Category Archives: Family

Takes Me Back

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Walking outside this morning after the long rain last night, I caught a sudden whiff of the ocean, of salty air, of fish.  Yet we are hours away from the sea.  One moment, one smell on the damp air, and I was there at the ocean on a rainy morning.

Hearing “Summer of ’69” by Bryan Adams instantly takes me back to my senior year of high school, when I was in my very first band with some high school mates.  We practiced for weeks, had one gig at a birthday party, and then I had to get my wisdom teeth out and go to college.

Waking up in the dark for any reason instantly puts me back to my childhood vacations, when Dad would pick us up out of bed at 2 or 3 in the morning and carry us to the car where we could continue sleeping (or not :)) in the back of the station wagon till morning.

I am a forward looking person usually; I love planning and looking ahead to the adventures still in store.  But these little instantaneous transports are amazing, and I look forward to the times in my future when some smell or sound or sight will take me back.   Slainte, Lisa

What Makes a Home a Home?

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For three weeks in Portmagee, this was our home.  It felt like home amazingly quickly; kids running around in the morning quiet on the wood floors, making breakfast in the wood-beamed kitchen, turning up the heat when the wind blew cold outside, sitting outside watching the neighboring cows munch away.

In Reencaheragh, Portmagee

 

In Virginia with Fritzi dog

Then we came home to Virginia, and that felt like home too.  The bumpy steep driveway that leads to the side door we always use, the tall ceilings, the comfortable bed that feels just right, the sight of the familiar trees outside the window, the happy piano waiting for me in the green room.

So what makes a home?  Love.   A home is where you love, where you receive love, where you feel safe, and where you feel you belong.  It’s being with people who care, pets that run to you when you come in the door, a sanctuary from life’s turbulence for awhile, a haven.

Wherever you call home today, embrace it and enjoy it.  Home is a gift.  Slainte, Lisa

I Can’t Tell You…

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I can’t tell you whose birthday it is today, because he/she is the subtle, don’t make a big deal about it birthday kind of person.  A “birthday protection program” of sorts.  So in leiu of a big giant embarrassing greeting online for everyone to see, I will post a picture of them in darkened silhouette, to protect their privacy.  🙂

Since I’m not wishing them a happy birthday in public, I will choose to share this quote from J.R.R. Tolkien instead.  “Still round the corner there may wait, a new road, or a secret gate.”  May your day be full of adventure, your year be full of joy, and your life be full of love, dear anonymous one.  Blessings and Love, Lisa

Seeing Beauty

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Traffic Jam vs. Cool Cows on the Mooove?

End of warm temperatures vs. beautiful changing leaves and fuzzy sweaters

Daily irritations over life issues vs. being alive to go through these things and growing stronger afterwards

Aches & pains vs. having a body in which to have aches and pains

All of us have things in this life which weigh us down and can try to steal our joy.  But there are always two sides to almost anything I can think of, and if I can just flip my mind around to the positive side, it makes a huge difference.  Finding the joy in this day, in this moment.   “When you stop seeing beauty, you start growing old.”  (Summer Rain, U2)  I want to be young in the Lord, because He sees things as they are.  He sees beauty and creativity and life and love and potential.  He sees hope of an abundant, full life in Him.  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  (John 10:10)

Blessings to you on this day, and may you (and I) have thankfulness overflowing.       Slainte, Lisa

 

 

The Foggy Dew

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Beautiful morning….thin transparent clouds touching the ground, creating a hazy misty wonderland of hiddenness.  The sun somewhere behind those low clouds trying to push through, hitting the dew on the grass and making it glitter like wet diamonds under my feet.  As I walked my daughter to the bus stop, I told her we were walking through a cloud, and she kept waving her hand through the air, saying, “I don’t feel it.”  “But look around,” I replied.  “The fog, the low clouds, are all around us.  We see it, but we don’t feel it.”

Thank you God, for the reminder that You are everywhere I see, even when I can’t feel it.  Your clouds came down and kissed the earth this morning and kissed us too, and that’s awesome.  🙂

Here’s a wonderful peaceful rendition of the trad tune, “The Foggy Dew,” for you to chill out to this morning.

Slainte, Lisa