7 leap before you look lessons from Mandarin ducklings
Hatching a new venture?
Or reinventing yourself?
In my experience, there are lessons to be learned everywhere all the time – especially in nature and the animal kingdom.
The video below of the ducklings came to me randomly from the captain of my ladies golf league.
It was too good not to share 
I hope you enjoy the natural wisdom of these Mandarin ducklings as much as I do!
14 Spring Flower Bouquets to Bring You Joy
I cared for my Mom who has Alzheimer’s disease in her rural home for a year. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done.
One way I kept us both engaged and myself sane was to find activities that infused joy and happiness into our days.
In the spring, we gathered flowers from the backyard and nearby fields and created beautiful arrangements.
I was feeling a little sorry for myself today. Then somebody sent me this.
Reality check.
A Tribute to Stacey McInroe Conner
Barbara Guerra (Born with no arms)
Besides going a little crazy in a good way, Susan Macaulay created and curates Amazing Women Rock, SheQuotes and My Alzheimer’s Story. She also helps people with public speaking, confidence building, writing and editing.
Holding on and letting go
June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Health Awareness Month
Here’s my latest blog post:
I invite you to follow me there
Besides going a little crazy in a good way, Susan Macaulay created and curates Amazing Women Rock, SheQuotes and My Alzheimer’s Story. She also helps people with public speaking, confidence building, writing and editing.
I Found the Future in a Brown Paper Bag
Of these four, which one doesn’t fit: rug, egg, drum, sex?
I remember the question. I remember the answer. But I’ll be damned if I remember the rest of the quiz.
(Memory is a strange thing. I don’t beat myself up over the loss of it.)
No matter. The question surfaces as I contemplate the brown paper lunch bag in front of me.
8 Good Reasons to Go Crazy
As you can see (if you’ve been following me), I’ve done something slightly mad: renamed this blog for the umpteenth time. (If you’re new here, welcome.)
This blog’s former name (Cracker Jacks) doesn’t have anything to do with anything (as my good friend Elaine is fond of saying when conversations take detours), other than it makes me think of popcorn and excellence, both of which I adore.
It may have been crazy to rename the blog, but it was even crazier to fire it up in the first place, given all the other stuff I already do (see below).
The Lost and Found
Amazing grace. The words “lost and found” always make me think of amazing grace.
Not of lost mittens or keys or caps or a single red shoe. Nor of the “lost and founds” one must call in search of them. No.
“Lost and found” makes me think of amazing grace:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, and now I see…
Come Winter
Spring, summer, and fall
come and go:
birth, life and surrender
like preludes to your eternity,
colourful crazy quilts
to your thick white blankets,
seasonal experiments
before you settle in.
Firewood stacked
three cords deep
awaits your arrival.
Like the seasons before you,
it will go up in smoke
leaving feather-like ash
to mark its passing.
Dead to the World
Sleeping Woman (1935) A beautiful piece of art by Tamara de Lempicka (see link below)
Eyes open.
A thought bubbles to the surface:
“I’m awake.”
Awareness skips
across my consciousness
forcing me to stir.
I resist.
I burrow deeper
into the folds of the duvet.
I will bury myself
alive today, tomorrow
and the next.
Fight the Good Fight. Your Way.
Journalist, author, motivational speaker and world-record-holding marathon swimmer Diana Nyad made five attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida.
She first tried at age 28 in 1975.
She failed. She made four subsequent attempts in August 1978, August 2011, September 2011, and August 2012.
