Yesterday I signed up for a free MOOC: the Iowa Writer’s Workshop(!) free class How Writers Write Fiction. This afternoon I’ve been working on the first assignment for the class, and it’s just not working. I have been more drawn to essay and poetry of late (which is not to say I write prolifically, or at all, but when I think about it, it’s never fiction).

I am undecided as to whether I will just skip this exercise [insert slap on the wrist: bad Allison] or try again another day.

I need to write, but I’m out of the habit.
I’ve been thinking about the written word, the literary world lately. It’s yet to be determined whether I’ll have something to say to a large audience, but this inkling of passion is a welcome change. And I can’t help but think it’s rumbling around for a reason. We shall see.

In the meantime, I’m going to go start reading Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. I’ve owned it for ages; it’s on my list for 2015 reading; I need a kick in the pants; I’ve got to start writing more than off-the-cuff blogs.

May also come back here, who knows!

last night we finished booking places to stay in scotland, since we’ll be arriving there in t-minus TWELVE days. apart from packing, that’s kind of the last big thing. hopefully we’ll make some good lists of things we might do while we’re there, and print out our itineraries/directions etc (since no cell service + driving on the right left side of the road + a folding map of the country = adventure/lots of turning around).

last night i also made a favorite meal and a cake (which we decided to call a coffee cake and have with, yes, coffee, this morning) and we finished off season two of doctor who.

even though rose isn’t my favorite companion, and doomsday doesn’t cause spontaneous sobbing…it’s still pretty heartbreaking.

but continuing the productivity…today it was nice to have breakfast already made when we got up, and i was tackling my goal of yardwork by 9:45 (which is making great time, for me, on a weekend). spent an hour sweeping, weeding, watering, etc…really makes me appreciate the work that goes into keeping a place up! and the necessity of having good equipment – a wider broom would have gotten things done much quicker.

then, after returning to the air conditioned house, decided a break would be nice and i made some great progress on getting the feedly reader caught up and sending emails. and now it’s only noon! hopefully more productivity to come later this afternoon, possibly even another blog about my trip to memphis last weekend.

happy saturday!

I’m celebrating by listening to the album and thinking about how I’ll be back in Paris in one month and one day. It’s just for a weekend, but it will be wonderful.

On days off when routine falls by the wayside though, it’s easier to think of what we’re missing.

July 4, 2011 – H and I attended the same rooftop party in Seattle (possibly at different times, as our paths didn’t cross).

July 4, 2012 – it was the second time H and I hung out together. It wasn’t technically a date, but on another rooftop in Seattle, H reached for my hand as the fireworks started and didn’t let go until long after the roof had been been deserted by our friends.

[photo by scott o’malley]

Seattle seems to be everywhere in media lately. Videos going viral on facebook (or maybe just viral among my large contingent of Seattle-based friends).

Magazines extolling the wonder of the Pacific Northwest…

[screenshot from rue magazine]

Here’s to Seattle and great memories. The Pacific Northwest that will always feel like home. New adventures and making something out of the three years we’ll be in St. Louis.

So as a conciliatory gesture, here’s a few images from the backyard.

St. Louis surprised me by being green. It rained a lot the first few weeks we were here, and there are luscious trees in abundance. I haven’t wandered too far outside the city, but I imagine once you get into farm country, corn and wheat give the land a browner hue.

The windchimes were left by a previous tenant or the owner. When it’s not too hot or humid outside, I’ll leave my office window open rather than crank the air conditioning. The musical notes, chirping birds, and occasional squirrel scrambling through the bushes make for a nice soundtrack.

Flowers don’t seem to last long here (I took the photo of the lilies last week and they’ve already wilted), but they’re some unexpected sunshine.

[via urban outfitters]

It’s one of those nouveau platitudes that gets pinned (I even had to double check whether I’ve in fact pinned it before)and shared and dubbed as wisdom.

When I started thinking about the phrase, my tone was self-accusatory: see, get with it. You’re planted in St. Louis, so just grow already. You didn’t follow through with coming up with any fun plans, the least you can do is go run errands at Target.

But then I started thinking about actual plants (presumably the origination of the thought above). They don’t just grow anywhere. Every plant is different and requires certain things in order to flourish. Cacti don’t do well in a rainforest; citrus trees don’t enjoy cold weather. I have an aloe plant that’s pretty hardy, but it didn’t like sitting out on the porch here. Granted, I don’t know too much about plants, and I’m pretty sure this one is in the wrong kind of pot (no drainage and just potting soil), but since it’s a succulent, I supposed being out in the humidity wasn’t ideal so I brought it inside.

So maybe I’m “planted” somewhere not suitable for my growth – ha! Allison – 1, platitude – 0

Except my aloe plant isn’t in it’s ideal environment either. It would probably prefer to not be in a pot as a houseplant. It would probably thrive best in it’s native habitat, but so far it’s doing okay. With a little tending, I think it will continue to grow and even flourish.

Maybe all I need is a little “tending”, if you will. As I’m adjusting to the relative shock of a new environment, I need to pay attention to how much water I’m getting (literally – the humidity sucks it right out of you) and maybe move around to find out where I get the best exposure to light.

Plant metaphors aside, the business of growing where you’re planted requires more than just saying “Ok, I’m here” – wherever here is to you – “let’s start flourishing.” It requires patience and attention to what is life-giving. Although where you’re planted may not be where you flourish naturally, that doesn’t mean you can’t flourish.

Here’s to getting ready to grow. I’m still recovering from the transplant, and I don’t need to expect significant growth right away. But with a little care and a lot of Jesus, there’s a growing season around the corner.

But I’ll grant that I haven’t done much outside of compare prices of the local Shop ‘n’ Save vs. Aldi vs. Trader Joe’s. I did sign up for a library card, and I picked up my first two books this afternoon. (I’m halfway through Where’d You Go Bernadette, which I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as everyone else has, and while I’m slightly more amused that anticipated, my expectations are largely holding true.)

On the plus side:

There are fireflies! Not a lot, and I haven’t bothered to try to take a photo yet, but it’s an exiting thing for someone from the northwest, where I’m pretty sure nary a firefly exists.

Got our first tornado warning under our belts (wasn’t even windy here, so it was pretty much a non-event, other than determining that we can hear the sirens at our place)

The thunder is loud and pretty cool.

The World Cup! (I got into it in 2010 because the family in Panama was into it. It’s a strange sort of full-circle to be watching it again, four years having passed, and being in a new [as-good-as-foreign] place that sometimes reminds me of Panama)

H made a sweet closet rack to augment our dearth of closet space. I showed him this pipe coat rack DIY, and he came up with this:

On the less-than-great side:

It’s rained a lot since we’ve been here (might as well have stayed in Seattle).

Yes, it’s humid (we went to a Farmer’s Market this morning – probably the first time wandering around outside in 80-90* weather + humidity in a while – and it took me half a day to get over feeling light-headed. Yes I’m drinking more water now.)

And because it’s humid, spending much time outside is little to no fun. And last Sunday when I tried to sit on the back porch for a bit to read, came away with some bug bites whose itchiness lasted waaaay too long (I think today was the first day I didn’t feel the need to scratch my elbow or ankle.)

But that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.

It really doesn’t help the whole adjusting process, having my surroundings in even more flux than they were the month leading up to D-Day (Departure Day) in Seattle.

In the grand scheme of things we’ll be unpacked before you know it (and for that matter we’ll be moving again before you know it).

…but today we’re not unpacked. I need to move a bookshelf into a room, but the room is full of boxes that I can’t unpack until the bookshelf is there. And I can’t decide where to put the bookshelf until the boxes are out of the room so I can actually see the room and not just how much it can hold.

Progress is slower than I’d like, but it’s there nonetheless.

I ate half a pint of raspberries, a healthy salad for dinner and no ice cream. Looks like I’ve gotta take progress where I can find it.

I am trying (and succeeding!) to enjoy the time of celebration and family in these last days leading up to the marriage (H’s sister is marrying H’s best friend). However, after the fellowship is over and we’re back at box-world (aka the apartment), all I can think about is things that need to happen in the next  e i g h t  d a y s  before the move. It’s overwhelming.

The eternal optimist in me (it’s a rare side, but still there) shrugs off the stress and says it will all get done. Which it will. Whether it gets done at the expense of sanity is another matter.

Life-long family friends of my in-laws are in town from Australia for the upcoming wedding. They gave me a beautiful wooden tea-light holder with a blessing that is much appreciated in the midst of the maelstrom.

May you know the nearness of His Presence with you and His love, joy, peace and strength always.

“The God of love and peace will be with you…” 2 Corinthians 13:11