...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.

...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

at HEY HARRIET

just BE.

robin.

...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.

...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.

...sacred space...

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

~Joseph Campbell

...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.

...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

at HEY HARRIET

just BE.

robin.

...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.

...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.

...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.

...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.

HEY HARRIET where

light+objects=shadows.

from whom or where does your light come from today?

just BE.

robin.

...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.

...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.

...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.

...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.

...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.

...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.