Beckon Lovely Again

I'm still crazy about Amy. (see old post here.)

Once again Chookooloonks has reminded me about Amy Krouse Rosenthal's wonderful videos 17 Things I Made and The Beckoning of Lovely. Here is her The Beckoning of Lovely one year later...

AND Amy is making a movie, but she's not doing it the Hollywood way...

Grace in Small Things #192 of 365

1. Me and My first best friend

2. This swing on Grandma's front porch (looking through the old parlor windows.

3. This painting Lisa is working on in my studio

4. This dog sitting on the bookshelf at the farm.

5. This glass heart

go to Grace in Small Things

Grace in Small Things #144 of 365

1. Blowing Bubbles

2. Kristin's Tomato Pie, Mama's basil:

3. Kate's Wannabee sewn and sculpted all by her lonesome:

4. Backyard blooms despite the heat

5.Punkadoo (click to get a better look.)

Daddio

Grace in Small Things One Hundred Twenty Three

1. The way he called me Laurie when I was a little girl.

2. The way he built a dog "structure" for Tuck, my first dog.

3. The way he is conservative but genuine and open minded and fair.

4. The way he looks after my stepmother.

5. The way he looks after me.

Love Thursday #3: Heir

my backyard gardenias passed down from a long line of grandmas (photo by LoLaSuzaanne)

My great great grandmother gave her six year old granddaughter Lucile clippings from her gardenia bush. Lucile nursed those budlings until they were big enough to plant around the brick farmhouse her daddy built.

Grandma Lucile eventually rooted clippings from the same bushes for her own grandkids including me. The smell of these June blooms in my backyard reminds me of my connection to this line of practical gardenia-growing women. The ones who, despite a scarcity of funds, found a way to share beauty all the way down to me. The original bushes, still at the farmhouse, are not as prolific as they once were but have progeny across the land.

At almost 98, Grandma can't see the buds anymore but when I visit her this week, I'm hoping she can still smell the clippings I'll bring along.

**Check out more Love Thursday at Chookooloonks.**

June

"Each flower, leaf

And blade of turf --

Small love-notes sent

From air to earth."

-John Updike

Love Thursday #1

Thursdays, the soulful Chookooloonks publishes a post, a photo, and a song she loves. I'm not as prolific as she, but I'm inspired to have my own Love Thursday. 

 

Judge at six months.

I can think of no better place to start Love Thursday on LoLaSuzanne than with my favorite four-legged creature.  Especially today, when my little Judge has returned home after 4 days in the hospital. He's had spine surgery and now resembles Frankenstein's dog with his staples and shaved back, but he's home today! I'm confident he will recover fully as I've spent the last nine years under the spell of the resilient Judge.

Beckon Lovely

I am crazy about Amy.

Amy is a person who likes to make things. She made this wonderful video called 17 things I made which made me want to make things and make a video about making things.

But Amy's video went even further...it challenged us, the viewers, to meet her in Chicago to help her make the eighteenth thing and that video, The Beckoning of Lovely, is amazing and hopeful. I'm hoping to catch up with Amy to make more things when she gets to Washington DC in May. Here are the two outstanding videos.

17 things I made

The Beckoning of Lovely

Wanna be involved?

Check out Amy's website Who is Amy? Beckon lovely.

One Prayer

I am of the family of the universe, and with all of us together I do not fear being alone; I can reach out and touch a rock or a hand or dip my feet in water. Always there is some body close by, and when I speak I am answered by a plane's roar or the bird's whistling or the voices of others in conversation far apart from me. When I lie down to sleep, I am in the company of the dark and the stars.

Breathe to me, sheep in the meadow. Sun and moon, I smile at you both and spread my arms in affection and lay myself down at full length for the earth to know I love it too and am never to be separated from it. In no way shall death part us.

--David Ignatow

from Earth Prayers from around the World edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon

Grace in Small Things

I just posted my first entry over at Grace in Small Things:

GiST Numero Uno (things I'm grateful for)

1. Judge and Punk, two little heartbeats running around my house making me smile, stamp my feet, crack up, and press on.

2. My brother, whose kindnesses match infinity.

3. Mom, who everyday, strives for a great attitude, and a fresh outlook, and works to buck up and who is always open to love.

4. Daddy, who everyday, finds a practical way to feed, make comfortable and love my stepmother who is classily fading into Alzheimers.

5. The yard dudes who swarm over the lawn like locusts, cutting and sawing, and trimming and leaf blowing. And then swarm out.

I know the above are all big things, especially the yard dudes, but how can you leave out your immediate family, at least on the first day? I'll write about that little guy at the drugstore who helped me clean up the mess I made when I dropped the Lysol bottle on aisle 3 eventually.

I love the idea of writing five things I'm grateful for every day (or, let's face it, most days) in a place reserved for honoring those things. If you'd like to get in the habit of writing down your five things-- here is a great place to do that.

--LoLaSuzanne

Photos: Boston Terrier Judge by LoLaSuzanne

Schipperke-ish Punk by LoLaSuzanne

All You Need

A turning point in my life was when I became conscious of love.

I spent most of my early life in a "no love" zone. I felt like I was a burden to my parents.  I felt like I wasn't worthy of people's love. My defense was  that most of my life I kept love for others at arms length. And I used a 10 foot pole when it came to self love.  One day I was sitting in a food court at a mall waiting for my wife.  The mall was crowded so she came walking in looking around, but didn't see me.  I just sat there watching her search and I felt the warm, wonderful rush of love.  For the first time in my life I was conscious of the feelings of love.

After that I started thinking.  What if I felt love for everyone in the food court? How great would that be? And it was great.

Since that day I've fed those seeds of love and they have grown in me.  I love people so easy now. I'm a lot happier.

The freakin’ Beatles were right. 

 
                                                                                                        --Bob Hayes