Blog Archives - A Cottage by the Sea

Popeless, but not hopeless~

2/28/2013

I was thinking of writing about the stones thrown up on the sidewalk, and about ‘The Pink’, the remains of a shipwreck that gets uncovered on the beach when there is a big storm. These natural happenings are not under our control. But then I got thinking about today, when through Pope Benedict’s control, the world became popeless (not even in my spell check). Whatever our memories, this pope has effected and made a mark on our lives. Whatever our opinions, the world will be different because of this startling event.

I was with a friend in Assisi in 2006 when the bells tolled Habemus Papam. The following Sunday we arrived at St. Peter’s Square just after Pope Benedict XVI had given his first official papal blessing. Last June I wandered into that same square and found myself participating in a Papal Mass. The highlight for the thousands gathered was not the communion wafer, which was offered to everyone in a most organized way, but a view of Pope Benedict scooting around and about in his popemobile. He looked like he was having fun, but I guess he decided it wasn’t worth hanging around for another year just for the ride.

I love to study church history, say, through the Reformation and High Renaissance, but I don’t like living it in the twenty-first century. To be candid, I’m not a Roman Catholic and I don’t resonate with its current policies. It is said that nothing will change unless the new pope REALLY surprises everyone. Also, the odds are definitely against Boston’s Cardinal O’Malley being chosen. Why would anyone in the Conclave elect someone whose hometown newspaper is the Boston Globe?

Listening for life~

2/27/2013

No silence today—wind blowing the porch door, sea rolling and roaring, waves splashing and crashing, gulls flapping and drying their wings. The sound is alive, fighting complacency and death. I feel alive. All is safe but I am watchful, listening for life.

Quotes worth repeating~

2/26/2013

Repeat photo. Note the moonrise.

I started this blog in November 2010, and have faithfully posted a Quote of the Day since January 2011. With the exception of one or two repeat quotes of Joseph Campbell, I have offered a new quote each day. That’s a lot of quotes—something closing in on the 800 range.

I’ve liked the idea of a different quote each day, but lately I’ve been thinking of repeating some of my favorites. Why not? Many have stood the test of time; I’m talking years and centuries, so why not give them a repeat performance on my blog? Besides, with the exception of one loyal friend, who has probably read everything that I have written, most of you readers come and go; and who knows when you first happened upon acottagebythesea.

So enjoy the occasional repeats, and kudos to any of you who can claim with certainty, “Oh, she already posted that one.”

More gratitude~

2/25/2013

Before today's plowing.

Although I was very grateful that the driveway was plowed again this morning, I was particularly grateful that the plowman did not plow my car in. In fact, he worked around it so skillfully that I’m thinking that he must have gotten down from his truck and shoveled.

Today was a day for the windsurfers to be grateful. They were coming and going, and bopping up and down in the surf.

I’m grateful for this cozy cottage with a view of the sea.

Very grateful--again~

2/24/2013

        In spite of the rain that changed into snow half way into my trip this afternoon, I made it with relative ease back to the cottage. As my car thermometer indicated a temperature drop to 32 degrees, I slowed down along with all the other cars heading north. Silence, solitude and simplicity were in alignment. The ‘silent’, steady sound of the car pushing through snow and slush. In solitude, I was the only one in charge of the psychic energy, so why be anything but calm and attentive? The driving was simple: keep a steady pace, pay attention, turn off the book on tape.

    I never regretted my decision to start out in such problematic weather and now that I’m here on the deck watching the wild sea and snow, I have two things to say:

     “Good choice, Bobs.”

     “Very grateful.”

Watch what you pray for~

2/22/2013

I continue to be a believer of the adage, “Watch what you pray (hope) for.” Here was proof again yesterday as I was thinking how attached I had become (once again) to email and the internet; not for writing or posting on this blog, but for keeping in contact with my world outside the cottage by the sea. I’m not talking about twice a day, but something more like twice and hour. When I check my email while walking on the beach, I know I have stepped away from the zone of silence, solitude and simplicity.
     So, as I sat on the deck watching the evening twilight, I decided that when I return here next week, I will check email morning and evening, just enough to keep in contact with my personal world.
    “Good choice, Bobs,” I told myself as I signed in a little later. But alas, the prayer was already answered. My server had decided to shut down my access until I could reenter my password. I tried, but, no surprise, the password that I had recorded on my little password list was not current. I made a brief attempt to wander through the instructions to set a new one, only to be told that they would email me instructions. Ah, but my email was shut down! How to tell them that? By then, I realized that here I was, way into the internet, which was the very thing I was trying to slip away from.
    But, ‘Things work out,’—another favorite adage of mine. I have an appointment for today at 11:15 with one of the geniuses at the Apple Store at the very mall where I’m meeting a friend for lunch at 12:15.
    I have to say that things do work out, but watch out that you pray for good things.

My dad would love this cottage by the sea~

2/20/2013

One hundred nine years ago today my dad was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When he was still a little boy, his family moved to North Carolina, but then years later he returned to the state of his birth to . attend Carnegie Mellon (then called Carnegie Tech). Dad had many jobs before he was thirty, one being Art Director of Look Magazine, where he met my mom who was also working for the magazine. A few years after they were married, he became co-founder and director of Famous Artists Schools, and remained in that position until he retired at age 60 to pursue his interests in painting, gardening and traveling.

As I sit here on the deck of this cottage by the sea, I am reminded of my dad sitting in the woods near our house, sitting, looking, meditating, ‘being’. He definitely would approve of my quest for silence, solitude and simplicity. But then, all four of us always had our dad’s approval. He was that kind of a father. I wish he were right here with me today.

Barbara Kingsolver always resonates~

2/19/2013

This little vignette by Barbara Kingsolver really resonated with me—like wham, right in my face. Need I explain?

Loyd: "It has to do with keeping things in balance. It's like the spirits have made a deal with us. We're on our own. The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities, and we're saying: We know how nice you're being. We appreciate the rain, we appreciate the sun, we appreciate the deer we took. Sorry if we messed up anything. You've gone to a lot of trouble, and we'll try to be good guests."
Codi: "Like a note you'd send somebody after you'd stayed in their house?"
Loyd: "Exactly like that. 'Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch. I took some beer out of the refrigerator, and I broke a coffee cup. Sorry, I hope it wasn't your favorite one.'"

What do we deserve?

2/17/2013

It’s snowing like crazy right now. I hear myself saying, “Do I (emphasis on the I) deserve this?” But then I stop. What an arrogant, privileged kind of comment! What a misplaced word: deserve! Where did I ever get the idea that the weather is here to serve my needs?

     I’m not alone. We who have so much, so much in the way of material possessions and life choices, often think in terms of what we deserve. We take on a god role of approval and disapproval. We have a stamp of approval that says ‘Deserve’ and another that says ‘Don’t deserve’ and we use them at whim.

     A friend told me that I deserve a hot shower. Her intention was kind and loving, but I’ll tell you who really deserves one. Not me, but a homeless woman on the streets of Boston, or New York, or … you name the place or circumstance.

     I can say that I don’t like this latest snowfall, but deserving it has nothing to do with what’s going on.

Saving the environment--doing my part~

2/15/2013

Yesterday I hung most of the laundry in the cellar to dry. Actually, I've been doing this for a while, although towels and some shirts go in the dryer. This is one of my ways to cut down on 'man-made' energy. But then this morning I caught myself taking a long, and I mean long, luxuriously hot shower. I have a long way to go.

All those phrases we hear and say about saving the planet, going green, being environmentally clean—what do I do about the implicit problem? I want simplicity, but I want certain comforts and privileges-- those ones that I treat as a birth right. At the stage of my life I’m not buying new ‘sitters’ for the house; I’m not redecorating the living room with new furniture; I have enough clothes to live into the next millennium. On the other hand, I’m certainly not willing to give up my drives back and forth to the cottage, nor my jet travel to Italy or Scotland. I have a long way to go.

I'm well aware that if everyone got serious about their spending and its effect on the planet, the economy would shift mightily. Maybe person-by-person, situation-by-situation, as is actually happening, is the best way to go. I can hang up the laundry and take short showers. Today the Boston Globe reported that as of January 1st plain bottled water cannot be purchased or served on the University of Vermont campus. I can give up buying bottled water, but am I ready to eat my breakfast without turning the pages of the newspaper. As I’ve simply said, ‘I have a long way to go.’