Sunflower Chronicles

  • Recently I ran into an acquaintance I hadn’t seen in a few years.  He looked so perplexed when I enthusiastically greeted him.   After I reintroduced myself, he noted my hair was different.  We talked for a few minutes and parted. A few days later I saw him again, this time in a there were a few others present.   He told the group that we’d met years ago but recently he hadn’t recognized me because I’d “changed” my hair. Somehow this statement tickled my sense of humor. The story is so much more than different hair. “Actually,” I quipped, “I think my hair… https://sunflowerchronicles.blog/2024/01/01/hello-world/

  • I’ve been browsing through photographs and memories this past week, remembering mom.   There’s so much to say, yet I struggle to find words.   It’s her birthday. And the anniversary of her death.  Mom was born on January 22, 1933, and given a beautiful name: Angelique. This name is of French origin, meaning angelic.  The angels carried her home January 22, 2023, on her 90th birthday. I believe mom would have been pleased that she left this life on the anniversary of her birth.  My parents became engaged on mom’s birthday in 1960. Dad had immigrated to Canada a few… https://sunflowerchronicles.blog/2024/01/01/hello-world/

  • I am being drawn into silence.  On a typical morning when I sit in my study, I begin the day by listening to a guided mediation. I tend to be a bit restless, even in a contemplative posture my mind is busy.  Frequently, I have to pause the daily meditation and back it up a bit because mentally I’ve wandered off.   Afterwards, music plays in the background as I pray and journal.   Lately though, my thoughts have been quieter, I’m less distracted.   When the mediation ends, I sit in this beautiful silence.  There’s no traffic on this country road, and the house… https://sunflowerchronicles.blog/2024/01/01/hello-world/

  • How’re you doing with your plans and goals for the new year? Are you still excited? Or does it feel like it’s already time to revise, or even give up on, the vision for 2024? This year, I gave myself time to dream freely about the new year.Over the years I’ve envisioned things I’d like to do, but for 2024 I’m allowing them to flow onto the page and then penning goals and plans in detail. I love my new planner! I can see the whole month laid out before me, make note of appointments and obligations… https://sunflowerchronicles.blog/2024/01/01/hello-world/

  • Behold, I am doing a new thing; (Isaiah 43:19) There is a light blanket of fresh snow blanketing the lawn this first morning of 2024. I greet this day, this new year,  with hope and enthusiasm. As so many of us do at the dawn of a new year, I’ve been reflecting on the journey of the last few  years.  And like many I confess to thinking: “Surely this year will be easier than the last.”  In spring of 2022, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and began  the  challenging path of treatment.  December 28, 2022, with great relief I rang the bell, signifying… https://sunflowerchronicles.blog/2024/01/01/hello-world/