iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 23h

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, “Toward Peace”

TOWARD PEACE
Perhaps some part of me still believes
peace is a destination,
a place we arrive, ideally together.

I notice how shiny it is, this belief,
like a flower made of crystal,
beautiful but lifeless,

devoid of the dust and scuff
that come from living a real day.
Meanwhile, there is this invitation

to grow into peace the way real flowers grow—
from dirt into air. With blight
and drought, beetles and hail.

Meanwhile this invitation
to live in the tangle of fear and failure,
to be humbled by my own inner wars

and wonder how to find a living peace
right here, the peace that arrives
when we take just one step through the mess

toward compassion and notice,
as our foot rises, our heart also rises
and in that lifted moment,

still scraping along in the dirt,
there is a peace so real we become light,
become the momentum that is the change.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Here you go. We’re at the library. With hood up; with hood folded partway back.

Argyll wearing her new red plaid raincoat. Brilliant design, but for the too-large hood which covers her eyes.

Argyll’s new raincoat, w/ hood
folded back so she can see.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Behold my paper towel tearer. She seems to think I need the agility exercise of picking tiny fragments of paper.

Argyll, lounging on my pillows after shredding a 3rd paper towel in less than 36 hours.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This is my favorite wall art at Argyll’s vet Canine Eye Chart

Eye chart for dogs:
Bone
Cat, ball
House, dog dish, fire hydrant
Etc

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Argyll and I went to our favorite local trail half an hour before sunset. The season of gold and purple has arrived.

A field of goldenrod in bloom
along the walking trail.

A clump of New England aster tucked into the goldenrod.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

from The Unfolding by Rosemerry Wahtoula Trommer

How To MEET THIS DIFFICULT DAY

Some days when I forget how to pray,
if I listen with my whole body

the world reminds me how what is used up and spent
is also a vessel for the holy

as dry leaves become a nest, as bare branches hold the sunrise.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

If you know voters in Montgomery Co. PA, be sure they know about this:

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

House sitting for a few days. My friend has a Black Swallowtail caterpillar nursery going in her parsley. They’ve denuded 4 stalks in the last 24 hours. It’s why she planted paraley. My favorite native butterfly! This one’s going to town. #butterfly #garden

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I am Argyll. My special talent is eating rabbit poop. #dogsofbluesky

Front half of a dog sniffing out rabbit droppings in a lawn.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Made a flying trip to Carlisle to visit a sheep farm's yarn store. I'd forgotten how close the mountains are there--usually Carlisle was just a landmark on the trip to/from Gulfport MS. Here's what my future sweater got to see as it was growing into yarn.

View across grass, road, fields. Mountains line the horizon in the distance.

Rolling field of corn with trees in the distance.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Few surprises here. Mother from Pgh. Father from MS Gulf Coast—where I spent best bits of childhood. Live in Philly area. I’m only surprised that 9 years undergrad/grad time in western MI & Chicago left so little mark. Also, Delaware? Seriously, they think I sound like Delaware?

US map color coded to reflect similarity to my self-reported pronunciation and terminology.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Never gets old. In honor of my grandfather, who passed the tradition on whenever we saw L & N near his home.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The sun was shining, overhead was greasy grey grumbling resentment. Then the downpour. Worth it. Only my camera couldn't fit the whole thing in.

A full rainbow over a parking lot and street.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

This sky greeted me as I got into the car. The sun was due in 32 minutes.

Clouds and sky. The east faces of the clouds are just picking up the first light.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

From Astonishments: selected poems of Anna Kamieńska

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Monday I went to Columcille Megalith Park in Bangor PA. It's hard to describe the peace & refreshment that came from visiting dozens of large stones, walking in the woods, and listening beside the water. PA has some gorgeous rock. It was like handling the fingernails of God. Worth a 4 hr round trip

Really interesting texture on the face of a large stone

Blood colored trails in the face of a large stone.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

When the dog just won’t look at the camera.

Argyll beside a rock, looking to her right.

Argyll beside the rock, still not looking at me.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Argyll & I got out at my fav. time to walk. No golden light, but some cool clouds & colors.

Paved trail along a power line. Big pylons run down the right edge of the trail. Grasses & trees on each side. Clouds ahead, with a patch where sun light gets its fingers under the clouds

Freshly ploughed field at dusk. Clouds overhead. In the distance, someone is getting badly needed rain. You can see the rain falling.

Trail, green grass, trees on the right and more distantly on the left. And really womderful clouds. Also, someone a few miles agead is getting some rain.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

My favorite part of sunset is seeing our shadow under the mauve band in the east. Most visible in winter, I’ve often seen it about now. Here it is, w/ Mr Moon leaning out above the mauve.

Sunset looking SE. Blue sky, yellowish then mauve color band, then the earth’s shadow just visible above the tree line.
Some hungry deer may be visible at the base of the trees.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

And what did the rubies say standing before the juice of pomegranates? —Pablo Neruda #booksky #poetry

Front cover of “the Book of Questions” by Pablo Neruda, tr. by William O’Daly

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Today I went to Aquetong Spring, a site sacred to the Lenape, and one of the largest cold water limestone springs in PA. It’s deep & clear & the sound of 2000 gal/min rushing to start a creek is soul healing. Too many people talking @ the spring, so here’s the creek about 1/4 mi downstream.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Argyll & I got a walk. There were 5 guys munching in a bunch. A beautiful sight, given that they’re NIMBY. And a young looking deer with sunset. It had beautiful eyes, which don’t show up here, but were quite visible at 8’.

3 antlered deer plus one unantlered, enjoying a soybean field.

Deer in the soybean field, at the edge of the paved trail Argyll and I are walking. Sunset in the background.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Treating myself today. Real matcha, made in a real matcha bowl (albeit with somewhat too hot water and decanted into a paper cup). New coffee shop, owned by a person in a demographic group I want to support. And the first book I’ve bought myself in more than a year. #booksky #tea

Paper “mug of matcha and a new copy of She Who Remains. N

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

The apocalypse is now, but sure, let’s blame Canada. Also, let’s pretend climate change is not real. Enjoy the view air. Me, I prefer invisible air.

Smoke from wildfires turns the air whitish grey and the sun creepy peach.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

We had an incredible 40 min deluge followed by regular rain. Finally, the setting sun and the tallest and widest rainbow I can remember.

Sun breaking through clouds just above the tree line.

Smoky orange clouds and a little blue sky peeping out.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Reading Dorothee Sölle, Death by Bread Alone

If profit is the one thing to which all else in this life is subor. dinated, then everything else is of no significance. We can take or leave everything else, be for it or against it. One person can be interested in the homeless; another in racing cars. One person may like animals; another, children. One person may prefer the snow-crested mountains; another the seashore. You see, life is a gigantic supermarket in which we can have everything we want. But there is no longer any reason we should want one thing rather than the other.
If life is just a matter of buying and selling, then relationships too become just so many purchasable commodities. Today many perceive the world as just such a supermarket. Absent-mindedly, yet at the same time absorbed in what we are doing, we push our shopping carts up one aisle and down the other while death and alienation have the run of the place. It is said

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

When I ran out to the car the mustard greens were wholly in the bag.

The leafy part of a bundle of mustard greens protrudes from a green and aqua reusable shopping bag on the floor.
Floor is parquet partially covered with an oriental rug.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

There are several Rev War veterans’ graves in this shot.

Sunset behind trees and a church cemetery

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Did a spot of turtle rescue en route to my state sen office for something. Called 911 & warmed approaching cars, til a Moyer pest control guy happened by & relocated it. Dinner plate sized slider, looking healthy. (I couldn’t tell if it was a snapper, so was not going to go near it.

Large slider turtle in the middle of the road

Slider turtle. Love the algae growing on him.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Deer are way too tame. Yes, he let us get within 8-10’

A deer (note newly emerging antlers) watches as Argyll & I approach.

The deer has stepped off the path a few feet, but still lets Argyll (visible in lower left) get surprisingly close.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

This is a fantastic book. Intriguing perspective, well told narrative, gorgeous artwork that helps create the feel of the late 30’s thro the end of WWII and complements the wealth of family and historical photos. Written for elementary or middle school, but rewarding for adults. Please read it!

Front cover of A Time to Hide.

Artwork shows a man & woman walking away from the viewer down a European street, w/ arm around each other. Woman is carrying a suitcase. Lighting suggests late evening, clothing is WWII era.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Early walk before the sun plus humidity prevent breathing. We’ve been in severe drought, and had heavy storms the last two evenings, so I paused to admire the droplets on the grass seed heads. And realized I was hearing 3 of the world’s most soothing sounds: birds, train, and Argyll eating grass.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Me too! Seen on my early morning (before the sun and humidity could smother us) walk with Argyll.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

One of my favorite spots along the walking trail looks —and sounds—much different an hour into daylight than it does late in the day when the sun is coming from behind me.

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Gratia Léger @gratialeger.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Forecast is a sticky 95°, so Argyll & I walked early atone of our favorite trails. I prefer evening, near sundown. An hour after sunup the light comes from a different direction so you notice different things. Old glass insulators. The weariness of the Watchers. The freshness of the flowers.