From Skilled Hands

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Here Comes the Sun: A Metaphor

By fromskilledhands ( August 22, 2009 at 4:18 pm) · Filed under Thanks, Joy, surrender

I came across a video of James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma performing an exquisite interpretation of Here Comes the Sun. It is, I think a wonderful metaphor for the events in my life for the past month or so. I am ready.

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Musings

By fromskilledhands ( August 19, 2009 at 9:13 pm) · Filed under Musings, Musings

I think that blogging is kind of like today’s version of talking over the backyard fence. We sit with a cuppa and tappity tap our thoughts to our cyber neighbors. And when we have nothing much to say, we leave a stone (o) to let them know that we stopped by.

So, if you’ve stopped by, leave a comment, or, at least let me know you were here. I’ll raise my cuppa to you.

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To All Things There is a Season…

By fromskilledhands ( August 17, 2009 at 12:47 pm) · Filed under Change, Change, Death, Family

Many have written about these times in which we live. It seems like it is truly a time of change: patterns, thoughts, ways of being. This past week, we have experienced the hospitalization of a child, health issues with aging parents, our daughter’s moving out of state, and now the death of my brother-in-law.

It is mid-August, when daylight hours decrease and the crescendo of the cicadas’ song breaks through the muggy air. It is a time of quiet reflection, of turning inward, of recognizing the gifts I have been given: the gift of love, of family, of friendship.

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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

By fromskilledhands ( August 13, 2009 at 9:59 pm) · Filed under Change, New York City, Roots and Wings, New York City, Peninsula, Roots and Wings

Tomorrow my oldest daughter will leave this old house to embark on her new adventure. Her roots will now extend to her other home in New York. Bags are packed, laundry is being finished one last time in this place. Tonight the sisters and a friend are paying homage to the local ice cream parlor for one last ice cream—where they split the scoop so you can get 2 flavors.

I went to the store yesterday and bought staples and sundries at Ohio prices rather than New York City’s. Those items are lined up on the table, waiting to find their places in the bags that will take the trip.

There is a sweetness to these days, when I see my daughter ready to once again spread her wings and take flight. This will have been her last summer here; her apartment in Brooklyn will be her new home. It warms my heart and being to see her make choices that guide her in her adult life. She turned 21 this summer, and she is gliding toward her future, EYES. WIDE. OPEN. And it is good.

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My Town Monday: Taking a Break

By fromskilledhands ( August 9, 2009 at 5:28 pm) · Filed under Uncategorized, My Town Monday

I am taking a break to deal with some family health issues. Hopefully, My Town Monday and From Skilled Hands will return later in the week. Have a great week.

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To cultivate and sustain a general public informed by the content of science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future.

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Science is Alive and Well

By fromskilledhands ( August 8, 2009 at 10:23 pm) · Filed under Uncategorized, World Science Festival

The World Science Festival must have been an incredible event! I’ve been exploring the website with interest. The website states that its mission is:

Here is a taste:

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Improvises A Cappella, Song Two of Two from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

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Wordless Wednesday: First Week of August Edition

By fromskilledhands ( August 5, 2009 at 10:07 am) · Filed under Wordless Wednesday, Mandala garden, Wordless Wednesday

Basket in Mandala Garden

Abundant Life in the Mandala Garden

Snapdragons and Chard

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Summer Reading: What’s on Your List?

By fromskilledhands ( August 2, 2009 at 7:11 pm) · Filed under Reading, Summer, NPR, Summer Reading

I like listening to NPR. I learn about stuff that wouldn’t necessarily be in my awareness. I hear interesting music and interviews, and reviews of books. The NPR website has the results of a poll they conducted—albeit unscientific—of the 100 best beach books. Here’s the list:

1. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
3. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
4. Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding
5. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
6. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells
7. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
9. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg
10. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
11. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
12. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
13. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
14. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
15. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
16. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
17. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
18. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
19. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
20. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
21. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
22. The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
23. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith
24. The World According to Garp, by John Irving
25. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
26. The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy
27. Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
28. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
29. The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler
30. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
31. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
32. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
33. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
34. Beach Music, by Pat Conroy
35. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
36. Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
37. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
38. Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
39. The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough
40. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon
41. Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
42. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
43. Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice
44. Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
45. Empire Falls, by Richard Russo
46. Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes
47. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
48. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, by Tom Robbins
49. I Know This Much Is True, by Wally Lamb
50. Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie
51. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
52. The Stand, by Stephen King
53. She’s Come Undone, by Wally Lamb
54. Dune, by Frank Herbert
55. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
56. Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
57. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
58. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
59. The Godfather, by Mario Puzo
60. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
61. Animal Dreams, by Barbara Kingsolver
62. Jaws, by Peter Benchley
63. Good in Bed, by Jennifer Weiner
64. Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
65. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
66. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
67. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
68. Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut
69. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
70. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
71. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
72. The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy
73. Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns
74. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
74. Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe [tie]
76. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
77. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
78. The Shell Seekers, by Rosamunde Pilcher
79. Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
80. Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett
81. Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck
81. The Pilot’s Wife, by Anita Shreve [tie]
83. All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
84. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
85. The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
86. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
87. One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich
88. Shogun, by James Clavell
89. Dracula, by Bram Stoker
90. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera
91. Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow
92. Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
93. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
94. Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
95. Summer Sisters, by Judy Blume
96. The Shining, by Stephen King
97. How Stella Got Her Groove Back, by Terry McMillan
98. Lamb, by Christopher Moore
99. Sick Puppy, by Carl Hiaasen
100. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Which of these have you read? Would you add any others to the list?

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