Back to Regular Life, Sweetened by Time Away

I am back from my travels north; I had a great visit to see my folks.  Plus, I saw snowflakes; as we went to the Richmond airport yesterday, it started to snow.  At first it seemed a bit more like sleet or icy pellets.  Then there were some flakes which started to stick.  The plane needed to be de-iced.  But we got off the ground.

I realize that others weren't so lucky--I saw lots of "delayed" statuses on the airport arrival board last night.

I have spent the morning catching up a bit.  Have I unpacked?  No.  I'm trying to be a bit more quiet, and I'm also dreading finding the space for new clothes, as half my closet isn't very accessible right now.  My closet is blocked by furniture that we moved out of the way 6 months ago for housing repair/remodel.

I wrote a poem this morning that came to me yesterday as I walked across the campus of my parents' retirement community.  I reflected that it was the feast day of St. Brigid; I wondered if a retirement community was similar to a medieval abbey in significant ways.

The poem I wrote this morning was a bit different than the one I thought I would write, but it made me happy.

I also read a bit of poetry that made me happy.  When I sent my book length manuscript to Copper Canyon, I got to choose 2 books, and I chose Time Will Clean the Carcass Bones by Lucia Perillo, mainly because I loved the title.  It's a new and selected collection, and wow--what powerful poems.  I had no idea.

It's been a good writing week.  I could feel my well being filled by my traveling and by my reading.  On the plane ride back, I finished Old in Art School by Nell Painter--what an intriguing book.  It made me want to go home and paint.  I did sketch on the plane, but I felt constrained by the space and the bumpiness, so I made it a quick sketch.

Yesterday, I also read my collection of linked short stories all the way through, and I am happy to report that it holds together--hurrah!  I know that some of the stories involved scenes with student complaints, so I wanted to be sure they're not all the same complaint, and to make sure there wouldn't be too much repetition of any sort.  And I'm pretty sure there's not. 

Now to get ready for spin class.  It's the last day of the spin class challenge, and although I already know I've won a spot in the spinathon, I'll go to class anyway.  I need to stop by the library on the way back to get a book that I have on reserve and to take care of some renewals.

In other words, it's back to normal life, but with the sweetness of time away still in my body and brain.