happy halloween

BOO!

honeyboy doing his evening hunt

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

...from the front porch. He doesn't really like the rain.

i love me some johnny

You can close your eyes to the things you don't want to see, but you can't close your heart to the things you don't want to feel. 

Johnny Depp

I think he must be an enneagram 4. What do you think?

know your power

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any. 

Alice Walker

grateful prayer

One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer. 

G. E. Lessing

 'Nuff said.

thought as prayer

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees. 

Victor Hugo

Les Misérables 

Getting there is a process. I am in a continual state of working on myself. Those of you who are close to me (sorry SO, Mom, and Thithter...) know that I sometimes spew my less than loving thoughts. But I do try NOT to do that in public.

And I continue to work on my awareness and get brought up short on a regular basis. In the meantime, I thank you for your patience.

love thursday 10.25.12 ~ the opposite of...

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. 

Elie Wiesel 

 May your days (as well as your nights) be full of passion. Life is much fuller that way.

change is life

The only thing I fear more than change is no change. The business of being static makes me nuts... Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. 

Twyla Tharp

Change is all there is! Nothing doesn't change. (Wrap your head around that sentence.) Even in death--change continues. 

What would happen if no change even could occur? 

I don't think I want to know. 

spider season

Each of these slats is an inch.Uh, huh. Big spider.

warriors

Warriors confront the evil that most people refuse to acknowledge. 

Bohdi Sanders

And for the record, confrontation doesn't always mean fighting. Just acknowledging and naming is sometimes all it takes.

True warriors pick their battles carefully. They fight only when necessary.

my motto

When you're mad, count four; when you're very mad, swear! But most of us don't wait to count four! at least I don't! 

Mark Twain

laughter is the music of life

I think laughter may be a form of courage. As humans we sometimes stand tall and look into the sun and laugh, and I think we are never more brave than when we do that. 

Linda Ellerbee 

 Laughter does so many things that are good for us. Laugh on! And bring someone with you!

the shopping mall analogy

Here I stand. I can do no other. 

Martin Luther 

 I've often said to people. "I know you don't like where you are, but until you accept it, you can't go somewhere else. You are at the mall looking at the directory and the X tells you you are in front of Sears. You want to go to Macy's. You say, 'I am not in front of Sears. I am in front of Penney's!' The route to get to Macy's is completely different. You won't make it there unless you accept that you are in front of Sears.

Capisce?

love thursday 10.18.12 ~ make them visible

If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces but the life behind and within their faces. Here it is love that is the frame we see them in. 

Frederick Buechner

Whistling in the Dark

I know what it is like to be invisible. Frequently, people just don't see me. Prejudices get in the way and we become blind.

Because I know what it feels like to be invisible, I try to see people. I try to smile at someone every day--even when I'm having a cranky day. 

And it is hard to truly smile at someone without seeing them--with the eyes and the heart. People get it. They know they are being seen.  

When I started this practice, I was amazed (and I am a bit embarrassed to say this) at how many smile back.

jimmy!

Indecision may or may not be my problem.

Jimmy Buffett

Did you know that Jimmy is a wonderfully, fun author? I stumbled upon A Salty Piece of Land while on vacation one year. Now I re-read it periodically because it is so much fun. (If you listen to his music, you'll see it in his books.)

amen, kate...amen

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased. 

Katharine Hepburn

and the rains have arrived

There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them. 

Sylvia Plath

...and a warm bath may be in order.

wisdom gained

No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday. 

Alexander Pope 

I seem to be growing wiser daily. Oh, yes...I do.

Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith. 

Margaret Shepard

Seems lately I've been walking by faith more often than by sight. I say to the Beloved, "I wonder how you are going to work this out." Frequently, I say that.

I know the Beloved has my back. I know things will work out.

I don't know how things will work out. I don't know what the outcome will be.

I do know that the process and outcome may look completely different from what I expect. And I may not like all of it.

However, I do know the Beloved and I trust. Some days, it's all I can do.

banana at night

coffee and conversation

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after. 

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Gift from the Sea

How does it get any better than that?

love thursday 10.11.12 ~ an auspicious day if ever there was one

Did you hear about the 8 pound 9 ounce baby who was born on 10/11/12 at 13:14 (military time)?

For real! 

Check here.

I love new babies.

the art of conversation

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. 

Dorothy Nevill

excellent idea

Abbot Pastor said: Get away from any man who always argues every time he talks.

The Wisdom of the Desert

Being able to argue well is a good skill to have. It means we have the capacity to hold an idea and parse our feelings and thoughts about it. It means that we know why we stand where we do on an issue.

Being argumentative as a way of life or as a trait of character is not at all the same. 

 

boundaries...and their meaning

A "No" uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a "Yes" merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble. 

Gandhi

 Wouldn't it be wonderful if our yesses and nos were honored?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if when someone said "yes" you could really believe that they meant it from the bottom of their heart?

Same with "no."

The ability to agree ("yes") or disagree ("no") defines us. That same ability grants us power--personal power...the ability to control our own lives.

Wouldn't that be wonderful?  

mine, too

But I also had my mother. And she said she never saw the conflict between religion and evolution. Louis Leakey—my great mentor who dug up early man—he felt the same. So I had this, and then, yes, it all came together in the forest. But you have to remember, I didn’t start as a scientist. I wanted to be poet laureate, and I wanted to be a naturalist. That’s how I began. I didn’t have any desire to go and be a scientist. Louis Leakey channeled me there. I’m delighted he did. I love science. I love analyzing and making sense of all these observations. So it was the perfect rounding off of who I was into who I am. 

Jane Goodall

Mine, too.

I'm not a scientist, but I had a mother (and other people) who believed I could be whoever I wanted to be. I remember a number of teachers who encouraged me and thought I could do anything.

Believe in someone who is in the process of becoming. It makes a difference. You can change their life.

it is for this, i strive

Praying without ceasing is not ritualized, nor are there even words. It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God. 

author unknown

Yes...I. The one with the potty mouth.

i'm sure other good things will come from it, too

If you are patient in one moment of anger you will save a thousand days of sorrow. 

Chinese Proverb

love thursday 10.04.12 ~ love = no more war

When man avoids violence and war, although the way of war is open to him, he chooses the noblest line of conduct – restraint. 

Zuli ~ ॐ

What you see here is the result of banana blowing in the wind. And Blowing in the Wind (the song) wonders aloud, "When are we going to get it?" 

Truth is...if we don't get it soon we are all going to look a lot like banana after a wind storm--ragged. Beautiful still--but much broken down by the wear.

"i am not truly free if i am taking away someone else's freedom"

My hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A [person] who takes away another [person's] freedom is a prisoner of hatred ... is locked behind bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity. 

Nelson Mandela

worth thinking about...especially during the election season

There are three kinds of patriots, two bad, one good. The bad ones are the uncritical lovers and the loveless critics. Good patriots carry on a lover's quarrel with their country, a reflection of God's lover's quarrel with all the world.

The Rev. William Sloane Coffin

I love my country. So do many people I know (or know of) with whom I disagree. All of us who love our country are patriotic. And there is more than one way to do it.

However, just like I want my beloved humans to be the best they can be, so I want that for my country. Being mindless and going along with those who do not have the good of everyone at heart (and in their plans) falls in the first category. Hating all politicians and wanting to throw all the bums out falls in the second.

Politics is a career. It is not something that Joe, The Plumber (or I) can step in and do. Certainly, not do well, anyway.

When I was younger, I probably fell more in the second category. Now, I have a lover's quarrel going on. And I am trying not to let those who woo the first category mess us all up.

benjamin zander: the transformative power of classical music (and he's funny)

I will never say anything that couldn't stand as the last thing I ever say.

Auschwitz survivor