I Can Hear the Bells

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Catherine Mary

‘I heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play:

And wild and deep the words repeat of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

I thought how as this day had come, the belfries of all Christendom

Had rung so long, the unbroken song, of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

And in despair, I bowed my head…’There is no ‘peace on earth’, I said-

For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.’

 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: God is not dead, nor doth he sleep:

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth, good will to men.”

Because today is Christmas Day, I wanted to share something with all of you that has great meaning for me…this very, very old hymn that is written above has, over the passing years, forever brought tears to my eyes and lifted my heart…the author of it, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote about what he knew…the realities of life that are sometimes so very painful, so very difficult to get through, that despair threatens to take us over… his life was hurtful and difficult, yet these are the words that came out of his personal tragedy and hardship…there have been many times I myself wondered how any good could come out of what was happening around me…but like Longfellow, in those times I came to see that, “…God is not dead, nor doth he sleep…” Wrong has failed, right has prevailed, and ‘peace on earth’ comes to my heart again…
and I can hear the bells...



It is my fondest hope that this day finds you celebrating in the way you love best…whether noisy or quiet…alone or with friends and family…and that this Christmas time is the most blest one for all of you…


…and may every one of you hear the bells…

http://youtu.be/AUWD9Rsmfuw

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!!!

On Changing the World...

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Catherine Mary

In the last six months, while on hiatus from the net, I spent a lot of time ruminating on who I am, what I do, and why…how cosmic is that?!? Point is, I’d like to say that I’m at that time of life where one spends more time in thoughts of life, the universe, etc., because one is older and finally has the time to do just that…but, for me, I’ve taken these kind of breaks most of my life, where I take time to ponder what my strongest or deepest point is, in that moment of time…what am I doing? Attaining, for myself and/or for others? Where am I going? What do I want to see happen, to see change? What is my part in that and why? So this has been a constant since I was oh, twenty -three or so, and at the end of the time spent, I find I have a new direction to go in, a new idea unfolds and I can take hold of it and run with it…and I truly have found myself amazed each and every time this has occurred, because the actuality of what happens next consistently exceeds my wildest thoughts and expectations…in other words, the direction or idea I had in the first place, turns out to be far bigger and has far more impact than I ever expected it could…

I cannot remember a time in my life where I haven’t been teased by family and friends…or jeered at by ‘unfriendlies’, because of what I thought I could do about something that needed someone to do it,especially when everyone tells me ‘it can’t be done’…(oooh, what a challenge!)…most people love me or despise me because emotionally I will dare to go where most people will not…I will dare to love, to care, to try..to take time to listen…and it has constantly astounded people one way or another, that my maxim of life, is that you can do dishes, dusting, cooking, cleaning, anytime, but the moment you get with the person in front of you may only be that one moment, so take it..unplug the vacuum cleaner, toss down the tea towel, turn off the oven…all that will still be there later (it’s not like it’s going to disappear or something!)… but the person who needs you now, may not be here tomorrow..whether sister or brother or mother calling long distance, a friend who needs a listening ear (and not advice on how YOU’D deal with it, whatever it is)..someone who needs a cup of sugar or flour, a jar of coffee, five bucks, or a pack of smokes… and the teasing comes in because when others ask me why I’m doing these things, I tell them that it is not only the right thing to do, but it’s actually my bid for changing the world…

Now some people seem to have gotten the idea that I’m walkin’ around with blinders on..I don’t see what’s really out there (I don’t know how many times my kids alone have said this to me over the years…if I had a dime for every time, I’d be a millionaire! lol!)…cuz if I did, I wouldn’t act the way I do…other people who don’t know or cannot see what my life is really like, think I’m safely esconced in the aura and softness of a middle class life…that I am secure in my financially sound surroundings so I can spew ‘sugar and pixie dust’ everywhere I go, because I have such a safe and beautiful life….nothing could be further from the truth…someone who has known me for forty of the fity-seven years I have been walking this earth once exclaimed that most people have five to eight bad years in their lives, give or take, and then they have some sort of turn around where things change for the better, and by that discussion, I have suffered more hardship and distress than ten other people put together…no exaggeration there..I couldn’t argue the point on any count, because the person talking was absolutely right…the last thing I should be doing is deciding that giving to others, at whatever cost to myself is the point…but I don’t see it that way…the more you hurt, the more experience you gain…the more experience you gain, the more you have to give…if you aren’t giving, you aren’t living….

My brother, Howard, is a marine biologist by profession…just got his PhD. a year or so back…he’s 55 yrs. old, and he’s been in an all out, do or die discussion for saving the planet since he was about, oh, twenty-five or so…he often teases me (light heartedly because he’s my brother and he loves me), that possibly I shouldn’t spend so much time trying to save the world…I tease him(just as lightheartedly) right back and say there wouldn’t be any point in saving our ecostystems, ie, the planet, if there’s no one left to take care of it!. lol!

In all the places I’ve been, all the things that I’ve seen, I have come to this one inexhorable truth: change will happen to us corporately and individually, no matter what we do…but by what we do or say, we can make change a good thing, for ourselves, for someone else…we all could use a little less of the phrase, ” Seeing is believing” ….turn it around and it becomes “Believing IS seeing”…believe in it, act on it, and then change will occur…maybe only something that seems small, not necessarily signifcant at the moment…but even in history do we see that one small act changed the outcome…

On that note I hope y’all have the best day ever! http://youtu.be/-mM3QaKaBAM

Waiting for Christmas to come...

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Catherine Mary

…this blog is actually dedicated to my daughter, Sharon, who by virtue of her incredible good taste in music(don’t know where she got that from..ahem! lol!), has accidentally introduced me to an Irish artist named Johnny Reid…she posted this song on fb, ‘Waiting for Christmas to come…it was so-o-o-o incredible, wonderful, amazing, touching…

….so I thought I post it from ‘youtube’ for y’all, it will so lift your hearts, let me tell you… http://youtu.be/wT9mJTYq-P8

….after this, while on the same site, I caught this video of children(and staff) from Hartley Bay School, who made their own video of this song…it was really, I don’t know…is it too corny or passe to say, precious? So here’s some Christmas to take through whatever sort of day your having…merry, merry!

http://youtu.be/Yn2i9K1-UWU

Just a little thing I forgot yesterday...

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Catherine Mary

At the end of every blog I usually put up a song or video…but I was tired enough to forget…duh! So here is what I wanted to end my blog with…to all of you from us…

http://youtu.be/PM92DKVRPcg

…I’ll be fine…really! Merry, merry!!

GOODNIGHT, NEVERLAND!

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Catherine Mary

Hello, everyone:

You may have noticed that I’ve been offline since June…life…what can I tell you, it’s always there and must take precidence…and are we not constantly richer for the changes, the ‘scrambled-eggs-for-brains’ we sometimes are left with, the hopes, the fears, the fun, the tears…that’s life as they do say…and I’ve had plenty of it…

Had a lot of time to reflect, to think where I’m going next (because one is always going somewhere, even if one is standing still…think about it!), what’s around the corner…we’ve downsized again to yet a smaller house (and I MEAN small-

S-M-ALL)..Len and I both can walk from the front door to the bathroom, in under seven seconds!!!(this is often handy! lol!)

I’ve missed all of you terribly..Eddie, Stephen, Janae, Simon, Sue, Aussie, Chip, both Annes…just everybody! I’ve thought and prayed for all of you often in these last months..hope you are well, happy, delighted with life, and doing whatever it is that makes you feel not just good, but great!!!

Tomorrow is my birthday…57 yrs old I will be…wow! And I still don’t need bifocals…but perhaps computer eyeware may be in the offing this next year…and, of course, we are fast approaching another year end with Christmas just around the corner…so who’s coming over for eggnog and some of my very best Christmas cake…let’s not forget the shortbread and the gingerbread cookies…tea will be served from 7-midnite on Christmas Eve..hope you’ll drop by cuz I’d be delighted to see you…we can swap stories of Christmases behind, the things we like best about the season and perhaps some of the personal traditions that have been part of our Christmases over the years…that would be truly wonderful…

Until next time…I hope for each of you good things, good friends and happy moments at this very special time…stay well.

Grace...

‘Grace, she takes the blame, she covers the shame,
Removes the stain, it could be her name;
Grace-it’s a name for a girl,
It’s also a thought that could change the world.
And when she walks on the street, you can hear the strings,
Grace finds goodness in everything.
Grace–she’s got the walk, not on a ramp or on chalk,
She’s got the time to talk;
She travels outside of karma, karma, she travels outside of karma.
When she goes to work you can hear the strings,
Grace finds beauty in everything.
Grace–she carries the world on her hips, no champagne flute for her lips,
No twirls or skips between her fingertips,
She carries a pearl in perfect conditon,
What once was hurt, what once was friction,
What left a mark no longer stains,
Because grace makes beauty out of ugly things,
Grace finds beauty in everything,
Grace finds goodness in everything.
‘Grace’- U2-

http://youtu.be/RVFgxkL_vuk

Some interesting thoughts for a rainy day….may this day be all that you need, and nothing you don’t….

Hello and good morning to all of my friends on all of my spaces…how is everyone doing today? I have had a very busy two weeks, with much to do, but in between I have found myself in a unique place of quietude, of peace…it’s been something I haven’t known for many years…

 

In the human framework, I have been rearranging my house, room by room in the aftermath of my children moving out…the things I’ve found that I’d forgotten I even had because they were tucked away, would amaze you! Went through old photos, even found some of myself as a young girl…OMG THOSE were the days!

 

Overall, though I have found that in the settling dust of all these different changes, in the sorting of things that were/are the bits and bobs of my life, a great calmness has come over me…how long it will last is anyone’s guess, but it is truly wondrous to be standing within it, even for a moment or two, if that’s all I will have of it…

 

I wanted to tell you that in life it seems that many things that begin in a hectic or startling way, where we seem to have life turn topsy turvy..where things seem to become somewhat shaken up, do end up settling us in one way or another..perhaps the key is acceptance of what is happening at the time…I am not totally sure of that, for some things that come our way are hard things to accept..but in this instance, I believe the acceptance I had for the unexpected changes in my life recently, was the catalyst to comfort and eventually to the peace I now am enjoying….even my dog and cats are settling to a quieter mode, and that I am truly thankful for…

 

If I could be granted a wish, just one, today I would wish for all of you to have a measure of this quiet peace that seems to have ‘come in the back door’ of my heart…that you would have a day, today in fact, where everything around you settled itself for you in every way…be well my friends and take care…may this day bring all that you hope for…

http://youtu.be/Mht0Bzm_Cgs

A Poet I'm Not...

I have so many friends (and friends of friends that I get to read occaisionally) that really produce fantastic poetry...I READ poetry quite often...mostly the classics, and won't bore you with that here...I find rhyming pentamater extremely soothing at times...and very funny sometimes...I can still quote several parts of Dr. Suess that I read to my kids, speaking of funny...but I'm not really a poet myself...however, Lenore, my friend and I spent several hours yesterday booting up here on blogspot or blogger, whichever, and at the end of ALL THAT, she challenged me to write a SPECTACULAR blog this morning on my new site...I've been 'hemming and hawing' for about an hour now...and the only thing I can come up with is a poem (one out of six) that came to me out of a dream back in 2005...and I hope I still remember it the right way up, so to speak: so here it is...a side of Catherine Mary you've never seen before...
                                    Not every man is a stranger
                                   Who darkens our threshold, our doors-
                                  Unaware, we entertain angels
                                  Come in from the wilds and the wars;

                                 Not every blade that was broken,
                                Must be reforged, ere it stand:
                               Not every word is one spoken-
                              Not every son is a man.

                            Not every gift that is given
                           Is possession-to have and to hold;
                          Not every heart that is riven,
                         Is left there to bleed, in the cold.

                      When the new green grass meets the heather,
                      When the morning mists melt in the sun,
                      When two hands touch in the evening,
                      When two hearts fall into one:

                     Then will this exile be over,
                    Heartache and pain will be past-
                   Then begins, 'Always, forever',
                  Then we'll have come home at last.

                                                        -Catherine Mary -2005-

                                 http://youtu.be/7uHvGtoDOfk