Category Archives: Life Lessons

day 212

another too long day of chores lost to daylight…but always, there at least a moment for a glimmer. Isn’t she magnificent!

violets

blooming where planted
potted plants are not still life
bursting with secrets

~kat

The lady at the counter could see that I was a reluctant gardener. If she only knew how many lush plants I had ushered home to die. Maybe she figured that out as she looked at me with kindness, a slight tilt of her head while eyeing my selected purchase…”don’t you want one of the plants with flowers already blooming?”

The shelves of her market store were loaded with thriving, blooming specimens, bursting with purple, blue and pink blooms. Clearly, she had a knack for keeping violets.

“No, I like the green, healthy look of this one.” More than anything I wanted to prove to myself that I could master this. To feed and water and nurture something so delicate that it might one day reward me with flowers.

She seemed to know what I was thinking. As if on cue she started to list all the things a new violet parent must do to raise a thriving, happy plant. “Never let water touch the leaves, you know… (I didn’t), place your plant in a dish with water and feed it. Never spray its leaves with mist (I had wilted many a leaves in my shaded history with this practice). And give it sunlight.”

I thanked her for such good advice and left the shop with a sense of excitement and hope. Maybe this time I can pull it off. At least for now having a green living thing inside my home, will bring me joy every day…and it did.

Weeks passed and my little plant grew fuller and greener. Thankfully my cats left it alone. There was no hint of flowering but I told myself that having a living thriving plant was enough. Secretly I wondered if I should have taken the shop lady’s advice and picked out an already blooming specimen. I wondered if having a beautiful green plant was enough after all my concerted effort to do it right this time.

Just when I had made peace with my beautiful, simple, thriving green plant, and the idea that I was okay with it being flowerless, it happened! I noticed a cluster of buds hidden under the leaves.

There are so many lessons to be gleaned from this little exercise in hope, faith, persistence, kindness, and love, but I’ll leave that to you to surmise.

Much love, peace, hope, joy, and glimmers to you.

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

Oh…and one more thing about this late next day post…I have decided to stop feeling remorse for falling asleep, failing to finish a post before the stroke of midnight. I promised myself 365 days of glimmers and 365 days it will be even if a few spill into the next day or year by a day or two. We are likely to need glimmers then, perhaps even more, if things keep moving in the direction of the past 7 months. The important thing is that we take a moment to discover them. Peace out my peeps!


day 209

lightening in the distance ~kat
death of an experiment

so this is what it feels like to exist
at a time of history repeating,
to wonder who they will come for
next; to resist hate in a world
where kindness and compassion
are revolutionary acts, where caring
is a liability, where the words on
my cell phone are an indictment,
where it’s just a matter of time
before they find me out…well…
I’m not hiding…like mercury colliding…
I refuse to blend into oblivion
with those who sleep through this
nightmare while innocents suffer…
I read today, the bees are dying
someone should do something, but
the inconvenient truth of the matter
is, someone is me, and I don’t know
what to do, except to shine a light,
to tell you, to tell anyone who’ll listen,
the bees are dying…because
I think you should know

~kat

Today’s poem speaks for itself.  That said, I present to you today’s glimmer…literally, lightning in the distance and the sounds of midsummer nights in the foothills of Bramlett Mountain. Even while the world sleeps, the forest sings, for the trees perhaps? Another lesson to consider from these woods that I call home. 

much love, peace, and glimmers to you. 

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

Night sounds on Bramlett Mountain ~kat

day 206 Sunday’s ReVerse

Sunday ReVerse ~ 27 July 2025

a baby’s soft breath
an angel to give us hope…
eventually you’ll find you can’t believe a word they say
when the world turns dark
in the best and the worst of times
life is now
we grow complacent
listen to yourself
the greatest revolution
stars, for there were many
offer us a choice
(we) need bliss
consider your story
just because
future plagiarists repeat

~kat

Last week started with joy! A new life born. My great-granddaughter joined our growing clan to the waiting arms of a family that will love her, nurture her and celebrate her. This against a backdrop of a world in turmoil. Clearly the darkest remnants of our collective history repeating itself in a horrible, frightening way. Because I had a front row seat to the extremes of wonderful joyous news and what has become a daily assault on our humanity, it go me to thinking. As I reflected on this week’s ReVerse I wondered…

You know the saying ‘history repeats itself’? What if, because that is true we shifted our focus not on the worst of humanity…the dark history of our past, but on the triumphs, the astounding successes of this modern age, our capacity to love, show compassion and kindness? Couldn’t it, wouldn’t it be lovely if our focus shifted things and ushered in a repeating of that element of our history. The good, the heroic, the brave and triumphant stories also exist. While the doom news rarely considers it profitable to report on such things, there is nothing stopping us from retelling the inspiring stories in the hopes that they too might be repeated, and exponentially so. Just a thought. A glimmer of hope. May all of history repeat and may acts of kindness, compassion, fairness, justice and peace trump the stories our dark moments. 

Much love, peace and glimmers to you! 

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨


Today’s glimmer is a meme I happened upon after writing today’s post…a new word… melorism. It’s a thing! I love it when the universe sends these little glimmers of alignment to encourage me to carry on. 🥰

Photo credit @dailylogophiles

a belated day 205

a series of lunes amidst a mercurial retrograde
(3/5/3 words or syllables)

when the ink
on history’s page has dried
future plagiarists repeat

just because
the sun has risen
there is joy

consider your story
every detail, good and bad
to find yourself

tell me lies
because truth scares me
I need bliss

many things
offer us a choice
choose wisely

I stopped counting
stars, for there were many
and cruel acts

let us join
the revolution
compassion

I stopped listening
the moment you started speaking
listen to yourself

dawn’s first light
shines brighter than at midday
we grow complacent

memories of ago
should be dwelled on sparingly
life is now

~kat

Once again I ran out of daylight yesterday and missed my midnight glimmer deadline. You shall have two today. This belated offering and my weekly reverse. 

When I was younger I was quite the night owl, able to burn the midnight oil and often most prolific in the wee 3 am hours when only shift workers and witches frolic under the stars. As I wind down toward the end of another decade I am finding myself drifting off mid-verse.

It’s a lesson that I am coming to terms with. Waiting until the end of my too busy schedule to write is less doable. Dawn has become a fertile time for me now, forcing me to shift my clock a bit. The inspiration is much more coherent after I have slept on it. 😴 I am learning to embrace this new season…as my blond hair shimmers gray, my body softens and slows down, and the lines on my face grow deeper; a sign of many, many smiles. That girl in the mirror is an old lady now, but her eyes haven’t changed. That spark shines brighter than ever. 

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you…

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨


For today’s…or rather yesterday’s glimmer, I give you a glimpse into the convening of our resident artist’s consortium…nap time for me (I’m finding I need more of that on weekends these days) and next to me Frankie vigorously pruning herself…no doubt working on her next furball creation! Clearing inspiration is bubbling to the surface! 🤣🤣🤣 Life is good here in the foothills! 😊


day 204

switching to survival mode

I know how to survive, how to
stretch a few leftovers into more
how to add water to milk
to make it last one day longer…
when I was a girl my family lived
in a motel with a kidney-shaped pool
a few steps away from the interstate,
from an underpass where others lived,
who weren’t as fortunate as we
I know where to find pennies,
enough buy fast food dollar meals,
how to barter for groceries,
taking care of someone else’s kid
so mine could eat, how to resurrect
hand-me downs to clothe us, sewing
squares of well-worn fabric into colorful
quilts to brighten our space, oh I know…

someone told me the other day,
you’ve done a lot of things in your life…
I have, I smiled…I wanted to say
it’s called survival, but only other
survivors understand that you do
the jobs no one else will do, building
experience and skills to gain
a few more pennies, moving from job
to job, several at a time, as time
sifts through your life like sand.
i can make do and make work
the crumbs and scraps of life,
things others toss in the trash
keeping us just shy of enough…
it’s been decades now…decades…

I still keep a jar of spare change
always at the ready just in case,
I hunt for bogo sales at the market
stocking my pantry with one extra
I keep clothes patched and useful
long after they’ve gone out of style
and yet…and yet
I wake each morning grateful for the sun
and the rain, and this blessed life,
my greatest accomplishments are
my children and their children and theirs

they say the tariffs will raise the cost
of living for those of us who pay to live…I’m ready, though I wish we didn’t
need to be…I know how to survive
in the best and the worst of times.
as long as i can keep a pot of soup
simmering, there will always be
plenty enough to share and room for one,
or two, or a few more at my table
this is how we survive…together

much love, light, and glimmers to you…

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨