What’s the Story in Dalamory

It is chastening to realise that human beings evolve so slowly.
The following quotation is from a 2nd century BC philosopher (Patanjali)

When you are inspired by some great purpose,
some extraordinary project, all your thoughts
break their bonds; your mind transcends
limitations, your consciousness expands in
every direction, and you find yourself in a new,
great and wonderful world. Dormant forces,
faculties and talents become alive, and you
discover yourself to be a greater person by far
than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Dana has adopted a small rubber dinosaur. At the moment it still squeaks, but I am not sure how long that will last. I have never seen her so fierce in defence of a small, inanimate friend.

Anthropomorphism for canines gone too far?

A prayer from Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Let nothing disturb you;
let nothing dismay you;
all things pass:
God never changes.
Patience attains
all it strives for.
He who has God
finds he lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.

Occasionally I order stationery o­nline, and sometimes there are free gifts. This time it is a mini liquid dispenser. For the life of me I cannot think of a use for it, other than that the water bottle itself is a better shape to fit o­n a fridge shelf. Basically it is a dumpy 8-glass capacity bottle that balances precariously o­n top of a plastic stand with a small lever to release the liquid into a glass placed below.

I shall have to think about it.

It is a liberation to realise that junk mail does not require to be read. After all, it consists of information that has not been solicited. Ah if I could o­nly cure myself of thinking that there just might be some snippet that is vital to my life. I o­nce heard a colleague admit that he could not bear to throw away pleas for cash from charitable organisations. He made piles of them o­n his study floor and stepped over them for ever after.

Difficult to throw things o­n the bin, but life is about making choices.

But I still like Dolly Parton.

Funny how music goes in eras.

I have o­nly just discovered Eva Cassidy.

We used to have a cairn terrier called Cassie who found pontoons terrifying. Now we seem to have a retriever, Dana, who finds two steps up into a campervan almost impossible.

Suggestions on a postcard please!

When I got married more than 39 years ago now, we thought ourselves lucky to be able to afford a secondhand top-loading washing machine that cost ?15.00. This week, when our automatic machine gave up the ghost (rather noisily as it happens) – there was no thought in my mind but that we would replace it. The new o­ne is so clever that it takes almost as much effort to programme as the video recorder.

The best bit is the way it tells you how long it will be until it completes the cycle.

A prayer by William O'Malley

God, my friend,
perhaps it's time for a little housecleaning of the soul.
Help me to determine
what I'm addicted to that is dragging me down,
what I've neglected to take out and shine,
what I detest that is a call to grow.
Amen