Summer sighs…

31 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by Yvonne Montgomery in Random Thoughts, Uncategorized

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Photo by Jimmy Chan on Pexels.com

I watch a spider hanging from a branch of my avocado tree, following the movement of her body as she spins to repair the web torn when I slid the pot away from the window. She swings toward a leaf and misses, eases up the filament, swings again. Misses again. “I’m sorry,” I whisper but she doesn’t respond. What would I have her do, shake one leg in outrage? I turn away from her efforts wondering how many times I’ve been the giant in the fairytale, wondering how many small worlds I’ve sent into oblivion, either by accident or design.

selective focus photography of house finch perched on bird feeder

Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

Sparrows are stopping by for afternoon tea and I take out more water for them. They wait to eat more seed until I distance myself and don’t notice when I sit on the porch bench to watch. I take pleasure in the way they use their wings to push each other away from the seeds, feeling better about the human members of our household who wriggle on our couch vying both for position and popcorn during a movie.

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán on Pexels.com

I heard a cricket last night, here early for who knows why. I wondered where it was hiding. The evening air was hot and still. The fountain splashed music and a bird swooped over the yard toward sparrow apartment nests behind the ivy leaves. In spite of the car engines and a blast of The Stones from down the street, I could hear the cricket for just a bit, a little sigh at the passing of time.

And to all a good night…

24 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Yvonne Montgomery in Ghosts, Hope, Life

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gratitude, winter memories

Wreath decoration at door for Christmas holiday

This time of year brings joy and melancholy, too. I am filled with memories of people no longer here, grateful that they were, sad at their absence. I cherish the times I get to spend with those I love even as I miss the far-aways, geographical and emotional. As the carols wash over every location, I recall singing most of them in choirs, yet their endless repetition pushes me into annoyance before the season is half over.

It’s hard to prevent the hope for a “good Christmas” from becoming a race to check off the lists of gifts, activities, traditions not to be forgotten. The older I get, the less able I am to reach all those goals, thereby saving myself from the harried days of previous years. Yet that realization is edged with the knowledge that many of those tasks no longer must be done, thanks to the shortening list of family and friends who were here to appreciate them. But to let that sorrow define the changes defeats the purpose of the season.

To all of you in my life I say thank you, I love you, may the year ahead bring you joy. To the ghosts who visit me I say, bless you for having been in my life, for teaching me how to live, for memories-good and bad–that made me who I am.

May we all rest our heads on soft pillows and dream of the things we love.

Making lemonade from formidable lemons…

23 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by Yvonne Montgomery in Hope, Life

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gratitude, making it better

Earlier this year I wrote here about our daughter’s stay at the Michigan Head-Pain and Neurological Institute. (Taking a long walk off a short pier and And then you find a bridge, both on view below.) Misty’s had many ups and downs since she returned to Colorado, but to date she’s had the same migraine for eleven+ months and it’s taking a toll.

While it hurts to see her paring down her life due to her illness, it makes me proud to witness Misty’s determination to maintain the things closest to her heart. She lavishes love and support on family and friends, but helping the denizens of the Colorado Prairie is her passion. She doesn’t have the energy to work at her job and to volunteer for the prairie as well. Her solution is to try to raise the money to get paid for doing what she loves.

Misty has created a Crowdrise campaign to generate the money to pay her to work half-time for the coyotes and tarantulas, the pronghorn and painted turtles, and her beloved prairie dogs of the Southern Plains Land Trust during the upcoming year. If you would like to participate in helping Misty raise the funds to meet her goal, please click on the link below.

https://vimeo.com/142324901

You can follow Misty’s campaign at http://lawandmotherhood.com/20…/…/21/donate-and-enter-to-win

Thanks so much for the love and support shown to Misty this year.

Just singin’ in the rain…

08 Friday May 2015

Posted by Yvonne Montgomery in CO, Hope, Life

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gardens, gratitude

The promise in hushed air–such is the power of rain. Word has it we’ll get snow tomorrow night into Sunday. There’s a reason we’re told here in Colorado not to plant anything before Mother’s Day.

I’ve been getting Facebook posts and email from relatives living in drought-land. They’re joyous at receiving rain, and I’m so happy for them. Fingers crossed they don’t get tornadoes as well.

Here’s to rain falling on spring gardens, to hope growing from tired soil, to words spreading across empty pages. To rebirth.

Here comes the thunder.

And then you find a bridge…

02 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by Yvonne Montgomery in Hope, Life

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gratitude, making it better

It’s been nearly a week since our daughter Misty returned from the Michigan Head-Pain & Neurological Institute. With her she brought a couple of diagnoses, a management plan, and strategies for life style changes and coping mechanisms. You notice I don’t use the word “cure.” There is none. She is among a small group of people who chronically have migraines and who must manage their conditions, much like diabetics manage their blood sugars. She has a long and winding road ahead of her, but her experience in Michigan provides a bridge from lack of information to some understanding and a path forward. I’m grateful for that.