Celebrate Samhain....

 Do something today that would have gotten you burned at the stake 400 years ago.

(daily ex. update, morning walk 4.8 miles, ytd walk 679.7 miles.  pm tm run 3.2 miles, ytd run 1191.1 miles.  day 22 of 5 k run streak)

This blog is my Commonplace book.

A commonplace book is, therefore, essential for writers as it is a permanent bank of inspiration. If you keep a handwritten one, you've taken the effort to seek out the quote, idea or passage, write it out by hand and then refer back to it — so chances are, something resonated with you.

I like the thought of that.....a permanent bank of inspiration....a time-capsule.

Do you practice commonplacing?

(daily ex. update, morning walk 4 miles, ytd walk 674.9 miles. pm tm run 3.1 miles, ytd run 1187.9 miles. 5 K run streak day 21.)

“Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers' gardens. ” ― Douglas Jerrold

 (daily ex. update, morning walk 4 miles, ytd walk 670.9 miles, pm slow tm jog 4.1 miles, ytd run 1184.8 miles, 5 k run streak day 20)

“Truly human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning.” ― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon and Other Stories

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.8 miles, ytd walk 666.9 miles.  pm tm run 3.3 miles. ytd run 1180.7 miles.  5 k run streak day 19)

I see no good reason to act my age.

 (daily ex. update, morning snowy walk with dog, walk 1.1 mile, ytd walk 663.1 miles.  pm tm run 3.1 miles, ytd run 1177.4 miles, 5 k run streak day 18)

I cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.

 

“I cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.

The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper
sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds.

The northwest wind comes and the yellow is torn full of holes,
new beautiful things come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind,
and the old things go, not one lasts.”

― Carl Sandburg

Autumn has arrived!

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 4.5 miles, ytd walk 662 miles.  pm tm run 3.2 miles, ytd run 1174.3 miles, day 17 of 5K run streaking)

“Tread softly! All the earth is holy ground.” ― Christina Rosetti

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.5 miles, ytd walk 657.5 miles.  pm tm run 3.3 miles, ytd run 1171.1 miles.  day 16 of 5K run streak)

Elvis:

 “Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.” 

- Elvis often used this adaptation of a well-known quotation. 

“...the image is one thing and the human being is another...it’s very hard to live up to an image.” 
- From the press conference prior to his record-breaking Madison Square Garden shows in New York City, 1972 

     I just watched the new "Elvis" movie.  It was so sad. All the talent and money in the world don't necessarily lead to happiness, and can lead to tragedy. He was only 42 when he died in 1977.  It must have been difficult to be Elvis and live up to his own image. Here's video from his last performance shortly before his death.

                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANcq2A-WezI

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.5 miles, ytd walk 654 miles, pm tm run 3.1 miles, ytd run 1167.8 miles.  Not enjoying this colder windy weather.)

There’s a moment in youth when you begin seeing your elders with a more jaundiced eye, writes Pamela Paul, a Times Opinion columnist. “And it hits you: They don’t realize that they’re old.”

 (daily ex update, morning dog walk 1.6 miles, windy day, ytd walk 651.5 miles.   pm tm run 5.3 miles, ytd run 1164.7 miles)

Whenever a child learns critical thinking, a conspiracy theory dies.

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 4.5 miles, ytd walk 649.9 miles, pm tm run 3.1 miles, ytd run 1159.4 miles)

“A good plan isn't one where someone wins, it's where nobody thinks they've lost.” ― Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.7 miles, ytd walk 645.4 miles.  pm tm run 3.6 miles, ytd run 1156.3 miles.  I''m on my way to reaching 2022 miles run/walked this year.  I wish more of them were from running, however)

“Nine tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.4 miles, ytd walk 641.7 miles, pm tm run 4.7 miles, ytd run 1152.7 miles)

“A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.” – William Arthur Ward

 (daily ex. update, morning hike with dog 3.9 miles, ytd walk 638 miles, pm tm run 3.6 miles, ytd run 1148 miles)

“We learn from history that we do not learn from history.” ― Georg Hegel

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 5 miles, ytd walk 634.1 miles, pm tm run 4.6 miles, ytd run 1144.4 miles)

Always remember that life is very long, unless it's not.

 (daily ex. update, morning walk 4.2 miles, ytd walk 629.1 miles, pm tm run 3.6 miles, ytd run 1139.8 miles)

If you can't be a good example, be a warning.

 (daily ex. update, walk 3.5 miles, ytd walk 624.9 miles.  pm tm Sunday long run 7.5 miles, ytd run 1136.2 miles)

“Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul.” ― Walt Whitman

 (daily ex. update, walk 4 miles, ytd walk 621.4 miles, pm tm run 3.6 miles, ytd run 1128.7 miles)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.1 miles, ytd walk 617.4 miles.  pm tm 4 miles run, ytd run 1125.1 miles)

 Drink your coffee.

Read your books.

It's chaos out there.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.5 miles, ytd walk 614.3 miles, afternoon tm run 4.5 miles, ytd run 1121.1 miles)

“There are moments when everything goes well; don't be frightened, it won't last.” ― Jules Renard

 (daily ex update, morning dog walk 3.7 miles, ytd walk 611.8 miles, pm tm run 4 miles, ytd run 1116.6 miles)

I walk around like everything is fine, but deep down, inside my shoe, my sock is sliding off.

 

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3 miles, ytd walk 608.1 miles, pm tm 3.5 miles, ytd run 1112.6 miles)

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind.” ― Mahatma Ghandi

 Always proud to be vegan.

Sometimes ashamed to be human.

(daily ex update, morning dog walk 2.6 miles, ytd walk 605.1 miles, pm tm run 3.6 miles, ytd run 1109.1 miles)

I thought of Milford, your great-grandpa, that time I asked him, did he believe in life after death? “I guess that you are my life after death,” he said......Robert Pinsky, Poem of Names

Your greatest contribution to the universe may not be something you do, but someone you raise.

 (daily ex update, morning dog walk 1.1 mile, ytd walk 601.5 miles, pm tm streak saver run 1.1 mile, ytd run 1105.5 miles)

 "It was not witches who burned.

It was women.

Women who were seen as

Too beautiful

Too outspoken

Had too much water in the well (yes, seriously)

Who had a birthmark

Women who were too skilled with herbal medicine

Too loud

Too quiet

Too much red in her hair

Women who had a strong nature connection

Women who danced

Women who sung

or anything else, really.

ANY WOMAN WAS AT RISK BURNING IN THE SIXTEEN HUNDREDS

Sisters testified and turned on each other when their babies were held under ice.

Children were tortured to confess their experiences with “witches” by being fake executed in ovens.

Women were held under water and if they float, they were guilty and executed.

If they sunk and drowned they were innocent.

Women were thrown off cliffs.

Women were put in deep holes in the ground.

The start of this madness was years of famine, war between religions and lots of fear. The churches said that witches, demons and the devil did exist and women were nothing but trouble. As we see even today, there is often a scape goat created, and the chaos escalated in Sweden when the Bible became law and everything that did not line up with what the church said became lethal. The Bible fanaticism killed thousands of women.

Everything connected to a women became feared, especially her sexuality.

It became labelled as dark and dangerous and was the core of the witch trials through out the world.

Why do I write this?

Because I think the usage of words are important, especially when we are doing the work to pull these murky, repressed and forgotten about stories to the surface. Because knowing our history is important when we are building the new world. When we are doing the healing work of our lineages and as women. To give the women who were slaughtered a voice, to give them redress and a chance of peace.

It was not witches who burned.

It was women."

Author: Fia Forsström @thisisfiamusic

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1 mile, ytd walk 600.4 miles, pm tm 1.2 miles run, ytd run 1104.4 miles)

How introverts make friends:

 10% ...they don't

 90%.... an extrovert found them, liked them, and adopted them

(daily ex. update, run 1.1 mile streaksaver, ytd run 1103.2 miles, cool damp dreary day)

“There's only one age: alive.” —Agnes Varda to Oliver Jeffers

 (ex update, ytd walk 599.4 miles, ytd run 1102.1 miles)

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

 (ex. update, ytd walk 597.5 miles, pm tm run 1.5 miles, ytd run 1098.4 miles)