During this uncertain time…

I hope this greeting finds you healthy and well.  How I have missed writing and corresponding with all of you.  As the world is taking it a little slower with lock downs and social distancing, I just want to drop a quick hi.  Please know that I am thinking of all of you, sending you positive thoughts and wishing you only the very best during this very turbulent time.

As I find my heart shrouded in fears for our health and future, I also find enormous strength in the kindness of friends and strangers, the valiance of our health care workers who are armed with minimal protection and most of all, the day to day workers who are still making it to work so the rest of us can still get our necessities.  I am incredibly grateful for the sacrifices of so many.

The future may seem dire at this moment.  It is almost inevitable that many of us will become part of the statistics that’s ever growing. If we do, I hope we’ll also receive all the help we need and fully heal.  Some of us may lose or already have lost our jobs too.  How I fervently pray that this phase of our lives is shorter than feared…that we may find new jobs soon.  May hope and forbearance be our stalwart companions.  Together, we can all get through this.

A quick little update regarding my long absence.  I took on a venture which, I hope would help contribute to the financial side of things.  Having young kids, every little bit helps.  It took much time and effort but I found many kind, helpful souls who lent me their expertise, time and friendships, like I did in this blogging world.  I have indeed been very fortunate to have learnt so much from everyone.  I am now blissfully assured that this world is indeed full of genuinely caring individuals.

How I miss writing and most of all, I miss connecting with all of you.  I miss reading your blogs too, as time became incredibly scant on my end. I hope to dive into them as soon as I can and drop a line or two.

Take precious care of yourselves, my dear friends, and remember that you remain fondly in my thoughts and heart.

 

*Image by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels

Book review – Catling’s Bane by D. Wallace Peach

Catling’s Bane is the first book in the Rose Shield tetralogy by a beloved blogger/author D. Wallace Peach.  The captivating story is woven with the perfect balance of all the elements that only a skilled writer and a masterful storyteller is able to achieve. There is excitement bubbling in me even as I am typing up this post.  So, here goes my first book review…(I promise to do my best to exclude spoilers.)

Source: mythsofthemirror.com

 

Glimpses of Miami Beach

Recently, I went on a mini trip to Miami Beach. After experiencing its vibrancy in music, colors and energy, I feel compelled to share some of its images with you.  I hope you enjoy them.

Yellow and white squares in the middle of the beach, reminiscent of a rubik’s cube

 

Spring rain

Clear drops from gray skies

fall on sun-soaked pregnant earth 

raise lives in colors.

Leave puddles for li’l feet and

rainbow for all as a treat. 

 

 

 

*Image by Pixabay at Pexels.com

Survival of the weakest

“Mom, look at her leg,” a child who sat in the front row remarked, followed by a short giggle and a loud hush.  I just began my piece on the piano but my right leg started to shake uncontrollably.  It took all my focus to keep my foot steady on the pedal.  My fingers, automaton, managed the piece without me. Thankfully.  Or not.  Those hours of honing into the emotion of the piece were lost.  When the recital ended, I couldn’t bear to get up and face the audience. I remember thinking they deserved better.  The piano deserved better.  The pretty pink dress my mom painstakingly chose for me deserved better.  That was me at the first recital of the year –  the weakest piano player among my elite peers.

The struggle

Cloud-like, her self worth

forms, floats,drifts, fades, dissipates,

fettered to their whims,

those wretched conflicting thoughts

blustering within.

 

 

*Photo by Niklas Hamann on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring, a beginning

Paused in winter’s lull,

life’s breath awakens, unfurls

rebirth to spring’s steps.

 

 

*Image captured by Mylilplace

 

How did we get here…

How did we become

minds dead to sound reasoning,

numb to violence,

our fears conned into hatred?

 

 

 

*Photo by Kat Jayne from Pexels

My mother’s hands

When I was growing up, my mom often held my hands in hers.  She would carefully size my palms against hers and remark how quickly I was growing.  She would trace my fingers and marveled at how long they were.  They would be prettier than hers, she was convinced.  Little did she know then, no other hands could be more beautiful than hers. To me.

The prayer room

It was the last day of my middle school.  I had arrived early, one of the first few.  The skies were still dark with only a hint of sunlight seeping into the new day.  The school itself was still ensconced in a rare silence. Few lights had been turned on in the hallways, no doubt by Sister A, the headmistress of the convent girl school.  I went to my class, dropped off my almost-empty school bag and walked down the side staircase.  My sleepy senses were waking up with every step I took.