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Happiness in a good book
It’s International Day of Happiness today, March 20. This UN designated day aims to raise awareness of the importance of happiness within people’s lives. This year’s theme is be mindful, be grateful, be kind (follow the link for 3 simple steps you can use anytime). One activity that makes me happy is writing (thank you for reading!). Another is reading a great book. Lately I have been enjoying murder mysteries. If you are familiar with the book series by Donna Leon or Louise Penny then you will be well acquainted with Commissario Guido Brunetti and Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. What makes these mystery novels so appealing are these noble characters.…
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Look behind
I went for a walk after dinner last week. The air was wonderfully warm. Tranquil. The crickets chirped. So lovely was the evening I was actually telling myself to be present and savour it. I wanted to imprint the end of summer feeling in my memory bank so that I could recall it on a cold wintery day. (As you can see, it does not come naturally for me to be present so I need to remind myself!) In front of me fairy lights twinkled in the distance. I stopped and admired the pretty view. I was about to take another step forward. Instead, I paused. I turned and looked…
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The Garden of Epicurious
A few months ago I awoke in the middle of the night to a harrowing shriek. It was a terrifying sound. My mind started thinking of horrible possibilities, like someone in pain or dying. I got out of bed and looked out my window to the dimly lit street below. There they were. A pair of foxes. One tilted its head back and screamed. The sound was the call of a red fox. No one was dying or in agony. It was simply two foxes out for a midnight stroll. My sense of hearing is not faulty, but my mind certainly did play tricks on me. According to the Greek…
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A crafty lesson
I have been making notebooks lately. Thanks to the Globe and Mail craft club. It was an enjoyable way to spend an hour on a Tuesday evening as Catalina Sanchez shared her step by step instructions on how to craft homemade notebooks. Ever since I have been stitching together these little notepads with random paper I have in the house. I tend to go through phases with making crafts. A few years ago I was obsessed with sewing tote bags. I had discovered an old sewing machine in my family, a 1954 Singer. It’s a dapper little machine, shiny black with ornate gold trim, that folds neatly into a carrying…
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Walking and Philosophy
Most of my walking this past year has been on the familiar paths of my neighbourhood streets and woodland trails. However, I do let my mind wander at times to other destinations, say a craggy Greek landscape. Instead of cold wind whipping at my face and geese honking overhead, I imagine sunshine warming my cheeks and bees buzzing in thyme and lavender bushes. This particular image comes to mind after reading about Aristotle’s school (Lyceum) in Athens. Aristotle liked to walk with his students (called peripatetics) while deliberating his philosophies. Of the many topics Aristotle deliberated, human happiness was a biggie. He believed the goal of human life was happiness…
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Delightful things about winter
I sliced my orange in half, releasing a fresh citrus scent, and was delighted by the gorgeous purply red colour inside. I took a closer look at the segments hidden inside the thick-skinned citrus. They were bursting with juice. Before eating the orange, I paraded it around my house to show the beautiful colour to my family (they weren’t quite as delighted as I). A small pleasure in a small thing. Perhaps this is the type of observation that Sei Shōnagon might have recorded in The Pillow Book. I recently learned about this Japanese author/poet/philosopher in Eric Weiner’s book, The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers.…
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Home sweet home
I woke up to a dripping sound the other night. Drip drip drip. It was coming from the bathroom. It was 3 am. My first reaction was annoyance at my house. How can you do this?! Then I quickly realized that was unfair. My house does a fine job of providing us shelter, and so much more. As my husband yanked the garbage bin under the drip, I formulated a plan to deal with it (in the morning) and rolled over and went back to sleep. The next morning, without the leaky metronome, I thought about how much I appreciate my hardworking home. Then I thought of Marie Kondo. At…
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Travel Mode
I studied the vending machine for several minutes before inserting my coins and making a selection. Each button had a series symbols made up of letters from the Korean alphabet. Concentrating on each block of symbols, I haltingly pronounced each segment. Very slowly. My lips could form the sounds, but my brain did not comprehend the phrase. Until one fortuitous word. The first two blocks were identical, followed by a basic vowel. 코코아 Like Grover’s word of the day on Sesame Street I carefully joined the three syllables. CO – CO – A “Hot chocolate!” my feet did a little excited dance. It was revelation. For me. Because it was…
