Take the Leap!

In a leap year, tradition has it that an unmarried woman

can propose to a man on February 29th (leap day),

and he must accept her proposal...or buy her a new dress!

What's a single girl got to lose??

;)

(public domain postcards circa 1908 - click on them to enlarge)

The Healing Power of Yosemite

It isn't always easy to be happy.

We all have days when life gets really hard.

Troubles come. Sometimes to us,

and sometimes to those we love.

People I love are having hard times just now.

Sickness and sadness weighing down their hearts.

Today, my own feels weighed down with them.

Too many sorrows and too hard to bear.

My spirit is reminding me how very small I am

in the scheme of big things.

Not that I am unimportant

but that there is a larger picture...

a perspective that stretches far beyond my own

a Power that rules the universe for good

and that if I am small in comparison

maybe my problems are, too...

and the problems of those I love.

Because God is watching us.

With purpose. And symmetry.

And a plan we can trust.

He knows what we need most.

Even when we don't.

And that makes us happy.

And hopeful. And whole.

Trouble comes, and trouble goes.

The river flows, the river flows.

for more happiness, click below

In the Soup

THE PICTURE PROMPT: from MAGPIE TALES

Warhol at the drug store

In the Soup

©2012 Susan Noyes Anderson

I spill my soup sometimes

when I start sipping

or leave a bit of bubbly

on the floor.

I think I’m sinking;

maybe I’m just slipping,

but towels won’t keep me

dry, not anymore.

If paper (rolled by Scott)

could wipe this mess up,

I’d stock my shelves and

count myself redeemed.

But old Black Velvet never

lets me fess up.

And black-and-white?

Much grayer than it seemed.

Again, the fog invades.

I'm in the soup, with shades.

“Don't pay any attention to what they write about you.

Just measure it in inches.” –Andy Warhol

The quote = justification for taking poetic license here.

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

MY DARLING DAUGHTER!

And the Greatest of These...

Jenny Matlock has bestowed upon us a near-perfect prompt today, along with 100 words of our own choosing to develop it. We even get to illustrate! Isn't that chair-itable? ;)

(the prompt, as always, is in red)

∞§∞

Chair-ity

©2012 Susan Noyes Anderson

The chair dominated the small room, but it didn’t matter. She loved every rounded edge and sharp corner of it, every curve and angle shaped to hold her form, to cradle her own cradling. A rocking chair is what she’d asked for…hoped for…but as was her man’s custom, he gave more.

That chair cost dear, more dear than parts and pieces. He worked in sugar maple, like his people, and made the hot hide glue his daddy used. But it was sleepless nights that brought the value…and work-worn hands that labored until dawn.

It showed up in the nursery one bright morning. She squealed, and he came running from the yard. She told her ma his soul was in his eyes.

And in her woman’s heart, she took it in.

∞§∞

Welcome to my Book Binge

(Or at least, I do!)

I've been enjoying some very good reads lately and am happy to spread the news about three authors who were entirely new to me last month but are well on the way to becoming old friends. If you aren't already aware of their talents, I hope you will consider looking into them. Perhaps you will even embrace them as I have.

The first is Marcia Willett, whose books come as close to Rosamunde Pilcher's as any I've run across. Set in the English countryside and peopled with charming, quirky, and mostly endearing characters are "A Week in Winter," "The Way We Were," and "A Summer in the Country." The next Willett novel I intend to swallow in one gulp (just can't seem to put them down) is "The Children's Hour." Needless to say, I'm ready to dive right in!

Simply beautiful is Kent Haruf's novel, "Plainsong." This author's writing, lean and intense as Hemingway but far more graceful on the mind, imbues commonplace events with a soft luster that pulled me in gently yet held me fast, unable (or unwilling) to look away. Haruf places his readers in deep water, but the waves roll in slowly and shimmer. I will be reading the sequel, "Eventide," as soon as time allows.

Sandra Dallas rounds out my group of three, and I thoroughly enjoyed "The Diary of Mattie Spenser," "The Persian Pickle Club," "Tallgrass," and "Alice's Tulips." I'll be sure to visit her other work too, as I love nothing better than a good book about women and the ties that bind them...to each other and to their families. I think you will find that Ms. Dallas fills that bill with style, sensitivity, a touch of mystery, and a sense of history.

What could be better?

=)

Click above to vote for one of my favorite people:

Caroline of Salsa Pie. (It's easy...no signing up!)

Nesting, Resting, and Heroes

Nesting, Resting, and Heroes

©2012 Susan Noyes Anderson

Nesting in a tree,

resting on its roots,

red-caped superhero sporting

camouflage boots.

Hanging on a moment,

dangling in time,

soaking up the soft green sky scene,

fruit of the climb.

Face the future squarely, boy.

Grace it with the past.

Wield those superpowers wisely.

Let the sweetness last.

PS. Due to all the strangeness with Blogger lately, and in case it's true that the Follower option will not be with us much longer, please take a minute to scroll down to just above my Playlist and follow me on Linky Friends in the right sidebar so I don't lose track of you! Thanks!!

for more N posts, click below

A Word to the Wise

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool

than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

– Abraham Lincoln

If Mr. Lincoln were alive today, I suspect this would be

his advice to the current presidential candidates.

Enough said.

"/

Tellin' It Like It Is

Is it just me?

Or do I have the best-looking kids and grandkids ever?

(albeit bearded,in some cases *sigh*)

Go ahead.

You can tell me.

Seriously.

I can take it.

Because I already know the answer...

{no bias here at all}

;)

photos taken in Irvine at a family wedding

PS. Due to all the strangeness with Blogger lately, and in case it's true that the Follower option will not be with us much longer, please take a minute to scroll up to just above my Playlist and follow me on Linky Friends in the right sidebar so I don't lose track of you! Thanks!!

for more happiness, click below

Fog Creeps in on Little Blogger Feet

(I can't see the forest for the trees fog.)

Okay, help me out here. What is all this about Blogger taking away the Followers gadget? And what on earth are we supposed to do instead? If we join Google plus, do we hang onto our followers? Or do we have to add some kind of new gadget from other than Blogger to keep track of each other after the deadline that I hear is sometime in March?

Does anyone know more about all of this than I do? (It wouldn't be hard...)

And does everyone dislike the new word verification craziness as much as I am disliking it? Half the time, I can't even make out the letters!

(May I make another plea right here and now for everyone to get rid of word verification altogether, once and for all?!)

Thanks, guys. Enlighten me. Please.

(I do not want to lose track of my little community here.)

=)

Biker Beware

image: epic mahoney

Biker Beware

©2012 Susan Noyes Anderson

Don’t let the green grow

underneath your feet.

It could be grass, you know;

though eerie green’s been

seen to bode no good.

Ill wind can creep up

in the dark, raise hairs

along your glowing shin.

Don’t let it in.

Don’t let it

in.

(no phone booth

Superman tonight

just kryptonite)

No safety

here or there,

no safety

here

or

there.

Biker beware.

An Epitaph, of Sorts

Methinks Jenny is in a hurry this weekend and has fashioned an assignment to match: no prompt at all and only six words to write an itty-bitty autobiographical (autobriefographical) sketch of ourselves...or as I like to call it, an epitaph.

It's hard to accomplish much in six words, so I tried to pick the one aspect of me that I care most about...the essential part that I could never escape no matter how hard I might try (not that I WOULD try, you understand). My compulsion to write came to mind, as did my relentless need to read, my love of learning, my reverence for nature, the many good years spent at my husband's side, and the idea of family in general, but when it comes right down to it the most visceral and diehard aspect of me is the one I see as a calling, a stewardship from which I will never be released, a personal and priceless responsibility.

So here it is...Sue's autobiographical epitaph, with art to match:

Vu Cao Dam (1908-2000)

A mother ~ first, last, and always.

Of course, I have generously provided two

alternate choices for the more irreverent:

Arrived, thrived, wed, bred, now dead.

or perhaps

Arrived, got stoked, wed, bred, croaked.