What if we were to walk each step as if it were a miracle? Thich Nhat Hanh writes in Your True Home that by being truly aware of each moment, each breath and each step, we can appreciate that we are participating in the miracle of life. In fact, each one of our steps is [...]
Have you ever visited a butterfly house? Or sat in a specially designed butterfly garden teeming with fluttering wings? This summer I visited the Wings of Mackinac Butterfly Conservatory, located on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Here are photos of some of the butterflies that I was able to observe. I was so in awe of their [...]
As a lifelong “talker to myself”, I was recently pleased to spot one of those internet headlines “Talking to yourself out loud helps boost brainpower and could indicate higher intelligence.” Naturally, I had to click on the link to learn more. A Bangor University study has concluded that reading instructions out loud allows our brains [...]
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” – John Muir My place of beauty is Glen Lake and the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes area located west of Traverse City, Michigan. My family has been spending summers on Glen Lake for [...]
While attending a quilting retreat last month in Cody, Wyoming, I was introduced to the recently published book, The Fabric of Memory. It’s a great story. The Textile Artists of Greater Yellowstone decided to take on a design project featuring the experiences of Japanese-Americans interred at The Heart Mountain Relocation Center during 1942 – 1945. After [...]
Have you noticed that pumpkins and October go hand in hand? Piles of pumpkins add so much beauty to this time of year. Recently, I was helping out at a pumpkin patch. It was a slow afternoon with very few customers. It was just me and several hundred future jack-o-lanterns. With nothing else to do, [...]
Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear encourages readers to consider focusing more on their curiosity rather than always on their passion. She wrote: ” Curiosity is the truth and the way of creative living.” This resonates with me. I’m from the Midwest. Midwesterners don’t usually do passion in a big way. But [...]
The world looks different from thousands of feet in the air. Recently, I was a passenger in a Cessna piloted by my brother, Dave. We flew over the Leelanau Peninsula and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This is country that we have known all of our lives. The Dunes is the largest moving sand [...]
I believe that opportunities for joy can be found in almost all circumstances. And this month I’ve had more than one opportunity to test this belief. So here’s the question: can one find joy in airports and business travel? My “home” airport is Chicago’s O’Hare (ORD). In the past month or so, the wait time [...]
I recently had the opportunity to visit Palm Springs, California. It’s a Mecca for golfers and a lovely place to soak up the sun – especially when the North is under a couple feet of snow. Essentially, it’s an manicured oasis surrounded by desert and mountains. Not too shabby. As I lounged about in [...]
