Count your blessings

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many--not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

Charles Dickens

As one of my dear friends reflected recently, some days you're the stick, some days you're the pinata...but even the pinata is full of blessings.

This is one of those days when every time I try to "fix" something, I create another problem. (See...this isn't even the picture I wanted to use, but I couldn't delete it. I decided to leave it and trust that someone will enjoy seeing it here. Sigh.) So I am reminding myself. I have so many, many blessings.

I'd love it if you would share some of yours.

Wanda Tucker, your energy coach

Happy Birthday, Larry...

Larry, the Magnificat

(September 18, 1986 - September 17, 2004)

Copyright 2005. Wanda Tucker. All rights reserved.

The days are getting shorter. We are losing four minutes of daylight per day. The leaves are starting to turn. The nights are cooler. It's time for Larry to come curl up on the hearth and warm his toes by the fire.

I miss my feline bed warmer. I miss my friend...my 18 year old, extreme geriatric cat. On veterinary charts, that's what they called him. His age was the equivalent of 86 human years.

Has it only been a year?

I hope your toes are always warm and your joints flexible. Say "hi" to Daryl and Oliver for me.

Is your energy working for you?

(Marian Anderson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1940)

"As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might."

Marian Anderson (1897-1993, Concert and Opera Singer)

Marian Anderson knew about people trying to keep her down. In 1939 the famous contralto sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday at a concert that was arranged by Eleanor Roosevelt after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Ms. Anderson to sing in Constitution Hall. Why? Because she was black.

When she was turned away from music school because of her race, she continued her training with a private teacher. In 1955, at the age of 58, she became the first African-American to perform at the New York Metropolitan Opera. In 1972 she was awarded the UN Peace Prize, and she received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991.

She soared anyway.

What keeps you from soaring? If the answer is nothing...tell me about how you do soar. Maybe your face will be on a stamp some day.

Wanda Tucker, Your Energy Coach

Marty

Marty. Copyright 2005. Wanda Tucker. All rights reserved.

On hot summer days, Marty likes to survey his territory from the deck. Occasionally, the need for a nap overtakes him. This is his imitation of a Flat Cat.

Marty - close up. Copyright 2005. Wanda Tucker. All rights reserved.

When he heard the shutter he opened his eyes...briefly.

Gandhi quote

Copyright 2005. Wanda Tucker. All rights reserved.

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy.

~ Mohandas K. Gandhi ~