Blog Archives

Very grateful for cataract surgery

8/30/2019

Cataract surgery is complete; right and left eyes done. The world is bright, each leaf has a distinctive shape, and I can read and work on a jigsaw puzzle without glasses. This means no glasses for driving; thankfully my license agrees. In the evening I need a stronger reading light, but I can fine one around the house.
I am very grateful that Medicare pays for this and that I can afford the extra for the corrective lens. I am very grateful that I live in a country and state with state-of-the-art medical technology and doctors. I am very grateful that some of these doctors join Doctors Without Borders and perform cataract surgery for people around the world.

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Solitude in Italy--again

8/27/2019

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My need for an extensive period of solitude is emerging just at the right time. I make my Italy plans at least four months before I think I’ll be ready for the change of pace, and then as the departure date looms, I always say, “Yes, it is time.”
    Don’t get me wrong. My wonderful life is full of solitude. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: one of the reasons I love getting off for two weeks of solitary travel is that I have good things in place in my life--friends and family, health, and church community. For many, the amount of solitude I have at home would be enough. But for some reason, I love the day after day of truly being alone.
     “You must meet interesting people when you travel,” a friend commented.
      “No, I don’t. Maybe once or twice I chat with someone at the table next to me at a restaurant, and every fall I spend one day either in Rome or Florence with long time friends. That’s about it.
      Off I go on September 11; six nights in Rome, and eight in Florence. Home on the 26th. Very grateful.

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Staying out of organization

8/24/2019

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Every so often I have to remind myself to ‘stay out of organization.’ I came up with that phrase when I retired from teaching, and although I still stand by it, there are times when I get too involved in everyday life, and bingo, I am reminded again.
Every morning last week I helped out at the Vacation Bible School (the theme was Please won’t you be my neighbor?) at church by participating in a skit about the Bible story of the day. By Friday I knew that the daily routine had trust me into organization and depleted me from the morning solitude that centers and balances me. I’m glad I was involved, and I’m glad I was reminded to be attentive: I may step into organization from time to time, but that is not my chosen modus operandi these days, and I can always step out.

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Solitude at Lake Dunmore

8/19/2019

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We spend the weekend at a cottage-by-the-lake, not a cottage-by-the-sea. I’m drawn more to the ocean than to inland water, but I must be very grateful to have opportunities to enjoy silence, solitude, and simplicity at both. Here’s a second-hand opportunity to sit by Lake Dunmore in Vermont.

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My ten year old blog

8/14/2019

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The other day I received an email from a women who had randomly come across my blog. She asked if there was a way to follow it through a link that would let her know when I had posted. My short answer was no.
    But that got me thinking about the nuances involved in keeping up a blog. I started this blog in 2009 during one of my first days at the cottage by the sea. This fall will be the blog’s tenth anniversary. I’ve been quite consistent in posting, and feel it is still vibrant, well, as vibrant as I want it to be.
    I used to offer a daily quote, but that feature now appears every other day. I post every few days, sometimes less often, and usually every day when I’m traveling. I’ve added “Compassionate Reading,” “Secrets of an Old Woman,” and “A Solitary Traveler.”
     The blog is what I want it to be; I feel very little pressure to post. Rather, I post because I have something to say, and I trust that my thoughts support others. I say trust, because I don’t often hear from my readers, as I did Susan. I deeply appreciated the affirmation, but what keeps me going is deeply knowing that my readers and I are benefitting from the silence, solitude, and simplicity that we are experiencing together. I don’t know who most of you are, but I am given the statistic that last week I had 1,798 ‘unique visitors’—whatever than precisely means!!

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Don't hoard; use it

8/7/2019

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Yesterday I made a list of things I needed to buy the next time I go to the mall: rubber spatula, potholders, and plastic/vinyl placemats. Then I recalled a recent headline in the Boston Globe—something about all the stuff we hoard. “I don’t hoard,” I tell myself!
     Back to my list.
     • Spatula: I don’t need a new one. The one I have is more than adequate, even with its few nicks.
    • Potholders: I do need new ones. The ones I am currently using have holes and my figures are getting burned.
    • Placemats: I don’t need new ones. I have a chest full, in fact, enough to last for our life time, in fact I hoard them. I may not be able to wipe them clean, but I can throw them in the washing machine
    Here’s my current, personal definition of hoarding: having more than I need, not using what I have, and buying more to stash away, to hoard.
      My usual way of getting rid of stuff is by giving or throwing it away. I have my usual places: trash can, ‘put-and-take’, church fair, Salvation Army, gifting, and now a new one—using it myself, use it up. I love this new simplicity.

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Peace after cataract surgery

8/4/2019

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Cataract surgery on my right eye went well. I can definitely notice the brightness, and clarity of vision is coming back. Follow up with the doctor affirmed all of this. So there it is, my brief medical report, which I realize is barely medical and hardly a report.
     Instead I offer you a report on the silence, solitude and simplicity that I experience, for, after all, that is what this blog is about.
     The surgical facility, which is affiliated with Mass Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School, is located west of Boston, about twenty five minutes from my home. The patients rooms and medical equipment are clean, spacious, and light. Except for the twenty minutes in surgery, I lay on what felt like comfortable shays lounge while kind and comforting aides, nurses and doctors tended to my needs.
     There was plenty of time to relax, to meditate, and to BE, and the atmosphere was conducive to just that. What came over me, as the chatter in my head dissipated and judgments disappeared, was a sense of peace. Why all the fuss in the world? Let’s just love everyone. I knew those were simplistic thoughts and that Id be having to make decisions and workout situations as soon as I walked out to the car, but for that moment those thoughts were pure, honest, and hopeful, and I believed I had the opportunity to be more loving and less fearful out the world.
     That aura of peace is still with me That is what I think silence, solitude and simplicity is all about.

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Very grateful for cataract surgery

Solitude in Italy--again

Staying out of organization

Solitude at Lake Dunmore

My ten year old blog

Don't hoard; use it

Peace after cataract surgery

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