A contemplative life

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Gigi Chicken, quite contemplative. May 2026; photo courtesy of my husband.

I remember fifty years ago as the bicentennial approached; I was very excited to celebrate something so seemingly momentous! Bicentennial quarters were the rage, lol, as well as the sense of being aware of a part of history I would recall throughout my lifetime.

Fifty years later, I'm not planning to celebrate America's independence day other than perhaps going to some local fireworks with my bestie, visiting for the weekend. More on my mind are things far less temporal, corporeal. The kinds of notions one ponders as age imparts. For certainly, I'm not ten years old any more, LOL.

Clouds from May 2026.

Yesterday my bestie noted that in where we live, amid nature and its marvelous spoils, a quiet life removed from even a medium town's bustle has altered my husband and me, to which I heartily agreed. This was spoken as we watched one of the three World Cup games, she LOVES football and tournaments. She gave me pointers about football, because despite living in the UK for nearly eleven years, other than the names of English footballers from that era, I know jack about soccer/football, hahaha! I'm still not sure what constitutes an offsides penalty, negating a goal, but I do know more about the sport than this time yesterday.

Early this morning, as I had my quiet time with God, I pondered how a contemplative life is what I live. Yeah, I like me some baseball and basketball games, I enjoy delving into a bit of social media, with this blog and my Bluesky account. My family is BELOVED, and I am so thankful for those who make up my realm, my bestie and her clan included. Yet something else was tugging at my heart early today, and I decided to change the title of this blog to A Contemplative Life. I gazed at the natural beauty of where I dwell, though the chickens weren't out yet, hehehe. I admired the marine layer morning, breathing deeply of peace and wonder. Then I glanced at the sofa where I sit in the evenings, realizing that amid Switzerland's victory over Algeria last night, I forgot to read from a collections of saints book recently acquired.

My beloved Owl Chicken (somewhat intensely contemplative) and what looks like Ruthie behind her. May 2026.

I grinned at myself, retrieved the book, then found that last night's saint was the Christian mystic who wrote The Cloud of Unknowning. Inwardly I giggled, what with my contemplation mood fresh in my head. I read the first couple of paragraphs, trading my mirth for the rare notation of a life change both on the good end of the scale as well as significant. I continued reading, closed the book, then my eyes. Many things ran though my head, and my heart, and my soul was equally touched. How filled with marvels is this life, how mysterious, how....perfect. No matter what evil flits about, and oh my there's plenty of it, light outshines that darkness and it always will.

The center of my Peace Around the World quilt, snapped from the back. Sure love those purple hues.

There's a lot more to say about all this, but I don't wish to belabour the point of how good is love, how gracious is love, how healing is love. However you envision love, let love pour over you today, seeping into the dry cracks, lifting the malaise, stirring your smile. Books and quilts will continue to figure heavily, yet alongside comes joy and consideration and gratitude and grace. And love. Today, don't forget the love.

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