10 Thursday Feb 2022
Posted in Daily Life, Photography, Reflections, Winter
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Like a sudden thaw in the middle of winter, grace happens at unexpected moments. It stops us short, catches the breath, disarms. If we manipulate it, try to control it, somehow earn it, that would not be grace. Yet not everyone has tasted of that amazing grace, and not everyone believes in it.
– Philip Yancey
On my walk today, I felt the warmth of the sun on my back like the reassuring hand of an old friend.
07 Monday Feb 2022
Posted in Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Relationships, Valentine's Day
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In winter
all the singing is in
the tops of the trees
where the wind-bird
with its white eyes
shoves and pushes
among the branches.
Like any of us
he wants to go to sleep,
but he’s restless —
he has an idea,
and slowly it unfolds
from under his beating wings
as long as he stays awake.
But his big, round music, after all,
is too breathy to last.
So, it’s over.
In the pine-crown
he makes his nest,
he’s done all he can.
excerpt from White-eyes by Mary Oliver
I liked where we lingered and kissed and made plans for Valentine’s Day.
02 Wednesday Feb 2022
Posted in Home, Poetry, Reflections, Relationships, Winter
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All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
We meet them at the doorway, on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
A sense of something moving to and fro…
from Haunted Houses by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I grew up in a neighborhood where the homes were identified, not by street numbers, but by the surname of the first owners. It didn’t matter how long the first residents had lived in the house, their surname was retained despite subsequent owners who may have lived there for much longer.
Furthermore, it seemed that whatever that state of emotion the first owners possessed, either happy or sad, the house seemed to attract the same sort of owner. I don’t know why, but when I visit a home, I can sense immediately if it is a comfortable or uncomfortable space – one where the inhabitants thrive in harmony or one where is there is upset and discord. (This is independent of color, lighting, furniture, or any other physical aspect of the house.)
I hope that when anyone enters my home they feel that they are not only entering a welcoming, happy, and comfortable place but one that is nurturing, creative, and flourishing!
27 Thursday Jan 2022
Posted in Art, Daily Life, Reflections
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Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I have a wonderful feeling,
Everything’s going my way.
from Oklahoma by Rodgers and Hammerstein
I am a morning person. I like to get up with the sun and make a definite start to the day.
But some mornings, especially when it is cold outside, I am completely seduced by the
warmth of my own bed and the feeling of the covers around me. So I decide not to get up
but to stay in bed and enjoy the moment.
24 Monday Jan 2022
Posted in Finances, New Year's Resolutions, Reflections, Travel
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They must retrench; that did not admit of a doubt. But she was very anxious to have it done with the least possible pain to him and Elizabeth. She drew up plans of economy, she made exact calculations. from Persuasion by Jane Austen
I am getting down to business trying to figure out how to execute my revised New Year’s Resolutions. It isn’t enough to wish for them to happen, plans have to be made, especially if travel is involved.
I knew a man who unabashedly spent thousands of dollars every year fulfilling his New Year’s Resolutions list. He was a last-minute-man and top-notch all the way – be it first class travel or uber expensive purchases – you name it! The envy of all his friends, he appeared to have a life of abundance that was only attainable by the super rich. The catch was that he couldn’t afford his extraordinary lifestyle and ended up accumulating massive debt. But, time after time, he appeared to pull a rabbit out of the hat, begin anew, and look forward to his next year’s list. I have always wondered just how he did it.
I envied his lavish lifestyle. My lifestyle has been one of frugality. I have achieved certain New Year’s Resolutions over the years but they have come with a lot of planning as I am not at all comfortable with debt. I always have a budget and stick to it. And so, the sights I hope to see on my travels this year will be of the sublime, and those are the only excesses that I desire.
13 Thursday Jan 2022
Posted in New Year's Resolutions, Photography, Reflections
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If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;
from If by Rudyard Kipling
I have already run into events that have knocked almost all of my New Year’s Resolutions completely off-track. I didn’t expect to accomplish every goal over the next fifty weeks, but I did not expect so many things to happen that were completely beyond my control.
And so I take a moment and think. There are things I cannot control, so…what? Should I create a list of lesser goals? No, that is not at all satisfying – I was planning for an epic year, not a mediocre one. I can envision what I want to accomplish, perhaps I just need to take a different path to that goal than the one I had originally planned. And that new path may hold undiscovered joys and opportunities!
I resolve to continue the journey that I started, but along a different path.
Model: Lauren DiMarco
12 Wednesday Jan 2022
Posted in Daily Life, Photography, Reflections
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Anagnorisis definition: the point in a play, novel, etc., in which a principal character recognizes or discovers another character’s true identity or the true nature of their own circumstances.
The first sounds I hear upon waking in the morning are those of the low-pitched train whistle as it approaches the station about two miles away. The intensity of the sound seems to vary depending on the weather – it is much louder on foggy days. I hear one blast at first followed by several more urgent blasts. At first, I am comforted by the sounds – sounds of a new day, sounds of my daily life in the city. But then, I think of why the whistle blasts so persistently. This station and these tracks have been the scene of a number of tragedies in recent years – high school students mostly. So those first happy thoughts quickly turn to sadness, mourning for the unknown-to-me young lives lost. Every lighthouse, buoy marker, and signal can also be a symbol for the ominous. Then I realize that I must put aside my dark thoughts and be grateful for the wonderful day that lies ahead!
31 Friday Dec 2021
Posted in America's Next Top Model, New Year's Resolutions, Photography, Reflections
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I make no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing,
sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me. Anaïs Nin
At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, I open my front door and let the old year out and welcome the New Year in. It is a moment of complete purity, betwixt the two years – 2022 about to begin, with no mistakes in it (yet). There is yearning, an expectant pause about what all the year might have to offer.
Unlike Anaïs Nin, I make resolutions each New Year to form a structure from which to flourish. And so, with great excitement, I face another beginning, when all things are possible!
May your New Year be all that it can be for you, too! Happy 2022!
Model: Khrystyana Kazakova
28 Tuesday Dec 2021
Posted in Father, New Year's Resolutions, Photography, Reflections, Relationships, Winter
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Success consists of going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill
My father loved sports and games. He was a fierce competitor and exuberant victor. I revered him and from a very young age wanted to get in on the action. I knew that I would never beat him at the chosen sport or game, but it was thrilling just to be in his realm while I played opposite him. He didn’t believe in throwing a game or giving handicaps – if I were to win, it would have to be a completely unambiguous victory.
As the years went on, I accepted defeat – most of the time it was utter defeat, complete annihilation, actually. But in my teens I figured out a way to play against him that became enjoyable. Rather than concentrate on the final outcome, always defeat for me, I played by point spreads. To my surprise, I actually got better at the sports and games and wanted to play more often. I became a warrior and found enjoyment in the challenge! I never did beat him at any sport or game but I always had a good time.
After reviewing my 2021 New Year’s Resolutions, I realized that I had completed only three of the thirty listed. Hardly a victory. But I had a good time trying and I am actually further ahead than this time last year. I now have another list for 2022 – do I really think that I will complete it? No. But I will enjoy the challenge!
Photo by David Dodds
21 Tuesday Dec 2021
Posted in Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Winter, Writing
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Like somebody who sees things when he’s dreaming
And after the dream lives with the aftermath
Of what he felt, no other trace remaining,
So I live now, for what I saw departs
And is almost lost, although a distilled sweetness
Still drops from it into my inner heart.
From A Dream of Solstice by Seamus Heaney
This has been a year of stark contrasts for me: moments of acute pain, suffering, and sorrow but also moments of happiness, joy, and exuberance. I could not say that the lightest moments outweigh, compensate, or obliterate the darkest ones, but, because one cannot change the past, I choose to carry only the feelings and memories of the lightest moments forward.
Photo by David Dodds
Satin & Sand 