The Sunday Wildflower Bouquet #2

A weekly recap: life, writing, reading, new finds, weekly quote, musings

The neighborhood. I live a few houses down the road but this is the cove I see from my office desk. I love observing the constantly changing mood of the water.

There is an affinity between the natural world and Silence. Silence envelops nature and gathers nature to her as a blessed place of intensity. Nonetheless, what is available in nature is available everywhere, if we but learn how to attract it properly.

~Robert Sardello, Silence: The Mystery of Wholeness
From a Note written by

Renée Eli, Ph.D.

Life Happenings

I’ve changed the name of this weekly summary to The Sunday Bouquet of Wildflowers. Much better. A bouquet of wildflowers is a collection of flowers gathered from a wild, untamed place—much like the environment here at Substack.

I’m grateful to all my subscribers, followers, and readers. Thank you for the ❤️’s, comments, and restacks.

A little shout-out to

James Hart

and

Maia Duerr

for taking the time to answer a question I posed on Notes about writing essays—thank you! The essay style I tried to describe is called “braided”. I found a good tutorial on the technique and will start reading essays and taking notes.

🌿And a special thank you to

John Charlton

of My Photo Journal for recommending Sacred Environment! 😊 Beautiful photography with wonderful essays.

8 random facts about me

I debated sharing all this but as I mentioned in last Sunday’s post, “I am here to create connection, and what better way than to get to know each other?” Maybe share a little fact about you in the comments?

• I live in a coastal tourist town called Mystic. Same house for 43 years.

• My background is in computer programming/consulting. I left corporate life 27 years ago and started a natural products business. Herbal soaps were my specialty. I became a Reiki Master Teacher in 2004 and closed the business in 2020. In 2012 I started Mystic Zen Healing Jewelry which I retired from after 11 years on November 1, 2023, at 62. I’ve also worked in sail lofts, landscaping, and marine insurance.

• One consulting job was technical documentation layout and graphic design.

• I used to sailboat race on a Sunfish and up to a 42' racing boat. Local regattas, as well as Key West and Martha's Vineyard. Fun, crazy times.

• I collect classical music albums. Favorites are Vivaldi and Baroque era; preferably violin.

• I enjoy watercolor painting, pen & ink, and graphite drawing.

• Sober for 7+ years. Mystic has LOTS of bars.

• My Enneagram is split between 5 & 9 and I'm a Virgo with Scorpio Moon and Scorpio Ascendant. That explains everything.🙃

Some of my art from early 2024. The guitar was definitely a challenge but I did receive an honorable mention for the theme "electric". Creating art feels more of a winter hobby so that's been put away for now.

My Recent Writings

Guardians of Knowledge, Weavers of Story

Sunday Summary #1

Sacred Times: Nature and the Art of Remembering

Weekly Microfiction

Miguel S. (The Fiction Dealer) sends daily prompts with a word count for writing a piece of microfiction. It’s a fun and beneficial daily writing practice. I strive to focus on Nature. Here is a couple from this week.

70 words ~ Prompt: Mountain

The mountain went through so much to become as majestic as it was. So much pressure. Heat. Pushing. A long birthing process. But that was long ago. People came—lots of them. As time went on, trash was dropped trailside. They didn’t care, he was just something else for them to conquer; to take for granted. Entitled. Anger and resentment built until he couldn’t hold it. Burning lava flowed.

100 words ~ prompt: Scarecrow

Fred was determined it wasn’t going to happen again. A scarecrow to protect his crops. The garden sentinel relentlessly watched. Seeds started breaking through the ground and berries were starting to develop. And the scarecrow guarded. Just when they were ready, Fred was surprised to see bugs had chewed all his beans. Later tomatoes. “Next year I’ll use insecticides too, but the scarecrow is working.” And then the corn, ears filled with worms. Fred was left with no harvest. He heard a murder of crows cawing. Laughing. “Greedy Fred, we kept the bugs away in exchange for a little food.”

Interesting Newsletters I’ve Read This Week

There is never a shortage of interesting newsletters to read on Substack. I surely can’t mention all but I do restack and comment on them. Here are a few I enjoyed and I hope you will as well. I thought about writing short descriptions for each but decided to leave it up to your exploration—to discover something you might not ordinarily read.

• Are you Plant-Blind? by

  Craig Slater

• Startled by Kingfisher by

  Peter Reason

• You and I are as expansive as the universe by

  Kate Thompson
  (I wrote about my experience of expansiveness in The Vermont Notebook - Part 2)

• There Are No Good Wars by

  Perry J. Greenbaum

• Is Silicon Valley Building Universe 25? by

  Ted Gioia

• Exploring the untapped potential of Earth's greatest, yet most undervalued, ecosystem service: Ecotherapy by

  Alexandra Piedoux

• 10-Step Writing Warm-up Exercise by

  Ryan Schneider

My Current Book Reading Stack

I tend to read a little from more than one book each evening; unless I fall asleep first.

• The Enchanted Life: Unlocking the Magic of the Everyday by

  Dr Sharon Blackie

• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

• Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinoka Estes, Ph.D.

Weekly Musings

Here’s a link to my Notes and restacks: https://substack.com/@taniatyler/notes

🌿 What do you think? Do you like the idea of the weekly Sunday Wildflower Bouquet? Is there anything you’d like to share from your week? Let’s connect in the comments.

My German Shepherd partner, Raven.

Peace & Blessings,

If something I wrote inspired or brightened your day a little, or anything else you’d like to share… I’d be very grateful to hear about it in the comments. A restack or clicking the little heart 💚 for a “like” would always be appreciated.