Conservation

by

The Most of the Day

Cold

No snow yet.

The bird feeder

put out

yesterday.

Now a ballet

of swirling birds

discovering

with delight.

A rogue squirrel

discovering

dropped seed.

More birds

than before

a lovely neighbor

offered an array

of feeders and suet.

She moved

before last winter.

Her son said

she had feeders

outside the window

and new birds

feasted.

Before she went

to sleep one evening,

she e-mailed him:

“I made the

best of my day.”

Those were her

last words.

I smile,

remembering her.

Our days

are made of

moments,

each

a little seed

of our twenty-four hours.

Some moments

are sad,

others

happy,

even joyful.

Being in

each moment,

living

the best we can.

Making the

best

of our

day.

by

Milestones

Tomorrow

is

my birthday.

Decades declare milestones.

At certain ages

there can be

the realization

that there are fewer

years ahead

than

already lived.

Mid-life

it is called.

Demographers

and cultural observers

 now offer

more gradations than

young,

middle aged

and old.

Early middle age,

middle age

late middle age.

At what point

does your category

become early old age?

Are you in

middle old age

and when

really old age?

For some,

lifespans

extend into the ninth and

even tenth decade.

When Social Security

was made available

at 65,

people weren’t

expected to live

much beyond that.

For some,

there can be

many decades

beyond

that mark.

How to live

these years,

whatever they are called?

Wisdom

offers

the suggestion

to shed

as we age.

Things,

images of ourself,

expectations,

hopes,

dreams,

disappointments.

Shedding

seems to say

that

growth stops

at some point.

Adults

we are.

Approaching

this birthday,

I am beginning

to understand

that letting go

is a better perspective

of what no longer

serves me.

Traveling

lighter,

I

hope

I

am

Growing

Into

Older

Age.

Learning,

growing.

Shifting gears,

slows me

to follow

the Inner Light

to savor

each moment,

each friend,

loved one

and stranger.

Sometimes the

Light

offers

a clear path.

Sometimes

intuition

brings

me on the path

I cannot

see

in this moment.

by

THOUGHT LEADER

Thought Leaders

are especially

important

during times of

Disruptive Innovation,

a concept

used in

this time

when things

aren’t working

and ways of thinking and doing

must be changed.

Since Pope Francis was chosen,

he has become a

powerful

THOUGHT LEADER.

From his first moments

Pope Francis

showed his

humility

asking for us

to pray for him.

He chose

simple garments,

comfortable black shoes,

paid his own hotel bill,

moved into a

simple apartment.

During Holy Week,

he washed the feet of the poor,

not all Catholics.

He told priests

to be merciful and compassionate

 towards those who are divorced

women who have had

abortions.

When asked about homosexuals,

he replied,

“Who am I to judge?”

Smiling,

he loves everyone

and in return,

he is loved.

The rules have not necessarily changed,

but the

TONE

has completely.

This change in tone is

Francis’

greatest achievement,

and it is HUGE!

In this

political season,

candidates

could learn

because Pope Francis

is an astute politician

in the best sense of the word.

As a South American

he sees the entrenched Vatican

as needing to be cleaned up,

finances and favoritism,

swept out.

Reflecting

compassion.

the tone,

the message

is that God is a God

of LOVE,

not JUDGMENT.

The Church’s role

is to make God

accessible.

Coming to the United States,

his first trip to North America,

he will speak

at the United Nations,

address Congress,

say Mass in Madison Square Garden.

Popular entertainers will

engage people,

using their words and music

to

open up people’s senses

to the music of their hearts.

Disruptive Innovation.

Bring it on!

by

The Week of Apple

Thinking of

Fall

crisp apples?

Is it a coincidence

that Apple

has a

big product announcement

scheduled for

this time of the year?

Many years

there is a

dazzling

announcement that

a world-changing product

will be available

at the Apple store near You!

That has meant

some Septembers

that there will be

lines outside

as if a rock star is

appearing.

On the web marketplaces,

some people are

selling their older but still good phones

to get a

bigger, better,

this year’s design.

I don’t have

an I-Phone.

How can I live

without one,

you might ask?

I function

very well,

thank you,

with my Jitterbug phone.

A flip phone,

it does what I need it to do.

That is what

technology means for me.

It is to serve me,

not complicate

my life.

I have a  three and a half year old

Mac

which this week

announced that my Safari app

was no longer

being

supported

so I ordered it to

upgrade.

Now I have to hunt for

previously familiar

functions.

I couldn’t find my

e-mail Files.

A flash of insight

came to me in the shower

and

I found where

to make the Files

show by clicking under my name

and the word “show”

appeared.

Click and there they were.

I did not want to spend time on the phone

or responding to the screen
“May we help”

and not have the

question

I needed

show.

I have a four and a half

year old I-Pad which

has Kindle

loaded in it.

Generally
I prefer books in my hand.

Luddite, no!

I did publish

a book

Living Lines

on the Espresso robotic

book-making machine

at The Harvard Book Store.

Now that is amazing!

by

Close Encounters of the Amazing

Gazing out my breakfast window

a hummingbird flew

to face me and stayed there

wings fast fluttering

for

time standing still seconds.

Looking out the same window

at lunchtime

the evanescent bird

savored the nectar of the row of

hosta flowers.

Over summers past

we have put feeders

in the garden.

Rarely did this offering

compete with the real

usually pink, red, purple

real sips of

the 1,500 flowers

needed in a day.

Once,

holding a young grandchild,

a hummingbird came almost

eye to eye

with me.

My red flowered hat

attracted a very close visit

and then

flew to the garden

for the real thing!

Hummingbirds

breathe

250 times a minute

with a resting heartbeat of

500 beats per minute.

In flight their hearts rev to

1,500 beats a minute.

600-800 insects daily

provide more energy.

East Coast ruby-throated hummingbirds

migrate to the

Gulf of Mexico in the winter,

a 21 hour non-stop flight!

When first seen

there,

they were called

“resurrection birds.”

Close encounters

are ordinary miracles.

by

Where To Begin

You

do not

convince

people

with arguments,

strategies,

or tactics.

You

convince them

by learning

how to

welcome

them.

For that,

it is

necessary

to keep

doors

open,

above all

the doors

to the heart.

Pope Francis, South America, July, 2015

Let there be peace

on Earth.

And let it

begin

with me!

by

My Weather Report

Global warming,

Heat waves

Ten feet of snow in the Northeast

still melting in July

in “snow farms”.

Grit and lost cars and smaller things appear

as the snow melts

to reveal

what plows picked up

unseen to the drivers

in the sculptured hills on the roads.

Weather extremes

Tornado watches

Homes blown to the ground.

Treasures lost.

Hurricanes

named now for

men and women.

Seas rising.

Homes and businesses

flooded out,

destroyed beyond repair.

This week

temperatures and humidity

have ranged.

My weather report

is measured by

the four nighties

hanging,

each worn

on nights where

long sleeves brought comfort,

sleeveless for mid-range,

short sleeveless,

and last night

the thinest strapped

 short blue flowered.

Waking up

this morning,

the storm had blown

out the high heat and humidity

 and

I pulled up the

covers

and took a warm shower,

then dressed for a mid-temperature day.

The pretty weather forecasters

might reveal

their forecast

this way

and

bring a smile

as we listen

to the forecast

which is often

unpredictable

and unreliable.

by

Revelation, Celebration

“Sunlight fell

upon the wall;

the wall received a borrowed

splendor.

Why set your heart

on a piece of earth,

O simple one?

Seek out the source

which shines forever.”

Rumi, Sufi mystic poet

“The universe unfolds in God,

who fills us

completely.

Hence,

there is a mystical

meaning to be found

in a leaf,

in a mountain trail,

in a dewdrop,

in a poor person’s face.”

Pope Francis in Laudato Si his encyclical on the environment

Praise Be to You

“The initiate

will capture

what is being said

when the wind blows,

the trees sway,

water flows,

flies buzz,

doors creak,

birds sing,

or in the

sound of strings or flutes,

the sighs of the sick,

the groans

of the afflicted.”

Ali-al-Khawas, a 9th century mystical  Sufi Muslim poet