Conversations with Buddha: 84,000 ways to suffer

Categories: a woman's strength · Adventures in my own home · Battling depression · Berlin Through Frog Eyes · Culture Vulture · Existentialism · prayer and photography · Religion and Faith · Social Condition · Through Frog Eyes · women of substance · zenLeave a comment

As I sat at my desk this morning, hands wrapped around a deliciously strong cup of coffee, I stared in horror at the calendar. Friday. What?! I blinked on Monday morning and suddenly it is Friday already? Geez. Is it the ageing process that suddenly makes time pass faster? Let me rewind a bit and go back to last Sunday because it meant a lot to me. As I sat at my desk this morning, hands wrapped around a deliciously strong cup of coffee, I stared in horror at the calendar. Friday. What?! I blinked on Monday morning and suddenly…

Rescued: Netty Sparrow (Part II)

Categories: Adventures in my own home · angels in our midst · Berlin Through Frog Eyes · Existentialism · Living with cats · Rescued animalsLeave a comment

Netty spent most of the day yesterday buried deep in the scarf she was nestled in. Towards the evening she made a few attempts to move around, doing so clumsily and much to her frustration. I refer to Netty in the female form but I honestly have no idea of the gender… My daughter attended a concert and spent the night over at a friend’s house, so the cats and I settled down to a quiet evening together, and all was quiet on the Netty front. Until this morning. Like all other birds on this planet, Netty was awake by…

Rescued: Netty Sparrow

Categories: Adventures in my own home · Animal Tales · Berlin Through Frog Eyes · Existentialism · Living with cats · Photography · Rescued animals · Through Frog EyesLeave a comment

Saturday mornings mean leisurely brunches and home baked goodies that land on the table, enjoyed over music and the luxury of knowing that there is nothing to rush to. This morning I tried out a new recipe of Irish Soda Bread muffins and my daughter made a sausage and celery omelette to got with it. The sky is a cloudless blue, the river in front of the house is abuzz with activity from water fowl and rowers alike, and the sun is shining brightly, what could go possibly wrong? A lot. For starters, Cherry got a full shower yesterday because,…

Commuter Adventures: Tattoos, Torn Jeans & Ticket Police

Categories: a woman's strength · After-work quickies (Berlin photography) · Berlin Through Frog Eyes · commuter life · Culture Vulture · Existentialism · Social Condition · Through Frog EyesLeave a comment

Maybe it is a generation gap or my conservative Asian upbringing, perhaps even the fact that I lived in cities where tattoos were usually associated with street gangs and crime, but I have trouble accepting the full-limb tattoos that seem to be very common these days. If people choose to tattoo their chest or backs and these parts remain covered for the better part of the day, I don’t really care. But I find it very disturbing when I have entire arms, legs, necks and hands fully tattooed facing me. Getting a tattoo is a very personal choice, and it…

Dandelion Wishes

Categories: a woman's strength · Battling depression · Berlin Through Frog Eyes · Existentialism · Photography · Through Frog Eyes · zenLeave a comment

Remember my post the other day about eating dandelions? Well here is the continuation of my dandelion encounters. This time I am not eating them, but wishing upon them. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but for as long as I can remember, I plucked dry dandelions from the field or garden, puffed on them and made a wish. Nobody explained to me why that had to be, but I did so happily because it was somehow far more elegant and enchanting than blowing soap bubbles. Some believe that in doing so, we are also sending positive energy and…

Because I Stopped To Look…

Categories: a woman's strength · Battling depression · Berlin Through Frog Eyes · commuter life · Existentialism · Nostalgia · Photography · Through Frog Eyes · zen2 Comments

When despair for the world grows in meand I wake in the night at the least soundin fear of what my life and my children’s lives may beI go and lie down where the wood drakerests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.I come into the peace of wild thingswho do not tax their lives with forethoughtof grief. I come into the presence of still water.And I feel above me the day-blind starswaiting with their light. For the timeI rest in the grace of the world, and am free.– The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell…

Commuter Adventures: Why Solitaire + Audiobook are not a good combination in the subway

Categories: a woman's strength · Berlin Through Frog Eyes · commuter life · Culture Vulture · Existentialism · Photography · Through Frog Eyes · Urban ExplorationLeave a comment

Granted, the title of today’s entry is a tad too long, but there was really no other way to chop it down… I am usually out of the house by 07:00, grab the first bus headed towards the subway station, and from there I relax for the 20 minute ride into town on the usually quiet train. Ever since I got hooked on audiobooks for these commutes to and from work, I am dead to the world once my story transports me to a parallel universe. Every once in a while I fall asleep and get shouted at by the…