Mrs. Teabody Greets the Day

Chez Teabody is a very warm and aromatic place on this rainy February day  because there is a big pot of soup on the stove. The soup was an end product of a troubled sleep night and I shall share with you how that came about. Anyone who so much as dabbles in philosophy has read about the importance of mindfulness . It is no new idea that mindfulness means being totally present in each moment. This requires us to be fully absorbed in the moment, leaving no room for anything else. When we are mindful, we are filled with the momentary happening, whether that may be standing or sitting or lying down, being comfortable or uncomfortable, feeling pleasant or unpleasant. Whichever it may be, it is a non-judgmental awareness, "knowing only," without evaluation. These are not easy times for many of us. Great shifts take place daily and it is easy to be buffeted by these shifts, so much so that we live in a perpetual state of anxiety. Those of us who have lived a few decades k...

January Hell Which maddened me more I cannot say The last button falling off my winter coat Or seeing the flattened tire at the start of my day As the winds blew hard and deadened my hope. At least I’d arrived at the office on time Hung my buttonless wrap on a corner tree My appointment was next, no waiting in line “Good Morning,” she said, “and please follow me.” “How did you manage to gain half a stone*?” Asked the querulous voice barely hiding her scorn. “The election,” I said in my pettiest tone; “My heartbeat’s erratic and riddled with thorn.” She penned my response on my chart in her hand And left me to stew in a small, airless room. I disrobed and donned the garb on the stand Sat down to consider my impending doom: Would the clog in my throat spell my untimely end? Was the spot on my cheek from some fatal cause? That cyst on my hand that just wouldn’t mend? That breathless anxiety that gave me such pause? He briskly arrived with my cha...

Christmas tree teeming with ornaments or·na·ment : a thing used to make something look more attractive but usually having no practical purpose: Synonyms: knickknack, trinket, bauble, bibelot, gewgaw, gimcrack, furbelow . Call it (them) what you will, Mrs. Teabody loves oranments, ornamentation and perhaps you do, too, Gentle Reader? The Monday after Thanksgiving was not one of those blissfully harmonious days during which Mrs. Teabody puttered around engaging in frivolous tasks such as Christmas card writing or Christmas present wrapping or poinsettia fluffing. On this particular Monday, Mrs. Teabody had a serious “to do” list which meant that Mr. Teabody could NOT be left to his own devices in the depths of the house to engage in whatever he does “down there” with his stockpile of no fewer than a hundred wrenches, a trio of band saws, many, many large pieces of machines with heavy electrical cords, wheels, car parts. . . No. Christmas draws on apace and while the front entra...

Good Morning on this chilly Thanksgiving morning 2016, and I hope you started your day by sending up a Thanks to the Heaven who hears you for this day, this food-filled, family-enhanced, traveling-optional celebration of  gratitude. If you slept in a bed with a roof over your head, stopped by indoor facilities as your first stop of the day, and are now finding your way to your computer and your link to the interwebs, you already have PLENTY to be grateful for, don't you?  If you did not send up a Thank You when your eyes opened, do so now. Mrs. Teabody can wait. How will you commemorate this day of Thanksgiving, Gentle Reader? Mr. and Mrs. Teabody will be hosting family who always make all the work lighter and the food better by sharing in the preparation. The first course  will be served an hour ahead of the main event.  This will be some delicious soup made by the culinary genius team of Ross and Elaine from Orrtanna with side nibbles of healthy munchies broug...

“Going on pilgramage without change of heart brings no reward from God. For it is by practicing virtue and not mere motion of the feet that we will be brought to Heaven.” The Book of Lismore Cloister at Ballintubber Abbey Many, many decades ago, Mrs. Teabody sat in one of her upper level college English classes called “Chaucer: Poet and Philosopher.” Great, enduring literature has lost much of its charm for nascent scholars in the twenty-first century, of course, as it can be challenging and opaque. Recent interviews with potential high school English teachers reveal that this current crop “don’t like” Shakespeare or find Chaucer “boring.” In the 1960’s, however, folks still thought of college as a means to learning as much as possible about the world through its history and letters. A college education was not merely some sort of enforced residency and financial exchange for a few letters to place after one’s name on a job resume. Or maybe Mrs. Teabody is just ticked off that sh...

We saw him playing rain or shine We sailed into Galway Sunday, September 11 as our first outing of our recent stay in Oranmore and Galway showed us the business end of her weather stick. On our return visit on Tuesday, she charmed us into thinking we never wanted to leave. Sunday it rained. Tuesday the sun shone. Sunday the wind blew so hard that it knocked one of the banners off its pins on Eyre Square. Tuesday folks played frisbee on the lawn in shorts in Eyre Square and dined al fresco, stood listening to the hurdy-gurdy man. Sunday the surf spat sand and water against houses one hundred meters away. (Okay, maybe not THAT far but a very long distance, nonetheless). Tuesday? I wore sandals. But my raincoat was in my backpack. That day and every day. Forty-eight hours can make a big difference when it comes to the weather in Galway. So can forty-eight minutes for that matter. Such is life in Ireland. Best learn, as the Irish have, to roll with it. As Hamlet advises, ...

Setting down into green perfection When my head hit the pillow at 8:30 P.M. on our first night of a two-week vacation in Ireland, I knew I would have no trouble sleeping. After all, our group had been in active transit since 2:00 P.M. United States time on the day before and aside from snatches of semi-sleep aboard the plane I had been awake more than twenty-four hours. All seven of us had. Mon Dieu! It was a twenty-four hours that had gone smoothly: a nearly five-hour luxurious van ride from home in south central PA with Unique Limousine to JFK, a drop-your-bags curbside and head straight for security—TSA approved arrival! – which went as cleanly as a hot knife through butter; follow this with a perfect supper of a gorgeous Cobb salad and glass o’ Pinot at Blue Smoke and an almost flawless Delta flight which terminated in a problem-free Shannon arrival. Painless. Bags full to bulging and spirits high, we sailed into the arrivals hall only to be greeted by our handsome and affab...