Because I’m an animist (one of the reasons I was so enthusiastic about Dana’s Shinto post) I don’t collect “stuff” so much as welcome new pals to the posse. Julie and I are minimalists with penchants for toys, books, and outsider art.  (And ground hogs.  Our resident groundhog, the latest of many generations, just passed… Read More

We get reminders about hanging onto the past from ballads as well as memoirs. Read More

Ashes and Stashes When I retired after my long career as a librarian,  I embarked on a new venture – helping people declutter and organize their stuff!   (See Second Career – Home Organizer!) I advertised my organizing services and I started getting calls from folks who said they needed help getting a handle on their… Read More

Another friend had a bumper sticker—“Live simply that others may simply live”—that still seems like good advice. Read More

I definitely have an issue with stuff magically multiplying. Read More

  Right, let’s talk about stuff. You know, that ever-expanding collection of… well, stuff. It’s the creeping crud of capitalism, the flotsam and jetsam of consumerism clinging desperately to our lives like a toddler covered in ice cream. We buy it, we hoard it, and then we spend the rest of our days muttering darkly… Read More

We Dance Shintoism has more followers in Japan than any other religion including Buddhism.   A polytheistic and animistic religion,  Shintoism,  like other Eastern faiths,  includes the practice of meditation and prayer,  and Japan boasts 100,000 Shinto shines.   But Shintoism has no central authority and its practices vary greatly among it adherents. Although possibly… Read More

Kevin and Khati covered all my salient thoughts about meditation.  I meditated formally at the Shambala Tibetan Buddhist Sangha in Lexington, KY, and with yoga instructors over the years. I once visited the Furnace Mountain Zen Center in Clay City, KY.  The Center is gorgeous and located on a thousand acres of stunning foothills at… Read More

In the 1950s high school swimming was neither competitive nor popular.  For the macho man, the game was gymnastics on the bars, football on the field, and baseball on the diamonds.  For women, it was cheerleading and theater. We did not have fancy or colorful uniforms. Swimmers had a minimal audience. Our uniforms scantily revealed… Read More

TM and the Honeymoon Album Once years ago I heard  that a lecture on transcendental meditation was to be given at a local community center. Intrigued and eager to learn about the benefits of meditation I went,  and when the lecture ended I struck up a conversation with the young woman sitting next to me.… Read More