Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a  help.  Gardening is an instrument of grace.  May Sarton I had the gift today of spending time in the garden.  Hours actually, pulling weeds, pruning shrubs and … [Read more...]

                This past summer, I drove along the roads of Whidbey Island in the Northwest and spotted a sign for a private lane that said Pray Lane.  I circled back and took a picture, certain, at some point, I would consider this fork in the road, however accidental, if you … [Read more...]

“With age, gone are the forevers of youth. Gone is the willingness to procrastinate, delay, to play the waiting game. Now each day is a treasure beyond compare . . . because there are so few such diadems left.” ― Joe L. Wheeler I have a friend who is a truly beautiful woman.  … [Read more...]

“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my … [Read more...]

Life is not a dress rehearsal. Stop practicing what you’re going to do and just go do it. In one bold stroke you can transform today. -Marilyn Grey In one blink of an eye, Tucker was gone.  The same was true with our corgi Sophie and basset hound Rocky. I have known the same … [Read more...]

We had several names for him — Tucker Boy, Big Boy, Big Man.  But no matter what the label, he was, bottom line, our Tucker.  130 pounds, give or take a few, he would have turned 13 this December.  Unfortunately, he did not get that far. When my husband Jim and I started dating, … [Read more...]

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” ― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934 Before Merlin arrived in our lives, my garden was just a garden. Well, it was more … [Read more...]

              Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty … [Read more...]

Looking at the vast array of animals needing a home, you always will encounter heartbreak.  Losing two animals recently surely brought its own kind of trauma to our home, but it evolves into newer territory also -- some of which is not unfamiliar – to find another creature, maybe … [Read more...]

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." - Marcus Aurelius Foes are not just humans, they are the challenges we face daily in our thoughts.  Self-doubt for one, evident in those nagging internal … [Read more...]