Instagram has become my blog over the last few months - full of words and photos and words. Search Instagram: #alexandrahanleypielech
There they are - Photos and Words. My photos and words.

I am about halfway through writing my book. Finding time is harder, but I refuse to lose momentum all together. Even if I am the only one who ever reads it or finds worth in it... that will be enough.

School. I went back to school again. I took a class over the summer - Holistic Approaches to Healing - which was a nice way to ease back in.  This semester - Liberation Math. I am aware of how foreign and strange it sounds, but I really like it. There is analysis of ones relationship with math, reading of articles about math and race/math and gender/math education/ and the like, actual math problems. Completely different approach to math. Taking a class a semester, I should finish by Summer 2017. I think it is neat that my children will be there to see me graduate. There are so many ways to navigate life and I want them to know that not only by my words, but by my actions. Tread your own path. Be always growing and learning.

Benjamin will be two in 11 days. He is so quick to laugh, full of energy, lovey buggy, in awe of his big sister, determined, independent... Adored.

Abigail is 4.5 and in pre-k. So smart. So social. So thoughtful. So kind. So creative. So loved. There have been a lot of transitions and sickness and a wedding and Brad traveling for work since she started school and I think that it has made things more challenging so far this school year. We will get our feet under us yet.

I've been spending more one-on-one time with her (above: us on a walk with the dog today) and setting up times to play with her school friends outside of school, in an effort to help her along.

We went to a farm for some Fall Fun today. My feet on the hayride mirror how I have been feeling lately. Partly completely out there moving ahead while also partly reserved, turning inward, finding comfort in myself. Even the shoes - lace - covering up but full of spaces... to let the light in...

I leave you with a few recent photos of Fall in New England and one of me...wearing a scarf... which makes it fall-ish, right?

Lately I have been writing poetry to go with some of my instagram photos.

instagram.com/alexandrapielech

Penned this tonight:

The moon turns into crashing rocks

and quickly turns to dust

Sprinkling down upon the earth

and everyone of us

The sky goes dark but for the stars

I reach for you but its too far

The ebb and flow of the tides is lost

And I've lost you in the chaos

My rock has turned to dust

I run my finger from my knee to my thigh

Gathering you up and gazing at you, marveling at you

Sparkling on my fingertip

Kumare

We just watched the film Kumare in my Holistic Approaches to Healing course. I can not rave about it enough. It is available on Netflix. Watch it with a group of people because it is so thought provoking and you are going to want to discuss it right away.

A peek at some of my thoughts about the film:
Do any of us have the answers? Are the answers different for each of us?

If you can imagine yourself as someone else you can be that person.

We all just want to be seen.

Listening and reflecting people back to themselves helps them to hear their own voice, their inner voice.

We give power to people, things, leaders, and ideas, but we all have the power within us.

If one has someone who believes in one, it makes it easier for one to believe in one's self.

S

Every once in awhile the children spy something in the hidden crevices of our house. Today they saw a piece of our foam ABC floor mat under the radiator. It was an edge piece that they haven't missed, but they were suddenly desperate for me to rescue it. I went to the hall closet for a coat hanger to ease the piece out. Down on my belly on the floor, patiently coaxing the children to give me some space, I pulled out what I thought was the edge, but was in fact the one piece we have been seeking for months - the S. I was stunned. Then I rescued the edge piece that the children had originally spied.

I found the Path of Life bracelet and now the S. All is not lost. In time the pieces come back together in unfathomable configurations at the most unexpected times. Just move the 'unmovable' and explore the unseeable.

Path of Life

I found my Path of Life bracelet today.
I was moving laundry around and my infinity ring escaped my right pinky to free fall into the cozy space between my washer and dryer. I may have yelled "Noooooo!!!!" and I was for sure grumbly about it as I forced the dryer to the right. Once I widened the gap, I was doubly rewarded with my unscathed ring and my Path of Life bracelet blanketed in more than a year of dust and dryer lint.
What a lovely surprise. What a perfect time to find it, too. I am not the straight path kind, but I am finding my way and making choices that feel right to me. Discovering the bracelet again was symbolic for me as I embark on some new old endeavors - namely writing and going back to school again (a class a semester for two years should grant me my B.A.).

Eyes to the sky.

Vivid

I had the most vivid dream last night and it is still with me. I wrote it down, wrote all about it as soon as I woke up, came back into my body, and finally opened my eyes. It was one of those dreams where you wake suddenly and you want to find your way back in. You lay there willing yourself back in, daydreaming what may have happened next, silently sending messages to those you left behind in the dream.
The effects of the dream stay all day. When it comes time to get ready for bed you dress for the world you hope your dreams allow you into again, you brush your teeth, fuss with your hair, and open the window to let in the smell of the cool night air. The breeze tickles your neck and you imagine someone else, something else there. You shift under the covers and your bed creaks as the door opens letting you back into your dreams.

I've been writing

I have been working hard on a series of short stories. So, again, the blog has gone to the wayside.
A little something I wrote for fun just warming up the other day:
I see him and I love him through and through
I have always known him
We are here to come together
Together we are something greater
Greater than the sum of all parts
Parts that create something never before seen
Seen our power is invisible but palpable
Palpable and moldable like putty
Putty we hold between us, an orb in our hands
Hands manipulating and moving through
Through time and space and obstacles
Obstacles we face are great but not insurmountable
Insurmountable odds are something we have surpassed
Surpassed by coming together over and over
Over land and oceans and planes and time
Time - we will have what we need of it in this life and more of it next time
Over and over
More time and more time
Each time we reunite
Reunite until we have a full lifetime
A lifetime to work out what we need to workout - to learn what we need to learn
We are inexhaustible - indefatigable - without end