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Sending out love

4/30/2022

A neighbor, age 41, father of a two year old, died yesterday morning of a heart attack. We didn’t know the family well; they kept to themselves. But that has nothing to do with anything. The neighborhood, which includes my church, is reaching out. What to say? What to do? We can pray, however we do it, whatever that means to us. We find ourselves praying because rayer is what what human being do. We don’t have to be Religious with a capital R to pray.
Just follow what comes into your heart. Send some love out.

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Donatello at the Bargello

4/26/2022

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I’m longing for a little time back in Florence, so please join me at the Bargello, my favorite museum in my favorite city.
I was there just a few weeks ago, right when the museum opened in the morning. I immediately climbed the fortress steps in the courtyard and took a right into the Donatello Room. For 15 magical minutes I was there alone. Come with me.

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Open your heart

4/22/2022

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Here’s a little exercise to open your heart—to another, to gratitude, to the universe. You can do it when you’re in a crowd, with people you know, or while watching the news or looking at pictures in the newspaper.

The next time you’re in a public place, look into the crowd around you without being too obvious. Then make a mental note of one person—anyone. Ask yourself what it is about that person that touches you the deepest. Maybe it’s their innocence or smile….maybe it will be something as simple as how this individual deals with life’s challenges.
   Now close your eyes and imagine what your day would be like if you didn’t know that this person was in the world. Think of how empty that moment would have been , and how much you miss him or her.
   You may be surprised at the impact that such a simple exercise, in a brief moment, can make! Now you can give heartfelt gratitude and thanks for the person who was there for you, and what they taught you about yourself.
   Greg Braden, Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer, p. 114-115.

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Norman Rockwell #2

4/20/2022

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For those of you on Covid watch for my husband and me, there is not much to see. Whew, very grateful for that. Our cold-like symptoms have dissipated and since we are still a little tired, we sleep well at night. Nevertheless, we are isolating, and enjoying that little perk—my husband gardening and I walking. We will take a covid test tomorrow and go from there.
Here are some more Rockwells, these not as well known. Enjoy!

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Norman Rockwell Museum and Stockbridge

4/17/2022

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Here it is Easter. I’ve been home for over two weeks, back in the routine. We gone to the Berkshires for a couple of nights with friends, and visited the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. We came home, I got my second booster and saw a few people. And then, our friends called to tell us they tested positive for Covid; two days later, so did we. Well, I needed a vacation, and now I have one. Neither my husband or I fell very bad—a little sniffly and luxuriously sleepy. Plenty of time to dream about all those Rockwells.

Freedom Paintings

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Flunking silence, solitude and simplicity

4/4/2022

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I flunked silence, solitude, and simplicity on my way home on Friday. The flight from Florence went well, as did my trek through the CDG Paris airport. The 1:30 PM flight to Boston was a little delayed, but no problem. As we neared Ireland the pilot announced that due to a little mechanical problem we would be turning back to CDG, but no problem. Fine with me. We were told that Air France personnel would meet the plane and help us rebook our flight, but no problem. That was at 6 PM. Then the problem began.
Five plus hours later, at 11:30 PM, along with two young women who had taken me under their wing, we were in a taxi to an airport hotel twenty minutes away (it’s a HUGE airport). The following day, after comfy but rather unrestful sleep, a full breakfast with my new friends, and a taxi back to the terminal, we boarded the 1:30 flight and made it to Boston 15 minutes early. No problem. Clearly Air France flunked.

A picture tells a thousand words.

That being noted, I flunked keeping the silence, solitude, and simplicity that l long for and want to create in my life. At times during the five hour wait in line, I spoke up with annoyance and impatience, forgetting my calm, my zen, my loving spirit. In my defense, however, along with my travel companions, I also remembered my gratitudes. Everyone of us was able to stop being self-involved, to recall the Ukrainians, either fleeing or hiding from death guns and bombs.

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Last day in Florence

4/2/2022

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My last after-dinner stroll in Florence this trip. The city is calm. In fact a calmness, unlike one I’ve ever felt before, has permeated this entire trip. Although still wearing masks and showing vaccination cards, people seem grateful to be out and about enjoying the little things—coffee at an outdoor cafe, laughing with friends while walking along the Arno, gazing up at the Duomo.
And this, in the midst of what is going on in Ukraine! It’s not that we don’t care; we are trying to do our peaceful part to share love in our every day lives.

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Sending out love

Donatello at the Bargello

Open your heart

Norman Rockwell #2

Norman Rockwell Museum and Stockbridge

Freedom Paintings

Flunking silence, solitude and simplicity

A picture tells a thousand words. ​

Last day in Florence

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A picture tells a thousand words.