Don’t walk too far away from the child within you, and never abandon the sense of wonder that magnifies the smallest of things into mountains of joy. For one day, when you lose sight of happiness, that child within can guide you back to the things that once nourished your heart .. ~ Dodinsky ~

 (daily ex., morning stretching, pm 1 mi slow streak saver jog)

Your roots are intact. You'll flower again.

 (daily ex., morning stretching, pm jog 1.5 mi, slow walk 2.5 mi, trying to heal my knee)

”Nothing is less important in life than the score at halftime.”

 (daily ex, yoga/gentle stretching, pm slow streak saver jog 1 mi, slow walk 3 mi., rehabbing knee)

Never seek revenge. Rotten fruit will fall by itself.

 (daily ex, brief stretching, pm very slow jog 1 mi, slow walk 4.6 mi., I re-injured my knee yesterday)

“You can also commit injustice by doing nothing.” ― Marcus Aurelius

 (daily ex., morning stretching just a bit, pm streaksaver jog)

“You're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them-if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.” ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

(daily ex, tm jog 1.2 mi, morning walk 3 mi, afternoon stretching)

"Less Noise, More Green," JRR Tolkien

 (daily ex, morning stretching, pm jog 4.6 mi slowly)

 "Each year they parade her about, The traditional Halloween witch.

Misshapen green face, stringy scraps of hair, A toothless mouth beneath her disfigured nose. Gnarled knobby fingers twisted into a claw protracting form. A bent and twisted torso that lurches about on wobbly legs.

Most think this is abject image to be the creation of a prejudiced mind or merely a Halloween caricature, I disagree, I believe this to be how witches were really seen.

Consider that most witches were women, were abducted in the night and smuggled into dungeons or prisons under secrecy of darkness and presented by the light of day as a confessed witch.

Few, if any saw a frightened normal looking woman being dragged into a secret room filled with instruments of torture, to be questioned until she confessed to anything that was suggested to her, and to give names or say whatever would stop the questions.

Crowds saw the aberration denounced to the world as a self-proclaimed witch. As the witch was paraded through the town, in route to be burned, hanged, drowned, stoned, or disposed of in various, horrible ways, all created to free and save her soul from her depraved body.

The jeering crowds viewed the result of hours of torture. The face, bruised and broken by countless blows, bore a hue of sickly green. The once warm and loving smile gone, replaced by a grimace of broken teeth, and torn gums that leer beneath a battered disfigured nose.

The disheveled hair conceals bleeding gaps of torn scalp from whence cruel hands had torn away the lovely tresses. Broken, twisted hands clutched the wagon for support. Fractured fingers locked like cropping claws to steady her broken body.

All semblance of humanity gone. This was truly a demon, a bride of Satan, a witch.

I revere this Halloween Witch and hold her sacred. I honor her courage and listen to her warnings of the dark side of humanity.

Each year I shed tears of respect."

- Angel (Petals & Thorns poetry by Angel 6-26-1999)

(daily ex., morning stretching, afternoon 15min step aerobics, pm tm jog 4.1 mi)

Evil destroys even itself. - Aristotle

 (daily ex, morning yoga and stretching, pm tm jog 4.2 mi)

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." —Ernest Hemingway, The Wild Years

 (Tuesday daily ex, morning yoga, lots of walking while shopping, pm 2 mi streaksaver slow jog)

 I THINK IT WAS JUST WOMEN

It must have been a terrifying sight to behold,

a group of witches gathered by firelight,

chanting, conjuring spirits, creating spells…

No wonder some were afraid.

But I think it was just women.

Being women.

Coming together, as they very much must,

to support one another,

to share their battles and pull each other

through the flames

they faced daily.

Sharing remedies, medicines

and ways to heal.

And believing they were so much more than told,

than allowed.

It is little wonder that the power of this union would appear like magic, to the unknowing eye.

But I think it was just women.

Doing what we do,

every day.

Donna Ashworth

(daily ex, morning yoga and stretching, pm jog tm 3.2 mi)

 Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah on knowing what matters:

“In life the challenge is not so much to figure out how best to play the game; the challenge is to figure out what game you’re playing.”

(daily ex, morning stretching, 1.1 mi walk, pm jog 3.1 mi tm)

“It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when they have lost their way.” ― Rollo May

“The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it's conformity.”
― Rollo May

(daily ex, morning tm 1.1 m, am walk 3.5 mi, afternoon stretching)

“Close some doors today. Not because of pride, incapacity, or arrogance, but simply because they lead you nowhere.” ― Paulo Coelho

 (daily ex, morning yoga and stretching, pm tm jog 3.4 mi)

“The less I needed, the better I felt.” ― Charles Bukowski

 (daily ex, morning yoga, afternoon tm jog 2.5 mi, afternoon step aerobics 30 min)

“Creativity is Intelligence having fun.” ~ Albert Einstein

 (daily ex, morning yoga, pm tm jog 3.1 mi)

“If I can't dance to it, it's not my revolution.” ― Emma Goldman

 (daily ex, morning yoga, pm slow jog 2 mi)

When I'm caught between a rock and a hard place, let me be water.

 (daily ex, morning walk 1.5 mi, pm slow streaksaver jog 1 mile, rest day)

I won’t curse you, but I won’t wish you well either. I wish you nothing, and may our planets never touch again. Please be happy, please be sad, be in peace, or afflicted by your reality, please feel anything and everything, whatever it may be, do it far away from me. — Shi Collantes

 (daily ex, morning yoga, 1mi walk, pm 2.1 mi tm jog)

And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. T.S.Eliot

 (daily ex, morning yoga, afternoon jog 3.5 mi)

“People pay to see others believe in themselves.” —Kim Gordon, founding member of the band Sonic Youth, on the power of going for it

 (daily ex, morning yoga, 15 min step aerobics, pm tm jog 3.3 mi)

“Morning without you is a dwindled dawn.” ― Emily Dickinson

 (daily ex., morning yoga , pm tm jog 3.1 mi)

“There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,

 (daily ex, morning yoga, 0.5 mi walk, afternoon step aerobics, pm 2.1 mi jog tm)

“I shut my eyes in order to see.” ― Paul Gauguin

When you realize that true luxury is having time, slow mornings, and the freedom to choose what you want to do. The best things in life aren't expensive. They're the moments when you can take your time, enjoy a quiet morning, and do what makes you happy. It's about having the freedom to make your own choices and savor the simple pleasures. These are the real luxuries that make life truly rich and fulfilling. ~ Lj. Blossoms, Writer’s Blossoms

 (daily ex, morning stretching, walk 1 mi, pm jog streaksaver 1.1 mi)

“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,

 (trying to get back to a bit of exercise, morning walk 0.5 mi, stretching, pm jog 3.5 mi)

“Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst.” ― C.S. Lewis

 (daily ex, morning tm 1.1 mi, morning walk 3.5 mi, afternoon stretching)