Enjoy our Christmas letter 2024 and some of my holiday haikus! The newsletter has all our pertinent information. Every year, we update you with news about our travel and dancing. I like to share what’s happening in my writing world. And we update you with Lin’s gorgeous garden.
Obviously, we had a different year this year! You will see why!
Our Christmas Letter
Enjoy My Holiday Haikus
I write haikus all year and have shared some with you this year—more are coming. Enjoy these holiday haikus I wrote this year.
Today I stand in
awe of God’s blessed master plan—
a baby to touch!
Believe in something,
a God greater than yourself.
There’s a God—not you!
People desescrate
Jesus’ birthday and his life!
It’s more than Santa!
Finally,
today is the fifth day of Christmas—five golden rings from the famous song we like to sing. It started on Christmas Day and will end on January 6, Epiphany. My church (Episcopal) as well as the Catholic church observe the 12 days of Christmas. I love it because it extends Christmas from one day to twelve, so continue to enjoy this holiday season for seven more days!
Write poetry about a dog attack? I’ve written poetry on every topic possible. And yes, I have written poetry about the dog attack.
Today is eight weeks—two months since that horrible mauling. I’ve been robbed of my normal life and living. No dancing, dancing, dancing! Finally, we planned to go to Rendezvous in the Rockies square and round dance festival next weekend. No way! No Driving to my meetings, getting groceries or just going shopping. Driving to Branson twice to visit my brother and enjoy our family ranch—NO! NO DANCING, DANCING, DANCING FOR 2 MONTHS! I’ve never done that my whole life. My 1st poetry book in a four-book series was supposed to be out a month or so ago!
After all this time, it’s not over! The wound is still open and needs dressing. The nerve damage in my foot and ankle rages on. I’m having to adjust to taking Gabapentin again which makes me feel foggy! I took it for the neuralgia after shingles—I hate how I feel on it!
The one positive is the unbelievable support I’ve received from family and friends. I appreciate it more than you know. My niece and her family sent me a beautiful fleece blanket and shower steamers! I’m anxious to try the shower steamers because I’ve never heard of them.
Haikus Since the Attack
Usually, I write multiple haikus often in response to my online meditation, but I haven’t been able to attend as regularly as I like. I have three journals full of those inspired haikus.
Here’s a some I have written since the dog attack:
August 12, 2024
Gratitude saves me.
It keeps my eyes on the prize.
The prize is my God!
August 19, 2024
Is “walk in beauty”
In my future? Will I limp?
With God’s help, I won’t!
September 2, 2024
I danced in a cast
From my ankle to my thigh.
But I was 15!
Am I resilient?
Will this dog attack define?
I will come back strong!
September 6, 2024 – I led the international online meditation and chose a reading, “Transform It or Transmit It” from Father Richard Rohr’s devotional book, just this. He talks about “sacred wounds” which resonated with me with my wound. Could my God make it sacred? My haiku response:
Sacred wounds still hurt.
But Jesus helps transform them.
I give them to Him!
Make me willing, please!
(Remember the importance of the third line! So I provide an option here!)
The choice is mine now.
Negative, bitter or not?
I chose Jesus’ way.
Embrace your body!
God’s miraculous artwork.
Healing flows in me.
Sacred wounds abound.
With God’s help, I’ve transformed them.
Help me transform this!
Poetry, haiku, life’s experiences provide a rich source for topics for me. However, this is one I didn’t want to write about.
When Mom died, my poetry dried up for six weeks—I had nothing to say. Then at six weeks, the poetry flooded my notebooks about everything I had experienced. The same thing has happened with this tragedy except for my haikus shared here. The first six weeks, I cried and cried and focused on healing.
Then a couple weeks, I grabbed a journal and wrote my first poem about the experience, so know there’s more poetry coming about this experience.
Here’s possible topics:
The initial mauling
The owner’s reaction when he lifted my pant leg and saw the wound
My first reaction when I saw the wound
My brother’s response when he first saw my wound
My brother’s loving care when he drove me the 50 miles to Trinidad to the ER
The ER experience and the caring staff there
Lin’s first experience of seeing my wound
Walking with a cane
My visits to my primary care doctor when I returned home and her response
My visits to the Wound Clinic
Doing everything wrong for three weeks
Couldn’t stand watching what the nurse did
Showering with a cast cover
My visit to Urgent Care with fear of a blood clot or an obsess
The Wound Clinic nurse specialist testing for an infection and then the high-powered antibiotic
My reaction to the antibiotic
Burning toes
Hosting Hot August Nights and not getting to dance to my favorite caller and cuer
My adjusted schedule
Trouble sleeping
Toes, ankle and foot hurt
Wound hurt
Postponing the release of my next book, Was It a Dream?
As you can see, there is a lot of poetry percolating inside of me with this dog attack. I will take my time to focus on this, and I will share them with you when it’s appropriate!
Finally
This whole episode has broken my heart, but I will survive! I’m a survivor! And to write poetry will save my life, once again!
Podcasts & My Interviews
Listen to an interview released Wednesday, August 7, 2024 on Hump Days Calls podcast
A hummingbird party continues to rage at our house on the deck where the feeders are. The birds arrived late this summer—first or second week of July. We lamented over their absence in June, but they’re here now and chugging the nectar Lin puts out daily! And what a stunning spectacle!
Hummingbird Party
On Tuesday, August 8, 2023, I selected our deck to lead a meditation group I’m in. Why the deck? So the participants could see the massive amount of hummingbirds we have and join the party. Those tiny birdy rebel-rousers came out in full force.
Our group time together began with: I read my favorite poet, Mary Oliver’s poem, Hummingbirds, for the inspiration part of our time.
Hummingbirds
By Mary Oliver
The female, and two chicks,
each no bigger than my thumb,
scattered,
shimmering
in their pale-green dresses;
then they rose, tiny fireworks,
into the leaves
and hovered;
then they sat down,
each one with dainty, charcoal feet –
each one on a slender branch –
and looked at me.
I had meant no harm,
I had simply
climbed the tree
for something to do
on a summer day,
not knowing they were there,
ready to burst the ledges
of their mossy nest
and to fly, for the first time,
in their sea-green helmets,
with brisk, metallic tails –
each tulled wing,
with every dollop of flight,
drawing a perfect wheel
across the air.
Then, with a series of jerks,
they paused in front of me
and, dark-eyed, stared –
as though I were a flower –
and then,
like three tosses of silvery water,
they were gone.
Alone,
in the crown of the tree,
I went to China,
I went to Prague;
I died, and was born in the spring;
I found you, and loved you, again.
Later the darkness fell
and the solid moon
like a white pond rose.
But I wasn’t in any hurry.
Likely I visited all
the shimmering, heart-stabbing
questions without answers
before I climbed down.
At first, my reading of the poem featuring them chased off all of those hummers. They flee from any sound we make. During the meditation part and the quiet, they came back in full force—dipping and diving. One vied for a position near the feeder, then another ran him off—probably an ornery rufous. I love the collective sound they make—probably their wings flapping, “10-15 times a second. Hummingbirds can fly forward, backward, and even upside down.”
Is all the sound from their wings flapping or do they sing? “While most birdwatchers can identify a Hummingbird by the furious buzzing of their wings, they also have a series of calls, songs, and vocalizations to communicate with each other.”
The herd of hummingbirds and Oliver’s poem inspired me to write the following haikus about hummingbirds and tree climbing:
My Haikus
You are the Lord of
The dainty hummingbird gift!
They make me laugh so!
Climb a tree at my
Age? Why not? Discover life!
Nature heals my heart!
Come and sit on our
Deck to see hummingbirds feed.
Sweet nectar lures them.
I can visit the
Whole world, sitting in a tree.
My deep concerns melt.
Clouds hang over the
Sandias. Hummingbirds dance.
A picturesque scene!
New Mexico True!
(I had trouble deciding on the third line. Which do you like?)
Jesus orchestrates
The hummingbirds’ migration.
Thanks for stopping here!
The thirsty crowd has
Arrived! Hummingbirds party!
Be quiet and watch!
Yes, living in the mountains has many blessings, but these fanciful little hummingbirds have to be the best. They continue to come—hopefully for the rest of August. Yesterday, Lin prepared two gallons of nectar which according to some formula he uses, means he fed 1000 hummingbirds yesterday—wow! Also, he only plants flowers and plants in his garden like penstemons, to feed and attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies!
Finally, yes, when they gather to party and drink the nectar, the hummingbirds disturb the quiet, but naturally. As I sit and type this, those hungry little lovelies gather at the feeders I can see. Two feeders need filling, but there are ten spread out on the deck, and Lin has a schedule of keeping them full.
I love to sit outside and watch their maneuvers and marvel at their speed and antics. Do hummingbirds party at your house? Do you feed any? many? Let me know! Join the hummingbird party!
I’d like to leave you with a treat—a video Lin took last week! Let the party begin!
Pre-order my new book, Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming and Humorous Christmas Memoir, ahead of the Christmas rush. To be released in September for your early shopping pleasure!
A mixture of Easter and poetry—yes, that’s a delight for me! Happy Easter. I want to share some haikus that came to me as I prepared for Easter this year. I walked through Lent and Holy Week with my notebook and pen, ready to record my thoughts and feelings in haikus. Remember that April is National Poetry Month!
A Mixture of Palm Sunday & Haikus
Palms covered the ground
Crowds praised Jesus riding by.
Right now, they cheered but. . .
Birds chirping a song.
Jesus prepares for his day.
Their songs comfort Him.
A Mixture of Holy Week & Haikus
Holy Week is here!
The week before my Lord dies
Anticipation
I follow you, Lord!
Each day, I hear you.
(I had three possibilities for the third lines. Which do you like the best?)
Did You dread the cross?
Did You want an escape route?
You did God’s bidding.
The disciples watched.
Their ears so deaf to Your words.
So, they saw defeat.
Mary, your mother
Watched and pondered her son’s words.
She stood at the cross.
A Mixture of Maundy Thursday & Haikus
I sat next to You.
Your elbow softly touched me.
You just washed my feet.
I pondered the whole idea of Jesus asking his disciples to watch and wait with Him in the garden of Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday, yet they fell asleep. (Matthew 26:36-46)
What would I do at that moment? Would I be able to stay awake?
A Mixture ofGood Friday & Haikus
Watch and wait with me!
Join millions around the world.
Jesus, on the cross!
Satan tried to win
With every strike on the nails.
But no, Jesus won!
Every strike echoes
In my soul. Those nails for me.
Jesus died for me.
Jesus died today
On a cross between two thieves.
His death saved the world.
I sit at the cross
Today. Its power remains.
Jesus overcame!
I kneel at your cross.
Your actions say, “I love you.
I did this for you.”
A Mixture of Easter & Haikus
Watch and wait with me!
Jesus, buried in a tomb.
Oh, will I see Him?
Jesus, Lord of Lords!
Everything is possible!
The tomb is empty!
Watch and wait with me!
A new day—Jesus arose!
My heart overflows!
Mary Magdalene
The first eyewitness to see
The Risen Jesus
The first eyewitness
A woman, not a man, saw Him
Jesus loved women!
For me, haikus provide a wonderful framework to express deep thoughts. As I reflected on the days leading up to Easter, I resorted to haikus to dive deep, and I love what happened—very different perspectives of an age-old story that means so much to me through a mixture of Easter and poetry.
Finally,
Do you ponder the days leading up to the Resurrection? What they meant back then? What they mean today? That’s what I so enjoyed during this Lenten season and Holy Week. And in doing that, my Easter has been a supreme celebration of the Risen Lord. How about you?
All available at my website: laradasbooks.com or Amazon.com
~My new book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? WON the 2022 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards in the Body, Mind & Spirit Category. Have you bought your copy yet?Vist my website: laradasbooks.com or at Amazon.
Grab a cup of coffee, a pen and look at a chapter in my newest book!
~For me, it’s Christmas all year long!Here’s a variety of Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When It’s Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A
Take Flippo with you on your phone and grab an apple to munch on!
~Have you bought a copy of Flippo’s biography yet? Believe it or not—it’s been three years. History and humor go hand-in-hand! Go here for your hardback or paperback: https://www.laradasbooks.com or at Amazon.
