13.1?

✔

How was your Saturday?

And that boy with me?

The one who trained for a half marathon

by running 8 miles in total?

He beat me.

yup

It was magical.

Thank you all for your support!

I hope that we find a cure soon...

For all cancer.

Sunday Serenity

for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)

it's always ourselves we find in the sea

-e.e. cummings

Gay Head, Massachusetts

Sunday Serenity

Phoenix, Arizona

Still Frozen

stalagtites hold on

winter has her grip on us

hurry hummingbirds

Frozen

fledglings all flown south

a bittersweet home sweet home

patiently awaits

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

~Robert Frost

A New Year's Prayer

Gracious God, please give me

A few friends who understand me and remain my friends;

A work to do which has real value,

Without which the world would be poorer;

A mind unafraid to travel, even though the trail not be blazed;

An understanding heart;

A sense of humor;Time for quiet, silent meditation;

A feeling of the presence of God;

The patience to wait for the coming of these things,

With the wisdom to recognize them when they come. Amen.

These were the closing words we said at the New Year's Eve service where we wrote our concerns, fears, hurts on a piece of paper, and then released them in a burning bowl as we left. It is one of my favorite traditions at our church. Many share this feeling with me, and we all suppose we actually may be Druids. And that is okay with us....

May your year be filled with peace, prosperity and love.

Sunday Plans?

Mine look like this:

Advent

St. Paul's on the Green

Norwalk, Connecticut

It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope. ~~Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Seek That Which Is Above,1986

In the Episcopal Church, the color blue is used during the four weeks of Advent. Blue is the color that is often associated with Mary. After the fourth Sunday in Advent, all the blue ribbons are changed to red for the Christmas celebration.

A ribbon miracle, you ask? Well, at St. Paul's, this 'miracle' is performed by my friends on the flower ministry. And we are honored to do so.

Photo credit: Kate

In The Park With My Puppy

October 28, 2010.

7:30 am

Schenck's Island

One does not need to fast for days and meditate for hours
at a time to experience the sense of sublime mystery
which constantly envelops us. All one need do is to notice
intelligently, if even for a brief moment, a blossoming tree,
a forest flooded with autumn colors, an infant smiling.

Simon Greenberg

Stopping and Smelling...

Le Celle, Cortona, Italy.

The miracle is not to walk on water.

The miracle is to walk on the green earth,

dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi (1181 or 1182 - October 3, 1226)

It is no use walking anywhere to preach

unless our walking is our preaching.
Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Francis of Assisi

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
Francis of Assisi

Down Bavon

This shot does not do this painting justice.

I bought it when I was at Virginia Blogfest way back in July.

It was hanging on the wall opposite me while we lunched

at The White Dog Inn.

That place (the inn) deserves a full post,

but today, we are going to focus on this paradise:

"Bavon's Special Light."

Bavon is where she lives.

Home of the best deviled eggs, succotash and hush puppies

on the planet.

I may or may not have eaten all these in one sitting....

Anyway, if you have never been there,

go to the Chesapeake Bay.

And just take it all in.

It is a magical place...

"the earth is not forever
islands of the Chesapeake
slip into to memory"

~M. Kei

Life is short, and we do not have too much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the way with us. So be swift to love, and make haste to be kind.

Be the Pink Flower

I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence,

but it comes from within.

It is there all the time. - Anna Freud

Be the Fountain

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness,

Making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.

~Washington Irving

1783-1859

Great and Small

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

~~Cecil Frances Alexander

Sunday in the Park, With Roses

Parque del Retiro, Madrid.

Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger.

There is really nothing to be said about it.

It is like the perfume of a rose:

you can smell it and that is all.

~~W. Somerset Maugham

Handicapped?

Hardly.

Designated parking at St. Paul's on the Green, Norwalk, CT.

All persons who enter this sacred place enter with the promise

that they will be free to be who they are.

High Fives All Around

The Music City Marathon & 1/2

I was there.

The Dude.

He ran the entire 1/2 in those boots.

The Elites...

I was not there.

The Thunderstorm.

I was there.

I did my 1/2.

13.1 miles.

And today?

I am on the sofa with my puppy.

Life is good.