Some 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…
moving
October 15, 2017Hello dear readers! It is a gray, fall day here. In an attempt to capture some of the gloom, I spent the morning taking some photos and got a few nice ones. I do hope that you enjoy them. I am thinking this might be the kind of fall where the leaves barely get a chance to change to their magnificent colors. It was so warm late into the season that they will just die and fall off when the…
tao te ching 29
October 12, 2017signs of autumn
October 7, 2017While I am a summer type of girl (love the heat!), I do enjoy seeing fall come on. The messiness of the garden, those gorgeous color changes, and odd wildlife behaviors enthrall me. It’s a season that is bursting with life and activity. After returning from our recent vacation and getting back into the rhythm of life, I took a few moments today to capture some of the beauty happening outside. It is unseasonably warm right now, but fall is upon…
sea turtles
October 4, 2017We loved our visit to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island during our vacation in Georgia last week. This facility houses an active sea turtle hospital, along with an educational center. According to their website: The Georgia Sea Turtle Center was created and is operated by the Jekyll Island Authority as a primary conservation program dedicated to increasing awareness through sea turtle education, rehabilitation, and research programs. The Georgia Sea Turtle Center empowers individuals to act locally, regionally, and globally…
foliage in coastal georgia
October 1, 2017We just got back from a trip to St. Simons Island, GA. Of course, I took a ton of photos and will try to get the best ones posted. For now, here are some of the ones I took of the local foliage during a walk in the neighborhood where we stayed. I don’t know the names of these plants, so if any of you do, please do post in the comments!…
be yourself
January 23, 2017I am reading a book that was a Christmas gift, called “The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember” by Fred Rogers. Yes, the Mister Rogers that many of us grew up with. This book was published in 2003, which is also the year that he passed away. There is a whole section titled The Courage to be Yourself. One of the paragraphs goes like this: “The values we care about the deepest, and the movements within society…
wait it out
August 31, 2016Have you ever found yourself in a creative drought? It seems as if these periods just come upon us. Maybe they are the result of simple fatigue, overwork, pressure, the desire to sit on the porch for five hours on a beautiful summer day, or…who knows what. With so many projects on the (literal) drawing table and in the sewing workshop, I am finding any reason to do something else these days. The most creative thing I’ve done in the…
failure?
August 15, 2016Today in Simple Abundance, Sarah tells us that sometimes ignorance is bliss. She says that it can be a protective blessing. If we knew our work would fail, would we still make the attempt? Yet, she points out that failure is vital to the creative process. We might even say that failure is necessary to be successful at anything we are trying to do. When I first planted my corn seeds and then lovingly nurtured the seedlings all those weeks, dreaming of…
a frog’s schedule
August 3, 2016I found this little guy while I was watering the garden. He was no more than one inch long, a tiny thing. He stood stock-still and I snapped a few pictures of him. Then I went on about my business. When I came back through to refill my water pitcher, he was gone. Going on about his frog business, which likely means the business of getting food, I surmised. Sarah Ban Breathnach writes about “catching days” in today’s Simple Abundance…
