Hello, good world! Today I'm...
hearing: the strange quiet after the roofers finished across the street yesterday; birds in the trees; breezes in leaves; Josh slowly working his way through his stash of unmarked mix CDs in the other room
smelling: shampoo in my still-damp hair; an insistently ripe California peach in the fruit bowl; cinnamony chai tea
tasting: that peach, cut up, with northwest blueberries and vanilla yogurt and granola; that chai; later: dark black tea and one of my jealously hoarded chocolate digestive biscuits from a grocery store in London
feeling: a dryer mountain climate, with its hot daytime sun and cool nights and breezes all day long; also, my chapped fingers and lips still getting used to the climate; also, missing my dear, dear friends in Chicago
seeing: our apartment slowly taking shape, with fewer and fewer boxes; novels to read for fun, lined up like a tantalizing promise; morning bright from east-facing windows, and evening gold from west-facing windows; mountains on every horizon
Showing posts with label five sense friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label five sense friday. Show all posts
Friday, August 12, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
five-sense Friday
Today, I've been...
seeing: tree leaves thick and vibrant with last night's rain, reaching up for the promised more to come; downed branches all alone and maybe-lonely for their tree-homes; the face of my love across a suburban restaurant table, studying his books, so very dearly freckled
smelling: rain
tasting: coffee with milk, brownie, salad with purple olives
feeling: my first-ever stitches tugging through numbed skin, and the strange lack of control over my body's response to its loss of flesh (in this case an area of moderately abnormal cells)--the cold sweat, pounding heart, ringing ears--and then feeling absolutely well
hearing: my parents' voices, the most familiar and precious, and their support, and their love; Bon Iver's haunting...what might have been lost; and Iron and Wine's hope:
seeing: tree leaves thick and vibrant with last night's rain, reaching up for the promised more to come; downed branches all alone and maybe-lonely for their tree-homes; the face of my love across a suburban restaurant table, studying his books, so very dearly freckled
smelling: rain
tasting: coffee with milk, brownie, salad with purple olives
feeling: my first-ever stitches tugging through numbed skin, and the strange lack of control over my body's response to its loss of flesh (in this case an area of moderately abnormal cells)--the cold sweat, pounding heart, ringing ears--and then feeling absolutely well
hearing: my parents' voices, the most familiar and precious, and their support, and their love; Bon Iver's haunting...what might have been lost; and Iron and Wine's hope:
Curiosity far greater than our fear
It felt so simple, so prodigious at the same time
Incredible things are happening in the world
Magical things are happening in this world.
Friday, June 24, 2011
five-sense Friday
Today, I've been...
smelling: mown grass; city summer (sewer stench laced with flowering bushes, bus exhaust swirled with grilling food); the sweet warm familiarity of a coffee shop
hearing: relative quiet brought about, perhaps, by the overcast sky and cooler breezes; birds and horns and a Street Wise seller telling me to have a blessed day; Bon Iver
seeing: steely clouds, seven stamps lined up in the corner of a manilla envelope just so
tasting: delicious granola, orange chicken, cafe au lait
feeling: the heavy pull of grocery bags against both palms, the weight of laundry baskets propped against my hip, and first thing: the early-morning joy of cool sheets against my limbs and the promise of a good new thing
smelling: mown grass; city summer (sewer stench laced with flowering bushes, bus exhaust swirled with grilling food); the sweet warm familiarity of a coffee shop
hearing: relative quiet brought about, perhaps, by the overcast sky and cooler breezes; birds and horns and a Street Wise seller telling me to have a blessed day; Bon Iver
seeing: steely clouds, seven stamps lined up in the corner of a manilla envelope just so
tasting: delicious granola, orange chicken, cafe au lait
feeling: the heavy pull of grocery bags against both palms, the weight of laundry baskets propped against my hip, and first thing: the early-morning joy of cool sheets against my limbs and the promise of a good new thing
Friday, June 17, 2011
five-sense Friday
smelling: fresh-cut grass, faint cigarette smoke from the neighbor who smokes on the back porch (reminds me of Grandma or Europe), summertime city
hearing: traffic (the slow-growing muted roar of a bus or a big truck, the constant beeping of backing-up construction equipment) and Josh opening and closing drawers in the other room
seeing: piles and piles of books to read, and my own tilted handwriting in the margins of the books I've just read this week; patches of blue sky, and birds dashing around in it
tasting: milky tea along with homemade cinnamon granola with a peach cut up on top -- the most wonderful summer breakfast
feeling: a bit of a breeze, a bit of a hand cramp from holding all those books over my head while I sprawl out on the couch, the roughness of mass market paperback pulpy paper against the edge of my right hand as I underline and annotate; also, curious about the future
hearing: traffic (the slow-growing muted roar of a bus or a big truck, the constant beeping of backing-up construction equipment) and Josh opening and closing drawers in the other room
seeing: piles and piles of books to read, and my own tilted handwriting in the margins of the books I've just read this week; patches of blue sky, and birds dashing around in it
tasting: milky tea along with homemade cinnamon granola with a peach cut up on top -- the most wonderful summer breakfast
feeling: a bit of a breeze, a bit of a hand cramp from holding all those books over my head while I sprawl out on the couch, the roughness of mass market paperback pulpy paper against the edge of my right hand as I underline and annotate; also, curious about the future
Friday, June 10, 2011
five-sense Friday
Today, I'm...
feeling: the cool breezes against my toes and forehead, so welcome after mid-week sweltering; the stubborn resistance of a shaggy calzone dough in my bread bowl
hearing: J's eclectic music selections, after a Jars of Clay/Arcade Fire binge (strange combination?)
smelling: coffee from the kitchen, laundry detergent, Vidalia onions chopped for calzones
tasting: omelets with feta, fruit on the side; leftover malted milk eggs, stolen from their glass jar to dissolve against my tongue
seeing: cloudy skies, flyers and emails for missing persons, photographs of irises, stamps on letters to far away
feeling: the cool breezes against my toes and forehead, so welcome after mid-week sweltering; the stubborn resistance of a shaggy calzone dough in my bread bowl
hearing: J's eclectic music selections, after a Jars of Clay/Arcade Fire binge (strange combination?)
smelling: coffee from the kitchen, laundry detergent, Vidalia onions chopped for calzones
tasting: omelets with feta, fruit on the side; leftover malted milk eggs, stolen from their glass jar to dissolve against my tongue
seeing: cloudy skies, flyers and emails for missing persons, photographs of irises, stamps on letters to far away
Friday, June 3, 2011
five-sense Friday
These past few weeks have been full of travel. Tonight I'm grabbing a few moments alone in my parents' house -- couldn't tell you the last time that happened. Everything is lit with evening sun glow on grass and maple leaves, and I'm feeling nostalgic. I'm also...
feeling: worn out after all the wandering; thankful for family; in love with the Michigan trees
tasting: leftover pizza and salad; anticipation to get back into my own kitchen
hearing: laughing children; car doors; the family cat purring a request for food
smelling: freshly mown grass and my sister-in-law's cake-baking
seeing: the light, the trees, and all sorts of people I love
feeling: worn out after all the wandering; thankful for family; in love with the Michigan trees
tasting: leftover pizza and salad; anticipation to get back into my own kitchen
hearing: laughing children; car doors; the family cat purring a request for food
smelling: freshly mown grass and my sister-in-law's cake-baking
seeing: the light, the trees, and all sorts of people I love
Friday, May 20, 2011
five-sense Friday
 |
| Photo credit: Dad |
So in these busy days, I have been...
hearing: Josh's expanding vinyl collection; tour guides around campus extolling its wonders to prospective students; laughter and airplanes
seeing: rain on the windowpanes, blue in the sky, red in the tulips, green in the grass, low-lying fog creeping between buildings over the sidewalk
smelling: lilacs! quiche! coffee!
tasting: more sweets than I care to admit; the promise of Thai later tonight
feeling: breezes and sun, fog on my cheeks, the weight of a conference paper that just won't be finished, anticipation for upcoming mountain views.....
Friday, May 13, 2011
five-sense Friday
Oh, today. Today was good. Today my parents were in town, and while Josh was occupied with pastoring- and seminarying- and graduating-type things, and we missed him a great deal, the three of us had a rather full and rather good day. At various points in this day, we ...
saw: tulips all open and aflutter in rainbow variety; lions and tigers and monkeys; a sunny sky and bright green grass give way to low-lying fog and haze; our own reflections in lots of storefronts; Cubs fans in costume; public schoolkids in matching shirts running around, like people versions of those crazy tulips; through a lens
heard: screaming children (and parents); chirping birds; screaming children; a knock at the door; each other
felt: warm and then not warm in the twenty-five-degree drop; wind; glad for tea; sore feet (in the best way)
smelled: coffee; baking brownies and lemon cakes and pizza; french fries; fishy penguin lunch
tasted: coffee and bagels and almonds and Five Guys and tea and pizza and salad and a very, very sour and sweet and spicy chewy candy on a stick I bought from a lady in one of the little markets...mmmm.
Dad's medium is photos: I link when he posts them.
Also: can't believe J graduates tomorrow. Seriously.
saw: tulips all open and aflutter in rainbow variety; lions and tigers and monkeys; a sunny sky and bright green grass give way to low-lying fog and haze; our own reflections in lots of storefronts; Cubs fans in costume; public schoolkids in matching shirts running around, like people versions of those crazy tulips; through a lens
heard: screaming children (and parents); chirping birds; screaming children; a knock at the door; each other
felt: warm and then not warm in the twenty-five-degree drop; wind; glad for tea; sore feet (in the best way)
smelled: coffee; baking brownies and lemon cakes and pizza; french fries; fishy penguin lunch
tasted: coffee and bagels and almonds and Five Guys and tea and pizza and salad and a very, very sour and sweet and spicy chewy candy on a stick I bought from a lady in one of the little markets...mmmm.
Dad's medium is photos: I link when he posts them.
Also: can't believe J graduates tomorrow. Seriously.
Friday, May 6, 2011
lest two Fridays go by without a five-sense post...
In the nick of time, here goes. My life recently has been all rich and full, super-saturated with joys and beauties and questions and sorrows, damp with endless rain, frantic with new growth. Have you seen the trees? They're so alive with themselves and their new green it almost hurts to look at them. In addition to pausing each day to look up at these trees, I have been...
seeing: undergraduates in the throes of finals, peering into screens, asleep over books, holding end-chewed pens and emptying teal paper cup of coffee after cup of coffee
hearing: a fellow walk by with another fellow, naming all the flowers in the street landscaping: "See, this is a tulip, and that's a daffodil..." Also, the sea of tapping in a silent study space on campus as dozens and dozens of fingers finished final papers (and updated facebook statuses)
smelling: a car full of catered restaurant food this afternoon, all spiced and magical, on the way to an event; students walking past my chair with coffee cups; leaves unfurling (can you smell this in the air? I swear I can)
tasting: daily chocolate from Easter gifts; chimney cakes; feta cheese
feeling: tonight, at our end-of-the-year English grad student party, a small dog kept standing on its hind legs and resting its front paws on ... the back of my dress. And I kept thinking someone was getting fresh. Ha!
seeing: undergraduates in the throes of finals, peering into screens, asleep over books, holding end-chewed pens and emptying teal paper cup of coffee after cup of coffee
hearing: a fellow walk by with another fellow, naming all the flowers in the street landscaping: "See, this is a tulip, and that's a daffodil..." Also, the sea of tapping in a silent study space on campus as dozens and dozens of fingers finished final papers (and updated facebook statuses)
smelling: a car full of catered restaurant food this afternoon, all spiced and magical, on the way to an event; students walking past my chair with coffee cups; leaves unfurling (can you smell this in the air? I swear I can)
tasting: daily chocolate from Easter gifts; chimney cakes; feta cheese
feeling: tonight, at our end-of-the-year English grad student party, a small dog kept standing on its hind legs and resting its front paws on ... the back of my dress. And I kept thinking someone was getting fresh. Ha!
Friday, April 22, 2011
five-sense (Good) Friday
Mine is a flip-flopped faith tradition. It recognizes life in death, hope in the risky paradoxes of self-offering. The first is last, the last is first. The Holy One took on flesh and lived among us, and what we do to the least of these, we do to the Most High, the One who suffers with us.
On this darkest and most good of Fridays, I sit without a sense of what to say. I have been feeling cold rain on my cheeks, warm soup slipping from my spoon past my lips, a three-year-old hand in mine as we cross the street. I have been tasting salty broth and cinnamon-infused tea, tasting the sorrow of faraway friends' sadnesses. I have been seeing musical instruments all over my dining room floor, lists of books to read, shadows in the corners, my closest cousin's firstborn's early steps on a tiny screen. I have been hearing Josh's guitar, sirens wailing down the street, laughter down the hall. I've been smelling boiling potatoes, aged pages, cold and wet dirt. The beauty is all tangled with the pain, like roots and soil, like the fabric of our human days.
The suffering, the joy of it. Today what I am sensing is the deep heart-longing for full life: for resurrection.
On this darkest and most good of Fridays, I sit without a sense of what to say. I have been feeling cold rain on my cheeks, warm soup slipping from my spoon past my lips, a three-year-old hand in mine as we cross the street. I have been tasting salty broth and cinnamon-infused tea, tasting the sorrow of faraway friends' sadnesses. I have been seeing musical instruments all over my dining room floor, lists of books to read, shadows in the corners, my closest cousin's firstborn's early steps on a tiny screen. I have been hearing Josh's guitar, sirens wailing down the street, laughter down the hall. I've been smelling boiling potatoes, aged pages, cold and wet dirt. The beauty is all tangled with the pain, like roots and soil, like the fabric of our human days.
The suffering, the joy of it. Today what I am sensing is the deep heart-longing for full life: for resurrection.
Friday, April 15, 2011
five-sense Friday
It's been a crazy few weeks -- my head has been in the writing process, with breaks for major life events and occasional bouts of fully engaged humanness. Yesterday I turned in a draft of this third chapter to my dissertation director (probably should have done so a week ago), and my head is so frazzled I don't even know for sure how to feel relieved. I have some other deadlines looming (read: today), so it's out of the frying pan and into the fire.
However, spring is sneaking up on me. That's probably the theme of my sense of the world this week, when I've been...
seeing: the green bulb shoots in the courtyard assert themselves, grow so tall they flop over in rain, and then (suddenly! yesterday!) burst into daffodils so proudly yellow it nearly hurts to look at them
hearing: insistent bird-chirping, and the city-neighborhood noise I always forget through the winter when the windows are closed--children laughing and yelling their way to school, cars, doors slamming shut, birds birds birds
smelling: the garlic and onion shadows of last night's veggie pot pie, spiced with marjoram and thyme
tasting: that dinner, and the first ice cream of the season, and delicious lunch with a friend, and plenty of coffee and tea
feeling: breezes, bare toes, rain splatters, and relief
However, spring is sneaking up on me. That's probably the theme of my sense of the world this week, when I've been...
seeing: the green bulb shoots in the courtyard assert themselves, grow so tall they flop over in rain, and then (suddenly! yesterday!) burst into daffodils so proudly yellow it nearly hurts to look at them
hearing: insistent bird-chirping, and the city-neighborhood noise I always forget through the winter when the windows are closed--children laughing and yelling their way to school, cars, doors slamming shut, birds birds birds
smelling: the garlic and onion shadows of last night's veggie pot pie, spiced with marjoram and thyme
tasting: that dinner, and the first ice cream of the season, and delicious lunch with a friend, and plenty of coffee and tea
feeling: breezes, bare toes, rain splatters, and relief
Friday, April 8, 2011
five-sense Friday
Today I'm...
feeling: the warm / cool of inside / outside, back and forth; the satisfied fullness of a big grocery stock-up, my muscles sore from carrying bags and my cupboards stocked again
hearing: radiators, and wondering how much longer I'll have with them this year!
smelling: coffee in the hallways of my apartment building and the hallways of two buildings on campus and on the sidewalk outside the coffee shop... jealous of all those drinkers of coffee
tasting: yummy treats at an event on campus, including these deliciously salted dark-chocolate covered almonds...
seeing: raindrops on windowpanes; a finished draft; a lot to be thankful for
feeling: the warm / cool of inside / outside, back and forth; the satisfied fullness of a big grocery stock-up, my muscles sore from carrying bags and my cupboards stocked again
hearing: radiators, and wondering how much longer I'll have with them this year!
smelling: coffee in the hallways of my apartment building and the hallways of two buildings on campus and on the sidewalk outside the coffee shop... jealous of all those drinkers of coffee
tasting: yummy treats at an event on campus, including these deliciously salted dark-chocolate covered almonds...
seeing: raindrops on windowpanes; a finished draft; a lot to be thankful for
Friday, April 1, 2011
five-sense Friday
Today, I'm...
seeing: early sunlight, and then clouds rolling in; pigeons winging their wide way to the top of the yellow brick church at the corner; tiny white and purple flowers showing their faces in a nearby yard
smelling: dirt and green leaves; rain on the way; vanilla candles lit in prayer and hope
hearing: J and a favorite 3-year-old playing guitars together in the dining room
tasting: two cups of tea, and counting
feeling: anticipation
seeing: early sunlight, and then clouds rolling in; pigeons winging their wide way to the top of the yellow brick church at the corner; tiny white and purple flowers showing their faces in a nearby yard
smelling: dirt and green leaves; rain on the way; vanilla candles lit in prayer and hope
hearing: J and a favorite 3-year-old playing guitars together in the dining room
tasting: two cups of tea, and counting
feeling: anticipation
Friday, March 25, 2011
five-sense Friday
Today I'm ...
seeing: a cloudy sky bright enough to illuminate sheets of yellow legal paper covered in notes (pencil, red ink, green ink, blue ink, black ink)
hearing: radiators (how much longer?) and a really lovely instrumental rendition of a piece by Hildegard von Bingen (plaintive is the word that always comes to mind)
smelling: soap fragrance on lingering shower steam, every time I walk past the bathroom door
tasting: leftover apple and cranberry pie for breakfast!
feeling: the ache and wonder of spring and writing
seeing: a cloudy sky bright enough to illuminate sheets of yellow legal paper covered in notes (pencil, red ink, green ink, blue ink, black ink)
hearing: radiators (how much longer?) and a really lovely instrumental rendition of a piece by Hildegard von Bingen (plaintive is the word that always comes to mind)
smelling: soap fragrance on lingering shower steam, every time I walk past the bathroom door
tasting: leftover apple and cranberry pie for breakfast!
feeling: the ache and wonder of spring and writing
Friday, March 18, 2011
five-sense Friday
This morning I've been working on revisions and thinking about possible futures. Heady stuff. I'm also firmly planted in a time and place and body, though, so I'll take a moment to attend to this reality. Today I'm...
hearing: piano+oboe on the radio; building engineer clomping around on the roof to manage the inevitable spring old-building leaks; ticking clock
smelling: that wonderful fragrance of toasting bread
seeing: the piles and stacks growing unruly again--always more paper, and where to put it? Also, sunshine and steely sky
feeling: changing temperatures! bare feet on wooden floors!
tasting: leftover toasted soda bread, honey, jam, tea; for lunch...? something good, let's hope
hearing: piano+oboe on the radio; building engineer clomping around on the roof to manage the inevitable spring old-building leaks; ticking clock
smelling: that wonderful fragrance of toasting bread
seeing: the piles and stacks growing unruly again--always more paper, and where to put it? Also, sunshine and steely sky
feeling: changing temperatures! bare feet on wooden floors!
tasting: leftover toasted soda bread, honey, jam, tea; for lunch...? something good, let's hope
Friday, March 11, 2011
five-sense Friday
Have you seen the sunshine today?
hearing: birds in the alley, chirping away
smelling: not much, but the stuffy nose is getting better!
tasting: dark, dark tea and coconutty granola
seeing: sunshine! blue sky!
feeling: chill on my arms; sadness at the juxtaposition of all this beauty against sad news from Wisconsin, and Lybia, and now Japan.
hearing: birds in the alley, chirping away
smelling: not much, but the stuffy nose is getting better!
tasting: dark, dark tea and coconutty granola
seeing: sunshine! blue sky!
feeling: chill on my arms; sadness at the juxtaposition of all this beauty against sad news from Wisconsin, and Lybia, and now Japan.
Friday, February 25, 2011
five-sense Friday
There's always beauty.
seeing: my red mug, an elegant and kind gift that cheers me morning and afternoon; a sky that can't make up its mind
hearing: college radio (playing tracks off concept albums -- the DJ just said, pretty awkwardly, "Well, I just ... don't understand that one ....")
smelling: spicy-clovey tea
tasting: A's magical granola
feeling: glad for meaningful work; full
seeing: my red mug, an elegant and kind gift that cheers me morning and afternoon; a sky that can't make up its mind
hearing: college radio (playing tracks off concept albums -- the DJ just said, pretty awkwardly, "Well, I just ... don't understand that one ....")
smelling: spicy-clovey tea
tasting: A's magical granola
feeling: glad for meaningful work; full
Friday, February 18, 2011
five-sense Friday
Today I'm...
seeing: sunshine! a fern on the top of my cafe au lait! thousands of printed words on pages! ink on my fingers! and a robin!
hearing: "Tree by the River" (Iron and Wine); myself think; later: girl voices
smelling: grapefruit; coffee-shop; mud
feeling: the ache of heavy grocery bags; the cool of wind in my hair
tasting: coffe and milk, apple, granola bar, bread, grapefruit salad, hunger for more life
seeing: sunshine! a fern on the top of my cafe au lait! thousands of printed words on pages! ink on my fingers! and a robin!
hearing: "Tree by the River" (Iron and Wine); myself think; later: girl voices
smelling: grapefruit; coffee-shop; mud
feeling: the ache of heavy grocery bags; the cool of wind in my hair
tasting: coffe and milk, apple, granola bar, bread, grapefruit salad, hunger for more life
Friday, February 11, 2011
five-sense Friday
This week has been a study in contrasts. I have been...
seeing: massive snowflakes, broad as Turkish coffee cups, earlier in the week, dancing outside the window; this morning, the flakes are tiny, like little pin-points of white
hearing: the quiet of library study during the days; the raised mingling of friends' voices at night
smelling: very little in general, with a stuffy nose; and at points, the glow of lemon bread baking in the oven, or the early morning promise of a day
tasting: brown rice and baked vegetables last night, simple fare; but also lovely cakes and cookies and pastries and cheeses at various events
feeling: bone-deep cold outdoors, and then enveloping warmth indoors: repeated, and repeated, and repeated.
seeing: massive snowflakes, broad as Turkish coffee cups, earlier in the week, dancing outside the window; this morning, the flakes are tiny, like little pin-points of white
hearing: the quiet of library study during the days; the raised mingling of friends' voices at night
smelling: very little in general, with a stuffy nose; and at points, the glow of lemon bread baking in the oven, or the early morning promise of a day
tasting: brown rice and baked vegetables last night, simple fare; but also lovely cakes and cookies and pastries and cheeses at various events
feeling: bone-deep cold outdoors, and then enveloping warmth indoors: repeated, and repeated, and repeated.
Friday, February 4, 2011
five-sense Friday
Good morning, blue-skied cold! Today I am...
seeing: frost patterns on the storm windows, like a magical forest of jewels
hearing: music, chirping birds in the alley (!!!), my own fingers tapping at keys
feeling: the strange tickle before sneezes (over and over again); the chill creeping from exterior walls toward the centers of the rooms
smelling: vanilla candle, rising pizza dough
tasting: green chai, pecan granola, green chai
seeing: frost patterns on the storm windows, like a magical forest of jewels
hearing: music, chirping birds in the alley (!!!), my own fingers tapping at keys
feeling: the strange tickle before sneezes (over and over again); the chill creeping from exterior walls toward the centers of the rooms
smelling: vanilla candle, rising pizza dough
tasting: green chai, pecan granola, green chai
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