Rebecca Wells's Blog, page 3
April 12, 2010
Calling All Book Clubs!
Don't miss the big book club announcement on Tuesday, April 13 at BookClubGirl.com. It's going to be such fun!
Hugs,
Rebecca
Hugs,
Rebecca
April 8, 2010
A Walk in the Park
When I lived in New York City, Central Park saved my life. I lived a quarter of a block from the Park on W. 89th. Now I live 5 minutes from a sweet park surrounded by old, tall trees, but with enough open space for the sun to shine down – a big gift here in the Pacific Northwest.
Each day, Mercy, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with whom I share my life, takes me to the park for a stroll around the pond. Not a day goes by in which Mercy does not make us new friends. We meet Beagles, Golden Retrievers, Airedales and Greyhounds that have been rescued after race tracks have thrown them away. With all this in my life how sad can I be?
Do you walk in a park? It’s old fashioned, isn’t it? And yet, just what we need in this fast, crazy world. Tell me about your walks. I’d love to hear.
Each day, Mercy, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with whom I share my life, takes me to the park for a stroll around the pond. Not a day goes by in which Mercy does not make us new friends. We meet Beagles, Golden Retrievers, Airedales and Greyhounds that have been rescued after race tracks have thrown them away. With all this in my life how sad can I be?
Do you walk in a park? It’s old fashioned, isn’t it? And yet, just what we need in this fast, crazy world. Tell me about your walks. I’d love to hear.
April 5, 2010
Sweets for the Sweet
I’ve said before that I try to eat a healthy diet. But who among us can resist the lure of the many tempting treats that magically appear in shops at this time of year? First it was heart-shaped chocolate boxes during Valentine’s Day, and now the Easter candy is calling to me: those Reese’s peanut butter eggs, brightly colored jelly beans and gumdrops, pretty blue “robin’s eggs” and Cadbury eggs with the ooey-gooey cream centers. I’m salivating right now just typing this!
I’m giving myself permission to indulge in just a few springtime sweet treats. A deprived woman is a cranky woman, so let’s just consider giving in to my chocolate craving a form of treatment for a medical condition. Just what the doctor ordered!
What’s your tempting treat right now?
Sweet blessings,
Rebecca
I’m giving myself permission to indulge in just a few springtime sweet treats. A deprived woman is a cranky woman, so let’s just consider giving in to my chocolate craving a form of treatment for a medical condition. Just what the doctor ordered!
What’s your tempting treat right now?
Sweet blessings,
Rebecca
April 2, 2010
Is it spring yet?
I’m craving daffodils, hyacinth, and the sweet smell of fresh-washed air after a spring rain. Although I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest for years, my body and brain are still on Central Louisiana time, and I’m ready for springtime long before Mother Nature flips the seasonal switch.
I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, to pick wild strawberries by the side of the road, and to take a nice long ride on my bicycle, my sweet husband by my side, with a soft breeze ruffling my hair.
I’m definitely ready. How about you? What aspect of springtime are you craving most? Let’s join forces to pull springtime into being!
84,000 springtime wishes,
Rebecca
I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, to pick wild strawberries by the side of the road, and to take a nice long ride on my bicycle, my sweet husband by my side, with a soft breeze ruffling my hair.
I’m definitely ready. How about you? What aspect of springtime are you craving most? Let’s join forces to pull springtime into being!
84,000 springtime wishes,
Rebecca
February 28, 2010
GIFTS
Dear Sweet Community,
It is always interesting to learn the titles that are proposed, and often used for foreign titles of my books. For instance, the Swedish title of THE CROWNING GLORY OF CALLA LILY PONDER will be "The Healing Hands of Calla Lily Ponder." I like the way this focuses on Calla's gift.
We all have gifts. I love hearing the expressions of a person's gifts. Care to share what you perceive to be your main gifts -- or perhaps to observe the gifts that others in our lives bring to the world?
Keep on dancin' in the kitchen!
84,000 Blessings,
Rebecca
It is always interesting to learn the titles that are proposed, and often used for foreign titles of my books. For instance, the Swedish title of THE CROWNING GLORY OF CALLA LILY PONDER will be "The Healing Hands of Calla Lily Ponder." I like the way this focuses on Calla's gift.
We all have gifts. I love hearing the expressions of a person's gifts. Care to share what you perceive to be your main gifts -- or perhaps to observe the gifts that others in our lives bring to the world?
Keep on dancin' in the kitchen!
84,000 Blessings,
Rebecca
February 8, 2010
February 6, 2010
Go Saints!
Kneel and pray, Colts! SAINTS GO MARCHIN' IN AND MARCHIN'
OUT... winners!! GAUX, SAINTS! -- Rebecca, Louisiana Girl
OUT... winners!! GAUX, SAINTS! -- Rebecca, Louisiana Girl
January 16, 2010
HELP HAITI
Dear Ones,
Please. Stop for a moment. Let's all of us breathe in, let our bellies be big, like Buddha belly, like we're pregnant belly. Big belly is good when we breathe. Let us clear all the useless mess out of our minds -- all the things that do not matter, all the things that suck our energy. Things that push on us to buy, buy, consume, consume. Breathe.
See them. See those who suffer. They are everywhere. In our country, according to the last thing I read, ONE out of every EIGHT people need some kind of assistance to have enough food to eat. Suffering. We have to hold onto joy at the same time that we witness the suffering. But right now, the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Haiti is great. They have suffered so much already. I have wondered in the past about a place that has had so much suffering heaped on it, and now the earthquake.
For a long time now, I have focused my donations and thoughts on the people who were wounded or killed -- and the living that are still wounded, traumatized, or homeless. I do not like the way the government or the Red Cross dealt with the disaster in my homeland. But now is the time for me to widen my heart and my vision further, while never forgetting (like much of our news media does) those who still suffer from Katrina. Am I alone in having questions or blinders on the way we give to those who suffer?
Let's don't allow ourselves to grow narrowed by our own lack of focus, or numbed by the news and its love for sensationalism. None of these are the story. The story is simple: How do we take care of our brothers and sisters who are suffering the most, at any given moment? It might be within our own family. That is the closest and most important care. But if we can, we must widen to hold the family that is all of us. Let's give as much as we can. For most of us that means giving money. Clothes and supplies are good, but from everything I can tell, money is better.
Thank you. Bless you. Laugh when given the chance to, keep your hearts open, and remember: dance in the kitchen!
Love,
Rebecca
International charities are just beginning to ramp up their efforts in Haiti. If you're looking to give money to help these relief activities, I've looked around, and compiled a list of some of the larger, established international aid organizations responding to the disaster:
American Jewish World Service
AmeriCares
CARE
Catholic Relief Services
Direct Relief International
Doctors Without Borders
International Committee of the Red Cross
International Rescue Committee
Mercy Corps
Oxfam
Partners in Health
The Salvation Army
Save the Children
UNICEF
World Food Programme
Some organizations accepting donations by text message:
American Red Cross: You can text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti, charged to your cell phone bill.
Yele Haiti: You can text "YELE" to 501501 to automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund, charged to your cell phone bill.
I am not endorsing or vouching for any of these groups. The list is just a starting point for you and your own research. There are a number of online tools available for evaluating charities and making donations to a broader range of NGOs, including
CharityNavigator.org
NetworkForGood.org.
Please. Stop for a moment. Let's all of us breathe in, let our bellies be big, like Buddha belly, like we're pregnant belly. Big belly is good when we breathe. Let us clear all the useless mess out of our minds -- all the things that do not matter, all the things that suck our energy. Things that push on us to buy, buy, consume, consume. Breathe.
See them. See those who suffer. They are everywhere. In our country, according to the last thing I read, ONE out of every EIGHT people need some kind of assistance to have enough food to eat. Suffering. We have to hold onto joy at the same time that we witness the suffering. But right now, the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Haiti is great. They have suffered so much already. I have wondered in the past about a place that has had so much suffering heaped on it, and now the earthquake.
For a long time now, I have focused my donations and thoughts on the people who were wounded or killed -- and the living that are still wounded, traumatized, or homeless. I do not like the way the government or the Red Cross dealt with the disaster in my homeland. But now is the time for me to widen my heart and my vision further, while never forgetting (like much of our news media does) those who still suffer from Katrina. Am I alone in having questions or blinders on the way we give to those who suffer?
Let's don't allow ourselves to grow narrowed by our own lack of focus, or numbed by the news and its love for sensationalism. None of these are the story. The story is simple: How do we take care of our brothers and sisters who are suffering the most, at any given moment? It might be within our own family. That is the closest and most important care. But if we can, we must widen to hold the family that is all of us. Let's give as much as we can. For most of us that means giving money. Clothes and supplies are good, but from everything I can tell, money is better.
Thank you. Bless you. Laugh when given the chance to, keep your hearts open, and remember: dance in the kitchen!
Love,
Rebecca
International charities are just beginning to ramp up their efforts in Haiti. If you're looking to give money to help these relief activities, I've looked around, and compiled a list of some of the larger, established international aid organizations responding to the disaster:
American Jewish World Service
AmeriCares
CARE
Catholic Relief Services
Direct Relief International
Doctors Without Borders
International Committee of the Red Cross
International Rescue Committee
Mercy Corps
Oxfam
Partners in Health
The Salvation Army
Save the Children
UNICEF
World Food Programme
Some organizations accepting donations by text message:
American Red Cross: You can text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti, charged to your cell phone bill.
Yele Haiti: You can text "YELE" to 501501 to automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund, charged to your cell phone bill.
I am not endorsing or vouching for any of these groups. The list is just a starting point for you and your own research. There are a number of online tools available for evaluating charities and making donations to a broader range of NGOs, including
CharityNavigator.org
NetworkForGood.org.
November 29, 2009
HIKING ALONG THE DUNGENESS RIVER. BEAUTY ABOUNDS
Hey Y’all,
Here’s a pic that my sweet husband, Tom, a professional photographer ( www.thomasschworer.com ) took from a walk along the Dungeness River just near the entrance to Olympic National Park here in Washington State. We’ve done a lot of hiking and river floating on the Olympic Peninsula. I’ll never forget the time that Tom fell overboard with his old Roleflex camera while bird watching. His camera was around his neck, and our friend Donna jumped in to try and save it! Ah, life! Love it!
84,000 blessings,
Rebecca
http://www.facebook.com/#/notes/rebec...
Here’s a pic that my sweet husband, Tom, a professional photographer ( www.thomasschworer.com ) took from a walk along the Dungeness River just near the entrance to Olympic National Park here in Washington State. We’ve done a lot of hiking and river floating on the Olympic Peninsula. I’ll never forget the time that Tom fell overboard with his old Roleflex camera while bird watching. His camera was around his neck, and our friend Donna jumped in to try and save it! Ah, life! Love it!
84,000 blessings,
Rebecca
http://www.facebook.com/#/notes/rebec...
November 10, 2009
11/9/09 The Power of a Smile
Yesterday as I was at the market surveying the wide array of fresh vegetable possibilities for dinner with friends, I saw the cutest little baby girl. Her hair was wildly out of control, ringlets of golden-blonde in a halo around her sweet little face. And right in the midst of all that innocence was a wide-open, laughing smile. Now who can keep themselves from smiling big in return to such an adorable thing?
The mother of this little angel was so patient and kind to her daughter. She merrily chatted away with the little girl, telling her the names of the fruits and vegetables as she chose the best-of-the-best to take home to nurture the bodies of her family. What a joy to see the strong connection between maman and bebe! It was clear to me that this lucky little girl is very well-loved. I believe that the magic in that little girl’s smile was a clear reflection of love that her mother has for her. I felt blessed just being near them as we all carefully chose the best apples that Washington State has to offer.
That smile will be with me for days to come.
84,000 blessings,
Rebecca
The mother of this little angel was so patient and kind to her daughter. She merrily chatted away with the little girl, telling her the names of the fruits and vegetables as she chose the best-of-the-best to take home to nurture the bodies of her family. What a joy to see the strong connection between maman and bebe! It was clear to me that this lucky little girl is very well-loved. I believe that the magic in that little girl’s smile was a clear reflection of love that her mother has for her. I felt blessed just being near them as we all carefully chose the best apples that Washington State has to offer.
That smile will be with me for days to come.
84,000 blessings,
Rebecca
