Last Sunday was a stressful day. It was one of many.
Sometimes life travels too fast. The plate becomes full to overflowing. Carrying a load of worry and frustration can become oppressive.
Time to off load my burden … time to take out the kayak. Continue reading “Taking a moment to just … be …”
This is my latest monthly column for The Catholic Free Press.
I have now admitted in print that I am a crazy cat lady! 🙂
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While I have two cats of my own, that’s only the beginning. I also follow live kitten cams online and chat regularly with the many viewers. My main reason for visiting Facebook is to follow the lives of foster kittens after they have been adopted. Continue reading “Latest Catholic Free Press Column – Lessons learned from crazy cat people”
Ever wanted to bring the outdoors in, especially to your office?
Listening To Nature Sounds At Work Can Boost Your Mood And Productivity:Â Listening to the sound of crashing waves or a babbling brook isn’t just useful for helping you fall asleep — it may also help you to focus at work. Continue reading “Fun Facts Friday: Nature from an app, powerful women, movie gotta-see, circus cats and more!”
Ever wanted to bring the outdoors in, especially to your office?
Listening To Nature Sounds At Work Can Boost Your Mood And Productivity:Â Listening to the sound of crashing waves or a babbling brook isn’t just useful for helping you fall asleep — it may also help you to focus at work.
You can download an app for that!
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Who makes history, and why?
And who are the top ten most powerful women in the world, and why?
Check out Forbes most powerful women list
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Speaking of powerful women, anyone know who this is?
Hint: Think Alan Dershowitz in a dress …
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And yeah, I want to see this movie:
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on the kayaking front …
Lewis and Clark go Urban Kayaking
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You think cats can’t be trained to perform? Check this out:
The Amazing Acro-Cats: the touring circus that proves cats can be trained
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But no all cats are so cooperative (and I don’t blame the first one at all!)
Puyallup’s Siegfried and Roy?
Cats can turn wild when these groomers go to work
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 Fun Facts Friday is back! Lots of great stuff this week:
On the kayaking front …There’s been a drought on west of epic proportions when it finally did rain, check out how this man celebrated!
Kayaking in his front yard! Continue reading “Fun Facts Friday: from Kayaking to Babs to Jackson Galaxy and beyond!”
My older sister is a wonderful painter so I commissioned her to paint the Be As One bridge. Isn’t it beautiful?
My sister has ties to this bridge just as I do. She wrote the following on her website:
“The Wellesley College Bridge is iconic to me as is Wellesley College. My family and I have a rich history there. It all started with my mother who attended Wellesley College many years ago. My husband and I were married there followed by my son Jeff and Amanda, who were married right out on the lawn near to this bridge. There are photographs of us on the bridge with Azaleas and Dogwood blooming on our wedding day. My sister captured this image on a beautiful Spring day while she was out in her kayak.”
Christine is like me, acting on her passion after raising a family and helping to run a successful business. In her retirement she is making up for lost time, just like I am with my reading and writing. On her website she writes,
“So now I am becoming the artist I always wanted to be and feel so inspired by it every day! Â It is NEVER too late to start and make that change to be who you really are.”
I couldn’t agree more!
Visit Chris’ website at http://christinehoylehoude.fineartstudioonline.com to see the rest of her paintings and to order your print.
 What is your passion? How are you living it? Are you like Christine and me, living your passion after your kids have grown? Share your stories.
Click to Tweet & Share: A gift from my sister: It’s never too late to live your passion http://wp.me/p2D9hg-CE
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Like all kids I’d be up half the night, listening to the activity down in the living room where my dad would be putting together a bicycle or building some other contraption. He’d sometimes ring the jingle bells that hung on our front door because he knew my sister, brother and I were listening; we swore Santa was on our roof with his sleigh full of toys! My older sister would peak down the stairs to spy.
It was such a long wait until 6am when we would run downstairs to open our gifts.
Suzy Smart, a talking schoolgirl doll
A magnetic dollhouse – the magnets were on wands and I used to love whipping the family members through the house!
My first 26 inch bicycle
Barbie clothes, especially the ones my cousin Janie made for me. The white levis were the coolest!
All the cute nature-related stocking stuffers – they were the best!
Here’s what we looked like on Christmas morning – my dad could never resist taking a picture and as you can see, we were just thrilled:
When we were a little older, we were required to wait until our grandparents came over before gifts could be opened. Sometimes they wouldn’t arrive until two in the afternoon; that’s a long wait for a kid! I managed to take satisfaction in the fact we still had gifts to open while the rest of the kids in the neighborhood had long ago opened theirs.
although sharing it with small children keeps the magic alive. My husband bought and put together a huge Brio train set for our then one year old son; he ended up playing with the box!
But now at 27, he keeps that box of wooden tracks and trains under his old bed at our home to keep for future generations.
remembering parents and other beloved family members who have passed on. This year’s holiday was especially poignant with the thought of my older sister Christine and her husband Tom soon moving down south for their retirement.
The gathering was intimate: just Christine and Tom, our own family of four and older brother Tommy. Christine set the table with the silver, delicate white tablecloth, cloth napkins and embroidered place mats belonging to our maternal grandmother. Dinners in their Tudor dining room, complete with leaded windows, and a curved entrance with a wrought-iron gate, were formal; this dinner was warm as we each shared something we were grateful for before eating.
Christine and Tom had recently cleaned out their attic and decided to distribute family mementos. I received my mother’s diploma from Wellesley College along with a special poem and remembrance from her retirement in 1984 from the Botany Department at the college.
Tommy received plans, drawings and photos of miniature ships that our paternal grandfather, known as Pom Pom, had built. We all marveled at the incredible precision and accuracy of the drawings and models; I knew that talent had passed down from grandfather to father to son and felt proud. Here’s a sample drawing from our “Pom Pom” of his 1912 car:
sent by my brother-in-law and his wife who live an hour outside of Los Angeles. They gave me a DVD of the complete first season of Daktari, a children’s TV show that I loved as a kid (from Wikipedia: The show follows the work of Dr. Tracy, his daughter Paula and his staff, who frequently protected animals from poachers and local officials. Tracy’s pets, a cross-eyed lion named Clarence and a chimpanzee named Judy, were also popular characters.).
It was particularly special that it came from Tim for he loves old TV shows and collects autographs and memorabilia. We had visited them over the summer and Tim and I had talked about favorite TV shows. It touched my heart that he remembered and I literally squealed when I tore off the paper and saw his gift.
So for a little while I became 10 years again, pretending I was Daktari’s daughter, living in Africa taking care of and communing with the animals (especially the big cats!).
But most importantly, thoughts of the baby Jesus and His birth into my life and so many others was never far from my mind. I was pleased to light all four of my advent candles for dinner with our son just before Christmas:
A lovely tabletop tree highlights the manger scene:
How was your Christmas? What were your favorite toys from Santa?
Click to Tweet & Share: Favorite toys, family memories, blessings remembered … what did you get for Christmas? http://wp.me/p2D9hg-kF
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“Love unites all, whether created or uncreated …”
This is the beginning of a short meditation by noted spiritual writer (and my favorite), Henri Nouwen.
This short passage utterly sums up the purpose of this blog, and my life.
How about you? What sums up your life?
Click to Tweet & Share: True unity, as Henri Nouwen sees it. Sums up my life. How about yours? What sums up your life? http://wp.me/p2D9hg-iB
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This is what happened to us … and yet I feel blessed.
We knew this tree would fall. In the last post I showed how one half of the tree fell during a microburst. The tree that fell yesterday was leaning east and the wind came from the east. Inevitable.
It so happens our neighbor cuts up trees for firewood and he came right over and dug in. God is good.
I do feel blessed when I see the unending tweets of all that has happened in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Twitter was my lifeline yesterday after the power went out, keeping me connected with the rest of the world.
Because my son lives in Brooklyn, I was paying special attention and was horrified when I read of the fire at Breezy Point on the Rockaway penisula that wiped out 80-100 homes, homes that had already been flooded! Seeing the photos of streams of water flowing into subway tunnels and streets reminded me of the suffering that New Yorkers will be enduring over the next few weeks.
New Jersey took the direct hit and Atlantic City was totally flooded. Details, I’m sure, will be forthcoming on the extensive damage in that state.
Last night I was glued to my emergency radio listening to the Connecticut governor who was beside himself over the catastrophic flooding taking place on the southern side of the state.
I couldn’t pray with words. All I could do was depend upon the Spirit to supply the prayers for me as I thought of the suffering going on because of Hurricane Sandy.
It is good that God will supply us with all we need, including the prayers to pray for others.
How did you make out?
Click to Tweet & Share: The aftermath of Sandy – why I feel blessed http://wp.me/p2D9hg-ii
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As a weather nut, Hurricane Sandy is a fascinating thing to watch even as I wait nervously for her arrival. I live in Central Massachusetts and as you can see on the chart, we are going to get hammered.
Our yard is populated with oak trees and one in particular at the end of our driveway is of concern. That tree used to be two trees together. During a microburst several years ago, we lost one half and it barely missed our neighbor’s house!
The other half stands menacingly close to our house; should it fall, hopefully it will fall away from the house; the trajectory seems to suggest that it would.
Winds around here are going to run between 40-60 mph and last two full days! That can do a lot of damage. Needless to say, whatever leaves remain on the trees will be down for cleanup next weekend.
I am concerned too for our son, Stephen, who lives in Brooklyn, NY. The storm surge in that area is predicted to be quite dangerous. As you can see from the map, if the ocean waters surge into the bay, they have nowhere to go but towards the East River and Manhatten. Brooklyn is close by …
Still, despite the concern, I also have an insatiable and morbid curiously about this storm. The last time a storm of this magnitude happened was in 1991; it was dubbed The Perfect Storm. Immortalized through the book by Sebastian Junger and the movie starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, this Halloween Nor’easter was a combination of tropical moisture from Hurricane Grace and two other storms. Among the casualties was the crew of the fishing vessel, the Andrea Gail.
Hurricane Sandy is taking a similar path. Blocked by a large high pressure ridge over Greenland, the storm has nowhere to go but straight at us. Taking an unusual curve inland, it will merge with a powerful cold front advancing from the west. The crashing of tropical into arctic air will cause the hurricane to explode, forming a super storm. The strong winds and rain will extend out over 800 miles covering the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Weather.com provides all the details.
Needless to say, we are hunkered down with water, canned goods, LED lamps and an emergency wind-up radio.
Let’s all hope and pray that everyone in the affected area will come through unscathed. Fr. James Martin, author of Between Heaven and Mirth and My Life with the Saints, offers the following prayer for the over 60 million people in the path of this storm:
God of the Universe, at the dawn of creation, your Spirit breathed on the waters, making them the wellspring of all holiness. You created the oceans and rivers, and all that dwell within them, and at your word the wind and the waves were born. The seasons follow your plan, and the tides rise and fall on your command. In both calm and storm, you are with us. On the Sea of Galilee, even when the disciples began to fear, Jesus showed that he was Lord over the waters by rebuking the storms, so that all would know that even the wind and the waves obey him. Creator God, we ask you to calm the wind and the waves of the approaching hurricane, and spare those in its path from harm. Help those who are in its way to reach safety. Open our hearts in generosity to all who need help in the coming days. In all things, help us to remember that even when things seem dark and stormy, you are in the boat with us, guiding us to safety. Amen.
Click to Tweet & Share: Waiting for Hurricane Sandy … and a prayer for the 60 million+ in her path http://wp.me/p2D9hg-hS
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