Tag Archives: Challenge

January 3, 2026

day 357 ~ first full moon of 2026

By Kat Myrman

What makes you feel nostalgic?

nostalgia
.
should 
not be looking
back
on this first full moon, 
scent of winter in the air
calling
me home to simpler times
potatoes boiling
bread baking
mom singing softly
her hands elbow deep in the sink
soapy bubbles popping, dishes cleaned
when life felt normal
before insanity invaded
our safe place
taking her
o’er the edge 

~kat

Sheesh! Where did that come from. This is not the nostalgic offering that one expects in answer to today’s prompt. Ask me about my parents and I will jokingly say that they were both crazy. Each ended their life in their own special way. My father chose a quick and untidy end, my mother, a slower, miserable succumbing to addiction.

It’s a legacy I have spent years, and hours of therapy, working to overcome. My family’s propensity for mental illness is something that has terrified me and driven me my entire life. I am not ashamed to admit that I am medicated. My daily dose of “happy pills” (antidepressants) keeps me from the abyss. I suppose I am grateful to have been born a generation later than my parents when things like depression and other mental ills were unspeakable weaknesses. Fortunately for me they are recognized treatable chemical imbalances. I’m sad my parents did not have access treatment once upon a time that is so commonplace and acceptable today. 

Nevertheless, today’s prompt stirred a sweet memory for me. Remembering when things felt normal. There were glimmers amidst the darkness. There are always glimmers. 

Today’s glimmer on this first full moon of 2026…a steaming cup of espresso with frothy sweet cream (brewed in a new espresso machine recently gifted to us from my oldest daughter). The perfect accompaniment to an overcast gray day. A chance to reflect on how blessed I am and consider this new year and the potential it brings. 

much love, peace, and glimmers to you! 

~kat

✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in 2026, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, Pi-Archimedes, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality

January 2, 2026

day 356

By Kat Myrman

Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

game night

a good round or several of
“Cards Against Humanity”
with rowdy friends always
generates laughter…the tears
running down our red faces, side-
aching, breathless kind…it’s good
medicine in times like these
where everything is scary and
deadly serious, and where there is
no reason to laugh ever, sometimes
being irreverently silly, grossly
inappropriate, and absurd is just
the ticket, a guilty pleasure 
to help me forget the world
for and hour or two…your turn

~kat

There are other things, of course that I consider playtime. Coloring in new coloring books with a fresh box of crayola crayons with my grandkids. Only Crayola crayons will do…if you know, you know.

Trying new recipes, baking things, anything. It is playtime for me. It is something I look forward to doing over the weekend and holidays.

And several electronic games. I like strategy games that require a certain amount of skill. Not necessarily sim type games.

And finally certain crafting and art projects. It is rare for me to have time to devote to creative play that is not writing. Writing is a non-negotiable must in my life. It keeps me sane.

It occurred to me that I am rather boring. Which is most likely why an occasional game of “cards” was first on my list!

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you!

~kat

✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

Today’s glimmer…I made a tray of pecan pie bark or crack (as it is called). It has a graham cracker base topped with a homemade pecan toffee layer, baked until bubbly and then cooled before cracking the entire pan into bits. I love to bake. And today I sent a bag of these sweets to the lovely team who works at the wildlife rescue center. That’s the best part about baking…sharing!

Pecan Pie Bark … first new recipe of 2026.
It’s a keeper!

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in 2025, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, free verse, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Stone Soup and Other Delicacies

January 1, 2026

day 355

By Kat Myrman 
we made it
.
dawn 
of the new year
bright
with potential 
not forgetting the past, but hoping for
redress
of wrongs committed by
cruel hate-mongers…
a new path
forged by what is true,
compassionate, kind-hearted…
where everyone is safe, fed, and loved,
it’s not much
to ask
it’s just right

~kat

A glimmer to inspire you on this first day of 2026. Remember that poor little neglected plant I found in the garage a few days ago? This is “Harriett” on the first day of the new year. (Yes, I decided to name her). She is seizing the day.

10 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, nature, Pi-Archimedes, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Spirituality

December 25, 2025

day 348 happy holidays

By Kat Myrman

5 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Life Lessons, Random Thoughts and Musings, Spirituality

December 14, 2025

day 339 – a ReVerse Poem

By Kat Myrman

It’s been more than a minute since I crafted a ReVerse Poem…this one spans several weeks. But…I’m glad I waited. I love this look back, line by line capturing daily snapshots of what I was thinking at the time.

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you. First, the ReVerse Poem…then a a glimpse into the magnificent glimmers that have sustained me!

~kat

✨✨✨💚😊💚✨✨✨

A ReVerse Poem ~ Sunday, 14 December 2025

a snapshot in time

let me be a safe place for you
but for a golden moment 
muted in cool gray
a snapshot in time

i felt her presence pressing my soul
breaking through the veil
if I were to change
she moves me unseen 
crystalline ice shards tap my bare skin
barely capturing her magnificence, a faded photograph
to anyone who sees, it’s clear, 
frost and lace
sheltering in grace
snow falls soft 
they don’t know they’re wild

we should not whisper
oh so many times
darkness fades away
as promised, sure as dusk

~kat

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it here as a review of the past several weeks.

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in 2025, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Social Issues, Spirituality, Week in Review