Inspiration and Peaches as an Alleviation for Thunderstorm

                             The rain clouds whispered their love notes to me as the puddles gathered on my porch. It had been a bright morning.

Do you ever get a sudden impulse to create something tasty? Well, last week I did just that with fresh peaches from my peach tree. I never thought Kansas peaches would be so good! They were delicious. The peach varieties I planted were clingstone. The fruit clings to the pit in these peaches. Which, all in all, is kind of annoying but quite tasty! Did someone say jam?

I had planted two cherry trees in the same area, one a Montgomery and the other a sweet.

These sadly enough do not produce hardly anything.

Since it's summer, biking is quite popular in my area. Though a small town I think the numbers of bikes gliding through town are increasing. I have a mountain bike myself that is in sorry distress. Yes, the gears are unbalanced and the bike chain needs greasing and whatever else.  Oh Lord, it is in my "mechanic shop." Haha, my laundry room. I, honestly, am learning on the job with this bike repair stuff, though I do find it fascinating. Hopefully,  my efforts won't be in vain.

My nighttime hobbies have changed since my sweetie left. I am learning to crochet better and watercolor. My efforts thus far have been something to laugh at but the show must go on.

Sounds like an awful thunderstorm is rolling in.

I am happy to have picked up another freelance newspaper job that gives me the flexibility that I need. The structure of freelance work fits nicely into my schedule, especially as my online classes are finishing up. The first economic development article I completed through the medium of photojournalism. Published online at the Belleville Telescope.




I am slowly eeking through application processes for 4-year colleges. It is quite a tedious task but I'm sure the rewards of doing something great are well worth the wait.  Though I have had multiple opinions---strong opinions offered to me. AHEM-AHEM. I am following the famished writer pathway, at least till I get a Bachelors degree. Heehee. It's quite a leap of faith but I do hope someday to create a work (in this case book) that will be shaping the minds for centuries. With my English degree, I have considered traveling abroad and teaching ESL through secondary education. This would require me to pick up an ESL license and a secondary education major or minor accompanied by a foreign language-- I'm shooting for Italian. Italian culture and Italy has always fascinated me. It's all very confusing but I'm sure it will all work out.

In the meantime, I'm keeping up blogging, making delicious cups of coffee, reading, writing, painting, and my new favorite PLANKING!!

One of my inspirations for planking comes from XHIT, which my morning routines have become entirely obsessed with. I'm not all that strong but I held a plank for nearly a minute and twenty seconds. I was pretty proud of myself. 

So through this post, I hope I've told you a little about my day and maybe inspired you to pick up some new hobbies. PLANKING? KNITTING? CROCHET?

Whatever, inspire you to invest in your imagination and set the world on fire! 🔥

addio!

Fill 'er Up Pump and Coffee

I woke to the chirping of a bird tweeting in the lonely mass of grey clouds and the chilly tree branches. It was a grey and cold morning that held a solemnness that seemed to hold quite an air of sadness.

Followed shortly thereafter by triumph and relief. I had received a text from my friend telling me that he had accomplished the very long and arduous ruck he had been training for. What a relief that was to me to hear that he had made it back safely.

I had a delightful mug off French-press coffee this morning and a Wolfermann's English Muffin, quite a topical breakfast!

This morning I met with another of my dear friend over coffee. We had a jolly time conversing on what's going on in our lives and the triumphs and struggles we're dealing with. She is very empathetic and a wonderful person, good friends are like diamonds in the rough.

We went to a little coffee shop, Jitters, and had house coffee, haha writers fair ;).

I have been writing and freelancing quite a bit today. 

So, after all, it wasn't such a lonely day, but a quite happy one!

Chocolate Cookies and Thymes of Onions

I sit surrounded by onions and chocolate and resumes...
I know quite an odd combination.



Let me explain, so this morning began with sun... just kidding, actually, I blacked out my windows, so no sun. I did this intentionally to dupe my long-night of term papers and homework. With the recent time change, the sun soaks through the shutters with a persistent glare. Despite my efforts in sleeping longer, the farm has given me an internalized alarm clock.

A random wine glass full of rose petals, playing some Clair de Lune.

So, I began my morning with a challenge to cook a beef roast. I am not too familiar with cooking meats, so this is a rather new venture for me.




I am chopping onions, potatoes, thyme, 3 cloves of garlic and butternut squash, which I will be putting in a cast-iron pot. Oh and I forgot the pot roast, oh well I suppose that outta go in if we are indeed making pot roast ;).



Meanwhile, I'm prepping three dozen double-chocolate cookies, that admittedly are pretty darn good! I found the recipe in my Sweet Treats, William-Sonoma, cookbook that has a lot of really tasty recipes in it. My intention for creating these, of course, is to try for my bakery that will be opening come December, one month!


Recently, I was gifted a LODGE CAST IRON 12-inch cast iron skillet! I am very excited as this will be a skillet I can use for the rest of my life.  This skillet is going to be cooked in throughout my life.  When you get a gift like that, it really puts life in perspective, I think. Can you imagine this skillet is probably going to last longer than me?




Well, that's all, for now, folks, hope your day is a real winner!

My Sunday Full of Purpose

Sundays are days of much-needed rest in a farmers household. Most Sundays begin with sleeping in past the old rooster crow! Aaah, those glorious days of sleeping till 8:00 😊.

Urggh... chickens, my detest of chickens will be discussed later... (clenching my teeth)

 On the farm, it's usually bright on Sundays with the sun glistening over the long shadows cast by the oak trees. This Sunday was different though. The sun was late but I wasn't.

This is later in the day

I woke to the long drawn call of a coyote harking to the black sky above.

Somewhat disgruntled at this rude awakening I awoke to a still sleeping house. It was a different kind of day though. 

A day full of integrity and a new found awakening to achieve what others said I couldn't. I dressed in my workout clothes and two hoodies, yes, I could still see little puffs of my breath as I did pushups and planks. 

The quiet night that surrounded me provided a thoughtful workout that filled me with motivation and a sense of purpose.

A workout in a still cold night with the wild cries of coyotes surrounding me. I was awake to this new life of fitness and doing what others thought I couldn't achieve, it was a splendid triumph of my own self-doubt. Self-doubt that said I couldn't be fit or have a purpose to make a dime and that I was someone who had missed the ship for the beginning of life.

Which had happened. Most of my friends are in colleges spread far and wide or following jobs far away. They were all making their own beginnings

This was just my beginning slow, steady and plagued with many boundaries.

I am too creatively distracted for my own good. I like having breakfast for lunch, reciting 19th-century poetry on a whim, listening to classics #Audible and getting to know new people.  

I've had lots of dreams over my life and never really any sure path until I read a book that changed my life. 

"Living Forward" is a book written by Micheal Hyatt, that truly set me on a different course and way of thinking about my life purpose. I am thoroughly enjoying it's helpful and thoughtful analysis on setting life goals and creating a plan to stop drifting and get the life you want. For this I commend Hyatt as I'm sure others have read and been changed by this, well, to say it simply, life-changing book. 

This quiet morning that was like black velvet I completed the chapter on writing your eulogy. Cheery stuff, I know, just kidding. Really though, writing your eulogy really puts your life in perspective. It provides a whole new kind of clarity that strengthens the reader's endeavors for this life. 

It's a challenge in this life to determine what our drive is and why we're here. It's a challenge to find happiness. Our own little niches of artistry that keep us from day-to-day madness. Yes, the kind that Lewis Carroll talks about in the quote from Alice and Wonderland as the Cheshire cat tells Alice, "We're all mad here." 

This quote by Carroll is truly a thought-provoking which I will explicate in an upcoming b log post. 

But for now, back to the velvety night and coyotes...

My phone was I'm sure very chilly, as the temperature upon my waking was a balmy 27°, just kidding not balmy at all!

As my dad jokingly says when it gets really cold, "Well, at least we don't have to worry about mosquitoes!" Point taken, thanks dad for elevating the conversation 😄.

After completing this workout, I moved onto a neurological kind of workout. I recently downloaded this dandy little app on my phone called Vocabulary Builder and being quite a word buff, let me tell you I am a huge fan! One of my recent favorite words being "Euphoria- extreme joy or Jovial- happy." I must say these words complete my personality.

Two other curious and unexpected things happened this morning.

After I dressed in leggings and a snappy bright turquoise and white striped little sweater that really just was perfect for the day, I made scrambled eggs and homemade espresso,. Sometimes, I think outfits are just suited for certain days. 

 I made my espresso in a little antique teapot. looking contraption that had a metal straw and a coffee chamber/ filter. I'm not entirely sure what it was called but it made a fine brew of coffee. 

With this brilliant early start, I was so happy to accomplish so much more in my day!

So for good books, early mornings and life goals I will raise my coffee mug!

For this, I am grateful for that mangy coyote that woke me up before the sun. 

"Winds in the East"

"Winds in the East storm comin’ in somethin’s a brewin’ about to begin.” This lyric is sung by Dick van Dyke, in Mary Poppins, as he is taking the children back to their home. These lyrics while at surface level might just seem catchy for a rainy day… actually, signify a change or shift in what’s happening for the Bank’s family. England’s Easterly winds come wet and cold weather perfect for staying inside, bringing change. Which provides Mary Poppins and her umbrella a perfect entrance to begin changing the household. This quote sung by Dick van Dyke has an underlying message to the children, is that you don’t have to be wealthy and rich to be happy. He is happy with the simple things of life. This message is furthered by the bird lady, who sings words simple and few collecting tuppence a bag for the birds. Hauntingly, beautiful, this movie is artistically a wonder. With that, “Let’s go fly a kite!”

The Rain Fell in Sheets

The rain is pummeling the house I lived in. Sheets of rain slide down the roof like tears falling from the sky. A bird's cry echoes across the lawn. High up he perches watching the streaks of green grass fade against the rain. The rain reminds me of a cleansing of nature; a renewing of sorts. Like a baptism.

The rain fell in sheets around us. Dripping from our red and white striped umbrella soaking the memories of our confusion, love, and fear, that rippled down the streets.

To Love and Be Loved

"Just to Love and Be Loved", which is quoted in the popular movie Moulin Rouge, was first written by St. Augustine in Book 3 of his Confessions. During this time his studies led him to Carthage. In his youth he regrets his lustful thoughts and preoccupations. He wrote The Confessions when meditating on God and how he could be if he could not see or touch God.
He was looking for a woman to provide some distraction for his true need for God. Lacking God to love, he tried filling the void with other things: women, food, wealth etc. Augustine felt as if he needed someone to love so deeply to escape the surface of his lonely life. He felt "left out" from the society of love that seemed so normal and ritual in his town. Subsequently he was not in love but in love with the thought of being in love.

Little Feet Walking on Moonlight

To be unknown
Washed up on some distant shore.
Little feet
Tiptoeing
To your side.

A piano stuck in cadenza.
A flute without sharps.

Little feet
Beckon you.
Leap, won't you follow me?

To be unknown
In some Ozark forest
To get glossed over
By the newspapers
Follow some unknown lead.

To be unknown
Searching for your destiny
Is it far?
The wanderer asks.

Shall we travel farther
Across the states
To rest in some
Foreign place.

To be unknown
Like a wooden cross
Half-made
Is it?

Little feet
Stumble to your
visit.
On the wavering moonlight.

To be unknown
Perhaps,
I'll go out on a limb.
Little feet travel on wards.

Maybe,
That's where all the apples are.

The Kite

The kite swept me down 
The peak
Covered in purple snow.

Where I counted
My dreams
Toiled into a dream weaver.

Spun intricately
Wholly unknown.

People see the kite 
Bumbling along 
The parched ground
And turn their heads.

Children blink listlessly.

The kite lands in a tree.
Skewered by time.

Silent Snow and Jellybeans

The silent snow
Falls across the frozen fields.
I look on in silence
And see the corpse
Of spring.


I’m practicing the art of isolation today.
People aren’t really my thing anymore.
It's like a bag of jelly beans
If you don’t have variation
Eventually you’ll get fed up with the same flavors.


Maps and books are in my room
I move them and think of you.
What you’re doing
Across the globe.


You’re a different kind of jelly bean.
I like your flavor.


I look on in silence
And see you.

Inspiration Through Tough Times

Closed Pockets

Pockets are closed
for this young girl.
She sees the stars now
she's running free.

No longer under constant perjury.
Her shackles have been cut
She soars to the sky.
No one to define her
but herself.

Pockets are closed.
for this young girl.
She flies high above
painting, writing, singing words of sweet solace.
A creative mind in a serious planet.

Pockets are closed.
Time to move on.
To believe.
To think.
To ponder.

Pockets are closed.

When No One has Faith in you but Yourself

"When you go through deep waters I will be with you" Isaiah 4:32

This is a good scripture quote to keep in mind when facing challenges in life. When no one believes in you but yourself. Self-confidence is a very hard thing to capture and let out to others. To accomplish great things you must believe you can. With the help of our good Lord and perseverance you can do anything you set your mind to.

Here is a video to help you with self-confidence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15QuHygLwFU
How many dots do you have?

Enjoy the Sun of Yet Another Beautiful Day

When Storms Pass

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, its about learning how to dance in the rain."

-Vivian Green 

        This quote is such a good reflection on how we should be satisfied with what we are given and make do with what we have. The storm refers to all the troubles and strife we are dealt in life. So, if you dwell on, "when the storm is going to pass", and what you can do in the future, then you miss the best part of the storm.... dancing in the rain. Stop, smell the roses and enjoy life! 

Finish Strong

            Well, at last, all the assignments are being carefully tucked away in the teachers gradebooks, most never to be seen or heard of again, like many of the manuscripts in the National Security Archive.
The sunshine of a bright summer day is making everyone especially itchy to be done with classes. This bright summer will blossom many memories which can be tucked away for happy recollections cherished till they fade.
So whether you be doing math or stressed on ACT's.

A New Rhythm

College started and I was afraid.
It is a whole different world,
a lot of friends I have made.
All summer I hit the grindstone
studious in my room all alone
Essay after essay
I struggled like dog with bone
two classes I passed with flying colors
however math I skewed
I hope next semester
that class I can elude.