Category Archives: Uncategorized
Of the soul
“Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Oddly enough, it’s my belief in the sentiment expressed here by Longfellow that underlies my enjoyment of visiting graveyards and cemeteries. When one believes in the …
Join in our chime
And ye, who have met with Adversity’s blast, And been bow’d to the earth by its fury; To whom the Twelve Months, that have recently pass’d Were as harsh as a prejudiced jury – Still, fill to the Future! and join in our chime, The regrets of remembrance to cozen, And having obtained a New …
This place is full
“This place is full of absent friends.” — Ashleigh Brilliant The Saturday after Christmas, I met my friend Darla for lunch at the Carrot Tree on Riverwalk Landing in Yorktown. Darla lives in the historic district of Yorktown, and I can’t visit her without thinking: 1. how lucky she is to live in this enchanted …
The genial flame
“Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ”― Washington Irving Those who have been following this blog for over two years now will know that our family has so much for which to feel grateful this Christmas. But there also have …
Saving graces
“I can understand people simply fleeing the mountainous effort Christmas has become. But there are always a few saving graces and finally they make up for all the bother and distress.” — May Sarton If you’ve ever been to Rockefeller Center at Christmas, you know how magical it can be. Even if you don’t catch …
Softer and more beautiful
“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ” ― Norman Vincent Peale When you think of the holiday season, what words come to mind? I’m afraid that too often, we think of words such as busy, excited, rushed, tired, pressured. But no matter how many activities …
So much happiness (2014 version)
“He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted the children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of homes, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed that any walk– …
Better throughout the year
“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”― Laura Ingalls Wilder Do you have any favorite childhood memories of Christmas that bring you joy to this day? I do, and I hope you do too. …
Charity that returned
“All my life I have written letters – to our mother, our relatives, a wide circle of friends and acquaintance, to my husband, to you. Correspondence has always been as necessary to my happiness as a well-cooked dinner, and I’ve found it more sustaining for its generosity: an act of charity that returned to me …
Sanctified bull doggedness
“Your success does not depend upon the brilliance and the impetuosity with which you take hold, but upon the ever lasting and sanctified bull doggedness with which you hang on after you have taken hold.” –– Dr. A. B. Meldrum As anyone who knows me well can tell you, tenacity is a virtue that sometimes …
Different from the sum of its parts
“When I looked, I knew I might never again see so much of the earth so beautiful, the beautiful being something you know added to something you see, in a whole that is different from the sum of its parts. What I saw might have been just another winter scene, although an impressive one. But …
First find thankfulness
“This is the only life you will have before you enter eternity. If you want to find joy, you must first find thankfulness. Indeed, the one who is thankful for even a little enjoys much…It does not matter what your circumstances are; the instant you begin to thank God, even though your situation has not …
The greatest time machines
“Two of the greatest time machines ever invented are called memory and imagination.” — Ashleigh Brilliant It’s beginning to look as if this winter will mean a lot of time indoors for most of us. So it’s a great chance for some time travel! Pick up a historical novel (and feel free to share recommendations …
All about us
“It seems to me that people are forever traveling great distances, and journeying to strange countries, to see things that, if they only knew it, exist beside their own doorstep…Whether one goes to nature for truth, or for beauty, for knowledge or for relaxation, these things can be found in a yard in the city …
All the magic
“The Sussex lanes were very lovely in the autumn. I started going for long lone country walks among the spendthrift gold and glory of the year-end, giving myself up to the earth-scents and the sky-winds and all the magic of the countryside which is ordained for the healing of the soul.” — Monica Baldwin Saturday …
What we give
“Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.” ― Ben Carson “No one has ever become poor by giving.” ― Anne Frank WOW, thanks to everyone who participated in the second anniversary blog celebration on Monday. I will go into all the details below, but the short version is that $2600 …
Put a smile on someone’s face
“We must learn to realize that “now” is happening and will very soon be gone…We must look at the ink on the calendar and see an immediate opportunity to do something wonderful, incredible, or beautiful. It’s that simple.” – Dan Pearce “If you’ve put a smile on someone’s face today, you’ve done more good than …
Memories of you
I am a miser of my memories of you And will not spend them. — Witter Bynner We’ve talked a lot on this blog about the importance of learning to let go of things. It’s an ongoing challenge for me, but I’m making headway. There are some things, however, that I know I’ll never give …
Watch with glittering eyes
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.” ― Roald Dahl Look around you today. Great secrets and enlightening discoveries may be hiding in plain sight. What are the unlikely places you tend to look past? What secret discoveries …
A happier state of mind
“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.” — George Santayana Here in the northern hemisphere, we are enjoying the colors of the foliage and the cooling weather. Meanwhile, our neighbors south of the equator are enjoying the end of winter and …
Wake up fresh
“The best cure for a disastrous day is to go to bed early and wake up fresh in the morning and start over.” — Garrison Keillor I totally agree with Keillor about this. The problem is, a disastrous day usually leaves me frustrated, agitated, angry or in some other state not conducive to a good …
Always in the midst
“It is always in the midst, in the epicenter, of your troubles that you find serenity.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry An updated note, seven years later: As I go back through these posts, it surprises me how many of them I have totally forgotten. Others I vaguely remember, but the details are lost to me …
Defeat Despair 
Illumination comes to our rescue
Julia ♦ November 9, 2021 ♦ 4 Comments
“But sometimes illumination comes to our rescue at the very moment when all seems lost; we have knocked at every door and they open on nothing until, at last, we stumble unconsciously against the only one through which we can enter the kingdom we have sought in vain a hundred years – and it opens.” …
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