life on standby

Today is another wonderful summer day. By the time I am off from work the shadows are getting long. I am tired and it is tough to find time to finish daily tasks. Our house is on the market and the market has stopped working. No one is even looking any longer. I guess we will have to take the house off of the market and just hunker down for a little longer. Work hard, save and wait. It's hard.



The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Each day is a gift with my body, my life, my love. Today I am blessed.


a poem

Otherwise
by Jane Kenyon

I got out of bed
On two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise.

I ate cereal,
sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach.
It might have been otherwise.

I took the dog uphill to the birch wood.
All morning I did the work I love.
At noon I lay down with my mate.
It might have been otherwise.

We ate dinner together at a table
with silver candlesticks.
It might have been otherwise.

I slept in a bed in a room with paintings
on the walls,
and planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

The waiting game

Well, here it is, almost February. Our house is still on the market. When we made our master plan were were going to leave in January. This is very confusing. Were we meant to stay longer for something? Maybe taxes. If the house sale is much later the whole complexion of our trip changes. We had originally planned our route according to weather in each location. Now I guess we can plan on going with the worst weather in each location, and falling dollar values. We can sit in the rain and eat expensive sour/ salty yak tea with curd. This is going to be awesome.

I don't really care where or when we go. We may end up being free from our erroneous plans. We may have been over planning our trip. Each day at home seems a gift now. We have grown to appreciate each day and every task. It's really interesting how knowing we are leaving helps us to enjoy what we do day to day.

Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you.
Fate is at your elbow;
Make yourself good
while life and power are still yours.

Book four, Meditations

Marcus Aurelius