Happy birthday, Terri, and thank you for the inspiration of your writing, your painting, your capacity to notice, and your willingness to share all these. We are blessed by knowing you (even though I only know you through this blog). All hail! Blessings, Laurel

Thank you, Terri. Bright thoughts on a grey days, and love to you and all your house! xo Laurel

Entranced, and contributing. Thank you! Blessings, Laurel

Hi, Kevin - Slight correction to your comment: Dame Julian was the first woman to write a book in English, as far as we know. To be absolutely accurate, "Revelations" is the oldest book; there may have been others, but there is no trace of them now. Blessings, Laurel

Hi Kevin! If there had been no Mrs. Peel, my cat's name would have been Harriet Vane, named after Dorothy Sayers' prickly but brilliant character in her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. But here's a funny thing - in 11th grade, when I had reached the height of the obligatory teenage disenchantment with my birth name, I introduced myself for a time as "Samantha, but call me Sam for short"... The loving heart is the one broken wide open. Blessings, Laurel

Safe travels to you, Terri, and safe home, and blessings every step of the way.

Thank you, Terri, for giving us this music today. I admire June Tabor above all other singers. When she sings, my mind falls willingly into the story she tells, and rests there, and is quiet. Blessings, Laurel

I think we can, and that sometimes we don't, or don't see the struggle going on. Most people work hard to seem OK: they say, "oh, fine," and we accept that, because we are just "oh, fine", too; struggling, too; hiding, too. And sometimes the person carrying the burden can't let go even when it is dragging her/him under. Thank you for your comment, Bob. Always appreciated. Blessings, Laurel

Ah, Kevin! Levity is the necessary and life-saving counter-balance to gravity. As Lewis or Chesterton (I can't find where I wrote it down) wrote, some things are much too serious not to be taken lightly. And I love it when Bernard gets bossy. Blessings, L

Hi, Kevin - Thanks for your vote! Given the tiny size of my current apartment (about 29.5 sq metres), I think I'll take the cash. And with that last phrase, I guess I'm now a politician... Blessings, Laurel

I wasn't all that confrontational in second grade, which is when the book incident happened. Unless being very good at something - reading, in this case - is confrontational. I understand what you are saying, though, and wrestle with these decisions, superficially comfortable as I am. "Minding one's own business" can keep one safer, but it can also allow something wrong that could have been fixed to slip into a deeper wrongness, and to everything getting much, much worse for everybody. Because of that, minding one's own business is not enough. We must of course be discerning - I think this is part of what you are saying - and our discernment of what to do, and when to do it may be flawed. But in the end, the troubles we seek to avoid will come to us, and likely in an intensified form. There was a moment when Frodo could have stayed home. But he didn't. Blessings, Laurel

I met Linda in the early 80s, after my car accident, after I'd left the Transfer. She was in NY doing "Pirates", and a mutual friend introduced us. She is smart, well-read, and funny, and it was she who connected me with my ever-since-then voice teacher, Marge Rivingston,who got me singing again. Linda's a big star in my heavens, that's for sure! And thanks, Bob, for your kind words. Blessings, Laurel

Right back atcha, Baconhead!

I wouldn't be surprised. And those who did write letters in the past wrote more than one a week, at least in my family. My grandmother's letter-writing alone would have kept the USPS going strong. Blessings, Laurel

Kevin, thank you. Blessings, Laurel

Oh my, Noddi28, you cannot imagine how grateful I am for your comment. Thank you thank you thank you. Blessings, Laurel

Hi, Linnie - Mrs. Peel is doing very well. Her things were, of course, the first to be unpacked, and much of the arrangement of the new space has been created to increase her contentment. She will be the subject of an upcoming post. In the meantime, she commends you for being attentive to the more important thing: Herself. Blessings, Laurel

It is always good to hear from Jack. Thank-you, Lela

Thanks, Kathy.

You've made me laugh so hard my face hurts! Thank you, Patrick, for sharing this.

Thank you, Steve, for this gift.

There is a passage about unlearning by the 17th century English metaphysical writer and poet Thomas Traherne that I love and want to share - "So that with much ado I was corrupted, and made to learn the dirty devices of this world. Which now I unlearn, and become, as it were, a little child again that I may enter into the Kingdom of God." Blessings, Laurel

Terri, my friend Paula Chaffee Scardamalia (who once wove a shawl for you) recently gave me her print of your "Devon Fox Fairy". Between homes at present, I have a few precious treasures with me in my migrations; that print is one of them. I think of you often, with gratitude for your work. And now prayers for your safe travels thought the tricky passages. Blessinge, Laurel

Swooning...

Carlos, I think I may have said (or meant) most rock and roll. I probably cited Mick Jagger as a prime example. London in his speech, Mississippi in his singing drawl. I am guessing that Shakespeare could sing passably well. Most people can, and then, probably, more people did. Blessings, Laurel