Winter's Waning
Welcome to our ensemble cast
As I’ve popped in and out to share posts this past two weeks, I’ve seen vignettes of winter life from our community. It’s felt like a silent movie reel, risen to, determined to speak to me during my six week tech fast. I’m experiencing fragments of a scrapbook about what you, my internet neighbors, find notable. It’s an amazing highlight reel of the warmth we share even among the last vestiges of the cold, gray, flat light of winter. I’m surprisingly both comforted by and bereft about my absence from the film. For what it’s worth, this is a tribute to our family ensemble.
Phil Connors said it best in the transformational movie we love, Groundhog Day.
When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.
We’ll speak again soon.
**Wanting to hold my impressions inside, I saved the pics and added names to a list without notes. This my recollection of the moments I ‘bumped into’ each of you, so please forgive my imperfect memory.
***This post too long to view in email. Use this link to view at your leisure on my website. This post will be pinned to the top.****
Bren’s Buzz | Cori Bren | Substack
Julie drops the most varietal gems into the chute, in my community. Despite all of humanity’s various stories about our origins, this humble purple cabbage is truly a quintessential picture of miraculously artful, intelligent design.
Recovering from illness, Francesca’s cat, Princess Badu, is the picture of late-winter satisfaction found within presence. Francesca’s shot shows her love for her family member basking in the sunshine of our heavenly universe.
Don’s gentle philosophical approach to life is a soothing balm in a harsh world. A tribute to the fortitude of our residents of the great frozen north, in this photo he’s acknowledged that the effort of digging out was in and of itself a lesson.
Jane is a true survivor. She speaks candidly of her challenges while rising above them. There’s no better mid-winter image than the summertime portrait of a father smiling at whatever is wondrously clutched in his tiny daughter’s hand.
He is one of the most prolifically published authors in our community. Kind, caring, and courageously showing up for life every day, good or bad.
His art is a breath of fresh air reminding us of the simple beauty found in the human form. I’m certain this frozen forest sprite revels in all the seasons’ unique glories, but in this moment it appears made for the crackle of icy winterscapes.
Deb’s uplifting approach to life after loss stays with me long after I’ve read the final words of her writing. Fun, family, and fondness for all creatures big and small - these define Deb. Her picture captured all of her so perfectly.
Kristi’s dog is part of her family, so much so that she has a newsletter all about dogs called Dog Snobs. She sort of single-handedly has me yearning for a puppy, and I grew up a non-dog person (insert gasp of shock). On this morning after a particularly hearty snowfall, Dezi, AKA 'Desiree Mojo Keller’, was having none of Kristi’s urge to see concrete. She sat like a proud queen, fully expecting the world to work around her.
A Wisconsinite who’s all heart, his manually typed work gives new meaning to the word ‘charming’. He unknowingly led me to a hand-written, weekly note-card campaign I’ve undertaken with my niece who has cancer. Kent maintains a bit of a photo diary of the view from his front porch and I found this installment ethereally soothing in a way that only Kent’s moment with nature’s therapy could pull off.
‘Subtly awesome’ is how I describe Colin’s presence in our community. No matter when or what I observe from him, it makes me pause in calming wonder. This is his superpower!
Audra’s work is unapologetically a whopping kick in the pants. Unknown to her, I feel my estranged sister Nina in Audra’s delivery and it makes me yearn. Although we are many miles apart in some of our beliefs, Audra’s on my ‘would save me at 3:00 am’ list. This picture of a ‘subtle’ eclipse, accompanied by a note about “Not every eclipse brings drama” caught my attention.
This one hit me in the solar plexus the day I saw it. What I love most about Trudi is her rabid optimism. Her picture of history, as seen during her lovely winter outing, was grounding in the sense that these are stone walls of the past still standing and withstanding wars, famine, and astounding acts of weather and God. Similar to the great pyramids of our ancient civilizations, this picture of human industry is something to behold.
Joyce’s daily ‘sign off’ often catches my attention. She greets those just starting their day and bids ado to those ending theirs. The accompanying photo is always eye-catching, sometimes hers and sometimes credited to others in her circle. This one caught my eye because its promise of spring was beautifully arresting.
Sol is a person within my community whose work I’d like to read like a book, going back to day one and reading forward post by post to feel the presence within. It’s like an older home within whose bones you feel something that urges you to explore. As a rabid Freddie Mercury fan, I couldn’t love this any more.
C.J. is an author, a poet, and a lovely human being. Her contributions are always, unfailingly kind and thoughtful. It’s so lovely running into her here. This winsome image of winter whimsy immediately caught my attention such that I momentarily broke my fast to read her poem about him.
Demi and team get right inside my head on the daily. With seemingly effortless flair, her wisdom comes in hot, at just the right moments in my mixed up life. For this, I want to party with her - bourbon, confetti, candy cigarettes, the whole enchilada. This meme kicked me in the chest the day I saw it. I don’t recall why it did at that moment, but it resonates with me like a tuning fork every time I look at it.
Kathrine is like the episodic bestie who comes with a cloud of detritus, like Pig Pen of Charlie Brown fame. I mean this in the best possible way! She showed up on this particular day with THE MOST STUNNING sketches I’ve ever seen. Am I, fair-weather team member, the only one who had no idea of her drawing talent to rival Michelangelo?! Her ability to knock the wind outta me is what I love most about her.
Prior to my tech fast, the algorithm was adding some ‘Bob’ to my daily soup on the regular. I appreciate his blend of technical perfection and amateur wonder lately. On this day, I froze when I saw this. It held within it a veritable rainbow of color, a succulent feast of late winter freeze. The teardrops captured upon the burgundy branches of a ruffled birch tree, fronting the colorful clamor of of the blurred background, all combined to somehow bring to mind the myriad sites and sounds of a summer festival. Brilliant!
MaKenna is a big part of our community. She pops into my feed at random moments, always with something that makes me stop and think, or laugh, or share. On this day she was celebrating her first ‘weather watch’ with a deep belly laugh.
Kerry in honor of The DoG Pound
Kerry is a huge part of our community. She has a fresh perspective built upon her life experiences which she’s happy to share. I find her presence here to be like finding a long lost relative about whom I had no prior knowledge. On this day she shared one of DoG’s memes. DoG’s approach to humor always, always draws the belly laughs. While I’ve stepped away from political commentary of all kinds, on this particular day with impending war as the global backdrop, DoG’s capture of fanatics managing our world as if it’s a game stopped me in my tracks.
Dea has a way of shaking up my carbonated beverage. I open her work, it explodes all over me, and I reflect on it for days afterwards. She recently left one of my favorite comments I’ve ever received about a collaborative post co-authored with Deborah T. Hewitt, about our 1970’s childhoods.
I hope you like exploring new authors as much as I do. There are many hundreds more to find in our ‘dusty bookshop’ corner of the interwebs. When I return to Notes after Lent, I’ll catch up with everyone. Godspeed friends, family.
If you’re so inclined, please consider options to get involved, including starting a ruckus in the comments:
**Banner image today is credited to ArtPal
If you missed my post about why I am tech fasting, read it here.
Oh, aren’t you lovely? So often I reject ‘community’ in the internet sense, it can sound so fake sometimes, like a bunch of luvvies all plugging their own stuff. Certainly when I was on Twitter it felt like that - little circles of ‘it’ people and the rest just hanging on. But you make me realise there are lots of good genuine people on here with no ‘agenda’ other than just hanging out, trying to spread some cheer/share their gripes and have a bit of fun. Maybe you are the binding mother, the raising agent in the cake x
Dear Cori, thank you so much for the shoutout and for sharing my work alongside great company here. I've been sick, so this really cheered my sinuses up (🤧🥰). As Julie says, perhaps you are the binding mother 🙏🏻 oxox