Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

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Drink Up All

October 27, 2015 By Sandra Heska King

  How many times have I traveled this road as it bends and curves? Enough lately so I dare to look around and let the Journey carry me. It downshifts itself to climb. Carmine and golden hills surround me. I’m in ski country. My dad says this road was once an Indian trail that led from Petoskey to Alpena. Gray […]

Filed Under: Blog, stories

Cultivating Good In the Midst of Grief

November 14, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

create good

    She was my age, and also a nurse. She helped birth this place–a place where people could live out their last days in unforced rhythms of grace, where grief itself could cultivate good. I’m sure she never dreamed that she would be birthed to a new life from one of its beds. She was admitted the same […]

Filed Under: Blog, stories

Playdates with God: Hayride

November 3, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

  I walk the plank into the front wagon and weave my way through knee-high drifts while I try not to step on other feet or legs. D and I find our spot and lean back against the straw-padded side. We pile more straw over our legs and then lay a blanket over that. The green […]

Filed Under: Blog, stories

move forward, bounce back, and press on

November 14, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

move forward

  I realized it just this morning. She was my age. She was also a nurse. Instrumental, I understand, in birthing this place. She was admitted the same day we were, to the room next door to ours. She’d done battle for 18 years. A bone marrow donor stood ready, but she could not bounce […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

When You’re Not Comfortable

November 11, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

from my back

I’ve been thinking a lot about my mom lately. I imagine I always will come fall. Because brain cancer came with the fall, discovered by a fall. We lost her two years ago this month, though some days it seems like yesterday. I hover over her squint at tilted back and crooked neck. Are you […]

Filed Under: Blog, poetry

Still Grappling with Grief

November 28, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

  One year ago yesterday, my mother died. I’m angry. And sad. And grateful. I’m remembering, second-guessing every decision. Immediately after her fall and diagnosis of a brain tumor, she spent several weeks in a local nursing home. She was not safe for surgery at that point. After the biopsy, she transferred to rehab where […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

When Loss is Real–or Not

November 12, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

I’m better this morning. Last night I hid in the bathroom for a few moments where I flushed the toilet (so the husband and the grandgirl wouldn’t ask what was going on with me.) I blew my nose, popped my contacts, rubbed my eyes hard, and ran cold water over my face. I didn’t want […]

Filed Under: haiti, stories and reflections

Sunday Seasoned Sayings: This Wildly Extravagant Life-Gift

December 4, 2011 By Sandra Heska King

If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides? ~Romans 5:17 (Message) Photo of a volunteer at Hiland Cottage arranging donated flowers that […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

The End of the Journey

November 28, 2011 By Sandra Heska King

We are at the bedside. It was the celestial weather report, wasn’t it, Mom? Here comes the snow, and off you go. We make the calls, send the texts, post the posts. When we return, they’ve bathed and dressed her in her favorite top, the one with the sparkle neckline. She wears her glasses, the […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

Five Minute Friday ~ Grateful

November 25, 2011 By Sandra Heska King

GO! Grateful for this home away from home that will in so many ways be hard to leave. Grateful for staff who have become friends–no, family–who have kept watch and cared for her with such love and dignity. Grateful for tender hands and compassionate hearts. Grateful for Nick who has seen so many come 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

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
Now you see me... now you don't. Now you see me... now you don't.
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