The moon is back to the sliver that reminds me of that sunrise morning about a month ago.  I watched the crescent hold with Venus in the dusky sky, a jug of vinegar by my side and a broken washing machine waiting back at home.

Today Sears comes to service the washer and I’m back on Kauai, moving through thick, wet air and wiping down kitchen surfaces that grew green in the moisture while I was gone.  This island is a living petri dish.  My white, soft feet glow as they plant themselves in the high green grass of my yard, remembering what it’s like to see sunlight, feel earth.

In the time we’ve been gone the North shore flooded, Jeb’s room got a paint job, and the goat came to live at our house.

During our absence a dog scared the goat and she jumped the pen, taking up residence on my porch.  The deck has since been power-washed and only a few stray droppings remain.  Plants are chewed to nubs and a large gnash in the wood of the screen door prove that she came calling, apparently trying to chew her way inside.

For the most part all is well and in order.  This morning I’m up in the darkness, making coffee and coming to the keyboard in a return to my routine of writing.  I have lists of pieces that want to be written – stories that are longer than a daily chronicle of the everyday.  They depict experiences of transcending time and space, family legacies and ghostly visitations, park rangers and tire chains, undressing in co-ed changing rooms and the strength of vulnerability.

I ponder in this coming year of how to incorporate daily meditation, yoga practice, For the Archive posts, begin my short story collection, give Jeb more quality time, make more money and offer appropriate volunteer time at his school.

Seems at the coming of a new year we all can be a bit ambitious.  Hopes high for sweeping change.  I like the way my course is heading.  I have some ideas of where I’d like to steer it.  I don’t have all the details of how it will unfold but I keep coming back to following the thread.  Paying attention in the immediate moments to take the cues that life can offer.

Reuniting with a friend yesterday, I was given a book.  It had been recommended to him and he thought he’d get us both a copy.  He handed me the simple blue cover with the title in white letters  “Writing Down your Soul.” Should I choose a resolution for 2011, this title seems as apt a wish as any.