profile

Kathy Donchak

Sunday Letter: Ritual of Gathering

Published 5 months ago • 1 min read

We're all just walking each other home.
~ Ram Dass

The Thanksgiving holiday is a chance to gather with loved ones to celebrate autumn. The fruits of the harvest are laid out on tables. The mirroring of fall color accompanied by savory scents as we attempt to create an atmosphere of presence and thoughtfulness.

We gather with loved ones, in person or in memory, through the images in our minds and memories in our hearts.

Looking back on this weekend, I am reminded how much there is to be thankful for in this simple ritual of gathering.

Be well,

Kathy

Kathy Donchak

I write about nature, family, creativity, and wellbeing.

Read more from Kathy Donchak

A garden is a space I have always carved out for myself, from the smallest balcony to the potted flowers by my door. Every one reflects the season of my life. An expression of self in a constantly changing landscape. Looking out into our small backyard, I look at the native serviceberry trees I bought from a local landscaper who saved them. Their form is delicate and rhythmic, standing in their small pots like a lanky teenager learning to balance and move with their fresh growth. This week I...

6 days ago • 1 min read

Source One must work with the creative powers - for not to work with is to work against; in art as in spiritual life there is no neutral place.” ~ Mary Oliver, Blue Pastures Our garden is taking shape. Inspired by one of my favorite gardening books by Rebcca Cole, I am dreaming and choosing plants to create a small garden of evergreens and deciduous trees, espalier fruit trees, and flowers. My husband is working through plans for raised vegetable and herb beds to feed the body while I work to...

13 days ago • 1 min read

And here I build my platform, and live upon it, and think my thoughts and am high. To rise, I must have a field to rise from. To deepen, I must have a bedrock from which to descend. ~ Mary Oliver, Long Life I can hear the birds again. The rainy mornings have been flooded with sounds of so many frogs, you are sure you left a window open, but today, thanks to the early morning urging of our cat at the window, I began to hear them again. The geese honking overhead, woodland songbirds, even an...

27 days ago • 1 min read
Share this post