“Words change over time, you see. The way they look, the way they sound; sometimes even their meaning changes. They have their own history.”
Da to Esme, in The Dictionary of Lost Words, by Pip Williams
Month: March 2025 (Page 2 of 2)
“Never forget that, Esme. Words are our tools of resurrection.”
Aunt Ditte to Esme, in The Dictionary of Lost Words, BY Pip Williams
Assuaged – to pacify, calm, satisfy, or quench
“And always it assuaged me
from the dry bowl of the very far past.”
Mary Oliver, “Mornings at Blackwater“
For years, every morning, I drank
from Blackwater Pond.
It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt,
the feet of ducks.
And always it assuaged me
from the dry bowl of the very far past.
What I want to say is
that the past is the past,
and the present is what your life is,
and you are capable
of choosing what that will be
darling citizen.
So come to the pond,
or the river of your imagination,
or the harbor of your longing,
and put your lips to the world.
And live
your life.
("Mornings at Blackwater", Mary Oliver, printed in Devotions, 2017)
After the wind-bruised sea
furrowed itself back
into the folds of blue, I found
in the black wrack
a shell called the Neptune -
tawny and white
spherical,
with a tail
and a tower
and a dark door,
and all of it
no larger
than my fist.
It looked, you might say,
very expensive.
I thought of its travels
in the Atlantic's
wind-pounded bowl
and wondered
that it was still intact.
Ah yes, there was
that door
that held only the eventual, inevitable
emptiness.
...
There's that - there's always that.
Still, what a house
to leave behind!
I held it
like the wisest of books
and imagined
its travels toward my hand.
And now, your hand.
("The Gift", Mary Oliver, printed in Devotions, 2017)
How have we almost completed the first quarter of 2025? Time seems to fly faster with each passing day. All I can say is I did not read much in 2024, and I updated my blog even less. But, 2025 brings winds of change. Every new day is a day to do better, be better, read more, and write more. And that is my goal.
(However, I did read four new books, and I’ll post about them soon.)
If you are interested in news about me, you will remember in one of my last full posts, I told you I was working on a novel. Instead of reading, I spent most of 2024 writing. I am happy to say – after 18 months of writing – I finished my first draft in October! Sadly, I did not update my blog to tell you… Oh well, I shall try to do better next time.
When the first draft was done, I decided to set it aside. The holiday season gets so busy that I didn’t want to be distracted during editing. My plan was to return to it after Christmas as though I was returning to a clean slate. (That’s a tip I got from an author on Pinterest – I don’t remember who though.) Stepping away and coming back is supposed to make editing a little easier because your book is no longer a sweet newborn in the crib but a mischievous toddler who needs to be corrected and taught to do right.
But Life Happened.
My husband had brain surgery on December 31st. We have spent the last three months recovering and going to therapy and living life together. I have learned how to slow down. How to live and not just survive the daily grind. Eventually, as I feel the Lord leads, I may add a page about our journey to my devotional section.
And now it’s March! Spring has spring. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming. My husband is doing great. And I am finally getting back into the swing of writing regularly. I’m starting here on the blog. Then as inspiration returns, I’ll spend a little time with my novel and poems.
I can’t wait to see what the latter half of 2025 brings!
Banditti – plural form of bandit – an outlaw, robber, or highwayman
“Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Children’s Hour“