Fostering a new renaissance through creativity, authenticity, spirituality, and art
These are the roses my valentine gave me. He was buying them from Trader Joe’s right when I was writing that needy poem a week ago (see here) and I think there is a lesson in that. There is always more good going on than we see. Intermittently this week I’ve tried to photograph these … Read more
So today was my birthday. There was no fanfare, no surprise parties on yachts encircling Manhattan, no two-seater, bright orange Porsche convertible sitting in the driveway with a big bow on it, no dazzling diamonds, nor all expense paid tickets to Switzerland or New Zealand. Which of these things would I have preferred?
I admire Oprah and the authenticity she has stood for; she has been an example to America that authenticity can be profitable, and I applaud that in anyone. I also admire her courage and willingness to publicly explore her spirituality, her can-do attitude, her love for books, and her faith in what is good and right.
Today I’m doing something I’ve never done before. Stephen R. Covey’s quote, “Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results,” comes to mind. So I’m stepping out in sanity today, and signing up for a weight loss contest. Sponsored locally, everyone puts $60 in a kitty (no small commitment for me) to join … Read more
My dear friend Jill unexpectedly passed on last night. She will be heartily missed. We knew each other primarily at church, both taking leadership roles…
A new decade seems like practically a whole new epoch. This is all symbolized for me right now by cars. For those of you that read of my harrowing experience a few weeks ago on a hill of black ice (click here to read it if you did not) this blog post is the other … Read more
The parents were given the homework of reading Plato’s Apology, which is his account of Socrates’ defense at his trial. (Apologia in Greek means defense, not to say you are sorry…) The parents then, on Saturday morning of Parent’s Weekend had our own seminar on this reading to experience what it is like for our … Read more
I was inspired to invite my husband on an unusual walk today, where we both agreed in advance that we would not say one word for the entire walk. We are of a marriage of many words, maybe too many, given how wonderful this wordless walk was! Friends of mine with taciturn husbands often marvel … Read more
Compassion Not Criticism When you criticize you fail to comprehend that everyone is dealing with more than anyone can know Each is doing his best coping given their uniquely complex aggregate circumstance attempting to manage the petty paradoxes and inevitable dichotomies, and the aggressive onslaughts of mental miasma bamboozled each we are in our own … Read more
Driving home from church last night, my husband and I expressed gratitude for our individual and mutual commitment to church. We go every Sunday and Wednesday, twice a week like clockwork. That’s 112 services a year, of which on average we miss only two or three by being too remote to go. We have found … Read more
I have been contemplating rainbows recently, spurred by something I read in the Sentinel magazine (see here). As a physicist, I know that a rainbow does not exist “out there” but actually exists on the retina of the eye. You can never get to it or touch it, because that remarkable beauty you see is … Read more
A friend of mine used this title phrase in casual conversation last night, and I can’t even remember what she was referring to in the flood of connections I made the second I heard it. It resonated with me as the answer to art questions I had been getting as well as parenting advice I … Read more
I have some awesome friends. One of them is Judy Reilly. She was a fellow church member here for some time before moving to Vermont. I miss seeing her regularly! She is an amazing quilt artist. I love her quilt’s color and whimsey and insight. My three photographs on this post are of quilts of … Read more
I have started working on de-cluttering and streamlining my office which is one of my major goals for this year. Those that know me are skeptical. They are convinced of my inability to accomplish this, due to my lack of success in doing it in the past. My office is truly a disaster. It started … Read more
I am a writer for the Danbury New Times Forum on Faith column. Here is the article that came out today: Cultivating Our Spiritual Gardens to Bear Great Fruit My husband is really good at gardening; our yard right now looks like a paradise! There are vibrant splashes of flowers at every turn, with fruits … Read more
I have mostly been hand-building in pottery lately (see picture above of my pumpkin leaf), and it has been over a year since I have thrown on the wheel (with my most recent effort the vase seen below.) Anyway, since it has been so long, it was like starting all over again, and my teacher … Read more
Nipping it in the Bud? love an opening bud tentative, unsure is it safe? trust experience: so disappointing, so discouraging or invest in hope: so sanguine, so easily jeopardized, vulnerable and perishable or steel oneself instead: instigating inevitable disillusionment by pushing away – hard fleeing or walled off — disquieted, blighted, to wither alone plagued … Read more