My mom used to call us ‘free range kids,’ like free range chickens… We roamed the countryside. ― William Moseley

“Another practice I love is wandering. … It’s like walking meditation. I do find the time of going within to be replenishing, whether it’s for a half hour in the morning or evening, or a day long retreat. It’s that getting to know yourself, getting to be still, not having to do anything other than … More My mom used to call us ‘free range kids,’ like free range chickens… We roamed the countryside. ― William Moseley

I try to jog in every city I visit, and I particularly enjoy harbour-front paths that let me ogle big ships, railroad bridges and the ruins of factories and warehouses. — Steven Pinker

“It’s not getting from A to B. It’s not the beginning or the destination that counts. It’s the ride in between…This train is alive with things that should be seen and heard. It’s a living, breathing something — you just have to want to learn its rhythm.”—David Baldacci * * * Connecticut River railroad bridge. … More I try to jog in every city I visit, and I particularly enjoy harbour-front paths that let me ogle big ships, railroad bridges and the ruins of factories and warehouses. — Steven Pinker

Requiem

Always, even before the mountains were born, it was the sea that folded its dark soul around algae bloom and plankton and embryonic fishes, around ashen rain and shattered prisms of light, and offered up its titanic floor as the resting place of life. Consider that broken shell just washed ashore, its barnacle covered walls … More Requiem

“I also believe that when people are going through difficult situations in life… it causes them to search a lot more.

“They search life and search their soul. When you’re searching, you’re suddenly a lot more open to the world around you, to the possibilities, to things you never thought about before.” ― Cecilia Ahern Photo credit: Mary O’Connor © 2014

…there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away. — Sarah Kay

The sea is a force that connects, both by its ageless presence and its tomorrow’s hold. But, mostly, its strength resides in the powers that pull it and us from one horizon to the next, that cause sailors to stand and to face the sea and salute. Photo by Mary O’Connor © 2013

Gift of lasting love

Butterflies, according to Chinese symbolism, represent young love, especiallly lasting love. Legend has it that a poor young man and a rich man’s daughter were deeply in love. But being a poor scholar, the young man was rejected by the young woman’s father, who separated the couple and forbade them from seeing each other. Heartbroken, … More Gift of lasting love