And if we can’t save the world, and who says we can’t, then let us try anyway. Perhaps we have no superhuman powers— can’t see through buildings, can’t fly, can’t bend the bars of cages— but we have human powers— can listen, can stand up to, can stand up for, can cradle. And if we can’t imagine a world of peace, and who says we can’t, then let us try anyway. Perhaps we start tonight—on a Wednesday. Thursday works, too. Or Friday. Doesn’t much matter the day. All that matters is the choice to meet this moment exactly as it is, with no dream of being anyone else but our flawed and fabulous very self— and then, wholly present, bringing this self to the world, touching again and again what is true. — Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer (excerpted from MANIFESTO)
Let us meet just slightly west and south of a place called despair.
It is a place that does not turn away from difficulty or fierceness. And yet it is also a place of paradoxical gratitude, where images, metaphors, powerful language and practices of grateful living combine to bring about moments of belonging, grace and yes, even joy. —Dale Biron
Ho Ho Ho! Mother Nature gave me some spectacular gifts this holiday season. You, too?
When I stepped onto my front porch, for instance, I realized that a hummingbird’s been ferrying fresh fluff-and-stuff to the fuchsia plant along our walkway. Using her beak as a needle, and spider silk as thread, she stitches the cushiony material to a sturdy branch. A quick whirl of her tail feathers, and voilà! Her walnut-sized home’s beginning to take shape. #RoomAtTheInn
Just yesterday, I spied a pair of perky ears, lurking behind the low-lying wall in our backyard. Could it be…? Yes! Wile E. Coyote loped along our fence, and then posed for the camera before trotting up the neighboring hillside.
Oh, and hey, did you notice the tender green shoots, poking their heads through the damp soil at his feet? We’ve had lots more rainstorms of late, and the thirsty soil is gulping it right down! Here’s hoping El Niño showers us with bountiful rains this winter, so we’ll have wildflowers aplenty, come springtime.
“Walking in a Winter Wonderland” might suggest snow flurries and hot chocolate to some, but it sings to me of blue skies and sandy beaches.
When sunlight slants through the water just so, the waves sparkle and shimmer like jewels. Nudged by strong currents, they’re capped these days with frothy meringue peaks. You can’t buy holiday treats like this, anywhere! But at Aliso Creek Beach, they’re free for the taking.
Here, the simple joys of the holiday season, accompanied by the ocean’s magnum opus.
The sun sinks below the horizon, and a pair of surfers wash ashore.
Behold! They stand at the water’s edge, in soggy board shorts and dreads. We witness together the grandeur of this moment.
In this season of giving, we’re encouraged also to receive…
Unspeakable joys, for those who watch and listen. Timeless gifts, no proof of purchase required and no expiration date.
You will find truth more quickly through delight than gravity. Let out a little more string on your kite. —Alan Cohen
Yesterday’s highlights: A last-vestiges-of-summer picnic, and a kite that danced in the shimmery clouds at sunset.
This, at the tail end of a decades-long genealogical search that came to a sudden, dark conclusion. The shadow’s reach is long. But it’s all for the good, because when secrets are exposed to sunlight, their gravitational hold is lifted and the healing process begins.
Day 30 of the #AugustBreak2015 photography challenge. Today’s prompt is smile. It’s out of sequence, because…vacation! I’ll upload my retrospective snaps to a single post, before this month is over.
