Category Archives: weather

Nov29

A Changing Season

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A Changing Season

“Change is the only constant.” is what I tell myself when I have that feeling of uneasiness or anxiety with a sudden change. There are those times when it feels like my feet are knocked out from underneath me. Other times the change sneaks in through a crack opened door or window. And then there are those seasons when the change is forecasted but not believed until you see that 6 inches of snow covering the outside world. Either way, I remind myself with “God is in control.”

The changing of seasons, autumn to winter came early. The weather forecasters predict a long winter for the Midwest, so it began this weekend. Dean’s 65th birthday celebration along with Thanksgiving were quick on Wednesday and Thursday. All was very nice being together with his three children, their spouses, and the grandchildren for the first half of this holiday weekend. The two Kansas City families arrived home safely before the winter storm started. Last night Dean and I watched both Grand Ole Opry’s 100th anniversary shows which ended about 1:30am this early morning. The heavy, wet snow came after we got to sleep. At least 4 inches of snow covered the landscape, houses, and roads between 2am and 8am. The storm continued with another 2 inches by late morning, then a cold rain followed all afternoon. Brrrsy, for sure. Warm chili is on Deanna’s Cottage’s menu tonight.

Changes in health can happen suddenly or creep up as one ages. Earlier in the spring my back and sciatic pain halted my busy activities to a complete stop with bed rest and medication. The diagnosis of dislocated discs and arthritis in my back and neck areas requires medication and physical therapy. Recently my arthritis has officially been diagnosed the rheumatoid type. My hands have been described as deformed based on the MRI results. Not my hands, God! I use these for so much! I see the rheumatology specialist early January to address this autoimmune condition. This change seems sudden, but I have had joint pain for years. I wonder how long this condition has been present in my body? Despite these medical conditions, my youth is seen and felt from time to time. But not like my great grandson, River. His newness of life is a gift to us all.

Oct31

Another Friday, Five This Month of October

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Another Friday, Five This Month of October

Another Friday, five this month of October. Dean and I have traveled every weekend to visit family in other towns in Missouri. The countryside is lovely. As the month rolls along, each week Autumn shows its colors. Finally, leaves are a glowed after a couple of days of much needed rain. We already spent a couple of September afternoons raking brown withered leaves due to the drought. The hummingbirds long left town earlier in October. Our potted perennials and herbs were moved indoors last week after the threat of a freeze was forecasted. Still no freeze in our neighborhood as of today this last day of October. Writing has been my occupation this Halloween. A fragrant cinnamon apple candle permeates our cottage as we wait for trick-or-treaters to knock on our door this evening. This clear night sky and mild temperatures have brought families out tonight.

Sep22

Summer’s Afterglow

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Summer’s Afterglow

Autumn is summer’s afterglow. The trees radiate the sunrays. This first day of autumn, rain is what we need. Dark clouds rolled in a couple of times this past weekend provided a little moisture, but we need more. Earlier this month, while Dean and I journeyed through the valleys of Virginia and a visit to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, embers of autumn ignited into glowing yellows, flaming oranges, and burning reds with a few trees and bushes on the hillsides. Puffy clouds in the sky so blue billowed from the mountain tops like smoke from the fires below. My Missouri will hopefully experience this colorful transformation soon. I am thankful the autumn equinox is here! Meantime, I enjoy the repurposed stain glass window from Dean’s parents’ Kansas City home of 50 years. This colorful piece is now hung in Dean and I’s cottage home.

A new season has begun. Self-care is high on my list of priorities. Discoveries await. Dean and I’s much needed getaway to the countryside gave us rest to our bodies and souls. I have experienced much pain this year, started in March. Two discs in my lower back and two discs in my neck are misaligned causing migraines and traveling pain down my legs and arms into my feet and hands. Thankfully I have had some good physicians, nurse practitioners, and physical therapists. Prayers for healing have been many to our God. More recently I am able to function in most everyday activities with less medication. Some activities will have to be eliminated altogether. Changes are forthcoming.

As many are aware, I have been writing for years. It began with journaling and moved into submitting to online publications, and have had my poems, short stories, and recipes published. My first full-length book has been published this week! It is a work that I have been after for over four years since my retirement from human resource management. Strewn Words in the Stew is a multi-genre 2-volume memoir of my culinary life. Recipes, poems, short stories, favorite sayings, and photos fill up the pages. Volume 1 is available now, and Volume 2 should be available on Amazon/KDP in November. If interested, you may purchase my book through Amazon. Formats include Kindle, paperback, and hardcover.

What discoveries are at and beyond the horizon for you? Keep praying, seeking, and discovering.

Aug7

Beauty in Early August Blooms

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Beauty in Early August Blooms

How lovely this August started out. Mild 80-degree temperatures for the high! Unreal for the St. Louis area. Later this week it has heated up into the low 90’s with some humidity, but unlike the soupy July days or more like weeks we had. The afternoon scattered showers are welcomed. I hear the katydids and bugs sing their rhythmic tunes late afternoon into the evenings now. Maybe giving a holler about cooler weather coming? I am relishing the remaining summer days this season. And more walks in the upcoming days and weeks.

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” ~ Lady Bird Johnson 

Loving all the garden art along with the blooms found in our yard, the neighborhood, and online by fellow gardeners. Our surprise lilies were slow coming up this growing season. But during the milder August weather, they sprouted up in our backyard amidst the wild violet and garlic foliage. Be blessed this August Thursday. Thankful it is Friday tomorrow, and looking forward to a three-day weekend for Dean and I.

Jul26

How My Garden Grows These Days

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For this growing season all my gardening is container gardening, and this has been Dean and I’s exclusive type of gardening for the past three growing seasons. July’s squelching heat has me watering my porch herbs every other day. Despite (or because of) the hot summer, the pineapple sage is humongous. I will repot this plant after the weather cools a bit. The plants suffer enough without going through transplant shock during this hot season. Snippets of herbs are added to my summer dishes and iced teas which bring refreshment to the taste buds.

From time to time, I get a request for more information about gardening. I had a marketing person from Refin real estate company ask for my input on patio gardens. Here is the Rent.com article written, some of the content are some tips I shared. Take a few minutes to read this article: https://www.rent.com/blog/balcony-herb-garden/. Personally, I would like to try again some lettuce greens and microgreens in some pots. It is too hot to sow seeds now, maybe early September. Definitely, I can try in next year’s growing season.

Jun19

This June’s Bipolar Nature

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This June’s Bipolar Nature

What magnificent spring weather we have relished in these past three months in Missouri. In my recollection it has been many years since we have experienced three full months of spring. Typically, in these parts of Missouri, it is a long winter with a rushed four weeks of spring, then right into the heat of summer. According to the weather forecasters, that heat of the summer comes this weekend. With this true spring has come thunderstorms and tornadoes. The weather has a bipolar nature. The damaging winds wreaked havoc in the St. Louis area more than once. The city has not seen such devastation in over 50 years. Recovery is day by day.

Dean and I have a huge, 50 – 60-year-old tulip poplar tree in our backyard which became victim to a pop-up thunderstorm a couple of evenings ago. It lost three medium to big-sized branches which landed between our house and the neighbor church building. Believe me, there are plenty of other branches for its survival. Today, I spent about an hour picking up small branches in the backyard and found a few in the front yard. My injured back only allows so much bending over, and it starts talking to me. I stopped before it started screaming at me. Dean has his various sized saws in use, binding up the large branches cut to 5-foot length as required by our trash company, and the smaller branches going in our lawn refuse totes and lawn bags.

A June respite comes with the mild temperature days. Some resting, meditating, reading, and writing this month. I have to thank God we are safe after each storm. Damaging gutters and roofs can be fixed and clean-up long, but Dean and I are safe and are generally in good health. I facilitated a writers’ workshop in Clarksville, Tennessee earlier this month. The six ladies gleaned much from this workshop where my co-facilitator and I emphasized the importance of observing with all seven senses. Yes, there are seven senses identified now. The traditional five are sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch. The two others are vestibular, associated with movement and balance, and proprioception allows a person to associate one’s own body with space. These last two are related to touch. I will mention there is a spiritual sense, which would make eight senses total for those who are believers.

“A comfortable breezy June morning … The clover is now in its glory. Whole fields are rosed with it, mixed with sorrel, and looking deeper than it is. It makes fields look luxuriant which are really thinly clad. The air is full of its sweet fragrance… These are the clover days.” Henry Thoreau

Thoreau wrote several lines in his journal on June 19, 1852, mentioning many other types of vegetation such as the crops of corn and potatoes, berries on the vines with anticipation of their ripening, even mildew and fungus he writes about. Several birds are included in his journal. He doesn’t miss any of the details and uses all his senses in his writings. Midway in this journal entry Thoreau mentions clover in three sentences and concludes with “the clover days” of June.  I have seen clover growing prolifically this month. The honeybees love clover, which makes for healthy gardens. The bees will come if the chemicals are not used. Folks, keep it organic like in Thoreau’s time. Keep all those senses stimulated. And journal your experiences.

Jun7

Connection

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Connection

Connection, connections. “I got connections”. Many made during the Clarksville Writers’ Conference. I, along with about 100 other ladies and gentlemen listened to words, shared words, made the connection in our minds on next steps as writers, and connected with each other as friends. Many seeds were sown this week for such purposeful, beneficial blooms of the future. The workshop “Seeds For Your Word Gardens” I co-facilitated with Shana Thornton, publisher, author, and historian. We had some terrific writers eager to learn from each other. What an experience! Dean went with. We reserved through Airbnb and had a cozy basement apartment out in the country with deer, wood thrush, and morning and evening fog near the Cumberland River. This foodie and spouse love the local eateries. Found a wonderful Thai place and coffee & tea space. We heard the Nashville Symphony one lovely evening. My husband had some much-needed rest, took some awesome photos (some shared here), and together we met some friendly folks connected to the writers’ conference or this river town. Please join us next year. Take the last train to Clarksville, Tennessee to attend this writer’s or learning-to-be-a-writer conference on June 2 – 5.

“All flourishing is mutual.” ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer

Mar30

A Simpler Time

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A Simpler Time

“Blossom by blossom the spring begins.” ~ Algernon Charles Swinburne

Seatherny overcomes the gloomy spring day. The birds chirp despite the gray sky. My heart lightens like the cherry tree blossoms floating with the wind similar to snowflakes. The warmth of the sun and the songbirds remind me it is springtime. I focus on this present moment.

“As cherry blossoms bloom and fall, they whisper to us the wisdom of impermanence, urging us to live fully in the present moment.” ~ Unknown

“Take me back to simpler times when daisies spoke, clouds formed pictures and ladybugs were lucky, when an hour was timeless and everything was new. It’s all still there inside. In crazy times, it makes this dreamer’s heart happy to close my eyes and remember.” ~ Jody Doty

Too many cares from the previous week. Disease, devastation, disappointments, and even death have dominated my thoughts. Today’s Sunday drive to the countryside provides more pleasant present moments to remember for this coming week. The grass isn’t necessarily greener on the other side of the fence, but stepping out of the muck can shed a lighter point of view that doesn’t weigh down my mind and heart. I am ready for a fairytale tea party.

“She wore her yellow sun-bonnet, 

She wore her greenest gown, 

 She turned to the south wind  

And curtsied up and down. 

She turned to the sunlight

And shook her yellow head,

And whispered to her neighbour:

‘Winter is dead.’  ~A. A.Milne

Jan19

The Mid-January Landscape

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The Mid-January Landscape

“In winter … temporarily abandoned by my suddenly frigid lover, the garden.” ~ Margaret Roach 

I love my perennials, herbs, and flowers during the warm growing season. The dread of the winter months in Missouri has lessened as I have learned to love staying indoors, too. Time slows down, and I slow down to read and write. This week included a few afternoons to do just that. Besides, some of my green friends come indoors with me for four or five months. My poem “The Neighbor’s Tree” is started on Thursday afternoon while sipping on a cup of Earl Grey tea, watching the birds at the feeders, and gazing at the colorful sunset. I finished the poem when we gathered in Kansas City with family for another indoor weekend. Our granddaughters made valentines for Papa and me. The children did carpet sledding in the living room rather than snow sledding as single-digit temps started our days this weekend and will continue this coming week. A message from the 8-year-old was left in the bedroom we stayed in, “remember do good things”. Out of the mouths of babes. The mid-January landscape dressed in glistening snow was a beautiful sight during our travel eastward to home this afternoon.

The Neighbor’s Tree
The neighbor’s tree this wintry late afternoon
reaches upward to the gray-blue sky, the sun
spotlights its rough-barked limbs outlined in white.
The squirrels scurry back and forth
on a quest for more seeds and nuts
as the light creeps into the evening.
Pinks and purples fill the once blue sky
as shadows dissipate, dimness surrounds,
dusk gently blankets the snowy hillside.
The obscurity, ambiguity, then a glowing light,
the sun’s rays concentrate as a flashlight, 
a January twilight is on the horizon.
Then night takes over minute after minute
with subdued moments leading to a hush,
the songbirds utter quiet rest in their nests.
The neighbor’s tree this late evening
is a perch for this night’s chatty barred owl,
“Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?”
Anna Marie Gall - January 18, 2025

“Remember do good things.” ~ Elise Gall

“One kind word can warm three winter months.” ~ Japanese Proverb

Jan2

Sow A Seed in 2025

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Sow A Seed in 2025

The word I picked for 2024 was “present”. Be present each moment and treat each day as a present or gift from God. Many moments of my days I was fully present. I had quality time in prayer. Moments spent with a cup of tea, watching the birds at the feeders, the bees and dragonflies on the pineapple sage, lemon thyme, and mint plants. More family time whether planned or took the opportunity as it came about with my oldest daughter, youngest grandson, and my cousin and her husband as they all relocated to St. Charles. Many days were spent writing, being present moment to finish my 162-page memoir (before photos) on my culinary life as well a mini book of 49 Haikus entitled “Balancing The Seesaw”. But there were plenty of other days not so much present moment, as I did too much regretting the past or fretting about tomorrow. I missed out on the blessings of those days.

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future; live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh 

In late February Dean and I took a trip to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. I had been sick most of the frigid January and equally cold February but instantly felt better when we got into warmer weather and the sea breeze. Somehow, we need to make these 9 or 10 days stretch for 8 weeks. Maybe when we both are fully retired? That is at least 2 more winters after this one. The sinus infections and bronchitis lingered for weeks, with vertigo and inner ear migraines to follow. It was not until July after physical therapy and a prescription regiment that I felt normal again. This allergy to the cold is getting worse, not better as I get older.

“May this winter be gentle and kind – a season of rest from the wheel of the mind.” ~ John Geddes

Other trips were to Eureka Springs, Arkansas for a springtime culinary & writing workshop I presented at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. We had multiple trips to the Kansas City side of the state to clean out Dean’s parents’ home of 50 years and place it on the market. It sold in June, and our weekend trips to Kansas City subsided the 2nd half of the year with occasional visits to see 2 of Dean’s kids and their families. We had a Labor Day trip to Jefferson City for a meeting place after Dean’s oldest granddaughter spent the weekend with us. Beautiful autumn family photos were taken in October near Dean’s daughter’s house. Three other travel destinations in 2024: a writers’ conference in Clarksville, Tennessee in June, a long August weekend in Branson with Dean’s kids and grandkids, and a flood relief trip to Asheville, North Carolina in November. The writers’ conference was excellent. The writers’ group that formed after the conference in 2023 provoke me to keep writing. We always have a good time in Branson. The Asheville trip proved productive taking donated winter clothing and blankets for the flood victims after Hurricane Helene left such destruction. We made new friends with our Airbnb hosts who coached us on non-profit groups to work with while in town.

“The area holds a magnetism beyond words.” ~ Country Cottage Living about Asheville, NC

I suppose the biggest surprise for 2024 was the death of my oldest brother, Rick. He suffered a heart incident on December 1 after arriving back at the local airport from a Thanksgiving trip to see his oldest son and family in Seattle. He never recovered after 10 days on life support. A young 65-years old, it seems Rick left this earth too soon. Jesus must have wanted him there in Heaven, where we all want to be once we pass on from this earthly life. Rick spent hours of research in his first 2 years of retirement and left an unfinished book about the men of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Dean and his love of archival history may be of assistance in the finishing of Rick’s book. My sister-in-law, Joan has this project in the plans for the near future. I miss my brother.

“The shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love’s own twin.” ~ Margaret Renkl

Dean and I’s occupations remain the same, Dean as an archival technician at The National Archives, and Anna as a culinary professional at Aging Ahead. This autumn I joined a women’s group, the local chapter of Epsilon Sigma Alpha (ESA). We serve the St. Jude Foundation, veteran, and local charitable organizations with fundraising and recognition efforts. These fellow sisters donated items for the Asheville victims. They were also there to comfort me after my brother’s untimely death. I look forward to building friendships while at our fundraisers and social events. Dean as well as other husbands assist from time to time. On occasion we make it to the DeSoto CIA and community events to support our friends.

“The lesson which life repeats and constantly reinforces it, ‘look under foot’. You are always nearer the divine and the true sources of power than you think.” ~ John Burroughs

Texas is on our radar for a few days this February to escape the Missouri winter tundra and weather. Soon after we will be welcoming our first great-grandchild into the world. My oldest granddaughter and her fiancé are due late March. Early June I will be presenting a workshop on block-out poetry and ekphrastic poetry at the Clarksville Writers’ Conference. The theme is on gardening, my favorite subject to write and talk about. A destination for admiring the more flowers, woods, and sunsets is planned for September.

“A seed neither fears light or darkness but uses both to grow.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

I promise to read for 25 minutes a day in 2025. My word for 2025 is “seed”. At the end of 2025 we will have lived a quarter of a century into the current millennium. Where does the time go? I dare say I have been busy, but maybe not busy enough with what really matters. Maybe I can make this 25th year count for what is truly worth the energy and time I expend. Sow a seed with a kind and sincere word; help with making the air fresh and the water clean; provide a garden, kisses, sheltering arms, a cozy bed, write words worth reading, and love enough for it to be returned.

“She did not need much, wanted very little. A kind word, sincerity, fresh air, clean water, a garden, kisses, books to read, sheltering arms, a cozy bed, and to love and be loved in return.” ~Starra Neely Blade

“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” ~ Psalm 126: 5 & 6