Friday, September 22, 2006

Gettin' groovin'

Still trying to get my groove back...

What do you do to get your Fall groove going?

A) Go sweater shopping
B) Clear out the clutter in your home
C) Organize something (office, house, closet)
D) Go for a walk/hike
E) Make something homemade (bread, craft)
F) Play with kids (or big kids)
G) OTHER Please share ________________________________________________

If you love me or this blog, please share... and by that I mean comment to this post (as opposed to sending me a personal email). I'm having a heck of a time and could use advice from all you wonderful folks who are mostly a groovin... if you are grooveless like me, maybe someone else's advice will help you groove too!

Happy weekend - go step on some crunchy or soaking wet leaves (with kidlets if you've got 'em or can borrow 'em for a few hours)! Anyone wanna borrow mine for a little while? :-)

11 comments:

  1. I'm grooving okay this fall, mainly because I've been humbled by a lot of rather embarrassing displays of my own failings. And in the process have had to accept that I'm only human.

    It seems like such a precipice we are all walking, pretty many friends have fallen off in an instant this past spring. When I see it happen I'm struck dumb with humility about my own illusions of control.

    In my life I've tried to understand what works, what is refuge? And the one enduring principal that seems to weather all storms is believing in basic human goodness, having compassion. A favorite quote: "When in darkness, lead the way within for a comforting rest."

    I've practiced kindness for a few years, at first it was like a hidey place from all my unnerving experiences. Now, I can see it everywhere. Even posting the question in this little blog, kindness is right there, like a fall harvest fruit you know is there, just lost for a moment. The groove is kindness, sometimes it works on the inside, sometimes it shines on the outside...

    If you think about it, you'll see what I mean. Humility and humanity make it plain how dependent we all are on kindness. Morality and respect naturally develop from there. I believe we've collectively managed to confuse ourselves about who we are and what we are doing. I am also convinced of the power of kindness, and believe it is good cause to not be afraid of our walk along the precipice. Speaking from just a little experience...

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  2. O.k. here's what I'm talking about... just wrote a fabulous replay to jane-o only to have it swallowed up by the giganto-internet! Anyway, thanks for being my first advice giver you wonderful jane-o! I'm still a little too fuzzy headed from lack of coffee and getting over a cold to get all the subtle layers of your post - but I will. Basically it is a great reminder to the importance of basic human kindness. Can you imagine what a wonderful world this would be if we each practiced just one act of human kindness each and every day -let's do it today. I'm gonna think of something and give it a whirl! Thanks again jane-o and post anyday!

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  3. Anonymous9/22/2006

    I definitely go buy a few fabulous fall items. A cute sweater..a new pair of boots....

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  4. Anonymous9/22/2006

    It's when I restart my exercise program (again)... Garsh I wish I could stick to it all the time!

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  5. Exercise... yup I need to start doing that again. I'm amazed at what a struggle it is to get done however... I tried getting up early but if it isn't 5:00 am, my kids get up shortly after I do. My kids are at an age where I can't effectively push them in a stroller and they certainly can't keep up with a brisk walk with me or bike ride for that matter. I'm gonna try for a walk or hike this weekend of some sort but first I think since Sharla says so... I'm gonna take myself sweater shopping!

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  6. Anonymous9/22/2006

    Celebrate the traditions of change.
    Breath in deeper in the morning, have a nice single malt scotch with yourself, and your spouse who may or may not partake, in the evening.
    Love your life and be thankful, spread wonder and laughter.
    Hang up construction paper bats, and listen toVince Guaraldi, look forward to watching Charlie Brown’s Halloween special.
    Collect leaves and put them on your table.
    Love your life and be thankful, spread wonder and laughter and never ever apologize for being happy, safe, and loved.

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  7. Anonymous9/22/2006

    E. made homemade fall food items.(apple cider, applesauce, apple pie, dried apples, canned apples, hard apple cider, apple bread. Peach pie and pumpkin bread.)

    But, that's just the way we do things around here, on our ranch in inner Portlandia, all .23 acres of it. Don't laugh; it's quickly becoming a food forest, front & back. So, as Fall approached, we began to harvest what we could, hoping the remainder of the larger heirloom tomotoes will make it to juicy maturity with naught but aid from the Sun and it's companion more and more these days, the rain. We've put in our Fall crop greens and are watching them germinate and poke up, through the woodchips that comprise our "lawn", with their strangely out of time vernal buttons of greenness. Arugula! Mustard! Things I've not tasted from my own garden for weeks, months.

    Will the pumpkins be ready on time? What will those loping teens decked in their version of scary do to our young plants in the dark of Halloween night? If we clearly mark them, will our neighborhood's youth still destoy our growing hopes there? Will it rain? Where are my thermals? Did we mispack them in the rush of April's move to our current, permanent house?

    In the onslaught of such thoughts, I've a quote I've appropriated from Alan Brennard's novel Moloka'i:

    "...how we choose to live with pain, injustice and death is the true measure of the Divine within us. ...because it is in our own mortality that we are most Divine."

    L'Shana Tova to my fellow Jews. May we, in these days before Yom Yippor, allow our reflections to reveal a course of action so that we may "right our wrongs"; to precipitate positive change in our lives and for others.

    And, for all of us, Blessed Autumn and New Moon.

    Slow down, turn in, speak up and act out!

    With Gratitude,
    -Nikki Monacelli

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  8. Anonymous9/23/2006

    I'd borrow your kids if I had the stamina to keep up with them on this particular weekend!

    For me, fall is all about the apples and leaves. Preferably in conjunction with each other. It started when I was in college - I was walking up a hill covered in oak trees, crunching in the leaves. It was a brisk, beautiful sunny morning. I was on my way to my first class of the quarter, so I was in the "back to school" frame of mind. I was eating a johnagold apple off of my grandparents' tree.

    As I bit into the apple, and simultaneously crunched in the leaves, I thought, "now THIS is fall!" It was a beautiful moment. Must have been, because I still remember it more than 10 years later!

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  9. Anonymous9/23/2006

    As for me, my fall thing is just enjoying the beautiful leaves on the trees. I thought about picking some and pressing them or doing crayon rubbings. I think about pressing them every year, but usually don't. Actually pressed a bunch one year, then didn't know what to do with them and threw them out. Oh well.

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  10. Anonymous9/25/2006

    Stripped wallpaper border in my girl's room! She's 11 and is finally getting a transformation from baby decor to big girl! Ok, so the stars and moon border weren't really babyish, but we picked it out while we were waiting for her and it broke my heart to take it down. That was until the first rrrrriiiipppppppp. Then we had fun tearing it off. My daughter and my older son helped. The baby explored big sister's room while we worked. In 2 weeks we paint light green instead of pastel yellow, with a brighter green accent wall.

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  11. Anonymous9/25/2006

    Oops, almost forgot: we went apple picking yesterday. The farm also had a pumpkin shooting contraption. We had a great deal of fun watching pumpkins hurled across the fields and smashed into pieces!

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