Hey y’all. Hope these make you smile. Stay healthy and safe. We’ll get through this. Love to all.
Tucker’s Quarantine
Category: Photography
Jane, Killer Queen.
Today is my lovely friend Jane’s birthday. I wanted to celebrate her life with a poem. Don’t worry. I celebrated it with gfts too. Do you not know me at all? Ha! In all seriousness, Jane is one of the strongest people I know and worth more than Gucci and Versace put together. She battles MS daily, and no matter how many obstacles this world throws at her, she never gives up. She fights each battle with style, grace, and an unwavering sense of humor. I’m in awe of her. You’ll never meet anyone more real or resilient. There’s no pretense with Jane, although she is a skilled and talented actress. She has some wonderful and funny stories of times spent on movie sets. She’s also brilliant with the camera. Her photography is out of this world. She’s truly a fascinating woman, blessed with the allure of charm and complexity. I’m honored to call her one of my best friends.
Jane, if you’re reading this, and you better be,(ha), thanks for being a constant in my life for the last 14 years. Your friendship means so much to me, even when we get on each other’s nerves, or clash over who’s hotter Larry David or Jon Stewart. Clearly, the latter. Duh!. Ha’. Drink every time you see “ha”. 😜 Just make sure to raise a glass to Jane. I know I am, a toast to my beautiful Philadelphia buddy, I love you. Stay classy, stylish, bohemian, artsy, and fierce. Happy day of YOU!
And now a poem 💕
Cloaked with depth and shades
of autumn. She’s sometimes
more scrambled numbers,
than transparency’s friend.
She’s walked many moonless
paths guided by light of her
soul’s constellation.
Red leaves brushed by the winds
of adversity fall at her feet.
She well versed in archery,
a modern day Artemis,
each arrow a talismans of
resiliency and grace, even
in the dark, she knows the
art of letting go.
-Tosha Michelle
Deity in Diversity
Maybe someday we will
have written about humanity
and grace so much
that the paper we scribble on
will burn down
the forest of hate
that grows in casket-closed minds,
eradicating words like
racism, hate, bigotry.
The fire cleansing away
evil and ignorance.
Strike a match with
your pen.
Let’s try at least to
direct the language toward love.
Let’s keep moving the
adjectives higher and higher.
Trust the verbs to lead us,
the pin of light, to the fire.
Maybe as the trees come undone,
leaves igniting,
branches bursting with truth,
charity and clarity will rise.
Rustling beneath skin.
Love rising, tapping deep.
Opening eyes and cleaning tongues
in the dialect of compassion.
Hope slipping into the core.
Porous and large.
Looking out in every direction
until it is inside the sky,
the rocks, the moon.
Lacing the night and hearts with promise,
the rainy season finally over.
Until then, let your pens sway
against the dark waves.
Let’s push our boats against the current.
Light the candle wick.
Kiss it with fervor.
Give flame to the wind and waves.
-Tosha Michelle
Photo, my own
Johnny and June
Hey y’all. It’s been awhile. Life just keeps getting busier and busier but it’s a lovely kind of busy. I really haven’t been writing much. I’ve been in reading mode for ages now. I’m still on a Johnny Cash kick. In that vein, everyone knows you can’t have Johnny without June so I thought I’d share a few of my favorite videos.
I love their love story, not because it was a fairytale, because it wasn’t. Their marriage wasn’t always an easy road, just like their courtship, they had to struggle and battle to keep the love they had. They went through some hard times through their 40 years together. They almost divorced at one point during the early 80s, but ultimately they never gave up and that’s what’s true commitment and love is all about. In their later years, they were closer than they had ever been and more in love. In my opinion, that makes their love affair so much better than a fairytale because it was real and genuine. Very few of us live happily ever after, but many of us live happily after all. As June Carter always like to say “steel is strong because it knew the hammer and white heat”
Here’s Johnny and June on their way to Jackson. As a side note, this song was inspired by Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
And one of my favorites of theirs. “Long Legged Guitar Picking Man” such a playful song .
This next video is not the best quality, but it’s so poignant. Time catches up with us all. June would die 8 months after this was filmed and Johnny would follow her 4 months later. It’s makes the words their singing so moving, It’s a wonderful love song of hope and redemption, and the promise of never ending peace.
How to be an Expert at Life.
Praise imperfections.
Ask questions.
Don’t fear the answers.
Do fear snakes, toads,
and Donald Trump’s hair.
Adore books, animals,
weaknesses, the broken,
and growing older.
Find a love to orbit around.
Have a constellation seeking brain.
A heart that star gazes.
Don’t trip on what’s been
gone for years.
Walk hand in hand with today.
The one seemly not
telling the truth is
the one you should
listen to the hardest.
Pay attention to your
conscience, make
sure it’s really yours.
Know there’s beauty;
in words. The ones
you use and the ones
you leave out.
Read the classics.
Brighten to artistry
Don’t be afraid to improvise.
Listen to jazz while
drinking iced coffee.
Don’t admire yourself
too much, this can
lead to disaster.
There are two types
of people in the world,
be neither of them.
Know sometime what
seems useless is
full of meaning.
Learn how to bend,
not break.
Lose yourself to love,
to madness.
Always carry a suitcase
full of mischief.
A passport of adventure.
Don’t forget to add a dash of moonlight.
Season the nights with heat.
Create the scene.
Live it.
Lose your shoes and inhibitions.
Split the wishbone.
Know nothing important
comes with a manual.
Just because your
spirit is tangled,
doesn’t mean your
soul has to be tied in a knot.
Be full of vigor,
meaningful chit chat
and chocolate. Lots
of chocolate!
Know there is holiness in the missteps.
Grace in the fumbles.
Remain unfinished.
Be the light.
-Tosha Michelle
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Tom Hanks portrayal of Mister Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is so realistic one almost feels like Mister Rogers is still with us. It’s such a glorious film. If you’re lucky enough to see it make sure to have a tissue in hand. I’m tearing up just writing this. I was a mess during the actual film. It’s message is so timely given the current state of the world.
The beauty of Fred Rogers was how he never lost faith in humanity. For thirty years he taught children the importance of kindness, love and forgiveness. Those themes are reiterated in the film which focuses on the friendship between Mister Rogers and journalist Tom Juno. The two meet when Juno is tasked to write an article on the beloved hero of so many of our childhoods. I can’t praise this movie enough. It’s surprisingly dark in places which makes the sweeter moments more poignant. Here’s the trailer, followed by a few of my favorite quotes from the film.
“To die is human, and anything human is mentionable. Anything mentionable is manageable.” – Fred Rogers
“Do you know what forgiveness means? It’s a decision we make to release a person from the feelings of anger we have against them.” – Fred Rogers
“Sometimes it’s hardest to forgive the ones we love.” -Mr. Rogers
“Just take a minute and think about all the people who loved us into being.” – Mr. Rogers
“I think the best thing we can do is to let people know that each one of them is precious.” – Mr. Rogers
“He’s just about the nicest person I’ve ever met.” Tom about Fred
On Roses and Netted Woods
Hello lovely ones. I’m sorry I’m so sporadic with my posts. I can’t promise I’ll do better, but I thank you all for sticking around. On a random note, going to see the Mister Rogers film this afternoon, excited for it. He was such a beautiful soul. I’m sure Tom Hanks did him justice. Now for a poem. I hope you like it. Happy Monday!
——–
In the journey of my life,
the voyage of self awareness
I’ve fed on roses,
walked through woods netted
with bramble
Mixed metaphors and signals.
I’ve had glimpses of narcissism,
flirted with egoism, had brushes
with bitterness, doubted my worth.
I’ve questioned the validity of the sun
and found solace in torrential rains.
I’ve left small bruises on paper,
but nothing that hasn’t been felt
by others more lyrical than me.
I’ve had childlike faith and believed
in the flickering of fireflies, even now,
as the days grow shorter,
each year the footnotes longer.
Finally I’m home again, content to sit in
our garden and pay attention to the
call notes gathering in the air.
The bird sings sweetly, no
longer in her wicker cage. I join
her chorus, besotted with the
fever of a life living and lived.
-Tosha Michelle
Goofy goodness 
What Weekends Are Made Of
This weekend we visited the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site and what a delightful time it was. Located in the beautiful mountains of NC, you couldn’t ask for better scenery. If you aren’t familiar with CS, I encourage you to check out his work. He truly was a “poet of the people“. Here’s some photos from our outing but first a poem by the man himself, a timely one at that.
The people is the grand canyon of humanity and many many miles across.
The people is a Pandora’s box, humpty dumpty, a clock of doom and an avalanche when it turns loose.
The people rest on land and weather, on time and the changing winds.
The people have come far and can look back and say,
‘We will go farther yet’.
Carl Sandburg, The People, Yes, 97
. 
Happiness
They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.
Tom Bodett
Thankful today for all 3. Miss you all. Life is so full and busy, it doesn’t leave much time for social media or blogging. It’s the best kind of busy though. Life has never been sweeter. I did want to let you know if you are a fan of the show High Castle, we have a couple of interesting interviews coming up on Chit Chat Chicks. It’s also getting closer to house hunting time, and my training session for my new position with the missing persons organization. 2020 is going to be a transformative year. It’s amazing how much things have changed, but the best things have stayed the same.
In other news, headed to Carl Sandburg’s old Homestead tomorrow. I hope to post pictures next week. The weather is glorious. Fall has finally arrived in the South. In the meantime, here’s some Tucker cuteness for you. x
Fire Escape
“Walking home your hand in mine
Tattoos on the river line
The morning birds are taking flight
Either way I thought that you should know
Tattoos on the river line
The morning birds are taking flight
Either way I thought that you should know
You’re my number one
You’re the reason I’m still
up at dawn
just to see your face
We’ll be going strong
with the vampires, baby
We belong, we belong awake“
Everything I Never Told You 