Questions for Advent

During Advent, we occupy our greatest longings.—Ruth Haley Barton  

Though I didn’t grow up observing the tradition of Advent, I became more aware of it while attending graduate school at the turn of the millennium. My Catholic neighbor—also in the poetry program—told me she liked to engage a reading project for the December days leading up to Christmas. She inspired me to read the 24 books of Homer’s Odyssey. 

 

I enjoyed that practice so much, I’ve been celebrating Advent in some way ever since. Some years, it’s a reading project. Other years a painting or writing project. For one particularly hard year, I simply committed to walking a minimum of four miles, 24 days in a row, to keep my spirit, mind, and body focused on the goodness I chose to believe was coming. (It was.)  

 

In our commercialized world, Advent has largely been reduced to a cardboard calendar with chocolates hidden behind little, numbered doors. But Advent is so much richer than even the finest chocolates. 

 

The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means coming. And Advent shares a root with adventure, too. (Which, come to think of it, made my first Advent project of reading Homer’s adventures a good fit!) 

 

Advent is a time of expectation. And it’s also time to ask ourselves questions in anticipation of the goodness we wait for. Last December, I painted a watercolor and wrote a poem-question each day of Advent. 

 

And…I combined them all into a little booklet, Questions for Advent. My first limited-edition writing project. 

 

The details:

• 52-page, saddle-stitched booklet
• Printed on 100-lb matte paper, 8.5 x 5.5 
• Limited edition of 100
• Each hand-numbered & signed
• And… a 4 x 6 postcard print on linen weave of the watercolor for goodwill

If you’d like a copy of Questions for Advent (or three!): 

• 1 booklet-print set for $20 
• 3 sets for $50

The price covers shipping within continental US. (Apologies to folks elsewhere! The mailing cost is more than the booklet.)

 

To order, email me with your desired quantity, and I’ll send you payment info. I’ll fill orders as they come in until the booklets have found homes.

 

I hope you enjoy these paintings and poem-questions, and I hope this little booklet will be something you enjoy for many Advents to come. 

May your quest and adventure be good.

 

Love,

 

Anna 

The Smallest Harvest

O autumn berry, 

growing on and on, 

you are a small

but sweet taste 

of the possible.  

The Lesser-Known Lake

  

For our annual autumn road trip, my husband and I drove north to Canada. I’d long wanted to visit Lake Louise (note: that’s not it in the photo). It was gorgeous, but the experience of its beauty was a bit dampened by the hordes of fellow tourists also wanting to see it. 

Earlier that day, we had stopped by Bow Lake. That is it in the photo. It was gorgeous, too, but relatively uncrowded. And so much more peaceful. 

The contrast reminded me to keep looking past my expectations. To be open to things and places and ideas I’ve never even heard about. And to cultivate peace every chance I get—it comes in handy in hordes of people or circumstances. Or anything! 

Hatch

 

For the last few years, my survive-August strategy has been to paint a small watercolor daily. A week or so into this month, and I started painting tiny eggs. 

This one is barely an inch tall. These little things bring me great, big joy! And they remind me of all the goodness waiting to enter this world. 

May our creative work hatch forth in every season. 

Three Weekends on the Applegate: Photo-Poems

O exposed roots—
gnarled beauty
above ground
above water
above all
we could hope
to cling to—
hold on.

To embody a body of water—
to reflect what’s above
on what’s below.

Where leaves reach
toward water
we reach
a peace
of rest.

 

May summer be good to you...

...and may you find yourself beside still waters.

We're Golden

When the spilling is
a golden gift.