Posted in Family, Haiku, Holidays, Love, Photography, Practice, tagged fathers and daughters, Mother's Day, parenting, the practice of haiku on May 12, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Waiting for Dad, self-portrait of Jim with Em at school, photo © 2008 by Jim. All rights reserved.
my best mother’s day:
my mother, my daughter, and
a father who shares
-related to post, haiku (one-a-day)
Posted in Family, Gratitude, Life, Love, Memoir, Personal, Practice, Relationships, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged siblings, the power of birth order, writing about birth order, youngest child on May 8, 2008 | 9 Comments »
I’m trying to remember how it was. I see myself skinny on the concrete driveway, dirty knock knees, a striped t-shirt, tiny bumps for boobs. Not only the youngest, but a young youngest.
I didn’t develop until I was 17, didn’t know about Kotex or tampons, although my older sisters told me about starting periods and [...]
Posted in Culture, Family, I Don't Remember, Life, Love, Memoir, Personal, Practice, Relationships, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged firstborn child, middle child, mothers and daughters, superheroes, the power of birth order, the practice of writing, writing about birth order on May 8, 2008 | 12 Comments »
Yes, I’m a firstborn. With all the flaws, rights, privileges, and responsibilities that go with being a firstborn. “With great power comes great responsibility.” Hmmm. JFK? No, it was Peter Benjamin Parker. Spider-Man.
Maybe it should read, “With great responsibility comes great power.” Either way, there is an ethical piece, a balance between burden and privilege.
Firstborns [...]
Posted in Family, Growing Older, Life, Love, Personal, Photography, Practice, Relationships, Writing, tagged aging parents, caring for aging parents, red Ravine Guests, Seeded Earth, writing about growing older on May 5, 2008 | 37 Comments »
By Bo
Growing old? I can handle my getting older. I barely notice the days sneaking past. But then I barely noticed the days creeping past my mother, either — she lives 300 miles away and has always maintained her independence. Then there was a death in the family – a dear aunt who was the same [...]
Posted in Art of Rebellion, Bones, Culture, Death, Essay, Family, Gratitude, Love, Memoir, Photography, Place, Relationships, Spirituality, Travel, tagged Beverly Donofrio, Catholicism, cemeteries, grandmothers, honoring the dead, honoring the past, Looking for Mary, mothers, New Mexico, Raton, religion, Virgen Maria, Virgin Mary, visiting graveyards on May 3, 2008 | 35 Comments »
Mother Mary as in a Dream, Raton, NM, photos © 2008 by
ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Last Wednesday afternoon I found myself in one of the best spots I could imagine, with my parents and oldest sister, and in the company of my beloved grandparents and best-ever uncle. We were in the cemetery in Raton, New Mexico, [...]
Posted in Art, Doodling, Love, Personal, Photography, Poetry, Secrets, tagged fashion, Italian shoes, odes, Pablo Neruda, pink shoes, style on April 19, 2008 | 28 Comments »
Pink Shoe, pen and ink and marker paint on graph paper,
doodle © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
It’s not the first pink shoe I’ve loved.
The first would be a pair I bought for $3 at a garage sale. Nineteen-forties, pointy toe, with a bow. Still in the original shoe box.
“Love” is too strong of a word. That’s [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Everyday Art, Gratitude, Life, Love, Photography, Poetry, Writers, tagged Oda a las cosas, Ode to things, Pablo Neruda, poets on April 18, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Oda a las cosas
by Pablo Neruda
Amo las cosas loca,
locamente.
Me gustan las tenazas,
las tijeras,
adoro las tazas,
las argollas,
las soperas,
sin hablar, por supuesto,
del sombrero.
Amo todas las cosas,
no sólo
las supremas,
sino
las
infinita-
mente
chicas,
el dedal,
las espuelas,
los platos,
los floreros.
Ay, alma mía,
hermoso
es el planeta,
lleno
de pipas
por la mano
conducidas
en el humo,
de llaves,
de saleros,
en fin,
todo
lo que se hizo
por la mano del hombre, toda cosa:
las curvas del zapato,
el tejido,
el [...]
Posted in Body, Death, Essay, Family, Gratitude, Jugular, Love, Personal, Photography, Practice, Relationships, Writing, tagged Bob Chrisman, death of a mother, hands, honoring death, red Ravine Guests, writing through pain on March 27, 2008 | 28 Comments »
By Bob Chrisman
I took a photograph of my mother’s hands before the visitors arrived at the funeral home. When she was well, she cared for her hands and nails everyday, but that stopped in the nursing home when she lost the strength in her hands and arms. Her nails grew long and dirty. That bothered [...]
Posted in Culture, Jugular, Life, Love, Nature, Personal, Politics, Practice, Topic Writing, Wake Up, Writing Practices, tagged making politics a spiritual Practice, March snowstorms, order & chaos, the Zen of flat tire repair, Turkey medicine, unity for the good of the whole, writing about mess, writing as a practice on March 18, 2008 | 7 Comments »
The world is a messy place. My home? It is messy in spots, little corners, under the living room table, around the computer desk. It finds order when we clean. And returns to chaos again. I usually recognize an order to the chaos. I manage to find what I need. I’m staring out the window [...]
Posted in Art of Rebellion, Authors, Bones, Books, Death, Love, Memoir, Obituaries & Epitaphs, Photography, Place, Quotes, Relationships, Silence, Taos, Writers, Writing, tagged Angelo Ravagli, D. H. Lawrence, epitaphs, Frieda Lawrence, Kiowa Ranch, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Not I But The Wind, relatives of the Red Baron, Til Death Do Us Part on March 16, 2008 | 10 Comments »
Not I, But The Wind, tombstone of Frieda Lawrence, near Taos, New Mexico, February 2007, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Emma Maria Frieda Johanna Freiin
(Baroness) von Richthofen
In Memory of twenty five years of incomparable companionship - Angie
Emma Maria Frieda Johanna Freiin (Baroness) von Richthofen was a distant relative of the “Red Baron” [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Family, Holidays, Love, Personal, Practice, tagged Valentine's Day on February 14, 2008 | 9 Comments »
Valentine’s Day is almost over.
I meant to say how much I love the simple act of acknowledging the day.
I meant to talk about how it seems that when we were little, the cards we gave to our classmates were so much bigger than the cards my girls bring home today. How much I loved coming home [...]
Posted in Holidays, Laughing, Life, Love, Photography, Practice, Seasons, Writers, Writing, tagged primroses, Ted Kooser, the practice of haiku, Valentine's Day, Valentines on February 14, 2008 | 14 Comments »
Valentine Primroses, Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
red primrose surprise
fluffy white valentine hearts
fall from the gray sky
-posted on red Ravine, Thursday, February 14th, 2008
-related to post, haiku (one-a-day)
Posted in Animals & Critters, Essay, Family, Love, Personal, Practice, Relationships, tagged black widow spiders, love of spiders, totem animals on January 29, 2008 | 36 Comments »
By Sharon Sperry Bloom
QM and YB got me thinking about what my totem animal might be.
I’ve always had cats, my whole life, and I’m uncomfortable without one in the house right now. I think we probably have exchanged a few traits along the way, like a love of solitude and sleep.
I love dogs, especially the [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Body, Bones, Books, Death, Growing Older, Holding My Breath, Home, Life, Love, Photography, Place, Poetry, Practice, Quotes, Relationships, Silence, Structure, Writers, Writing, tagged December (Christmas Box), Fitzgerald Theater, Galway Kinnell, Josephine Dickinson, MPR Talking Volumes, Silence Fell, Strong Is Your Hold, Where Were You When I Came In From The Evening Milking, Writers Hands, Writers reading their work, writing through grief on January 9, 2008 | 28 Comments »
Writers Hands VI, Josephine Dickinson, Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul, Minnesota, April 2007, all photos © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Josephine Dickinson read her poetry at the Fitzgerald Theater last April, sharing the stage with her mentor, Galway Kinnell. She met Galway at a poetry reading at Morden Tower in Northumberland. She was drawn to [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Art, Doodling, Family, Gratitude, Love, tagged making a Gratitude List, reflecting on the past, the ABC's of Gratitude on January 2, 2008 | 14 Comments »
A art, all things Art and Artist, absolute passion for Art, artsy-fartsy
B billies, that’s what I call the Boys in my life: Jim, Otis, Rafael
C children, my girls, chattering sitting in the same chair
D daylight growing, Dad
E evenings, eating dinner with my family more often than not
F friends, family, fields (of dreams, of birds, of grass)
G [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Art, Dreams, Family, Gratitude, Holidays, Labyrinths, Life, Love, Maps, Personal, Photography, Place, Practice, Silence, Spirituality, Structure, Topic Writing, Vision, Wake Up, Writers, Writing, tagged community as witness, end of the year rituals, Labyrinths, making a Gratitude List, New Year's resolutions, prosperity, reflecting on the past, the ABC's of Gratitude, The Places I've Walked, the power of Gratitude on December 31, 2007 | 30 Comments »
The Places I’ve Walked, walking a brick labyrinth, Martinez, Georgia, June 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved
It’s New Year’s Eve (almost a whole New Year, ybonesy!). I’m working on the black-eyed peas and rice post. And I’ve got to say the orangutan’s butt is a pretty hard act to follow! But I’m [...]
Posted in Essay, Family, Fotoblog, Gratitude, Love, Maps, Photography, Place, Quotes, Relationships, Skies, Travel, Writers, Writing, tagged American history, birthdays, Chrysler Building, E. Elise, Ellis Island, Emma Lazarus, Empire State Building, Going To New York, historical places, New York City, NYC photoblog, original Liberty flame, red Ravine Guests, Statue of Liberty, The New Colossus, writing by young authors on December 26, 2007 | 27 Comments »
By E. Elise
Liberty’s Torch, visit to New York City, August 2007, photo © 2007 by R3. All rights reserved.
It’s my Granddaddy’s birthday. We were going to New York by train. In New York we’re going to see the Statue of Liberty, and the “Vampire State Building” as my cousin, Isaac, used to call it.
My family [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Art, Gratitude, Holidays, Love, Seasons, Spirituality, Vision, tagged Christmas card art, Christmas tree image, hopes for the New Year, linocut print on December 25, 2007 | 10 Comments »
peace ∞ hope ∞ love ∞ alegría
∞ joy ∞ reflection ∞ solitude ∞
persistence ∞ paz ∞ awareness
Posted in Art, Culture, Gratitude, Holidays, Home, Life, Love, Personal, Practice, Relationships, Seasons, Spirituality, tagged community, darkness, filling the well, hibernation, light, linocut, Santa Claus, Solstice & Equinox time chart, winter celebrations, Winter Solstice, Yule on December 22, 2007 | 23 Comments »
Winter Solstice, cropped linocut © 1991 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Midnight is Winter Solstice. I sit in the coming darkness alone, watching the sky. Snow melted and dripped off the roof. Puddles formed in the driveway. A storm will skirt the Twin Cities by morning. I am hoping for a wallop of snow. The more the merrier, [...]
Posted in Family, Growing Older, Laughing, Love, Memoir, Music, Personal, Practice, Relationships, Secrets, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged Beatles '65, ghosts of Christmas past, growing up, listening to albums, love of music, music and memories, music nostalgia, the first time, vintage, vinyl, wax on December 20, 2007 | 10 Comments »
The first time I heard Beatles ‘65 I was 9 or 10. It was a big deal because it was my first LP, the FIRST vinyl 33 1/3 Long Playing record album I ever owned. Before that, I had a series of 45’s, neatly stacked in the small bedroom I shared with my younger sister. [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Body, Bones, Death, Dreams, Family, Life, Love, Personal, Photography, Place, Practice, Relationships, Structure, Taos, Topic Writing, Vision, Writers, Writing, Writing Practices, tagged Jeanie Bernard, Katherine Reynolds, letting go, Melissa Studdard, Petroglyph Practitioners, petroglyph rock, red Ravine Guests, Sally Sontheimer, the practice of writing, writing community, writing groups, writing process on December 18, 2007 | 13 Comments »
Petroglyph Rock II, Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos, New Mexico,
February 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
The Petroglyph Practitioners are four women — Jeanie from North Carolina, Melissa and Katherine from Houston, and Sally from Rome, Italy — who write, alone and together, following the rules of Writing Practice. They tell [...]
Posted in Bones, Dreams, Gratitude, Great Places To Write, Love, Photography, Place, Practice, Quotes, Relationships, Spirituality, Structure, Taos, Vision, Writers, Writing, tagged Jeanie Bernard, Katherine Reynolds, Lois Palken Rudnick, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Melissa Studdard, Natalie Goldberg, Petroglyph Practitioners, petroglyph rock, petroglyphs, Sally Sontheimer, the practice of writing, Utopian Vistas, writing community, writing groups, writing process on December 17, 2007 | 20 Comments »
The story begins like this…Five hundred years ago, the large petroglyph rock that marks the border of the courtyard of the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos was placed there by the Tiwa Indians to help anchor the energy of the Pueblo Mountain, from whose Blue Lake they trace their origins as a tribe.
The petroglyph [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Film / TV / Video, Growing Older, Life, Love, Memoir, Music, Photography, Practice, Writing, Writing Topics, tagged 33 rpm's, 45 rpm's, Ann & Nancy Wilson, Blood On The Tracks, Dylan, heart, Hope & Glory, Love Me Like Music, music and memories, musicians, records, songwriters, Top 10 Albums of all time, vintage, wax, writing about music, Writing Topics on December 10, 2007 | 27 Comments »
Blood On The Tracks, newly painted garage door on Dylan’s childhood home, part of the Dylan Days tour, Hibbing, Minnesota, May 2006, photo © 2006 by Liz. All rights reserved.
I’ve had music on the brain. Last week I watched an October interview with Nancy and Ann Wilson on A&E’s Private Sessions. The two [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art, Culture, Doodling, Family, Love, Personal, Place, Relationships, Spirituality, Things That Fly, Vision, tagged drawing of a hummingbird, hummer, hummingbird image, hummingbird landing on a person, hummingbirds, messengers on November 30, 2007 | 22 Comments »
A Message for Jim, pen and ink, November 2007, doodle © 2007 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
The first time it landed on Jim, he said he thought it was his brother David.
David was 15 months younger than Jim. His little buddy, his pal. David died of leukemia when Jim was seven.
No one talked about David’s [...]
Posted in Family, Gratitude, Love, Practice, Relationships, Topic Writing, Writing, Writing Practices, tagged feeling loved, kinds of love, writing practice about love on November 26, 2007 | 14 Comments »
I feel loved when I feel appreciated. When people show up for me. Is that an act of service, showing up? I feel loved when I feel connected to something bigger than me. Like watching the Swenson-Lee family of 10 from Minnesota on Extreme Makeover - Home Edition. Their father died in an auto accident [...]
Posted in Family, Love, Personal, Practice, Recall, Relationships, Writing Practices, tagged feeling loved, kinds of love, Love Story, writing practice about love on November 25, 2007 | 8 Comments »
I feel loved when I hear the words, “Hi, you.” That’s what Jim sometimes says when he answers my call on the cell phone. They sweep me off my feet, those simple words, and if that were all he did for the rest of our lives together, I think I’d be happy.
I feel loved when Em comes up [...]
Posted in Family, Family Recipes, Food, Gratitude, Holidays, Home, Love, Memoir, Personal, Photography, Practice, Seasons, Writing Topics, tagged Family, Food, memories in food & cooking, Meringue-Topped Southern Banana Pudding, Original Nilla Banana Pudding, passing down family recipes, Practice, Southern banana pudding, Thanksgiving, traditions, writing about food, writing practice & food on November 23, 2007 | 38 Comments »
Stirring the steaming, liquid vanilla pudding as it warms on the stove is kind of Zen for me. The silver spoon gleams and swirls through currents of milk and cornstarch. I stare, mesmerized.
Liz was bustling around the kitchen, dicing and dashing, mixing the Dijon, OJ, and honey basting sauce, chopping bananas, basting the naked Cornish [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Growing Older, Holidays, Home, Life, Love, Memoir, Personal, Place, tagged Amelia's kitchen, Family Recipes, Food, passing down family recipes, R3, Southern banana pudding, Southern cooking, Thanksgiving, traditions on November 21, 2007 | 24 Comments »
Old family recipes remind me of the good parts of childhood. The smells are familar and warm, enveloping me in a giant culinary hug. The tastes are like ancestral footprints, distinct to each family, passed down for generations. (They don’t call it comfort food for nothin’!)
My 5 siblings and I have started pulling together Mom’s [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Love, Photography, Practice, Relationships, Taos, Wake Up, Writing, Writing Topics, tagged feeling loved, Gary Chapman, heart to heart, kinds of love, languages of love, meditation, Practice, the ways we love, Writing, writing topic on November 20, 2007 | 15 Comments »
Heart & Soul, Mabel Dodge Luhan House, on the hill behind the zendo, Taos, New Mexico, February 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
My sister-in-law told me about a book she’d recently received as a gift, The Five Languages of Love by Gary Chapman. It’s about the ways individuals express love. And the ways they [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Gratitude, Growing Older, Laughing, Love, Personal, Photography, Relationships, tagged animal lovers, birthdays, cats, Mr. StripeyPants, Pants turns 10 on November 17, 2007 | 21 Comments »
When Liz woke up this morning, she mumbled something about Mr. StripeyPants’ birthday.
“What?” I said. “I missed his birthday?” I strolled into the kitchen and checked out the refrigerator door where Liz has the cats’ birthdays posted.
There (in Liz’s neat artist block print) was the following:
Kiev - ‘Kiki Bell’: Jan. 1, 1995
Chaco - ‘Wooley Pokes’: [...]
Posted in Culture, Family, Gratitude, Life, Love, Personal, Place, Practice, Topic Writing, Vehicles, Writing Practices, tagged car trouble, Cody, Good Samaritan, kindness, kindness of strangers, Marylin, red Ravine Guests, the practice of writing, Wyoming on November 15, 2007 | 29 Comments »
By Marylin
Recently, my daughter, a friend and I were on our way to our Chiropractor, who lives and has his practice in a small town east of our homes in Cody, Wyoming. We arrange our appointments on the same morning, and enjoy our commute together. However, this particular morning was different. My daughter was the [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Body, Bones, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Gratitude, Growing Older, Home, Laughing, Life, Love, Personal, Photography, Relationships, tagged birthdays, daughters, Family, Food, Gratitude, home & hearth, Mom's 70th Birthday, mothers, surprises on November 14, 2007 | 46 Comments »
Cutting The Cake, Amelia’s hands cutting the cake on the day she turned 70, Central Pennsylvania, November 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I’m sitting in Amelia’s kitchen. The smell of homemade chicken and dumplings spins across the room. My brother and sister-in-law stopped over for breakfast. Amelia made Canadian bacon, grits with [...]
Posted in Culture, Gratitude, Life, Love, Place, Practice, Vision, Writing, Writing Topics, tagged courtesy, courtesy pays road sign, journaling, kindness, New Mexico, politeness, writing about kindness and politeness, writing with students on November 12, 2007 | 24 Comments »
Mimbres Man sent an email last week saying he’s been journaling with his fifth-grade students every morning. They spend at least 15 minutes writing on a different topic.
He wanted to share a recent and favorite topic with the readers of red Ravine. We’ve included it verbatim below.
In today’s fast and furious world, this topic is a great reminder [...]
Posted in Body, Family, Home, Life, Love, Personal, Photography, Relationships, tagged blood, fainters, fainting at the sight of blood, feeling weak at the sight of blood, health on November 7, 2007 | 32 Comments »
If you’re anything like me, that is. The kind of person who at the sight or mention of Blood gets weak from head to toe. Like those pens you stand on end and the color drains, revealing a naked woman underneath. Except, instead of busty nude, you get floppy, boneless mass. Which is what I am right [...]
Posted in 25 Things, Authors, Bones, Books, Culture, Death, Dreams, Fiction, Fotoblog, Life, Love, Memoir, Photography, Politics, Quotes, Reading, Relationships, Structure, Vision, Writers, Writing, tagged Ann Patchett, Bel Canto, Fitzgerald Theater, interviews, Kerri Miller, Lucy Grealy, Memoir, Minnesota, St Paul, Talking Volumes, The Second Coming, Truth & Beauty, W. B. Yeats, Writers, writers on tour, Writing, writing relationships on November 6, 2007 | 31 Comments »
Writer’s Hands IV, hands of Bel Canto author, Ann Patchett, signing a copy of her latest book, Run, Fitzgerald Theater, downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Part I.
On a rainy October night, inside the haunted Fitzgerald Theater, Ann Patchett held the audience rapt. She has created a huge life [...]
