Late Spring Reverie

Remembering the Good Things in Life at the Cottage

As many of you already know, I’m taking a bit of a sabbatical right now. I’m writing and doing some podcasts, but I’ve cut way down on other responsibilities and have taken six months off of doing public events. I know that big, scary, important things are happening in the world — and I felt I needed to reground myself before launching back into public life this autumn.

At first, it was hard — and I didn’t know what I was doing — or even who I was — when doing less or (shockingly!) nothing. But, in recent weeks, it has gotten easier to enjoy the simple and familiar pleasures in my own home, garden, neighborhood, and town. Through them, I’m learning to listen to myself again.

I wanted to share a couple pictures today of my world right now, hoping they will inspire you to take some time in these last days of spring to feel grounded. Look around. Remember those things that give you life. Breathe. Love the world deeply.

Finding God in the world is an invitation to new birth.

Diana Butler Bass, “Grounded”

A POEM: Mary Oliver, “Mindful”

Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

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Richard talking to Paddy through the door to the Cottage. I looked up from my desk and took this photo of their mutual attentiveness.

The vase is a Mother’s Day gift from my daughter. She made it in a glass blowing class! I filled it with orange roses and put it on the dining room table.

Time off of the road means relaxing meals at home. Just this morning, I made a lemon yogurt parfait with fresh strawberries from the farmers’ market and a latte. Richard and I bought this cup and saucer set in England on a trip shortly before we were married (such good memories). There’s a little cinnamon sprinkled in that latte!

The hydrangeas in my front yard are showing off this year — almost as if they are affirming my presence at home this May.

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In the quiet of this spring-touched morning,
I absorb the light of this new day
and soak up the love that ceaselessly flows out of your divine heart.

— Edward Hays, “Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim”

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