November 10, 2024
Live the Questions
For many of us, this has been a really trying week. Lots of tears, disbelief, grief, and sometimes rage. I think it is important to sit with these feelings.
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November 3, 2024
She Marched to Her Own Drummer!
It’s clear that I have a great fondness for strong, intelligent, rebellious women. Women who refuse to be put into boxes or ruled by the patriarchy. Women who think for themselves. One of my very favorites is Amy Lowell.
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October 27, 2024
Peace
The world is in turmoil; there is war, evil, the cult of lies, and great unrest. It is a hard time to be here on our suffering planet. But, as Clarissa Pinkola Estes says, “Do not lose heart.
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October 20, 2024
She Put the Blue in Blue Jeans!
I discovered a really interesting woman that I had not heard of and wanted to share her with you. She is the woman responsible for the Blue in Blue Jeans!
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October 13, 2024
“Here is Home”
I have recently developed an interest in the author, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and her independent and wild spirit, prompting me to seek more information about her. This is some of what I discovered.
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October 6, 2024
Rest…
A little bit under the weather this weekend. Taking a “rest.” Wishing you all a very blessed week.
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September 29, 2024
Clear Vision!
Have you ever wondered about the windshield wipers on your vehicle? No? Well, honestly, neither have I, except if they were not working! However, I saw a little side bar on an article I was reading about women inventors last week and the name of Mary Anderson popped up. I was curious, and this is what I found. On February 19, 1866, Mary Elizabeth Anderson was born in Burton Hill Plantation, Greene County, Alabama. Details of her education are sketchy, but we know that she never married or had children. When she was twenty-three, she moved to Birmingham, Alabama, to live with her widowed mother and sister. While in Birmingham, Mary became a real estate developer and built an apartment complex called Fairmont Apartments. When she was thirty-two, she left Alabama to operate a cattle ranch and vineyard in Fresno, California. A woman of great and diverse skill! In 1902, Mary was visiting New York City, and it was a cold, blustery day with snow falling. She was riding in a trolley car and noticed that the driver was having a difficult time seeing out the windows because of the sleet and the resulting icy windows. The driver needed to reach through the open window to clear the windows with his hands. Mary watched this unfold and while not an engineer, but an entrepreneur, saw this as an exciting opportunity. She envisioned a blade that could sweep the windshield and that the driver could operate from inside the vehicle. As soon as she got home, Mary sketched a model for a swinging arm with a rubber blade that was operated from inside a vehicle. She then hired a designer to produce a working model comprising a lever inside that controlled the blade outside on the windscreen, and it was removable. She applied for a patent and on November 19, 1893, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Mary her patent, for her “Window Cleaning Device,” Patent number 743,801.
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September 22, 2024
Balance and Activism
I read the words of Thomas Merton this morning, as they appeared in Maria Shrivers Sunday Paper, and they triggered a flood of both thought and emotion...
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September 15, 2024
Fall Mood
Fall is in the air, fleetingly teasing us. One moment here and then gone! Humming-birds are still flitting around, getting ready for their great journey.
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September 6, 2024
The Lady was a Spectrographic Pioneer
Williamina, or “Mina” as they called her, had an innate intelligence and many talents beyond housekeeping and the maternal arts.
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