Shel Graves' Sensorium

Bleah! Taste of 2017: smokey jalapeño gut shot Sight of 2017: batons and riot gear; the ASL sign for resist Sound of 2017: the dental hygienist simultaneously scraping my teeth and talking about shooting bears Quotes of 2017: "Get a life!"; "When women's rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!" (because women's rights are under attack); "High five!" a terrifyingly funny moment from the movie "Dave Made a Maze" Song of 2017: MILCK Quiet  (for theme and the conditions under which it was sung) Smell of 2017 : urine and feces Touch of 2017: finger to shoulder numbness and pain Movie of 2017: Beatriz at Dinner  (for the ending!) Quotes of 2017:  "I want to give everybody a big hug. We have to let everybody know they are not alone." — Mom (because it needed to be said) "The tragedy of nations is perhaps this: that even the best rulers use up a piece of their people's future....

2017! Looking back it was an eventful year. We began the year with the funeral of a very close friend, one of the original instigators of our long running game group, and ended the year with the wedding of one of the newer members (meaning just a few years, not decades) of our gaming group at a castle in Victoria, B.C. (It was delightful!). I began the year with this made up word in mind: creativism (creative activism) and this guiding quote: "...with light and star-like, for there is no place/that does not see you. You must change your life." — Archaic Torso of Apollo, Rainer Maria Rilke These themes were very much fulfilled this year. I left my job. Focused on writing. Began volunteering at an animal sanctuary. And I am now working there on an entirely different career track as an animal caregiver. I am happy. I feel blessed. And grateful. My word of the year for 2018 is kinship and my guiding quote will be: "Skill in living, awareness of belonging in th...

Taste: grilled Chao cheese on rye and tomato soup Sight: winter sunlight Sound: Woof! Smell: frankincense, pine candles, gingerbread candles Touch: frost, hands aching from cold Extra: Six words: Castle, Victoria, Bell, Cannon, Magnolia, Star; the way she sleeps so soundly; learning to play at age 14; "Skill in living, awareness of belonging in the world, delight in being part of the world, always tends to involve knowing our kinship as animals with animals." — Ursula K. Le Guin in the foreword to her poetry collection "Late in the Day"  Grateful for: the best work holiday ever

Taste: Dandies peppermint mini marshmallows - so pepperminty Sight: a shadow cat, a cavecat  Sound: yelling at a man who wants to take my picture; fog so thick it hides the Christmas tree; a big dog grunting like a big pig as he eats Smell: a lit match, potassium chlorate Touch: a slick road; excruciating pain down the arm and tingling fingers waking me up at night; cracked skin rough skin, chapped skin Extra: "All will come again into its strength:/the fields undivided, the waters undammed,/the trees towering and the walls built low./And in the valleys, people as strong/and varied as the land." — Rainer Maria Rilke, The Book of Hours II  Grateful for: Trooper being playful in the morning and even at night

Taste:  cherry pie Lara Bars Sight: writing by candlelight; a golden leaf hangs in the sky; running freely across the lawn; the candle's horizon line; gleaming sheen, shine Sound: swearing at work; barking, whining, moaning — making voices heard Smell: unimaginable - she is experiencing an entirely different world than I; Doritos; their funk, my funk Touch: smooth sheen Extra:  my mind is happily buzzing; "I drink the blue of the sky through my eyes without vice,/as a calf does the milk of the udders."—"The Town," Pablo Neruda Book of Twilight; "...forest dreamers: those who feel the hope, inspiration, and possibility held within seeds, that they might one day become a magnificent forest." — Chihuahua City 2121, Ecotopia 2121; "Skill in living, awareness of belonging in the world, delight in being part of the world, always tends to involve knowing our kinship as animals with animals." — Ursula K. Le Guin in the foreword to her ...

Simple pleasures: Writing by candlelight Taste: baked tofu; Nuun Sight: Llama greetings; two donkeys, three llamas; sliver-blue shiny wrinkled fur S ound: high-pitched insistent barking; pouring kibble into metal bowls; soulful eyes Smell: feces, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar; strawberry shampoo Touch: Sunny's fur; the weight of a garbage bag full of wet towels; firm, chewy baked tofu Extra: being new; being clumsy; remembering many things and also being forgetful; pleasing one's childhood self Grateful for: being outdoors, working with dogs, working outside, escaping a cubicle and Seattle commute; rain pants; a paycheck