two things

Today, my very dear friend is undergoing surgery for breast cancer. Please join me in praying for her (in whatever form that takes for you). Thank you.

Also today...

Se'lah has posted our interview at Necessary Room. Grab a cuppa and come listen in to the conversation. We'll wait for you....

things i love about my mom

You are always willing to play--with your kids, grandkids, and now the great-grandkids.


You are funny. You make me laugh.


After 62 years, you still love Dad.


You are always there for us. Always.

Thanks for being my mom.

hospitality

Hospitality does not seek power over others. Cruelty does. Cruelty deliberately causes harm, especially by crushing a person's self-respect ... The opposite of cruelty is hospitality, a sharing of power.

~ Richard M. Gula ~

from his book To Walk Together Again

I'd say the orange boys do a pretty good job of sharing power with me...most of the time. We all live together quite hospitably.

i always liked this one

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you'll never walk alone.

~ Audrey Hepburn ~

(1929-1993) British Actress

love thursday 05.06.10 ~ miracles

There are two ways to live your life:

One as though nothing is a miracle, the other as though everything is.

~ Albert Einstein ~

The way HoneyBoy and Mijo arrived was miraculous. I wanted an orange Manx. I put in a search with local shelters. Mijo poppped up one Saturday morning. I emailed about him. The woman in charge of the shelter said, "The only thing cuter than he is his brother."

"He has a brother?"

And the rest is history.

Miracles happen all the time. Answers to prayer are miracles in my book. Miracles are things that happen that we can't explain. It is not necessarily that they are outside of the natural order--just that we have a limited perspective on what the natural order truly is.

And Love...sometimes Love is a miracle, too. Because sometimes we love and are loved and there is just no explaining it.

Happy Love Thursday!

quantity

The lure of quantity is the most dangerous of all.

~ Simone Weil ~

Quantity for quantity's sake is dangerous...yes. That becomes greed and there's plenty of that going around these days.

However, there is a certain quantity that is enough for each of us. Finding that--in the true spirit of simplicity--brings peace. Inner and outer peace. Ahh....

hey there, georgy girl

I loved that movie when it came out. I related to Georgy Girl. We both envied everyone around us who were coupling up. Lynn Redgrave brought her to life--and gave me hope. I have loved her for that ever since.

1943 - 2010

Rest well, dear Lynn. I will miss you.


*pictures from the web

no guarantees

If I had to name my disability, I would call it an unwillingness to fall ... This reluctance signals the mistrust of the central truth of the Christian gospel: life springs from death, not only at the last but also in the many little deaths along the way. When everything you count on for protection has failed, the Divine Presence does not fail. The hands are still there -- not promising to rescue, not promising to intervene -- promising only to hold you no matter how far you fall.

~ Barbara Brown Taylor ~

from her book Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

Today, I experienced a divine gift through a friend--an answer to prayer, even. I am grateful. Immensely grateful. Yesterday I said, "I hope tomorrow is a better day." It was.

I sometimes hesitate to speak about what I need--for a lot of reasons. Partly out of privacy. Partly because I don't want to sound like I am whining or complaining. Partly because I am self-protective. And more. Those are the big ones.

Here's one of the lessons I learned today: If I don't speak up (at least occasionally) so that the people around me know what is going on, it makes it harder for God to use them to answer my prayers. It's easier to collaborate than to create from thin air.

I still have no guarantee of what is coming down the road. However, today looks a little brighter and I am glad of it.

world weary

Me. Not them.

kliban's model

Faint with hunger, he lay by his dish hoping someone would notice before he faded away into nothingness.

first

She was the first to hit the piñata at the wedding.

It didn't break.

love thursday 04.29.10 ~ thursday

Holly Golightly: Thursday! It can't be! It's too gruesome!

Paul Varjak: What's so gruesome about Thursday?

Holly Golightly: Nothing, except I can never remember when it's coming up.

~ from Breakfast at Tiffany's ~

Not enough has been made of Thursday. Forgotten day. However, I kinda like it. Hump Day is past and now we're on the downhill slide to the weekend. Tomorrow's Friday and I love Friday. So what's not to love about Thursday? It's full of anticipation for the next three days to come.

Ah, yes.

savor

If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

~ E.B. White ~

I'm into savoring these days...

...being outside

...topless rides in the evening

...looking for new bamboo shoots

...finding new bamboo shoots

...taking care of the garden

...going for walks

...checking things off the to do list

...enjoying good food and drink

...talking to neighbors

...playing with the orange boys

...combing Misi (the old girl kitty)

...sleeping in

...

husbandry

While the heavens continue to tell the glory of God, the firmament today also proclaims sonic nefarious human handiwork -- smog, acid rain, an immense hole in the ozone layer.

~ William Sloane Coffin ~

from his sermon "A Passion for the Possible: A Message to U.S. Churches"

Dominion...not domination.

repentance

Repentance is the doorway to the spiritual life, the only way to begin. It is also the path itself, the only way to continue. Anything else is foolishness and self-delusion. Only repentance is both brute-honest enough, and joyous enough, to bring us all the way home.

~ Frederica Mathewes-Green ~

from her essay, "Both Door and Path"

Just the word, no doubt, riles the imaginations in some people. Repentence, however, is more than "mea culpa" and flagellation.

It requires "brute-honest" self-awareness so that we can see when we miss the mark and when we are on the path. It is about staying current. It requires staying present in now. It takes a willingness to self-correct and make amends when necessary.

The path to "joyous" living.

you rock

I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to live the width of it as well.

~ Diane Ackerman ~

for those of you going through orange boy withdrawal

earth day

We need to consider how our actions, in affecting the environment, are likely to affect others. This is often difficult to judge; but it is clear that we are the only species with the power to destroy the earth. Birds and insects have no such power, nor does any other mammal. Yet if we have the capacity to destroy the earth, we also have the capacity to protect it. I believe we have an urgent responsibility to do so.

~ HH Dalai Lama ~

I'm a day late...but here's the thing. When it comes to the saving the planet, every day is Earth Day. We can't expect to fix what ails the relationship we have with Mother Earth on one day of the year.

So this is just a reminder (to me, too)...every day must be Earth Day.

love thursday 04.22.10 ~ provoke

Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.

~ Hebrews 10:24 ~

Sisters and brothers, if you are going to go around provoking me, at least provoke me in the right direction. And I'll try to do the same for you.

Happy Love Thursday!

serendipity

If you really want to be powerful, if you really want to be influential, then just serve.

~ Rev. Willie Barrow ~

civil rights activist
who earned the nickname
"Little Warrior"

SO and I drove across the river today for an appointment in Vancouver. While I was waiting, I went to Tully's, sat at a table facing the door and near a plug-in to work on my upcoming interview with Se'lah over at Necessary Room. (Stay tuned....)

Happily typing away, I looked up as a woman walked in. We smiled at each other as our eyes met. Then we both did a double take. Deb from Catbird Scout just walked through the door of the same coffee shop I was sitting in.

I see her face every day I go to her blog to read so I am not surprised I recognized her. She has met me exactly once. We talked like we do it every day.

Thanks, Deb. I needed that.