Comfort, Hartjes, Thierry Rabotin, Mephisto, are a few of the brands carried.   Bi-annual sales make these shoes affordable.

Denim:  Just wear Second Yoga jeans, and forget about it.  You can get a committee-selected* pair at Cheesecake Boutique in Upper Arlington.  Pay the money and don’t blink.  * (Staff weighs in on the best look and fit. No baggy butts allowed!  Very fun retail experience, which says a lot, coming from shopping-averse me.)

Natural Fibers:  Still working on this one, and relying on friends for assistance.  Current-Paris-resident, Julie Donnell, swears by anything Eileen Fisher.  This line is way out of my price range, and I have yet to purchase any of their pieces.  Sales do exist. Susan Petry is gifted at finding fine fabric pieces in thrift stores and second-hand shops, so that’s always an option. (see photo’s aqua scarf for an example of the treasures that await your next thrifting expedition)

Camisoles:   A clearance rack at Anthropologie in the Short North District provided me with the best-ever-camis.  They don’t roll up my torso, and have one side v-neck, the other scooped.  Shelf-bra tops are an excellent alternative to camis and can be found at my favorite location for a mammogram, The Stephanie Spielman Breast Center.  The lobby houses a gift shop! amoena is the brand name.

Have a rollicking good time shopping your way to comfort——-