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Monday, May 15, 2023

Staying Home, Writing, and Wondering if Anyone's Listening

 

Three of the guys on the Oregon coast in March.

I haven’t flown anywhere for a month!

Slowly,  the doors and windows in my mind are opening, and the breezes are blowing through. As we speak, I am sitting in my Sparrow Nest looking at the purple camas blooming and listening to birds in the trees by the creek.

It is calming all the turbulent seas in my head.

This past year has been full of travel and a new book. It’s a little alarming how impossible it is for me to do anything like blogging and hosting when I’m traveling and publishing. Even though I love to travel and to see family in faraway places, the energy it requires is enormous.

So the absences from Life in the Shoe have been long, and I kind of wonder if anyone is still out there, listening, or if they've all wandered off to TikTok.

God willing, I won’t take any trips by plane for four months. The next venture involves going to Kansas in August for my Uncle Johnny’s 100th birthday party.

So I’m preparing my dahlia beds and a straw bale garden, filling book orders, and cleaning forgotten corners. And, I hope, blogging regularly again.

For the next few months, I’d like to post on Tuesdays and follow this schedule:

Week 1: Travel—I’ll tell you about somewhere I’ve been in the past year.
2—Ask Aunt Dorcas—I’m still learning and growing, but I’ve accumulated an astonishing pile of experiences, and I do love to dispense advice and inspire discussion. I’d be happy to add your questions to my stack. Life, mothering, writing, relationships, moral dilemmas, all kinds of things: email them to dorcassmucker@gmail.com. I’ll see what I can do.
3. Random rambling about a subject of my choice.
4. Book reviews. Some of you have been waiting a long time for me to deliver the review of your book. I hope to catch up. I might have some random recommendations as well.
5. On writing—how-tos, questions, and information on this broad subject. Updates on projects and conferences. Maybe a rant or two. Again, send questions if you have them.
6. Mr. Smucker speaks—Paul has sort of consented to write book reviews and other posts for me. He’s been doing a lot of speaking about how to help the poor with dignity and ethics. I hope he’ll share some of it with you.

If I get permission from the right people, I’ll really resurrect the Old Days and include a Quote of the Day.

Thank you for staying with me through the long silences. Scroll down the page if you'd like to subscribe by email. [Note: I'm told you can't subscribe if you're reading this on your phone. If you message me with your email address, I can sign you up. You'll get an email from FeedBlitz to confirm your subscription.]

Quote of the Day:

“Wow, you guys live a long time! Too bad for you, I guess.”

--a Smucker relative, when I told her about Uncle Johnny’s birthday. I told her living a long time isn’t so bad when you can read books and weed flower beds at 100.

50 comments:

  1. So good to hear from you again!! I'm still hear and will never wander over to TikTok.

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  2. The Baritone5/15/2023 7:40 PM

    Cool, I was wondering if/when you would post again. :-)
    Blessings on your week.

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  3. Thank you for writing, and I don’t do TikTok.

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  4. I have no intention of leaving here and going to tiktok!

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  5. I'm listening!

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  6. I am here and loving reading your blog again!!

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  7. Iwill look forward to each one

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  8. I don't speak Chinese or do TikTok.

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  9. Very glad to got more blogs from you Dorcas!!

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  10. Tic Tok...nope. would rather read.

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  11. Still here! ♥️

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  12. Martha Schrock5/16/2023 4:36 AM

    I’ve been missing your blog! I can relate to many of the things you share. Thank you for writing!

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  13. I'm still here, and I enjoy every post! :-)

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  14. Looking forward to the free trips the week you talk about where you’ve been!

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  15. It's great to hear from you again. And, no, I have no plans of joining TikTok. I barely know what it is. I was sorry you didn't come here with Paul, but am glad to know you plan to come in August.

    Your Uncle Johny is a familiar presence at community events, including funerals. I saw him Sunday when I went to church at my Amish neighbors. It's too bad that his hearing has declined, but he can converse. Linda Rose

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    1. It pained me not to come with Paul, but it was just Too Much.
      I'm so glad Johnny is still out and about. He calls me now and then. I don't think he hears a word I say, but I love hearing from him!

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  16. I still read your blog! No tiktok here!

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  17. Decided to write a comment just so you know people DO READ your blogs, even though they may not comment!!! Keep up the good work and don't feel sorry if you don't blog every week. As we get older, things just take longer to get done!!!

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  18. I'm here! No tiktok but I do love your Instagram page. So excited you're blogging again!

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  19. I'm still here and I hate tiktok! I'm so glad to see posts here again.

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  20. I am listening and looking forward to your posts. Especially the "Ask Aunt Dorcas" ones, I think. :)

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  21. I look forward to your posts! These upcoming months sound delightful.

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  22. Yay! Good to hear from you again! I’ll be listening. No TikTok. 😄

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    Replies
    1. I'm so encouraged to hear how many of you readers are out there.

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  23. Looking forward to reading every blog.

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  24. No tiktok for me, thanks!

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  25. Glad that you are back. I have missed you!

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  26. I still read blogs but, like you (and lots of other bloggers it seems), don't write them nearly as often anymore. Maybe you bringing back more frequent blogging will inspire us all!

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    1. I would love it if we'd all give each other incentive to post!

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  27. "...sort of consented..." So many ways to interpret that. ;) Love it.

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  28. Wondering if anyone is listening?! I forwent my last-minute hair and makeup touchup this morning when I saw your notification email five minutes before I was supposed to be out the door. If you knew me you'd have a solid answer to your question.

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  29. Yes m’am! I definitely missed you. I decided you most be doing bigger and better things. I tried to patiently wait.

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  30. I'm a not-so-young software developer who always enjoys your posts!

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  31. Count me in for emails...no tik-tok for me

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  32. I'll join the chorus of non-Tic-tock fans, but happily read blog posts.

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  33. Yay!! I'm so glad you're back! I've sadly missed your blogging... especially the Ask Aunt Dorcas. That's always a winner. Tiktok is no competition!

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  34. No TikTok in my life, but I’m happy to read what you write here…though I’ll only know about it if there is a reminder on Facebook. Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts on avoiding things that feel too hard or overwhelming. For me that tends to be tasks that either have a lot of details to keep track of or things that I know are outside my ability and require heavy dependence on Holy Spirit. It’s not that I avoid them forever, but there tends to be a period of avoidance before surrendering to the inevitable and diving in. Can you identify? What have you learned along the way about dealing with these types of tendencies?

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    1. Sigh. I relate to this a lot. And I don't have answers for you at the moment but I'll put this in my Ask Aunt Dorcas file. Thanks for asking!

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  35. excited about you blogging

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  36. Ilva Arlene Hertzler5/17/2023 5:40 AM

    Dorcas, Dorcas says Mother Jaguar, graciously waving her tain

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  37. Are we still out here? Of course. WE have been wondering if YOU were still out there, though... Nice to hear from you.

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  38. You have my ear. Actually, you have both of them. So glad you’re back, Dorcas! You’ve been missed.

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  39. Much as I enjoy reading your writing (And that is a LOT!), I'm excited for Mr. Smucker speaks. Helping people in poverty with dignity is something that has been rolling around in my head of late.

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