mulberryshoots

I can hardly believe that this blog is three years old today! I wrote about how we turned two last year and thought it might be interesting to see where we are today, still a toddler in writing years. . .

When people sometimes ask me what my blog is about, I hesitate, not knowing how to describe it. It’s about my adventure in life, I guess, according to Mary Oliver’s poem in the place of honor on my blog page:

“tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Well, what are we doing with our wild and precious lives? For me since I now have the luxury of time to read, reflect, listen to music, play the piano, knit, cook and take care of my family and my home, that’s what I’m doing with my own “only one trip!” as Iris Apfel is wont to say. The days of stirring the pot during my thirty year project management career with biotech start-ups are thankfully over.

2013 posts were an interesting year where I’ve backed away from the intensity of wanting to understand everything in my life, to “take care of business” and to wonder about what I will do for the rest of it. That answer came just a few days ago in my post, “a revelation” and from a Woody Allen movie quotation no less: “that life is to be enjoyed, not understood.”

And so now I lay me down the never-ending struggle of wanting to understand things before I can let them go. Because, honestly, they’re disproportionately unfathomable, aren’t they? Or maybe I’ll finally unroll them all into a book that I’ve wanted to write for a long time rather than wishing it were written already.

I watched, fascinated, as the blog views turned the 20,000 mark around the holidays, then to 21,546 views over 353 posts, which is what it is today. Viewing takes place from the most amazing places too: 124 countries at last count. During that time, I have met friends from far-away places who visit the blog, like cardinals who come and feed, their bright colors and good spirits permeating my life at the most unexpected times. They harken from as far away as Australia, Singapore, California, Texas, Mississippi and Alaska. The internet provides a global umbrella for making friends, sharing life stories and recipes. And they express their own thoughts with such sweet sincerity. I am touched by them all.

Click on this link if you’d like to see dozens of cardinals feeding alongside a very calm squirrel on Valentine’s Day! :

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C4MMuF-LVk

I wanted to include in this post a highlight of 2013 called “mums” in case you haven’t seen it. It’s of an extraordinary exhibition of Japanese chrysanthemums at the New York Botanical Gardens that I visited by myself one fine October day.

I am lucky to have a loving family and to be able to provide photos of them, our environs, both physical and spiritual on the blog. The Helpers of the Universe seem to be unusually active in positive ways as my letting go widens with each new day.

G. at the piano. . .

threesome of me with daughters, C. & M.

Thank you for reading and following this little blog. I appreciate your presence and interest, taking the time to read my posts about life.