Chillaxin’

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August is the month to find shade, preferably by water, and let your eyes drift over the shoreline… You know, do glassnothing but give yourself a break from the phone, laptop and iPad, from your To-do-List or job demands or your next DIY project… And yes, shelve that self-help book too. This precious month chillax with no plan at all for a day, a week, perhaps if you’re lucky, the whole month!

Following this well-needed advice we took one day off the calendar to visit a favorite state park where at most we swim once between buoys and walk a bit in the sand. Arriving late afternoon when most are packing up we bring a Dinner Picnic. This timing might seem odd, but at day’s end beaches are so quiet you can hear the lapping water and watch the timid ducks…Extend your stay until early evening and you will have a glorious sunset all your own!

In the spirit of chillazin’ I offer no more words… Instead photos to inspire you to find cool water and slanting sunshine and time to allow your own relaxed smile to return… Nothing else… Nine Cent Girl is taking a vacation!!!

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Locked Down

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tumblr_mqhzi8AQyp1rbhtdeo1_500This morning the radio clicked on at 6:00 am, and as my spouse and I usually do after hearing the morning headlines, we both reached for our iPhones to check emails, texts, Facebook statuses and Twitter feeds. Yes, we like a broad picture of the wide world beyond our valley vista before feet hit the solid ground. What stayed with me was an emotional Facebook status posted by a strong and smart young mother: “Sometimes I lay awake at night and I think about that guy shooting all of those innocent babies in an elementary school…….and there is not a damn thing anyone can do about it, then, now, or ever.” As I laced up to head out for a morning run I wondered how many other mothers feel the same today, in mid-July…feel that crippling powerlessness parents all over our country feel every time they wave goodbye and watch the yellow school bus pull away with their child…

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Guns Down Day*

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alec-trayvonLike most of the plugged-in world, I awaited news of the Zimmerman verdict. At first I was stunned by his acquittal, then sickened, and like all such shocks, that bitter emotion lodged itself into my fiber and I felt an ache all over. I followed the trial coverage peripherally due to my naive sense this would be an easy decision; after all Zimmerman was found standing over Trayvon’s lifeless body, smoking gun in hand, and volunteered his confession of murder. It is only in the aftermath of the shameful verdict that I became aware of the NRA’s role and Florida’s ALEC funded  “Stand Your Ground” law in this case.

I am not 100% sure what I can offer the conversation that is erupting all over our social media from Twitter feeds to the New York Times, but I am haunted by the words of Elie Wiesel, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” Perhaps it is time, even for non-politicos like me, to join the sticky and uncomfortable conversation about guns and violence and just talk about how our children might stay safe enough to grow up.

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