Fishing boat improves a marriage (not in the way you might think, gratitude #36)

August 23, 2008

This year, my husband bought a fishing boat.
It started a few years ago, when my cousin’s husband Rob brought his boat up to the cabin and they went out on one trip and landed several trout and salmon. Dave was hooked. He always needed to know whether Rob was coming north, and whether he [...]

Michigan Tart Cherries make for great pie and “cherished” memories! (gratitude #34)

August 9, 2008

I received a subscription to Bon Appetit Magazine, and the cover of the June issue was a spectacular classic sour cherry pie with lattice crust. I read the accompanying article, and I learned that Michigan produces about 75% of the tart or sour cherries in the U.S., and they’re hard to get outside of Michigan.
I [...]

Rope Yoga at RussaYog in Ann Arbor (gratitude #33)

August 7, 2008

After my first experience of Rope Yoga at Vie on S. Ashley Street in Ann Arbor, I’ve been going to the RussaYog studio on S. State Street. There are only a few blocks in between them, but I thought that I would experience the classes taught by the founders, Jasprit and Teresa Singh.
I’ve really enjoyed [...]

Wise words on meditation

August 1, 2008

I was trying to explain meditation to a friend the other day, and I found myself struggling. She asked how I quiet my mind in meditation, and I said, well, I am not always successful, but that meditation gives me a set time to practice. She asked what it was like, I said it varied. [...]

Knitting socks to while away rainy vacation days

July 26, 2008

What better to do on a rainy day in Nova Scotia than to knit socks? Janet gave me this lovely yarn from Baadeck Yarns for my Birthday - Colinette Jitterbug 100% merino wool. Of course, I went for the fuschia to blue colorway, alizarene. I followed the free simple sock pattern on the yarn’s label, [...]

Happy Anniversary, Janet & Nate! (gratitude #32)

July 22, 2008

My in-laws are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.

True to form, they wanted to celebrate together with us: their daughter and their son and daughter-in-law. After a little bit of discussion, they decided on the location for the celebration - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It’s a fitting destination, the family camped here together often. Prior to [...]

The Happiness Hypothesis

July 21, 2008

I first heard about The Happiness Hypothesis from twitter, from @zappos tweet on having finished it, to be exact. I was especially interested in the premise of this book–a look at ancient wisdom and modern psychological research. Jonathan Haidt carefully reviews 10 ideas that have been threads in ancient wisdom and have been addressed in [...]

Gratitude is my top strength, from authentichappiness.com (gratitude #31)

July 19, 2008

I took the VIA Signature Strengths test at authentichappiness.com (test is free, but requires registration on their site). Here are my top 5 strengths. The one thing that stands out to me is that my top strength in this survey is gratitude. Since I have been intentionally cultivating gratitude this year, I wonder if I [...]

How I learned when to meditate

July 8, 2008

I have had a meditation practice for several years now. I’ve been daily on weekdays for some time, long enough now that I think I might be addicted to it. This isn’t a bad addiction, a compulsion I need to shake, but it is interesting to notice my dependence, especially on something that has sometimes been [...]

Needing bread in response to a death in the family

July 7, 2008

Last week, in the middle of a workday, I got a call about a death in the family. I was shocked and sad - Somboun, the guy who died, was young, in his thirties, my husband’s age or so, and seemed in full health. He slipped away in his sleep, without warning.
I was busy, out [...]

Archive for Category:
Life