Wolf Cub
C.A. MacConnell
4/30/2016
4/28/2016
Something I Believe In
From my horoscope today...something I believe in: "being honest and real is what will earn you the respect you desire."
4/27/2016
4/24/2016
Photos of the Day: Greens, Snakes, and Lions
As a Leo, I had to spend time with the lions. :)
Love,
C.A. MacConnell
Photos: Elephants
Good luck for the day. I have some elephant earrings I wear too. :) I love elephants. I may go see some today with my date Dean, who's a toddler pushing twenty. Ha. Hopefully, I will keep up with him and his teeny Chucks that fit in the palm of your hand. Some kids rock. Other people's kids, haha.
C.A. MacConnell
4/23/2016
Photos: Shores
I've been thinking about water and beaches today...how I would like to chill in the sand for a while...it's been forever. A li'l dreamy, I guess,
-- C.A. MacConnell
4/21/2016
When the Connections Become Real
"Everything happens for a reason." We've all heard that phrase, right? Actually, I believe it.
When I was little, I started taking riding lessons from a woman named Mrs. Griffin. She only had a two horses, and a tiny outdoor ring, so during a few rainy weeks, lessons were cancelled. In the meantime, Griffin said I needed to buy a riding helmet, so Mom took me out to a place called Red Fox Stables, a barn equipped with a tack store. As a result, we ended up talking to one of the instructors who sold us a package of lessons. After that, I no longer rode with Griffin. I became a Red Fox rider, and I ended up spending a good part of my life at that barn. Later, they sold the barn, but I admit that I still wish this land was mine:
I leased a pony, owned two horses there, made a slew of friends, started teaching at the young age of fifteen and after college (I went there for horses but ended up in the writing program...another lovely connection), I worked at Red Fox as a professional trainer. I remember Red Fox as an integral part of my life, both in childhood and adulthood. Being around horses really saved me from myself for many years, and it turned into a wonderful career. Wholly, it changed my life.
And still later, I used these experiences to flesh out my first book, GRIFFIN FARM. Then when I had to deal with back pain from all of the riding, I checked out some yoga classes, which later led to a career in teaching yoga:
So strange. All of this happened -- Red Fox, college, Griffin, yoga, two careers -- simply because we had to buy a helmet one day. If it weren't for that, my life would have been wholly different, I'm sure.
Isn't it amazing the way our life patterns unfold? But in the divine sense, I usually don't know why things are happening in the way that they are until much later. I wish I could foresee such growth, guidance, and reasoning, but I usually only notice it in hindsight. When the truth comes to fruition, when all of the connections become real, it can be so beautiful.
In preschool, I met a girl who became my best friend until I was fourteen or so, when life, school, and such separated us. Then our entire families became friends. We did Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, everything together, all of us. We still stay connected. A few months ago, this girl's younger sister contacted me; she had moved back in town, and we had coffee. So then I struck up a closer friendship with the younger sister, and now we walk and hike together at least once a week. It's a time that I look forward to the way some people anticipate Christmas. All because I met the girl's older sister in preschool.
Connections. I believe in the "god inside," but I also believe that there has to be something magnificent out there, something pushing and pulling us closer to each other, closer to a higher self, and closer to a higher power, if we wish to seek it. But the answers may come at the strangest times and in the meantime, life can seem so much like a confusing mystery.
Let me know that my higher power is in charge today, that what is happening is right for me, right now, for my journey. When I think this way, I feel peace.
C.A. MacConnell
When I was little, I started taking riding lessons from a woman named Mrs. Griffin. She only had a two horses, and a tiny outdoor ring, so during a few rainy weeks, lessons were cancelled. In the meantime, Griffin said I needed to buy a riding helmet, so Mom took me out to a place called Red Fox Stables, a barn equipped with a tack store. As a result, we ended up talking to one of the instructors who sold us a package of lessons. After that, I no longer rode with Griffin. I became a Red Fox rider, and I ended up spending a good part of my life at that barn. Later, they sold the barn, but I admit that I still wish this land was mine:
I leased a pony, owned two horses there, made a slew of friends, started teaching at the young age of fifteen and after college (I went there for horses but ended up in the writing program...another lovely connection), I worked at Red Fox as a professional trainer. I remember Red Fox as an integral part of my life, both in childhood and adulthood. Being around horses really saved me from myself for many years, and it turned into a wonderful career. Wholly, it changed my life.
And still later, I used these experiences to flesh out my first book, GRIFFIN FARM. Then when I had to deal with back pain from all of the riding, I checked out some yoga classes, which later led to a career in teaching yoga:
So strange. All of this happened -- Red Fox, college, Griffin, yoga, two careers -- simply because we had to buy a helmet one day. If it weren't for that, my life would have been wholly different, I'm sure.
Isn't it amazing the way our life patterns unfold? But in the divine sense, I usually don't know why things are happening in the way that they are until much later. I wish I could foresee such growth, guidance, and reasoning, but I usually only notice it in hindsight. When the truth comes to fruition, when all of the connections become real, it can be so beautiful.
In preschool, I met a girl who became my best friend until I was fourteen or so, when life, school, and such separated us. Then our entire families became friends. We did Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, everything together, all of us. We still stay connected. A few months ago, this girl's younger sister contacted me; she had moved back in town, and we had coffee. So then I struck up a closer friendship with the younger sister, and now we walk and hike together at least once a week. It's a time that I look forward to the way some people anticipate Christmas. All because I met the girl's older sister in preschool.
Connections. I believe in the "god inside," but I also believe that there has to be something magnificent out there, something pushing and pulling us closer to each other, closer to a higher self, and closer to a higher power, if we wish to seek it. But the answers may come at the strangest times and in the meantime, life can seem so much like a confusing mystery.
Let me know that my higher power is in charge today, that what is happening is right for me, right now, for my journey. When I think this way, I feel peace.
C.A. MacConnell
4/16/2016
4/15/2016
By the April Window
In the quiet,
in the dark,
I dream of a better place
that shakes
with a belly of vines
and sand,
where everyone sings
from the gut,
where playing is more
than dying,
and all at once,
all is silent,
and strangely,
hunger leaves
the coyote.
C.A. MacConnell
in the dark,
I dream of a better place
that shakes
with a belly of vines
and sand,
where everyone sings
from the gut,
where playing is more
than dying,
and all at once,
all is silent,
and strangely,
hunger leaves
the coyote.
C.A. MacConnell
4/11/2016
4/09/2016
Photo: Meet Me Here
Meet Me Here
A few years back, I took this photo at a skate competition in Kentucky. Not sure what tour it was, can't quite remember, but it was so much fun to watch. I've had an obsession with skateboarding since the nineties. I've only actually done it a few times, but I became enamored with the magazines, language, lifestyle, and the whole culture. Obsessed, really. This obsession leaked into my book #2, THE HOUSE OF ANCHOR, although that's only one part of it, as it's an epic adventure. Just felt like posting this shot today to give me some energy. I'm gonna do a last run-through on The Anchor, then get it published.
I've been reading like mad. Right now, I'm reading Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi, and it's magnificent. So raw and brave, indeed. I've also been enjoying some young adult books by Gayle Forman and John Green, who are both great storytellers. And I've read a slew of other memoirs, The New York Times, some comedy, some political pieces, some opinion pieces, science articles, you name it. Enjoying some great writing, doing some studying, and learning about myself in the process.
I saw a li'l miracle yesterday, and moments like that are what keep me trooping along. On my way home last night, I saw a sign that read this: "God has the most amazing plan for you." Man, it touched me. I needed to see it right at that moment.
Right on,
C.A. MacConnell
4/07/2016
Sideburn
It is thick, thick,
then narrow,
then thicker.
A full-grown,
deep-angled,
tricky, wild,
steep stairwell
leading down
from floor two,
your ear,
stepping
all the way
to your jawline,
the landing.
Flatly, no,
shockingly,
it ends.
But in the white
space between
your hair
and cheek,
my finger becomes
the imaginary
razor, testing
the shaved line,
lingering
on the edge,
feeling the way
your smooth, hot,
strange skin
so easily leads
back into the hall,
back into the rough.
C.A. MacConnell
then narrow,
then thicker.
A full-grown,
deep-angled,
tricky, wild,
steep stairwell
leading down
from floor two,
your ear,
stepping
all the way
to your jawline,
the landing.
Flatly, no,
shockingly,
it ends.
But in the white
space between
your hair
and cheek,
my finger becomes
the imaginary
razor, testing
the shaved line,
lingering
on the edge,
feeling the way
your smooth, hot,
strange skin
so easily leads
back into the hall,
back into the rough.
C.A. MacConnell
4/04/2016
From the Reading.
Hi there! Here are some photos from the reading...
Infant Sorrow! Ha. It was a joke no one got but me.
Me talking and reading from GRIFFIN FARM, my first book. It was a thrill to see so many people there! And I really felt "on," which is always a bonus.
Thank you so much to everyone who came to my event. I am so grateful. Onward and upward! Now for the next step. Much love to you,
C.A. MacConnell
4/02/2016
TOMORROW!
Mustang, by C.A. MacConnell
above photo by Stephen Metz
Hi there. Hope to see you tomorrow. 6pm 2734 Erie Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45208. Awakenings. Book signing for GRIFFIN FARM. Thank you!
C.A. MacConnell