Happy Halloween

"Backward, turn backward,O Time,

in your flight make me a child again

just for to-night!"~Elizabeth Akers Allen

"Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold." ~Judith Olney

"Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul

on Halloween night." ~Steve Almond

Lookin' For

my costume this year...






I think this is too tame

maybe this is a little much...

oooh well, Halloween comes just once a year!"

(This is a little snug if you ask me.)

Trick or Treat!

Hope you have a good one!

Getting Ready For Autumn

"The first of this year's
leaves lets go and drifts,
no breeze to bear it.

With lazy grace the leaf
unwinds it's growing
season in a dancing
downward spiral, lands
in silence, making of
itself a perfect offering
to the altar of the earth."

from Poems from the Heart of Yoga
Danna Faulds

Love's Truest Language

"Flowers are love's truest language."– Park Benjamin

You Can't Go Wrong

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do.
Where there is love and inspiration,
I don't think you can go wrong."
— Ella Fitzgerald, African-American Jazz singer

The Garden of Our Childhood

"There is a garden in every childhood,

an enchanted place where colors are brighter,

the air softer and the morning more fragrant,

than ever again." -Elizabeth Lawrence

What JOY Feels Like

"Joy is the feeling of grinning inside."
-Melba Colgrove

The Compass That Guides Us

"Families are the compass that guide us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter." - Brad Henry

"Your inner knowing is your only true compass." -Joy Page

Into The Woods

"In some mysterious way woods have never seemed to me to be static things. In physical terms, I move through them; yet in metaphysical ones, they seem to move through me."
-- John Fowles

The Sea

"When I go down by the sandy shore

I can think of nothing I want more

Than to live by the booming sea

As the seagulls flutter round about me

I can run about--when the tide is out

With the wind

and the sand

and the sea all about

And the seagulls are swirling and diving for fish

Oh-to live by the sea is my only wish."

This little poem was written by Jacqueline Bouvier when she was ten years old.

The Importance of YOU

Painting by Jessie Wilcox Smith

“To the world
you may be just one person,
but to one person
you may be the world.”
Brandi Snyder

Wherever You Go, There You Are

"The habit of ignoring our present moments

in favor of others yet to come

leads directly to a pervasive lack of awareness

of the web of life,

in which,

we are embedded."

-Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are

Evening

image via Karen Harvey Cox

"The sky puts on the darkening blue coat


held for it by a row of ancient trees;


you watch: and the lands grow distant in your sight,


one journeying to heaven


and one that falls;


and leave you not at home in either one,


not quite so still and dark as the darkened houses,


not calling to eternity


with the passion of what becomes a star each night,


and rises; and leave you (inexpressibly to unravel)your life,


with its immensity and fear,


so that,


now bounded,


now immeasurable,


it is alternately stone in you and star."


-Rainer Maria Rilke", Evening

Rekindling Your Inner Light

"Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame
by an encounter with another human being.

Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled
this inner light."
-Albert Schweitzer

Have Some Fun Playing Dress Up

Femme fatale literally means "fatal woman" in French.

According to the movie Mildred Pierce, it can be defined as

"the kind of woman men want...but shouldn't have!".

Allure, mystery, and classy, dark glamour embody the femme fatale.

"Remember that always dressing in understated good taste is the same as playing dead." ~Susan Catherine

Today's Thoughts for You

"Smile,

breathe

and go slowly." Thich Nhat Hanh

Champagne and High Heels

"A cause may be inconvenient, but it's magnificent. It's like champagne or high heels, and one must be prepared to suffer for it." -Arnold Bennett

Open-Ended Adventure

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."
Jawaharal Nehru

The Best Season of Your Life

"Ten thousand flowers in the Spring
The moon in Autumn
A cool breeze in the Summer
Snow in the Winter
If your mind is not clouded by unnecessary things
This is the best Season of your life."-Chinese Poem

I Like This Idea

"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats."-Iris Murdoch

The Notion Corrected

The Notion: "Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs to find a prince."

The Truth:
And yet, the true version of the phrase is so much more satisfying and accurate:

" If you don't get rid of the frogs as decisively as possible,
you won't have time to find a prince." -unknown

Endless Yearning

“Once you have traveled,

the voyage never ends,

but is played out over and over again

in the quiestest chambers.

The mind can never break off

from the journey”
Pat Conroy

Release

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free

and

discover that the prisoner was you."

~ Lewis B. Smedes

One Word

“One word frees us of all
the weight and pain of life:
that word is
love.”
Sophocles

Parallel Lives

"What I really want is to have parallel lives.
To not have to make a choice,
to experience everything."-Pauline Kenny*



Often I dream of a parallel life. One that allows me to be in several places at the same time. Sometimes in that dream I'd like to be in Coogee Beach, Australia, where my youngest daughter Athena lives.


I dream of seeing Mat and Athena smiling like this:

Other days I dream of a life in Italy. I am walking down a street perhaps in Florence, the city where my other daughter Aria lives.

In that parallel life I see Aria standing in the sunshine with Daniele and they look like this:
If I can't have a parallel life then I am greatful for the times when I am together with both my girlies in our own backyard.

Loving the times when both my girls come home.

(Athena and Mat will be home for the Thanksgiving holidays and Aria and Daniele will come home for Christmas. )YAY!!!

"Home is where the heart is."

*

Pauline Kenny and Steve Cohen are spending A Year in England. They run Slow Europe, a guide to finding vacation rentals in Europe, and Cotswolder, a travel guide for the corner of England that is their temporary home. http://networkedblogs.com/8LLmy

Living in the Sunshine of Life

"But friendship is precious,
not only in the shade,
but in the sunshine of life,
and thanks to a benevolent arrangement
the greater part of life
is sunshine. "Thomas Jefferson

On This Overcast Morning

"Every day I see or hear something that more or less

kills me with delight,

that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light. " -Mary Oliver

Fancy Foot Work

"All I want are high heels, high heels. If I was a girl, I'd wear a lot of high heels. High, stiletto heels."- Isaac Mizrahi