Weekend Inspiration

Trunk of a Triangle Palm

"The purpose of Zen is the perfection of character."
_____ Yamada Roshi

Friday's Inspiration

"Do not conquer the world with force. For force only causes resistance. Thorns spring up when an army passes. Years of misery follow a great victory. Do only what needs to be done, without using violence."
_____ Lao-Tzu

Happy Birthday To Me

Another year older and definitely a year wiser. It has been a rough year but I survived it and am looking forward to the challenges and blessings the next year will bring. I am looking forward to being able to post better quality pictures as Gregg bought me a new camera for my birthday.

The camera is a Fujifilm S1800 and it is 12mp with 18X zoom. I am really looking forward to playing with this.

" 'Feeling good' is your way of telling yourself that your last thought was truth, that your last word was wisdom,
that your last action was love."
_____ Neale Walsch

Wednesday's Inspiration

"Truth is in things, and not in words."
_____ Herman Melville

Tuesday's Inspiration

"Do not turn away what is given you, nor reach out for what is given to others, lest you disturb your quietness."
_____ The Dhammapada

Monday's Message

This is a new plant that we have never seen before called a Persian Shield. The intensity of the purple is amazing.

"Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty."
_____ Socrates

Weekend Inspiration

A view of my front porch.

"In struggling against anguish one never produces serenity; the struggle against anguish only produces new forms of anguish."
_____ Simone Weil

Friday's Inspiration

"Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. There is only enlightened activity."
______ Shunryu Suzuki

Thursday's Inspiration

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"Meditation is not an escape from life, but preparation for really being in life."
_____ Thich Nhat Hanh

Wednesday's Inspiration

"Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes, it obstructs your vision."
_____ His-Tang

Monday's Message

Orchid display at the Montreal Royal Botanical Gardens.

"To set up what you like against what you dislike, this is the disease of the mind."
_____ Seng-T'san

Weekend Inspiration

Montreal Royal Botanical Gardens

"Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit."
_____ William James

Friday's Inspiration

"He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden."
_____ Plato

Thursday's Inspiration

"The person of superior integrity does not insist upon his integrity. For this reason, he has integrity. The person of inferior integrity never loses sight of his integrity; for this reason, he lacks integrity."
_____ Lao-Tzu

Wednesday's Inspiration

Bonsai from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Montreal.

"The prayer of the monk is not perfect until he no longer recognizes himself or the fact that he is praying."
_____ Saint Anthony

Tuesday's Inspiration

"The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self."
_____ Albert Einstein

Monday's Inspiration

"Calm is the morn without a sound, calm as to suit a calmer grief, and only through a faded leaf the chestnut pattering to the ground."
_____ Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Weekend Inspiration

"In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present."
_____ Tao Te Ching

Friday's Inspiration

Every garden should have palm tree's

"At the centre of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want"
_____ Lao-Tzu

Thursday's Inspiration

This is a picture of another area of our backyard. All tatters are welcome to come and relax and enjoy the view and we can have a tatting get together. I would be happy to cook a special meal for those who come and for our chocolate fix how does a chocolate liquor Tiramisu sound.

"The sublime vision comes to the pure and simple soul in a clean and chaste body."
_____ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time for a Change

This is how our garden used to look. It was very nice, but it was a lot of work.


This is how the garden looks now. It is still a beautiful garden but now it is a lot less work.


"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.
_____ Alan Watts

We are Melting

I do not know about everyone else where they are living but we are in a major heatwave that is going to last for at least the 4 next days. Yesterday the temperature reached 44C or 111F. With temperatures like this I think even the concrete wants to melt.
Today's inspiration is one I strongly believe in. Hope you enjoy it also.

"Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves."
_____ Buddha

MMonday's Message

Hosta's and a Twisted Lady fern.

"We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us."
_____ Albert Einstein

Weekend Inspiration

Foxtail Ferns and Dwarf Hinoki Standard

"I do not cut up my life into days but my days into lives: each day, each hour, an entire life."
_____ Juan Ramon Jimenez

Thursday's Inspiration

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
_____ Lao-Tzo

Wednesday's Inspiration

It is another growing season and this is how the planting looks at the front of the house. The neighborhood children's favorite plant is the trimmed boxwood that they have named "The Slider Tree"


"The poor long for riches, the rich long for heaven, but the wise long for a state of tranquility."
_____ Swami Rama

Tuesday's Inspiration

This bench is reserved for anyone who enjoys the daily inspirations and would like a peaceful spot to ponder them.

"Relaxation and concentration go hand in hand. But too much concentration defeats itself. If you are truly relaxed, and allow the body and the unconscious to do their share, instead of working the conscious mind overtime, concentration can become effortless effort."
_____ Joe Hyams

Monday's Message

"When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you."
_____ Lao-Tzu

Weekend Inspiration

"When we are not bored with here and longing to be there, when the life of things is breathed in and breathed out with every breath we take, when we live with the past of our world and into the unborn future without desiring to undo what is done, or avoid what must be, then we live in a timeless life now, a placeless life here."
_____ R.H. Blyth

Friday's Inspiration

"My hours are peaceful centuries."
_____ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tatting, Robbery and Inspiration

I am so glad I have tatting in my life. I have been so busy with physio and dealing with the robbery, that with the few spare moments I have I've been tatting and it is wonderful how it takes me away from all stress and makes me focus on how I can make nice things to give to others and put a smile on there face. Here is a picture of my progress with the doily I am working on.



A word of advice, Don't get Robbed. I just cannot believe how much work is involved after it has happened to file reports, get quotes, try and find receipts and then deal with the feelings of shock, violation, anger and loss of security. There is also the major inconvenience of not being able to use our back door so you have to go around the house to do anything in the backyard.

Our new door is on order because it is a weird size it has to be custom made. I sure hope it gets here fast.On to better things here is your inspiration for today.

"Careful! Even moonlight dewdrops, if you're lured to watch, are a wall before the truth"
_____ Sogyo

Wednesday's Inspiration

"For a deed to be totally pure, it must be done without any thought of reward, whether worldly or divine."
_____ Thich Thien-An

Tuesday's Inspiration

"You should withdraw inwardly and search for the ground upon which you stand; thereby you will find out what truth is."
_____ Yun-men Wen-yen

Monday's Inspiration

Palm Fronds

"In Spring, hundreds of flowers; In Autumn, a harvest moon. In Summer, a refreshing breeze; in Winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, any season is a good season for you."
_____ Mu-Mon

Gem Stone and Weekend Inspiration

Gregg and I are collectors of Semi-precious stones, fossils, crystals. If you came to our house you would find them in display cases, on tables, window sills, floor displays in other words just about everywhere. I am going to share about some periodically and today's is fluorite. As you can see this mineral gives off beautiful coloured light when lit with different light and fluoresces when placed in ultraviolet light. It comes in many colours.

"Vow to achieve the perfect understanding that the illusory body is like dew and lightning."
_____ Hsu Yun

Friday's Inspiration

It is the start of another gardening season and we are getting ready to prepare our meditation area.

"The sage looks at unity which belongs to all things,
and does not perceive where they have suffered loss."
_____ Chuang Tzu

Thursday's Inspiration

This is a dove carpet bed that was done in one the cemeteries.

"Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stone. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral."
_____ John Burroughs

Wednesday's Inspiration

Coastline of Molokai, Hawaii.

"Many lifetimes of misunderstanding come from distrust, hindrance, and secrets of confusion that we create in a scenario of isolation"
_____ Hongzhi Zhengjue

Surprise

Yes, this is Clyde- The Mad Tatter's blog. For the last couple of days when I go to compose my blog they are advertising new layouts for your blog. Last night I decided to have a look at them and if you are in the mood to jazz up your blog it is great. There are 100's of pictures, layouts, patterns and then you can customize the colours and it is really easy and fast. Have a look I think you will be tempted.



"From the passions arise worry, and from worry arises fear.
Away with the passions, and no fear, no worry."
_____ Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters

Monday's Inspiration

Usually when you see picture of trillium's the flower is nice and white not in our garden, this is a picture of some trillium's in our back garden they have a variegated leaf of green and silver and a bloom of yellow that is somewhat fragrant.






"My mind is my own church."
_____ Thomas Paine

Weekend Wisdom?

Gregg and I like to grow unique and unusual plants in our garden. Have you ever seen a fern with fronds that look like this?


"It is a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, 'Go away, I'm looking for the truth,' and so it goes away. Puzzling."
_____ Robert M. Pirsig

Thursday's Inspiration

"Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great."
_____ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wednesday's Inspiration

This is another Mosaic sculpture that I wrote about yesterday. Yes it is all plants and was called Mother Earth.




"My mind remains wide, so my place is naturally remote."
_____ Tao Yuan Ming

Mosaic Sculpture and Tuesday's Thought

This is a Chimera Mosaic Sculpture that my partner Gregg helped create for the Mosaic in Montreal show. This sculpture is made entirely of plants which which I found amazing, for more pictures and details just go to here.


"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else.
You are the one who gets burned."
_____ Buddha

MMonday's Message

"Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf."
_____ Native American Indian Proverb

Friday's Inspiration

"Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward."

_____ Achaan Chah

WE HAVE BEEN ROBBED

I will not be able to post for awhile because our computer was stolen today. I will back ASAP.

Tuesday's Inspiration

"The deepest waters make the least noise."
_____ Guatemalan Proverb