Thursday Inspiration

"The art of living...is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists of being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive."

_____ Alan Watts

Friday's Inspiration and My 50th Birthday

Today I celebrate my 50th birthday and while that may not be a big milestone for some it is a huge one for me as I am the first male in 4 generations of my family to NOT have a heart attack or die of one before turning 50. So today I celebrate life.

"Life is like music for its own sake. We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past;
We are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present."
_____ Alan Watts

Weekend Inspiration

"This is the real secret of life: to be completely engaged in what you are doing in the here and now.
And instead of calling it work, realize it is play."
_____Alan Watts

Wednesday's Inspiration

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes.
Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."
_____ Alan Watts

Weekend Inspiration

This is a picture of some of the mosses growing in a garden.

"The morning glory which blooms for an hour differs not at heart from the great pine,
which lives for a thousand years."
_____ Alan Watts

Wednesday's Inspiration

"This is the real secret of life: to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now.
And instead of calling it work, realize it is play."
_____ Alan Watts

Time for a Change

This is how our garden used to look. It was very nice, but it was a lot of work.


This is how the garden looks now. It is still a beautiful garden but now it is a lot less work.


"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.
_____ Alan Watts

Thursday's Inspiration and Tatting Too

"The art of living..... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive."
_____ Alan Watts


I finally managed to get some time to do a bit of tatting and this cute butterfly is from Lady Shuttlemakers new book ..The Exquisite Collection of Tatted Butterflies II Original Tatting Book (click here) If you are thinking about buying this book I would recommend it as the Butterflies are wonderful and Lady Shuttlemaker does a great job writing and illustrating patterns so you can understand them easily.
I have not been able to do much tatting since December as the pain I have been living with makes it impossible to concentrate on anything on anything for any length of time. As you may remember I had hip surgery in November, well unfortunately the surgery did not help and I have been in incredible pain since then. I am finally booked for a hip replacement on April 13. I am looking forward to the surgery and being able to returning to a more normal life and being able to enjoy tatting.