Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘Miscellaneous’

May 13

4 Comments

Blank Canvas

“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can.” - Danny Kaye

“Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can.” – Danny Kaye

Ten hours and $5800 later, my sixty year old silver maple is gone. The backyard is stark. A blank canvas. I am not sure what I’ll put in its place. I’m still thinking about it and looking at garden and patio magazines for ideas. When it’s right, I’ll know it. I asked them to leave a chunk of the tree to make a bench out of it to carry a piece of the old into what will be new. Some things we get so used to that we don’t have a vision of what could be until the canvas is blank. So as I face a blank canvas in my backyard and other parts of my life, I go forward with confidence that the possibilities will be more exciting if I am open to them. Start painting and watch the colors fill the canvas. The beauty unfolds if we get out of the way.

May 10

12 Comments

Tree Funeral

“And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” - William Shakespeare

“And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” – William Shakespeare

For safety reasons, my sixty year old silver maple tree will be cut down and ground to its roots tomorrow. A large limb dropped off two weeks ago from no additional force – no wind, no lighting. Fortunately, no one got hurt when the limb fell, crushing the fence and taking down the power at 2:00 am.

I will miss swinging in the woven rope chair, listening to breeze flow through the branches and the sound of laughing leaves. I will miss the canopy of shade and the beauty it gave freely without condition. For so many sentimental and the practical reasons, the tree will be greatly missed.

So, I’m having a tree funeral – food (no casseroles), guests and all. Material things, even trees, can be replaced. Family and friends are to be treasured. So a tree funeral to say goodbye and to honor the gift of majestic nature in my backyard for so many years.

 

May 8

6 Comments

And the Clouds Break

“Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.” – Lord Byron

Every three months for the past two years, we drive to the Mayo Clinic to see if cancer has developed in my Dad’s esophagus. He was diagnosed almost three years ago with stomach cancer and Barrett’s Esophagus. Today, they took a biopsy and now we wait, like we’ve done before. There’s never a conclusion, just a continuation of wait, pray, hope and be grateful for good news every three months. The gift in this reality is that each day becomes a blessing, not to be squandered on the futile.

As we drove home tonight with thoughts racing through my mind, probably the same thoughts others had in the car, I glanced to the left and the sun burst through the dark clouds. And it occurred to me that this is really the essence of life. There are moments of sunshine and moments of clouds, but most days are a mix of both. We can choose to see the sunshine or we can choose to see the clouds. I choose the light.

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” - Rabindranath Tagore

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” – Rabindranath Tagore

May 6

13 Comments

Contemplate

“If we know the divine art of concentration, if we know the divine art of meditation, if we know the divine art of contemplation, easily and consciously we can unite the inner world and the outer world.” – Sri Chinmoy

Take five minutes today to be quiet, be open – focus on BEing instead of DOing. There’s more to life than checking tasks off our to do list.

“Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true." ― Thomas Merton

“Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true.” ― Thomas Merton

May 1

7 Comments

Explore

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  – Mark Twain

While doing my morning routine, I glanced out the window to discover Lily was scaling the limb of the tree that fell last week. “Explore” immediately came to mind. Explore your world everyday.

"Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness." - Bryant H. McGill

"Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness." - Bryant H. McGill

Apr 28

6 Comments

What If?

When faced with adversity and the inconveniences of life, we can choose between a “What if?” or “Why me?” approach. “What if?” speaks to possibilities and moves us forward. “Why me?” turns us in on ourselves and can paralyze us. While there will be moments in our lives – serious illness, loss of a love one – “Why me?” is a natural and understandable reaction.

In the category of a simple inconveniences, I had a limb from my 50+ year old maple tree fall on the power line at 2:00 am Thursday morning. While outside checking out what happened and talking with my neighbor who heard the crash, my cable box started on fire from the surge of electricity. She ran for the hose, I ran for the fire extinguisher – luckily I got to the fire first (Lesson 1, 2, 3: always use a fire extinguisher on an electrical fire; make sure you actually have a fire extinguisher; stock extra flashlights that you can find and that actually work). I put the fire out before it spread beyond the cable box. The fire department came a few minutes later along with the power company. (Lesson 4: firefighters are good looking, unfortunately I was not at 2:30 am).

Read more

Apr 24

9 Comments

Let Your Puppy Out

“The ability to retain a child’s view of the world with at the same time a mature understanding of what it means to retain it, is extremely rare – and a person who has these qualities is likely to be able to contribute something really important to our thinking.” – Mortimer Jerome Adler

It’s inside all of us – that enthusiasm of childhood (puppyhood for some of our friends). Rediscover the simple joy and awe of youth and carry it with you no matter what your age. Let your “puppy attitude” out to play in the world. Be a gift.

“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.” - Tom Stoppard

“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.” - Tom Stoppard

"All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, this is when I became myself." - Rita Dove

"All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, this is when I became myself." - Rita Dove

“To a young heart everything is fun.” - Charles Dickens

“To a young heart everything is fun.” - Charles Dickens

Apr 10

3 Comments

Simple Math

Life – it’s simple math really. We add or substract. We multiply or divide. What equation will you choose to be today, tomorrow?

A Good Life = + and x.

Do the math. Show your work. Do it right. Repeat.

Newer Entries »