Alison Hendrix's Blog, page 2
November 24, 2023
The Day after Thanksgiving
The warm glow of family clings from yesterday’s gathering, miles away but still casting soft light in my pondering. New gold kisses the browning leaves as the blackbirds call their goodmornings. There is a freshness in this new dawn, like a gentle breeze pushing away the frets of the past, clearing away cobwebs and rumpled trash that clutters the anxious mind. There is no wind. Perhaps it is spirit. A new spirit comes this morning, encouraged by gratitude, it swirls light and candy and joy into the hungry soul. Christmas.
November 2, 2023
Silver
What a lovely treasure is dawning now, long before the sun will rise. This is no pale pink, no rosy glory that will explode into gold. This is still. A calm and cool silver sprinkled about a creamy darkness. That pure silver –the metallic taste nearly dancing on my tongue– pierces through the swimming sea of black and dazzles my eyes. I stare up at the vastness that crowds around me, holding me fast in wonder. My pup and I, we watch. Too early for others to see, she and I laugh as we can, and the silver falls to lay, sparkling, in our eyes. How good, how endless, are God’s gifts!
June 24, 2023
Twilight Song
Ever so softly, night falls so softly, imperceptible. It falls gently, eyes unknowingly adjusting to fading glow, the evening lights sparkling brighter. But we don’t see it. Night settles onto the trees, touches the ground. Ears hear late-time sounds. Frogs and lightning bugs know what we do not. It is time. Like a child growing up. We hear soft laughter or screeching delight, pitter patters and cartoons, and “can we please stay up 5 more minutes!” But we don’t see that night is descending. It falls and the glows fade into sparkling shadow. We grieve and we grow and we rest and we learn. And then, ever as the night falls, so does the darkness slowly fade to gray, then to pink, until full light of day. We see in full. All has grown, questions answered, or perhaps not, but full glory shines. And then, it all begins again. Life is beautiful.
June 21, 2023
Morning thoughts.
I’m learning to trust the ebb and flow of God’s creative process within me. Himself rested after masterful creation, and so must I, being infinitely more fragile of mind and body, and spirit.
I have not written a thing in many days. I find myself approaching the precipice of a boring, blank page: a far stretch, possibly endless, of a life without writing. For this same spot is my sure destination each time I am between spirit-fills, between rest, between touching the magic that God spins through the wind, across the universe, within our lungs. These pauses terrify me. I am filled with the fear that I am no longer to be a writer. What a boring, bland, gray world that would be! For since I have not proven myself worthy, God has taken it away from me. Perhaps, though, as I write this, God reminds me that none of us are worthy. I could never be, but His grace…oh his overwhelming grace, it is sufficient. Hmm. This morning, I choose to believe that this period of inactivity of pen to page is rather a time of rest and refill, rather than an end. Perhaps that’s what these crossroads, this precipice, has always been. Praise God.
Discipline. Discipline is my enemy for I run from it. It pursues me relentlessly with closed fist screaming, “You must have me!” And I, in my impetuous frivolity and catch-as-catch-can childishness, scream in return, “Never going to happen!” It has faithfully proven itself, though. So much so, that, of a morning when I force myself from bed early and sit at the laptop, something wonderful happens. Oddly enough, my inspiration-driven way seems to somehow work in harmony with such discipline and I struggle. Oh what a struggle! To get the two together.
June 14, 2023
Interview with a Forest Ranger in Clayton, NC
A few weeks ago, my little family visited Clemmons Educational Forest in Clayton NC. You can find out more about this amazing forest here: https://www.ncesf.org/cAbout.html Ranger Kevin Pittman was gracious enough to give me an interview!! Afterwards, we walked along the talking tree trail and the talking rock trail.
Check out the video I made after our trip…I learned something really cool about “funny” trees!
June 1, 2023
The Basket
I opened the cabinet just a moment ago, I can’t remember why just now. Oh yes, looking for a vase for Papa’s flowers.
My eyes went up, searching shelf by shelf, and landed on the basket way up at the top. That basket, out of my reach, is full of memories.
Mama’s blue eyes and her playful smile. A sweater on at holidays, or a Tshirt and pajamas on Friday nights. Loving hands line the basket with paper towels. The rolls are hot, hot! Toss them in! Or the French bread, with its gooey, buttery sides sticking to the basket. Place it on the table for company to grab. It’s the flank steak meal and green bean casserole. The basket goes on the table last, full of piping hot, buttery love.
On Friday nights, it’s movie time and the air popper comes out. Mama laughs as we laugh-my brother and I, in the midst of happy childhood. Pop pop pop! The air smells wonderful. Paper towels in the basket, then we all sit close to Mama to reach the basket she holds in her lap – full of popcorn, full of memories.
How priceless. How precious. Momentarily forgotten. Thank God for that basket.
May 25, 2023
In the Waiting Room
It’s early and cold: numb. Strange how old ties are shaken-slowly, gradually. Like a child growing up. Dolls today, and strength tomorrow-strength she doesn’t want to need, strength built from devastation.
That’s how it goes. A golden thread begins and binds. It is woven and made stronger until it now pulls the one who once was invincible. Now life seems fragile and cold and early. But that golden thread will ever weave a changing, shining tapestry.
May 14, 2023
Wildflower memories
Yesterday, my daughter and my dad and I had so much fun exploring Firefly Farm. Cindy has turned her many acres into a wildflower farm, and invites people to come pick a bucketful, for a small price, and enjoy the fresh air and gorgeous grounds. There is a swing in the shade of large oaks, a grove of low-growing pines to hide in, a magical oak with a hammock swing and rope ladder hidden beneath branches that sweep the ground, and floating above all this, is the sweet fragrance of wildflowers.
https://www.fireflyfarmnc.com/: Wildflower memoriesi was inspired today from our trip and wrote this short poem.
I sit and gather memories like colorful, fragrant wildflowers. Each picked and placed, lovingly or carelessly.
Cucumber water, red-haired curls, giggles, and coloring pages. Papa’s stories and climbing trees. Curtains lifting in the breeze.
These I store in crystal vases. Would that they not wither as the flowers they seem to be!
If they should, though, how lovely they make my table on this mother’s day. And perhaps the feeling of their beauty, the sweetness of their fragrance, will last long after the sharpness of their colors fade from mind.
Precious days, precious memories, precious flowers of my heart.
May 7, 2023
The Funny Tree book launch
I cannot believe that I have published 7 books now. It’s overwhelming to me that something that started as a desperate desire to honor my daughter, innocence, and lightning bugs, has continued building into something magical!
At a writers workshop yesterday, Dr. Jen Lowery challenged us to write about WHY we write. I’ve always known the answer. I write because I can’t keep gratitude in. God’s jaw-dropping creations and the light inside each of us are all so exquisite that the praise and gratitude inside just overflows and spills on a page. Also, it’s just plain fun.
If you’d like to rejoice with me on Tuesday, I’ll be posting here, and FB and IG, with giveaways and reading from my book. I’ll also give you a look at the insane happy dance. If you know an author personally, or are one, you’ll know the happy dance. It happens when you sell a book, get a good review, and especially when you get that baby launched!
I’ll be posting more about The Funny Tree this week, and hope to have some seriously fun events to tell you about!
thank you for reading, and may you find magic in this lovely Spring day!
April 29, 2023
Southern Spring
Oh, my Spring, my own cherished season, bring the southern mornings to my lungs! Sting my eyes with their affections, water my skin with their dewy chill. For all their shining greens and floral arrays, it is the gray and the gloom and the melody that makes my soul still. And alive!
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