I traveled to my son and daughter-in-love’s home to see my granddaughter.
There I, the traveler, enjoyed coffee in a cup celebrating another traveler.
In person.
In our mind.
In our heart.
In our soul.
In solidarity with a fictional character (or is he?).
Travel comes in many forms.
And in every form, those who make the journey are travelers.
And in some cases, coffee makes it better.
Photo: 2 April 2022, North East, Maryland
Watching a butterfly slake its thirst.
From a purple flower.
Probably a thistle, but I don’t know for sure.
Still the delicate beauty of the magnificent creature captivated me when I took the photo and it captivates me now.
Photo: 4 September 2021, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Ross County, Ohio
Filed under Advent, National Park, Photo
Lucy has grasped the heart of everyone in her family as firmly as she has grasped my thumb.
She is beloved.
Photo: April 7, 2022; North East, Maryland
Another challenging word. I try to heed the words of Tommy Sands:
Let the circle be wide ’round the fireside
And we’ll soon make room for you
Let your heart have no fear, there are no strangers here,
Just friends that you never knew
But there are definitely people I have not met. There are people I don’t know. There are people I hesitate to meet. I confess that. I try to work at that.
Photo: May 17, 2014; Central Park, New York, New York
This was a challenge. I have not been to many places that are truly wilderness spaces or at least that fit my understanding of a wilderness.
Ghost Ranch, the setting for this photo, is beautiful and outdoors. But it is really well developed in terms of being a wilderness.
Still it remains a semi-wild place that feeds my soul and spirit.
Photo: Ghost Ranch, New Mexico; 30 August 2008
Filed under Advent, Ghost Ranch Views, Photo
I broke the rule today that says post one photo.
As I searched through photos, I found two that spoke to me.
I could not choose, so I add both,
I am grateful for messengers of:
hope
justice
freedom
equality
equity
Photos: Harriet Tubman in Harlem, New York; John Lewis film viewed in Morningside Gardens, New York
Filed under Advent, Antiracism, Human Rights, New York, Photo
It is Human Rights Day. The world would take steps toward the time when all people could flourish, if we all respected and protected each other’s human rights.
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every[person seeks] equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt, 1958
Perhaps we can start, in those small places where we find ourselves, to honor the human rights of all we meet that we all might flourish,
Photo: 20 December 2018, New York, NY; display created by Tricia.
Filed under Advent, Antiracism, Family, Human Rights, New York, Photo, United Nations
Controlled.
Contained.
Reflected.
Fire.
Photo: c. 2015, New York, NY
If you are a faith leader, I invite you to join me in signing this call for a Christmas Truce in #Ukraine
If you do not consider yourself a faith leader, consider asking those you do view as faith leaders to join Dr. Cornel West, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bp. William Barber & many more in calling for a Christmas Truce in #Ukraine!
As people of #faith and conscience, believing in the sanctity of all life on this planet, we call for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine. In the spirit of the truce that occurred in 1914 during the First World War, as roughly 100,000 German and British soldiers along the Western Front in World War I declared an unofficial #Christmas Truce and ceased hostilities for a short period.
We urge our government to take a leadership role in bringing the war in Ukraine to an end through supporting calls for a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, before the conflict results in a nuclear war that could devastate the world’s ecosystems and annihilate all of God’s creation.
We invite religious leaders or organizational/denominational leadership to add their voice to the Christmas Truce campaign by signing on here: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSe5UKB1EoxgPC…/viewform
Filed under Advent, Current Events, Human Rights
I once believed that breathing was automatic. It is something we did without thinking about it.
Then came workouts with NK Bordy Philosophy. Nicole spent most of our time telling me to breathe, training me to breathe in ways that would effectively support the movements I was doing.
It seems unlikely that I was thinking about breathing in this childhood photo.
It also seems likely that some serious breathing was taking place to support this level of noise.
Photo: circa 1954/5, Grove City, PA
Along the Graybeard Trail 