Christmas countdown time?

01 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

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Nobody seems to know what happened to October, but November showed up this morning so we must keep the line moving. The good thing is that it’s traditionally a beautiful month, full of plans and anticipation for many, a time to start the pre-hibernation ritual for most. The clock returns to its rightful setting (and oh that “they” would LEAVE it there), while darkness falls like a theatre curtain by 5:30 and earlier. Messes with my head all the way to my toes every time “they” tweak reality, so Greenwich Mean Time year ’round would be super-great, thanks.

As we streak toward the end of a year that feels three months long, everything in our nation and elsewhere is in a state of flux. Our entire way of life is under assault, with wildly disturbing things happening every day without fail, and there’s not a damn thing any of us can do about it. It’s heartbreaking to think there are still people who watch what’s going on and say, “Yes, this is exactly what I wanted,” or at the least, “Nope, not a dealbreaker yet.” I wish I had answers. I wish SOMEbody did.

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Most everything gets better eventually so let’s all keep on keeping on.

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Sage advice from a sage.

Image by Judy Smith

Hello, October…

01 Oct 2025 Leave a comment

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Yes, boys and girls, another segment of 2025 is upon us, and be forewarned, it will pass as quickly as the previous nine have done. Month by wild month the year becomes history before we’re fully woke and then what, straight into another just like it? A person can hardly be blamed for asking.

Nevertheless, all the nostalgic autumn truths still stand. We open our hearts to the dying time in order to see fresh new life emerge in the spring and trust that will happen year after year, proof that we stay in some ways, against all odds, perpetually innocent.

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The following came across my feed this week and its melancholy fits the season. As the world grows colder, stranger, and let’s face it more terrifying by the day, the average person on the street is left wondering “What can I do about all this?” And the unfortunate honest answer is “Not much, really.” BUT… we can still care enough to be our authentic selves and keep going, which matters because people are looking for other genuine people who will help keep the lanterns lit.

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It is indeed an increasingly Halloween world, a place seemingly populated by monsters and ghouls, and when I wonder what to do in the face of all that I default to Mary Oliver and her calm realism.

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DAILY AFFIRMATION

Image by Judy Smith

And the rains came…

17 Jul 2025 3 Comments

Flash flooding on July 6, 2025 in Hunt, Texas. Heavy rainfall caused flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas with multiple fatalities reported. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

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Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, it’s been a spring and summer of rain so it’s a Water World all over the place except where it isn’t, because there’s always the odd exception. So far our heavenly blessings have been copious but benign, and we’re living in the middle of more green than I’ve seen in all my previous years put together. That kind of benevolence hasn’t held true for much of the U.S. and other parts of the planet, however, and our hearts are aligned with all who’ve lost everything to the violent weather patterns. The chaos and destruction only add to an ever-increasing list of How Do I Handle THIS? occurrences, further complicating the simple act of existing for people already stretched to jusssst about their absolute limit. So sorry for the injustice of it all, world.

The Kansas City Metro area is reporting some off-the-chart rainfall totals from overnight:

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Our neighborhood report shows 4″ so we weren’t slighted. Kim got up at 3am and peered through the blinds because he thought we were getting pounded by hail, but all the noise was coming from huge raindrops pelting the wall-to-wall windows. Must have been deafening and I’m envious since I miss out on all the night-time storms now, pore me. Okay, that’s enough weather, one of the least-endorsed subjects to yammer on about, jeez! Pretty sure I can find an alternate subject, hang on a minute.

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E’erbody still here? I hope you enjoyed your lunch as much as I did mine, which was a tasty rendition of minestrone soup. And yes, you’ve caught me stalling. The daily glut of information and shenanigans is such that I don’t even know where to start, so I don’t. Every day, though, the challenges become more of a thing, so this would be no time to tune out.

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It’s hard to say precisely what we need to happen in the world, right here, right now, but daily magic isn’t a bad choice:

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Could be time to return to our roots and get back to the beginning. The VERY beginning, if such a thing exists.

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In the face of overwhelming reality, every bit of beauty we can put back into the world makes a difference, so pitch in, beautiful people.

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Image by Judy Smith

The ache of being awake…

25 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

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Once again a month has passed since I last gave serious thought to writing something here. That seems to be the new default schedule for now, maybe because it takes that long to process the things that happen from one day to the next. In the end, I finally come back here because I can’t do otherwise.

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The world is a cockamamie place, always was, always will be, and getting more out of hand by the hour. But unless somebody’s gonna stop the planet and let us hop off, there’s nothing to do but survive the best way we can without hurting anybody. Look for the good, look for the love.

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It requires a certain determination every day to take the next step and do the next right thing, often against a soundtrack filled with unlistenable chaos, but the alternative isn’t really an option, so we buck up and do the thing. And then we do it all over again the next day.

And then you realize you might have greater need of them later.

Humans don’t generally do well under constant chaos and uncertainty. That kind of stress brings out the rat in us and we find ourselves hosting thought patterns that shake us awake and make us think straight again, thank goodness for that part.

But is that what enough people even want?

We can be positive thinkers and still admit that the world isn’t an easy place, that relationships are hard, that stress of every kind takes a toll on every human every day. That being alive is a very real dilemma to be faced.

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I’ll leave us with this bit of hopefulness from a recent B’day “perade”.

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Image by Judy Smith

Time… free but priceless

28 May 2025 2 Comments

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TRIGGER WARNING:

It’s almost June in the Year of Our Load 2025, notwithstanding that the current year started only about 30 days ago, right? Fast and painful in all the ways, so the “fast” part is the BEST part.

I see by the ol’ calendar on the desktop that it’s once again been a month since we last “chatted” (c’mon, CHAT!), so it feels like I should catch us up a little… but I don’t know where to start. The weather’s usually a safe bet, so I’m glad to tell you that our spring rains have continued to move through, and our green forest is deliriously happy about it. Said forest holds hundreds of houses, we just won’t see any of them from here again until fall.

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Every morning delivers unto us our daily dose of WTF but nobody needs to hear me expound on it, so here are a few things I’ve saved for just such times… loaded times when instead of too little to say, there’s too much.

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Since I was a little girl, something has compelled me to put words on paper. Can’t stop now. If you have an urge to write, DO IT, because first of all it’s very freeing. Just tell the story to yourself so it isn’t all cooped up anymore and then decide if it’s one you want to share. Kinda simple, and easy to get hooked. Also one of the hardest things you can do.

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True of every lifetime, and the personification of this era…

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Guidelines for this and all eras…

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Okay, enough serious-type stuff for today, let’s play a game…

Anybody remember those little plastic wind-up chickens? Think about those weebly guys, smile, then get out there and make good trouble. I believe in you.

Image by Judy Smith

Hello out there…

25 Apr 2025 2 Comments

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Remember blog posts? Somebody who sounds a whole lot like me has stopped by here a handful of times since Christmas, left a few thoughts on the page and disappeared again, so I’ve wondered if it’s even still a thing. I finally caught up with her today and she and I absolutely agree that inspiration is hard to come by lately… it hides in the details, staying elusive just to mess with us, as life would have it… but the story is always ours to write.

Speaking of life, it goes on. Things occur every day that we’re only vaguely aware of, things that slowly but inexorably make change happen, until one day we’re shocked into a renewed awareness of our world, both personal and global. “Wait, when did they: build that, institute that, decide that, CHANGE that??” We looked away and things happened because they weren’t our job, man, and we aren’t in charge of the world, which I hope doesn’t distress any of us too much.

Winter has changed to spring here in glorious ways. That bad boy of the tree world, the Callery or Bradford pear, was EVERYWHERE with its white blossoms, nearly matched by the sweet Eastern redbuds. And now they’re all covered with brilliant green leaves. The rains have been faithful, turning the East Lawrence forest into a big ol’ showoff in its finery, and it glows when the sun’s ray find it. Nice change.

Day by day, change of every kind has its way with us, repeatedly delivering one of life’s hardest messages: Move it or lose it, change or die. Anyone who thinks life is fair hasn’t lived it yet.

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I’ve started living life on the ASAP plan and liking it. Helps keep the angst down to a whisper some days…

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Baby sister was here and the three of us enjoyed a lovely Ishtar lunch, graced by the tulips Kim brought home from Farmers Market, so there’s been much good change, good life, good love… all of it still in vogue and waiting for the stories to be told.

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HAPPY SPRING

Image by Judy Smith

Wow, look at the time!

11 Mar 2025 2 Comments

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It’s been a while. A whole month has passed without my having held forth about it, and we’re none the poorer for it, because the processing of momentous events takes time and a certain remove from the action. Otherwise, our voices grow steadily louder without solid sense behind them.

It’s been a time. An incredibly eventful one, rife with change on an hourly basis. The onslaught is such that commenting on it feels like showing up to a mob hit with a water pistol.

It’s been a challenge. We voted for a kinder, more humane society, but that didn’t happen, so we deal with what did.

There’s a growing rumble of protest encompassing all fifty states, but we don’t yet know the extent of the Power of the People that might be awakening. You know, becoming woke. There’s still much we don’t know, but the picture becomes clearer day by day. For now… I’m finding comfort and companionship in books and music, doorways to magical worlds, often intertwined. What we can see of the universe tells us it’s a brutal but intensely beautiful place, and that beauty keeps our spirits anchored to the good in all of it until we can see the good and the beautiful in each other again.

“When the world seems heavier and filled with troubles, remember about patience and timing. Everything comes when it must come. A life cannot be rushed. So often we feel like pushing the river… we don’t want to wait. The river flows on at its own speed. There is always a timing at work, always a plan, even if we don’t see it at first. Patience and timing.”

~Dr Brian Weiss

art/ Natalia Lukomskaia

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Image by Judy Smith

Slouching toward the promised land…

13 Feb 2025 Leave a comment

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It’s winter. It snowed again. It’s cold. There, you’re all caught up.

Soooo, yeah, what a long strange year it’s been, all 44 days of it, and this morning dawned cold and crinkly once again. The sun is blindingly bright on the snow and it’s 6° as I write… one of those days that looks positively balmy until you step outside and freeze your nose hairs.

As the world beyond the weather grows increasingly frigid, and as I continue to process recent and ongoing events, I’ve realized this morning that my prevailing emotion at this point is not fear but disappointment. Like the Pollyanna I’ve always been, I’d held out hope for at least a pause in the hostilities, a willingness to see each other as people again, to make room for kindness first of all, but it wasn’t to be. Our candidates were too happy, they both laughed too much, and you can see how that would be so wrong for the country.

Nearly every generation thinks we’ve arrived at The End on their watch, but so far it’s been nothing but false alarms. We’re a piteous species in that we no more get something figured out than we feel compelled to sabotage that in some way. Always two steps forward, one step back. Sooooo slow, the progress, it’s almost possible to observe evolution in real time.

In lieu of a softer world I’m cushioning my own with books and music, good food and good company, all the things that matter and over which I hold some slight sway. Keep the goals reachable. Whatever makes you a happier human, DO IT. Live your life, it’s the one that’s happening NOW.

Image by Judy Smith

The sin of empathy…

30 Jan 2025 Leave a comment

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Does anyone else feel like we all fell asleep and woke up to a world we can’t recognize or make sense of? Like… up is down, in is out, nothing is real, and nothing matters? Two weeks in, we’re being told to ignore what we see and hear, and important safeguards are quickly evaporating into thin air. Incredibly even for them, the newbies started by relegating empathy for other people to the Sin Bin, thus signaling a deep-seated upside-down-ness that we’ll be expected to accept in the name of loyalty, so it’s anybody’s guess as to where it goes from here.

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The label can’t hurt me. I mos def HAVE been stupid about things I was assured were realer than the nose on my face. And according to my definition of a socialist, I’m one of those as well, as opposed to being a fascist, whose ranks my dad and friends stood against in our last world war.

Since the world will be whack for some time to come, what kind of options do we have for coming out of this emotionally intact, if not bodily? I like this for starters:

It’s a full-time job.

Pretty sure there’s massive change ahead, so a plan is in order; therefore, I plan to survive if possible, and help other humans and creatures do the same.

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Image by Judy Smith

Tick, tock…

14 Jan 2025 Leave a comment

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Yesterday we had a week’s grace before the apocalypse hits, this morning we’re down to six days. Then five, then four… and we’ll finally arrive at Day One, being billed as the greatest day in human history, hosted by CF47, gonna be lit! The entire world waits and watches.

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Christmas already feels like it came and went long months ago without making a ripple in the fabric of society. As a nation, we achieved the full measure of hypocrisy during this past season, simply by pretending to celebrate something we don’t actually believe in, as evidenced by our actions.

CF47 has said the deportations will begin on Day One.

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And because we’re not going to bow down to not only a dictator, but his racist apartheid insane sidekick, who seems to have appointed himself King of the Known World.

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So on we go, hoping this isn’t the end of life as we’ve known it, doing what we can to preserve “truth, justice, and the American way” and against all odds, I must add.

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We have… maybe… one more week of relative peace before the storm. Gird your loins and other parts, kids.

I’m old enough to remember when people cared about each other and life wasn’t entirely transactional. We may or may not ever see that vibe again, but living felt a little more fair, considerably sweeter, and we had a sixth sense as to whom we could trust. Someday, CF47 and all who bow to him will be gone, but we’ll never forget what he’s done to destroy our lives, and what people we respected did to facilitate that debacle. Trust, once squandered, is a total bitch to recover because of all it entails. People thought one thing, were told one thing, wanted one thing, and entirely different things happened. We’re being told to live with the untenable, the implausible, the preposterous and unthinkable, and it’s a psychic stretch we’ve likely not had to pull off until now.

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Whatever’s coming… the things we hold no sway over… it’s on us to find a way to survive because of course. Simply by existing, we cheat the oligarchs out of pennies and crumbs we have no right to subsist on. My question becomes: Are they planning to implement indentured servitude in order for their laundry to be done, their mansions cleaned, and prime food delivered hot and plentiful to their mouths? And if not, will it be robots doing those things?

It matters not how it all happens, we’ll eventually bow the knee when we get hungry enough. The Rule Book, Project 2025, has been written and published, so they’ll say we knew what was expected of us and therefore deserve whatever punishment is meted out. I still want to live to at least 95, but not in THAT world.

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There are so many people I miss, but I don’t entertain thoughts of that changing because it feels like we’re past that point. Love and friendship require trust and respect. And sadly, that’s the end of the story.

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Come back tomorrow for a Pollyanna happy-post. Had to purge my psyche so I can keep being real with you and me.

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Image by Judy Smith

Knock knock, reality calling…

03 Jan 2025 Leave a comment

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When I woke up this morning I thought it was Monday but by the time I put my feet on the floor I’d decided it must be Saturday. Or possibly Friday or Sunday. Happy New Year to me! Kim brings me an Einstein Brothers bagel every Monday so I was hoping for that one, but other days are okay too. Somehow in all of that brain wave activity, without my saying a word about it, Kim got the message to bring me a bagel before he went to PickleBall, so all is well beyond expectation! In case somebody else needs a bit of help this morning: today is Friday, then come Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (hopefully graced with another bagel). Christmas was in December, which is now over, and New Year’s celebrations took us to yet another year we aren’t ready for, yay!!

Fat lotta good THAT’ll do me…

So here we go, and we’ll hope things make themselves clear sooner rather than later. Or it’s very possible we’ll wish we didn’t have to know at all.

I made no resolutions, which is good because I would already have broken at least three. I do have a heartfelt hope for MORE TIME this year with people I love. That’s real living, end of story.

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I walked into 2025 with my eyes wide open as a functioning adult, full of… yes hope, because I’m still Pollyanna, no apologies. However, while I’m eternally optimistic, I’ve also become quite realistic, so I know the following bears repeating…

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We’re three days into a year steeped in mystery… what will it be like? Since it might be a while before we know, we have time to make a conscious choice:

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Meanwhile, soak up the quiet of this interim time, and appreciate the lack of unnecessary drama.

Image by Judy Smith

It’s Christmas Eve Eve…

23 Dec 2024 2 Comments

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The passage of months, weeks, days, and hours delivers us once again to The Holidays, a time of year we celebrate religiously whether we are or not. Christmas is such a fusion of new and ancient traditions, from pagan to Holy of Holies, it’s hard to know just what to make of it as an adult. If I were a novice looking in, I’d be totally baffled by all the cognitive disconnect involved and mystified as to what Baby Jesus has to do with singing mice in Christmas hats, and other flights of fancy. I would also be troubled by how militant Jesus appears to have become while I wasn’t noticing.

Christmas Past was always about family more than anything else. There was abundant food, a pile of packages under the tree, music, aromas, laughter, and hugs, all cooking down to a big happy mess called family. At least once every year we were many and we were mighty… and that feeling of belonging to something bigger than yourself can’t be replicated, so I miss it. Time extracts an inevitable toll on family dynasties… we become citizens of the world, taking our children and grandchildren with us, until the connections pull taut and start to fray. We don’t know each other, which is standard for this time in history but makes for a little melancholy nonetheless.

Christmas, whatever it may be, always arrives on time, even in war-torn areas and battle-weary hearts of every kind. It’s a few hours, a day, a week, in which we seek to make ourselves whole and new again before we screw up yet another year of living. Sigh… “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

And it really is, regardless. I have no idea what the whole thing represents to most people now, but the lights and decorations, the pictures of children’s happy faces, and the generous atmosphere improve the scene during an otherwise mostly gray season, no matter what.

It’s gray and chill this morning and nearly all the trees have finally dropped their leaves except the sugar maples, so it’s almost time to make the cookies and dust the chimney before Midnight Mass.

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A sincere Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and wishes for a good and safe year ahead.

Image by Judy Smith

Still there, world?

09 Dec 2024 3 Comments

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What a long strange trip it’s been… and growing stranger by the minute. The air feels muted and in a state of suspended animation, but it’s winter time and the trees stand diminished in their vulnerable nakedness, painting stark lines against a gray sky. Nobody’s saying much, though, which brings a room down in a hurry. And it’s cold out, that’ll do it for sure. This is a strange time in history that we hoped never to see… but we instinctively knew that if it ever did arrive, it would look a lot like this.

So kids, if the voting stats are true we’re faced with the knowledge that a third to half the nation is opposed, often violently, to the values held by the other half. What do we even do with a sobering statistic like that? The next four years, and who knows how many more, lie before us. Days, weeks, months, and years when we won’t know which half of the people we encounter hate us and all we stand for, which half would prefer that we exist elsewhere or not at all. It is, to say the least, unsettling.

The nation that has represented freedom to the rest of the world is now scheming to rid the country of “undesirables,” by force and all other means necessary. It’s incomprehensible.

And there’s this, which we knew would be coming at us eventually:

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Image by Judy Smith

Time… free but priceless

01 Dec 2024 Leave a comment

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First thing I noticed this morning is that it’s December, which is a little disconcerting since January was only a few heartbeats ago, and I distinctly remember making plans for how the year might progress. Oh, it is to laugh. Plans are to the universe as the cape is to the bull, with similarly predictable results.

This stretch of time from election to inauguration feels like the calm before a highly capricious storm that has us asking “How bad will it be and how quickly will it happen?” I remind myself every day to sit in peace and let it soak into my bones because it’s a precious resource that may turn out to be non-renewable.

It’s the return to governmental chaos on steroids that I dread. It’s been a lovely four years in which President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have not viewed us as spectators to their illustrious lives by bombarding us with daily, nay hourly, updates via TV and social media. It’s been a wonderful thing to just breathe for a while. I like breathing. It’s been a nice break to have the adults in charge. It’s more than possible that wholesale change is upon us, and for a girl who has always claimed to welcome change… this time around the block I do not.

It’s all real and it’s parked on our doorstep, so here we go, kids. Hold hands and look both ways before you cross the street.

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Don’t surrender in advance. And bear in mind that insubordination can be subtle.

Image by Judy Smith

Things that matter…

27 Nov 2024 Leave a comment

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Holidays are hard. There… I said it. As kids we rarely pick up on the nuances of family gatherings, we’re just there to see our cousins and eat fun stuff. And then life changes, as it is wont to do, and we learn how to celebrate on a different scale, how to hold room for our memories and feelings, how to appreciate everything. It’s a lot.

Some years ago we stopped trying to live up to the noisy food-laden holidays of yore and brought the house down a little with simple, and simply wonderful, comfort food, the National Dog Show, football, the chill weather, and much laughter. So as it turns out life is in great part about taming expectations. Kim and Rita cook and bicker in the kitchen while I keep myself available for mindless tasks, and behold, a luscious meal appears. It works seamlessly, and we’re appropriately thankful for various things all day, no stress required. I love it. The mood couldn’t be more comfortable.

Still. Our hearts remember the old times, and we think of them as having been magical… everybody happy and full of love, hugs all around, nothing but peace and goodwill. With everything hanging in the balance this year, we yearn for the unity and unconditional love we think we remember, and we try to go back to a place that was never really there… kind of like Brigadoon. Silly us.

If you’re still with me, thank you for indulging this minor fit of melancholy, which I shall now attempt to put back in the box with the double-secret code on the lock. Nobody needs that stuff on a day we’re just grateful to spend together, alive and well, so tomorrow will be about the right-now, the life we have, and the people we love.

I wish the same for you, complete with everything you need.

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Image by Judy Smith

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