Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

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Epiphany on the Porch

July 6, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

  I’ve taken to the porch this morning with a cup of coffee and my camera. It’s supposed to be over 100 today, and I can feel the humidity rising. But there’s a breeze, and it’s comfortable. I love this porch. I don’t think I could ever live anywhere again without one. We added this […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

Dancing With Julia–Or Not

June 29, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

We went to the symphony on our first date and then somewhere for a bite to eat. I ordered a shrimp salad. A bit extravagant, probably, but I thought he was rich. His parents drove a Mercedes, after all, even though they were farm folk. I remember how he encircled my right hand with his […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

Five Minute Friday: I Didn’t Expect

June 8, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

I never expected to have children. I never dreamed of a family. I didn’t play love and marriage or stuff my shirt with pillows. I did dream of caring for others. Maybe in far countries. I even used to hope I’d find an injured animal so I could take care of it. But I never […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

Five Minute Friday: Give Me Eyes to See

June 1, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

God, give me eyes to see to dive deep, deep into your world to find golden nuggets of glory, mustard-seed miracles, the sacred sprinkled, with grace. To see beauty in a building broken, in a body sinking, eternity in the moment, to sense the take-your-shoes-off holy. Adjust my lenses and my focus, make the invisible […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

Five Minute Friday: Sacred Sod

May 25, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

“I need to go plant flowers at the cemetery this weekend,” I said. “When you and Dad are gone, will I have to do that?” My daughter brushes a blond strand off her forehead. “You don’t have to,” I smile. “I mean, is it my job, my responsibility?” I shrug. “I like to do it. […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

Five Minute Friday: The Lace of Life

May 18, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

 My baby dress–crocheted by my Aunt Esther in 1949. “Grandma! Grandma! A worm. A worm in my room!” She sounds hysterical. I leap out of bed. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” She’s reacting to a new medicine. Not so well. “Don’t open the door! It’ll fall on your head! It’s moving!” She’s sobbing. I run to […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

In Every Muddy Moment

May 4, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

  I aimed and fired. “I don’t NEED you!” All over a pair of muddy boots. The ones I wore to chase wonders down by Lake Abby a few weeks back. The ones that are always in the back kitchen. I’d asked him to wash them off for me. He said he would. Now I […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

Five Minute Friday: In Which She is Afraid to Say Hello

April 13, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

  We’re on the way to school, and I tell Grace how Great-Grandpa is home and can’t drive and is lonesome since Great-Grandma died. I tell her how he likes us to call, to hear our voices. “I don’t know if he’ll be up yet,” I say, “but let’s try.” He answers on the second […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

In Which I Pin a Bat With a Ragu Jar

March 23, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

(Photo has absolutely nothing to do with this story because… leaking bat) It is loud here. Very. Loud. It all starts when oldest grand girl comes out of her bedroom and begins to scream about the bat swooping over my head and around the living room and into the kitchen and back into the living […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

Spilling the Filling

March 9, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

  Snow dusts the field, the driveway, the roof. A robin shivers in the pregnant branches. Feathers ruffle in the bitter wind. The feeders are empty, so I don my jacket and boots, scoop black oil to refill. I purposely spill some for the ground-feeders and for the love of sunflowers. I come in and […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

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Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

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sandraheskaking

Happy first day of fall from my backyard to yours. Happy first day of fall from my backyard to yours.
Just another backyard photo… Just another backyard photo…
From my backyard tonight. From my backyard tonight.
Just another sunset. Just another sunset.
“I would like people to remember of me, how inex “I would like people to remember of me, how inexhaustible was her mindfulness.” ~ Mary Oliver in “ A Little Ado About This and That.”
Current situation. Current situation.
“This spark of life that wavest wings of gold” “This spark of life that wavest wings of gold” ~ Thomas Wentworth Higginson in “Ode to a Butterfly”
🦋
We pulled all the milkweed because it just could not support all the caterpillars. They were eating it bare and most of them died because they ran out of food. This one butterfly found this one lone volunteer.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright futur "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." ~ E.B. White (as quoted on today's page in my Franklin Planner)
"May you experience each day as a sacred gift wove "May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder." ~ John O'Donohue in "For Presence" from To Bless the Space Between Us
🌴
Tri-colored heron stalking breakfast in my backyard.
“. . neighbor’s tree hangs heavy with mangoes “. .  neighbor’s tree hangs heavy with mangoes. They are moving in a week. They say a family from Belarus bought the house. I hope they don’t care much for mangoes.”
**
“Beautiful Sweet Things” at https://sandraheskaking.substack.com/
"People do not grow old. When they cease to grow t "People do not grow old. When they cease to grow they become old.” ~ Emerson

It's been a while since I've written anything on my blog. Like 3 years. But I just wrote my first post on Substack. Come see?

https://sandraheskaking.substack.com/p/ten-years-ten-things
Spent a couple hours this morning with friends fro Spent a couple hours this morning with friends from @spanishriverchurch picking up beach trash. Little bits of colored and clear plastic, big bits of plastic, bottle caps, broken glass, strings, ropes, straws, socks, fast food containers, paper, cigarette holders and filters—and a couple unmentionables. Took extra care around the turtle nests. Last count was about 70 pounds, but there were also some bigger things like an abandoned chair and a plastic tent. And a big piece of burlap or something with a fishing lure and giant hook attached. D found a Macy’s gift card that he almost tossed in his bucket. But we brought it home to check the balance—$24.60! We should be able to turn that into something useful for someone. 😊
H Already dead, I am living my afterlife here in t H
Already dead, I am
living my afterlife
here
in the form of a human.
~ Xueyan from Time Peels All to Original White

Thanks to @tspoetry for introducing me to this beautiful collection via an Every Day Poems selection.
The cats attacked the window all night. The dog wo The cats attacked the window all night. The dog woofed all night. This morning we discovered the would-be burglar imprisoned between the screen and the glass on our bedroom slider. 

When I stepped out to release it (no bail), I was surprised by this brief bit of backyard beauty.
For most of us, knowledge of our world comes large For most of us, knowledge of our world comes largely through sight, yet we look about with such unseeing eyes that we are partially blind. One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?" ~ Rachel Carson in The Sense of Wonder
#prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michigan #prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michiganstateuniversity
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faith Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. ~ Psalm 136:1
A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana in the background until I downloaded the photos. That, I believe, is the one that got caught in one of the openings in the neighbor's chain link fence. We tried in several (safe) ways to dislodge it without luck and could think of no other option but to leave it. Somehow it apparently dislodged itself. We also believe this is the pair that was getting into another neighbor's garden. We haven't seen either one since the last cold snap, so we are wondering if they survived. 
🌱
Thinking some may have tumbled from their perches last night. Pretty sure it will be raining iguanas tonight since we are under a frost advisory. It's cold. And windy.
Just sing... sing a song... Singing our way into Just sing... sing a song... 

Singing our way into the weekend.
"We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramse "We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramsey in Rembrandt is in the Wind
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