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Katrina Kenison

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Home » December 2011

Archives for December 2011

Reclaiming Peace

“Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and…
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Katrina Kenison

I’m a wife, the mother of two sons, a passionate reader, a former editor, a slow writer, a friend, a seeker. Somewhere along the way, I realized that a good life is made up not of peak moments but of many small ones – imperfect, fleeting, ordinary, precious. And so I slowed down and began to pay attention. Writing, it turns out, is a way of noticing.

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you can’t have it all
act of imagination
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what a year brings
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Last year on my 67th birthday, just a week after f

Last year on my 67th birthday, just a week after finishing breast cancer treatment, I told my kids I wanted to take a trip with each one of them before I turn 70. My friend Randy reminds me that we must think now in terms of QTR — quality time remaining — and so I do. Ten days in Italy with @hlewers89 have reminded me just how vast and precious the world is, how travel can bring us home to ourselves, and how important it is to step out of our daily routines and into challenges and adventures while we’re strong and healthy enough to enjoy them, and also just how fun it is to spend time with my 36-year-old son. When we arrived in Milan we discovered our luggage had been lost in a massive breakdown at Heathrow that could take days to untangle. And so we spent our first day buying new everything— from underwear to dental floss to walking shoes. By dinner time we had our Italian capsule wardrobes and tiny duffel bags to pack them in. There was something kind of liberating about starting from scratch and assembling what we needed for a week of walking in the Lakes district. And I come home not only with new clothes but with some new intentions, too: take the trip, travel light, climb the mountain, drink the good wine, make new friends (what joy!), eat the gelato (and the cheese), make memories with the people you love, ask for help, embrace cultures and people and places that stretch you, learn a few words in the language you don’t know and speak them with all your heart. Life is short.

"Easter is the soul's first taste of spring." — Ri

"Easter is the soul's first taste of spring." — Richelle E. Goodrich

The Way to Start a Day The way to start a day is t

The Way to Start a Day The way to start a day is this: Go outside and face the east and greet the sun with some kind of blessing or chant or song that you made yourself and keep for early morning.

The way to make the song is this: Don't try to think what words to use until you're standing there alone. When you feel the sun you'll feel the song, too. Just sing it...

A morning needs to be sung to. A new day needs to be honored...

Your song will be an offering and you'll be one more person in one more place at one more time in the world saying hello to the sun, letting it know you are there. If the sky turns a color sky never was before just watch it. That's part of the magic. That's the way to start a day.

~ Byrd Baylo

As I begin to think of myself as a cancer survivor

As I begin to think of myself as a cancer survivor, with all the gratitude and uncertainty that phrase contains, turning 67 feels like a milestone, a time to reflect on what it all means. I spent my birthday writing -- a gift to myself, and to you, too. A new blog post is up on my site, please come visit. (Also, I'm giving away a book I love!) https://www.katrinakenison.com/2025/10/04/you-cant-have-it-all/

“The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the s

“The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer’s ending, a sad monotonous song. “Summer is over and gone, over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying.” “ ~ E. B. White, “Charlotte’s Web.” It is surely the most poignant soundtrack of our year, and these nights I step outside before bed to listen with my whole body. Sad, yes, but never monotonous. #crickets #autumn

“It is this way with wonder: it takes a bit of pat

“It is this way with wonder: it takes a bit of patience, and it takes putting yourself in the right place at the right time. It requires that we be curious enough to forgo our small distractions in order to find the world.” ~ Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Stepping outside at dusk tonight, we found ourselves in the right place. #maine #baileyisland #wonder #sunset #summer

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