Monthly Archives: July 2019

Today’s Quote

Posted on July 23, 2019 by ivonprefontaine

Theresa posted a short quote from Kahlil Gibran with a lovely picture about kindness as a strength. Kindness offers us courage to reach past ourselves and touch others. It is being human and, as such, is universal.

I think we need kindness more today than perhaps at any other time in our history. We share more in common than we makes us different.

Currently, I am reading The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams. It is a book that I passed several times in the store and, seeming to be calling me, I bought it. It came into my life at the right moment, providing me with fitting counsel for the time.

The write about gratitude as giving “the world your love, your service, your healing, but you can also give it your joy.” Kindness is one way to share with the others love, service, healing, and joy.

Fraser River Near Headwaters

That is Kathy standing on an outcrop near the headwaters of the Fraser River. Up around the bend (John Fogarty might have written those words), are waterfalls. This is my favourite pictures as there is so much to be grateful for in it.

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged blogging, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Abrams, health, Kahlil Gibran, learning, life, soulgatherings, The Book of Joy, The Dalai Lama. Bookmark the permalink. 16 Comments

Returning

Posted on July 19, 2019 by ivonprefontaine

via Returning

Bela takes wonderful photos in this post and writes a heart-felt poem about returning to special places where we belong.

In poems about belonging and returning there are strains of deep feeling. Home is as much about those feelings as it is about geographic location.

After over 40 years in the same house, Kathy and I felt it was time to do something different. We mulled our options: sell and move, major renovations, and finally settled on tearing the house down and rebuilding where we have lived and raised a family. It will be different, but many of the feelings will still be there.

We have driven and cruised parts of the west coast and Bela’s pictures capture the magificent coastline, lush forests, rivers with mountains towering above, and the ocean.

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Another place that is home for us is the farm where Kathy grew up. This was a picture she took of a deer just as curious about her as she was of it.

Home is about relationships with people and things that evoke memories of belonging in a particular place and how, each time we return, those memories are vivid in our very being there..

Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged Bela's Bright Ideas, belonging, blogging, environment, family, Home, life, nature, relationships, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 24 Comments

Twin Falls At Rock Island State Park

Posted on July 16, 2019 by ivonprefontaine

via Twin Falls At Rock Island State Park

Phil offers various images for followers, including photography and graphic designs.

This images and video caught my eye, as I love waterfalls. I am in Spokane for a few days and only a few minutes walk from Spokane Falls. Below, I include videos (apologies for the grainy nature) I took of the falls on my walk the other day. I am struck by how nature surrounds and engulfs me.

Humans are part of nature. I experience this inness, if there is such a word, as rabbits, deer, coyotes, etc. inhabit the neighbourhood we live in. 20 years ago, I may have argued we were on the outskirts of Edmonton, but today that is not the case.

Despite the urban sprawl we experience, nature does not recognize boundaries the way we do. Boundaries exist in nature, but they are formed around natural structures e.g., mountain ranges, valleys, rivers, etc.

The second video is just above the first set of falls and shows part of the skyline and the site for Expo 74.

Posted in Blogging, Community, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged blogging, environment, nature, Perkins Designs, relationships, Spokane, Spokane Falls, travel, waterfalls, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments

Persistence

Posted on July 2, 2019 by ivonprefontaine

via Persistence

There is not much to add to Norma Bobb‘s post. She provides an inspiring text along with a beautiful picture and reminds me of my role in helping to protect the Earth for our children and grandchildren.

The post brought to mind the Indigenous quote: “Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.”
Our care for the Earth is based on being stewards and prophets who look forward without fulling grasping what they will discover. We deceive ourselves with false arguements about ecology and economy as separate. They are linked by their etymology coming from the Greek, oikos, meaning household. How we each care for our household speaks volumes about us.

As Norma Bobb proposes, we each have a duty to persist in caring for the Earth and being stewards in its care.