Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

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Nursing School Memories (Repost for National Nurses Week)

May 8, 2015 By Sandra Heska King

I graduated from Saginaw General Hospital’s diploma nursing program in 1969, a member of the last class. Most programs lasted three years, but this one packed all the work in two. We went year around. The hospital staffed around the students, and some of us also worked as aides on the weekends for a little […]

Filed Under: Blog, stories

Straining Memories

July 8, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

memories

    I’ve heard the story many times. I’m dawdling as I dress for school in front of the furnace. My mom’s trying to speed things up. If I miss the bus, she threatens, I’ll spend the day in bed–at least until the bus would normally return late that afternoon. I don’t care. I miss the bus. […]

Filed Under: Blog, book studies, scribbles, stories

The Harder Path

June 5, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

path

  Flipping through pictures. Cutting up the memories. Take the harder path. Inspired by chapter 4, “Cut up.” Leaving some whitespace here this month as I rest with Bonnie. In the stillness, Sandy This post is part of the “Finding Spiritual Whitespace Blog Tour” which I am a part of, along with a group of […]

Filed Under: Blog, poetry, Spiritual Whitespace

One bloom in my mom memory bouquet

April 23, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

They were probably separate Christmases, but they’re tied together to make one bloom in my mom memory bouquet… We still live in the little four-room house. I’m off on another hunt that takes me under the couch cushion, inside a chartreuse kitchen cupboard door, under the gray formica table, behind the toaster, on top of my parents’ dresser, and […]

Filed Under: Blog, stories

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

mama said never judge the inside by the outside

February 22, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

My mama. She was a clever one. And she loved practical jokes. They were probably separate Christmases, but they’re fused together in my mind. We were still in the little house. I sat on the couch facing the bathroom door and the tree draped with single strands of tinsel, oil stove on my left, gray […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

Black Friday Fellowship – A Repost

November 22, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

I am a member of the Black Friday Fellowship. Or maybe it’s the Sisterhood of Silliness. Whatever it is, it’s tradition. This dark rising to set forth into the land of cold and crowds. Slushing through snow in tennis shoes and unbuttoned jackets. Gloveless. It always begins with a coffee stop. Sometimes there’s a plan, […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

First Home

August 6, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

I’m all giddy. Squirming in my seat. There. There’s the water tower. And here’s the exit. Do you suppose the Dairy Barn is still there? It’s been almost 40 years. Is that where I picked up Puppy on my way to work that morning? Poor little stray. Sweet little dog. I’m not sure I recognize […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

The Tick Tock of My Heart

June 28, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

  Egg salad sandwiches. I’m pretty sure that’s what she served. And sweet gherkins in a glass pickle dish. We probably drank iced tea while seated knee-to-knee at the formica table right here, our backs to the window. And pie. I suspect we had pie. Or heaping bowls of ice cream. It was the first […]

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
🌴
🌴
~ Six words I wrote on my blog in 2015 as part of a daily “One Word Less for Lent” series.
🌴
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
❣️
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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