It’s becoming clearer and clearer to me that I need to leave the familiar, but I don’t want to do it entirely alone-I want to seek others who can offer perspective into my predicament, who can help guide my passage.”
-Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted
Hummingbirds suddenly
seem to be everywhere
Chasing each other
or hovering over the lavender
The morning fog rises gently
You are standing in the midst, smiling.
I look at you and start talking
to myself.
You ask why ?
My way of clearing my mind
sometimes it gets crowded with thoughts.
Don’t you get frightened
when it gets empty?
Maybe that happens
when someone you love leaves,
walks away.
The hummingbirds leave one by one
and my friend
I am alone again.
The fog returns
I feel cold
I linger awhile
before I return home.
note: Books I’m reading: War and Peace. I was persuated by an article about Yiyun Li reading War and Peace once a year. And reading it along with others-Tolstoy Together.
Also reading Inseparable by Simone de Beauvoir.
note: The book I finished reading, The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. It’s a story of loss and redemption, courage and perseverance, humain frailties, survival and acts of kindness. It’s a love story. An inspirational story.
Years of drought
the hills are tinder-dry
wild fires start as if spontaneously
all so near us and moving
Evacuation warnings, be ready
I wake this morning
with one wish
from a constellation of wishes
spare us
of more fires
I will keep praying
Orange moon looks on us
I have faith
I’m afraid.
note: The photos are from my walk to the river this morning before the air quality became unhealthy. The photo of the moon was taken this evening.
Book I finished reading: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Books I’m reading: The Sea by John Banville for my Book Club. I’m re-reading the English Patient.
We are surrounded by wild fires for several days started by thousands of lightning strikes. Air quality was poor for a few days because of the smoke.
I have been walking every day since Saturday except yesterday.
I am happy to see the heron is back.
Note: Books I finished reading: Bell by Iris Murdoch and Dante’s Divine Comedy (Inferno) translated by Hollander and Hollander.
I have a mountain of books to read
Books are scattered everywhere in the house
I will call and ask you where to start reading
The garage is full of non-essentials
My hours need occupants
On most days I walk in the neighborhood.
Now is the time that I should go deeper in my learning
Not my usual ordinary way to please myself.
It’s sad to realize it takes a pandemic to wake me up.
Time is emptying like food on the shelves.
Today, Saturday, I walked in the afternoon. It was cool 63 degrees. I brought my camera to take photos of the birds I see during my walk to the river. I know the blue heron and the red wing blackbird but I don’t know the other birds.
Books I am reading:
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas merton
Mastering the Art of French Eating by Ann Mah
A Beautiful Question by Frank Wilczek
I’m reading Moby Dick, part of a group-read through dolcebellezza, bloggers reading together a selected book. In the month of August Moby-Dick was the choice. One can follow the link:book
I have been walking for one hour everyday for two and a half weeks now. Napa River is near our neighborhood. I follow a loop that takes me about one hour. I stop a lot to observe, take photos and talk to people I meet. Many of them are other walkers and most are walking their dogs.
The photos I posted are some of those phots taken during my walk.
Walking can be a form of calming hour. A new article sings praises for walking:walking
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