Go be soothed by mother nature ..

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, 

and to have my senses put in order.

John Burroughs

if you have received this post as an email

click below to visit the entire blog, blog link

or click here to join the dailydress project group on FB 

May this dress make us more keenly curious!!!

“Joy in the universe, 

and keen curiosity about it all - 

that has been my religion.” 

John Burroughs

(this is my religion too!!)

love, mom

if you have received this post as an email

click below to visit the entire blog, blog link

or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/

'after the books had been forbidden ...'

in light of the latest insanity out of White House, 

banning the CDC from using words ... 

thank you Billy Collins, Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003.

Rain

by Billy Collins

Some time after the books had been forbidden— 

The one about the woman and her daughter,
The one about the boy who spoke poorly—
And after the smoke from the incinerators had cleared,

It was suggested that censorship be extended
To the plover, the wild turkey, and the common moorhen. 

But these birds have done nothing, a few protested.
That is precisely the problem, the loudspeakers answered.

It rained that month day and night.
Men with nets fanned out into the fields
And shouted to each other along the shorelines. 

Teachers disappeared on the way to their cars.

Then the committee came after the morning glory 

For its suggestive furling and unfurling
And the ligustrum and the alstroemeria
Because they were difficult to pronounce and spell.

Then the pine tree for its tricky needles and cones
And parsley and red and yellow peppers for no reason at all. 

You would think the lock and the gate
Would be safe, but that was well before whispering,

Shaking hands on the street,
And hooking an arm around someone’s waist 

Became the subjects of discussion
Across long granite tables behind dark glass doors.

And the rain was constant and cold—fine days
to curl up with a good book, someone joked—
but there were no more books,
just the curling up of people quietly in corners and doorways,

bits of straw floating down the streets
along the curbs into the turbulent rivers and out to sea.

we must #resist this action of censorship!

if you have received this post as an email

click below to visit the entire blog, blog link

or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/

Go out beyond and I'll meet you there ...

Out Beyond Ideas

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase each other

doesn't make any sense

Rumi

This poem has been banging around my head today, and even more so when I saw these blossoms ... I saw a meandering path beyond. 

And i've always been captivated by the idea of going beyond the ideas of wrong and right, beyond judgement and criticism. 

So today let us quiet those inner voices assessing all of our 'doings', and let us lay down be in the deep, lush green grass of just being! 

This is my religion! 

love, mom

if you have received this post as an email

click below to visit the entire blog, blog link

or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/

in Autumn ... this is my religion

Starlings

Sometimes when you're driving
alone in autumn, a gust of wind
will sweep forth a sling of starlings
fresh from a maple in late afternoon
and they will fly out of the tree together
one swift movement of bird flight
dipping and rising before you
as if they knew all along
you were coming, as if they
knew your whole day depended
on seeing them there, at that moment
in the last curve of sunlight.

Andrew Green


Remember to look up and around,
Fall is gorgeous, enjoy nature.
love, mom














if you have received this post as an email
click below to visit the entire blog, blog link
or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should ...

This is a poem/prayer that I return to many, many times and wish to share for us all today. Now more then ever these words resonate!!! 

Desiderata 

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Thank you Max Ehrmann. This is my religion.

love, mom

if you have received this post as an email
click below to visit the entire blog, blog link
or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/

for the Autumnal Equinox

'two worlds ...' @2015 #fromthelandofdragons

Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness

Every year we have been
witness to it: how the
world descends

into a rich mash, in order that
it may resume.
And therefore
who would cry out

to the petals on the ground
to stay,
knowing as we must,
how the vivacity of what was is married

to the vitality of what will be?
I don’t say
it’s easy, but
what else will do

if the love one claims to have for the world
be true?

So let us go on, cheerfully enough,
this and every crisping day,

though the sun be swinging east,
and the ponds be cold and black,
and the sweets of the year be doomed.

– Mary Oliver



#thisismyreligion


if you have received this post as an email
click below to visit the entire blog, blog link
or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/

today, find peace 'Someway, Someday, Somewhere, Somehow' ...

My Dream: A Vision Of Peace 

by ToddMichael St. Pierre

Where the mountains touch the sky,
Where poets DREAM, where eagles fly,
A secret place above the crowd,
Just beneath a silver-lined cloud.

Lift your eyes to a snowy peak,
And see the soon-to-be we seek.
Whisper DREAMS and let them rise,
To the mountains old and wise.

Climbers climb, it's time to try,
Where the mountains touch the sky.
Take me there. Oh take me now,
Someway, Someday, Somewhere, Somehow.

Where the ocean meets the sky,
Where mermaid dance, where seagulls fly,
A place in DREAMS I know so well,
The sea inside a single shell.

Far across the living sea,
A pale blue possibility,
Beyond the castles made of sand,
Tomorrow in a small child's hand.

Only DREAMERS need apply,
Where the ocean meets the sky.
Take me there. Oh take me now,
Someway, Someday, Somewhere, Somehow.

A common ground for one and all,
Behind the crystal waterfall,
Where Peace flows like a mighty stream,
Like Dr. King I have a DREAM.

Imagine such a goal in sight,
For red and yellow, black and white…

New Delhi, Beijing, Kenya, Rome,
Earth is the place that we call home.
Baghdad, Belfast, Tel Aviv,
One race HUMAN, we still believe,
Come DREAM with me...

Where the forests reach the sky,
Wake to DREAMS, and don’t be shy.
We’ll DREAM the world a thorn-less rose;
We’ll plant then watch it as it grows.

We’ll conquer hate with DREAMS of hope,
We’ll DREAM one big kaleidoscope.

Whisper now; let the DREAM begin,
It's time to trust the truth within.
This is where we seek and find…
A place called PEACE for humankind.

DREAM on DREAMERS, hopes are high,
Where the forests reach the sky.
Take me there. Oh take me now,
Someway, Someday, Somewhere, Somehow.

Now, listen close, the future calls...
'Build your bridges and tear down walls! '
For time has taught and so it seems,
Realities are born of DREAMS!

Whisper DREAMS and let them rise,
To the mountains old and wise.

ToddMichael St. Pierre

love, mom

if you have received this post as an email
click below to visit the entire blog, blog link
or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/

Today, find the peace of wild things ...

this is my religion ... 

hot rock dress, dover, ma ... july 2013

The Peace Of Wild Things
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry




More and more I turn to this poem and remind myself of its wisdom.  In fact last week I seemed the peace of wild things in the glorious mountains of  Vermont, where the wifi is bad and the peace is very good.
So remember girls, when life gets overwhelming and times seem dark, to go to nature!! (I tend to also make a dress, while out in nature, click here to read more about the creation of my 'hot rock dress ...' :)


love, mom


if you have received this post as an email
click below to visit the entire blog, blog link
or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/

how do you pray???

© virginiafitzgerald.com

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver

❤️for @mayarovv & @harrietrovniak
love, mom


if you have received this post as an email
click below to visit the entire blog, blog link
or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FBhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/