Ellie@Home by Nicole Kapise-Perkins

               Caldecott Award winner and bookmaking trailblazer Brian Selznick once again plays with the form he invented and takes readers on a voyage! Two seemingly unrelated stories--one in words, the other in pictures--come together. The illustrated story begins in 1766 with Billy Marvel, the lone survivor of a shipwreck, and charts the adventures of his family of actors over five generations. The prose story opens in 1990 and follows Joseph, who has run away from school to an estranged uncle's puzzling house in London, where he, along with the reader, must piece together many mysteries. I took this out because we own (and love!) The Invention of Hugo Cabret , and we've read Wonderstruck . Hugo was very good; I did 't care much for Wonderstruck (nor did my little guy), but this one is FANTASTIC!! I'll be picking up a copy for us to keep. We are definitely looking forward to Brian Selznick's next ...

Out Comes The Sun: Coping with Depression Posted by Jenna Regan on January 27, 2016   Depression is a nasty bugger. It’s sneaky, showing up when you least expect it. It’s humorless, draining your days of laughter. It’s a liar too– it convinces you that things might never get better, that whatever you are going through just won’t ever end. It’s tricky, making you feel like you won’t be understood. Depression has a way of making you feel like you are all alone, that no one is going to understand you, and even worse, no one is going to be able to help you. Depression is a jerk. Depression is not your friend. Sometimes depression is circumstancial. It may come from grief over something or someone you have los...

I know I said I had planned on the 'Ellie's Kitchen' segments to be foodish, but knitting is so cozily domestic, I thought this fit better here than in 'Myddfai Reiki.' I am currently recovering from strep throat, an ear infection, and minor surgery; my husband and sons are also all sick with various forms of ear-nose-throat-chest yuk...I think we all need to sit down and knit. (I just started a scarf for my sister who pointed out that even though she has about ten winter scarves, I made one for our mother, but not her, and SO.....) Loading... The Health Benefits of Knitting By Jane E. Brody January 25, 2016 5:45 am January 25, 2016 5:45 am Photo Credit Paul Rogers Jane Brody on health and aging. About 15 years ago, I was invited to join a knitting group. My reluctant response — “When would I do that ?” — was rejoined with “Monday afte...

I found this on Facebook, and knew it was meant to be shared:   Working with Oneness "We are not here on Earth to be alone, but to be a part of a living community, a web of life in which all is sacred. Like the cells of our body, all of life is in constant communication, as science is just beginning to understand. No bird sings in isolation, no bud breaks open alone. And the most central note that is present in life is its sacred nature, something we need to each rediscover and honor anew. We need to learn once again how to walk and breathe in a sacred universe, to feel this heartbeat of life. Hearing its presence speak to us, we feel this great bond of life that supports and nourishes us all. Today's world may still at times make us feel lonely, but we can then remember what every animal, every insect, every plant knows and only we have forgotten: the living sacred whole." —Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee Photo :unknown The Sacre...

Feeling Lost? Even Non-Believers Can Find Peace in Prayer By: Rebecca Bauman January 21, 2016 It’s a challenge to “learn” how to hope. There’s no recipe, no map. And yet, that’s what my psychiatrist told me to do when I confessed that, late at night, the only thoughts that could pacify my staunch sense of hopelessness were those of death and self-harm. I tried counting backward from 500; listening to talk radio; cross-stitching images of taxi cabs by LED candlelight. Still, the self-loathing, the fear, the emptiness could not be muted. I came to feel as if I was living on a respirator — that my life was somehow forced, unnatural. Then one night, without even thinking, I whispered aloud: “Please, God, help me.” This was a strange occurrence, because even though what I said felt quite natural at the time, I identify myself as an atheist: I believe it far more likely that mankind would invent a god than that such a deity might actually ex...

My latest post for the SageWoman Magazine blogs..... Cleansing and Cleaning : Normally as we approach Imbolc I am thinking ahead to growth and rebirth: setting goals, planning gardens, asking how I can change and improve aspects of myself or my life. Not this year. With two people in my house fighting strep throat, one recovering from a stomach virus, and another knocked flat by an upper respiratory infection, the last thing...