An End to Irony

Life is full of irony, or so it feels when that is foremost on one’s mind.  Here are just some of the ways that irony has played a role this week:  Concerned that the hotel we were staying at was pet-friendly (and I am deadly allergic to cats), we made distancing ourselves from animals the […]

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Ah, Irony

Jazz, from Steps and Pauses sent me this sign, taken in Uncertain, Texas, a place she says is worthy of a visit: I would think they have a rather large following. I spotted this sign, and well…I think the ironies speak for themselves: The black squirrel (featured) thought he had cleverly outrun his assailant – a raging […]

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Stoic Hunter?

Who is more stoic than the Great Blue, stealthily enduring rocks and rapids to catch the day’s meal? Appearances, however, have been known to deceive… seems this bird is no emotional void, no paragon of strength, but a closet thespian – caught him, mid rehearsal – aspiring to a phantom role – of the opera variety. (Written […]

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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #15: Irony

Is it just me, or is there irony in the idea of a museum of tolerance – as if the concept itself, now defunct, has been mummified for perusal? Life is full of ironies, and sometimes it takes an objective view to find them.  As a kid, I found it ironic that my father would […]

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Finishing Foundations

I turned to God when my foundation was shaking, only to find that God was shaking my foundation. – unknown I’ve carried this quotation with me since my early thirties, a time when the bottom fell out of my life and I fell into a deep abyss of depression and mental breakdown (or breakthrough, as […]

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Building a Foundation (with help from wikihow.com)

 Choose the type of foundation to build.  I want a foundation strong enough to carry me through hard times, yet flexible and able to adapt in the moment.  Something sustaining, and solid, but not rigid.   Set your footings 2 feet across.   Two feet on the ground, firmly planted, well balanced, not alone, but interdependent, both partaking […]

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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #14: Foundation

“What about my marriage?”  a naive, much younger me once asked a psychic. “The foundation is firm,” the woman responded hesitantly, “but not without cracks.” Cracks?  It was more like gaping holes.  Easy to see now, in retrospect, but at the time, I was convinced we were rock solid.  The suggestion of anything less insulted […]

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Continue to Question

Inquiry is a trait teachers hope to instil in students – the ability to not just take for granted that which they have been taught, but the curiosity to question evidence, and to research beyond what is given. Questions form the basis of a reflective life. This week’s challenge was to think about the questions […]

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The Questions That Follow Us

“Sometimes I just wish I could roll back the years and start over.” “Hard to imagine it.  Life would have been very different.” Our what if’s are wistful, laced with regrets.  Not that we had any power over what happened – we were only children when decisions that would affect us forever after were made. […]

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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #13: Questions

What will come from all this suffering?  Why do I keep repeating old patterns?  Where is this journey taking me?  How can I be a better person?  When do things get better? A Question by Robert Frost A voice said, Look me in the stars And tell me truly, men of earth, If all the soul-and-body […]

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