Night songs...

Softly singing into the night...

"Sit outside at midnight and close your eyes;

feel the grass, the air, the space.

Listen to the birds for ten minutes at dawn.

Memorize a flower."

- Linda Hasselstrom

(Peace be with You)

Do you feel it?... summer drawing to a close... it seems that the crickets are singing lullabies pulling the covers over us to get ready for the cooler nights. My friend Betsy recently read to me a passage from an old book she found that was written in the 1920s by someone who had fallen in love with the area surrounding Cape Cod... the words spoke to me of making friends with the soft night and wrapping up in it with embracing love. I like those thoughts of finding peacefulness in the after midnight quiet.

Wishing you the sweetness of a summer dark velvet night, aglow with starlight and candlelight.

Wishing you end of summer peace... 

Style...

"I believe in pink.

I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.

I believe in kissing, kissing a lot.

I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.

I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.

I believe that tomorrow is another day

and

I believe in miracles."

- Audrey Hepburn

An artist-inspired banner of Audrey Hepburn flutters in the air high above the design district's walkway reminding any who care to notice that style - one's own personal style - is timeless. I noticed the banner and the message and smiled. I have also noticed that Audrey Hepburn's style was not something that was simply black and white but included so many shades of color and delight. We are each like that - our style is signature... and timeless... a living miracle, if you ask me...

 

Pausing...

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.

-G.K. Chesterton

Have you ever noticed that sometimes life is going so fast, and has so many demands, that you forget to slow down and savor what is beneath the tip of your nose or positioned against the sky just beyond your lifted chin? New details can emerge on an exquisite building that has been in your path - in one way or another - for decades. Slow down and just stand there for a moment - so much is simply waiting there for your kind company and undivided attention. You will be glad you did...

Another year...

"I stood still in that moment before the celebration of yet another year,

and my heart bloomed open."

- k.e.h.

My little sister is on the brink of a new year today... so many possibilities and joys await her... so many choices to claim for her one precious life. I pray for her to be blessed with vibrancy, courage, peace and beauty. I hope she will forever celebrate the gift of being born...

My love and birthday wishes for a very blessed year, dear baby bird, Kiki. I welcome your new year...

Your labyrinth... what did you contemplate there?

Whispered Prayers

"Prayer is translation.

A man translates himself

into a child asking for all

there is in a language he

has barely mastered."

-Leonard Cohen, 76, singer and songwriter

My days are woven with the gentle and exquisite threads of prayers - mine for others and their kind offerings for me. This divine (and mostly private) Godly offering has been going on for so many years it has become like breathing for me. Softly and sweetly... in and out - whispered breath by whispered breath - transformation occurs with this translation of a language I still do not completely understand (but take great comfort in). Over the years, I have become an ever-grateful witness to many miracles, healings and joys - large and small - that have arrived on the wings of divinely answered prayers.

I just thought I would tell you today... because you - those who care to graciously visit me here - would find yourself in my prayers more than you realize... and within those prayers for your well being these words are repeated again and again: thank you for their presence in my life...