Tag Archives: luck

Tiny Letters and Egrets

While I have continued my daily writing and posting, I haven’t been posting in this space. Today seems like the day to give a peek in to what I’ve been up to. After a month of daily slice of life posting and a month of daily poems in honor or National Poetry month, in May and June I shifted to writing daily #smallpoems (thanks for the inspiration Georgia Heard!) to accompany my daily photo post on Instagram. For July, again inspired by Georgia Heard, I am writing #tinyletters also inspired by my photography and posted on Instagram.

Here is the one I wrote today in response to an egret sighting on my daily walk.

Dear Egret,

We’re both drawn to the shoreline: you to eat, me to drink in the wonders of the sea. I know when I see you that this is my lucky day. And lucky I am, day after day after day.

Neither of us is gregarious by nature, enjoying solitude and blue skies. A space for listening to the roar of ocean waves and my own thoughts far from the noise and chaos of the internet and politics.

You are a whisper of grace and natural beauty, wings that lift you and lift me above the fray. A respite, a pause, a moment of stillness.

So I can breathe and the re-enter the world with renewed strength and resolve.

Thanks for being my lucky charm.

#tinyletters #egret #luck #solitude #respite #recharge

What tiny letters might you write? Who would you send them to? Who or what needs a letter from you during the month of July?

12345: SOL24 Day 22

Leave a reply

We’re not fancy people. We seldom go out to an extravagant dinner and really splurge on the experience. Don’t get me wrong, we eat out our fair share, but we’re more likely to grab In and Out Burger after a beach walk or frequent the tasty but not too expensive local Mexican place for taquitos or burritos.

But tonight, after a couple of days at a conference in Palm Springs, we decided to go out. Geoff had traveled with me, exploring the airplane museum while I conferenced today. It’s our last evening here and this town is full to the brim with conference goers, spring breakers, and retired folks who enjoy the desert when it’s not too hot. I suggested a reservation, hoping I wouldn’t have to make the dinner decision. And I hit the jackpot!

Apparently he skimmed the Italian restaurants in the area (last night was Mexican dinner with colleagues from my school district) and made a reservation at the only one who took reservations. Acknowledging it might be pricey but that neither of us had eaten lunch, and that the restaurant was a quick 3 minute walk from out hotel, we decided that we deserved a high end dinner.

Douglas was an excellent server who let us know right away that the owner was also the chef and that the recipes had been handed down from her grandmother, the pasta was made in house, and that everything would be delicious. Douglas was right! We started with a glass of wine, followed by a wonderful caprese salad to share. I had a lovely pasta entree whose name I don’t remember…but was fresh and so yummy. And of course, we had to top it off with some gelato for dessert.

The real kicker was the price–brace yourself, it was no bargain–but the total was such a unlikely and serendipitous number: 12345! (In monetary terms it was $123.45). But how often does that happen? Douglas encouraged us to head off to the casino in town since surely it was omen of good luck. We declined that suggestion–instead we are hoping that the Megamillion and Powerball lottery will come in for us! But if it doesn’t, we had a lovely dinner on a warm, beautiful Palm Springs March evening. Seems we can’t really lose today.

Umbrella Luck: SOL24 Day 7

4 Replies

It never rains in Southern California… So the song says. And for many years in the last decade that has been true. But in the last couple of years, rain has become a regular feature of winter weather. I’m quick to acknowledge that we need the rain (and that a lot of rain may seem like a small amount to others given that average rainfall for San Diego is under ten inches per year).

And to top things off, the rain seems so unpredictable lately. Yesterday, for example dawned sunny and bright. The day was beautiful and warm, but weather forecasters promised rain by afternoon commute time. And they were right. It actually rained on me during my after work walk…pretty much on schedule. We had rain all evening and some overnight. But the rain stopped by the time my alarm rang, and the day was supposed to be dry.

So, given that forecast, I didn’t dress for rain. I even looked at my umbrella (I had taken it on Saturday to our conference) and told my husband that I wouldn’t need it and then headed out for the university. As I pulled off the freeway to make my way to the parking structure I spied a rainbow…and a very dark cloud. Raindrops began to splatter on my windshield. Oh no, I thought, my umbrella is sitting at home. And the walk from the parking structure to the office is not a short one.

I pulled into the covered parking structure and remembered the conversation my husband and i had last weekend. He was telling me there was an umbrella in my car. Really? I asked. I sure didn’t know about any umbrella in my car. It’s way in the back, in that supply bag I keep in there, he explains.

I’m feeling hopeful as I zip up my jacket, pull my backpack onto my shoulders, and open the back hatch of my car. Sure enough, a small green umbrella is tucked in with the roll of toilet paper, a roll of paper towels, and some other odds and ends.

Today it was a lucky green umbrella, keeping me and my stuff dry as I walked from the parking structure to the office with raindrops tapping a rhythm on the umbrella above my head.