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About Maggie C

Stained glass artist, woodworking artisan, writer, respecter of life.

The kinda big Reveal

thmrevel

Last year I took part in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge using a secondary blog that I was maintaining at the time. The challenge, as described on the A to Z site, is,

“Can you post every day except Sundays during [the] month [of April]? And to up the bar, can you blog thematically from A to Z?”

In other words, on April 1st, the topic for a post would be something beginning with the letter A, and so on ‘til the end of the month when you reach Z. Some bloggers use themes to tie their posts for the month together. I didn’t do that last year, since I only learned of the challenge on April 1st, and was scrambling to come up with the requisite posts, let alone something thematic. But this year…

I decided that if I’m going to barrage readers with daily posts, I’ll keep them short and sweet – well, short anyway. So my “theme” is to write a 5-7-5 poem each day (a poem in the form of three lines with corresponding syllables per line of 5, 7 and 5). Some would call it haiku, and haiku purists would be aghast if you called it haiku. So I’ll just leave it at 5-7-5.

And in keeping with the alphabetical theme, each day’s poem will be on a topic beginning with the assigned letter, AND — just to make it even more challenging — each line of the poem will also begin with the letter of the day.

Confused? Yeah, me too. But with April just around the corner, it will all become clear. I hope.

Bottom line: One month (April), short posts, alphabetical, haiku-ish.

reveal

Now if you’ll excuse me, I must
attempt
being
competently
diligent
effecting
future
gaity
here
in
jovial
keeping
like
many
notable
other
posts
quite
recently
such
that
understandably
visitors
won’t
eXit
yawning
Zzzzzzzzzz’s

#Weekend Coffee Share 3/19/17

170319

If we were having coffee, you might notice that the path into my house is ever-so-slightly clearer. As the kitchen makeover progresses, some of the overflow materials, tools, odds and odders are thinning out a bit. Just a bit, though.

Pardon me while I squeeze past the stove that’s been pulled out of place and now sits in the middle of the kitchen, find you a clean coffee mug and try to remember which space of countertop was clear enough to hold the coffee maker this morning.

I poured one of the concrete countertops – just a little one; 24” x 15.5” – and set it in place yesterday to see how I like it. It seems rather thick at two inches, especially for such a small top, but I’ll leave it there for a while to see if I warm up to it. If nothing else, it will make for a good practice piece as I try to get the hang of filling the air holes, polishing and finishing the concrete.

170319b

Painting, more painting, resizing cupboard doors to fit around the new range top vent, ripping up old flooring, pulling staples… it’s slow going for me, but mostly because I’m in no hurry. I spend a lot of time just standing in the middle of the kitchen, surveying my “progress,” and alternating between a sense of pride and a sense of panic as the thought, “What was I thinking when I decided to take this on?” runs through my mind.

It makes my eskie Chules anxious to see me just standing there. He thinks if I’m in the kitchen I should be fetching him a snack, and if I’m not going to feed him I should stop staring at the walls and go play with him. Or at the very least, sit and watch him as he naps.

The sun’s actually out today, a rarity that I should probably take advantage of. I’ll let Chules take me for a walk and then consider doing some yard work.

Thanks for stopping by. I apologize if I bored you with my kitchen update. As the weather moderates I can begin regaling you with stories of my landscaping projects (something about which I am equally clueless as I am with the DIY kitchen project).

I hope you have a great week!


#WeekendCoffeeShare is graciously hosted by Emily at NerdintheBrain.com.

Just Because I Can

Three Things Thursday is hosted at NerdintheBrain.com. Simple: List three things that make your life awesome.

Easy one today: Pets, Birthdays and Three-year-olds.

chules1

Today is my dog Chules’ third birthday. I don’t have time to write a lengthy post today extolling all his many charms, so I’ll just post a couple of photos. I’ve already posted them on my Facebook page, on the American Eskimo Dog Lovers FB page, and now — just because I can — I’ll share them here as well.

We’ll just count this as Chules’ fifteen minutes of fame.

chules2

And speaking of three-year-olds, here’s my favorite one:

isla

Wish No More

puzzle1

it's a puzzle how
the picture comes together
one piece at a time

I used to have a lot of wishes.

I wished to be independently wealthy, to be a published author or a renowned artist (or both!). I wished for perfect health, for spiritual enlightenment. I wished for a simple life, free from stressors and from having to compromise my values for the sake of “getting along” or being a “team player.”

And a lot of my wishes have come true, maybe not in the ways I imagined, but in ways that have left me pretty satisfied with how my life looks today. And those wishes that didn’t come true… the funny thing is, I don’t really wish for them anymore.

puzzle

My life falls into place one piece at a time. Like a puzzle. I don’t know where the next piece will come from, or what it will look like, or where it will fit. Often I don’t even recognize that some experience is a part of the puzzle. I try to trust the process. I don’t always succeed, but I try.

Beyond myself, I have fears for the future of humanity and of the Earth. But no amount of wishing will help that. Determination, action, self-discipline, clarity of values, patience, education, hope, selflessness… perhaps my wish is that we all develop those traits which will help us piece together a saner, sustainable future.

Let’s piece together peace. Together.

Peace.


The Daily Post photo challenge: Wish