Loose Leaf Notes

1. The zinnias were worth the price of admission at the Hahn Garden in Blacksburg (even though the gardens were free to the public). The shades of rose, orange, peach, lemon, and lime made me so happy that I laughed out loud.

2. Then I called Joe over.

3. Who said they don’t grow on trees.

4. Funny how this Rose of Sharon closed bloom looks like my closed umbrella.

5. Help!

6. We are girls passing notes / that have grown into poems / We are mothers in rocking chairs / holding loved memories close  / Some years we drink tea / out of fancy China cups / Some years it’s too hot / to walk up and down the hill / Cricket songs rise and fall / like waves on a shore / Clouds clear away / a clean slate of blue / We collect seed pods to blow / though we secretly know / our deepest wishes / have already come true____Happy Birthday to Jody and Katherine.

7. Here Lies Zinnia and Marigold – We are all like flowers / Cut from the ground we came from / Looking out from the vases we are held in / Named for family lines and relatives / Hoping our petals will be cherished / We are all flourishing and fading / Giving and taking our seed to the grave ~ Colleen Redman 2009

8. I dreamt that I was given a new role at NJ Floydfest. I was hired to help people be lighter and more playful. I had one person on the couch, and we were laughing and wrestling around.  I took the job serious, and it felt like a promotion.

9. “Even on the hardest days, I had a motto: if you can’t be happy, be funny. Because what leads us more surely to our own happiness than coaxing happiness out of someone we love? But laughter led to coughing, to shortness of breath, to panic, to inhalers, and finally to the stark silence of trying to recover. It led to a ban on being funny. That, maybe, was when Andrea began making peace with the idea that there might be a better alternative to living. It was hard to reconcile with a life where humor was banned, where joy was dangerous. – From Andrea’s Final Wish, Megan Falley, Andrea Gibson’s wife

10. If you want to talk in a good Boston accent, remember that we don’t just drop our Rs, we also add Ws, like this utensil, aka “fawk.”

11. Heliotropic / I turn in your direction / like a flower turns to the sun / I look for you / when I forget what it means / to be a flower / When you forget too / My grounding is loosened / I lean on time / to stand up straight / I hold onto the memory / of the garden / I’m always looking / in your absence / for a recognizable sign / for a poem that enjoys the summer / that trusts the winter / that turns its tender bloom / into fruit.

12. “Dolly Parton truly was a diamond in a rhinestone world. May she rest in peace.” Robert Reich

13. “What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? Herein lies the key to your earthly pursuits.” Carl Jung

_____________Thirteen Thursday