checking in with the buddhist monks again
still on their walk for peace journey
across the states
we can all use a bit of peace today
many thanks to all
who read, comment, suggest, browse, share and befriend me
near and far, all across the universe
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‘don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you, figure out what you want to say.’
-barbara kingsolver
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Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!
You registered on WordPress.com 14 years ago.
Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging.
imagine that?
it was only a week ago
on the new year
we were super bundled up
walking on a frozen lake.
then yesterday…..
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‘you are the sky, everything else is the weather.’
-pema chodron
*Pema Chödrön is an American Buddhist teacher, author, nun, and mother who inspires millions worldwide with her down-to-earth message of practicing peace in turbulent times.
yesterday a stranger
came up to me in a store
to offer a few kind words
surprising me and making my day
the power of words never fails to amaze me.
‘where do the ducks go in the winter?’
-j.d. salinger (holden caulfield), ‘the catcher in the rye’
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some of them are here in a park in ann arbor
how i spent my sunday afternoon in ann arbor
it was snowy but full of fired up people
‘i need to be able to tell my grandchildren i did not stay silent.’
As 2026 began, thousands of handwritten wishes expressing hopes for kindness, peace, health, love, and personal growth were released over Times Square as part of the annual New Year’s Eve celebration, mixed into more than 3,000 pounds of confetti dropped at midnight. Collected throughout December via the Times Square Wishing Wall-both in person and online-the messages reflected voices from around the world and symbolized a shared moment of optimism as revelers welcomed the new year beneath a literal shower of collective dreams.
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‘i throw wishes into the night and wait for the stars to catch them.’
-c.a. martine
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source credits: a. parnas, photo credit: msn
‘peace and not war is the father of all things.’
-ludwig von mises
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*PAIX is the French word for peace, coming from the Latin word pax, and is used in names, art, and as a symbol for harmony and the absence of conflict. It signifies tranquility, agreement, and the cessation of war, appearing in French culture in names and artistic expressions.
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*Armann’s painting above was part of the following project:
Art For Peace
International Art Contest for Young People
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs
it’s january and the “wolf moon” kicked off a natural light show as the first full moon (and supermoon) of 2026.
it officially reached its peak illumination at 5:03 a.m. EST on jan. 3, though it will appear practically full on the surrounding nights, appearing just before dusk on jan. 2 and 4. local moonrise and moonset times depends on your location.
january’s full moon is known as the wolf moon, in reference to the hungry predators that have been known to howl during the long winter nights. it’s also sometimes known by its anglo-saxon name, the “moon after yule”, and as the “severe moon” by north america’s indigenous Dakota people to reflect the bitter cold of the month.
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‘we are all wolves howling to the same moon.’
– atticus poetry
(universal connection and shared spirit)
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ann arbor, michigan, usa, january 2026
getting new and used books of all kinds for my birthday and christmas gifts in the last couple of months has added to my stacks, and i couldn’t be happier about seeing them grow. these thoughtful gift givers know me so well.
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‘What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”
– Carl Sagan – Cosmos, Part II: The Persistence of Memory, 1980
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image credit: book riot
I didn't have my glasses on.... 