Cherish sunsets, wild creatures, and wild places. Have a love affair with the wonder and beauty of the earth. Steward Udall (1920-2010) We were at the beach and the sky was clear, the water bright shades of aqua, darker at the shore, lighter toward the horizon.  Sunny and 70°.  The prior day was ravenous thunder, lightning and pounding rain, steel gray water with no visible horizon.  We stayed indoors to read and watch college sports.   Then I saw this quotation and remembered the name Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.  ..read more

Fort Macon, Bogue Shores, NC Feel gratitude for your blessings.  Today when I woke up my worsening back felt stable.  I feel immense gratitude for every day that I can focus on all the wonders ahead and not my boring back.  Do something that makes you happy.  I met with knitting friends this morning.  Being with friends always makes us happy.  What would you like your happy thing to be tomorrow?  Live one day at a time.  Of course.  "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."  Matthew 6:34. But more.  When we live in the pr ..read more

  Did you know that April is national poetry month?  It's a good choice.  Chaucer (c 1340-1400) begins The Canterbury Tales in April.  "Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote / The droght of March hath perced to the roote . . . " Many of us read those lines in high school.  I taught my seniors how to pronounce the Middle English vowels.  "When April with his showers sweet with fruit / The drought of March has pierced unto the root / And bathed each vein with liquor that has power / To generate therein and sire the flower . . . ,"  is when Christians ..read more

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. The simplest meaning of closure seems to be getting over something painful and moving on.  But what exactly does "getting over" mean and what is "moving on?"  Certainly, we've all ruminated over the past, sometimes wondering what happened and why, sometimes trying to figure out how to live with hurt.  Deaths, betrayals, broken hearts, losses of every degree and dimension, grief and sadness are no strangers.  So, yes, closure might be almost an everyday need.   Some psychologists us ..read more

You can buy these just about everywhere.  Lovely little Bella Grace journals with beautiful pictures and writing prompts.  Just my type thing and maybe yours too.  Here are some of the quotes and prompts, if you're in the mood to respond.  We can think our responses, we don't have to write them.   Not every day will be perfect, but every day will have a perfect moment.  This was an easy one today.  I napped outdoors in the sun.  Oh yes, a perfect 60 minutes.  My husband brought my tea in this morning as well, the sign of a day starting out jus ..read more

  Common Bluets on a Rocky Hillside "The Veil" There are moments when the veil seems  almost to lift, and we understand what  the earth is meant to mean to us -- the  trees in their docility, the hills in their patience, the flowers and the  vines in their wild, sweet vitality.   Then the Word is within us, and the  Book is put away. Mary Oliver is a mystic poet, open and attentive to the presence of God in the world.  She calls the earth "God's body."   To wit, "It is not hard to understand / where God's body is. / It is everywh ..read more

I'm so glad it's almost Easter.  The world is Easter-ready.  Today we saw two purple finches courtship-feeding. The male, a rosier shade, delicately passing seed to the female. She, assessing him as a mate for one sitting on the nest and needing a bite now and then.  He was proving his worth, I thought.  He wasn't letting her out of his sight.  He would be a good helpmeet.   The dwarf red maple is leafed out.  The snap dragons wintered over and are radiant.  Forsythia are just shedding their yellow flowers for vibrant leaves.  Red bud are lini ..read more

 Coyotes don't surprise me, their howling far away, Or closer but not visible. And yet the dog's alert, my maltipoo. He turns and waits for me before he leaves the step, When clocks strike ten and dark it is. My torch the only light unless the moon is full. But last night straight across our path a red fox sauntered by. From whence he came I could not tell  'Till Wiggles sniffed his trail down to the boardwalk. It had lain where I had walked that day. I do not want a fox so close although it carried awe. A small intake, a taint of joy  That something wild should freely go ..read more

Go gently when your morning comes and thoughts are waiting prey. Go gently when the evening falls if thoughts still trembling there. Go gently if your mind's awry remembering every wound, From words that drop like nerves gone bad,  Your shelter out of reach.  And then you write and say it straight or say it slant Or don't say it at all.  The thoughts recede; they have before. It was so long ago.  ..read more

A Coming Storm, North Carolina Coast  There's a lot going on in the world that isn't good.  I don't need to name it.  Follow the news, open your inbox, talk to your children, read your own heart.   So, we look for ways to foster our wellbeing.  I used to think that sounded too new age, or impractical.  With kids and parents and work, who has the time?  And many don't.  But remember as a child lying on the floor looking at the ceiling?  Or on the ground looking at the clouds?  When my schoolwork was done, I used to put on a re ..read more