Indiana on a Winter's Morn....

As I was traveling home this morning, I stopped the car to take this photo. The beauty of the land was so striking. I took a detour out into the country on my way home and was definitely rewarded. This photo is untouched....just the beauty of Indiana.

 

Indiana on a Winter's Morn...

As I was looking at this photo later, I thought of this lovely poem by Sara Teasdale...one of my favorite writers. Enjoy...

I should be glad of loneliness

And hours that go on broken wings,

A thirsty body, a tired heart

And the unchanging ache of things,

If I could make a single song

As lovely and as full of light,

As hushed and brief as a falling star

On a winter night.

Celebrating Chinese New Year with friends...

Celebrating Chinese New Year with friends: Sometimes when I walk through the upstairs hallway I think I can hear Mengting talking to her family in China. Or I think I see the light under the door and peak in to see if she needs a cup of tea while she is studying.

This was the Lion Dance at Trine a few years ago.

I took Jonah to the celebration at Trine this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the link to this week's column on Chinese New Year which happens to be today! I hope you enjoy it. Tonight is my own Chinese New Year celebration at my old house. Just click on the above link.

Thanks to my editor, Mike, and to all my readers.

Happy New Year's!

Everyone took home a lovely saying on a small piece of cardboard!

 

When Death Comes...

When you visit my house, one of the first things you notice are all the
poems taped to my kitchen cupboards. I love sharing my love of poetry
with all who visit. This poem by Mary Oliver is taped to my cupboards. I
also featured it with my students this week. Last night I spoke to the
Rode Scholars telling stories from around the world. There is always
time for questions and one question was about my passion for stories,
poetry, literature....it simply lead me into the recitation of this
poem. So...I share it with you today. This version is Mary Oliver
reading her own work. The last line is the most poignant...

Pete Seeger - We shall overcome

We sang this song at both rallies on Saturday. First we sang on the square in Angola, and then we ended the Ft. Wayne rally singing this song...holding hands. I can't get it out of my mind...and why should I?

Enjoy Pete Seeger.

Yesterday was just amazing!!

Yesterday will love long in my memory! The folks in my small town were amazing...yes, amazing, lifting their voices in chants, in songs, in friendships.

After a wonderful rally on the square we headed to Ft. Wayne to participate in the rally on the court house lawn. The weather was really flawless for January. 

It is hard to describe the energy that surrounded all of us. It was absolutely electric. Thank you to everyone who participated, cheered us on, and made hats for us.

I have many photos from the day, but I will share just a few with you...

I just have to say I couldn't sleep one wink last night...

Here I am with my BFF, Kathy. Our friend, Malinda, made our wonderful hats

 out of old sweaters.!!

 

 

 

Just a birds eye view of the Ft. Wayne march.

One of my favorite signs held by a lovely young ladt on her first march!!

Until tomorrow...

Join us as we exercise our constitutional rights...

Join us as we exercise our constitutional rights: We sit knee to knee in the late night hours. The candle burns. The rain falls. Our small, worn copies of The Constitution held between our hands.

Here is the link to this week's column. Just click on the above link! I hope you enjoy it and join us in Angola this morning as we stand with the Women in Black against violence. We are also going to the rally in Fort Wayne at 3:00 followed by a diversity fair.

Thank you for reading this week. And don't forget to keep a copy of the Constitution in your back pocket!

THE JOURNEY by Mary Oliver

I offer this up to all my sisters all over the country on this day...

What stories will survive when we’re gone?

What stories will survive when we’re gone?: “Tell me another story,” pipes up a pint-sized person every day of my visit. I should say every hour of my visit.

Where do our stories go?

 Here is the link to this week's column. This is a topic that has been swirling around in my head for months now. I am sure we will discuss it much more as well!

Please add your comments or send me your stories. I must say since this appeared on-line, my mail box has been full of stories, and I would love to hear yours.

Just click on the above link, and thank you for reading.

Lou Ann

Full Wolf Moon arrives with Nannie of the Year

Full Wolf Moon arrives with Nannie of the Year:

My small suitcase is packed once again. It is full of treasures for little girls … Goldilocks (the puppet), books, a beautiful seashell, and a small bag of glitter. These are the treasures that Mary Poppins herself would carry in her satchel. My little girls, Holly and Brianna, love these small treasures, but the first thing they will ask is this question, “Nannie, will there be a full moon tonight?” I am the Nannie with all the celestial answers. Maybe because my Earth Sky map of the full moons is taped to my closet door. Sometimes I have to tell the girls that there will be no full moon while I am visiting. Their disappointment is as if it is my fault. They do take it personally.

This is the waxing gibbous moon taken just two days ago by
my poet friend and photographer, Michael Czarnecki.

Here is the link to this week's column. Yes, the full moon for January is almost here, and I love it as much as anyone!

As always, just click on the above link, and thank you for reading. Where will you be watching the full moon???

Lou Ann

We must take care of one another this year...

We must take care of one another this year: “One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.” And so starts my favorite Christmas book, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, by Dylan Thomas.

 

 

 

These are the very ice skates I got when I was ten!

As I finally get around to posting my New Year's column, I sit in my lovely studio listening to Pachelbel's Canon in D. It seems to be the perfect music to listen to as I recall with such fondness the skates in the picture. Yes, those skates were my Christmas gift when I was ten. I have loved them all my life although I have not been skating in a few years. So, I say, why not? Perhaps this winter I will try again.

I want to wish you the happiest of New Year's events and thoughts and please, take good care of each other, won't you?

As always, thank you for reading. Just click on the above link and there it is!

Lou Ann