Sunday Snippets: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: It's May! The Lusty Month of May! I wait all year to share this music & the time is finally here. As much as I love a good piece of music - I've never seen the full musical it comes from - I love getting lost in the woods too. That is, I love getting lost in the woods when there is a clear path to follow. This past week during a few days away we got to spend some time getting lost in the woods of Pokagon State Park not too far away from where I grew up. I absolutely loved finding these old tree stumps & finding the new pieces of life making their way through the forest with Spring warmth in the air. It was even warm enough to wear sandals!

BAD: Do I need to point it out? The country of Nepal is picking up the pieces they're able to recover after earthquake. Baltimore is trying to pick up the pieces after complete riots. And the world is full of broken people. At this past week's retreat we heard about a study regarding Flourishing in Ministry & it was quite evident what a true challenge this was for many people.

AWESOME: Maybe the challenge of flourishing isn't all bad, but simply real. We came home later in the week & I found a random chunk of sidewalk chalk on our back patio. It makes me wonder who was on our back patio & what they were going to draw before being scared off. I think this summer I will have to get some sidewalk chalk!

WORD: "The Bloom Comes From Abiding, From Letting the Root Do What It Does."

coming up: Lots of #LifeSpiritSparkle with the #LustyMonthofMay!!!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Welcome to Tuesday Tea Time in a piece of Wonderland!

Not only was this tea a fun find back on vacation in February, it has been a tasty delight to many a morning.

This week we're struggling to find that warmer Spring air in the tip of the mitt. I think the sea trolls are mad about the melting ice & trying to make it stick a little longer on their waters under the bridge! Or maybe it's just Spring North of the 45th parallel. You choose!

One of the slightly humorous recent pieces of life that goes with Wonderland Tea is that I sent a package to a dear friend recently intending to include a sampling of Wonderland tea. Naturally I included a card. In the card I am almost certain that I wrote something about the included tea bags - as I meant to share - but the time between writing the card, putting the package together & actually sticking it in the mail was so long that I forgot to include the tea bags. There's a good chance that I've made this all up & I never mentioned the tea bags in the card & the recipient doesn't know they're missing out. Now I've put it out there though, for all to read & I can almost assure you out of all the posts, my dear friend AJO will read this. Clearly my subconscious is saving the Wonderland Tea to enjoy with AJO in person!

That means she needs to visit soon as it is part of my morning tea at least a couple mornings a week. Despite this week's fight for warm Spring air, everything is turning & starting to sprout buds with promises of flowers & leaves in the air. It's the perfect time of year for visitors!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: Any week with a free ice cream cone is a good week, right? While many places had free cone day on Monday or Tuesday, we had to wait till Friday to have our free cone. It was well worth the wait as the week was not without treats & the weather was not any warmer at the end of the week than the beginning of the week. Ice cream was only a piece of this goodness though as the week was filled with great conversations, my first official yoga class in many years, more good food, a clean house (mostly), & naturally more really great food. We waited all week to make our Irish meal in honor of St Patrick's day & man alive, it was delicious! Iowa girl eats & I could be friends no doubt! Check out the Wine-Braised Beef Shepherd's Pie recipe, definitely worth your time!

BAD: While there plenty of eye catching & head tilting news pieces out there to report on, they've already been reported on. My idea of bad is when life is so heavy, you can't seem to take one more step. This past week a colleague posted about one event after another after another of heavy life pieces mostly, if not entirely, out of her control. Despite it all, with the help of others, she continued to put one foot in front of the other & be there for those pieces  of her life that needed her AND she was still able to celebrate another piece of life. Way to turn bad into...

AWESOME: Watching an old favorite of a movie, still being able to quote along with the lines, & still thinking it's pretty much one of the best movies ever. 10 Things I Hate About You is that movie for me.

WORD: Reading pieces of Mark & essays from Mindy.

coming up: Love, Life, Spirit, & Sparkle!