The garden a crazy riot of colour, pink and cream oleanders tumbling over the garden wall from next door, tall blue agapanthus everywhere, red, mauve, pink and orangey pelargoniums in your face. A summer carnival. Made up a large Christmassy jar of homebaked spicy ginger cookies. The old stove is on its last legs but the cookies turned out fine.
The housemate insists she is better. I don’t think she is much better. I know she wants very badly to feel better. That will have to do for now.
News reports full of suicides, violence, poverty, heartbreak. And occasional good news, wishes granted, children’s dreams fulfilled, the hungry fed, justice meted out, promises kept.
What was it Frederick Buechner said?
“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.”
Spicy ginger cookies top my list of favorite holiday goodies. Here’s hoping roommate really does improve; being ill for extended periods of time is so … discouraging, weakening, dispiriting. Sending a head’s up to the Universal Healing Power for roomie.
Ginger is magical, that hot yet benign taste of goodness. Thanks for the heads-up, Lynda
Nice quote. Glad you are feeling better. xo
A very surprising and wise writer Susan, I plan to read more of his owrk
You have introduced me to so many great poets and writers. Thank you.
Liked this story from Mary Ruefle-I asked a pilot about fear. The pilot said, “The only way to overcome fear is to do what you are trained to do. Fear is overcome by procedure. For example, I was flying a test jet alone at thirty thousand feet and there was a leak in my oxygen mask I didn’t know about. I temporarily lost consciousness, and when I came to I was at fifteen thousand feet heading straight for the ground, nose down, completely out of control—and I was still groggy, still fighting for consciousness. Cut the throttle and punch the dive brakes. Cut the throttle and punch the dive brakes. Cut the throttle and punch the dive brakes. Those were the only thoughts I had, and I continued to have them until I leveled out at five thousand feet.” Then the doctor and the pilot, who were in the same room with me, looked at me and said, “So, have you ever had any poetry emergencies?”
Mary Ruefle’s piece on fear for Poetry Foundation was the first I had read of her. Love that ‘poetry emergencies’!
Love the Buechner quote.
It’s good to not be afraid but to get the most from each day, no matter what. It is unseasonably warm here. But I cannot complain since it makes being on the water much easier.