Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

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When life's blocks come tumbling down

Sometimes you can be going along building your life, stacking your blocks so to speak without much concern for whether their height can be supported by their strength. Just blindly building the way you figure you’re supposed to, when suddenly someone pulls the string that brings it all down. Even when you know there’s a string attached it can still hurt when the blocks come tumbling down. Oh maybe not right away, maybe right at the moment you’re sort of relieved that they fell, because you always thought they might, and worrying about it was worse than experiencing it. But still. The actual crash is bound to hurt eventually. When you let it.

When you’re ready you can start picking up your life’s blocks. Examine each and figure out which blocks to keep for the new foundation and which to let go. You’ll be redesigning life as it is going to be from now on, and that’s OK. Rebuild that foundation by accepting the strength you find from family and friends, and start building that new life. After your mourn what was you can appreciate what is.

image:  Christmas present, circa 1966


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Waiting at the gate

This morning as Katie and I ventured outside for our morning stroll, we noted that the trees were full of birds. And the birds were all making noise; chirping, squawking, screeching, and flying around chasing each other. The noise was quite overwhelming. We stood still in the driveway, listening and watching. I finally figured out the trees were full of robins, all talking excitedly, some chasing each other through the limbs of trees, others hopping from limb to limb. All of them were making noise. I kept thinking it reminded me of something…what? Then it came to me. The robins were acting like excited passengers on the way to a great vacation destination, all excited, ready to go. And the more I watched and listened the more they resembled a high school class at the airport, on their way to Cancun for spring break. Chatting excitedly, chasing each other around, the noise level escalating as the departure time moves closer. I guess the robins are getting ready for their trip south. It sounds like they can’t wait to get there!

I got the library job. I can’t wait to get there either. (Just checking to see if you’re paying attention.)


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My backyard

I was mowing the yard yesterday for the last time this summer (again…what’s with this warm weather?) when I realized there was still a LOT of fall color, particularly in the shrubs and some of the newer trees. So I stopped right in the middle of the lawn and went inside for the camera. For the rest of the afternoon I mowed slower, stopped more often, and enjoyed the task more as I snapped pictures along the way. As my husband painted the house, and the dog watched from her kennel, I’m sure they were wondering what I was doing. Tonight I had a chance to look at what I shot for the first time. There were so many pretty pictures I couldn’t figure out which to show you. So I put several together below. I really think this will be the last of the fall color blogs. Maybe.

See ya,


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A New Day

After watching the election results last night I find myself in the unusual place of having no words to express myself. It seems all the best words have already been used. It’s historical…a time of change…hopeful…energizing…inspiring. All those things are true, but it’s more than that. It’s history in the making that we got to watch live, and it was a happy historical moment. No one had to die, the world didn’t crumble, and yet we will all remember where we were when we knew that America finally made a huge step toward true equality for all. There was nothing but joyful tears and excited cheering, and it is important to note that all kinds of people were cheering, shoulder to shoulder, in Chicago, in New York, and around the world. Their faces were rapt, and their eyes filled as they listened to the inspirational acceptance speech.

Even if you didn’t vote for the new president-elect I hope you can feel some of the overwhelming excitement, the first we’ve felt for many months, even years. The best part is that regardless of how you voted, you get to come along for the ride, to participate in the changing of America for the better. We have hope, new plans and exciting ideas to look forward to. And though the road will be long, the work will be difficult, and some of the gilding will likely become tarnished, we have turned a corner. Together we can make things better for all of us. We can make a difference.

Yes we can.


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Katie wanted to vote…but she's not registered.

After my library interview this afternoon Katie and I went to the park to work on her homework. As it happens the park is right next door to my local library which is housed in our township government building. This is where I voted earlier today. I figured I’d take Katie down to the library and try to teach her not to lunge and bark at moving cars. There were a LOT of moving cars. Katie pretty much lunged and barked at most of them. Sometimes she’d listen to me tell her to “leave it!” and “NO!” and “SIT!!!” But mostly I don’t think she learned very much. Eventually we moved further away and practiced our heeling and waiting. She did better at that.


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It's election day

So go vote if you haven’t already, it’s important, regardless of who you support. We went this morning and luckily didn’t have to wait very long at all. But I was prepared to wait, dressed in my interview clothes in case I had to stand in a voting line for 4 hours and then go straight to the interview site. We’ll be up tonight waiting and watching election results. It’s an amazing day in an amazing country. We are all so very lucky.


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The early dog gets the groceries

Today my plans included making bread, soup and maybe cookies. But I needed stock for the soup, so off to the grocery store I went, very early this morning. As I headed back to the car with my bag of chicken stock, I noted that a full 50% of the cars parked in the lot had dogs waiting patiently, and not so patiently, for their owners. I wondered if there was a correlation. Are people with dogs forced to get up early, and therefore get an early start on their days? Certainly I was there early because Katie got me up. Hmmmm.

Now the soup is simmering and the bread is rising. The cookies..well, we’ll see if I get to those!


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Can you stand more photos of Katie?

I know, I know. An unemployed librarian just doesn’t have that much to talk about. Except the dog. We went to our first advanced dog obedience class on Wednesday night and Katie was out of control crazy through most of it. Maybe she was nuts because we hadn’t done any homework in the park for a couple of weeks, given the rain and my broken foot. So since yesterday was so pretty I decided we needed to go.

She was SO excited when I asked her if she wanted to go to the park. Actually she gets excited whenever I ask her if she wants to “GO.” Katie did rather well with her homework. Even did a few stands and stays without much prompting, and is starting to remember where she’s supposed to be while we’re at heel. Sort of. Then, since the weather was beautiful, and neither of us wanted to go home we wandered over to the pond at the park.

We spent about an hour exploring the pond; Katie was interested in the green alge and some fallen leaves floating in the clear water. but she wasn’t brave enough to actually get her feet or nose wet! After she and I ran around a bit I settled at a picnic table and let her explore on her leash. She had a wonderful time. Come to think of it…so did I!

After a big afternoon at the park, Katie was happy to go home and take a nap on her favorite sofa pillows.

But she wasn’t in the mood to share her pillows with me!