A Big Part of My Life, Lately

I must add that I have not actually won this award.
An acquaintance posted it, and it captured so well what it is to sew with cats.
After a bit of searching, I found its source {here}.

What a Wonderful Sentiment

I Wish I Could Emulate My Dog's Attitude Toward Life.

Most Life-Changing Books by Women . . .

The Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction launched a campaign to find the novels, by women, "that have most impacted, shaped or changed readers' lives."

This list is the result:

1) To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
2) The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood
3) Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
4) Harry Potter – JK Rowling
5) Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
6) Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
7) Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
8) Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
9) The Secret History – Donna Tartt
10) I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith
11) The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
12) Beloved – Toni Morrison
13) Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
14) We Need To Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
15) The Time Traveller's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
16) Middlemarch – George Eliot
17) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
18) The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
19) The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
20) The Women's Room – Marilyn French

Those titles in bold are ones I have read, while those in italic are sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. I was surprised at how few of the books on the list that I had actually read, as I try to go out of my way to support women writers.

After thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that the problem is the subject matter. Although a couple of them I'd not heard of (9 & 10), when I look at the unread books on this list, I see many deep and difficult subjects. And I am a wuss. You'd think that with all the murder and mayhem I consume, I'd have a stronger constitution. But you'd be wrong.

Over the course of my life I have had experiences (as have we all) that have left, well, scars; and I find I'm a bit gun shy of subjects that threaten to make me actually feel deeply. So, many popular and critically acclaimed books never end up on my night stand.

Are there subjects that you avoid? I don't mean for moral or ethical reasons (for the most rational among us often agree to disagree on such things), but for personal ones.


Source: The Guardian.

Pondering the Great Mysteries of Life . . .

My Idea of Paradise . . . With the Possible Addition of a Cup of Tea . . .

Why is This Controversial Again? . . . Oh. . . . Yeah. . . .

The Universal Declaration 

of 

Human Rights

The PREAMBLE begins:

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, . . . 

What follows the Preamble is 30 RIGHTS to which some feel they are entitled but others are not, including . . .

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty 

and security of person.

Sound familiar?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. . . .

POETRY: Read More, Blog More #7

After last month's mess up where I managed to put up the posts for both that month and this month as well as botch the links, I was left wondering what I could possibly do this month to top that technical sleight of hand.

Some questions should just not be asked.

Anyway, school is finally out for the summer and I've been recouping in my garden. It's amazing how frustrations and anxieties flake off into the dirt as compost and fertilize new life. It doesn't make anything easier really, but it sure does feel good.

Most mornings are spent working in the soil, weeding and watering, and then topped off with tea, breakfast, and a good book in the garden. All the while I'm surrounded by singing birds, dancing butterflies, buzzing bees, wonderful scents - and beauty.

I also mentioned last month that I've started writing daily Haiku. And as it just so happens, most of those little gems are about my garden.

Quelle Surprise!

I don't practice perfectly. Occasionally I miss a day or two and go back to fill in. And on other days I find myself writing several. But those days I miss just feel wrong; I can tell that there is something missing. 

Because I take a few minutes every day to write (often in the garden), I find myself paying closer attention to the things around me. I have cultivated a deeper connection with, not only my garden, but all of its varied inhabitants and visitors, and of course, myself. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm still dealing with all the same issues as I was before. The world itself hasn't changed - but I have. 

I'm no Basho; not even close. But the benefits of "living a haiku life" are palpable. I have even expanded my initial goals, but that's for another time.

Here are a couple of my efforts:

brightly colored pot 

now a home for garden frogs
broken no more

no cherry blossoms
just swaying fields of orange
California spring

Haiku copyright © J.F. Spillane.

Some Life Secrets Aren't So Secret

I Found a Beautiful Blog About Trees and Light and Life . . .

It's called 

THE FEDERATION OF LIGHT

DAY(s) OF THE DEAD, Part I

I read somewhere, and forgive me if I get it wrong, but to the Aztecs, life was a dream state on the way to waking up in death and true existence. Ancient customs form a kind of human bridge, making connections from the past through to the everlasting. So on The Day of The Dead, the skulls, death, and rebirth are inextricably bound. A circle if you will.

Today, It is a joyous and sacred time, a time to welcome the souls of the dead in a celebration in which the living and the dead are joined, if even for a short while. In some ways it is a triumph over death and therefore a celebration of life.



Deceased loved ones are given back to families and friends if only for a brief time. Because of this, It is both very public and very private at once.