Friday photo:
It’s almost time for our San Juan Islands trips this year, and I’d be wiling to bet that we’ll see bald eagles, orca whales, and foxglove (digitalis). We often see them when we’re hiking on Orcas Island. (The foxgloves, that is, not the whales!)
One of the cool things about this flower, [...]

Most people will tell you that they travel to get away or to see the world. However, I believe that there is another dimension of travel that gets inside you, and can change you forever.
It’s easy when we stay in one place to come to see that as the center of everything. We know [...]

Monday inspiration:
One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.”
~ Lucille Ball
When I think of Lucy, I have to smile. The first image that comes to mind is the chocolate [...]

Monday inspiration:
Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.”
~ Normal Vincent Peale
OK, [...]

Monday inspiration:
Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.”
~ Steven Pressfield
Wow! Is that a powerful way to start the week or what?
It’s kind of hard to keep up the whiny-why-is-it-Monday-already feeling [...]

Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.” ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Now don’t get me wrong — I’m a huge fan of books! I can’t walk into a bookstore without buying something, can’t visit a museum without patronizing their bookshop, and if Amazon [...]

I have a confession. When I lived in New York City, I was a gym-a-holic. This is a more serious distinction than being a gym rat. A gym-a-holic spends most of her time working out at an indoor fitness center. Ask her to go away for a hiking weekend, and she will worry about missing [...]

Monday inspiration:
All good fortune is a gift of the gods, and you don’t win the favor of the ancient gods by being good, but by being bold.”
~ Anita Brookner
Here in the land of ancient gods, this quote rings true! I’m in Rome now, and one thing is certain — those Roman emperors who [...]

Monday inspiration:
I never intended to become a run-of-the-mill person.”
~ Barbara Jordan
How true! In spite of the pressures we all feel to conform and fit in, when you put it like that, who wouldn’t agree? There’s no WAY I want to be a run-of-the-mill person!
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I’m in Greece right now, checking [...]

Monday quote:
Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world — making the most of one’s best.”
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
What a cool way to look at life!
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I’m in Ireland now, at the [...]