My favorite photographer captured this close-up of a blotchy fall cottonwood leaf. I’m mesmerized by the fine connecting lines amid the earthy tones. Looking at it takes my mind back to fanciful, youthful imaginings about treasure maps, ancient puzzles, and the mysteries of life. Nature has a way of creating fresh, yet ancient, wisdom within its shapes and colors.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.”
~Albert Einstein

What keeps your imagination healthy and well fed? What have you discovered recently — A new insight? A new hobby? A new perspective on life?

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Photo credit: speech path girl

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This month is National Family Caregivers Month. In honor of the month, a wonderfully caring blogger, Linda Abbit, of TenderLovingEldercare.com, interviewed me about caregiving. As some my readers know, I’m the main caregiver for my mother who lives with my husband and me.

Please drop by Linda’s blog to read the post and browse around to learn more about eldercare. Linda is fast making her mark in this blogging niche and would love to have help spreading the word about giving tender loving care to aging parents.

Linda recently wrote a 4-part series on how to communicate with aging parents. The four posts offer excellent information, especially since many of us may be visiting family this upcoming holiday season. Here are her links to those posts:

Family Caregiver Communication Classes:

Part 1: Think Before You Speak

Part 2: Speaking Easily About Difficult Topics

Part 3: Dealing with Pessimistic Aging Parents

Part 4: Talking with Hearing Impaired Aging Parents

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One of the most amazing characters on the show — which included alien races such as the mimbari, the centauri, and the vorlons – was a regular named G’Kar, an ambassador for the narn people. Warrior, poet, and eventually religious leader, G’Kar, (played by the late Andreas Katsulas) often acted as the voice for passion. In the episode, “The Paragon of Animals,” G’Kar writes these words, which are read wonderfully by his character and another character as off-camera commentary:

“The universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice. The language is not narn or human or centauri or gaim or minbari. It speaks in the language of hope. It speaks in the language of trust. It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion. It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul. But always it is the same voice. It is the voice of our ancestors speaking through us and the voice of our inheritors waiting to be born. The small, still voice that says: “We are one. No matter the blood, no matter the skin, no matter the world, no matter the star. .. We are one. No matter the pain, no matter the darkness, no matter the loss, no matter the fear. We are one.” Here, gathered together in common cause, we begin to realize this singular truth and this singular rule that we must be kind to one another. Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us and each voice lost diminishes us. We are the voice of the universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light our way to a better future. We are one.”

After a rough election period and in the face of daunting challenges in our nation, I just wanted to share this vision with you.

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Photo credit: Jay Miller

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