Chloe listens to a story at the library

From the very moment that I heard of the concept, I was 100% mesmerized and enchanted. I have worked as a librarian for over 20 years but until recently I had yet to hear of the idea that children could read aloud to trained therapy dogs at the library. I was thrilled when my library director endorsed the concept and the wheels were set into motion for the program to happen where I work in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. A national organization called Therapy Dogs International provided me with names of people who have certified therapy dogs and enabled a speedy implementation.

Why read to a dog instead of a person? What better way to instill in children a love for reading — a positive and fun association for a skill that can be challenging when first learning literacy. If you stumble over a word, the dog will unconditionally keep sharing affection and encouragement. What started as a chore suddenly becomes fun.

I have to admit that I fell in love with reading at a tender young age and embodied the cliche of the kid hiding the book under the covers to read with a flashlight rather than going to sleep at night. Yet I am not a card-carrying dog lover. As a child, I was drawn to cats as pets and had all fashion of cat memorabilia around my bedroom – cat calendar, stuffed animal cats, etc. When we finally got a dog in our family, it was seen as my brother’s province, not mine. However, our two therapy dogs visiting the library this Fall just might create in me a convert.

One of the therapy dogs visiting the library is named Chloe. She is a Papillon toy dog who absolutely gushes enthusiasm, affection and vivaciousness. She is only 1 1/2 years old and she brims with excitement when meeting with the children. The other therapy dog is Sadie, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever who is working as a therapy dog in her “retirement” now that she has an award-winning show career under her collar at places such as Westminster Dog Show.

Sadie the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

Children plus dogs plus books plus the library is an absolutely winning formula for early literacy. When parents call to sign up for an appointment, they explain that their children show tremendous interest in the task even if they don’t usually like reading. Others who already love to read still put tremendous attention and practice into their appointment before it happens. One asked Mom again and again “Do you think Chloe will like this book?” and then chose on her own to read Martha Speaks, a book about a dog who can speak after eating a magical alphabet soup.

What I treasure the most in the dogs as I watch them with the children is their seemingly innate wisdom in how to behave with each child and depending on the person the dog will act in an entirely different manner. Sadie brought tears to my eyes when she gave extra affection to a young boy with special needs. Sitting next to each other on a couch, Sadie wrapped her paw around the boy’s back so that he was nestled within her in a maternal hug. The next visit with Sadie offered the opportunity for the little boy to hold her leash while the handler left him in charge and brought in two more of her dogs for the boy to meet. He looked like he was on top of the world with the chance to have this responsibility.

Might I add that the unsung heroes here are also the dog’s handlers. Chloe’s “mom” is a second grade elementary school teacher in New Bedford and she is fantastic with the kids as well. Sadie’s “mom” is currently a breeder of Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers and her own years of experience as a Mom with grown children is evident as well. They both offer as much unconditional encouragement to the children as the dogs do.

All I can say is that I hope I learn a lesson or two from these wonderful therapy dogs. What a gift to attune yourself to the people you interact with and adapt your behavior to suit their needs. If a dog can do it, certainly I should be able to train myself as well. No wonder the word dog is God spelled backwards.

To learn more about this program at the library, read these newspaper articles in the local Fall River Herald News and New Bedford Standard Times.

Fall Pumpkin with Ocean Waves and Rocks

Is it Indian Summer when there is a beautiful day almost 70 degrees F just after some real cold nights with frost and flurries?

Whatever the qualification, one thing was certain – on a sunny warm Sunday in November it was imperative to spend time outdoors communing with nature.

So off to Chase Point in Little Compton – an area right on the coast of the ocean where the friend of a friend lives.

This was my first visit to Little Compton and it was certainly love at first sight. See if you agree in the slideshow of my visit there today:

This collage contains photos taken around the library where I work in Dartmouth, Massachusetts and at Bishop’s Orchard in Guilford, Connecticut.

Happy Halloween 2009

photo by Sharani - Butterfly at Roger Williams Park Zoo

A poignant moment during the New York observance of the 2nd anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s Mahasamadhi (passing from the Earth plane) came in the form of a butterfly.

A group of the late spiritual leader’s students were standing in formation facing the samadhi shrine and a butterfly came up from behind them and lingered over their heads before finally flying towards the shrine.

This was actually the second time a butterfly appeared and hovered nearby at this location – the first being during his interment in October 2007.

These butterfly moments seemed to carry an aura of significance on their wings. That it happened twice made me stop and wonder what is the symbolic significance of a butterfly in various cultures?  When I pursued my curiosity about the meaning associated with a butterfly, what I discovered gave me goosebumps.

Butterflies are symbolic in many cultures with transformation, death, rebirth, resurrection, the soul and everlasting life.

These butterflies served as symbolic messengers to remind all present that while the body dies, the soul is eternal and everlasting. Don’t forget this inviolable truth spoke God in the form of a butterfly. I am awed and humbled to receive this profound message in the form of a butterfly blessing.

In Animal Kingdom, a book of Sri Chinmoy’s commentary on various creatures, he writes the following about butterflies:

Butterfly: Prosperity

Butterfly, my butterfly,
You are the harbinger
Of man’s prosperity-life.
Your sweet arrival
Devours immediately
Man’s ceaseless strife.

Excerpt from Animal Kingdom by Sri Chinmoy.

As a delighted observer of the natural world around me, I focused in on a different kind of insect during a week’s memorial observances in 2007 directly after Sri Chinmoy’s passing. Read about a praying mantis which also appeared carrying a mystique of symbolic significance.

Here, too, is a slideshow of some photos I took at the Roger Williams Park Zoo Butterfly Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island last May.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee stated,

“Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.”

Additionally, they explained,

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.”

Read the Complete Announcement of the 2009 Nobel Peace Laureate.

World leaders have warmly congratulated President Obama, applauding the Nobel Committee for their unanimous choice even though President Obama has been in office for less than a year.

Here is a sampling of reaction from the world community:

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev

“I congratulate you on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I am convinced that it is the right decision, which significantly reinforces our family of Nobel laureates,” Gorbachev said in a letter to Obama published on the Gorbachev Foundation website.

“Your efforts have helped to bring about a significant change in the international climate. I feel close affinity to your vision of the global world and of relations among nations. Implementing it will require strong will, statesmanship and mastery of communication. It will also require support from Americans and from men and women of good will throughout the world,” Gorbachev said.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“What wonderful recognition of someone who has already made such an impact on our planet with regards to the Muslim world, nuclear disarmament, climate change and, to some extent, the Middle East. He has reached out to the Arab world, including Iran, and North Korea.

“In a way, it’s an award – coming near the beginning of the first term of office of a relatively young President – that anticipates an even greater contribution towards making our world a safer place for all. It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama’s message of hope.

“The prize is a magnificent endorsement for the first African American President in history, who will become the first serving American President to receive the Nobel Peace Prize since Woodrow Wilson 90 years ago, for his role in founding the League of Nations.

“Heartiest congratulations.”

The Nelson Mandela Foundation

“The Nelson Mandela Foundation, on behalf of its Founder Nelson Mandela, welcomes the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama.We trust that this award will strengthen his commitment, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, to continue promoting peace and the eradication of poverty.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

I would like to wholeheartedly welcome and congratulate United States President Barack Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. This is great news for President Obama, for the people of the United States, and for the United Nations. We are entering an era of renewed multilateralism, a new era where the challenges facing humankind demand global common cause and uncommon global effort. President Obama embodies the new spirit of dialogue and engagement on the world’s biggest problems: climate change, nuclear disarmament and a wide range of peace and security challenges. President Obama’s commitment to work through the United Nations gives the world’s people fresh hope and fresh prospects. We at the United Nations highly applaud him, and the Nobel Committee for its choice. I look forward to further deepening the United States-United Nations partnership as a key building block to a better and safer world for all. Again, I send my deepest and wholehearted congratulations to President Obama. I wish him continued success.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

“President Obama is working to restore American leadership worldwide and build bonds of friendship across the globe. The Nobel Peace Prize is a testament to his leadership and vision and a tribute to American values. I offer my congratulations to President Obama on this outstanding achievement.”

• Listen to Radio Sri Chinmoy to hear some of the performances at last year’s one year observance.
• Read impressions from Kedar, a Swiss photographer, blogger and videographer who is a student of Sri Chinmoy.
• Read and watch moving tributes to Sri Chinmoy offered immediately after his passing on his official website.

I will also make the journey to New York for this year’s anniversary observances. I just spent time there last weekend to pray and meditate on my own 49th birthday. I felt many inner and outer blessings and special spiritual experiences during that visit. These experiences create yet another example of the continued sense of his inner presence and connection in my life despite the absence of his physical presence.

This continuing sense of guidance from my spiritual teacher makes me think that a Mahasamadhi anniversary can be as much a celebration of his life and gifts to others than for it to be a time for sorrow and mourning. I know there will be at least a few tears – there already were a few days ago – but mostly you will find me in a choir of happiness and praise for the profound encouragement, inspiration and peace that he shared  so completely with each and every person fortunate enough to know him.

An afternoon of suspense and delight unfolded – or should I say ascended – on the afternoon of August 27, 2009 at Aspiration-Ground in Queens, NY as Ashrita Furman set another Guinness World’s Record – this time for the world’s largest lollipop.

I was in New York to observe the anniversary of the late spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy’s birth along with over a thousand other meditation students gathered from around the world. The biggest highlight of the festivities – and I mean biggest in a literal sense – centered inside one giant lollipop created by Ashrita Furman along with a team of over 20 helpers. Their goal – to create the world’s largest lollipop and set a new Guinness World’s Record.

They more than achieved their goal, besting the weight of the previous world’s largest Jolly Rancher lollipop by about 2,000 pounds. The lollipop weighed in at 6,706 pounds and involved the construction of a large frame for the lollipop mold and the melting of sugar and corn syrup in 100 gallon containers.

I came out to watch the lollipop get hoisted into the air with a crane and took the above photos of the record-breaking moment.

Ashrita, the helpers and the staff from the hoisting company worked together to determine the best way to lift the lollipop off the wooden frame and into the air. The lollipop was sticking to the wooden backing it rested on and I found it so inspiring to witness how the team from the hoisting company became completely engrossed in figuring out the best approach to getting the lollipop airborne. They seemed as invested and committed to success as the Sri Chinmoy Centre members who had spent the long hours making the lollipop. Watching this teamwork in action made the time pass quickly as I waited to get the photo of the lollipop upright in the sky.

While I watched and waited, I also kept staring at the enormity of the lollipop and imagined the magnitude of sweetness embodied in it. The colorful happy birthday message to Sri Chinmoy and the reproduction of one of Sri Chinmoy’s countless bird drawings added to the charm. Just looking at it made me feel like a child again.

And the symbolism of the sugar sweet resonated with my spiritual outlook on life. How many countless times have I experienced grace, blessings and forgiveness in my inner life of relationship with God? I think even a lollipop of this size cannot replicate the layers of sweet memories woven into my 24 years of spiritual journey inspired by the philosophy of spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy.

Sweetness embodies
Ecstasy, light, delight
And Immortality.
-Excerpt from Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 16 by Sri Chinmoy

Read more about the lollipop on Kedar’s fascinating Inspiring News blog and in an India Post news article online.

And yes, in case you were wondering, I did taste the lollipop after the photo shoot of the event was finished. It tasted wonderful. It tasted sweet.

The early days of Palagi's Ice Cream

I have certainly heard the ice cream truck bell ringing in my Rhode Island neighborhood but this is the first time that I actually buy from it. Somehow it seems something tailor made for children and not for my middle-aged viewpoint. However, I felt a child once again as I pored over the pictures of ice cream oddities and creations. What did I get? A Klondike Choco Taco for $2.25 from Palagi’s Ice Cream.

Lo and behold they have been vending ice cream since 1896 and their website shows pictures of horse drawn selling wagons and Model A Ford Wagons. So my nostalgic trip down memory lane was just so in more ways than one.

This ice cream “taco” was fun to eat but I said to myself,

“From where to where!”

My favorite flavor of non-dairy ice cream

when I stopped to think that a couple of weeks ago I had frozen kefir for the first time ever at a
Starfruit shop in Wicker Village, Chicago and totally LOVED it!

Or that the frozen confection you are most likely to find in my freezer this summer is a non-dairy variety of ice cream such as Purely Decadent brand Pomegranate Chip or Rice Dream brand.

Since I seem to equate ice cream with happiness, I like to reference the following quote from my meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy’s writings for a spiritual perspective on the subject:

Charles: Does God like ice cream?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, God does like ice cream because ice cream is the food of the human beings who love the childlike consciousness. God always treasures the child-consciousness; therefore, He likes ice cream. He eternally wants to remain in the child-consciousness. He is an eternal Child. Whatever a child likes, He also likes because that is the only way He can satisfy and please Himself. Because He is an eternal Child, He eternally likes ice cream.

Excerpt from God The Supreme Humourist Part 2 by Sri Chinmoy.

Collage of Chartered Boat Ride from Freeport New York to see Jones Beach 4th of July Fireworks

I was in Queens, New York this year on the 4th of July holiday weekend and enjoyed a “Joy Day” of activities with the local Sri Chinmoy Centre members to take part in Independence Day festivities – both traditional and nontraditional.

Although born in Bengal and living in India until the age of 32, Sri Chinmoy lived in New York for more than half his life – from 1964 to 2007. He wrote extensively about his appreciation of America, especially about the time of the nation’s birth and the Founding Fathers. See an overview of his writings on America here.

In 1975 Sri Chinmoy published a play about the nation’s birth called The Sacred Fire with a cast of characters including George Washington, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Mary Todd Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt. As part of our meditation function on the 4th of July. several people performed a scene from the play.

Scene from The Sacred Fire by Sri Chinmoy

A traditional holiday barbecue came next – vegetarian style – with veggie burgers and dogs and corn on the cob cooked on the grill. Excellent homemade salads, strawberry shortcake and more proved to be an unforgettable feast.

The day’s piece de resistance was yet to come. 100 of us joined together to rent an entire charter boat, the Miss Freeport V, which sailed out of Freeport on the South Shore of Long Island. Our destination was a spot off the coast to watch the Jones Beach Fireworks from the boat. Here is a little taste of the fireworks display with some patriotic music added to it for your viewing pleasure. Happy Birthday America – New York Style!

Bagpiper at RI Scottish Festival

Last weekend I went for the first time ever to a local Scottish Festival . It was held at the Washington County State Fairgrounds in Richmond, Rhode Island and was sponsored by the Scottish Heritage Society. Between listening to the entertainers such as the awesome local Celtic band Pendragon or hearing the bagpipes and seeing my first Scottish Highland Cattle from a farm right here in Rhode Island, Beaverhead Farm; the whole experience was a delightful and unexpected adventure.

Who knew that you could experience Scotland to the hilt – or should I say kilt! – right here in Rhode Island. The only time I visited Scotland was 24 years ago and I loved it so this was a fun chance to experience a taste of Scottish culture right here at home. I do even have Scottish heritage going way back on one side of my ancestors but truthfully I am more German and Czech than Scottish.

The highlight of the festival was getting to see a long performance by the band Pendragon. Here is a clip of Kevin Doyle doing traditional Irish stepdancing with Pendragon along with some other highlights of the festival.
Guid cheerio the nou!