skyestephenson
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Making Peace with my Namesake
I have been feeling a call to return to Scotland for a few years. This is because of some unfinished business I know I had with this land. Business that is ancestral, in part. And also having to do with my relationship with the place I was named for – the Isle of Skye. A Continue reading
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Let my voice be pure
Let my voice be pureto sing the spirits of the stones. Let my mind be rootedwith emerald tendrils into the earth. Let my heart beat in timewith her rhythms and her rhymes. So I may know the savage painof so much beauty all aroundThat my lapis eyes rainSalty tears upon the ground, And I dance Continue reading
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A STRANGE KIND OF MILESTONE
By the time you will read this, I will pass a very significant milestone. Well, two. One is my 65th birthday – which I am proud to admit to. The second is outliving my father, who died just short of his 65th birthday: thirty-eight years ago. His name was James Stephenson, and during the course Continue reading
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SWIMMING THE HUDSON
A former colleague named Steve will soon be swimming around Manhattan Island. Steve was born the same day as my father. March 29th, so during the years we worked together I always remembered his birthday. Except that my father left this world years before I met Steve. My relationship with my father was complicated. He Continue reading
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Cleaning Up Our Junk Boxes
Feng Shui is the ancient East Asian practice of understanding the connection between energy flow and how things are placed upon the Earth and in our living spaces. Like any ancient practice, there are varying schools and different focus of attention within Feng Shui. But one area all seem to agree with is that clutter Continue reading
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Violets, Weeding and Fear
This year, violets have overtaken my garden. From just a few in one area of my garden last year I now find these seemingly dainty plants with their heart shaped leaves throughout my garden. I have learned that they spread by rhizomes, or underground roots. I started gardening only a few years ago and still Continue reading
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The Rich Diversity of You and Us
You are unique – there has been nobody like you ever before and there will be no one quite like you ever again. So take a minute (or a few) to rejoice in you. Love yourself completely just as you are with all your (apparent) imperfections and maladies and quirks. This is part of your Continue reading
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Clearing and Cleaning for the Year to Come
One of my fondest memories of the year I spent teaching English in rural Japan back in the 1980s was New Years. I was a recent College graduate with minimal preparation for being dropped into a part of Japan that was still quite traditional in mores and cultural patterns. My first New Year’s surprise happened Continue reading
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THESE TIMES
Fourteen years ago, in mid-December, I met the man who I am now married to at a Shopper Christmas party. One week later, my mother passed away peacefully on the night of the winter solstice. I nestled close to her now cool body until the ambulance arrived. This year, there will be no Shopper party Continue reading
SKYE stephenson 