Category Archives: Personal Essay

HOW WE REPINE — OR SING

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Touch2Touch

“Each bird sings the song its beak allows.” Mère Tarsisius This piece of wisdom has long been an … Continue reading →

Posted in Friendship, Personal Essay, Quotes, Wisdom | Tagged Bloggers, Blogging, Contentment, Globalism, Hope, Song, Words | 41 Comments

In Solidarity

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Touch2Touch

Today in Paris, the other shoe dropped. The satirical cartoon magazine Charlie Hebdo has been under threat for years now from militant Islamists for “blasphemy.” Their offices have been bombed, and the editor, Stephane Charbonnier, has lived since 2011 with a personal bodyguard. … Continue reading →

Posted in Challenge, Definitions, Freedom, Life and Death, Personal Essay, Quotes | Tagged Blood, Evil, Freedom, Good, History, Hubris, Islam, Journalism, Martyrdom, Massacre, Paris, Terrorism | 36 Comments

Second Guessing: The War Within

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Touch2Touch

I have a tiny whisper that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of it is more than I can see. (with apologies to Robert Louis Stevenson) My tiny whisper goes in and out with me, such a steady … Continue reading →

Posted in Angels, Challenge, Doubt, Failure, Freedom, Mindfulness, Personal Essay, Wisdom | Tagged Evil, Freedom, Good, Jung, Mindfulness, Psychology, The Shadow | 27 Comments

Not My Circus?

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Touch2Touch

This morning, on fellow blogger Stef’s Daily Delights, I encountered this Polish proverb: Not my circus, not my monkeys! Well! I promptly decided to adopt the proverb as my mantra-of-the-day. Enough of the silliness, enough of the small stuff (I thought … Continue reading →

Posted in Challenge, Doubt, Personal Essay | Tagged Circuses, Community, Grownups, Monkeys, Politics, Proverbs, Wisdom | 24 Comments

TODAY’S PORTRAIT: Flowers of War and Peace

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Touch2Touch

Who would have thought that this dreamy camellia would rouse thoughts of war and peace for me? Her photo is only one among the many I snapped at the Spring Bulb Show at Mount Holyoke, and — I would have … Continue reading →

Posted in Memory, Personal Essay | Tagged Civil War, Flowers, Gone with the Wind, Memories, Movies, Orchids, War and Peace | 14 Comments

TODAY’S PORTRAIT: violet

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Touch2Touch

In contrast to cheery Johnny Jump-ups and bold-faced pansies, there’s an introverted branch of the Violaceae family. Violets, true violets, are modest and demure. They shelter underneath their heart-shaped leaves, and even great masses of them never seem to call attention to themselves. Unless … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Life and Death, Mindfulness, Nature, Personal Essay, Poetry, Quotes, Wisdom | Tagged Beauty, Death, Elegies, Flowers, Modesty, Poetry, Violets, Wordsworth | 10 Comments

TODAY’S PORTRAIT: HERE’S JOHNNY!

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Touch2Touch

Not only because I think he resembles an impudent rascally adorable little boy — but because that’s actually his name! I can hear you thinking, What is she talking about? That’s a pansy! Well, yes and no. Johnny Jump-ups are … Continue reading →

Posted in Flowers, Happiness, Personal Essay, Pioneer Valley | Tagged Folk Medicine, Johnny Jump-ups, Language of Flowers, Pansies, Portraits, Shakespeare, Wildflowers, Word Origins | 34 Comments

It’s All Connected, Even the Dragons —

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Touch2Touch

I woke up this morning and found I was thinking about dragons. A little strange, when I think how the sun was shining on hot pink rhododendron blossoms and the sky was blue and brilliant. Nothing fierce or dragon-y in sight … Continue reading →

Posted in Happiness, Loneliness, Memory, Music, Personal Essay, Quotes, Wisdom | Tagged Connections, Death, Dragons, Ezekiel, France, Joy, Resurrection, Rilke, Troyes | 17 Comments

“Growing Down”: Moving from MORE to LESS

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Touch2Touch

Remember when you were, oh, say, six years old? And then, just a few months after your birthday, you were already counting, “I’m six and a half. In just three months I’ll be six and three-quarters. I’m growing up!” Growing up. … Continue reading →

Posted in Challenge, Etcetera, Freedom, Health, Personal Essay, Wisdom | Tagged Alice in Wonderland, Growing Old, Growing Up, Lewis Carroll, Octogenarians, Through the Looking Class, Wisdom, Working Out | 36 Comments

Hey, Fat Lady!

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Touch2Touch

“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings….” It’s a great phrase, isn’t it? It references what used to be the stereotypically overweight sopranos of Grand Opera. (Since the advent of the Metropolitan Opera’s HD television simulcasts, we’ve been getting glamour … Continue reading →

Posted in Angels, Challenge, Etcetera, Life and Death, Nature, Personal Essay, Pioneer Valley, Spring, winter | Tagged Mother Nature, Mothers, Nature, Opera, Spring, Winter, Wrath | 36 Comments