Entries Categorized as 'Uncategorized'

Ozone – A World Together

April 18, 2023

“It’s so easy to allow one day to simply follow into the next, but every once in a while we encounter something that shows us that anything is possible, that dramatic change is possible, that something new can be made, that laughter can be shared.” ~ Jonathan Safran Foer Just after the new year, I […]

Thought Waves

December 20, 2022

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” ~ Carl Jung   This year’s Nobel Prize for physics was won by three scientists who demonstrated that two separate particles can exist in what is known as an “entangled” state, which means that […]

Itadakimasu

August 28, 2022

“Looking deeply into your tea, you see that you are drinking fragrant plants that are the gift of Mother Earth. You see the labor of the tea pickers; you see the luscious tea fields and plantations in Sri Lanka, China, and Vietnam. You know that you are drinking a cloud; you are drinking the rain. […]

Five in the Morning

June 22, 2022

“You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one; each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.” ~ Paulo Coelho From Sky & Telescope   “Look! up in the sky!” This Friday morning particularly, but really […]

Tower of Understanding

May 24, 2022

“Music is the universal language of mankind.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow   Mole Antonelliana, a landmark in the city of Torino/Turin, location for Eurovision 2022   As I mentioned in my last post, my friend Francesca and I recently attended a concert by the Italian rock band, Måneskin. They put on a fantastic show. The […]

Vent’anni

March 26, 2022

“Arise from sleep, old cat, And with great yawns and stretchings… Amble out for love” ~ Issa (Translated by Peter Beilenson) Japanese Haiku 1955-56   My sweet Sofia (recent photo above) just turned 20 years-old! It was on March 25, twenty years ago, that I found Sofia and her brothers abandoned in a shoe box, […]

Green Season

March 13, 2022

“The garden of love is green without limit and yields many fruits other than sorrow or joy. Love is beyond either condition: without spring, without autumn, it is always fresh.” ~ Rumi     Spring has come a bit early to my house: the Orchid Sisters have returned! When they bloomed last year, it had […]

High(ish) Hopes

February 2, 2022

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841)   For the last couple of years now, it seems we have been continually swimming in this pandemic, facing down wave after wave, as if caught in a riptide. The shore is in view, but each time we […]

A Winter Wish for You

December 24, 2021

  Winter, the quiet season, has arrived. Beyond the hustle and bustle of the current festivities, winter is a time for shorter days, staying indoors and quiet contemplation. It is a season that offers us an opportunity to look back on where we’ve been and to look forward to all the possibilities held in the […]

A Month By Any Other Number

November 27, 2021

“Gratus animus est una virtus non solum maxima, sed etiam mater virtutum onmium reliquarum.” “A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.” ~Marcus Tullius Cicero     My second language is Italian. Not long ago I was helping another native English speaker begin their own Italian language-learning […]