My view for the day

I came home from a lovely vacation in Vermont a couple of weeks ago.  My husband, daughter and I spent several days visiting my brother-in-law and sister-in-law at their lake house on Lake Champlain. It was positively the perfect vacation.  

This is the view from their back deck.  I settled there with my coffee most mornings.

 

Sometimes I had company.  This is Blue.  

Our first night, while we ate steaks and corn on the cob on that same deck, we enjoyed a show put on by the moon through the tree.

We took leisurely walks. This is my sister-in-law, Lorie, along with Blue and his sister, Belle.  What is it about vacation that slows time, that feels spacious and enables us to breathe more deeply?

Well, the lake house was lovely.  

Many of the glasses and dishes even had fish on them, to go with the lake house theme.   How neat is that?

During our visit we sampled wine,

and ice cream.

We visited Cold Hollow Cider Mill and Cabot Cheese outlet, bringing home happy hour treats.

We took a pirate themed cruise

   

And visited a local farmers market where Bernie Sanders is sometimes sighted.  But not today.  Still, we made it home with a raspberry pie to die for.

One day, we were touring the island and my daughter snapped a picture of the lake at its finest, She sent it to one of her friends with the caption "My view for the day."

Her friend immediately responded by sending a picture she had snapped of a surly coworker looking into the camera and making an obscene gesture.  "My view for the day."

It was pretty funny.  

But it got me to thinking.  Why don't we see the world as the marvelous, wondrous adventure it is while living our daily lives?  Why is it so hard to wake each morning with the sense of awe that we are alive and living in such a marvelous time?  We carry tiny computers in our pockets - practically unlimited information available 24 hours a day, for instance.

So, I am trying really hard to appreciate my "view for the day" and find the everyday sacred in life.

Coming home after our restful break and remembering how much we really love it here.

Enjoying my favorite pastime.  This book is Absalom's Daughters, and I recommend it.

Making coffee.

Working in a school library so that children will have books to read.

And this view, especially.  The one that comforts me, sustains me, and inspires me week by week.  This is the view that helps me see beyond myself and remember that I am a child of God.  My home church.

I keep this flower on my desk at work because it makes me feel good.   It reminds me to smile and embrace my view for the day.  Everyday.

The Empty Kitchen

Until three days ago I had a morning routine with my Pomeranian, Zuzu.  I came downstairs around 6:30 am, dressed and ready for work and there she would be.  She was confined to the kitchen at night and would be standing at the barrier looking for me.

The kitchen would have that wonderful smell of fresh coffee which I had made the night before and set the timer for 6:00 a.m.  But each morning when I picked up Z and cuddled her, I always thanked her for making the coffee.  Then I would carry her outside to do her business.

During the months of June and July she got carried a lot.  Breathing was labored for her, due to a tumor the vet found in her chest shortly after we adopted her in January.  She was expected to live less than a month    I had asked for an older dog from the Humane Society since I didn't want to housebreak a puppy.  Be careful what you wish for!

Where she came from, no one knew. She was a stray.  But she walked into the house and claimed our family as her own.

While we were waiting for her to die, she was occupied with the business of living.  

Here she is charming my dad on a visit to his home.  She visited him three times in all, which was fun for everyone. She loved to ride in the car and he enjoyed spending time with her.   When I carried her around the assisted living facility, we were met with many smiles and petting  hands.

This past winter, spring and summer, my family and I had the pleasure of an adorable little Valentine...

a shamrock cutie for St. Patrick's Day...

and a really sweet Easter Bunny.

Zu went to Pine Mountain State Park with us in May along with a group from the Audubon Society of Kentucky.  She dressed in red roses for the Derby Party.  

Sadly, her horse did not win.

We lost Zuzu three days ago.  Last week we bought her some diapers because she was becoming incontinent.  Then she began to have trouble walking.  It was time.

We had her for a little less than 8 months.  But she was funny, smart and so much fun, we feel blessed.

Such a lot of life in such a little body.  Such a lot of heart. Such a joy.

Such a lesson to us all.

Painting My Prayer

It happens every January.  Magazines, TV shows, Facebook posts - everywhere you look.  Resolutions!  Diets, gym memberships, and various self-help programs galore.  That's OK.  It is never wrong to take stock of where you are in relation to where you want to be, and the road you need to travel to arrive there.  I got a Fitbit in December and it encourages me to walk a little more, drink more water, etc.  It's a good thing.

But more and more, I believe people are rethinking how they view the year ahead.  At least, some of us are.  We have come to realize that we really don't want to fill the blank pages of days, weeks and months to come, with lists of dos and don'ts.  Instead, we choose a word of the year.  Or maybe words of the year.  Perhaps a prayer of the year. 

Since this is the start of a new decade for me, having turned 60 in December (choke), I really wanted a good word.  Something to help me be a little less set in my ways.  I chose Unfamiliar.  Nothing big, no skydiving or legally changing my name - although I think people are really brave who do that - just a word to help me remember to look at things with fresh eyes.  Take a different way to work.  Go to a new coffee shop instead of my old favorite.  Listen to different artists on Pandora. Try more foreign foods. That type of thing. 

Still, something didn't feel right about my word.  After a little more contemplation, I added a word.  Gracefully.  Because I wanted to reminded that all I do, I do by the grace of God.  Gracefully Unfamiliar.  I liked it!

Coincidentally (?) an opportunity presented itself in the way of a online painting experience aptly called "Paint Your Prayer for 2016."  It was a four week class done in your home, AND focusing on your Word of the Year.  The class was offered through Wild Sacred Heart Studios at Lorilynhurley.com.  I have known Lori-Lyn for years and felt no hesitation at all in signing on.

It turned out to be a wonderful, sacred, and introspective experience.  The other members of the class and I never met, but we developed a warm and supportive online community.  Each week we received videos with instructions on the next step.  We worked at our own comfortable speed.

Our prayer would be done in layers, and emerge as we worked and prayed our way though several steps.  As we painted, the painting itself would show us what we needed to see.  I am posting my different layers. 

We began by gathering our supplies and making our work area a sacred place, lighting candles or incense, playing music, maybe smudging with sage for purification.  This is my "beginning" photo.  A canvas left over from a prior project and a sweet, pretty easel.

Before I picked up the first brush, something became clear.  I needed a larger canvas. I sensed that I wanted more room for God to move.   Back to Michaels where I bought a bigger canvas and a real easel to support it.  OK. Now I was ready.

We began by literally painting our prayer on our blank canvases.

Then we added our first layer.  Some of us painted portals through which the Spirit would speak to us.



We continued to paint,  adding more and more images and colors as we felt led.

I ordered the wing stencils online.  They were perfect.

She began to emerge.  My spirit guide.  I really wanted her in a knee length blue dress, but the idea of painting legs and feet scared me.  So I put her in a long skirt.

 Then another one.

And another one.  Also, I wanted her to have white hair.  No way was my spirit guide going to be younger than me!

And glitter!  It is my personal philosophy that everything is better with glitter.

When we felt that our painting was complete, we added our prayer words back in.

I love her!

The paintings of my fellow classmates aren't mine to share, but believe me when I say that our finished prayers were all very different and all uniquely beautiful.

Wild Sacred Hearts Studios is offering a new class Paint Your Self-Love beginning now and I have already signed up for it. If this is your type of thing, you can learn about it here

lorilynhurley.com

The Sunday the candles were dark

What does God look like?

It is probably safe to say that to many of us, God comes to mind as an old guy complete with beard and flowing robes.

There is something to be said for that.  It portrays wisdom and stability; timelessness and strength.  Also, though, it can be rather stogy and limiting. 

I have a friend who thinks of God as light.   

Just for fun,  I googled synonyms of light and found:  illumination, brightness,

luminescence,  luminosity, shining, gleaming,

 brilliance, radiance, luster, glowing, glow, blaze, glare, dazzle.

 

Anyway, the image of God as light came to mind during church on Sunday.  While sharing prayer concerns at the beginning of the service, our attention was directed to a candle on the altar, placed there in remembrance of the passing of one of our members. 

We all looked at the candle.  It was not lit.  Neither were the two candles which represent the light of Christ.

I could take pictures because I was sitting in front.
 

They are blurry because I was trying to be discreet.

Not a big deal, except it kind of was.  Once you saw that the light was gone, you couldn’t unsee it.  At least, I couldn’t.  I tried to focus on the prayer, but kept thinking of those dark candles.  It bothered me.

When the prayer ended and we raised our heads, the candles were lit.  It seems that while we were praying, Christ came. 

I know, I know.  He was there all along.  Still, it was a reminder to me of how much we take the Light for granted. 

The candle representing the life of our fellow church member was burning brightly.  The Light of Christ was glowing. 

 

At the end of the service, as always, the acolytes carried the light from the altar, down the aisle, and (symbolically) out into the world.
 

Once there was someone who said such amazing things and did such wonderful things that people began to follow Him, but they didn’t know who He was.  So one day, they just had to ask Him. 

 

 

And He said,

“I am the Light.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faith: belief and trust in and loyalty to God (Merriam-Webster)

This is my quote of the day. 

I first heard it over 20 years ago when I was new to my church, and a minister said it in an evening class.  I thought it was a pretty wise statement, then and I still think so.

So, thank you, Milford Walters, for planting this little seed of wisdom in my brain so long ago.

May you rest in peace.

New Beginnings

I am huge fan of new beginnings.  

My friend and I made our annual trek to Nashville, Indiana last week.  We have this down.  We not only stay in the same B&B every year, we stay in the same room. Every year.  I have my bed and she has hers. 

I have the little town pretty much memorized and know my favorite stores and eating places.

Isn't there is something relaxing and soothing about going someplace familiar and predictable?

Of course, there are always a few surprises.  One of my favorite coffee shops had a lovely quirkiness that I always enjoyed.

 

 

But this year it had had left this delightful little place

and relocated to a shared space with another restaurant.   It happens.

Another of my favorite places was undergoing renovations, but that will be something to look forward to for next year.

 

Naturally, there were new places, too. 

I struck up conversations with the proprietors of two new shops.

One was owned by two ladies who had moved to Brown Co. from the Chicago area after retirement and were loving the slower pace.  The other was  owned by a woman who had moved with her husband a few years after losing her daughter (aged 35) in a car accident. 

Some new beginnings are born of joy and adventure, some of heartbreak.

And then there was the couple at our B&B.  

I had seen the notice on the lobby bulletin board.  It is always filled with cute signs announcing special occasions - birthdays, anniversaries (LOTS of anniversaries), and the occasional honeymoon.

Well, this year there was a honeymooning couple.

They were in the dining room the first morning while I was eating breakfast. I didn't take their picture, but he was handsome and she was beautiful, because honeymooners always are.  It wasn't their first go-around.  Each had been married (give or take a few) 50 years before losing their spouses. 

It is never too late for new beginnings.

We found  a new place this year for dinner.  Story Inn in Story, Indiana.  Actually, Story Inn IS Story, Indiana.   But if your town is going to consist of one thing,  this little general store/restaurant is the thing to have.

The food was good and the inside was cozy and interesting.

Stained glass from an old church.

 

After we ate, we went to the garden behind the restaurant. 

 



 

 

It was wonderful...green

 

 

and happy.

 



 

 

Something new can wake you up!   Like this swing.  I had a rope swing

growing up and it was great to find this one. 

 

 

Sadly, we didn't meet the ghost that supposedly resides at the Inn. 

Maybe next time.

 

 

Of course we got lost making our way back to Nashville. 

But that's part of the fun, too.

If you let it be.