A Cottage by the Sea
  • Home
  • On My Mind
  • Quotes
  • New Beginnings
  • Secrets of an Old Woman
  • A Solitary Traveler
  • Compassionate Reading
  • About me
  • About me and my blog
  • Comfort food
  • Books
  • Suggested reading
  • Poems

Let Evening Come

1/9/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
My best college friend died in her sleep yesterday morning at her brother’s home. She was ill for just couple of months; was hospice for one of those months. A good death, as we might say. I will miss her but am grateful for our friendship of unconditional love. 

Love, 
Bobbi

Let Evening Come
BY JANE KENYON
Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving   
up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing   
as a woman takes up her needles   
and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned   
in long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.   
Let the wind die down. Let the shed   
go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop   
in the oats, to air in the lung   
let evening come.
​

Let it come, as it will, and don’t   

​

0 Comments

Keeping connected

11/14/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Keeping connected! An important theme during these intense times, even for those of us who like silence, solitude, and simplicity and sometimes like to be alone. This weekend I’ve been writing notes on ‘Keeping Connected’ postcards that my church is sending out to members. 
      “But what about my close, close friends?” I ask myself. Being a self-contained person, content with my own companionship, I can easily slip into my own world and be peaceful. Fine for me, but not always the way I want to be for my friends, without whom I wouldn’t have this comfort. 
    In some ways we can take our friendships for granted. We know we will be there for one another. But that’s not an excuse for sliding off the daily radar screen. So, I apologize for not keeping connected as personally as I want to be. In truth, I am apologizing more to myself than to you. And so, I forgive myself. 
           The gifts we give each other help us be our best selves.

0 Comments

Long-time friends

6/23/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
     I was away three nights visiting long time friends. My sister Alice I’ve known since the day I was born because she is two and half years older than me. That makes her the longest-time person I know. Debby and I started playing together when we were two, so that makes us very long-time friends. Jeanne and I met in college, which feels like a long time. Memories of Alice circle the family, of Debby it’s riding tricycles, of Jeanne it’s chatting in our college dorm.
     Here’s something about my visit that has nothing to do with long-time memories. I was without wifi accesses for my computer--only email on my phone. An excellent spiritual practice, I decided; the world got along just fine without me, maybe not fine, but it got along.

0 Comments

Many best friends~

3/18/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
A best friend. There’s an implication that we only have one, but really don’t we have many? My official best friend and I have know each other since we were two. How lucky is that? Very. She is my best friend.
     However, I also have many best friends: my husband, kids and grandkids, siblings, teacher friends, divinity and church friends, new friends, long-time friends, and even friends with whom I only chat at the supermarket. We all have different histories together and offer one another our best unique something. Some of these best friend are ones I don’t see often but when we get together we pick up easily, getting right to our special best friend topic.
     I have a several best friends who have never been involved in my every day life. We haven’t met each other’s family or visited each other's home; in many cases our life style, background, current experiences, age, ethnicity, faith tradition, you name it, are different. Very likely we met by chance, perhaps at a conference, while traveling, or on the internet, but regardless, in an instant we connected soul to soul. We are most trustworthy in keeping each other's secrets, because just think about it, who would we tell?
     You readers on this blog are another kind of best friend for me, and perhaps I am for you. I know a few of you, but not many. I tell you things I might not tell other best friends. I put something out there for you to choose to listen or not, read or delete. Although public, the friendship feels safe. Thanks.


0 Comments

Silence, solitude and simplicity with friends in Maine~

7/21/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
One can have silence, solitude and simplicity when visiting long-time friends. We are in Maine, very grateful for the hospitality. Nothing like getting up early when someone has set the coffee just waiting for me to push the button. With that, Jim and I headed over the rocks to the shore. The fog was coming in but we could hear a lobster boat making its rounds. Now, as I sit here surrounded by peace, I can smell the bacon cooking. I was just asked if I wanted blueberries pancakes. Very grateful!

2 Comments

Gems that bind us~

1/16/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
I’ve had a chest cold, nothing very bothersome but it’s kept me close to home and in a pattern of activity and rest, activity and rest, which I must admit is to my liking. In summary, a built in excuse not to do anything I don’t want.

    Of course, I’d get tired of this if it weren’t for the fact that this slowing down has pushed me into a deeper desire, for and understanding of, solitude. I don’t need to be with friends all the time in order to know that we are there for each other. A occasional email or meeting offers the gems that keep us bound together; details aren’t as necessary now. I think of my mom in her later years. She kept up with friends though a card, a telephone call and perhaps a luncheon date, but she didn’t need the reassurance of continual contact. I just wonder if it was the same for them?


0 Comments

Companion for the journey~

7/30/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
At the moment I have many friends who are struggling with illness. Let me be blunt, several (but not all) have cancer and have been told that their condition is terminal; hospice is part of the conversation. Others are facing surgery with the hope a life-sustaining cure.

       This morning I thought of all of these friends as the following from the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge came up on my screen. I believe this speaks to everyone, those who practice a religious faith and those who are more comfortable considering themselves spiritual. Regardless, all our hearts are open at these times.

     "When life is hard, what I need most is not always what I want. What I want is for life to be easy. What I want is for someone or something to come along and make it all go away. But what I need is tenderness. What I need is to be loved. What I need is a companion for the journey." James Koester


0 Comments

Tea and talk~

2/26/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
 A long-time friend came to visit yesterday. She’s a writer and so among other things, we talked about our writing. Who is our audience? Including one group of readers might turn another away. What about redundancies? Just because the idea is important to me doesn’t mean I need to keep saying it, nor, for that matter, does it preclude that others will even be interested. Then there are the caveats in writing about family, especially where memoir is concerned.

     My writing flowed this morning. Maybe putting those questions on the table was what I needed to climb over some obstacles. I’m also thinking about other writer friends I might chat with. We always need our peers.


0 Comments

Try happiness~

1/12/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Yesterday I attended the memorial service for my friend Denny, a friend for 45 years who died at age 90. Evidently she happily faded away, which is what all of us would expect from her. I remember Denny telling me that when she was a little girl she noticed that she often felt sad. “So one day I decided to pretend to be happy. And  you what? I started being happy and I’ve been happy ever since.”

0 Comments

"I'm writing!"

11/23/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Two days ago  on my way home from the cottage I took a detour to Boston on the T to meet a long-time teacher friend for dinner. She was in town to attend the national conference of NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English), one that I was involved in for many years back in my teaching days. It was wonderful to reconnect with so many friends and to hear them taking about students and teachers, not for common core standards and national testing.

     As I sat at the Elementary Section gathering, it became clear to me how far away I was from my teaching days. The buzz of ideas that would have excited me, now made me only smile and think: “I had my turn; now the enthusiasm goes to the next generation.” 

     “What are you doing these days?” I was asked over and over again. I told about my divinity degree, my hospice work, my family, my cottage, and then,

       “I’m writing!”

     My response seemed more than satisfying and I wondered why. Then I got it. These teachers believed that writing began before kindergarten. They just saw me continuing the process
.   


0 Comments
<<Previous
    Contact me: [email protected]

    Categories

    All
    3rs
    3Ss
    3S's
    Aging
    Andre Dubus Iii
    Ann Patchett
    Anticipation
    Art
    Assisi
    Barbara Kingsolver
    Being Alone
    Beyond Words
    Boo
    Books
    Cantice Of The Sun
    Celebrations
    Choices
    Christmas
    Churches
    Community
    Cor
    Cottage By The Sea
    Cottage Day
    Courage
    Curiosity
    Dad
    Dalai Lama
    Death And Dying
    Depression
    Desiderata
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer
    Donald Hall
    Dostoyevsky
    Dr Alex Tang
    Edinburgh
    Eleanor Lerman
    Elizabeth Strout
    Emily Dickinson
    Environment
    Esther De Waal
    Faith
    Field Trip
    Florence
    Fo
    Follow Your Bliss
    Food
    Friendship
    Frugal
    Gifts
    Giving And Receiving
    Gratitude
    Health
    Heart
    Hermits
    Hope
    Humility
    Impermanence
    Independent And Close
    Inspire & Affirm & Encourage
    Introvert
    Iona
    Ireland
    Italy
    James Hollis
    Jane Austen
    Jan Sutch Pickard
    Joan Chittister
    John Dear
    John Masefield
    Joseph Campbell
    Judgments
    Katherine Paterson
    Knitting
    Li
    Lonely
    Longing
    Love
    Luke Russert
    Marsha Sinetar
    Mary Oliver
    Max Ehrmann
    Meaning
    Memories
    Mom
    Moving
    Museums
    My Day
    Nature
    Nina Sankovitch
    Now
    Oliver Herford
    Pamela Dalton
    Pandemic
    Paris
    Passion
    Paulo Coelho
    Peace
    Philip Koch
    Place
    Play
    Prayer
    Present Moment
    Quiet
    Rachel Carlson
    Radical Compassion
    Read
    Reading
    Resolutions
    Restlessness
    Retirement
    Retreat
    Richard Rohr
    Rilkie
    Rita Golden Gelman
    Robert Kull
    Rome
    Routines
    Rumi
    Sankovitch
    Scotland
    Seen In A Draper's Shop
    Service
    Silence
    Sim
    Simplicity
    Skye
    Sol
    Soli
    Solitude
    Soul Work
    Space
    St Catherine Of Siena
    St. Francis
    Stress
    Susan Gain
    Tenzin Palmo
    Thanksgiving
    The Uncommon Reader
    Thomas Keating
    Thomas Merton
    Three Sieves
    Time
    Travel
    Tru
    Viktor E. Frankl
    Walking
    Wonder
    Writi
    Writing

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

Proudly powered by Weebly