RETURNING

This home, in a small town in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountain Range, is a huge country home, typical of the area. It originally belonged to a doctor, the waiting room there on the left side entrance.

 I loved to visit here in the winter, driving up from New York City when I was older.

  

When I was very young, it was a short car trip which I would take with my Father for a visit.

Inside, everything is conducive to a sense of being at home - the lush fabric of the furniture, the rambling hardwood floors, the many unbleached linen curtained  windows, etc.

In this home were many items of which I was familiar since I was a very young girl.

For many years there were two barrel chairs sitting in that waiting room. They were bequeathed to me because they had been my grandparents'.  I can trace them back to their sitting in their dining room by the window between a fern.

 Now they are in my home in Florida, sometimes covered with recently worn clothes.

The light inside this house was brilliant, even in the darkness of winter.

 Gee, I miss that particular feeling that accompanies actually returning and being welcome for a moment in a life's time.

GRATITUDE

On one of many treks to Plymouth, Massachusetts, I heard a story about how it was one of my ancestors who came up with the idea of Thanksgiving.

 SHE is not remembered in the history books for this - as an individual, of course.

Since it isn't written anywhere special, the truth of this can not be validated, but as we all know, even in writing, the chances depends on the source and the reason for the information.

Nevertheless, I imaged her, as a woman such as I, who walked through life with a deep sense of gratitude, if only as an after-the-fact conclusion.

In today's world,the discipline of being grateful - and it is a discipline developed - is not so easy.

However, being thankful is a life saving daily ritual for those who love life.

BOWLS

The begging bowl - a practice of ancient Buddhist monks - holds a message worth mentioning.

The monks carried their bowls with them, asking for a little bit of rice as they journeyed through the day.

At the end of the day, back at the monastery, monks expressed gratitude for the contents of their bowls.

This gift of a monk's bowl was adorned with with dragonflies and fired with a lavender ceramic glaze on the inside.

The dragonflies symbolize change of spiritual perspective.

The lavender is the color of Spirit's opening into life experience.

Eating from this monk's bowl  at day's end is to feast at a grand  banquet.

DUOMO

We turned a corner, after walking down a long  every-day street of storefronts, and encountered this.

This is Duomo - or at least a small part of it - located in Firenze (Florence), Italy.

We walked along side this Duomo, turned another corner, and there we saw more Duomo.

The building is mammoth sized.

I wondered what inspired the ancients  to have designed this overwhelming magnificence.

I wondered if the slaves who did all the work loved building it.

 I wondered how many people attended Mass here.

I wondered many questions.

Standing in the presence of Duomo brings out overwhelming wonder from within.

HURRICANE

The hurricane was way off shore , but it spanned 900 miles.

As it headed north, the rain fell evenly and gently, even with the winds pulling off moss and dead limbs from the trees.

With the window open all night, I listened to the gentle steadiness of the wind - a relentlessl ebb without the flow, a lingering whispering exhale.

The same occurred during another hurricane a few years ago.  The hurricane crossed the state, south of us.  All through the night, this gentle breathing of a wind that was ravaging the land many miles away.

Hurricanes are not this pleasant experience at all, except when laying there far from its destructive power.

There is also, of course, an awareness of suffering by those caught in the storm's way, which keeps sleep away.

From a distance, as the song points out so wisely, the wind is peaceful and for the moment, calming.

SMELLS

Almost midnight, I was sitting on the porch, hanging with the two cats.

Bo and Bo III are accustomed to schmoozing for treats about that time of night.

As  I sat there, feeling the cool breeze brush my face, I became aware that the breeze was carrying the fragrance of night jasmine along with its coolness.

Embraced by this privilege, I let this breeze give me a big old teddy bear hug. My, what a blessing!

Then I opened the bag of cat treats, only to be invaded by the tasty aroma of chicken and cheese.

 The cats came alive with anticipation. It was their turn to be blessed.

ADVENTURE

I have come to the conclusion that happiness at this age depends more on stretching beyond defined limitations than on following all the directions for staying healthy - diet, exercise, meditation,  relaxation, stimulating the brain, whatever.

There was a documentary on PBS recently which reported kayaking as a stimulus to curing cancer. The premise was that the exhilaration of kayaking the rapids has healing potential.

 A friend of mine with spinal chord injury, drove all night through a snowstorm from Reno to Sacramento, missing her strict mediation times. She was deliriously happy about her success, and was none the worse for wear.

I have been wondering what I can do to be deliriously exhilarated - not to live longer - but to break free from this package called "getting older". I'm on a hunt for a newadventure, now that the bucket list is all checked off and I'm still alive and willing to thrive.

Squirrel eating stale bread on stump in the yard.