If you are like me, winter may just be your favorite time for reading. Do you have anything interesting on your nightstand, smartphone or Kindle at the moment? Having recently discovered author Sally Clarkson, I’ve been reading her book The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming, cowritten with her daughter Sarah Clarkson. The central theme of the book is the importance of making one’s home a place that provides a refuge, and physical and spiritual nourishment and…
health & holidays
December 11, 2017Greetings! It is good to be alive and well. I can appreciate this like never before, coming off of a two week bout of pneumonia that relegated me to bed rest for most of that time. Hopefully never again! Here’s to health and wellness in 2018 and beyond. We are finally getting the Christmas decorations up and wrapping gifts. Just being able to stand up and do these things seems like a miracle after being ill. Since Thanksgiving is our…
thanksgiving
November 20, 2017Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday for many reasons. Fall weather and those lovely colors. Not to mention the charming decor. Family & Friends! Some years our group is on the smaller side and other years, the house is bursting at the seams with big folk, little folk, and dogs. Either way, there is love and goodwill throughout the space. Some of these folks, this is the only time we may see them throughout the year, what with distances and busy…
back home
November 8, 2017How many of you no longer live in the same town where you grew up? Do you find it difficult to get back home to visit family and friends? Lately, I am finding this to be a challenge and it is bothersome, indeed. I got to spend a fantastic weekend recently in the town where I was born and lived for 34 years. It was so good to see my family! Life seems to get so busy and the time…
spooky vs scary
October 31, 2017For many years Halloween was my favorite holiday. I did – and still do! – love everything about it. The costumes, the parties, the candy! The spookiness of it all! Or is it the scariness?? On a walk through the woods the other day, I got to thinking about what spooky really means. And, is there a difference between spooky and scary? All this time I’ve definitely been in the camp that says, yes, there is a difference. But I…
like water
October 22, 2017Some more goodness from the Tao te Ching, excerpt from chapter 8 (Stephen Mitchell translation): The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without trying to. It is content with the low places that people disdain. Thus it is like the Tao. In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely…
mashup
October 18, 2017I love this quote by Austin Kleon (Steal Like an Artist) – “You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life.” If you have not read this book, give it a try. It is a great resource; full of wisdom, humor and common sense. Also, a quick, easy read. One of those that you can read a page or two at a time as you find the time, and get something out of in…
thankful
September 18, 2017inspiration
July 10, 2017Feeling a bit blah and creatively stunted of late, I went on a short walkabout hoping for some inspiration from nature. As we gardeners and nature lovers know, this usually is just the thing to lift the spirit. I took my camera along and here are some of the things that caught my eye. Hope you enjoy the photos. Sometimes it helps to look at things really close up… Or from a different angle… And sometimes it is all in…
within & without
April 3, 2017From Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Book 4): “People try to get away from it all – to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within. Nowhere you can go is more peaceful – more free of interruptions – than your own soul.” We may indeed find peace within our souls, but I am not really sure that I agree…
