All Categories

Covid observation

6/30/2020

Since March we’ve been living intensely with this pandemic. I started in February when I cancelled my trip to Italy. As you know, I’m happy with solitude; in fact it’s been my stated preference for the past ten years. Thus the self-quarantining and isolation hasn’t been particularly difficult for me. In fact, I’ve often liked the excuse to stay home.
      However, now that Covid-19 has extended its stay without an end in sight, I notice something is changing. People, and that includes me, are not only physically distancing, but psychologically doing so. We have less desire to socialize, and it isn’t only because we have fewer stories to tell. We are retreating into our own worlds.
    For those of us privileged to have food on our table, this isn’t entirely a bad thing. The opportunity is there for us to face our demons (the bad) and sit with God (the good). For those of us who are introverts, it is an opportunity to find new ways of living in solitude. For those who are extroverts, however, I trust that in is a considerable challenge, whether the challenge be welcomed or unwanted.

0 Comments

Nightly Met Opera Streams

6/20/2020

0 Comments

A benefit of Covid-19: The Metropolitan Opera is offering “Nightly Met Opera Streams.”
    “During this extraordinary and difficult time, the Met hopes to brighten the lives of our audience members even while our stage is dark. Each day, a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming on the Met website, with each performance available for a period of 23 hours, from 7:30 p.m. EDT until 6:30 p.m. the following day. The schedule will include outstanding complete performances from the past 14 years of cinema transmissions, starring all of opera’s greatest singers.’

      Last night I watched Verdi’s La Traviata, starring Leontyne Price, Giuseppe Giacomini, Leo Nucci, and Bonaldo Giaiotti, conducted by James Levine. From March 24, 1984. Watching Levine conduct was theater in itself. And what a gift to hear Leontyne Price sing and see her perform.
     Streaming each opera for a 23 hour time period adds to the specialness of watching. I have to plan my time, plan to go to the opera, be sure not to squander my ticked.
     I’m looking forward to going to La Traviata on Monday. Yes, I will go at 7:30 in the evening. Maybe I’ll get dressed up.

www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/

0 Comments

Curbside library pickup

6/18/2020

1 Comment

I picked them up!! My library books. My pickup time was between 10 and 11, and I was there. Every hour the librarians place on a cart the bags* of books for the ten people who scheduled that pickup time. After grabbing mine at 10:30, four bags remained. At the end of the hour any remaining bags will be taken inside and bags for the 11-12 time slot will be brought out. If you miss your appointment, you have to reschedule.
My selection: two mysteries, one non-fiction, one cookbook, and one CD.
* Note the recycled the grocery stores bags.

1 Comment

A bag of books from a friend

6/13/2020

0 Comments

My library is opening for curbside pickup next week. The librarians are in the process of gathering books from my On Hold account. Hopefully on Tuesday I’ll receive an email asking me to schedule a pick up time. Books from the Minuteman Library Network won’t be available, but those owned my library should be ready for me.
With this news, along with the bag of favorite books a friend gathered for me yesterday, I figure I’d better get reading. My first read from the bag has got to be Murder at the Kennedy Center (1989) by Margaret Truman (1924-2008) . I recall my mother commenting that the president’s daughter (of all people) was writing mysteries, and, that she was quite good. I’m sure my mom never read any, nor have I, but it’s time to begin.

0 Comments

Tapping into solitude--walking

6/9/2020

0 Comments

Taking a walk has always been one of the most satisfying ways I have tapped into solitude. My intention is to stay present to what I am seeing and keep my mind clear of mental distractions (such as rehashing the past or planning for the future).
I developed this mindset during those five winters at the cottage when I walked every morning. It became the way I stepped into solitude while wandering the streets of Florence or strolling the grassy terrain of Iona.
These days, as I try to maintain a similar clarity of mind, I realize that walking is my go-to entry into solitude. Memories go with me.

Remembering Iona and Florence

Remembering last week's walk

0 Comments

Resetting this blog

6/6/2020

0 Comments

This blog is about silence, solitude and simplicity, and for people who sometimes like to be alone. But then there is the pandemic, and people demonstrating in cities, towns, and on social media because black lives matter? Do I dare keep to the original topic? Do we dare take time for silence and solitude? Can we create a simpler life? Is it selfish to long for time to be alone? The answer is yes, yes, yes, and yes.
    These days many feel they have too much silence, solitude, and simplicity; it is pulling them down rather than lifting them up; they long not to be alone but to be with others. The peace they used gain from silence, solitude, and simplicity has been usurped by loneliness.
    There are others, however, who are experiencing a deepening peace with the added time of silence, solitude, and simplicity that the pandemic and black lives matter has offered. I am one of them. The best of have to offer is what is so for me, not what I think anyone else ‘should’ do.
    I writing this to reset to my original mission for this blog. Maybe it doesn’t need one; maybe the reset is for me. For those on the journey, lets continue of the silence, solitude, and simplicity path.

0 Comments

Being and doing during these time

6/4/2020

0 Comments

What follows is a message that I sent to some friends who have known each other for many years-- many I mean 50 years—and we still keep up regularly. (I’ve made a few edits.)

     I sense that we are all settling into a rhythm that works for us as we continue to self-distance due to the pandemic, and as we ponder all that is going on in our country. I view this rhythm as two-fold; to stay safe and healthy, and to keep our lives meaningful. Another way is to consider being and doing.
     My being. Gentleness (when I remember it) crystallizes how I am trying to lead my life. I am gentle when I let go of unnecessary little irritations (for example, being annoyed that a package didn’t come on time, or that the car I am following is going way too slowly). I am grateful for these moments of gentleness because I know that they put love, not hate into the world. I believe that how we feel inside ourselves has direct bearing one what goes on in the world. This doesn’t mean I am passive, but how I choose to act not only makes a cosmic difference, but also gives me peace.
     My doing. Keeping the home fires burning with Jim and keeping up with our kids and grands, and with family; keeping my church community connected in personal ways.
     Being and Doing: silence and solitude— getting out of my head by just sitting and when walking. In this silence and solitude I think of each of you as you find your own ways of being and doing.

0 Comments

My friend's garden offers hope

6/3/2020

1 Comment

Thank you, Marilyn, for sharing the silence and solitude of your garden with me and the readers of this blog. Nature’s complexity comes forth as something simply magnificent, peaceful, and hopeful.

1 Comment

Hope in solitude

5/31/2020

0 Comments

If it were June, we would asking, “What is so rare as a day in June?” But instead, we are raving about the rarity of this last day in May. I feel hopeful as I look out of my front door and take in the sun, a little breeze, and the blue sky. I feel hopeful as I look across to the library, which tomorrow will begin preparations to open--first checking in books, next curbside pickup, then….?
These personal harbingers of hope are in deep contrast to what’s going on outside my little bubble. How do I dare write about silence, solitude, and simplicity when so many are right now directly effected by the pandemic and racial violence? But dare I must. To continue I have to assume that readers of this blog are longing for silence, solitude, and simplicity and needing affirmation that it is okay to seek it out. I say, “Yes, it is okay!” We human beings require time alone so we can then go out and connect with others to help make the world a more loving place. We require time alone so we can stay hopeful.

0 Comments

Pandemic reading

5/26/2020

1 Comment

My reading habits have shifted a little since this pandemic took over. I can still look across the street and see my personal storehouse of books, but the library is closed. Frequent emails tell of plans to open as soon as it’s safe for librarians and members. No question, curbside is the new way to go, not just for food establishments and retail shops, but also for libraries.
For fiction I’ve settled on three mystery authors: Richard Kent Krueger, Henning Mankell, and Martha Grimes. I rotate, round and round and round, finding the next read in the series from the several book services my library has made available, and occasionally purchasing one on my Kindle.
For non-fiction my ‘reading’ is auditory, via YouTube, Great Courses, podcasts, and T.V. news. However, curling up on the couch with a good mystery, is my pandemic default.

1 Comment

<<Previous

Remembering Iona and Florence

Remembering last week's walk

Categories

Archives