Thankful, So Thank

 I am thankful for good times when the beauty of life cannot be hidden...it pours out so abundantly you can barely contain it, the cup is so full you can embrace it all so easily with a perfect and honest grace.

 I am thankful for hard times, when the reasons for fire are not apparent at the start but are revealed at last, ...after you have already walked through the fire, ...and the ease of that perfect grace you had been granted seems far far away.


I am thankful for the dance of life, whatever it may bring,
.....thankful for it all, so I thank..... the One who shares His beauty in so many ways, for I would not want to live in a world without it.
We are thankful, so thank. We are 'guided by love, so love."

"may the fragrance of forgiveness 

stay with ya all the day long,

may the taste of tender mercy, 

remain on the tip of your tongue,

you're guided by love, so be guided by love

like the stars shine right behind the clouds

you're guided by love, so be guided by love now,

may the freedom of obedience, 

be what leads ya when you can't keep your stride,

when the experience of driftin 

further in to the desert lasts forever,

know the rain will soon fall from the sky

you're guided by love, so be guided by love

like the stars shine right behind the clouds

you're guided by love, so be guided by love now"

---"Guided By Love", written by Mitch Mcvicker

A Hundred Lovely Lakes

I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees.  The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets.  It has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day.  It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful.  Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy.  ~Hamlin Garland, McClure's, February 1899

Half Sick of Shadows, More or Less

For such a time as this, now more than ever, ...I am craving a simplicity more Thoreau-like than I ever imagined. The kind of simplicity that begs for little to no television (easy), and asks for less computer time (not so easy). To turn down the noise from outside sources whenever I want to,
and to turn them completely off if I choose.

 I am 'half-sick of shadows,' half-sick of the trappings and restrictions heaped upon us in the name of necessity and power. I expect more, and more is to be found in less... to live with less, or rather to live with more,
...by my own free accord.

Stepping back to define your own boundaries is good, Thoreau did that, too, ...especially when so much else seems to be slipping out of your control. Take it back in your own way... I say, define for yourself what life means and how you will live it. It may be quite a journey through the noise,
but at the end peace awaits you.

 

Just Right

These little vintage rose gems have become my favorite cup of choice. They are just the right size for warm drinks or any drinks really, ...not too little and not too much, but "just right." I will enjoy my herbal tea all winter from these dainty vessels.

Photos by M. Woodruff

Rosey and small

Cheerful and bright.

A warm welcome sight on

This cold autumn night.