Favorites January 2018

Happy New Year and

Happy Birthday John O’Donohue!

Years ago my friend Britney introduced me to the writings of Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue and he’s an easy one to go to for inspiration.  He would have been 62 years old yesterday, January first.

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A few of his many books:

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Anam Cara: A book of Celtic Wisdom

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Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

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To Bless the Space Between Us

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Benedictus: A Book of Blessings

Beannacht: A Blessing for the New Year

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

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And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets in to you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green,
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

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When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

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May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

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And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

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~John O’Donohue

Check out these beauties from our local gravel pile and riverbed that range between 350 and 450 million years old….it’s helpful to be around nuggets that give some perspective on this New Year. 

Favorites January 2018

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My kind of place—a town built around Sleep

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Soap Nuts

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Living Chandelier

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Language!!

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Plant Bee Balm next spring!

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Indoor Composting Guide

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Escher Floors

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Growing the fussy Rosemary

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Rewire with Mantras

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“Part of understanding the notion of Justice is to recognize the disproportions among which we live…it takes an awful lot of living with the powerless to really understand what it is like to be powerless, to have your voice, thoughts, ideas and concerns count for very little. We, who have been given much, whose voices can be heard, have a great duty and responsibility to make our voices heard with absolute integrity for those who are powerless.”

~John O’Donohue

Sweet silk scarf dyed by our friend and artist Patsy.