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Katrina Kenison

celebrating the gift of each ordinary day

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Home » Dear Older

dear older: I did not expect tears!

dear older: I did not expect tears!

My friend, writing colleague, and gardening expert, Margaret Roach and I touch base almost daily. Often it’s just a texted…
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dear old(er): my best apple cake and the beauty of lying fallow

dear old(er):
my best apple cake
and the beauty of lying fallow

This is the fourth in a series of letters between me and my friend, author Margaret Roach, on the challenges…
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Dear Old(er): aging with grace

Dear Old(er): aging with grace

This is the third in a series of letters between me and my friend, author Margaret Roach, on the challenges…
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Dear Older,  about these cars. . .

Dear Older, about these cars. . .

“We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.” ~Goethe This is the second in a series of letters between…
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Dear Older (Love, Old)

Dear Older (Love, Old)

This is the first in a series of letters between me and my friend, author Margaret Roach, on the challenges (and…
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Katrina Kenison
I’m a wife, the mother of two sons, a passionate reader, a former editor, a slow writer, a friend, a seeker. Somewhere along the way, I realized that a good life is made up not of peak moments but of many small ones – imperfect, fleeting, ordinary, precious. And so I slowed down and began to pay attention. Writing, it turns out, is a way of noticing.

Let’s stay in touch. Receive new reflections & inspiration

Recent Posts

  • you can’t have it all
  • act of imagination
  • “choose an unimportant day”
    (and enter to win a book!)
  • what a year brings
  • we remember moments

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The Way to Start a Day The way to start a day is t The Way to Start a Day The way to start a day is this: Go outside and face the east and greet the sun with some kind of blessing or chant or song that you made yourself and keep for early morning. 

The way to make the song is this: Don't try to think what words to use until you're standing there alone. When you feel the sun you'll feel the song, too. Just sing it... 

A morning needs to be sung to. A new day needs to be honored... 

Your song will be an offering and you'll be one more person in one more place at one more time in the world saying hello to the sun, letting it know you are there. If the sky turns a color sky never was before just watch it. That's part of the magic. That's the way to start a day. 

~ Byrd Baylo
As I begin to think of myself as a cancer survivor As I begin to think of myself as a cancer survivor, with all the gratitude and uncertainty that phrase contains, turning 67 feels like a milestone, a time to reflect on what it all means. I spent my birthday writing -- a gift to myself, and to you, too. A new blog post is up on my site, please come visit. (Also, I'm giving away a book I love!) https://www.katrinakenison.com/2025/10/04/you-cant-have-it-all/
“The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the s “The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer’s ending, a sad monotonous song. “Summer is over and gone, over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying.” “ ~ E. B. White, “Charlotte’s Web.” It is surely the most poignant soundtrack of our year, and these nights I step outside before bed to listen with my whole body. Sad, yes, but never monotonous.  #crickets #autumn
“It is this way with wonder: it takes a bit of pat “It is this way with wonder: it takes a bit of patience, and it takes putting yourself in the right place at the right time. It requires that we be curious enough to forgo our small distractions in order to find the world.” ~ Aimee Nezhukumatathil.  Stepping outside at dusk tonight, we found ourselves in the right place. #maine #baileyisland #wonder #sunset #summer
“One of those days where you listen long enough to “One of those days where you listen long enough to the sound of sea birds & the water & the wind & you give up words for a while because none of them are big enough.” ~ Brian Andreas.  To rise early on a summer morning  is always a happiness.  But after two and a half weeks of elevating my leg and staying off my feet, a slow walk to the beach at dawn  felt like a pilgrimage, a return to myself.  What a gift it is to heal, to know our bodies will do their best to become whole, and to feel strength and energy return.  #Healing
Since my most recent surgery a week ago, I've been Since my most recent surgery a week ago, I've been spending my days right here, with my bandaged leg elevated above my heart. Suddenly, there is time -- to think, to remember, to write my way into a new way of being. It's been a long time since I posted on my blog, but there's a new essay there now. (Link in my profile.)

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