Morning Glory Studio

unraveled wednesday | 9.19.18 ...

I sit here, at the table, books and journals spread out before me; my iPad open and ready to pen today’s post. The sun shines, for a change. Temperature in the mid 70s, an invitation to turn off the A/C and open windows and the deck doors... In the background, a lawnmower and the chatter from cnbc: on stocks. 

Thinking: what I will write about for today’s post?

My eyes leave the screen,  look up, out the windows: Leaves gently drift to the ground, stirred by a breeze, evidenced by the “this tree’s” branches, swaying slowly. Soon, those branches will be bare.

Norman fixes his traditional but very healthy breakfast: apple + banana + chicken tenderloin, baked. We chat about whatever.  I’d toyed with the idea of going to IKEA for the Swedish American breakfast this morning but never “got my act together.”  Instead, it’s oatmeal and fruit for me.  

Moments of Seeing  finished thus morning; enjoyed tremendously and somewhat saddened to have it end...but not to despair for a) I can always return to reading it and b) I also have Gift of an Ordinary Day in the wings. 

In just three days, the Autumanl Equinox arrives, officially at 9:54 PM, along with the forecast of more rain and cooler, more seasonal temperatures. An invitation to return to the knitting needles and resume my 9Patch/Log Cabin quilt for mini mindful moments of downtime. Along with time spent in my sewing studio and my journals...

Breakfast is done. Time for me to wind down MSQT and get on with my day...  Joining Kat and friends for another Unraveled Wednesday. Me: Unraveled? Not at all!

Cheers~

 

simply a moment | 8.15.18 ...

( 9:46 am ~my place at the table today; this is how the table looks most mornings) 

Tho’  the forecast calls for a high of 91° later this afternoon, it’s currently a somewhat cool morning: 78°... I’m eating breakfast later than usual... a bowl of cereal with strawberry and banana. Norman’s off to a meeting at a local church, within walking distance.

As is my daily morning ritual, I’ve been  up and “at the table” for the past 3+ hours:

journaling and reading...

plotting and planning...

catching up with yesterday and contemplating  today...

occasionally looking up and out at the view through the wide open deck doors before me...

I think about  how  I begin each day, morning, rain/shine/year long,  here at the dining table, facing the windows that look out on the world, presenting a picture of the day’s beginnings, the weather, changing seasons,  birds flying, the ubiquitous power and cable lines that provide super highways for squirrels and gathering spots for birds. The cat saunters on the deck -she sees the door is open  and thinks she’ll maybe get another meal...”t’aint happenin’ McGhee;” Norman fed you before he left!

My phone and iPad ring simultaneously. My niece Kayla. We have a long chat; Kayla will be a senior in high school! Can’t be! Wasn’t it just yesterday that she started preK at the elementary school just two blocks down the street? And now, in just a couple weeks, her nephew Chris begins PreK. Time flies. Moments come and go...too quickly.

I look at the time: nearly 11:15 am. Already?  My mom’s favorite phrase comes to mind: “Time to get a move on, kiddie!” I hear her saying. And then she would get up and do whatever she had in mind.

Think I shall follow suit...

Cheers~

#tinytinymoments tuesday | 3.27.2018

 

 

Currently...

• sitting in IKEA restaurant, finishing breakfast and sipping coffee...
• feeling full and relaxed...
• listening to the sounds of conversation, dishes clanking, children playing...
• seeing cars entering the soon-to-be filled parking lot; buses discharging/boarding passengers; Maryland, Swedish and US flags gently waving ...
• thinking about: errands I'm "out to run" and "to do" items when I return home 
• enjoying this morning solitude and quiet time  away from home.

Time to get a move on... What tiny tiny moments filled your Tuesday?

Cheers~

 

 

 

ttmt...

     ...the start of a long and relaxing Morning Solitude and Quiet Time...not intended but not complaining either that it worked out that way. I took the photo at 7:29 am...still adjusting to DST...and just whiled the morning away, engaged in quiet and mindful activities and pursuits. A lovely way to spend a lovely, albeit windy and therefore, chilly morning. 

Now, to get stirrin'. Evening will be here before I know it!

Cheers~

a page from my journal : ritual

 

 Today is Friday and Journal Club Day! My day started with an early 9 am doctor's appointment: blood draw; pneumonia shot; and a couple questions I needed answered. Never saw the doctor - she was busy with other patients, I guess - but she did answer my questions, relayed via the nurse. 

Afterwards, I went to Whole Foods for some veggies to roast for tonight's din-din and then to Starbucks for a  breakfast treat: caramel latté and a cranberry orange scone. Oooh! The calories...and so good! On the way home, I stopped to get a prescription filled and arrived just in time to make a mug of tea and set up for today's Journal Club (JC) session, especially since MSQT  (morning solitude and quiet time)  seems to have been totally turned upside down over the past few weeks.

As always, JC began with a recap of our day, thus far and a free write...I began a deep dive into what has interrupted my normal morning routine. I'm not close to the answer, yet and know that I will continue to explore - after all, one does not cavalierly dismiss a long-standing practice. I sense a change is on the horizon and one that I'm eager to explore: not abandoning MSQT; rather changing the focus and adding an ESQT.  Something I've wanted to do for years - I start but don't continue, etc..Habits are hard to make and break. Perhaps this time will be different.

Speaking of time, I'm not at all looking forward to Daylight Savings Time! There is at least one clock I do not change: the one in my car! Just plain stubbornness, I guess. Are you for or agin' DST? Enjoy the weekend!

Cheers~

sometimes mondays ...

 

 

...are  the start of five days of Michelle GD's free self-portrait challenge. Tho' registration is closed*, this time around, you can follow along in Instagram: #turnthelensonself. Today's prompt - warmth and hands - was a "made for me" invitation:

Tho' sunny, it was still a tad cool  - 35 degrees - enough this morning to wrap my reading shawl around my shoulders as I held my tea mug, filled with steaming hot tea...including Peach Tranquility! Yesterday, I was able to score a few bags from a local grocery store! 

Regardless the season, hot tea, my journal/s and a book (or two) I'm reading are the go-to-way I start my every day. How does your day begin?

Cheers~

 

*You can sign up for future notifications here

when I write by hand ...

 

Sunday 24 December 2017  7:20 am ~ sunrise

when I write by hand, I feel comfortable. I enjoy seeing the characters form, feeling the pen/pencil glide across the page ... 

when I write by hand, the table lamp casts a shadow on the paper, my hand and the pen's point, as I form words, make visible: thoughts, ideas, capture bits of information, tell a story ...

when I write by hand, I take in the sights and sounds of my surroundings ...

when I write by hand, I pause to sip my tea and stretch my fingers, exercise them a bit...

when I write by hand, memories flow forth; ideas  sprout; thoughts occur; feelings of contentment wash over me ...

when I write by hand, I fill pages of prose - the words just seem to flow even tho' I might not say a darn thing...

when I write by hand, I am safe, secure, comfortable, encouraged, alive, content, present.

sunday baroque and devotions ...

 

7:08 am: Sunrise. Sunday Baroque.* Hot tea in my mug. Several good books including Mary Oliver's Devotions, just received yesterday. Gently, I open the book, peruse the table of contents, turn to this page and that, taking, along the way, not only a sip of my tea but also the words there on the pages. Strong yet gentle. Poignant and soothing. New and familiar... comforting and inquiring... I pause to take a photo or two or three and then decide to make a collage to capture this/these moments. Satisfied, I return to my tasting of the poems...and feel a smile cross my face: This! This is the one! 

"At Blackwater Pond"

At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have settled after a night of rain.

I dip my cupped hands. I drink a long time. It tastes like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold

into my body, waking the bones. I hear them

deep inside me, whispering

oh what is that beautiful thing that just happened?

~Mary Oliver  Devotions 2017. Page 393

 

*Sunday Baroque is a radio program I listened to religiously in the early 2000s and then for some reason, stopped. Several weeks ago, one Sunday morning, that memory popped into my head... I did a google search and was delighted to find that it was not only still on the air but also featured the hostess that I knew- Susanne Bona- and was celebrating its 30th year! If you like baroque music, worth a listen. 

Cheers~

 

MSQT ... @ sunrise

 

3 November 2017 ~ 7:38 am
 
I  watch the sky...on the cusp of sunrise. A faint pink glow. All's still save for the customary sound of the refrig and traffic - not obtrusive but because I'm listening, I hear... Spread before me, papers, pens, pencils... my journal, Circa notebook; a book and my morning libations: tea - my second cuppa - and water, ice cold tho' the ice has since melted. To my left, my book cart...

I contemplate stepping out on the deck to take a photo or two of the sky...just minutes to go. It all happens so fast. Noting larger patches of sky when I look at "this tree." I recall that as I drove to/fro Columbia yesterday, Fall's glorious colors - tho' muted compared to my memory of years past - were in evidence. 

Interrupting the morning silence, an ice cube stuck in the auto ice-maker. Enough! I get up, open the freezer and free the ice cube...and me.

My tea has cooled...my mind drifts to yesterday:
⁃ a "find" that I plan to share Sunday...
⁃ my stop by the Apple Store :  a call into Apple Support ~ the tech and I chat...upshot: I should probably upgrade to the latest iOS... We'll see; I like to wait 'til  a new operating system's glitches are corrected and surely there are/will be some...
⁃ Teavana:  "closed. " A mistaken delivery of many boxes filled every available square inch of floor space, including the entrance...
⁃ I opt to go for the manicure another day and drive home... Norman just about to feed the cat when I arrive... I note that his left hand is swollen - he says he strained it trying to open a jar of pickles. I show him how to release the vacuum seal (I use the pointy end of a church key under the lid, pressing down gently until it pops and then, the cap is right easy to twist open).

I am drafting this post in Notes on my iPad...thinking that I should be able to access it from both my phone and iMac if my blog platform freezes on me, again...and besides (#1), words of wisdom suggest that one should create drafts in another platform besides the blog in case there are server issues, etc...and besides (#2), I should probably learn how this app works, too!

Morning Solitude and Quiet Time: the view before me, my thoughts, words and memories and the feelings they convey; the quiet and peace of this morning, the previous days and the promise of tomorrows - though not guaranteed but always totally, gratefully accepted and appreciated - all day, every day.

And now it's time to get on with this day...

Cheers~

 

PS. Austin Kleon shared this tracker for readers who are doing NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo ~

 https://austinkleon.com/2017/11/01/30-day-challenge/

Thursday 3 ... Before 7 a.m

 

6:15 am

1. It's just a wee bit past the crack of dawn...or perhaps I've gotten that backwards...dawn is at sunrise, right? So, since sunrise is not until 7:37 am, I'm a bit early...anyway, today I am documenting today and I want it noted that tho' I've been up since 5 am, I'm just now sitting down for MSQT...tea is steeped and I've just enjoyed my first sip: a combination of Teavana's Peach Tranquility and a Trader Joe's green. I bought a new tea pot/infuser but I'm not sure how it works, so I'm still making tea one cup at a time. 
2. Norman sends his thanks for all the birthday wishes. He/We had a quiet day; he opted out of pizza and champagne and chose a long afternoon nap. I think the World Series was taking its toll... Today,  he is probably a tad sad as he was rootin' for the Dodgers. I was delighted when I read this morning that the Astros won (I went to bed way before the game was over). I figured they might because they truly, unequivocally, came out swingin' (pun intended) in the first inning. 
3. Thinking about today's agenda: I meet with my Thursday stitchin' group at 11 am. Since I'll be in Columbia and close to the Mall and the Apple Store, wondering if I want to see if I can get an appointment to look at my iPad...it's been freezing on me. But it may also be my blog platform...guess I might as well check it out since I'll be there. I also need a manicure...will today be the day? T'is a thought...

6:45 am

An ambulance siren shatters the morning quiet and the sounds of increasing morning traffic are more evident.  Time for my second cuppa tea and to move on with MSQT (morning solitude and quiet time). 

Enjoy your day!

Cheers~