A Day at the Pond

A person should go out on the water on a fine day to a small distance from a beautiful coast, if he would see Nature really smile. Never does she look so delightful, as when the sun is brightly reflected by the water, while the waves are gently rippling, and the prospect receives life and animation from the glancing transit of an occasional row-boat, and the quieter motion of a few small vessels. But the land must be well in sight; not only for its own sake, but because the immensity and awfulness of a mere sea-view would ill accord with the other parts of the glittering and joyous scene.

~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

~Margaret Meade

The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.

Farewell Michael Jackson. May you rest in peace, and may your spirit soar high.

Today, I celebrate your life. Tomorrow I will do the same, even though my heart has broken with you gone.

Crazy how the media have turned the table and talk well of a dead man, after haunting his life.

If we are told by the media that elves caused it to rain, we would see proof of elves every time it rained wouldn't we?

Michael had always been a shining star that never extinguished in my eyes. He was a multi talented genius.

He changed how people accepted music by making it come alive.

Michael was the music's version of Martin Luther King. He blended races with his talents, pressing crowds of white and black people together, who were so overwhelmed by his greatness that they felt compelled to cheer instead of scream.

Yes, Michael did that!

He made peace and love with heart piercing lyrics that made every person, at one time or another, look his or herself in the mirror to seek self correction.

Yes, Michael did that!

And that is what I choose to remember.

Not the scandal. Not the physical transformations. Not the accusations or the lies.

I've rather decided to remember that Michael was a man who worked to use his talent to heal the world, to bring people together, and to bring a smile to the sick. My only wish is that now that he's gone those who believe in his mission would do the same.

There's A Place In Your Heart And I Know That It Is Love
And This Place Could Be Much Brighter Than Tomorrow
And If You Really Try You'll Find There's No Need To Cry
In This Place You'll Feel There's No Hurt Or Sorrow

There Are Ways To Get There
If You Care Enough For The Living
Make A Little Space
Make A Better Place...

Heal The World Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying If You Care Enough For The Living
Make A Better Place For You And For Me

If You Want To Know Why There's A Love That Cannot Lie
Love Is Strong It Only Cares For Joyful Giving
If We Try We Shall See In This Bliss
We Cannot Feel Fear Or Dread We Stop Existing And
Start Living

Then It Feels That Always Love's Enough For Us Growing
So Make A Better World
Make A Better World...

And The Dream We Were Conceived In Will Reveal A Joyful Face
And The World We Once Believed In Will Shine Again In Grace
Then Why Do We Keep Strangling Life Wound This Earth
Crucify Its Soul Though It's Plain To See
This World Is Heavenly Be God's Glow

We Could Fly So High Let Our Spirits Never Die
In My Heart I Feel You Are All
My Brothers Create A World With No Fear
Together We'll Cry Happy Tears See The Nations Turn
Their Swords Into Plowshares

There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

World Humanist Day - June 21st, 2009

Being

There is but one divinity:

the living Cosmos.

All is full of all

All is immanence,

all is incandescence.

This Being has no name,

It has no source, nor aim.

Other than its own continuance,

its own delight,

what cause, what purpose,

could be needed?

Who moved the cosmos?

It was its own prime mover

as a dancer breaks into motion

out of pure exuberance.

Aeons are its playground.

Ceaseless in change, it rests

in endless peace.

Who organized the cosmos?

Its own self.

Spontaneously,

fireflies synchronize

the radiance of their desire.

Don't look for a soul in the cosmos.

inside a roaring flame you will find

neither a warm heart nor a vengeful one.

Conceive no god

in the image of man.

Instead conceive humanity

in the mould of the cosmos.

See in your self

no self, but only

existence,

transience,

incandescence.

You need no imagination

to envisage divinity

only sensation.

You need no prophet

to point to the invisible.

You need no faith

to believe the unbelievable,

only science and sense.

Don't close your eyes to see God:

open them.

Don't look in a book to find God:

look around you.

Don't wait for death to find justice:

seek justice now.

Hold fast to the mountain face

of What Is.

Depart from the given,

and you depart from the divine.

Faith in phantasms

is idolatry.

There is no heaven in the beyond:

heaven is here and now.

There is no hell beneath.

Hell is separation from here and now.

This present world

is not an exile:

it is the homeland.

It is not a pathway:

it is the destination.

It is not a question:

it is the answer.

Welcome Summer Solstice

Great is the sun, and wide he goes

Through empty heaven with repose;

And in the blue and glowing days

More thick than rain he showers his rays.

Though closer still the blinds we pull

To keep the shady parlour cool,

Yet he will find a chink or two

To slip his golden fingers through.

The dusty attic spider-clad

He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;

And through the broken edge of tiles

Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

Meantime his golden face around

He bares to all the garden ground,

And sheds a warm and glittering look

Among the ivy's inmost nook.

Above the hills, along the blue,

Round the bright air with footing true,

To please the child, to paint the rose,

The gardener of the World, he goes.

By: Robert Louis Stevenson

Our first off road Adventure

Our childhood may be over, but that doesn't mean playtime is.

Into the scary woods we went....

Tight fit, but lots of fun!

The pond we swim in....

Another pond in the back 40 we got VERY close too, almost too close!

Looking out my window at the ground ....... told you we got too close!

Was a very cool first ride though...

Back on the driveway, and a big sigh of relief that we made it out without rolling :)

(Yes I am a sometimer sissy)

☻ LOVE ♥

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.

~Robert Fulghum

All Around The World Expo

Better late than never right? Last month the boys went on their annual 'All Around the World Expo' with their homeschooling friends in Guelph. They worked very hard on preparing their project which was the Country of Chad. They chose this country to learn more of a place that they hadn't heard of before and give the same opportunity to all of our visitors throughout the day. It was an added bonus that the name is the same as, well you know who ☻.

(This is the boys country of Chad)

Every family was to prepare a project on their country of choice and have a food and a passport stamp from that country for visitors to try. Passports were made up for each traveller (or child) and stamps were placed on the passports before leaving each country they went to visit.

The boys created an amazing display for their country after collected loads of information. They made mud huts to show what Chadians live in and we made banana date squares for our visitors to try while visiting.

Everybody did such an amazing job on their countries! I was impressed on how well most of the children did on presenting their country and answering the many questions asked.

Cole and Chad did a fantastic job answering all of the questions asked and kept their visitors very well entertained during their visit.

We are all looking forward to next years expo and will have to put in some good thought for our next country. TBA.

My Beautiful Boys.

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.

~Marc Brown

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons.

Away We Go Contest: Tell Us What Home Means To You

Home:

It is not a house, a barn, a box, or a any kind of a structure. Yet it can be. My home is where my heart is.

In my life, I have discovered that the place I feel the most comfortable, most relaxed and most loved is my home. It is not a single area or structure, it is more than that. It is where I give and gather love. It is a happy place, a warm place, a secret place, a sacred place, a small place, a large place and a familiar place. It is under the stars, in my bed, at the kitchen table, in my car, with my beloved horses and canine friends. Always though, home is where my family surrounds me. My amazing boys, my husband, my parents & siblings, my grandparents & the memories of my life that have included them. That is my comfort zone and that is home. ♥

For your chance to enter this contest go here: http://www.twittermoms.com/forum/topics/away-we-go-contest-tell-us#

The Boys Front Garden Faery/Sprite/Gnome-Home

♥ Hand made by my two AMAZING boys! ♥

Garden Gnomes come at dawn,

Bless the flowers then they're gone.

(Front View)

The Sprite poet takes a sheet

Of moonbeam, silver white;

His ink is dew from daisies sweet,

His pen a point of light.

(Side View)

Fairies are invisible and inaudible like angels.  But their magic sparkles in nature.

(View from the Top)

When the winds of March

 are wakening the crocuses and crickets,

Did you ever find a fairy near some budding little thickets,...

And when she sees you creeping up to get a closer peek

She tumbles through the daffodils, a playing hide and seek.

(Blending in with the garden, will anyone notice?)

And as the seasons come

and go, here's something you might like to know.  There are gnomes and sprites everywhere:  under bushes, in the air, playing games just like you play, singing through their busy day.  So listen, touch, and look around - in the air and on the ground.  And if you watch all nature's things, you might just see a fairy's wing. 

Hand in hand, with fairy grace,

Will we sing, and bless this place.

~William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream