Michele Lee Sefton's Blog, page 23

Tumbleweed Spirit turns Five

On August 1, 2019, I began this blog and four days later I published my first post. Like many people who begin writing blogs, I needed a place to share my words, to express myself beyond what life at the time allowed. I had no idea what I was doing and even less idea what I was getting myself into. I am still not sure about either, but I am glad I pushed past the discomfort of that first post and have continued to do so since.

What I have learned over the last five years is immeasurable – about writing, about the creative process, about personal growth, about people and human behavior, about other cultures, about the world, about photography, about communication, and about myself. I am sure I’ve left off a few (dozen) things. I’ve done my crawling, I’ve taken my first steps, even jogged and skipped a bit, now, as a five-year-old blogger I am ready to pirouette.

To celebrate and honor my five-year blogging milestone, I will be reblogging some older posts during the month of August and sharing a few more thoughts about blogging and personal growth, particularly the kind of growth acquired by creative expression.

Not much has changed since I was a youngster. Well, maybe a few things, but one thing I have discovered over the last few years is that the greatest gift of a creative journey is reconnecting with our youthful spirits – maybe even finding pieces of our free spirits for the first time.

Thank you for stopping by. I am grateful for the connections I have in this creative community – my life is enriched by them. I greatly value and thank each of you. Kind regards and best wishes. Michele

Featured photo of a girl and birthday cake by Ira Lichi / my young dancer photo taken by my mom or dad, just before my first recital

© 2024 MyInspiredLife

A gentle and fiery blend

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the disheveled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”
― William Butler Yeats, The Land of Heart’s Desire

Click here for Woke up this Morning by Lightnin’ Hopkins if video does not load.

Last night’s dance flowers, lost in the darkness of a starless night, resurrected by kisses flying and falling from a golden fire, captured and cast the color of creation across the morning. Oh, the heavenly scent of a gentle memory, transformed, lingering.

Last night, I danced a solo tribute for a friend who recently passed. She was an amazing woman, leader, and talented poet who I featured on my blog a few times. An honor to have known her and to dance in her memory. The song I danced to last night was You’re Not Alone by Allison Russell and Brandi Carlile.

Thanks for stopping by. Warm regards. [image error] Michele

my photos, pink and red carnations from dance class and Sonoran sunrise shots

© 2024 MyInspiredLife

What really matters?

Pockets
pockets are what really matter

Pockets give you a place to put your hands
            when they’re cold
            or you’re feeling fidgety
            or bored
Never during a formal speech though
One must remain calm and in control

You can put things in pockets
            like seashells, quarters, car keys,
            or a tissue to blow your nose
Maybe even a folded note, signed with Xs and Os

Have you ever tried to create a pocket from scratch?
I have and it requires precision to make its appearance
            disappear
Nobody wants puckers protruding
            from their hips, thighs, buttocks, or torso
Stitch securely – what good is a pocket if it has a hole?
well other than the one found at its entrance

The pockets I’ve created from a swath of fabric
have been rather simple and unassuming
A deep pocket I’ve never stitched
I’d probably lose myself in it

The first evidence of pockets was discovered on “Otzi the Iceman” who lived during the Copper Age (over 5,000 years ago). Europe’s oldest mummy, he was found with a wearable pouch that contained small tools. Derived from the Anglo-French word poket or pouchet, the English word pocket came into use around 1450. The first sewn-in pockets, introduced in Europe during the Renaissance, were part of men’s trunk hose (poofy short breeches). After storing items in what were called tie-on pockets and small handbags, ample pockets were finally stitched into women’s clothing in the early twentieth century.

Thanks for stopping by. May your pockets be purposeful and plentiful. Happy Trails. Michele

Featured photo of man and woman with hands in pockets by Viorel Sima / second photo of man in jeans and Converse with left hand in pocket by eranicle / my pocket selfie during morning ride (July 31)

Reference: “A Brief and Curious History of Pockets”

© 2024 MyInspiredLife

Travel notes, illustrated with Belgium art

In a dream, I floated through four countries with tulip fields in Holland as the ultimate destination… photographing, exploring, observing – my mind and heart expanding, knowing I would be forever changed by all that I saw, felt, and experienced.

Two days after returning home (in May), I was so ill – it was as if every contagion I had come in contact with became one destructive force within me. Death felt a better scenario.

From the brink, I did rise, a bit tousled but no less committed to a return visit and growing interest in foreign destinations.

What goes up, must come down, right?

I don’t know if it is possible to completely combat the effects of travel on the body, but I have been researching choices that might make it less consequential, next time.

Thanks for visiting. Wishing you a pleasant Sunday and week ahead. Michele

my photos taken at Groeninge Museum in Bruges, Belgium (entrance in photo) / 1st art piece, “Girl Lying in the Grass” by Ben Sledsens / 2nd and 3rd pieces by Karoline Hjorth – “Eyes as Big as Plates”

© 2024 MyInspiredLife

She’s a character

… Nelly, who always wears a batter-splattered apron, is no looker, but if given the chance, half the men in town would line up down the dirt road, well beyond sundown, for a chance to taste one of her creamy cupcakes…

Nelly tried to mind her own business, but she could sense when the tension next door increased the thick summer air, affecting the perfect rise of her dough. On those days, she would select a suitable recipe from her expansive mind catalogue, adding extra herbs to calm Matthew and Jaqueline’s rattled nerves. She never shared any of her secret ingredients with her California neighbors, just her home baked goods, sincerity, and southern charm.

~ from Honeysuckle Heat – Chapter Five

Yes, as the (recently created) cover and title might suggest, my second novella, Honeysuckle Heat, has steamy passion between two intriguing characters and opens in a southern summer scene, but what makes this sensory rich story altogether irresistible is the character, Nelly. A minor character, her contributions to the story and to Jaqueline’s (main female character) development are monumental. Nelly lives next door to the Georgia cottage where Matthew (main male character) is living while researching and writing his fourth crime novel.

Honeysuckle Heat is in the final editing stages – to be released in August, when the summer heat reaches its apex. This novella, like my first, is written in my lyrical voice, however unlike Her Coastal Cottage that partly unfolds through flashbacks, HH is told in a linear fashion. The two stories are separate of each other, with different characters, settings, and conflicts. Both can either heat up a winter night or delight as a beach read.

Thank you for visiting and reading. Warm regards. Michele

featured photo of butterscotch cupcakes with caramel syrup and cream cheese frosting by Elena Veselova / photo that inspired my Nelly character in HH ep. 3 (Sept. ’21) by Suzy Hazelwood / cover of soon to be released Honeysuckle Heat by artist Sammi Lee / my selfie, holding my first novella, Her Coastal Cottage (Aug. ’23) taken during last night’s sunset when it was 105 degrees outside

© 2024 MyInspiredLife

Passing the time

“All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.”
― Susan Sontag

“Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

Thanks for stopping by and spending some time with me and a gracious thank you to talented writer trE for taking the time to read and review my first two Being a Woman chapbooks – a collaborative pandemic project between me, the poet, and my daughter, the artist. What a wonderful surprise to find our creative endeavors highlighted, along with Pooja’s first poetry collection, All the Words I kept Inside, in trE’s recent post, “Reading is Still Fundamental.”

Sharing some sunshine and wishing you warm smiles. Michele

my photos: the first four (father & daughter looking thru shop window, man on cell phone, man walking a dog, and a woman watching) taken in Germany and the last (three older gentlemen w/walkers) taken in the Netherlands / my sunrise photo July 22nd

© 2024 MyInspiredLife

Anticipation

Under a hazy moon
I waited for your arrival
writing songs to the rhythm
of branches swaying

A hint of your scent
carried by a desert wind
thick with creosote and sage
heightened my anticipation

Crickets sooth and lizards scurry
nocturnal melodies sing your praise
creatures of the night waiting
for the nourishment of rain

Poem submitted to Fake Flamenco’s July Poetry Challenge: “write a Horatian Ode written to or about rain.” Last night brought a hint of hope for a monsoon storm but the rains never came. On a thunderous desert soak, I have not given up hope. Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you a pleasant week. Michele

featured photo by Kirayonak Yuliya / my umbrella photo taken in Rüdesheim am Rhein, Germany

© 2024 MyInspiredLife

Dancing Daffodils

Beats sizzle the space
where a Girl becomes a Pearl
radiating joy

Goddesses glowing
eight become one, soft and strong
dancing together

Free to laugh and fly
a glorious twirling tribe
evolving through song

Daffodil by Florence and the Machine, if music video (with lyrics) does not load.

Last month I celebrated my birthday in a most delightful way… dancing with seven sensational women at the dance studio where I dance two nights a week. The theme of my get together was Pearly Goddess and my ladies brought it, in both attire and spirit! My greatest gift was watching and feeling their joy as we danced to a choregraphed routine to my selected song, Daffodil by Florence and the Machine. My ladies know I enjoy a blend of fire and gentleness. We all had so much fun we decided that we must carry on with a new routine – coming together on occasional Saturday nights, in a less structured way (than class) – to laugh, express, and dance stress away. Thank you for stopping by. Michele

featured photos of dancing women by Jacob Lund (1st) & Roman Samborskyi (2nd) / my daffodil photos taken at Keukenhof Gardens in Holland / hugging photo of me (left) & Lindsey (right) taken in studio by Sarah

© 2024 MyInspiredLife

long flight home

Pinecones fall
in the desert
what a strange
and beautiful sight

Branches struggle
to breathe
roots go deeper
searching

Gold pours
generously
coating what’s
cracked and broken

Flocks fly
through pastels
chasing the last
breath of cool
fading

Watchers of the night
depart
guiding more souls
home

During my morning ride, I pass through a community trail lined with pine trees. For a few minutes, I am transported to the cooler mountains up north. I breathe in the pine scent, slow and deep. The presence of pine trees is life-affirming though their own life may be in danger as the justification for continuing to water such desert indulgences is questioned. I understand yet my heart already weeps for their disappearance.

Thank you for stopping by. Warm regards. Michele

my sunrise photos (July 19th, 2024)

© 2024 MyInspiredLife

Safety First

Where would you like to go?
What are you in the mood for?
            long and winding
                        fast flying
                                    or scenic slow

There’s no room for your worries on this ride
            remove them and leave them behind
            the wind will whip them
                        into something useful

With my steady steering and quick thinking,
            in good hands, you’ll be

A lifetime of preparation held in this moment
A lifetime of adventures stretched before us

The day is ours
            the tank is full
                        hold on tight
                                    let’s go

Thank you for visiting and traveling with me. Warm regards. Michele

featured photo of woman wearing motorcycle helmet by kiuikson / my traveling photos (village street, blurry bus view, urban street, & motorway) taken in Netherlands, Luxembourg, & Germany

© 2024 MyInspiredLife