Getting My Bearings

Martha McCormick on July 24, 2025

Here I am in Warsaw, exploring largely on my own. It’s challenging for this Libra to have unstructured time on her hands. Decisions are hard sometimes because all the options look good. Or at least good enough. Yesterday I read this post about the month of Leo; it helped me get my bearings and tap into my store of courage. I like this blog and the products from Moon Phase Studios in the United Kingdom. See if the hints and journal ideas resonate with you.

The mermaid

Mermaids are big here. There are a few stories; explore them here. They all include her capture by a rich man who wanted to profit from her beautiful singing. I prefer the story of her solo escape, though she may have had help from the fisherman who loved her despite her interference in their trade. I love this sign in the Old Town of Warsaw.

Mermaid Shop Sign
Mermaid Shop Sign

And this one.

And isn’t this just the right story of courage? Swimming up the Vistula River from the Baltic Sea, making good trouble by releasing fish who were destined for the dinner tables of the wealthy.

I also love this earliest image of a mermaid in Polish lore, made in 1390, while Jadwiga still reigned in Poland and Lithuania.

Wandering Warsaw

I’ve learned a lot about navigating on my own, walking through the city to find the remnants of the Jewish ghetto, and then getting back to a bus stop. I happened on this impressive sight toward the end of my first day.

Saxon Garden is a huge park that I’d compare to Central Park in NYC. It’s the home of The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and a beautiful and famous fountaiin. So many people walking, playing and biking.

My map took me through the park, and into Saski business and retail district, and there I found the remnant, theatres and skyscrapers.

I met the challenge of getting back to our apartment without cell service, and discovered a few things about technology along the way.

Halo on a tall building in the business district
The Castle in Warsaw
They grow Black Eyed Susans in Poland!
Statue of Medusa in Saski Park
Medusa, among the Greek gods and muses in Stasi Park
Climbing net in Saski Park (Saxton Garden)
Climbing down from the top of the net
Remnant of the Ghetto Wall
Photo of map home
My way home
Breakfast at the Guest House

I’m ready to head out for my third day exploring this vibrant city. Unfortunately I slept too late to get the fine breakfast in our Guest House (pictured here yesterday), but there’s no shortage of cafes with beautiful pastries and delicious cappuccinos. On to COFFEE!

Day of the Girl

Sara Lockie on October 12, 2023

October 11 is International Day of the Girl. This is an opportunity to celebrate the power of girls, discuss the challenges girls face worldwide, and take action to advance the rights of girls everywhere. The statistics are staggering:

  • Worldwide, 4 out of 10 girls are not completing secondary school.
  • About 90% of adolescent girls and young women do not use the internet, while their male peers are twice as likely to be online.
  • More than 100 million girls are at risk of child marriage in the next decade. Source: UN

International Day of the Girl Child has its roots in the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing when girls’ rights were specifically called out. In 2011 the United Nations General Assembly declared October 11 International Day of the Girl Child. This complements the annual International Women’s Day on March 8, which started in 1975.

I would like to recommend two insightful activities that prompt discussion for both students and adults:

June and Juliet climbing on low branch
Tasting veggies at the Botanical Center
Making a sediment jar

Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life. Together we can bring about change in our community. We need to learn our history and choose leaders who will invest in change globally.

Wear Orange

Sara Lockie on June 2, 2023

Today I’m wearing orange. My kids are, too. 

The first Friday in June is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. The weekend has been designated as Wear Orange Weekend. Atttend an event around the country, including here in Iowa.

Ten years ago—and less than a week after performing at President Obama’s second inauguration— 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others. Wear Orange originated on June 2, 2015—what would have been Hadiya’s 18th birthday. 

The color orange has a long and proud history in the gun safety movement. Whether worn by hunters in cornfields, activists at the statehouse in Des Moines, or Hadiya’s loved ones in Chicago, orange honors the more than 120 lives cut short and the hundreds more wounded by gun violence every day —and it demands action.

We Wear Orange to demand a future free from gun violence. Orange symbolizes the value of each person’s life and we wear it to honor those killed, wounded or impacted by gun violence, and to call for an end to this crisis.

Whatcha Reading?

Martha McCormick on November 14, 2022

So for November, Native American Heritage Month, I’m reading books by indigenous authors. I’m nearly finished with “Indian Horse” by Richard Wagamese. It’s my favorite of the books I’ve read recently…

7 things to know about Public Measure 1

Sara Lockie on November 5, 2022

This amendment would make it harder for law enforcement to do their job. Public health, gun violence prevention, domestic violence intervention and religious groups are encouraging Iowans to vote NO.

How can you help?

Shelly Johnson on July 19, 2022

Each day, new things jumped out at me as I moved around the school–respectful discipline to disrespectful students, help for students struggling with technology. Teachers took attendance, engaged their students in interesting lessons, and built meaningful connections.

Soulmates

Martha McCormick on June 20, 2022

As I plunge the depths of art and yoga, as I travel more, and find new next steps, it’s great to have a team member that can finish my sentences, and pick up my work where I leave it.