Blog Archives - A Cottage by the Sea

Simply one oven~

1/31/2017

These days I’m into simplicity more than helping the economy, but that’s been my way for at least the past ten years, maybe more. Partly it’s an age thing; I don’t need more stuff; I have enough. However….
Case in point. For years we’ve had two ovens, and I must admit that from time to time they have been mighty handy. Recently, however, one of them died. I mean died; it didn’t heat, and a replaceable part doesn’t exist. No transplant or replacement for this aged oven!
I looked into replacing it, only to discover that the simplest new oven would cost close to one thousand dollars, and that didn’t include delivery or installation. What to do? besides leaving it there.A friend who does some work for us suggested we take it out, and voila, now we have a cubby. He gave the wall a quick coat of paint, and now my coffee maker and cookbooks have a cozy new home.
Please note: my husband found the coffee maker, new, at the Put and Take.

Be positive--read and be grateful

1/26/2017

These days I am concerned about the current negative energy generated from all political perspectives. How can we as individuals shift it? Mine is to return to my Reading for Compassion project, and to express gratitude.
Every morning let me not forget to name a few things for which I’m grateful. In that way I can start my day with an loving heart, not a heart with violence. The following from Br. David Steindl-Rast, founder of www.gratefulness.org leads me forward with positive energy.

“Violence has roots in every heart. It is within my own heart that I must recognize fear, agitation, coldness, alienation, blind anger and the impulse to retaliation. Here in my heart I can turn fear into courageous trust, agitation into stillness, confusion into clarity, isolation into a sense of belonging, alienation into love, and irrational reaction into Common Sense. The creative intelligence of gratefulness will suggest to each one of us how to go about this task.” Br. Steindl-Rast, in www.gratefulness.org

So glad I went to Washington~

1/23/2017

     Here’s what I loved about participating in the Women’s March on Washington:
     Marching with the list of the names friends and friends close to my heart, and bringing it home to keep in my journal.
     Being part of a crowd of kind, patient, friendly and safe people.
     Being amazed at the 500,000 people enjoying themselves and others.
     Pink hats worn by women and men.
     Hearing the voices many, many different women.
     Being with my family.
     Learning that not one arrest was made in Washington that day.

A positive, prayer presence at the march

1/18/2017

I spent today prayerfully preparing to participate in Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington by being silent—reading, praying, writing, sitting in the mystery. I even cancelled an evening obligation. The march will be noisy, with elbow to elbow human beings, and complex logistics. No silence, solitude and simplicity.
Although our demeanor will vary, we will all gather under the umbrella of full respect, opportunity and protection for every human being. My goal is to be a positive, prayerful presence, which means that I must do my best not to step into the political rhetoric and critique. By abstaining from reading or listened to the news in the past two months, I have put myself on the fringe of any serious discussion of the issues. And that, helps me be a positive, prayerful presence.

Positive but not passive~

1/16/2017

It’s hard to remain silent as I prepare to attend the Women’s March in Washington. Of course there are details to attend to, but once I’ve checked the weather and decided what to wear, I don’t need to keep going over it in my head. That is the silence I must choose. Oh, so hard, but oh, so necessary if I want to keep my participation positive and prayerful. And yet, I don’t want to be passive. Hmm, why worry about that. I’m not a passive person.

Reading for hope~

1/14/2017

     My Reading for Compassion project is taking on new titles: Reading for Humility, Reading for Gratitude, Reading as Prayer. How can I not feel compassion, humility, gratitude and prayerful when I read about the poverty and sexism in India or Appalachia?
     I am surprise, however, by how centered I feel while reading about these challenging life situations. Sometimes I pause to feel the presence of the Holy, the ineffable. In part, my gratitude is for the grace-filled life I have been given, but it is also for the hope lived out by the protagonists in the stories. That is what humbles me.
     To date I’m averaging a book every three days—I have given myself permission to read during the day. In some inexplicable way, I believe I am offering hope to a world fraught with anger, jealousy, bigotry, poverty, and mistrust.

Marching for peace and love

1/12/2017

Dear Friends,
On January 21st I will be participating in the Women’s March on Washington with my daughter, sister (who lives near DC), and other family members. I am not going to protest but to support the rights of all human beings. My energy is positive and prayeful.

I have begun a list of family, friends and friends of friends who can’t make the trip but who want to be there in spirit. I will keep the list close to my heart, at least for the start, but I may leave it somewhere along the way—in another marcher’s hand, at a designated memorial spot, on Lincoln’s lap. I may release it to the wind or bring it home with me. I’m open for surprises and miracles.

If you would like me to add your name, or the name of someone else to the list, please let me know.

Peace and love,
Bobbi

Say 'I love you,' and mean it.

1/10/2017

A friend on Face Book posted the following:
“As I walk into this week, thinking especially about the three funerals I'm attending, I can't help but wonder: if you were to see someone for the last time, are there specific things you would say to or do with them? Would you act differently than you normally do? Why? What can we do to bring our relationships to their fullest before it's too late? Carpe diem!”
Many questions are asked here, others implied. The following statements, however, are a good place to start:

I forgive you.
Forgive me.
I am sorry.
Thank you.
I love you.

We may not need to get into the first three, but always ‘Thank you,’ and ‘I love you.’ It’s the ‘I love you’ one that has me thinking. I don’t want to say it as a throw-away, as in ‘Have a good day.” I have to mean it.
With that in mind, I responded to my friend’s FB query, with , “Say, ‘I love you,’ and mean it.” This takes continuous work, commitment, and prayer, so I’d better start immediately rather than wait until it is too late and I’m on my way to the funeral.

Book suggestions from friends~

1/6/2017

Friends, thank you for the gift of book titles to start me on my 2017 Reading Challenge. Here it is; gathered from Face Book friends and others.

Tiny, Beautiful Thing. Cheryl Strayed
The Art Forger,B.A. Shapiro
Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance
All American Boys, Jason Reynolds
A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman
Eleven Hours, Pamela Erena
Astrid and Veronika, Linda Olsson
The Soul of an Octopus, Sy Montgomery
My Name is Lucy Barton,Elizabeth Strout
When We Rise: My Life in the Movement, Cleve Jones
Barkskins, Annie Proulx
Green Darkness and Katharine, Anya Seton
Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett
The Space Between Us, Thirty Umbrigar
All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
The Street Sweeper, Elliott Perlmann
Tattoos on the Heart, Father Gregory Boyle
Underground Railroad, Colin Turbull
When Breath becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
The Shadow of the wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant
On Living, Kerry Egan
American Gods, Neil Gainman
Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff
Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh
Wild, Cheryl Strayed
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer
Zookeeper's Wife,Diane Ackerman
The Buried Giant,Kazuo Ishiguro
Do Not Say we have Nothing, Madeleine Thien
The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds, Michael Lewis
Celestine Prophesy, James Redfield

Women's March and Mary Oliver

1/4/2017

     Yesterday I visited a friend who doesn’t get out very often. When I told her about participating in the Women’s March on January 21st, she supported me decision to take a stand. “You figure out you want to go to Italy, and so you go; now you’re going to Washington. Do what you want while you are able.”
     I appreciated this affirmation from someone who, in her nineties, is in pain most of the time, but who stays positive and cheers others on. I was reminded of Mary Oliver’s words in UPSTREAM, her newly published book of essays that I read that very morning.

      “I was steadfast about one or two things: loving foxes, and poems, the blank piece of paper, and my own energy….And that I did not give to anyone the responsibility for my life. it is mine. I made it. And can do what I want with it. Live it. Give it back, someday, without bitterness, to the wild and weedy dunes.”

      This is what the Women’s March is about."