Seeking Authentic Voice

Summer is one of my favorite seasons. One of them because I like all four. Here in southeast Michigan we do have four seasons, and spring can be lovely. Spring in this region can bring blooming fruit trees and yards full of spring flowers with comfortable temperatures that last three weeks or more. (Hey, that is not bad considering other nearby regions have a dreary spring that feels more like winter and then suddenly it's hot and summer). Still, despite the lovely spring climate here, summer is one of my favorite seasons. I don't really mind being hot although I am not fond of high humidity. Being drenched all the time is just not my thing. Aside from the stickiness of humidity I like the ease of slipping on a pair of sandals, shorts and a T-shirt and heading out the door. No need for layers of attire, summertime walks are easy. Walking, for me, is a means for maintaining good health and a social justice statement. Instead of driving I walk every where I can anytime I am able....

This morning dawned bright and sunny, a welcome relief from the seemingly endless rain that is defining this late spring and early summer season in SE Michigan. I do love cloudy, rainy days and take them as an invitation to read, reflect, and do interior work both within me and within my home or the church. However I have a vested interest right now in balancing this rain with sun and warmth: walking to yoga and nurturing my baby vegetable garden. Walking to yoga is one of my CREDO II "Rule of Life" practices. Five times a week, sometimes more, I rise early and walk to an early morning yoga class. Sometimes the first class is at 7am but on Saturday it is 8am and on Monday, my day off, I usually take the 9:30 class. The walk is only fifteen minutes each way, not far. It is a lovely walk through quiet tree-lined neighborhoods. Walking is an intentional decision.  I could ride my bike or drive the car. I do love to ride my bike and on hot summer mornings it is one of my fa...

Calf Creek Canyon, near Escalante in Southern Utah 1. Tell about your favorite outdoor play . My primary forms of outdoor "play" include walking, biking, and gardening....all of which really are playful for me because they bring me great delight. 2. Tell about your favorite indoor play . Yoga is probably my favorite form of indoor play, or some other exercise I find on YouTube. But I also like to play solitare, scrabble, and angry birds on my iPad.... 3. Tell about a game you (or your friends) created . When I was a little girl we lived in a neighborhood with a patch of woods. I love to pretend that I was Sacajawea and walk the woods as silently as I could, attempting to not even bend a blade of grass. 4. Tell about a game that is new to you . Mexican Train played with dominoes...I didn't actually play it, but I was present when a group of people did - looked like a lot of fun. 5. Tell how you would like to incorporate play into your workday. As a parish p...

  My earliest memories of yoga are of my college roommate Anita practicing poses in her room. We shared a three bedroom house in 1975. Anita was long and lithe, with a sweet smile and great big laugh, perpetually optimistic and pragmatic at the same time. I was a dance major but didn't venture into yoga until nine years later. By then I lived in Chicago and had a high stress job working for a famous interior designer. This designer was intense, prone toward cruelty, which everyone accepted because he was so famous. This wasn't my first foray into working for famous people. I spent six years working as a Lighting Designer and Technical Director for a modern dance theater in Chicago. I worked with some of the most famous modern dance troupes of the time. Many of them were fabulous to work with, a few were very tough. But none were as difficult as this interior designer. Of course none of the dancers were as rich, either. My response to the stress of working this job (well, ...

My husband does not like this new pink blogskin. It's too pink, he says. And he didn't like the first photo I had in the header...although it too was of a sunset it was too busy with the busyness of the skin. (Can you tell that my husband use to work in graphic arts?)...So I explained to him that I wanted something sort of "Valentine's Day-like" and that I tend to change the skin for the season...I actually like the skin, I am kind of a romantic at heart and love old textures - this reminds me of some old wall paper that one would find in a fine old house... quality-fine. My skin is going through some changes too. As I approach my 53rd birthday, just a few weeks away, I am keenly aware of the changes happening to my skin. First of all, despite the fact that I exercise a fair amount, my skin is sagging. Secondly, I have gained weight, so I have more skin. Mind you, my weight is still ok - but I'm not the thin lean woman I always was...now I just look middle age...