Ten Thousand Places

Boston sunset: 4:57

tenthousandplaces — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:15:38 +0000

Normally around this time of the year I am feeling completely overwhelmed and browbeaten by winter. I watch the slow creep of the sunset as a person stranded on a desert island watches the horizon for rescue. It helps, a little.

But this year has been the strangest winter weather-wise that I can remember in my 37 years. We’ve had 7 inches of snow so far in Boston, none of which has stuck for more than 24 hours. The average snowfall by the end of January is 44 inches, and I don’t have the numbers for last year, but I’m guessing at least 80. Last year the snow was piled in ugly, sludgy-icy, black piles on the streets, as hard as cement if you should brush up against one as you parallel parked. The sidewalks were icy in parts, sludgy in parts, so that every time I ventured out I either fell, or got soaked, or both. It was really pretty, especially in the “green” parts of the city. But it mostly just made life harder, and made me feel claustrophobic; trapped in snow and winter with another two months to go.

But this year I have been slowly relaxing. I was tensed for battle, marking the days that the sunset would read 4:30, 4:45, 5:00, and the days that the average temperature would stop going down (January 16th) and start going back up (January 25th). But those days have passed anticlimactically (and, interestingly, anitclimatically [not a real word, but a West Wing reference: "It was 'anticlimactic,' not 'anticlimatic!' 'Anticlimatic' means 'against the weather!"]). The few wintery days have been balanced by sunny, springlike days in the 40s and 50s. I’ve been out walking and biking, and taking the kids to the playground. Normally at the end of January I would be desperately trying to encourage myself with the almost-5 sunset, and the shortness of February, and the possibility that there would be spring-like days early in March. But now, winter hasn’t even really started. I’ve made it to February without the usual trauma and battle scars. Feels strange.

How is winter going for you?

Filed under: Peripatetics

Jamaica Pond painting

tenthousandplaces — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:51:25 +0000

An oil pastel I did a couple of years ago, for M. It was an old canvas of Daniela’s, with an unfinished painting already on it. It was fun to layer the oil pastels over it, incorporating the colors and textures into the new work. I used only blue, white, and brown — the red is from the old painting. And you can see the texture of the old paint in the highlights of the clouds and their reflections in the water. I called it “Jamaica Pond” even though the shape and other details aren’t exactly accurate. It’s meant to be more of a representation of how it feels to walk there in the dark, and the beauty and mystery of trees, water, and moonlight.

Filed under: Peripatetics

{this moment}

tenthousandplaces — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 04:15:03 +0000

A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama (through daily doings). If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

Filed under: Peripatetics

You know me

tenthousandplaces — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:03:19 +0000

From www.explodingdog.com.

Filed under: Peripatetics

Every place is under the stars

tenthousandplaces — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 06:43:57 +0000

The lesson which life constantly repeats is to ‘look under your feet.’ You are always nearer to the divine
and the true sources of your power than you think.
The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive.
The great opportunity is where you are.
Do not despise your own place and hour.
Every place is under the stars.
Every place is the center of the world.

John Burroughs

Filed under: Peripatetics

{this moment}

tenthousandplaces — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:41:46 +0000

Filed under: Peripatetics

Great coffee, great cause

tenthousandplaces — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:02:02 +0000

My friends Jeremy and Elizabeth Sobkowiak were in the midst of an overseas adoption when they got word that the birth mother of their son was pregnant again, and wanting them to adopt the baby. They had already decided that they would never turn down a sibling adoption, so they immediately said “yes.” But now, after having raised almost all the funds for their overseas adoption, they have to raise all the fees for this adoption, too. One of the ways they have been raising money is through Just Love Coffee Roasters.

If you’re looking for ways to make your Christmas gifts more meaningful this year (or just looking for some really great coffee), please consider buying this fairly-traded, sustainably-farmed coffee to help Jeremy and Elizabeth bring their babies home. As if that weren’t enough incentive, 5% of every sale of Just Love Coffee goes to support clean water projects in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya.

Here’s the link to their coffee sales page https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/zzpetals/. You can also go to their blog, ZuZu’s Petals, to read more about their story and to see other ways to support their adoption.

Filed under: Peripatetics

{this moment}

tenthousandplaces — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:37:34 +0000

Filed under: Peripatetics

Art therapy

tenthousandplaces — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:04:44 +0000

I’ve been really enjoying expressing myself through art lately. It’s fun especially because I never drew much, and never thought I was an artist, but I always wished I could be. Turns out all you really need to do is just draw, and not worry about whether you’re good or not. If you’re drawing, you’re an artist! You too!

Filed under: Peripatetics

Mary Oliver

tenthousandplaces — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:45:15 +0000

Does anyone else find the question at the end of Summer Day a bit stressful? “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / With your one wild and precious life?” I love that poem. But on days when the migraines have me on my back, it taunts me. What do I plan to do? What am I doing? Watching West Wing reruns and lying on ice packs, on a beautiful summer day. Not even being idle and blessed and strolling through the fields like Mary. “What else should I have done?” I feel like there are a lot of answers for me. A bike ride. A visit to a friend. A book to read. A story to write. Or something to bless others.

Ack, this post is just the same as most of my Wrestling the Tigers posts. I am wasting my time, wasting my life, sitting here under the weight of an enormous, merciless beast.

And the answer is still the same: Focus on the moment and what needs to be done. Do what you can and don’t worry about what you are not doing. Enjoy the times when you do feel well enough to go out and observe and worship and play, like this, and this, and this.

Still, it’s really hard not to feel like I am wasting my wild and precious life.

Filed under: Wrestling the tigers