Category: Gifts

Simple giving to the IRC

12/17/2015

The best way to simplify gift giving NOT to give any gifts. Oh, I know, that isn’t always possible, sensible, or kindhearted. That being said, we keep simplifying the Christmas tradition of giving THINGS. My husband never buy anything, because he has an uncanny ability to find the perfect gift at the town dump, more gloriously known as the Put-and-Take. The book stall is the only section open in the winter, but through the summer he stashed away treasures that people left off.
I try to buy one special gift for my kids and grands. For the rest of the family, in lieu of a present, I made a donation to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) through my church. I received a card and a slip of paper explaining the organization I had chosen. My friends get a hug, delivered electronically or in person.

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All I really need to know~

8/20/2013

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When I was teaching kindergarten, Robert Fulghum came out with his spot-on book, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Now that I’m retired I’m thinking that I might write a sequel entitled, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned on my Daily Walk.” Actually, Fulgrum’s list for kindergarten relates beautifully to what I experience every day. Let’s take the first leaning: Share everything.

     Yup, sharing is being played out on the front lawn of a house right down the road. On a table, with a big sign that says, “Farm Stand”, is a vase of flowers and an array of tomatoes, all for the taking, no charge. And so yesterday I took: one flower for the patio, and one tomato for our salad.

    Today when I go by I’ll Play fair and leave a thank you note. This is giving and receiving at its best. It’s all I really need to know.

Here’s Fulgrum’s list of all he needs to know.

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work
     every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes
     up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

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Cottage industry on Iona~

6/21/2013

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I wonder I am the only person longing for silence, solitude and simplicity who is attracted to the idea of a cottage industry? Probably not. Undoubtedly it’s a great deal of work, creating everything for your business right in your little cottage. At its best, a romantic dream. And yet, I came across a simple cottage industry on the road out to the Machair, the common land on Iona. Iona Pebbles < www.ionapebbles.co.uk/‎ > sells lambs wool, jewelry and art prints and cards.

The owner, Val MacCormick, raises the sheep, which you can see right outside the window of her shop that is attached to her house. When the lambs are a year-and-a half, she gathers their sheared wool and sends it to a mill in southern England that dyes and spins for small farms such as hers. “That’s why it is so soft,” she told me. She sells skeins, as well as caps and hand warmers (and instructions) that she has knit during the winter. This lovely woman also wanders the beach for stones and Iona marble that she makes into jewelry. Also for sale are cards and prints produced, as her web site tells us, “either, from Val’s own original artworks, or from her husband Gordon’s photography.”

A cottage industry for sure, as well as the atmosphere, which comes from her generous heart. On my next visit to Iona I’m going to pack fewer clothes so I’ll have more room in my suitcase for this delicious gift of the lambs.

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Daily gifts of solitude~

10/2/2012

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Richard Mahler, in Stillness: Daily Gifts of Solitude, offers “some of the most frequently observed associations with quiet alone time.” I might word them differently, and, as Mahler suggests, add some of my own, but these present one way of looking at the gifts of solitude.

• Freedom to fantasize.
• Development of the imagination.
• Cultivation of abstract thought.
• Heightened awareness.
• Healing during stress, mourning, or other trauma.
• Improved concentration.
• Access to religious, spiritual, or mystical experiences.
• Better problem-solving abilities.
• Liberation from unwanted distractions.
• Effective pain management skills.
• The rich company of one’s mind, body, and spirit.
• Expanded self-understanding.

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Disastrous soup--almost~

8/18/2012

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Let me tell you about my disastrous Day 1 soup, which is only a disaster if you don’t like spicy, really spicy, and by that I mean curry and cayenne pepper. Actually, I like them both, but not on overload. The two teaspoons of curry were fine, but a half teaspoon of cayenne was over the top for this Spicy Curried Zucchini Soup. I doubt that I’ll give the recipe another try, but if I do, I’ll go for an eight of teaspoon of cayenne.

     But that isn’t really the disastrous part of the story; maybe disasterous isn’t the right word, maybe humbling is what I searching for. You see, I had planned to take the soup to two church friends—an older woman who doesn’t get out much, and a woman who had just had major surgery.

        “Poor choice, Bobs.” In my enthusiasm to cook a soup a day for a year, I had lost track of who might be eating the soup. I had become fixated on my life and my project, not on that greater life project--doing unto others.

     What’s the expression? Eating humble pie? Well, I took the humble soup on my visits, explaining my inconsiderate spicy choice. I told my friends that I didn’t want to throw the soup away, but that they were welcome to do just that, and that there was always a chance that they might actually love really spicy.

          It’s the thought that counts, but next time I’ll be more thoughtful.

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Learning from the mergansers~

1/16/2012

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Can you see them? Just little dots.

The merganser have been out in full forces for the past week. For the first month and a half after my return here, I hardly saw a one of them. But then last week, right in the midst of the storm, there they were, rocking about. Yesterday when I arrived here, it looked like the entire merganser clan (call it a badelynge, bunch, brace, flock, paddling, raft or team, or even a dover) had gathered, one hundred or more, all parading in front of the rocks, with one or two off by themselves.

What do they know, or maybe more to the point, what can I learn from them? That I have to keep going, back and forth, in good times as well as bad, when things are calm and when things are turbulent. That I need to get off by myself, but that I also need community. Um, all that I need to learn at the moment seems to be right here at the cottage with the sunrise and the mergansers.

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Simple giving to the IRC

All I really need to know~

Cottage industry on Iona~

Daily gifts of solitude~

Disastrous soup--almost~

Learning from the mergansers~

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