Well hello there, happy Saturday!

I am in Madison today, gathering with some family members, hoping to keep family connections alive even after our touchstone Oma is gone. It’s amazing how quickly everyone scatters and how hard they are to retrieve without that one person and place to plan around.

I just can’t bear the thought of losing everyone else too, so I picked a central-ish location and a date close to Oma’s birthday and will get to see some delightful humans today. The new era begins.

Another Dress!

Last Sunday, I woke up to thunderstorms and warm air and felt an urge to MAKE SOMETHING! So I did ~ windows open, using up fabric from other projects, scheming and dreaming my day away. I didn’t get anything else whatseover done, but I sure had a blast making another Matchy Matchy Horizon Day Dress! Sewed on Sunday, wore to work on Monday ~ dream achieved.

Cute Kindle Cases

A newsletter friend of mine, Michelle Martin, just released a small collection of Kindle cases that SHE DESIGNED!! Please do go check them out.

It’s Poetry Month!

I would be extremely remiss if I forgot to share my love of poetry this month ~ it’s National Poetry Month, after all!

I just bought the newest collection from one of my favorite newish poets, Kate Baer (I own all of her books!), and am attempting to savor a lot this month from my very very (very) beloved Mary Oliver. I own many of her books, but I think my favorite might be Dog Songs. Another poet I have been loving since about 2018 is Yung Pueblo ~ his books Inward and Clarity & Connection live next to my bed. I purchased the Billy Collins collection Dog Show at Birchbark Books when I was in Minneapolis in February because again … dogs!

I am a self-proclaimed “basic” poetry lover ~ I want the words to hit me in the face, I don’t want to dig and interpret and ponder, I don’t need pages and pages of flowery language. I want the feelings and imagery tippy top available to me ~ ready to grab in bite-size pieces, to make me gasp with recognition. I just adore how succinct poetry can be.

Here are just a few poems from other writers that have stuck with me, coming to mind on a weekly basis. You very well may know them already, but isn’t ubiquity such a comfort?? Knowing we’re alike in sentiment? It feels like such a special connection to others.

Good Bones
By Maggie Smith

Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.

Dharma
by Billy Collins

The way the dog trots out the front door
every morning
without a hat or an umbrella,
without any money
or the keys to her dog house
never fails to fill the saucer of my heart
with milky admiration.

Who provides a finer example
of a life without encumbrance—
Thoreau in his curtainless hut
with a single plate, a single spoon?
Ghandi with his staff and his holy diapers?

Off she goes into the material world
with nothing but her brown coat
and her modest blue collar,
following only her wet nose,
the twin portals of her steady breathing,
followed only by the plume of her tail.

If only she did not shove the cat aside
every morning
and eat all his food
what a model of self-containment she would be,
what a paragon of earthly detachment.
If only she were not so eager
for a rub behind the ears,
so acrobatic in her welcomes,
if only I were not her god.

The Orange
by Wendy Cope

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.