At My Mother's Knee

Some memories never fade away,

And that's as it should be,

When they take me back to happy times

And quiet moments  when I'd  find

Myself at Mother's knee.

Special secrets I would share,

Secret hurts and fears,

Nothing seemed too silly there,

With soothing words and hugs to spare,

She'd wipe away my tears.

I'd place my head upon her lap

And feel her hands' caressing,

What peace I felt as I knelt there ,

 Her fingers in my tousled hair,

Receiving mother's blessing.

She'd wrap me in her mother's care,

My smile was her reward;

No one could resist her grin

And soon the giggles would begin,

Good humour was restored.

Those special moments live in me

In love they have been set,

All those lovely memories

Bring me often to my knees

I feel her softness yet.

I close my eyes and hear her voice,

So musical and mild;

No greater gift could ever be,

Than hearing my mom pray for me,

Now I pray for you, my child.

Spreading Laughter!

World  laughter day is coming up soon - this Sunday  May 7th, and boy, couldn't we all use some laughter!

 The first celebration was on January 10, 1998, in Mumbai, India, and was arranged by Dr. Madan Kataria, founder of the worldwide laughter yoga movement.   

Laughter Yoga says: Laughter is a positive and powerful emotion that has all the ingredients required for individuals to change themselves and to change the world in a peaceful and positive way.  The day is now celebrated worldwide.

When life becomes just too heavy for us to bear, it's time to bring in the carrier cousins  to help lift our load:

Singing is a first cousin to laughter.  To prove that point, here's a little ditty that the Thousand Islanders Chorus  shared with our Walker House singing workshop group;  Apart from being a good singing exercise,  it acts as a laughter booster:

            'laughter is contagious

            and it's advantageous,

            Ho! ho! ho! ho!

            Ho! ho! ho! ho!

            Ho! ho! ho! ho!

            Ho! ho! ho! ho!

            Ho!

After a repetition or two, I could never get to the last 'ho!'  without laughing - totally infected, I was!

I have long known that music and singing  are carriers - They can spread laughter, joy, inspiration, and  tears; They are right up there with all of the most powerful and positive infections - their germs spread rapidly, even to our feet, causing them to dance - hopefully at appropriate moments.  Wherever their infection  spreads, life takes on brighter colours - how good is that!

Whether those two cousins nudge us to tears or laughter, our bodies and spirits reap positive benefits. 

You go carriers - Please do make me laugh!

The colour of sunshine!

 This was the title of one of the pieces of music that I was listening to as I did my Tai Chi routine this morning.  I find the slow meditative pace of this exercise to be a time of deep and creative thought, and of heartfelt prayer.

Though I can't see the colour of sunshine, or the substance of prayer, I know that both are powerful communicators, and can lift our hearts and spirits.  As the sun draws warm colours from everything it touches, and gives back life-giving food to mankind and the earth, I believe that prayer, though invisible to the human eye, is viewed as a beautiful, powerful rainbow of hope by the soul which, as it is lifted, shares its own amazing colours, adding to the brightness and warmth in the world.

The colour of sunshine

Depends on its diet,

If it drinks from the ocean,

Or a lake laying quiet,

Then it puts on bright blue,

With a sparkle of green,

And its hair sometimes gleams

With a hint of marine.

While crossing a meadow,

It bounces off flowers,

It feeds on red clover,

And sends back rose showers;

It picks up blue tips

From the bluegrass, I'm told,

And to compliment dandelions

Dons its bright gold.

The colour of prayer

Depends on its diet,

If it drinks caring thoughts

From a soul that is quiet,

Then it puts on bright blue

As it soars high above,

And returns, dressed in gold,

As it echoes God's love.

Nice Ta Meetcha!   - The Power Of A Biscuit!

That's it!  I've Had it!   Time to bake biscuits!

Enough of all of these doom and gloom forecasts, whether political or weather-related;  It's time to bake  some love into some biscuits. Whatever form your biscuits take, whatever your 'knead' may be - let's sit down with a nice cup of tea and take a healing time-out  - calories be darned!

Each time that I recreate my mother-in-law, Joan's wonderful shortbread biscuit recipe, I find myself adding something extra to the mix that might make it even more delicious.  So far the ingredients are coming from Toronto, B.C., Ontario, Quebec, Indonesia, and the U.S.   How exotic is that! 

As I lovingly work the ingredients into small crumbs, on their way to the final mix, I am aware of the dependence of each of them on the others in order to form. These ingredients had never met before today - stayed in their separate cupboards, but once introduced and the more I let them combine and work together, the finer they have become.  My trained ear is hearing them as they compliment each other at great length, with 'Nice ta meetchas' happening all around!

I have now come full circle, contemplating world issues again, but through the lens of a biscuit baker.  We are all part of this wonderful recipe called mankind, and whether we admit it or not, we are all dependent on each other in order to get from crumb to delicious biscuit, to reach our full potential;

 We each have something to offer that no one else can give, but we can't find out what that something is until we start coming out of our cupboards and offering our 'nice ta meetcha's.

 Ah, the zen of the biscuit - may its force be with you!

The Chain

The Chain

I believe that we are being born anew every day - given another chance.

Who we are,  our essence or spirit, is in the process of becoming with each breath that we take;

our spirit does not require a diet of huge achievements - it is constantly feeding off of our attitude,  It grows more beautiful with every positive thought and accomplishment, every smiling link that we add to the whole.   With each act of kindness, we are strengthening our link in the chain of life, and feeding it the energy that it needs, to be strong for all of the other links - our parents, children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters, friends - all those that we hold in our hearts and who count on us.

 When the seas get rough, we can secure our vessels with that wonderful supporting chain:

Hold onto the chain,

In the midst of your pain,

Trust in the strength of each link;

Though doubts may obscure it,

Have faith and be sure, it's

Stronger by far than you think.

With great love they speak,

Each voice so unique,

Timeless, they're born yet again,

These links built of love,

Drawing strength from above,

Hand in hand forming the chain.

The Colour Of Sunshine

The colour of sunshine!

 This was the title of one of the pieces of music that I was listening to as I did my Tai Chi routine this morning.  I find the slow meditative pace of this exercise to be a time of deep and creative thought, and of heartfelt prayer.

Though I can't see the colour of sunshine, or the substance of prayer, I know that both have the power to lift my heart and spirit.  As the sun draws warm colours from everything it touches, and gives back life-giving food to mankind and the earth, I believe that prayer, though invisible to the human eye, is viewed as a beautiful, powerful rainbow of hope by the soul which, as it is lifted, shares its own amazing colours, adding to the brightness and warmth in the world.

The colour of sunshine

Depends on its diet;

If it drinks from the ocean,

Or a lake laying quiet,

Then it puts on bright blue,

With a sparkle of green,

And its hair sometimes gleams

With a hint of marine.

While crossing a meadow,

It bounces off flowers,

It feeds on red clover,

And sends back rose showers;

It picks up blue tips

From the bluegrass, I'm told,

And to compliment dandelions

Dons its bright gold.

The colour of prayer

Depends on its diet;

If it drinks caring thoughts

From a soul that is quiet,

Then it puts on bright blue

As it soars high above,

And returns, dressed in gold,

As it echoes God's love.

Much Ado About My To Do List

Much Ado About My To Do List

It seems the 'Bard' and Dickens were up to no good last night - they put their heads together and decided that 3 am was the perfect time for a creative session.  No need to inform Edie about the time change, "she loves laying awake at that hour anyway, and it will give her a different program to tune into other than Worriers Anonymous!" -  annoying pair, but they were right:

These two spirits took me on a journey back in time, somewhat like Scrooge's Christmas Eve experience, to a small house on the banks of the Rideau River.  The program that I tuned into was a series of vignettes that featured a poor family of 7 children and two young parents and the intangibles that fed the imagination and ignited the wonder in this little child's heart:   the smell of my mother's delicious 'meals for the masses', her tears as we tickled her into laughter, or as she hugged our hurts away; the dancing eyes of my father as he shared one of his jokes, and quipped Jimmy Durante's "I've got a million of 'em!"  There, vying for room on the well-worn couch, sat an eager group of children passing from lap to lap, members of the newest litter of kittens and afterwards, not so eagerly, passing the buck about who's turn it was to change the newspaper in their box!  Another scene unfolded of the family gathered in the living room, sharing in total silliness; in jokes and games and in the exuberant singing of familiar songs with Dad on guitar and mouth organ, the leader of our band.

  I was completely wrapped up in childhood when the Bard interrupted my reverie by proffering  this line from his 'Julius Caesar':  'The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.'  Ok - that was negative, or maybe it was meant as an optimistic warning, a reminder to act now rather than judge now;  the power of the good memories we make each day, may be all that is needed to prevent one of our loved ones, or a stranger that our words or actions have touched, from going down those 'evil' paths.

So, as this New Year unfolds, my 'to do' list will be topped by:  'Judge less and make more good memories'.  May they live long after I'm gone and hopefully my loved ones will be able to repeat Dad's line, "I've got a million of 'em!"