Edith Hope Bishop

Hi loves,  I’ve enjoyed reading all the thankfulness posts this month, but didn’t feel like I had the bandwidth to participate WHICH IS BOGUS NONSENSE. And so… here are my 28 days of gratitude all at once and in no particular order. This is a long-ass post and I don’t expect you to read it, but I still wanted to put it out into the universe. Many of you qualify in more than one category listed below. But listen, even if I somehow missed you, I’m grateful for you. Happy Thanksgiving. 1) Phoebe – Thank you for being a source of light, optimism, love, humor, and hope in my life. Always. Thank you for the hard work you’re doing this year. 2) Michael – Thanks for your love, trust, wisdom, hard work, and humor. And for our music. “The truest of lights.” 3) My brother – holds both your hands I love you. Completely. 4) Kidlets – Mine, yours, and all the sweethearts there are. So grateful for the mess of parenthood and especially for the snuggles. 5)

Hi loves, It's been a while since I last posted here so I won't try and catch up on everything. If we know each other well, you're already in the loop, and if we don't, well, I suppose you'll be just fine without a blow by blow. All our lives are busy and complicated. All of us only have so much bandwidth to spare. The big highlights were an incredibly beautiful trip to Scotland and Ireland this summer: And lots of social time with good folks once we returned: Now the kids are back in school, the leaves are falling, and my youngest and I recently had a wonderful time camping on Orcas Island with his classmates. Since then, autumn ailments have knocked us down a few rungs, I'm afraid. =/ October looks to be an insanely busy month with lotsa travel. I can't say I'm thrilled about all of it, but I know there'll be plenty of laughter and love throughout. And glitter... more on that anon. ;) T

Hello friends, I hope your summer has been joyous and peaceful so far. Mine has been... tumultuous, to say the least. I've had some good solid fun, but there's also been lots of dark difficult news and work. It's only mid-July and I admit I've already caught myself thinking wistfully of fall. A friend posted a meme recently that said something like, "being an adult means starting every week saying to yourself, 'things will calm down after this week'". That hit home. It reminded me to heed the wisdom I've often heard that "this is it". Things aren't necessarily ever going to calm down. Life isn't going to suddenly open up and be free of all pain. Suffering and joy and love and loss are just human. But even in this great big messy now, there's comfort to be found in the idea that we're in it together. We have each other. In this spirit, we had a small adventure here recently that I thought you might like to hear about,

Hi friends, Had such a strange day today. from The Skylark by David Cox Summer Solstice here was intense and beautiful and difficult. I heard good news, troubling news, and everything in-between. My heart feels all twisted and tight. In an attempt to ground myself, I visited the Seattle Art Museum to see the Victorian Rebels exhibit on the women and men of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. It was truly beautiful and loosened me, gently. If you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. Victorian Evening Gown I couldn't help thinking of Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner,  Terri Windling, and Cortney Skinner much of the time, since my "Hell's Pre-Raphaelites" biker jacket is part of their shared history. Like the remarkable souls featured in this exhibit, I'm grateful to these luminaries for setting examples of artful and art-full lives.  The Keepsake by Kate Elizabeth Bunce Detail from The Keepsake by Kate Elizabeth Bunce                   

Hello Lovelies, Today was one of those odd days when I do everything I'm supposed to do (writing, exercising, walking the beach, taking care of pup and chores) and yet I still feel a kind of hollow that's hard to describe. The weather is nice. My children are healthy. My love will be home from work soon and we'll have a family dinner and a cozy night. Really, there's just no reason to feel off. And yet. Part of a creative life, for me, means that I do a lot of dreaming while fully awake. Some of me ventures off and away to inhabit other lives and stories. The truth is, this kind of dreaming can can leave me feeling wistful and restless and absent... I've learned that when I feel this way, one of the best things to do is engage with poetry and/or music. Something about those forms of expression can reach me and bring me back to the present moment better than other things, like TV or visual art or prose. In this way, reading poetry, for me, can be

Hello Loves, I hope this message finds you well. I hope it finds you ready to spend some time outside or with loved ones or about to read a book you love. I hope this message finds you comforted. Things are okay over here. I'm headed out this weekend to my first  Norwescon , and tomorrow I'm participating in their writing workshop. I'm excited and nervous, the way I always feel before meeting new people and hearing what they think of my work. But I know it'll be good for me. I always learn something from these types of experiences, and I couldn't hope for more. After the conference, I'm flying to Cleveland to say goodbye to an old friend. I'm sure it will be hard, but I know it will also be a time of great love and support with his beloved family and community. I'm grateful I can take the time to go. Otherwise, I'm doing okay. Working hard at my volunteer job, spending lots of quality time with my kids, digging away at a novel draft, a

Hello dear ones, Sometimes it isn’t necessary to find golden treasure or shining shells, complete and whole. Sometimes the broken bits are enough. Stories don’t all end happily. Some don’t even make sense. At least, not on the first telling. But if we look again, if we can learn to attend closely, I believe there’s something worthwhile to be found in the fragments. Much love, Edie