THE STORIES AND GLORIES OF HUGGING A STRANGER A DAY … AND OTHER LIFE LESSONS

Ida Adams
Writer/Dreamer. Not of this world. Just passing through. Lover of All Creatures Great and Small. Unapologetic Christian.
We Have Three Rescue Dogs With Toilet Issues
And we were living on our boat for the summer. Our ten-year-old Lhasa Apso, Mikhail, rescued in 2014, and named after the great Russian ballet dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, has a hard time doing what should be done. He gets a dessert spoon or more of cooked pumpkin in...
I Somehow Always Need Help
Especially when I go shopping with a five-pound toy poodle I have a love/hate relationship with self-checkout machines. Somehow, I always, but always need help. Does that mean I’ve thrown in the towel, madly waving a white flag, determined that I will never again...
When Hanging On for Dear Life Gets New Meaning
But when I Am weak Is when He Is strongOutside my study window, the wind is doing The Dance of The Tree Branches. Verse One goes Up and Down, Around and Side to Side, while the second verse starts: “Let’s see how many branches we can break off.”Hanging onAt the end of...
Some Monarchs Did Not Get The Memo To Go to Mexico
I wanted to give a short-fun-filled life to those that stayed I’ve subsequently decided I’m bat-shit crazy. It’s not as if I didn’t know what I was getting into. I‘ve been there before. Pre-pandemic That’s how I classify my life nowadays. There’s life before the...
I Somehow Always Need Help
Especially when I go shopping with a five-pound toy poodle I have a love/hate relationship with self-checkout machines. Somehow, I always, but always need help. Does that mean I’ve thrown in the towel, madly waving a white flag, determined that I will never again...
When Hanging On for Dear Life Gets New Meaning
But when I Am weak Is when He Is strongOutside my study window, the wind is doing The Dance of The Tree Branches. Verse One goes Up and Down, Around and Side to Side, while the second verse starts: “Let’s see how many branches we can break off.”Hanging onAt the end of...
We Have Three Rescue Dogs With Toilet Issues
And we were living on our boat for the summer. Our ten-year-old Lhasa Apso, Mikhail, rescued in 2014, and named after the great Russian ballet dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, has a hard time doing what should be done. He gets a dessert spoon or more of cooked pumpkin in...
The Day God Put Me Firmly Into My Place
St. Paul said: For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing (Romans 7:19). My morning walks with my dogs are sacred. It’s my time to communicate with God and tell his all my woes and heartaches. Share my...
A Dreadful Smell Woke Me in the Wee Hours of the Morning
A not so ordinary day in the life of a boater I didn’t move. Maybe I was dreaming. I do have strange and vivid dreams. But the soft tinkle of an ID tag rubbing against a rabies tag and joined by a dog license tag reaffirmed my worst fears. Next came the furious...
Confront Your Darkest Fears With Light
Let there be light. I will never minimize the bursts of light that have come my way during my life so far and still come. However, my main source of light is not of this world, just as I am not. I’m just passing through. Heading for that Light that is God. No cupboard...
The Poodle Who Fell Into Dark Waters
Our poodle likes walking on the edge of the dock My past ranges from cringe-worthy incidents to other failures, successes, joy, and even tragedy. I do look back sometimes and reflect, especially the times I have fallen; I will never forget those who have pulled me...
It’s Okay To Let Go of a Dream and Just Be in the Present
The present moment is all I have As I pray, I can only connect with God in the present moment, not in the past, not worrying about the future. It took me decades to embrace this truth as expressed so beautifully in The Sacrament of the Present Moment by...
How Real Is Your God?
God is my constant companion. “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”(1 Corinthians 3:16, NKJV). I walk with Him. I talk to Him. I guess it would be scary if it weren’t so much fun having Him hang around. Sometimes,...
Why I No Longer Listen to Nessun Dorma
Nick [email protected] And who am I to judge — Let no one sleep I love music. My earliest memories of my parents revolve around music. Singing after home worship on a Sunday evening. Those old hymns. The one my mother would not play because I always started crying....
Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself
Especially during an election I am sick of politics. My American husband tries again and again to explain the intricacies, traditions, and more of politics in the United States. I don’t care. It is ugly. All of it is ugly. I don’t want any part of this. There's a bad...
Life Like a River Flows
Seeking peace This morning the water in the canal outside my office window is dead still. There’s no breeze playfully distorting its calm. No boat has come by yet, leaving a “V” of rippling water behind. All is well in canal land. Then there's my life. Here too, all...
There’s Magic in the Sound of Silence
I love silence. Ours is a quiet household. With only my husband and I and two small dogs in the last house at the end of a cul de sac, silence is a given. Canals on two sides, gardens on the other, similar neighbors across the road, oh yes, it’s not hard to have...