Posts Tagged: friends

Someone by Alice McDermott

September 4th, 2014
Posted By:

Someone Goodreads

Someone  by Alice McDermott was given to me as a Christmas gift but I purposely set it aside because I knew that I wanted to savor every word of this novel.  I knew it was going to be special and I was right.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading McDermott’s award-winning book, Charming Billy, and so I was familiar with McDermott’s incredible gift of creating characters that you feel you know, sentences that make you stop and go back and reread them several times and her mastery of quietly leading you into her magical stories.

Someone is set in Brooklyn in the … Read More

Plenty of Positive

August 25th, 2014
Posted By:

Lots of children and parents in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia are waking up earlier than usual this morning and wondering what happened to the easy breezy days of summer.  They are looking at the calendar and staring at today’s date and thinking, “How did this happen?  How could today be the first day of school?” A new school year is time to look forward with a sense of hope.  It’s a chance to do things a little different and a little better.  First days of anything offer the opportunity for a fresh start.  Of course, there may also be… Read More

As High As An Elephant’s Eye

August 15th, 2014
Posted By:

“There’s a bright, golden haze on the meadowThere’s a bright, golden haze on the meadow.The corn is as high as an elephant’s eyeAnd it looks like it’s climbing clear up to the sky.” Lyrics to “Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin’ ” by Oscar Hammerstein II Walking among the farmer’s stalls yesterday, my eyes were in search of corn on the cob.  Specifically, the kind of corn on the cob that you can only get in August when the corn is white and oh so sweet and when you eat it it feels like it goes to your very core to… Read More

A Neighborly Comfort Zone

August 13th, 2014
Posted By:

I am blessed with great neighbors.  We wave and chat when we see each other, we bring our newspapers in for each other when we know someone is away and we all get along in, well, I must say, a neighborly way.  We don’t really socialize with each other that much but we are aware of how most of us are doing and the general goings on in our busy lives. An older couple who lives nearby has a great porch that has a beautiful navy blue and white striped awning and we all hang out there from time to… Read More

We Are Love

August 11th, 2014
Posted By:

Wow!! My weekend certainly went by like a flash!  I visited my parents, worked around the house, talked to a very sick friend in the hospital and got a lot accomplished.  I hope your weekend was everything you planned it to be!! Starting the new work week with good thoughts is important to me because I try to set a tone within myself and stick to it as much as I can.  I am reminded today of a particularly beautiful excerpt from Marianne Williams book, “A Return To Love:” “Just as a sunbeam can’t separate itself from the sun, and… Read More

Can Adversity Be Useful?

August 8th, 2014
Posted By:

When my world becomes full of too many problems, I look to others for their unique advice, inspiration and strength.  I find socializing is a good positive answer to lifting a bad mood. Having coffee and a long conversation with a friend can help me sometimes see that there is a way out of my stress; that things may feel overwhelming right now but it’s not a permanent situation.  Something better might be right around the corner and I just need to hang in there and ride this bad time out. Besides hanging out with family and friends, I also… Read More

Musical Strength

July 7th, 2014
Posted By:

Music can be an unexpected source of strength. Athletes use songs and soundtracks to help them focus prior to competition.  It’s pretty common to see athletes staring straight ahead in the locker room with their ear buds in place or warming up with ear buds and you know that whatever they are listening to is helping them get into some kind of a performance zone, taking them to a place where they can block out unnecessary thoughts and noise. I know that when I go for a walk or a run or a combination of the two, that listening to… Read More

Independent Behavior

July 4th, 2014
Posted By:

Happy Fourth of July! Today I will be spending the day with friends I have known for decades; really great, tried and true friends.  There will be a cookout along with patriotic music, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, fireworks and best of all, relaxation. This 4th of July party is an annual event and one that I and the rest of my friends look forward to attending every year, rain or shine. ( http://crylaughheal.com/independence-day ) There are only a few times I purposely missed attending this party.  For two summers in a row, after my husband’s death, I… Read More

Summer Squirt

June 27th, 2014
Posted By:

On the last Friday in June, here’s something to think about:    The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and with out fear for newer and richer experience                             ~   Eleanor Roosevelt… Read More