Loran Hills, Author Page

05/03/2023

I’ve been remiss about posting my book on my Author page. You could say it’s been a soft launch with no marketing plan. I’m so pleased friends have ordered, read and enjoyed my words. Maybe you will too!

Links to buy in comments.

12/11/2021

It's a busy season, but I managed to write some new haikus!

Haiku OCTOBER 2021   autumn sky washed blue by thundering clouds rolling towards the mountains   rain-soaked road reflects orange, yellow, and green leaves before bare branches appear   accumulation broken limbs packed in wet snow gas flames warm the room   elusive safety despite power outages s...

10/07/2021

My haikus are landing on my website now. Check it out!
https://www.loranhills.com/haiku-practicing/

Haiku Practicing SEPTEMBER 2021 where will we land now? flight diverted by wind shears weather patterns shift   street food and music chile ristras, adobe with turquoise accents   Flamenco graceful arching back fingers curling drumbeats in the air—her feet stomp   gently touching me silver mapl...

08/19/2021

#9

gentle rains sprinkle
summer dark greens and browns
hearts beg for more

#10 from the yurt

undulating trees
or sounds of men, construction?
nature for the win

08/17/2021

#8
Sensibility
air conditioning inside
no life in dead trees

*Haiku doesn't usually suggest comments but sometimes it's ok. Sensibility Is the ability to appreciate and respond to complex emotional influences (in 17 syllables!) It's hot and smokey outside, our world Is on fire. In my world of privilege, I can turn on the air. What's more important though? Some days I don't see the solution but I feel complicated emotions.

08/16/2021

Haiku continues.

#4

Arch hiss growl spit scratch
Fierce and tiny kittens meet
The dogs who live here

#5

Looking without looking
Molecules separate--see!
Manifestation

#6

People say hello
Dogs pant In hot sun, no breeze
Bear s**t on the trail

08/13/2021

Every now and then I notice someone has looked at my Author page. They probably wonder where the words are. I do too.

I was almost done with the first draft of an autobiography when COVID-19 hit in March 2020. Plans to go to my daughter’s bridal shower came to a shrieking halt. So did my ability to conjure sentences. I was overcome with shock and anxiety.

When airlines announced that no one over 60 should fly, I was certain they did NOT mean me. They did. I stayed home and masked up for a trip to the grocery store or to get pet food.

I attended zoom meetings of different kinds for support. I bought an electric keyboard and started playing piano again. I cooked more elaborate meals. Still no words.

Sunday I took a haiku class and words started to return to the page. Apparently short passages are easier to handle. Haiku is challenging in a different way; conceptually it can be Zen without being Zen.

Roshi Joan Halifax says it’s ok to write s**tty haiku so that’s what I’ve been doing!

I’ll post a few here and then will continue to write them daily. Except when I don’t. I appreciate the 80/20% rule of “perfection.”

#1

Summer in the yard
Praying mantis locks green eyes
Sandhill cranes bugle

#2

First Autumn
Remains
In bird song

#3

Perseids vanish
Equanimity lost in
Wishes on a star

Scroll down to see more as I add them.

04/26/2021

MailChimp has a mailing list for my newsletter. I went in there last night and was completely baffled by their changes. I managed an email and sent this out to all 426 followers: Is it the beginning or the end?

Hi!

It's Loran Hills with no logo sending you a message from Wyoming where winter has continued through most of April. YeeHAW!

Where do I begin? It's been months since I wrote a blog or sent an email. I returned to MailChimp to send a message but it's unrecognizable to me. My website is a digital monument to my past hopes and dreams.

Words left me when the pandemic began in March 2020. It was a rough year for everyone.

In July we used a kit from the Colorado Yurt Company to create a place for meditation. My practice has improved a lot since then. In November I bought a Yamaha electric keyboard for enjoyment. It's been 50 years since I played classical music. Now I'm teaching myself blues. These are my beginnings.

The end is my newsletter and probably soon my website. I have no business or book to promote. No products to sell. Ten years ago I had more energy and enthusiasm for some kind of success online.

It's time to call it and move on. My creativity will manifest in different ways. Interests will change again. As a multi-potentialite, I'm coming to terms with being a Jill of many trades, mistress of none, except baking cookies.

So thanks for following me over many moons. I'm still on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter - sharing photos, thoughts and ideas as always.

May you be at peace.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.

Much love, Loran

11/10/2020

http://www.loranhills.com/skymind/

From a recent and new meditation practice. I'm thankful to Tara Mandala for their offerings on Zoom while marooned in a pandemic.

  awareness in front of me leaves falling off the tree trucks rolling by workers hammering siding on the building next door awareness behind me a winter arrangement of pine, usnea, and a wasp …

08/31/2020

Emotional health - it matters. What works for you?

Quarter Circle A Ranch, Big Horn, Wyoming Begin, again. Back in March during the first blush of the COVID-19 lockdown, I thought I’d jumpstart my blogging . There was a strange, giddy air onl…

08/29/2020

I'm a writer who writes about writing except when there's a pandemic going on and writing seems superfluous to the s**t show of politics and racism happening in the U.S.

2020 went all 2020 and who knows which end is up.

08/15/2020

"Knowledge gives you WINGS"

Photo Credit : Elizabeth Sagan

08/12/2020

Transcription
Image: Text over a picture of a rocky hill with a few wisps of fog and a pond.

Text: Write what should not be forgotten

Isabel Allende

08/12/2020

Yes, this is so true!

04/14/2020

I forget this all the time.

So true!

04/12/2020

In order to live a new way of life, we need to cultivate new words - even if they're from old words.

http://www.loranhills.com/stillnesse/

at the still point, there the dance is ~ T. S. Elliott   The word stillness comes from the Middle English, stillnesse for tranquility, peace, security. It’s paradoxical to think of danc…

03/30/2020

How does your garden grow?

http://www.loranhills.com/the-garden-gate/

  Part One: Tarot card of the day Oh how I love stone walls and garden gates! This beautiful image comes from The Herbcrafter’s Tarot. It’s written by Latisha Guthrie and the artwo…

03/28/2020

Many Rivers to Cross 2.0 - https://mailchi.mp/8d362c4417c9/many-rivers-to-cross-20