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Posts Tagged ‘inspiration’

I saw my first flower buds yesterday, in a planter filled with lovely little purple crocus plants. We still have a tiny bit of snow in the yard and my mother reports snow down south, but even so it’s starting to feel like spring. 

It’s good timing, too. Today is Økodag, or Dancing Cow Day in Denmark, when the country’s 200,000 organic cows leave their winter barns and head out to greener pastures. This year is extra special as the event has been on hold for the past two years.

Danes revel in ‘dancing cow day’ for first time since Covid outbreak

“The cows are so happy to be outdoors, to feel the sun and the wind, that they dance,” she said. “Out in the field, a cow can also go for her favourite dishes – grass, clover, various herbs etc.”

Happy spring!

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Photo by Luke Thornton on Unsplash

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“Honestly, if you’re given the choice between Armageddon or tea, you don’t say ‘what kind of tea?’” 

― Neil Gaiman

Wise advice.

Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change

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Photo by Aniketh Kanukurthi on Unsplash

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Today would have been The Whippersnapper‘s 109th birthday. I was hoping to post another photo of her but my father, keeper of the family album, is out of town.

For now just let me say to my grandmother, dancer, baker, tea maker and all-around excellent human being:

I miss you, but I love that you were here.

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Photo by Logan Ellzey on Unsplash

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This may seem late to some of my more southerly readers, but today is the first time it feels like spring. The sun is out, the sky is blue, and I went out for a walk with Mr. Man and didn’t have to shovel. (Sure, there’s still snow on the ground, but I saw my first motorcycle of the year, kids are running around in shorts, and robins are all over the yard.

It’s a good day!

The Sun did all that and more. Let’s go for a little visit, shall we?

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I spent a little time last night working out a new recipe for the mocha tofu pudding. What’s different? Double the espresso. 

And am I using post-lunch dessert as an excuse to test the caffeine-fueled recipe results right now, on this busy busy Tuesday?

Why yes! Yes I am.

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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

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On this day, eons ago, the brave Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee fulfilled their quest to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. And so it was decreed that March 25th would ever after be known as Tolkien Reading Day!

What does that mean?

Today is Tolkien Reading Day! – The Tolkien Society

And as an extra bonus, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Estate Releases Treasure Trove Of Drawings And Maps.

See those maps and more here: Maps – The Tolkien Estate.

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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

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Photo by Martin Jernberg on Unsplash

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I spent too much of today in the news mines (and most of what I found is not great), so I thought I’d share a poem. It’s from 2016 but still relevant.

Click through and read from the beginning for best effect.

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Refugees

by Brian Bilston

They have no need of our help

So do not tell me

These haggard faces could belong to you or me

Should life have dealt a different hand

— Flipping the Message About Refugees, With a Poem – YES! Magazine

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Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

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Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

— Desmond Tutu

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Photo by Emily Jackson on Unsplash

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Tap into your inner Hemingway* with this (very) short story contest:

Enter the Incredible Six Word Wonder Contest 2022 – Doug Weller Writer

This is the place for you to enter your absolute best six word stories, memoirs, poems, and jokes, with the chance of winning $100, getting published, and being named the Six Word Wonder!

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* Ok, Hemingway probably didn’t write that classic six-word story, but the example (and its supposed author) occupy an established place in the heart of flash fiction.

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Photo by David Moum on Unsplash

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I am partial to the written word, of course, but there are times when words can fail us. That’s where music comes in.

Ukrainian violinist Illia Bondarenko made a recording of himself playing in a shelter in Kyiv. Since posting, he has been joined by musicians around the world…

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Do you play? You can join in by downloading the score and making your own recording:

Violinists Support Ukraine – Participate

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Original Photo by Beth Rufener on Unsplash

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