Category: Love - A Cottage by the Sea

Love has no opposite~

5/11/2017

     Saturday’s Sing Sistah Sing concert at Memorial Congregational Church (Sudbury, MA) by Andrea Baker, renowned mezzo-soprano opera singer, was undoubtedly one of the best concerts ever. I mean ever. Andrea, who grew up at MCC, returned to her home church bringing love, her love and the love of everyone who came to hear her. We all experienced community at its best.
     Community and love. It can go together, but it doesn’t always happen. Why not? Maybe too often we come together in community to get some business done, such for a committee meetings to decide this or that. Positions are taken but not all can be adopted. Even when we come with the intention to get along and fill the room with love, we are in a binary mode; this or that, one is better than the other, but only one wins.
There was nothing binary about this concert evening. It was about love, which has no opposite such as hate or fear, or even ‘indifferences’ as Elie Wiesel suggests: “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.”
     The love shown by, with and through Andrea was beyond definition, beyond the mind. If I have to locate it somewhere, it would choose the heart. But why analyze when we can sit in the mystery and listen to this exquisite demonstration of love manifested for a few brief moment at a little UCC church in a little New England town?

Coffee and loving kindness~

3/24/2017

Here I am, writing at one of my favorite cafes in Florence. I like the extra large cup of cappuccino at this place. Maybe it’s the morning coffee that compels me to return to this city. Maybe it’s that simple. It has never occurred to me to spend two weeks in Boston. No, it’s the morning rhythm of a walk across the Ponte Vecchio for my first cup, and then my second cup with brioche as I write. But coffee isn’t the only reason I have returned; there’s also the food and wine (with no preservatives). Plus friends to visit; friends as in churches, paintings, and sculptures.
Florence exudes peace, calm and optimism, something I didn’t feel in Rome. In this little self-contained city people are enjoying the moment, which makes it easy to send love to everyone I pass. After all, I believe love begets love and we reap what we sow. So along with the coffee, maybe I come to practice that.

Marching for peace and love

1/12/2017

Dear Friends,
On January 21st I will be participating in the Women’s March on Washington with my daughter, sister (who lives near DC), and other family members. I am not going to protest but to support the rights of all human beings. My energy is positive and prayeful.

I have begun a list of family, friends and friends of friends who can’t make the trip but who want to be there in spirit. I will keep the list close to my heart, at least for the start, but I may leave it somewhere along the way—in another marcher’s hand, at a designated memorial spot, on Lincoln’s lap. I may release it to the wind or bring it home with me. I’m open for surprises and miracles.

If you would like me to add your name, or the name of someone else to the list, please let me know.

Peace and love,
Bobbi

Say 'I love you,' and mean it.

1/10/2017

A friend on Face Book posted the following:
“As I walk into this week, thinking especially about the three funerals I'm attending, I can't help but wonder: if you were to see someone for the last time, are there specific things you would say to or do with them? Would you act differently than you normally do? Why? What can we do to bring our relationships to their fullest before it's too late? Carpe diem!”
Many questions are asked here, others implied. The following statements, however, are a good place to start:

I forgive you.
Forgive me.
I am sorry.
Thank you.
I love you.

We may not need to get into the first three, but always ‘Thank you,’ and ‘I love you.’ It’s the ‘I love you’ one that has me thinking. I don’t want to say it as a throw-away, as in ‘Have a good day.” I have to mean it.
With that in mind, I responded to my friend’s FB query, with , “Say, ‘I love you,’ and mean it.” This takes continuous work, commitment, and prayer, so I’d better start immediately rather than wait until it is too late and I’m on my way to the funeral.

In the end, love wins

11/9/2016

     How do we carry on today, this day after Election Day? Not just carry on, but move on in a positive way. Approximately half the country is happy with the results; the other half unhappy, and many of those are scared; scared for the LGBTQ community, for reproductive choice, for Muslims, for the environment, for immigrants, for peace.
     Like the psalmist we can lament; and then, like the psalmist, we can raise our thoughts beyond ourselves, and grab onto hope in something pastthe human response. If we don’t do this, we will remain wallowing in the vitriolic hatred that was the signature of the campaign that just ended.
     There is much we can do to work for peace and justice in our country and in the world. It starts with who we are, with our hearts open to unconditional love, which is where the hard work is. As I go out today, my challenge is to express positive energy and maintain hope. In the end, love wins.

Locks of love in Florence

9/17/2016

Locks of Love. Florence isn’t the only city to have them, but how could lovers resist placing a lock on a gate surrounding the bust of Cellini on the Ponte Vecchio? And even with a 50 euro fine! Just think of the time it takes to remove them? I know that periodically happens because on another visit, I experienced the locks ‘here today, gone tomorrow’. I wish I could see the removers at work, but they probably do it at night.

The other day, however, I did see someone arrested for climbing. First I saw her, with boyfriend innocently standing by, climbing over the locks of love fence. I couldn’t tell if she was adding one or just examining those already there. Either way, I thought how blatant and foolish.
A little later, there she was again, climbing the fence into the Fountain of Neptune on the Piazza della Signorina. Then appeared two police, a woman and a man. The lady gave them her passport, and the four of them (boyfriend reluctantly going along) entered the Palazzo della Signoria where the police station is located. The building wasn’t open to the pubic so I couldn’t follow them. I’d love to know the end of the story.

Try unconditional love~

12/26/2015

Christmas time, with all the comings and goings of family and friends, is a good time to renew Brugh Joy’s three criteria for unconditional love:
• No judgment
• No comparisons
• Give up the need to understand

In summary, let it all go and just love everyone.

Dear Martin Luther King, Jr.

11/17/2015

Dear Martin Luther King, Jr.,
How do we do this? Could it just be that we all are all oppressors?

“The non-violent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them a new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally, it reaches the opponent and so stirs his conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality.”

Seen in a draper's shop in India: Life is love...Enjoy it~

2/17/2015

Life is love…Enjoy it.

Now that is my kind of thought. A mantra I can I can live with, a suggestion I am willing to follow. When times are tough it may not be easy to find love, but I believe that if we look long and hard and not give up, we will. Whatever we believe becomes our reality, and whatever we believe, we come to enjoy.

Um, I wonder, does it follow that if I believe that life is hate, I will enjoy it? Not enjoy as in pleasant, but it will take over my life. I have a choice, so I might as well choose love.

All Paths Lead To Me

√ Life is an Adventure ... Dare it
√ Life is a Beauty ... Praise it
√ Life is a Challenge ... Meet it
√ Life is a Duty ... Perform it
√ Life is a Love ... Enjoy it
Life is a Tragedy ... Face it
Life is a Struggle ... Fight it
Life is a Promise ... Fulfill it
Life is a Game ... Play it
Life is a Gift ... Accept it
Life is a Journey ... Complete it
Life is a Mystery ... Unfold it
Life is a Goal ... Achieve it
Life is an Opportunity ... Take it
Life is a Puzzle ... Solve it
Life is a Song ... Sing it
Life is a Sorrow ... Overcome it
Life is a Spirit ... Realize it
Life is Struggle… Fight it
Life is a Puzzle… Solve it
Life is a Goal… Achieve it

Seen in a drapers shop in India

The difference is love~

8/30/2014

St. Patrick's Manor, Framingham, MA

I had an especially peaceful walk this afternoon. The right amount of silence on this Labor Day weekend in New England, the right amount of sound: a few passing cars, one plane humming overhead, a dog barking in the distance, and then all of nature. No, mowers or blowers, no enormous trucks thumping by. None. Ah, Labor Day.

I’m especially sensitive and sympathetic to all of this as I think of the many war zones around the planet, and of the thousands of children who have fled, literally for their lives, across the borders, or who are homeless in their own countries. From where I live, from my walk around the neighborhood, it is easy to think love on this awesome end of August day That’s the least I can do; maybe it’s the most I can do. What if everyone did just that? The difference is love