Sometimes I just have to stop what I’m doing to write something, even if I don’t have any idea what it is that wants out. Or maybe nothing wants out, but my creative muscles need some yoga…or at least some stand up with arms straight up in the air tippy toe stretching. Lately I fire off words away from here, so I’m still stretching, or jogging, or some-such exercising analogy. Just not right here in this space. My directing/producing cohorts and I have been making the final very difficult decisions in casting this year’s Listen To Your Mother Austin show. There’s never going to be anything that feels good about sending the inevitable, “We sincerely appreciate your story and time, BUT…” responses. Ask pretty much any director/producer, and if they’ve got a heart at all they’ll say, Yeah, I hate that too. It’s awful. (I know, I know. Poooor us.) But really, if […]
The playroom is totally trashed again. Legos seem prone to the floor, all over, like a minefield. What is the Lego table for? I don’t know. To pile bricks on before tossing them to the floor. I told the boys it’s time to do another Big Cleaning and they fussed and whined. We still haven’t done it. Even though this is what my oldest wrote on the chalkboard right in that same room: Hey! Practice what you preach, kiddo! (I can hear God whispering that to me today, too.) The rules my child wrote seem to cover all the rules for life. We seem to desire clean bodies, our hearts and minds both. It feels best to have no hidden darknesses. We are good-intentioned like that, picking up all the bricks and putting them away, neat and tidy. Not destroying, but building. Not messy, but clean. We want it, but we’re finding […]
I am not being paid by the Voxer App people to explain what it is. So, if you’re asking What is this Voxer App everyone is mentioning? you might not get the most technical description here, but I do explain, in simple terms, what it means to vox.. I just want to tell you because I love voxing: That’s right, I’m now an avid voxer. I have been voxing. I will be doing all the voxing… logo from voxer.com GRANDMA, I KNOW. IT SOUNDS NAUGHTY, BUT IT’S NOT. I PROMISE. The Voxer App was introduced to me by some friends who have been using it for quite some time. I told them on Facebook that I finally looked it up in the app store and read the description. Before that, I had been staring through them as they talked about voxing each other. I didn’t ask, because…huh? am I supposed to know this? How […]
We let them stay up late. The neighbor boys were out and it was finally so warm and there was so little wind to blast through and take our fun. The boys all had light sabers and Elsie Jane had bubbles and a truck. That was after she climbed in the minivan (no keys in there, thank God) and blasted the horn by pressing her chest against it. OH HELLO. She got really mad when I took her out, kicking and screaming and walking away like I’d just told her to go to bed. But that tantrum was for later. Now she’s in her bed, calling out over and over Mama, Mama, Mama and there are nights when she only says it a few times. Tonight she’s not giving up because that’s what being over-tired does. The opposite effect. She asks for water and then the next time she has thrown All The […]
When Elsie Jane’s head is on my shoulder and her back has a little curve to it, when her legs are dangling and her hand is patting my back, that’s my favorite. She got sick a few days ago and I held her a lot, her head on my shoulder like that. She’s starting to say a few more words together and lately sometimes she stops to hug me and then she looks me dead in the eyes and says, Mommy. Home. She loves it when I’m home, which is most of the time and still she occasionally just stops what she’s doing to point out that this is how she likes it. Me too. On Saturday, for most of the day, I wasn’t home because we had rehearsal for Listen To Your Mother. Thursday is our show, at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis, and how did the time fly like that? Like […]
You guys, it’s almost here! The very first Listen To Your Mother Twin Cities. (I know, one day you’re going to want to be able to say, “I was there when it all began!”) That’s good because the Listen To Your Mother Twin Cities team is giving away tickets to our show! You can enter to win a 2-pack of tickets on EACH of our blogs AND on the LTYM Twin Cities site. You have a lot of chances to win! Winners will get to go to the show on May 9th at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis on us! The LTYM directing and producing team–Tracy, Galit, Vikki and I are getting so excited to share this show with everyone who can make it. Our cast and their stories are truly phenomenal, and this is such a unique and powerful way to celebrate motherhood, just days before Mother’s Day! You can bring your […]
Blue grass, he says, comes from our time. These new guys are using it now, you know? Old time bluegrass is playing over the speakers at the coffee house. I’m waiting to hang out with the cast of Listen To Your Mother Twin Cities, in a corner by the window so I can see our theater across the street. His beard is stark white. His long gray hair puffs out from under his hat. See? Listen to that, he says to his friend. It’s so good. He’s right, it’s really good. The other man nods and takes a sip of his coffee, looking over the top of a crossword puzzle. These new blue grass bands now, you know how they’re trying to do blue grass? They can’t. They’re too young. You can’t do blue grass well when you don’t know anything yet. They don’t know anything yet! Some of the cast started to […]
Just Write will be here later tonight, but I had to show you some pictures from the recent storm and the fun Miles, Asher and Elsie (and the dog) had with the fresh white fluff and balmy 30 degree temps yesterday. (By the way, Elsie Jane hates wearing mittens and refuses to keep them on. I have found ways to keep them on, but then she’s mad that she can’t get them to work to pick up snow for eating. Her stubborn solutions? She plops down face first on her stomach and sticks her face in the snow. nomnomnom. Not kidding. She would stay like that and grow frost-bitten if we didn’t constantly pick her up, and she doesn’t even care. Toddlers are weird.) Our dog, Tia Maria? She LOVES it when we shovel. Because she thinks it’s a game in which she is required to catch every bit of snow in her […]
I’m joining in with Jennifer and telling you 7 update-ish sorts of things in very short story form. Ready? Go. The other day Asher and I watched a chicken hawk nearly capture one of our beloved chickens in its mean claw feet. I spooked it when I freaked out, pounding on the patio door. (Dear chicken, you’re welcome.) Now I’m paranoid. I keep thinking I hear a hawk swooping through the air while making that unmistakable hawk caw-shriek. There’s probably a metaphor in there somewhere. I wrote a post about generational faith, my mom’s parents and how they were so different from me, but we’re the same. It’s over at A Deeper Family and now it’s featured on Five Star Friday, which is such an honor. A long time ago, my friend Cecily was at a conference and she tweeted something about it being important to have a newsletter. I was all, huh. […]
I’m so happy to tell you that my friend Ann’s national show, Listen To Your Mother is coming to Minnesota! The show will hit the Twin Cities in the spring! This is all kinds of exciting and I’ve been dying to tell you! I absolutely love what Ann has created–a live show celebrating motherhood through the written and then spoken word. Giving a voice to story and bearing witness is my favorite. Listen To Your Mother is taking place in 24 cities this year, in May, in celebration of Mother’s Day. Each event is sponsored locally and helps to support a local charity. I’ve been cheering Ann on and anticipating the time when LTYM would come our way for years, and it’s finally time! I’m so proud of the rich creative arts culture of the Twin Cities and I just know that this show is going to enrich the community beyond what we […]
