Welcoming in the New Year

 Some advice taken straight out of  one of my favourite books "Simple Abundance" by Sarah Ban Breathnach "A Daybook of Comfort and Joy". Featuring quotes, poems, meditations, and practical exercises for every day of the year, this inspirational book for women offers thought-provoking suggestions, gardening and decorating ideas, and thoughts on personal fulfillment.


Before we can welcome in the New Year, we need to put the Old Year's unfinished business - mistakes, regrets, shortcomings, and disappointments behind us. Here's how: write down on small slips of paper whatever you'd like to forget, then place the slips of paper in a small cardboard box or envelope, sealing in the sorrow and hard luck. Say, "Good Riddance" and toss the box or envelope into the fireplace to burn away the past. If you don't have a fireplace, toss the bad memories from the past into the trash where they belong. Keep only the good.

If you get a chance . . .

Meet Richard Parker

You should read "Life of Pi" (winner of the Mann Booker Prize for fiction) by Canadian author Yann Martel. I've read a lot of books in my life, from Victor Hugo to Steven King and I have a lot of favourites, but nothing has ever taken me on such a wild and fantastic journey as this book did. If you received any gift cards for Chapters or Amazon this Christmas, just go and buy it. Read it. Expect nothing. Just take it for what it is and you won't regret it. I highly recommend it - I wish I could read it again for the first time.

Here is all I've counted splendid

Write it down, when I have perished:
Here is everything I've cherished;
That these walls should glow with beauty
Spurred my lagging soul to duty;
That there should be gladness here
Kept me toiling, year by year . . .
Every thought and every act
Were to keep this home intact.
Edgar A. Guest

my favourite bit of poetry . . . sums it all up . . .