You know that feeling when you owe a friend a letter or a call and you think, Oh, I need time for that. I’ll do that tomorrow. And then tomorrow becomes the day after tomorrow and you think, Wow, I really need some time for that letter, I will start tonight. And then you fall asleep, and the days go by, and your guilt grows until pretty soon you’re avoiding even thinking about it.

Yeah, that feeling. It’s been gnawing away at me that I haven’t posted in so long, but I’ve been dealing with an illness in the family. How quickly your world shrinks when someone you love is sick and you don’t know why. I’m confident that everything will work out fine, but Tom Petty was right when he said “The waiting is the hardest part.”

The holiday week brought some time to catch up on The Neglected, and so 2012 is off to a good start. I’m also preparing to start teaching at a community college, in addition to subbing at grade schools, so I’ve been sinking into that “back to school” vibe too. Much different when you’re the teacher, but the smell of those magic markers and the feel of the crisp edges of a new notebook make me feel like everything’s gonna be all right.

And a couple days ago I long-lost boomerang came home with good news: two poems I sent out back in May got published in Glass: A Journal of Poetry! Glass is a fine magazine that pulls together diverse talents and offers poems that resonate with you long after you’ve read them. I’ve been a fan for a while, so this was an honor.

And a sweet way to end the year. I hope it portends more of the same. Now to get back to submitting…rather than let another nagging feeling take root.

Wishing you a gorgeous, lush, vibrant 2012!

…another great sunrise here today. Had to share this one. Can you say GRATITUDE?

Another update: The elk are back, this time at the bottom of the mountain. They were standing around this morning like tourists whose bus had broken down. Where do they go at night? Wish I had an invisibility cloak so I could slip elk-cams on a few of them!

I have to confess: Sometimes I say things without thinking. (!) But once, long ago, I opened my mouth while in a feisty mood (the kind that makes one declare things thoughtlessly–i.e., an ordinary day for me) and told a fellow poet, in a not so quiet voice, that I absolutely hate nature poetry.

Ha ha on me. And my deepest apologies, Mary Oliver—it was before I met you. Since that day, or course, I’ve written plenty of what could be called “nature poetry.” And now I live in one of the most gorgeous places on the continent. I spend a lot of time walking out there, and since that’s where I do my deep thinking, yeah—I end up absorbing all that imagery and sensory gorgeousness. Sure, my inner workings are tangled up in there, but so are (mountain) lions, tigers, and bears—oh my!

Now I can’t drive up the mountain without ogling the flora and fauna. I’ve developed a gratitude habit, too. “Thank you, Universe-Maker” is a running theme in my silent musings. I’ll never stop learning from all this creation. Call me a geek, but planetariums are my kinda fun.

That’s not to say I don’t run through my list of bitches and frustrations, too. But now I’ll pull the car over and pop off a few shots of the way the sun shines through the grasses in summer and autumn. If only I could capture the whole scope of what I see from the windshield.

I have learned the names of a dozen wild grasses in my front yard alone, but my favorites are Indian Rice Grass (looks like Fourth of July sparklers) and squirrel tail grass. I get so entranced by the colors, from green through purple to amber, it’s a wonder I haven’t run into some of the wildlife I wave to as I pass by.

Will I ever stop letting these sweeping, declarative inanities leap from my mouth? I hope not. Enjoy.