Monday 26 October 2020

Monday Meander – October 26, 2020

The Time Between…

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The gardens have been put to bed, the lawnmower and weed whacker silenced.
The forest floor is a carpet of fallen leaves.

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Though there were no Fall Fairs this year of the pandemic, still we have paid homage to the plentiful gifts from the farms – apples, pumpkins, carrots, squashes, potatoes and more.

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We have celebrated and given thanks for all the blessings of life.

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The air outside my house pulses with Autumn's incense as smoke rises from a lazy fire in the woodstove within, murmuring about warmth.

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I love this time between - a gracious respite after the September start-ups and October gatherings, after the harvests, bottling, and canning; before the Christmas machine roars to life, whatever form that may take this year.

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It is a time of tender reflection, a time to look behind me and around me, within me and beyond me, where I've been and where I now am.  It's a bit like a meander through a fine old bookshop…

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My fingertips brush across the bindings of the stories of my life as I stroll the along the years. A few tales linger on my heart, a few bring a tear, a few tease out a giggle or three, and of course, there are a couple of mysteries to ponder.

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Every story is important.
Life is still good even the midst of the second wave of  a pandemic.

 

 

©2020 April Hoeller

Monday 12 October 2020

Monday Meander – October 12, 2020

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Autumn's falling leaves waft gold and red in the air. They touch my doorstep with a gentle tap - Thanksgiving has come calling.

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We made our feast on Saturday. There was turkey and there was pie. But as it has for seven months now, CoVID-19 muted the guest list, imposing a celebration that was abnormal,  incomplete, and far from perfect. Yet perhaps that will be what in time will make Thanksgiving 2020 poignantly memorable and in it’s own twisted way, special.

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The leftovers have been dispatched. The pies digested. The table has been cleared – roasting pans and casserole dishes scrubbed down, silverware tucked away, and linens laundered. All that remains on this holiday Monday is gratitude.

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"We are grateful for
eyes that see and ponder,
for taste buds that know the sensuous pleasures of eating and drinking,
for hands that hold and touch and feel,
for ears that can delight in music and the voice of a friend,
for a nose that can smell the aroma of newly mown grass or delicious food,
and can also breathe the air that gives us life."

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"We are grateful for
the treasure of loved ones
whose hearts of openness and acceptance have encouraged us to be who we are.
We are grateful for their faithfulness, for standing by us when our weaknesses stood out glaringly,
for being there when we were most in need
and for delighting with us in our good days and our joyful seasons."

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"We are grateful for
the eyes of faith, for believing in the presence of God,
giving us hope in our darkest days, encouraging us to listen to our spirit’s hunger,
and reminding us to trust in the blessings of God’s presence in our most empty days."

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"We are grateful for
the messengers of God - people, events, written or spoke words -
that came to us at just the right time and helped us to grow."

Joyce Rupp; May I have this Dance? ©1992 Ave Maria Press; p. 151

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©2020 April Hoeller

Monday 5 October 2020

Monday Meander – October 5, 2020

On this first Monday of October, I'm not finding any real forward motion. Oh, there is some motion but it truly is more of a meander without any direction, a fugue of indecision rather than an orderly decision tree.  Is Thanksgiving a go or no go? If a go, what’s in and what’s out, who is in and who is out. Is it take-out or eat-in? Do I make all the usual treats or pare it down? Simple or grand?

Is this Thanksgiving a gourd or a pumpkin?

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A year ago at this time, the man and I had just returned from a seventeen day journey through Scotland. The laundry had been done and the luggage stowed away without a thought that a year later it would still be unmoved and gathering dust in a closet. But hey, I need a diversion, so let's re-visit where those traveling bags took us last year, and of course let's check in with that little bear Schwartz.

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Whiskey tasting at The Malt Room, Inverness

Our journey took us to Edinburgh, St. Andrew's, Ballater, Culloden, Inverness, Isle of Skye, Isle of Mull, Iona, Stirling, and many points in between before ending back in Edinburgh.

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Tobermory, Isle of Mull

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The standing stone above Corgarff Castle, in Cairngorms National Park
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Dean Village along the Water of Leith, Edinburgh

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The Hogwarts Express on the Glenfinnan Viaduct

I also enjoyed a three day English side trip to Wooler and Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland while the man attended a conference in Edinburgh.

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Bronze Age stone circle at Duddo, Northumberland

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Greensheen Hill (above St. Cuthbert’s Cave),
and I did climb to the top of the outcropping on the right – well of course I did!

Och aye, twas a grand journey giving not only me but my Fitbit® a workout:  200,000+ steps (128km) + 720 floors (2200m). And the photos?  3000 of them still still need a full edit which gives me plenty of busy work for the dark months. But poor old Schwartz is getting antsy these days. Maybe I’ll have to start taking him out for car rides and together we can share memories of the places we’ve been.

Tasmania, Australia 2010

And Thanksgiving? Well, here’s what I know: there will be turkey,  there will be apple and pumpkin pies, and it will be a lumpy twisty gourd kind of celebration wrapped in humble gratitude. So be it.

 

©2020 April Hoeller