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Showing posts from May 1, 2011

Wisdom from T.S. Eliot

"The fact that a problem will certainly take a long time to solve, and that it will demand the attention of many minds for several generations, is no justification for postponing the study."

The smell of freshly baked bread

Image from 123RF One of my favorite smells in the world is freshly baked bread. When I was little, my family and I lived with a neighbor as my dad was in the process of building our new home. Estella, our neighbor and close family friend, would bake all the time. So, when I got off the bus from school each day, it was a regular occurrence for me to have freshly baked snacks to eat. Sometimes she would make cookies, sometimes apple turn overs, but more often than not, Estella would bake bread. The smell of the bread would travel through her house and waft out the windows and doors to beacon me inside when I returned home from school. The fragrance of fresh-baked bread led me to a safe, warm, kitchen after a long day at school. My traveling feet found a place to rest in Estella's kitchen. Estella's bread had a way of resetting my heart and mind on good things, even after a hard day. In the account of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, two of his followers are traveling along the road.

Farewell Carl Robert Eastman Jr.

My husband's brother Carl, passed away last Saturday after a long struggle with illness. Carl loved his family, friends - many of them pen pals even in this day of decreasing snail mail, and trains. Every chance he could, he would travel or take a trip so he could travel by train. God speed Carl. You will be missed greatly. If I imagine that you are just away for a while on a train excursion - it makes saying farewell a little easier... What is Death? Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without affect, without the trace of a shadow on it.