Sunday, November 29, 2009

...11.29.09...

sarah a sherwood
born january 24, 1850
died in 1937
mother to:
hattie sherwood compton
born march 13, 1881
died november 26, 1969
mother to:
kay louise compton engler blanchard
born june 10,1926
mother to:
patricia june engler byers
born november 29, 1946

A Plain Life
by William Henry Davies
No idle gold -- since this fine sun, my friend,
Is no mean miser, but doth freely spend.
No precious stones -- since these green mornings show,
Without a charge, their pearls where'er I go.
No lifeless books -- since birds with their sweet tongues
Will read aloud to me their happier songs.
No painted scenes -- since clouds can change their skies
A hundred times a day to please my eyes.
No headstrong wine -- since, when I drink, the spring
Into my eager ears will softly sing.
No surplus clothes -- since every simple beast
Can teach me to be happy with the least.
if you whisper their name
they will not be
forgotten.
i stand proudly today
in the truth
that these are
the ladies who
have come before me.
giving life to who i am...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TILDA.
welcome to coffee hour.
welcome to this Sunday morning.
just BE.
robin.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

...antiquated...

An Antiquated Tree
by Emily Dickinson
An Antiquated Tree
Is cherished of the Crow
Because that Junior Foliage is disrespectful now
To venerable Birds
Whose Corporation Coat
Would decorate Oblivion's
Remotest Consulate.
with light
there are shadows.
many have captured them
and shared them
just BE.
robin.

Friday, November 27, 2009

...quilt of gratitude...

a quilt of gratitude
was created here...
if you choose, let's keep the quilt going by adding your
thanks here and i will send it on.
just BE.
robin.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

...give thanks with a grateful heart...

an open home, an open heart,
here grows a bountiful harvest.
~judy hand
take a moment today.
by yourself.
or gathered 'round
with your loved ones.
to give thanks
with a grateful heart.
just BE.
robin.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

...sacred space...


Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.
~Joseph Campbell

Sunday, November 22, 2009

...11.22.09...

you must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip. ~j.m.barrie
today let's meditate with our calendars open. how does your week look? which day could you take off without your world grinding to a halt because you're temporarily unavailable to keep it spinning? good. now write in, "mental health day."
remember the "mental health" days we'd cite in high school in order to drop out for a day? it's time to revive the tradition. don't feel guilty about calling in sick: this is preventive action. sometimes i wish i were a physician specializing in women's medicine. i would surprise each one of my patients annually with a written prescription to play hooky for a day. i would convince them that hooky is absolutely necessary for their good health: physical and psychological. then i would give them an official note excusing them from real life. i think the crucial reason it's so difficult to be grown-up is that there's no one to write a note for us excusing us from the job, the marriage, caring for mom, and driving the car pool. don't worry. i'll write your note. will you write mine?
playing hooky is not the same as "sitting one out." when--because you simply can't stand it anymore--you sit one out by taking a sick day or vacation day, you don't have the creative energy for "hookiness." when we play hooky, the operative word here is "play" and no one's to know it but your authentic self. (or a good friend who's playing hooky with you.) send your husband off to work, call in and say you'll see whomever tomorrow, take the kids to day care. if you're at home, call a sitter or arrange with another mother to exchange hooky days.
now you have approximately eight hours to call our own. do whatever seems most frivolous, most totally self-indulgent. get a european body wrap, a pedicure, a cosmetic makeover, or a facial. treat yourself to an aromatherapy massage. go out to lunch in another part of town. stay at home watching soap operas, talk shows, classic sitcoms, or cinema on cable. rent ferris bueller's day off. read a fabulous novel in one sitting with a small box of govida chocolates in our lap. don't answer the phone. only do what you want to do, not what needs to be done. pick up the kids and your favorite carryout food.
when your day is over, all you've accomplished is caring for your soul.
luxuriate in your idleness. "it is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do," the victorian british writer jerome k. jerome confessed. "there's no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do...idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen."
~simple abundance: a daybook of comfort and joy-sarah ban breathnach
just BE.
robin.
welcome to coffee hour.
welcome to this Sunday morning.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

...tree shadows...


When I Am Among the Trees
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech,
the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me,
and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness,
and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly,
and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out,
"Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come into the world to do this,
to go easy,
to be filled
with light,
and to shine."
~ Mary Oliver
join us for shadow fun
just BE.
robin.

Friday, November 20, 2009

...grateful...

i have an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
truly-right to the brim
starting to trickle down in sweet, pure
droplets over the side...
full of gratitude.
life is not about me.
life is about absorbing the light and spirit and goodness in others
then letting it shine through me.
i am so grateful for the kindred spirits i have
been drawn to or those who have
found their way to me.
to be drawn to
those who share a common desire to
just BE
in the midst of this angry, greedy world
that has lost sight of the things that really matter.
drawn together in blogworld.
"blogworld" is patting itself on the back for "thinking up" this concept.
i prefer to think it's the masterful hand of the Higher Being that
is smiling down on us for the good works that
are happening all over the world
between like spirits.
a quiet uprising of light
in a world
covered by darkness.
newest blogger friend Laura
is wanting her people to ask their people to share a
quote of gratitude...
in time for Thanksgiving...
even if you don't celebrate the day as we will be in the US next week.
won't you share a quote or express your feelings of gratitude
in a posting here so that i can pass it onto Laura.
i am going to share something from Laura
that has resonated with me.
...she is a beautiful spirit...

"It all comes down to choosing to let go and just be with whatever current reality is present. "reality" is always shifting...so we must be flexible in our trunks/core and bend with humility and allow our feet/roots to remain planted while our branches reach toward others toward the light of God." ~laura hegfield
my pictures
progress...
from a single drop of rain
to a single profile
standing...
maybe shaking, maybe lacking confidence-
to standing strong,
proud,
confident
with many.
together we can.
together we are enough.
what an awesome thought...
leave me a post.
silly,
or serious.
a few lines
or several lines.
about what you are grateful for.
leave me a post.
let's let our light continue to shine.
just BE.
robin.

Monday, November 16, 2009

...inner harmony...

ask yourself whether you are happy
and you cease
to be so.
~j.s.mill
"how we feel about ourselves,
the joy we get from living,
ultimately depends directly on
how the mind filters
and interprets everyday
experiences."
mihaly csikszentmilhalyi reminds us.
"whether we are happy
depends on inner harmony,
not on the controls we are able
to exert over
the great forces
of the universe."
~simple abundance: a daybook of comfort and joy.
just BE.
robin.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

...11.15.09...


reflection
walking into the sunlight filled field
with the weeping willow slowly dancing in the warm breeze,
the lake smooth on the surface even though
underneath life flourishes,
off in the distance there is a deer running back into the woods.
always dreaming of the simplicity of that life,
sitting in this picture perfect landscape
thinking to myself.
why must we make life so difficult?
every once in awhile you need to stop and enjoy the scenery,
because life isn’t about how much power you have
or how many friends you have,
life is about trying to find what makes you happy
and not getting caught up in the everyday nonsense.
this field put everything into perspective,
if you rush through life and never stop to look around
have you ever really lived?
by Craig Wharem
opening day of deer season today.
i did not venture out
far with the camera.
it's serious business around here,
deer hunting.
in these tough times...
it's not just about the sport of hunting
but the necessity of feeding ones family.
and if you were able to obtain
more than one...
you share with your family
or a neighbor.
that's just what you do.
we help each other.
simplicity.
perspective.
love one another.
just BE.
robin.
welcome to coffee hour.
welcome to this Sunday morning.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

...sweater and light...

sometimes
our light goes out
but is blown into flame
by another human being.
each of us owes deepest
thanks
to those
who have rekindled
this
light.
~Albert Schweitzer
my light is rekindled
when i look upon
this sweater.
a sweater from
childhood.
when times were simpler...
which field will i chase butterflies in today.
what adventures will my barbies have.
where are we going today grandpa.
what shape does that cloud look like.
yes...my light is rekindled.
today.
with.
this.
sweater.
light+objects=shadows.
from whom or where does your light come from today?
just BE.
robin.

Friday, November 13, 2009

...a november day, berries and a camera...


oh my,
what a beautiful
november day.
on my day off
i could have done
the dishes,
swept the floors,
vacuumed,
cleaned off the dining room table,
laundry...
sigh.
but...
instead...
i donned hubby's wader boots
and walked
the property,
with camera in hand,
to find red berries.
i found them...
not too far into
water.
i arranged them in a crock and a vase,
and they found the same fate my children do...
when my camera is in hand...
i posed them around the yard,
here and there
with thoughts of Christmas cards in mind.
maybe tomorrow i will get to my chores...
or not.
just BE.
robin.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

...sunflower...

The last seed
falls from the sunflower–
empty pond.
- Michael P. Garofalo
week half over...
tomorrow
is my
friday
this week.
yah!!
love days off...
thank you to the VETERANS...
who gave me that freedom.
just BE.
robin.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

...11.8.09...

weekend pleasures...
"pleasures lie thickest
where no pleasures seem:
there's not a leaf
that falls upon the ground
but holds
some joy of silence
or of sound,
some spirits
begotten
of
a
summer
dream."
- Laman Blanchard
every season has
its own beauty...
beauty that the
others can't hold claim to...
embrace the change
breathe it in...
give thanks.
just BE.
robin.
welcome to coffee hour
welcome to this Sunday morning.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

...ripeness and color...

"autumn is the eternal corrective.
it is ripeness
and color
and a time of maturity;
but it is also breadth,
and depth,
and distance.
what man can stand with autumn
on a hilltop
and fail to see the span of his world
and the meaning
of the rolling hills
that reach to the far horizon?"
~Hal Borland
it is the makings for a
beautiful fall day here
today.
many shadows to capture...
join us at HEY HARRIET
won't you
for many more shadows.
when you stand on your hill today...
may you find the meaning in your horizon!!!
just BE.
robin.

Monday, November 2, 2009

...last glimpse...

yesterday
afternoon we
were
blessed
with sun...
the violets
i found under
the back deck
and the mum,
after all the cold weather...
i can't believe still has a flower.
SNOW is the forecast for the next couple of days...
with 60's on the weekend.
makes dressing for coffee
on the deck
interesting.
just BE.
robin.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

...11.01.09...

all freezes again-
among the pines, winds,
whispering a prayer.
~riel, eigtheenth-century japanese poet
november silently sneaks up on us,
catching our senses by surprise.
suddenly,
as the english poet thomas hood sullenly observed two centuries ago,
there's "no shade,
no shine,
no butterflies,
no bees,
no fruits,
no flowers,
no leaves,
no birds."
outside, silvery gray shafts reveal a familiar landscape stripped of pretense.
behind closed doors,
glowing amber fires shed light upon the real.
like a woman who has found
her authenticity,
november's beauty radiates from within.
~simple abundance: a daybook of comfort and joy
my saved pictures go from
bright sunshine and vivid color
as i pass through
them and come to today.
beauty remains...but the color is muted.
earthly souls ebb and flow in sorrow and joy according
to the seasons of emotion, just as the seasons of the
natural world move through the cycle
of life, death, and rebirth.
these are the days to be grateful for the harvest of the heart,
however humble it might be,
and to prepare for the coming of the year's closure.
even now,
the season of daylight diminishes and the time of
darkness increases.
but true light is never extinguished to the natural world,
and it is the same in your soul.
embrace the ebb
and do not fear the darkness.
for as night follows day,
the light will return and you will know
contented hours once again.
~simple abundance-sarah ban breathnach
just BE.
robin.
welcome to coffee hour.
welcome to this Sunday morning.