Sorry so silent - household in mourning

Happy New Year!

Early Morning Companion

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face ... You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.








Eleanor Roosevelt, as quoted in Face Your Fear by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach; St. Martin's Press; New York; 2004

(Update: Posted this years ago but it seems like an extremely important idea right now so decided to put it back at the top for a while)

Happy Mother's Day

My mother was my partner in every project that I had. She was just the great enabler of my dreams.

Diane Keaton, American actress, single mother

Early Morning Companion

The Buddha taught that most problems - if only you give them enough time and space - will eventually wear themselves out.


From Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love; Penguin Group; Toronto; 2010

Happy Valentine's Day

Merry Christmas!

Well my dear reader, I don't usually post DIY projects but when I saw these little beauties I just couldn't resist - colourful, budget friendly, and as much fun to make as they are to pull apart. They come from a blog with this fabulous name - Honestly WTF.  How can you possibly go astray with such a perfect perspective? Here's a link to instructions for making these cool Christmas Surprise Balls!  Have yourself the happiest of holidays!

Image courtesy Honestly WTF

Early Morning Companion

Children's Day!

Early Morning Companion

A life filled with difficulty is not a punishment.

Brian L. Weiss, American author, psychiatrist (mystic) 

Wild

A page-turning parable of transformation, Wild by Cheryl Strayed is the memoir of a woman who had her name legally changed to reflect what she perceived she had become - lost. After a tough, complicated childhood, the wrong marriage and the death of her beloved mother, Cheryl strayed - into drugs, infidelity, and fecklessness. Her response was to set herself a taskful journey - a thousand-mile hike across the Pacific Crest Trail - the perils of which rivaled those of Lewis and Clark. Three months and 300 armchair-gripping pages later she emerges, wiser, stronger and transformed from a woman who has been acted upon to one with the grit and vision to take charge of a battered life. A fascinating memoir and an inspiration to all of us searching for new approaches to old problems.

by Cheryl Strayed; Random House; Toronto; 2012

Early Morning Companion

Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.




Anne Lamott, author of Operating Instructions, single mother
Image courtesy Dover

Early Morning Companion

Dear laughing doubters, I'm laughing louder.

from Dear Laughing Doubters by Sondre Lurche, Norwegian singer/songwriter.
painting is Maternal Joy by Adolf von Becker; courtesy Art Renewal Center

Early Morning Companion

... a mystic shape did move behind me, and drew me backward by the hair; And a voice said ... Guess who now holds thee? Death, I said. But, there, The silver answer rang,- Not Death, but Love.

From Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning