Pink Grapefruit Style

Poem for a Summer Day

Hum

{ mary oliver }

What is this dark hum among the roses?
The bees have gone simple, sipping,
that's all. What did you expect? Sophistication?
They're small creatures and they are
filling their bodies with sweetness, how could they not
moan in happiness? The little
worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.
Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand
that life is a blessing. I have found them-haven't you?—
stopped in the very cups of the flowers, their wings
a little tattered-so much flying about, to the hive,
then out into the world, then back, and perhaps dancing,
should the task be to be a scout-sweet, dancing bee.
I think there isn't anything in this world I don't
admire. If there is, I don't know what it is. I
haven't met it yet. Nor expect to. The bee is small,
and since I wear glasses, so I can see the traffic and
read books, I have to
take them off and bend close to study and
understand what is happening. It's not hard, it's in fact
as instructive as anything I have ever studied. Plus, too,
it's love almost too fierce to endure, the bee
nuzzling like that into the blouse
of the rose. And the fragrance, and the honey, and of course
the sun, the purely pure sun, shining, all the while, over
all of us.

It's a New Favorite

       

Oh, I just LOVE her! She's funny, irreverent, deep (in content), and cute and colorful as can be. She's hungry-girl.com.

She exposes diet food fakers and has tons of great recipe and snack ideas. Especially helpful are her swap stories i.e. fix this instead of that and save yourself a ton of calories without losing flavor. Hungry-girl also has lots of info and reviews on new grocery store products that sound super tasty and are good for you too.

Not all of her tips are great for carb counters like us. For instance, many of her desserts start with a low-sugar cake mix - not a great idea in my opinion. And many tips will work for singles and couples but not necessarily families with kids. But don't let those few little nit-picks deter you. She offers loads of great general tips. You can take her research and ideas and apply them to your own needs and lifestyle.

I've been clicking through her site like mad checking out all her previous postings and stories. I also subscribed to the free daily eNewsletter and the first one was in my inbox this morning. Reading it was a cheerful and empowering way to start the day off right.

Holly

5 Best: Books I Ever Read

Not that they don't ever change ever, but it seems like some books are always there - glimmering below the surface. Quotes and scenes from these books come to mind at so many different times and in so many different circumstances that they feel like the best of old familiar friends.

My Top Five (for today anyway)...

• Big Stone Gap ~ Adriana Trigiani
• A Lantern in Her Hand ~ Bess Streeter Aldrich
• Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now ~ Maya Angelou
• Then Came Heaven ~ LaVyrle Spencer
• One Writer's Beginnings ~ Eudora Welty

Naturally I'm thinking of all the books I love and am leaving out...the Mitford series by Jan Karon, all of Jane Austen, etc., etc. And of all the books I'm forgetting that I'll see later on the shelf and think, "Oh, that one, too!"

What are some of your Top Fives?

Holly

Knowing Patsy Better

When I was about 8 or 9 and going through books like potato chips, there was a series in our school library that I particularly enjoyed. It was a set of biographies about famous historical Americans written at a kid's level. I read a lot of them, but I honestly don't remember any of the subjects but one - Martha Washington. Two episodes that still stand out in my mind were of her planting wildflowers by a walk (which grew even after she was warned they would not) and helping her family make feather beds from goose down.

With getting married, buying our house, fixing it up, and getting settled, it's been ages since I've read anything more than magazines. This from a lifelong bookworm, but I just haven't had time and my mind has been too scattered on other fun things to focus. Now somehow, in the last couple weeks, I've managed to read two whole books.

One was this biography of Martha Washington. The lady who wrote it included all sorts of the kinds of specific details I like best...what they ate, how they traveled, what they ordered from England, and what they talked about and how they behaved in private. It's always good to be reminded that our colonial ancestors weren't mythic giants. They were real people with noisy families, nicknames, and regular problems. Just ordinary people doing their best like all of us. This was also one of the only books I've ever read about the colonial era in which a scathing background opinion of Thomas Jefferson could be discerned from the author's comments. Apparently Martha was no fan of his and made no secret of it and the author stands by her.

Even though any biography or autobiography interests me, this book really stood out. I'd put it up there in my top 4 with Dolly Parton's My Life and Other Unfinished Business, Dixie Carter's Trying to Get to Heaven, and Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings.

Have you been reading any good biographies lately?

Holly

Words

Reading other people's writing is one of the best ways I know to stay consistently thoughtful and inspired and to remember to keep looking for the little moments of insight that can surprise us in the course of ordinary life. Everyday I get an email called The Writer's Almanac. It usually arrives in my inbox about 3:30 am and is there for me to read first thing in the morning.

This is today's.

In addition to a few interesting mini-biographies of historical or famous people (usually including some juicy fact I never remember hearing in high school history class), the almanac puts a poem front and center at the very top. Usually it's a modern poem. Sometimes it's by a well-known poet and sometimes not. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I love it, and sometimes I'm fairly indifferent. But I've never hated it. Even if the work is not to my taste, it almost always has a little something in it that I can glean for my own interest. Some of the poems are so excellent and thought-provoking that I keep a folder in Outlook to file them away for re-reading on a rainy day.

Do you have a little piece of reading that you enjoy everyday?

Holly

Call Me Sentimental

...but I just love to go to an estate sale or antique shop and find a whole unbroken-up collection of things that somebody put away a long time to ago to remember an event or, more poignantly, a person. It's always interesting to me to see what items they chose to keep to help them reflect back. Sometimes it's a little baby shoe accompanied by a wispy curl sewn to a piece of paper. Inevitably a mama will have written a name like Frank or Jimmy next to the precious little remnant from a first haircut. Once in awhile it's a bunch of old calling cards or a box of party favors and ribbons.

A few of my very favorite things are some old party favors I have that are little nut cup wheelbarrows. Someone took the time to make little handles out of pastel pink and green straws and threaded those through white Lifesavers to make front wheels. They make anything I put in the cup (like little bits of ribbon and old sequins) look so whimsical and lighthearted. And even though they're really not worth a nickel, they're absolutely priceless to me.

The other day when I was out at some antique malls, I was making a second trip back through to see if I had missed anything and spied some pink roses on worn red satin peaking out from behind some other things. I went over and looked and found an old red heart-shaped Valentine candy box handpainted with cupids and pink roses. Inside I could tell were some ribbons and paper things, but that's about as far as I got. I was in a hurry and so shut the box and took it to the counter and promised myself further exploration when I got home.

When I finally started sifting through it later that night, I found a collection of remnants from what must have been a very memorable event.

There was a program from "The Pixies - a Fairy Operetta" presented by the elementary grades of the Onward (Indiana) School on March 12, 1927. Also inside I found an old crepe paper napkin which must have been saved from the refreshments that I'm sure were served at the event. It's printed with a cupid and hearts in shades of bright red and gold and almost looks handpainted (maybe it is).

A couple old fancy placecards and two smaller placecards with hatbox shaped labels on the corners rounded out the paper items.

And under it all was a wonderful swirl of beautiful old rosy pink and shimmery red ribbons.

Looking through the box was a lovely little trip back in time.

Day to day, I list vintage fabrics, trims, quilt blocks, and other textiles on Ebay. However, this box is the sort of item that can get a little lost in the shuffle on there because it needs a special audience who can appreciate a bit of wear and shabbiness and who are interested more in character than in perfection. This box and all the contents are for sale today ($29, which includes shipping) and you can win it by leaving an "I'll take it!" comment. The box measures 10 3/8 inches wide at the widest point of the heart and is 11 inches high. It stands 2 inches tall. The satin is worn and thready near the corners and the paper items have a bit of wear and age here and there, but it's such a sweet collection of memories. I'll contact the first person who leaves that comment and get address/shipping info from you.

Still to come this weekend, the best baked chicken recipe I think I've ever had + some other little tidbits. Hope your Friday is calm and easygoing...

Holly