Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

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Where is Home?

June 1, 2016 By Sandra Heska King

HOME

“I know it’s morbid, my daughter says, “but I’ve been thinking about it, and so I’ll ask. If you and Dad die, is there enough life insurance to fly you home and bury you?” She asks him the same question over the phone, and he assures her there is plenty and more. I tell her I don’t […]

Filed Under: Blog, poetry, stories

My House Is On Fire

May 14, 2015 By Sandra Heska King

  I’d just set down bowls of chicken and rice kibble mixed with canned lamb dinner when my phone rang. I’m used to not being able to understand the grandgirl because of giggling and commotion in the background. But tonight (Monday–the day after Mother’s Day) was different. Through her panic, I finally understood her screams. “My house […]

Filed Under: Blog, stories

One Word Less For Lent 2015 – 11

March 24, 2015 By Sandra Heska King

  Sharing three 11-word poems today.     Still For someone who craves stillness, my life moves pretty fast still. Word Count: 11     Death and Life Kara passes A plane crashes And my lilac tips are pregnant. Word Count: 11 Note: A plane crashed in the French Alps this morning. I heard this during the […]

Filed Under: Blog, One Word Less for Lent - 2015, poetry

40 Words of Lent: Day 15

March 19, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

  Winter’s worn out, and it’s melting into dirty banks and muddy waves, leaving browned tree skirts and revealing what’s been broken. Our world is puddled from the weight of it. I’ve learned: When life gets messy, spring’s on its way. Word Count: 40     Today’s Reading: Luke 20-24 In the stillness, Sandy Linking […]

Filed Under: 40 Words of Lent - 2014, Blog, stories

scripture sunday: your precious life

February 2, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

So, my dear friends, listen carefully;     those who embrace these my ways are most blessed. Mark a life of discipline and live wisely;     don’t squander your precious life. ~Proverbs 8:32-33 (MSG) Still listening, Sandy With Deidra

Filed Under: Blog, stories and reflections

i just want summer to last

August 23, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

summer

I’m sitting in a black wrought iron chair on the patio, munching a cream-cheesed cinnamon-raisin bagel. I hadn’t meant to eat a bagel. I’d meant to opt for something more healthy–like scrambled egg whites tossed with spinach and tomatoes and onions. But I’m housebreaking a new puppy, and it’s a grab-and-go day.  (We swore there’d […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

when you have no idea where you are going

August 20, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

  It’s been one of those weeks. You’ve had them, right? Times of hard decision-making and what-ifs that lead to more waiting and second-guessing and flip-flopped fear and trust, and you just want a final decision to be made and hope you can live with it. Except each step on the journey brings more decisions […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

as the wheels turn

August 19, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

  I’m on my bike. I don’t want to be. Well, I do kind of. But not really. I’m not in shape, and my husband has no concept of time or distance. Well, he does, and I know he’ll turn back if I ask, but I also know he wants to share this time with […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

big and small things

August 16, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

small

  We’re packed up and on our way when he tells me about it. And it’s big. Life-changing big. Take-your-breath-away big. But this time I stay small and silent. And I listen. Do you know we use the same letters to build the words “silent” and “listen?” And it is this, this big thing, that […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

life, home, and hospitality

May 2, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

embrace life

Please, God, let my parents come and beat her up. We’d had a sword battle with pencils, Patsi and I. And Mrs. Smith rapped my 7-year-old knuckles. But not Patsi’s. So I turned around and scribbled on Patsi’s picture. And now I stood in the corner, lump in throat, cheeks aflame. It didn’t occur to […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

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

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“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final t “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” ~ Philippians 4:8 

#fall #southflorida #hope #thoughts #philippians4 #dayafterelection
“My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in th “My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.” ~ William Wordsworth in “My Heart Leaps Up”

🌈🌈🌈

From my back door and then from the patio. A phone can never capture the true glory of a rainbow. I hope my heart never fails to leap at the wonder of one.
We were monarch parents a couple years back, but o We were monarch parents a couple years back, but our food was not enough to support all our “children.”
🌱
But some were better parents. And next month @tspoetry is celebrating with a garden party. And you are invited. 
🌱

✨ An evening poetry celebration with Dheepa Maturi, Laura Boggess, Jules Jacob, and Sonja Johanson
✨ sign up today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/year-of-the-monarch-garden-party-tickets-1005650847757
✨
This is called a sweetheart plant. I bought it at This is called a sweetheart plant. I bought it at a farmers market in Ponte Vedra in Feb 2023. And it hasn’t done a thing except not die. I did repot it a few months back just cuz I thought it might need it. A few days ago I noticed it was sprouting a sprout. And today—10 days after having my aortic valve replaced and the day after having a loop recorder inserted—it has UNFURLED!!! A new heart. 🩷
Looking west this morning. “Sometime, enough o Looking west this morning. 

“Sometime, enough of us should plan
to gather and form our own
luminous cloud.” ~ Luci Shaw in “The Weight of Air” (from The Generosity)
Security is on the job. Security is on the job.
So after 13 years of checkups and annual echos, it So after 13 years of checkups and annual echos, it's finally come to this. One week from today I will have my aortic valve replaced. Eeeek! I know it's done all the time--piece of cake. But that's to other people. 😂 Speaking of cake, I've always hoped to blow out 100 candles (at least), and I keep singing this line in my head...

"And my heart will go on and on." Thanks to @celinedion. 💕
Hi! Long time, no post. So… I grew this from a Hi! Long time, no post. So…

I grew this from a pineapple top. We repotted it again over the weekend. Still no fruit, though. Our neighbor has a baby growing on a small plant, though. What’s up with that?

(Also, I do not have a green thumb. Currently the only things still living are this, an avocado, and a little Boston fern.)
We got out here early today, but it was already so We got out here early today, but it was already soooooo hot (later on the"feels like" was 110), and I was just plodding one foot in front of the other wishing I was still in bed. There was not much to see--except the crane family, some blackbirds, a dove. And it was buggy. And a deer fly bit me on the forearm, and it swelled up, and I still have a 1- x 3-inch reddened area. But then... a pink parade.
Just snapped a couple photos of a normal looking s Just snapped a couple photos of a normal looking sky from my back patio with my iPhone! I grew up in Michigan and never saw them before! #northernlights #westboca #southflorida
“So they took branches of palm trees and went ou “So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” ~ John 12:13
🌴
🌴
PALMS

He had a date with them. ~SHK
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🌴
~ Six words I wrote on my blog in 2015 as part of a daily “One Word Less for Lent” series.
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Photo taken in Israel, 2022.
Dressed for success... Dressed for success...
“Sing, hope, to me” ~favorite line from “The “Sing, hope, to me” ~favorite line from “The First Spring Day” by Christina Rossetti via Every Day Poems and @tspoetry in my email this morning. 
❣️
Whole poem (with lots of favorite lines) here:
❣️
https://open.substack.com/pub/everydaypoems/p/the-first-spring-day?r=3acod&utm_medium=ios
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Wild red poppy anemones from our spring trip to Israel in 2022. And, of course, red is the color of hope. 
❣️
#dipintopoetry #poetry #poetrycommunity #poetsofinstagram #tweetspeakpoetry #everydaypoems
Sweet baby colts. Just one parent. Apparently the Sweet baby colts. Just one parent. Apparently the other was hit by a car. 😭💔
Bufo serenade AKA the Ballad of the Bufo Bufo serenade AKA the Ballad of the Bufo
South Florida is confused. South Florida is confused.
“Somehow she learns to breathe.” ~ @gyoung9751 “Somehow she learns to breathe.” ~ @gyoung9751 in “The mermaid breathes,” a woven poem from tweets. In my email today from Every Day Poems via @tspoetry.
🌱 
#dipintopoetry #everydaypoems #poetry #poetrycommunity #poetsofinstagram #poetsofig #tweetspeakpoetry
"You have what you need / is what the birds sing a "You have what you need / is what the birds sing all morning" ~ Annie Lighthart in "Conditions of Happiness."
🌱
In my email this morning from 
Every Day Poems via @tspoetry.
🌱
#dipintopoetry #poetry #poetrycommunity #everydaypoems #poem #poetsofinstagram #tweetspeakpoetry
If you’ve made it this far, the rest of the week If you’ve made it this far, the rest of the week should be a snap. #wednesday
Stay behind me. I’ll protect you. No worries. So Stay behind me. I’ll protect you. No worries. So will all those shots. Mostly.
🦝
D still has PTSD from the Great Possibly Rabid Raccoon Brouhaha of 2021.
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