We Are The Children

This week I have tried to write a blog post, but I don't have the words, only lots of wonderful memories and photos of my "kids".   Many of them are adults now and some of them live far away and we only see them every few years.  We love them all.

They are all so precious. 

For me, music helps to heal my  heart so I hope you will listen to the children's version of the song, We Are The World, at the end of my post.

Hymn For The Hurting

By Amanda Gorman

Everything hurts,

Our hearts shadowed and strange,

Minds made muddied and mute.

We carry tragedy, terrifying and true.

And yet none of it is new;

We knew it as home,

As horror,

As heritage.

Even our children

Cannot be children,

Cannot be.

Everything hurts.

It’s a hard time to be alive,

And even harder to stay that way.

We’re burdened to live out these days,

While at the same time, blessed to outlive them.

This alarm is how we know

We must be altered —

That we must differ or die,

That we must triumph or try.

Thus while hate cannot be terminated,

It can be transformed

Into a love that lets us live.

May we not just grieve, but give:

May we not just ache, but act;

May our signed right to bear arms

Never blind our sight from shared harm;

May we choose our children over chaos.

May another innocent never be lost.

Maybe everything hurts,

Our hearts shadowed & strange.

But only when everything hurts

May everything change.

Ms. Gorman is a poet and the author of “The Hill We Climb,” “Call Us What We Carry” and “Change Sings.”

 

The women who held up the sky, my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother, holding me. 

Happy Mother's Day!  

Walking. I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.. ~ Linda Hogan

Even though the month of May is finally here our spring time in Hope is returning at a snail's pace.  It is May 7th and none of our fruit trees have blossomed.  Our flowering quince bush is the first to bloom and we're not there yet, which must seem alarming to our first hummingbirds.  We have two Rufus at our feeder and they are very cold and hungry.  They are the only ones brave enough to be here this early. 

Willie report:  

Willie has been on a leash or lead all the time except when we play his new favorite game with the chuck-it ball.  We try to get in at least one of those sessions per day plus a walk around the property boundary.  

He is now used to his trolley line and knows that is where we are going when we go out the door.  I also use a tie-out line attached to the grape arbor so that he can be there with me whenever I am working in the garden or my flower beds.  He has toys to play with and is happy as long as he is with me. 

Willie quirks:  when he plays with his toys he doesn't play with one toy at a time, he requires two.  His favorites are an orange tennis ball and a smaller plastic green ball.  He will hold one in his mouth while he is playing with the other with his paws and then he switches them.  Sometimes he actually tosses the ball with his mouth and other times he will make them roll with his feet.  

He will go get in his crate whenever he realizes that I am leaving the house.  It's his version of a protest. 

Sadly, there will be no chuck-it ball today as it's a bit too wet and rainy out there.

Our neighbor, Garrett, has started clearing the trees for the road on the west side of our property so there is a lot of activity over there.  Chainsaws running and big equipment, which Willie is learning to adjust to.  He's also had a couple of meetings with the neighbor's dog, Daisy.  In those encounters he has learned that he just needs to "chill" and hangout.  No jumping up on people. 

It's a slow process, but maybe he's beginning to figure it out. 

On the gardening front, my tomato and pepper plants are ready to transplant to larger pots again and it's probably time to start more seeds; squash for sure and maybe beans.  I think there's still plenty of time as this spring looks like a cool one.

My begonias are on the front porch and have their blankets on.  It's too cold out there!  It's a good weekend to stay inside and work on some music. 

 My Kentucky Derby horse, Messier, was in the running until the last seconds when Rich Strike came from behind to win.  Amazing race.  80-1 odds.  Rich Strike only ended up in the race because another horse withdrew.  

There are some happy people who bet on Rich Strike.

 Our rainfall total from the last two days is 2.4 inches.