• coffee life,  fountain pens,  journal,  journaling,  quotes

    Journal writing…

    November 11, 2025

    Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.

    Christina Baldwin

    It was a surprisingly warm morning so a very pleasant bicycle ride to coffee and back. I then met a few of my high school classmates for our monthly luncheon. I overate, again and have been waddling around most of the afternoon. It seems some lessons must be repeated! My youngest sister and I have purchased tickets and are flying to Phoenix next week to spend a couple days with my dad, sister and brother-in-law. It will be an early Thanksgiving. The sun has set, darkness and cold move in. I hope you had a good day and stay safe!

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  • blogging,  coffee life,  fountain pens,  journal,  journaling,  lifestyles,  meditation,  prayer

    … and peanut butter

    October 20, 2025

    Winds have been gusting up to 25-30 mph since early this morning and we may see that continue into mid-afternoon. Because of the winds I wisely chose not to ride the bicycle to coffee and conversation. After returning home I made a piece of sourdough toast with a generous spreading of chunky peanut butter. I then sat in my bedroom chair with the warm sunshine spreading across my journal to write. But before I could get started writing the light and shadows on the pages urged me to put the pen down, set up the camera and tripod and use this image as a starting place for today’s post. As I post this I realize it reflects the life I live today full of prayer and meditation, coffee life, photography, journaling, blogging, and peanut butter. And if the wind wasn’t blowing, bicycling.

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  • coffee life,  journal,  quotes

    Yes, the buoyancy of hope

    October 3, 2025

    If we want to turn over a new leaf and really set a new humanity afoot, we must begin to turn humankind away from the long and desolate night of violence. May it not be that the new humanity the world needs is the nonviolent human?… This not only will make us new people but will give us a new kind of power…. It will be power infused with love and justice, that will change dark yesterday’s into bright tomorrows, and lift us from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope.

    Martin Luther King
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  • coffee life,  fountain pens,  journaling,  poems

    Hanging Around Friends

    May 14, 2025

    Something whispered something that was not even a word. It was more like silence that was understandable.

    Mary Oliver

    I’ve been struggling with health issues for the past 4 days. Primarily deep back pain that penetrates my chest. I’ve had about every test possible checking for blood clots, strokes, seizures, and any heart issues. I have many symptoms of pleurisy, but all the testing came back negative. So, I am taking six Tylenol a day and resting. I haven’t been to the natural areas, bicycling, or photography as much. However, I made it to Mugs for an Old Town mocha and gathered around friends this morning. Seems hanging around friends is good medicine. I’ve kept up with my journaling and been reading some new poetry. I hope all is well with you. And, thanks for listening to me whine.

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  • fountain pens,  journaling,  quotes

    Embrace living…

    March 25, 2025

    Life isn’t something you leave home to do. It’s what you accomplish within the walls of your haven. That’s what allows you to greet the world with an open heart and reach out and embrace living in all its richness, variety, and staggering wonder.

    Richard Wagamese, Embers

    One way for me to greet the world with an open heart, then reach out and embrace living in all its richness, is setting aside time to put pen to paper in my journals. I find it a great way to begin the new day, as well as end the day, while staying in this present moment. Hope you had a good day and I hope you stagger in wonder tomorrow!!

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  • coffee life,  latte art,  quotes

    The beginning of love…

    March 16, 2025

    The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

    Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
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  • coffee life,  latte art,  quotes,  silence

    Ordinary Life Experiences

    January 21, 2025
    Latte art (rosetta) by Dean

    The most ordinary life experiences become transcendent when you offer them your reverent silence, your mischievous laughter, your sacred rage.

    Mirabai Starr

    Another frigid morning below zero, where my car groaned when I turned the ignition. Almost like it was saying, “Do you really want to do this?” Clear blue skies and sunshine now bring some warmth. My morning included quiet time, a breakfast scramble, then a trip to the coffee shop filled with wonderful conversations and a mocha. I did not journal until after I came home and began laundry. Some may consider my life dull, boring, ordinary but for me there is nothing ordinary about this life I live. My life is full as long as I stay present, my eyes open! I must admit I live the good life! I see that everyone is dealing with this cold weather so I hope you are staying warm.

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  • fountain pens,  journal,  quotes

    My journaling…

    January 10, 2025
    Dark Chocolate Petit Beurre Biscuits and chocolate milk

    “As the pen rises from the page between words, so the walker’s feet rise and fall between paces, and as the deer continues to run as it bounds from the earth and the dolphin continues to swim even as it leaps again and again from the sea, so writing and wayfaring are continuous activities, a running stitch, a persistence of the same seam or stream.”

    Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot

    Nothing like a couple of Dark Chocolate Petit Beurre Biscuits and a small glass of chocolate milk to add to my journaling experience. My journaling has been a continuous practice in my life, a journey, a path I enjoy walking, one word, one step at a time.

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