The Best Christmas Gift of All!

Finding Sweetie Sue and S.S. finding me.

It's a Merry Christmas

because we have each other. Whether human

or furry friend, it's the love you share that counts.

So, to all of our wonderful Blog and Blogger friends:

MERRY CHRISTMAS ! ! !

You Are Not Alone

I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.

Taylor Caldwell
American Author and Novelist
1900-1985

Fly away with me.

Know that I am here.

For you.

Always

And forever.

Beauty lives within us all.

Appreciate the Wonder of Life!

 

The Best Reasons of the Season

With two wars going on globally, the battle for national health insurance raging, the state of the economy dismal and getting worse, unemployment at an all time high (my own included) and woes in the personal and professional realm, what's there to celebrate this Christmas, I ask you?

When I started this blog, it was to grieve the loss of Suzy, my beloved Sheltie.  It was to be a repository for all my sadness and wailings.  My personal dumpster, if you will.  Then, it began taking on a life of its own.  Evolving, like all of our lives, into its own form, with its own tales and truths. So it is this season, as I sit down to write my blog two days before Christmas.

Not knowing where I'll be, who I'll be with (if anyone) and what I'll be doing, uncertainty can drive a person mad. Yet, being spontaneous is a wonderful adventure.  So when I think of the Chinese "yin and yang" or polar opposites, I think of happy and sad, good and bad, glad and mad and so on.  And then I think about how that applies to all of us so much of the time.

Uncertainty is often fraught with angst & worry.  What will happen if. . . . . .?  Am I capable of doing this?  Who else will be there?  Will they like me?  Am I good enough?  And on and on.  Then, the moments of joy, when one feels safe, secure, in the right place at the right time.  Comfortable.  We all experience both feelings many times a month, week, maybe even each day.  And, life goes on.

Oprah always says, "This, I know is true. . ." then goes on to say what she feels in her bones.  No matter the ratings, her personal life, family woes or global foes, Oprah knows certain things to be true no matter what.
Things that anchor and delight her, things that bring her love and are there for her. Things that matter. And so it is with me this holiday season, for these reasons, this is what I know. . .

From My Meditation Teacher

From The Dhammapada: Flowers

The perfume of sandalwood,

Rosebay or jasmine

Cannot travel against the wind.

But the fragrance of virtue

Travels even against the wind,

As far as the ends of the world.

How much finer

Is the fragrance of virtue

Than of sandalwood, rosebay,

Of the blue lotus or jasmine!

The fragrance of sandalwood and rosebay

Does not travel far.

But the fragrance of virtue

Rises to the heavens.

Know What You Want

You've got to accentuate the positive,

Eliminate the negative,

Latch on to the affirmative,

And don't mess with Mister In-Between!

--Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen from the

hit song, Accentuate the Positive

From book entitled, Invisible Armor:  Protecting Your Personal Energy by Thomas A. Hensel

Last Tuesday I went to our camera club's Christmas party and had a fairly good time.  Why only "fairly good?"  Because of some innane banter I chanced to have with a few folks. When one goes out, especially to a holiday or festive affair, one expects to laugh, schmooze, and engage in lighthearted party-type conversations.  Right?  Well, one would think.

The table I was at had three men and three women at it, and we all chatted amicably.  Until, that is, I mentioned the photojournalist's talk we had all seen the night before.  I mentioned that some of his photos weren't to my liking and cited his very first photo, of a three year old with his pants down reaching up to flush a toilet in a public urinal.  Maybe I shouldn't have even started this line of conversation, maybe it was my fault when one of the guys shot back, "Oh yeah, I saw a guy photographing piles of poop."  Not to be outdone, the next guy trumped his remark with, "A photographer I know showed slides of road kill."

What was this turning into, a contest to see who could come up with the grossest images at the dinner table?  As I said, I probably shouldn't've even mentioned not liking this guy's work, as the conversation took a turn for the visually worse, and I lost my appetite for the chocolate pudding cake I had been enjoying!

If all that wasn't bad enough, I went on to chat with another fellow camera club buddy who, somehow, got onto how a fraternity hazing prank exploded in his face and caught his whole body on fire!  He was playing the role of Merlin, asking all new pledges to stick their heads over a bowl of highly flammable chemicals when, suddenly, he was alone in the room tanking up by adding more chemicals to the bowl when, POUF, it exploded back on him!

As he was telling me this, I had felt a mix of shock, disgust, and no prank goes unpunished, that is, the pransker usually gets his comeuppance, too, (you jerk!)  But I digress. . . the point being, is this holiday fun?  Appropriate banter and merriment at a Christmas party?  I think not!  After such an array of visually disgusting cantations, I collected my Corningware dish and left.  Such was the camera club's Christmas party 2009. 

In getting back to the above quote, I think it's a good idea to stick to positive conversations most of the time, let alone at holiday gatherings.  Be interested and interesting.  Listen carefully and add something light and fun.  Be the kind of person you'd like to chat with, and be there mindfully and with good cheer.  Time is of the essence, and we all only have a finite amount if it.  So choose wisely.  Your friends, your plans, your conversations.  For, in a moment, they'll all be gone---POUF!

Live Each Day to the Fullest

Friend, do it this way - that is,

whatever you do in life,

do the very best you can

with both your heart and mind.

And if you do it that way,

the Power Of The Universe

will come to your assistance,

if your heart and mind are in Unity.

When one sits in the Hoop Of The People,

one must be responsible because

All of Creation is related.

And the hurt of one is the hurt of all.

And the honor of one is the honor of all.

And whatever we do affects everything in the universe.

If you do it that way - that is,

if you truly join your heart and mind

as One - whatever you ask for,

that's the Way It's Going To Be.

Lakota Instructions for Living

As passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Animals, Nature, Art, Beauty, Truth, Honor, Innocence, Warm Friends and Family, Carriage Driving, Love, Intimacy, Trust, Travel, English Countryside, Any countryside, Faith, Magic, Glitter, Grand Cayman, Vermont, National Parks, Switzerland, Good Conversation, Delicious Food, Chocolate Chip Cookies (preferably mine), cuddles, snuggles, Gourmet Gardens Restaurant, Broadway Musicals, laughter, handbells, books that leave me more inspired, red, cozy sweaters and PJ's, roaring fires and fireside chats, old trees, babbling brooks, any pets I've had the great fortune to have known, harmony, peace, tranquillity, Calligraphy, enchantment, possibilities, fun, freedom, flexibility, imagination, creativity, collaboration, flowers, baby-anything and LIFE!