A Cottage by the Sea
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Thinking of Florence--again!

7/30/2017

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     I’m starting to think about my time in Florence this September. Although I’ll be following my usual routine, as always, each visit feels unique and amazing. There’s comfort in the familiar—that is the ‘good’ familiar. People return to their same summer place year after year, order the same dish from the menu of their favorite restaurant, walk that special section of the beach, and on it goes.
     I’ll be following my usual routine—early morning walk, cappuccino, meditation, writing, more walking, more cappuccino, museum and church visits, and eating, eating, eating.
     For the past few years I’ve been working on an article about my experiences writing in Florence, with two working titles: Seven Days Writing in Florence and How about a Writing Vacation in Florence? I’m tired of revisiting it; I need to settle on the focus. Before I fly on September 10th, I am committed to wrapping it up and posting on "A Solitary Traveler" on this blog.  After all, new writing topics are brewing.


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Allowing hope

7/26/2017

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     A friend’s daughter-in-law recently received a kidney from her sister. As they say, it was the perfect match. This woman, who spent most of her time in bed before the transplant, is now up and about, walking five miles a day with her new puppy.
     For sure, this is a feel-good story, and we can leave it at that. But think about it! For years there was no time for silence, solitude or simplicity, and yet now she can simply embrace silence and solitude, not just physically but mentally and spiritually.
     Problems, such as this one, can become all consuming and drown our very being. However, this woman, so I understand, didn’t let that happen to her. Rather than wallowing in self-pity she remained upbeat, allowing hope to flourish and physical healing to occur. Mind/body/spirit in concert. The lesson for us is not rocket science.


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Still reading for compassion

7/20/2017

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     In her recent book, My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues, Pamela Paul, editor of the New York Times Book Review, discusses reasons people read. The follow are from a group of literary agents, English teachers, editors and authors she knows:
• “I read for sheer entertainment.”
• “I read to learn.”
• “I read to make sense of the world.”
• “I read to find out something new.”
• “I read to escape.”
• “I read because it makes me happy.”
• “I read for discovery.”
 
    “Making sense of the world” comes the closest to mine: “I read for compassion.” I usually learn, discover, orfind out something new, and I love to escape, be entertained, and made happy. But if I don’t make a compassionate connect with some person or situation in a book, I stop reading. Last night I closed “The Widow Nash” after page 28. There was nothing there for me. But no worry, I live across from the library and am on my way right now to make my returns and pick up , which is waiting for me on the reserve shelf.
According to Goodreads, my read count for 2017 is 63. July list is a little meager due to family reunions, Red Sox baseball, and, I must confess, time spent watching the news. All worth a read.

* Grief Cottage, by Gail Godwin
* Dinner with Edward, by Isabel Vincent
* The Woman on the Stairs, by Bernhard Schlink
* My Life with Bob, by Pamela Paul 


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Never too busy to read

7/17/2017

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     Do you notice there is a standard social agenda that unravels when you meet a friend, say at the supermarket? ‘Hi, how’s your summer going?’ flows into a discussion of the weather, the family, and always topped off by a declaration of how busy we are.
     I started resisting this busy, busy, busy attitude in 2009 when I started going to the cottage and writing this blog. In putting into words what the blog was about, I settled upon: “A Cottage by the Sea: A blog for those who are looking for silence, solitude, and simplicity, and who sometimes want to be alone.”Ten years later, there is nothing I want to change, not even the picture of the view from the cottage, although I don’t go to the cottage any more. I’m ten years older (something I can’t change) but I’m still find the silence, solitude, and simplicity I’m looking for, and sometimes I get to be alone.
     When I chat with a friend while we pinch tomatoes or avocados, I’m apt to share that these days I’m not busy all the time, unless you consider reading sixty-four books so far this year as busy.


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Daily obligations

7/14/2017

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     I’m surprised at the freedom I’m feeling after deciding not to add a daily quote to this blog. Doing something daily, which means every day, implies responsibility. Not a bad thing, nor something always to be avoided. When I had children, I signed up for the daily; for years my two kids appeared daily, until they began to gain independence. Teaching kindergarten and first grade was another daily affair; not just the everydayness of it, but the intensity of each day. Never in my life have I had to be present to twenty or so people for six hours a day, five days a week during the school year, as I did as a teacher of young children.
     Now that I’m older I have fewer daily obligations, and none as intense as parenting or teaching. I have my household routines, I put a meal on the table most evenings, I visit people who don’t get out much, I have church and family obligations. But, my schedule is leisurely, and at whim I can cancel any one of them and lie on the couch and read a book. I love this retirement schedule because when I look back I know, without a doubt, that being a mother and teaching were the happiest times in my life.


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I'm back

7/12/2017

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     I haven’t posted for well over a week. Rather comforting. No deadlines. Of course I was busy with two family reunions, one at our house on the 4th and another in Vermont over the weekend.
      I took the time to reflect on what I want to do with this blog. I’m not ready to let it go, but I don’t want to continue the commitment to post a ‘Daily Quote’, something I’ve done every day (I think I missed one day) since I started the blog in November 2009. That adds up to approximately 3000 quotes. Of course there’s always a quote to be had, but lately I’ve been adding them as habit more than as something I want to say. The process has felt like a chore, not a joy: find, copy, paste, add a picture—and do it every day.
     Plus, stand alone quotes don’t resonate with me any more. I sense this is part of a longing for more simplicity in my life. I yearn to get rid of more stuff, including daily routines that take mental and physical time.
     Stay tuned. I love to write and share what I’m thinking. Hmm, quoting others isn’t that.


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Vacation blog week

7/3/2017

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I am on vacation where there is no internet. I'll be back in a week. Happy July 4th.
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