Expressing Gratitude

But we are strong, each in our purpose, and we are all more strong together. – Bram Stoker Globally, we are limited in our mobility right now. Those who have to go to work, return home almost immediately afterwards. Some places are limiting people’s time for daily outdoor recreation, but many open spaces we once …

My Dad, My Hero, Decorated World War Two Combat Veteran

I have been thinking a lot about my father the past few weeks. He has been in the hospital twice (for multiple issues) during the covid-19 pandemic. He is 95 years old and had some major health issues to deal with this spring. And I am thousands of miles away. My wonderful brother, sister and …

Everyday Blessings

As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness… – Laura Ingalls Wilder Over the last couple months, …

Time for Change

You never change things by fighting the existing reality.To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. – Buckminster Fuller The time for change is Right NOW. Change has come to the planet in the form of a death threat from a microscopic creature. About half the planet is now under …

Keep Hope Alive

Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. – C.K.Chesterton This morning a dove appeared outside our window. Doves have been seen as a symbol of peace and hope for thousands of years. Our attention was called to the …

Art and Chaos

I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness that characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction. – Saul Bellow By stilling the mind, …

The Power of a Smile

It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living. – F. Scott Fitzgerald A smile can seem inconsequential in normal times. But when the times get tough it feels like sunny days will never return, look in …

Rewrite Your Life Story

If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten. – Rudyard Kipling These are historic times. Monumental changes are happening to societies around the world. Little of the once “normal” life will go untouched by this cataclysm. But we are not helpless. We are not hopeless and simply cast adrift …

Be One with the Wild

I thought of the wilderness we had left behind us, open to sea and sky, joyous in its plenitude and simplicity, perfect yet vulnerable, unaware of what is coming, defended by nothing, guarded by no one. – Edward Abbey Check out my wife and I clamming on Youtube Children are taught human beings have five …

Making Positive Connections

Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. – Noam Chomsky This is no time for pessimism, hatred and fatalism. Globally, societies are being disrupted and lives are being threatened. Humanity …