A Short Guide to a Happy Life - Book Notes

On my GoodReads list, I have A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen as a book I wanted to read. This week I read it. It is, indeed, a short book - only 50 pages with a good percentage of them full-page black-and-white photos. 

Despite its short length, there was a lot of good information in it. Some highlights include:

- No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time at the office.

- John Lennon said,, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

- You are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life...your soul.

- I am a good mother to three good children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh.

- Turn off your cell phone. Turn off your regular phone, for that matter. Keep still. Be present.

- Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you.

- Get a life in which you are generous. 

- Life is glorious, and that you have no business taking it for granted. 

- All of us want to do well. But if we do not do good, too, then doing well will never be enough.

- It is easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes. 

- It is so easy to exist instead of live. 

- It's ironic that we forget so often how wonderful life really is. We have more time than ever before to remember it. The men and women of generations past had to work long, long hours to support lots and lots of children in tiny, tiny houses. The women worked in factories and sweatshops and then at home, too, with two bosses, the one who paid them, and the one they were married to, who didn't.

- Those of us who are second and third and fourth generation (immigrants) are surrounded by nice cars, family rooms, patios, pools - the things our grandparents thought only rich people had. Yet somehow, instead of rejoicing, we've found the glass half empty. Our jobs take too much out of us and don't pay enough....Let's be honest. We have an embarrassment of riches. Life is good.

- I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that this is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. 

- Think of life as a terminal illness, because, if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived. 

- School never ends. The classroom is everywhere. The exam comes at the very end. 

Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers - Book Notes

 A couple weeks ago, I read a book by Fred Rogers that I enjoyed. There were many quotes and ideas in it that resonated with me. Mr. Rogers wrote another book, Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers, that I found equally interesting. 

Below are some notes and quotes from the book:

- Each person in the world is a unique human being, and each has unique human potential. One of the important tasks of growing is the discovery of this uniqueness: the discovery of "who I am" in each of us - of "who I am" in relation to all those whom I meet.

- If we're really honest with ourselves, there are probably times when we think, "What possible use can I be in this world? What need is there for somebody like me to fill?" That's one of the deeper mysteries. Then God's grace comes to us in the form of another person who tells us we have been of help, and what a blessing that is. 

- You are a very special person. There is only one like you in the whole world. There's never been anyone exactly like you before and there never will be again. Only you. And people can like you exactly as you are.

- You're much more than your job description or your age or your income or your output.

- It's very important, no matter what you may do professionally, to keep alive some of the healthy interests of your youth. 

- There's often a tendency for us to hurry through transitions. We may feel that these transitions are "nowhere at all" compared to what's gone before or what we anticipate is next to come. But you are somewhere...you're "between."

- It's my belief that the capacity to accept help is inseparable from the capacity to give help when our turn comes to be strong.

- Sometimes it helps me to get away from the work - by taking a walk, sitting in a quiet room, listening to music, or talking with a friend. Sometimes I just go over to the piano and play out my feelings through music. That kind of break seems to nourish me, and I can come back renewed. 

- Try your best to make goodness attractive. That's one of the toughest assignments you'll ever be given. 

- We don't always succeed in what we try - certainly not by the world's standards - but I think you'll find it's the willingness to keep trying that matters most. 

- You can't be a winner all the time.

- I trust that you'll look back over your journey and recognize the blessings - great and small - which helped to carry you through, and also realize how other people shared their truth and their light with you and made the trip less lonely. 

   You know, none of us gets to be competent, mature people without the help of others. By now you've discovered that you don't have to go it alone. In fact, no one gets to be a graduate without the investment of other people - people who have loved you all along the way.

   During this extra-special time, I'd like to give you a minute to think of those who have believed in you...those you have helped you live your life knowing what was good and real. A minute of silence for all of us to remember those who have cared about us through our lives - people who have made a significant difference in our being who we are right now. One minute of silence. 

   Whomever you've been thinking about, whether they're here or far away or even in heaven, imagine how pleased they'd be to know that you recognize what a difference they've made in your becoming. 

- May you seek out your own continuing life education and, over time, over your whole lifetime, may you grow in faith and reverence, uprightness in morals, knowledge of language and arts, forgiveness, honesty, commitment, maturity, and your capacity to love. 

- My hope for you at the beginning of this new moment in your life is that you will take good care of that part of you where your best dreams come from, that invisible part of you that allows you to look on yourself and your neighbor with delight. Do your best to appreciate the gifts that you really are and always will be...to look for every opportunity that allows you to clap and cheer, loving your neighbor as yourself. 

- In the acknowledgments of Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers, there's a statement, "Fred's pioneering spirit calls on us to forge ahead and blaze new trails, much as he did in his lifetime." 

The World According to Mister Rogers - Book Notes

 Recently I came across two books by Fred Rogers at the library. The first one I read is The World According to Mister Rogers - Important Things to Remember. It's a short book, yet one filled with a lot of wisdom and things to reflect upon. Below are some of my favorite passages from the book. 

- Some days, doing "the best we can" may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn't perfect - on any front - and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else. 

- It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and our anger flow in tears when they need to. It takes strength to talk about our feelings and to reach out for help and comfort when we need it. 

- Who you are inside is what helps you make and do everything in life. 

- Solitude is different from loneliness, and it doesn't have to be a lonely kind of thing. 

- You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully, your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are. 

- All life events are formative. All contribute to what we become, year by year, as we go on growing. As my friend the poet Keneth Koch once said, "You aren't just the age you are. You are all the ages you ever have been!"

- I believe it's a fact of life that what we have is less important than what we make out of what we have. The same holds true for families. It's not how many people there are in a family that counts, but rather the feelings among the people who are there. 

- To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now. 

- It always helps to have people we love beside us when we have to do difficult things in life. 

- Mutually caring relationships require kindness and patience, tolerance, optimism, joy in the other's achievements, confidence in oneself, and the ability to give without undue thought of gain. 

- Each one of us contributes in some unique way to the composition of life.

- I believe that infants and babies whose mothers give them loving comfort whenever and however they can are truly the fortunate ones. I think they're more likely to find life's times of trouble manageable, and I think they may also turn out to be the adults most able to pass loving concern along to the generations that follow after them. 

- You bring all you ever were and are to any relationship you have today. 

- Imaging something may be the first step in making it happen, but it takes the real time and real efforts of real people to learn things, make things, turn thoughts into deeds or visions into inventions.

- There is no normal life that is free of pain. It's the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth. 

- As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has - or ever will have - something inside that is unique to all time. It's our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.

- Anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me. 

- We want to raise our children so that they can take a sense of pleasure in both their own heritage and the diversity of others. 

- When you combine your own intuition with a sensitivity to other people's feelings and moods, you may be close to the origins of valuable human attributes such as generosity, altruism, compassion, sympathy, and empathy. 

- Spend one minute thinking of someone who has made a difference in the person you have become. 

-As you play together in a symphony orchestra, you can appreciate that each musician has something fine to offer. Each one is different though, and you each have a different "song to sing." When you sing together, you make one voice. That's true of all endeavors, not just musical ones. Finding ways to harmonize our uniqueness with the uniqueness of others can be the most fun - and the most rewarding - of all.

- Who in your life has been such a servant to you...who has helped you love the good that grows within you? Let's just take ten seconds to think of some of those people who have loved us and wanted what was best for us in life - those who have encouraged us to become who we are tonight - just ten seconds of silence. 
    No matter where they are - either here or in heaven - imagine how pleased those people must be to know that you thought of them right now. 
     We all have only one life to live on earth. And...we have the choice of encouraging others to demean this life or to cherish it in creative, imaginative ways. 

- If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourselves that you leave at every meeting with another person. 

- Whether we're a preschooler or a young teen, a graduating college senior, or a retired person, we human beings all want to know that we're acceptable, that our being alive somehow makes a difference in the lives of others.

- The real issue in life is not how many blessings we have, but what we do with our blessings. Some people have many blessings and hoard them. Some have few and give everything away. 

- The purpose of life is to listen - to yourself, to your neighbor, to your world and to God and, when the time comes, to respond in as helpful a way as you can find...from within and without. 

- The world needs a sense of worth, and it will achieve it only by its people feeling that they are worthwhile. 

- In The Little Prince there is a phrase, "L'essential est invisible pour les yeux." (What is essential is invisible to the eyes.) The closer we get to know the truth of that sentence, the closer I feel we get to wisdom. 

- I find out more and more every day how important it is for people to share their memories. 

-  Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping. 

Deliberate Acts of Kindness - Book Notes

Recently I read Deliberate Acts of Kindness by Meredith Gould. 

The author examined how service is a spiritual practice. Below are some points from the book that I found interesting: 

Eight Degrees of Tzedakah

1. To give grudgingly, reluctantly, or wit hregret;

2. To give less than one should, but with grace;

3. To give what one should, but only after being asked;

4. To give before one is asked;

5. To give without knowing who will receive it, although the recipient knows the identity of the giver;

6. To give without making known one's identity;

7. To give so that neither giver nor receiver knows the identity of the others;

8. To help another to become self-supporting, by means of a gift, a loan, or by finding employment for the one in need.

"Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead," wrote James in an epistle to members of the early church.

Buddhists...practice generosity, morality, renunciation, patience, truthfulness, determination, loving-kindness, and evenmindedness.

List what you think are totally perfect ways for you to serve, letting reason and logic dictate your choices. 

Ask yourself: "What sort of person would I like to become?"

"Fill yourselves first and then only will you be able to give to others." St. Augustine

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

- LEVEL 1 - Physiological Needs - air, water, food, clothing, shelter, sleep

- LEVEL 2 - Safety and Security Needs - order, stability, certainty, routine, familiarity, protection from fear and disease, physical safety, economic security, freedom from threat

- LEVEL 3 - Social Needs - love, acceptance, belonging, affection

- LEVEL 4 - Esteem Needs - respect and recognition from others, self-respect, a sense of prestige

- LEVEL 5 - Self-Actualization Needs - peak experiences, fulfilling a sense of self and calling, opportunities for learning and creating at higher levels

Grant us ears to hear,
Eyes to see,
Wills to obey,
Hearts to love; 
Then declare what you will, 
Reveal what you will, 
Command what you will,
Demand what you will. 
- Christina Rossetti

While it may seem only logical to serve the homeless if you've been homeless, counsel battered women if you've been one, or to do hospice work if you've watched a loved one die without dignity, you may not be emotionally ready to serve in these ways.

As you behold evidence of tragedy, waste, abuse, and simple ignorance in people's lives get into the habit of asking yourself: What would make a difference? How could I make a difference? 

Combine service work for others with R&R for yourself by looking into volunteer gigs at museums, theaters, concert halls, nature preserves, or community playgrounds. 

"The way you begin to change the world is through service." Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Gig is Right for You If...

- You not only respect but like people in charge - their values, dedication, and human decency.

- You feel immediately at home with other volunteers, sensing they're exactly the kind of folk with whom you want to spend time. 

- You experience a sense of satisfaction despite whatever frustrations and disappointments quickly - or gradually - emerge. 

The Gig is Wrong for You If...

- You feel entirely too overwhelmed by the enormity of what needs to be done. 

- You can't help but notice that everyone is a heck of a lot nicer to those being served than they are to anyone on the volunteer staff. 

- You not only start dreading the prospect of showing up, but you unconsciously - or consciously - act out by arriving late or calling in sick or too busy.

"Charity begins at home." - Terence

Agree to serve on a trial basis. Establish a mutually acceptable period of time to check out the setting, staff, and other volunteers. Committing to at least one month and preferably three will give you - and them - an opportunity to experience the match. 

Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can, 
all the times you can, 
to all the people you can, 
as long as you can.
- John Wesley

Start a prayer journal when you begin a new type or place of service. Note what you're being called upon to do and record any thoughts, feelings, and attitudes that emerge as a result. 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love, 
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy. 
O divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek 
To be consoled, as to console, 
To be understood, as to understand, 
To be loved, as to love, 
For it is in giving that we receive; 
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 
- St. Francis of Assisi

"Compassion is the only source of energy that is useful and safe." Thich Nhat Hanh 

Model loving self-care by canceling your appearance and staying home when you have a splitting headache, drippy nose, moist cough, or fever. One of your gifts to the world should not be your germs. Showing up sick is not heroic, it's inconsiderate. 

If you can't seem to arrive on time, something else - like resistance - is going on. Maybe you're in the wrong environment entirely. 

You were led to the perfect place to doing as well as being, and now you're deep into wondering: "Is it still God's grace if I hate it?" What happened? This divinely inspired service gig is not the slightest bit illuminating, it's more heart-hardening than opening, and for sure you are not having fun. Unfortunately, you're also beginning to love watching lots of incredibly stupid TV because it takes your mind off the nonsense that goes on in the name of serving others. You're feeling lousy physically, never fully able to share the dull headache...Welcome to the shadow side of service. 

Every six months, take the time to reassess what you are doing and where.

Boundaries are the limitations you set on what you perceive as insensitive behavior coming from others. The more firm the boundary, the greater your protection.

Establish a healthy separation between private and public worlds by creating a ritual to mark your entrance into and departure from service situations. 

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." Gandhi

Do not underestimate the stress of being around a lot of noise from people, equipment, traffic, and natural disasters. The best antidote to noise is silence. Make sure you eliminate or at least significantly reduce all aural stimulation as soon as you can. Listen to soothing music on your way home. Once home, turn the phone, television, and other noise off. You need a period of silent "down time" to calm body, soul, and spirit after a tough day of giving. 

The Zero Point Agreement - Book Notes

The Zero Point Agreement - How to Be Who You Already Are by Julie Tallard Johnson is a book I discovered on Goodreads. 

A person I know read it and it looked intriguing. There is a lot of good information in it and I'm glad she posted that she was reading it. Below are the parts of the book I found relevant to me and/or that I wanted to remember.

- We can't follow someone else's hero path. We must pave our own paths through life. We can of course borrow from those who we discern have gone successfully before us, like Christ or Buddha, or poet and pacifist William Stafford, or author and environmentalist Aldo Leopold, who each paved their own way.

- Creativity, inspiration, and all that goes into living a meaningful life come, too, from our ability to distance ourselves from all that limits the expression of our free will.

- When someone or something outside ourselves directs our choices and experiences, we are not living life from our side and we are held captive by this limitation. When limited by our perceived choices for a prolonged stint of time, we become uninspired.

- An enduring lack of inspiration can lead to giving up, addiction, depression, hopelessness, and helplessness. We then get held back, too, by blaming others for our lack of happiness or success.

- People often create their life works from what they want but do not have - like how Jane Austen wrote of romantic love but lacked it in her life. Many poets write about what they long for. 

- Let go of the "right and wrong," the dogma, or someone else's way and walk your own life. Write your own story. Paint in your own way. 

Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing

There is a field

I will meet you there.

- Rumi, 13th century Persian poet

- When we experience ourselves as separate from natural phenomena, from each other, and from ourselves, we tend to "cover up" with the false self. The false self is made up of our pain stories and outdated myths and underlying assumptions, agreements, and beliefs that are linked to our past. 

- An undisciplined mind, an inability to stay focused, makes you vulnerable to internal and external distractions. These distractions can ultimately lead you away from your creative and spiritual intentions. 

- Everyone knows their calling - it boils down to listening to the call and following it, rather than getting lost in all the distractions.

- Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Your beliefs become your thoughts,

your thoughts become your words,

your words become your actions,

your actions become your habits,

your habits become your values,

your values become your destiny.

- Mahatma Gandhi

- In Buddhist practices, we hold ourselves accountable for how we respond to our circumstances.

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother 

to endow it with the most useful gift, 

that gift would be curiosity.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

- To see the new story that may be offering itself up to you (or that is calling to you), you have to release old stories about how things are supposed to be or look. 

There is no passion to be found playing small - 

in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

- Nelson Mandela

- We settle for the comfort in the routine, for what feels familiar, for what we know. Sometimes we settle for what someone else wants for us. Every time we want to create something new, leave behind some old way of being, or challenge ourselves to try something different - resistance arises and we find ourselves on this slippery slope of settling. 

- If you are not moving toward your dream, you are settling. So if you claim that nothing out of the ordinary calls to you - you are probably settling. 

- Most of us have settled. Maybe not entirely, but in part we have given our time and resources to something or someone that is less than what we want or, more importantly, what we are capable of. We lie to ourselves and say that "this is enough" or "I need to give this more time." 

- We settle for less in ourselves and then in others and miss the fulfillment of a vision.

- Dare to give ourselves more time to be creative or dare ourselves to do something larger like change vocations. 

What you are comes to you.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

- The happiest among us are those of us who take risks and are loyal to our spiritual (ethical) and creative commitments no matter the results.

 Depression is based on our interpretations of our life situations, our circumstances, 

our self-conceptions. We get depressed for not being the person we want to be. 

We get depressed when we think we have not been able to 

achieve the things that we want to achieve in life. 

- Traleg Kyabgon

- Depression is not about you. It affects everyone around you, including your larger community. Self-absorption is not a cure and will result in an even greater sense of isolation.

- Life is constantly in motion and changing, and when we hold on to an old story that is no longer even possible, depression can take root.

- A person who is depressed and angry....they are leaving a large part of their life unlived. Their antidote is simple (but not easy): they need to activate their creative life - take that class, bring out the guitar, write that book, or hold more conversations and take more trips. They need to commit to the active creative life and do so in the open. 

- Antidotes to depression: spend time outside in a natural environment. Watch Off the Map.

- A troublemaker can be a person, situation, or event that presents us with some difficulty. When a troublemaker shows up in your life, you have the opportunity to let it pull you away from your creative intentions or use it in your creative and spiritual pursuits. 

- Let go of the opinions of others. Typically the threats made by a bully include ruining others' opinions of you, whether explicitly or implicitly. So when you can let go of others' opinions as being meaningful to you, a better fate awaits you. 

Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. 

What a man thinks of himself, that is what determines, or rather, indicates his fate. 

- Henry David Thoreau

- The illusion is that "when I get this I will be happy." The focusing illusion includes putting our happiness on outward objects and circumstances and typically looks into the future. There is a lack of creativity involved because we are putting our energy in an illusionary state of when.  This illusion forgoes living life from your side because the focus of your happiness is on something outside of yourself.

Most people believe that they would be happier if they were richer, 

but survey evidence on the subject of well-being is largely inconsistent with that belief. 

- Daniel Kahneman

- If we work hard all day and then give nothing to our spiritual or creative life, or to our relationships for that matter, everyone suffers. 

- Clutter is often a manifestation of this agreement to put our creative life on hold. As the piles of paper, waste, and stuff accumulate, it gives us more and more things we have to get to before we can get to our creative lives. Then, the door closes and it is too late.

Good artists copy; great artists steal.

- Pablo Picasso

- You can't live the creative life without borrowing from the dead, or from the living. You must steal shamelessly from those who came before you and those around you now. Then you must make it your own. In making the materials you own you get what you want - a personal and direct experience that is both creative and spiritual.

- A large part of my life's work is to leave behind a truly rich compost pile for those who will live off my life. Whatever we leave behind makes up our compost. Our books, our art, our ideas, our children, our teachings, our attitude, our beliefs, our legacies all go into our life's compost. 

- Stealing is different from just copying or plagiarizing others. When you copy, you haven't put yourself into it.

- If we only duplicate what inspires us, nothing truly creative will come of it. Steal what inspires you, then do something inspirational with this association. Make it your own somehow. 

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. 

- Albert Einstein 

- Read Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. 

- Spiritual activism is the creative act of showing up in intimate and open conversations with everything around you.

- Treating every conversation and interaction as if it were our last invites us to invest more in what we say, and in what we don't say, to each other. 

- Have some kind of daily practice (journaling, walking) that reinforces your creative and spiritual life. Don't waste this precious lifetime by putting things off or ignoring the daily call to be active in your spiritual and creative life. Remember, none of us know the day or hour of our death. So let's not be frivolous with the remarkable opportunity of this day. 

Book Notes - Witness

During the past week, I read the book Witness - Lessons from Eli Wiesel's Classroom. The book was written by Ariel Berger. This book had a lot of interesting stories and quotes, but I was not as impressed with it as I had hoped. There were too many stories by the author about his own life which I found distracting from why I wanted to read the book in the first place: to hear Eli's view on life and his experience as a Holocaust survivor.

Eli Wiesel is best known for his Holocaust testimony and for the universal lessons he has from his experience of this tragedy. In May 1944, Eli was deported with his family to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister were murdered upon arrival, Eli and his father endured forced labor and then forced to march to Buchenwald where his father died. American soldiers liberated the camp on April 29, 1945. Eli was 16.

When asked how he kept going after the Holocaust and how he didn't give up, Eli said that it was due to learning. "Before the war, I was studying a page of Talmud and my studies were interrupted. After the war, when I wrote to the orphanage in France, my first request was for this same volume so that I could continue my studies from the same page, the same line, the same spot where I had left off. Learning saved me." 

He encouraged everyone to tell their stories because if even one person learns from it - how to be more human - you have made your memories into a blessing. We must turn our suffering into a bridge so that others might suffer less.

History is a narrow bridge. We have different memories of the trauma in our memories. We try to forget, and, in truth, some things we must forget a little bit simply in order to function. And yet, if we truly allow ourselves to forget, history may well return to us.

Never allow anyone to be humiliated in your presence.

Moral education tells people what they need to hear, even when it is painful. When moral education works, students investigate and embrace new ways of thinking. They learn new habits of questioning and ultimately find a deeper sense of common humanity. Students who experience this become sensitized to suffering. They read the news differently. They are no longer able to pass a homeless person on the street without offering at least a smile. You speak up when they overhear a bigoted word or see a bully, Inaction is no longer an option.

If you look away from suffering, you become complicit, a bystander. Silence never helps the victims, only the victimizers.

Faust's dilemma is that without knowledge we are nothing but with knowledge,we are dangerous. It depends what you do with that knowledge - gratify the darkest impulses or help your fellow man.

Hatred is a kind of cancer, and unlike anger, it serves no purpose.

Once you bring life into the world, you must protect it by trying to make the world better. Our children show us the connection between ethics and beauty - that it is beautiful to make the world more human.

Small moments make a big difference.

Modest acts of kindness are more significant than we recognize. It does not have to be newsworthy. You just need to look out for the outstretched hand. You just need to touch one person every day with compassion.

The question is: How real are other people to you? Do you feel their suffering? Does it actually keep you up at night? We need to find a balance between sleep and paralysis. Start with one person. A person is not an abstraction. Don't just write a check. Help them with something. Help them somehow with your own effort. Your own energy. Buy them food and bring it to them. Help them find shelter. Speak to them. Take the time to really speak and listen.

You must turn hate into something creative, something positive. If you are a teacher, you turn it into good teaching. If you write, turn it into good writing. Express what you feel and not the hate.

In Auschwitz, a woman named Roza Robota smuggle grains of dynamite under her fingernails for weeks in order to collect enough to bomb the crematorium. She and others were responsible for the revolt in October 1944. She and three other women were hanged and executed. They shouted a biblical phrase: Be strong and of good courage.

In 1945, Jews came out of ghettos and forests. The partitions had guns. They could have set the world on fire. It didn't happen. With very few exceptions, they did not seek revenge. They sought victory through life. Survivors as a group have advocated hope, not despair. Generous generosity, not bitterness. Gratitude, not violence. They chose to help families to rebuild decimated communities, to become philanthropists and doctors to find a way to help others. That is the revenge of the survivors: new life, new families, new communities helping others making the world better.

When two people come together to listen, to learn from each other, there is hope. This is where humanity begins with peace. Begin where dignity begins - in a small gesture of respect in listening. Hope is a gift we give to one another.

It means learning, thinking higher, and feeling deeper, always challenging yourself to dive into the great texts, stories, and ideas in search of wisdom.

Book Notes - Hurry, Spring

One book that was on my "Books I Want to Read" list was Hurry, Spring! by Sterling North, the author of Rascal. The drawings in this children's book were done by Carl Burger. I'm not sure when I put this book on my list of books that I want to read...perhaps long ago when the girls were young and we were doing more nature hikes and nature studies. 

At any rate, this book, written in 1966, is an easy read and full of beautiful black-and-white illustrations and intriguing facts about wildlife.

Some facts that I found interesting were:

- Skunks wander many miles early in the spring, hunting for maters. The little babies are called "woods kittens." 

- Wood ducks have about 8-12 ducklings each spring. They can evade almost "any predator except the snapping turtle, who with reptilian stealth pulls these charming bits of thistledown to their deaths."

- There are at least 15 references to lilies in the Bible.

- The ruby-throated hummingbird builds a nest of green lichens and cobwebs smaller than a silver dollar, with eggs the size of your little fingernail. 

- There are at least 40 varieties of wrens and more than 100 varieties of warblers. 

- Sometimes it seems that the more endangered the bird, the more eggs it lays. A dozen or more eggs are not unusual for the much-hunted wild ducks. For Canada geese, 3 to 7 are usual, with 4 goslings frequently brought to maturity. 

- It takes a worm a minute to satisfy a baby cardinal. 

The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln - Book Notes

Recently, I read The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln - A Treasury of Quotations, Anecdotes, and Observations by James Humes. 

The quotes were divided by subject which made it easy to understand the context in which the quote was said. There were many things that Abraham Lincoln said that I had not heard before. Some include:

- I say "try" - if we never try, we shall never succeed.

- Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it - the real thing is the tree.

- He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.

- All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother.

- When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.

- I shall meet with some terrible end. 

- Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.

- I always assume my audiences are wiser than I am, and I say the most sensible thing I can to them and I never found that they did not understand me.

- Don't shoot too high [when public speaking]. Aim low and the common people will understand you. 

- If we could know first where we are and whither we are tending we could better judge what to do and how to do it. 

- The pioneer in any movement is not generally the best man to carry that movement to a successful issue. It was so in the old times: Moses began the emancipation of the Jews, but didn't take Israel to the Promised Land after all. He had to make way for Joshua to complete the work.

- If we cannot give freedom to every creature, let us do nothing that will impose slavery upon any other creature. 

- Wealth is a superfluity of things we don't need.

Another section of the book was devoted to different things that related to Lincoln's life or appearance - such as his beard or hat, or actions or situations that he was in. Some of the information about Abraham Lincoln that I found interesting included:

- Lincoln, unlike contemporary politicians, employed no speechwriter. 

- Lincoln's humility was rooted in an awareness of his and any man's limitations.

- If the log cabin birth and violent death frame his life, the warm colors of his honesty and humanity constitute the picture. 

- Lincoln's silk stovepipe hat was part of his office. It served as his desk when he would jot notes on its flat top and also his file drawer where he would keep his datebook, checkbook, and letters. When he would think of an idea, he would scribble it on a piece of paper and then insert it in the hatband. 

What the Amish Can Teach Us About the Simple Life (Book Notes/Review)

I recently read What the Amish Can Teach Us About the Simple Life - Homespun Hints for Family Gatherings, Spending Less, and Sharing Your Bounty by Georgia Varozza.

Having been raised by parents who grew up during the Great Depression, there were many ideas in the book that I already knew. My parents were great role models in how to live simply and frugally, yet not feel like you're living in poverty. They created a life of joy and meaning and centered it around family and the beauty of nature. Of course, they also were very religious so that also was a key component in our lives.

My sister, grandma, me, dad, and brother celebrating my birthday.

My mom made a cake from scratch which was always the highlight. 

It looks like I was six years old. So, this was in June 1972.

Some things that resonated with me from the book:

- We see [the Amish] ordered existence and a deep sense of belonging their quiet and peaceable lives - and we yearn for these same things in our own families.
- The Amish way of life highlights the family. There is never a time when a person is considered a liability, no matter if young, old, infirm, or disabled in some way. Each person is loved, honored, and welcomed in the family circle.
- Some ideas for doing a family fun night:
   => bird watch

Sandhill cranes that Sophia and I saw on August 16, 2020.

This is part of the gathering of 49 cranes.

   => take a walk in the park or hike on a nature trail
   => ride bikes
   => visit the library
   => enjoy a backyard cookout
   => pick a book to read aloud together
   => fly kites
   => make homemade pizzas
   => make your own sundaes. Have plenty of goodies to sprinkle on top
   => play group games
   => enjoy a classic movie
   => make birdhouses or bird feeders and put them in the yard

Two new feeders we added this summer. 

   => write letters to grandparents or loved ones
   => make a family flowerpot. Each person chooses one annual flowering pot to put in the pot
   => stargaze
   => enjoy a family campout
   => as a family, write and illustrate a story
   => create a family newsletter and send it to your relatives
   => go through your photos and talk about family history
   => grab some magnifying glasses and go on a backyard bug safari
   => go to an animal shelter to pet the cats and take some dogs for a walk
   => go on a treasure hunt. Write clues that lead to other clues. Send participants all over the house and yard in search of treasure you've hidden
- create family traditions
- celebrate special moments
   => birthdays and holidays
   => well-earned grade
   => first and last days of school
   => getting caught doing an act of kindness
   => a goal or achievement realized

We got a French silk pie (Olivia's favorite pie) to celebrate the 

plantings of two public gardens that were part of a 4-H leadership project

she led on August 22, 2020.

   => first day of a new season
- build community
   => start a new church activity or ministry (or through a volunteer organization)

One of the public gardens that Sophia, Olivia, and I 

planted with volunteers on August 22, 2020.

   => at each church or club gathering, learn the name of one person you don't know
   => organize "card showers" where people send encouraging cards to shut-ins, the elderly, people who are sick or injured, and people who are struggling
   => make a sunshine box for a family or individual who could use a bit of cheer and encouragement. Sunshine boxes consist of small wrapped gifts with a card that explains the recipient is to open one a day
   => organize a neighborhood spring yard cleanup. Plant some pretty annuals to brighten the neighborhood
- Plan a weekly or monthly menu and stick to it. When you buy your groceries, you'll know what items you need and how much to make the meals you have planned

Salad using items in the refrigerator and tomatoes from the garden.

- Consistently spend less than you make
- If you spend less, you'll need to earn less, which means you'll have more time to spend with your family and work on meaningful activities
- Pay off unsecured debt as quickly as is feasible
- To the greatest extent possible, shun all types of debt. If you have to borrow, don't borrow the maximum you're able to.
- De-clutter
- What we have has nothing to do with our worth. We worked to meet our needs, and our goal was well-being, not making money or having more possessions. And because we weren't in the habit of always wanting something new, we weren't as distracted by possessions.

Living Without Electricity - Book Review, Notes, and Memories

I'm working on my list of books to read on Goodreads. This week I read Living Without Electricity by Stephen Scott and Kenneth Pellman. The book focuses on how the Amish live without electricity and also explains how they have created ways to light their homes, heat their homes, be entertained, communicate without a phone, and get around without a car.

The authors explain that the Amish value simplicity and self-denial over comfort, convenience, and leisure. So they try to discern the long-range effects of an innovation before deciding whether to adopt it.

Amish home in Southeastern Minnesota.

Olivia visited the business here when 

we were in the area camping in May 2018.

Some interesting facts from the book:
- While electrical power was available to many city dwellers in the early 1900s, the majority of rural North Americans had no access to current until the 1930s or 1940s.

No power lines leading to the house is 

one sign that an Amish family lives in it.

(Taken in May 2018.)

- Most Amish believe that the number of devices that can be operated by a battery or generator is limited, and that careful use of such items poses minimal risk to community values.
- An old-fashioned pitcher pump provides cistern water for washing in the kitchen. (As a side note: I remember visiting my Uncle Walt and Aunt Beulah's farm in Illinois and they had a water pump like this inside their home.)
- Windmill towers topped by large, flower-like fans...are often used to pump water into elevated storage tanks and to fill water reservoirs near or under the house which are tapped by hand "pitcher" pumps. (Side note: My uncle and aunt had a windmill and outdoor pump as well. I remember using it when we would visit them.)

Windmill that Olivia painted in 2016 

for a customer.

- Wood-burning water heaters [and] gas and kerosene water heaters [are used by the Amish]. (We have a gas water heater at our farm.)
- The Amish hang their laundry on clotheslines year-round. In some communities, very long wash lines attached to large pulleys extend from house to barn. In Lancaster County, the clothesline often runs into the wash house. This allows the person doing the laundry to hang up the wash inside and convey it out through a door. In wet weather, clothes are placed on wooden racks inside or hung on lines in the basement or another room. A drying rack often is positioned above the cookstove.

Clothes drying on lines at an Amish farm.

(Taken in May 2018.)

- Wedding festivities last all day.
- Fellowship meals follow each bi-weekly church service.
- An important part of Amish life is informal visiting. Families often visit one another without advance notice, and it is common for unexpected guests to stay for a meal.

Olivia and I stopped at an Amish bakery business at someone's home.

There were many visitors there that day as evidenced by the buggies.

We could hear singing inside the home.

(Taken in May 2018.)

- Women and girls usually sew, quilt, knit, embroider, cross-stitch, or do other kinds of needlework.
- Checkers, chess, Parcheesi, and even Monopoly are among popular table games.
- Amish children act out farming practices or horse-and-buggy trips. Baler twine serves effectively as reins, and a wagon as a buggy.
- Though musical instruments are strongly discouraged among the Amish, some families enjoy singing together without accompaniment.
- Many Amish participate in circle letters, in which people of similar interests, occupations, or situations (such as widows, teachers, or harness-makes) correspond with one another. Typically, a person receives a packet containing letters from each person in the circle. The receiver takes out the portion he or she had written for the last round and adds a new letter, before sending the whole batch to the next round.
- One of the weekly newspapers in the U.S. is the Budget. The letters include reports on weather, visits, illnesses, accidents, church services, births, deaths, and marriages.
- Convenient transportation tends to make it easier to yield to temptation. With a car, you can go wherever you want, whenever you want .This is especially harmful to young people.

Following a horse and buggy at a safe distance.

(Taken in May 2018.)

- The Amish point out further that cars are often objects of pride and can become status symbols. The feature of style, speed, comfort, and convenience...are in direct opposition to the Amish values of nonconformity, simplicity, self-denial, and humility.

There was a section about different types of lighting systems including natural gas and pressure lanterns. It reminded me of learning how to use propane gas lights in a cabin. It was a bit unnerving at the beginning using them, but I became more comfortable once I used them more.

Another section of the book discussed cooking with propane gas and how some Amish are permitted to use bottled gas and can cook on gas ranges like those used by non-Amish people. This is no different than what I use right now. My parents had an electric stove upstairs and a natural gas stove in the basement in the laundry room. They would use that when they did canning and when we had company and needed a second oven or stove to make food.

Since moving to our farm in 1995, I've used propane and a gas stove. I like that there is immediate heat versus the gradual-heat-up of an electric stove.

I had to laugh about the refrigeration methods used and how they sound like what we do sometimes: "The most conservative Amish groups use only natural refrigeration for food items. In cold weather, setting perishables outside or in unheated parts of the house suffices." I can't even count the number of times we've done this same thing. We have an unheated mudroom that we have put things in as an extension of our refrigerator.

One of the things that was difficult for me to see was a picture of a horse hooked up to a device to pump water. The horse had a wooden circle it would walk on to generate the power for the water pump. They also use horses like this for powering a washing machine or turning a lathe. I thought it would be a sad life for a horse to have to walk around in a circle for a prolonged period of time.

These horses, thankfully, were not hooked up to devices to pump water.

This Amish farm had a variety of large horses and young foals

who were enjoying galloping in the pasture and

relaxing and watching people. 

(Taken in May 2018.)

There was a chapter about doing laundry. There was a picture of a wringer washer. My parents had the same exact wringer washer as is pictured in the book. The difference is that my parents plugged their washer into the wall to use it while the Amish would use a gasoline engine, compressed air, or a hydraulic pump. I remember getting my hand stuck in the wringer part when my mom stepped away from the washer momentarily. It really hurt. Thankfully, none of my bones broke when that happened.

The chapter also described hanging clothes inside in wet weather and outdoors in all other types of weather. I remember my parents doing laundry and hanging up clothes outside. My mom typically would do this. However, when my dad was on summer break from being a school social worker, he enjoyed hanging up clothes outdoors as well.

My mom asked me sometimes to help. The "rules" were that personal garments (underwear) were hung on the line under the deck out of neighbors' view; and the other clothes were hung on the lines that extended from the house to the trees (east to west). The wind from the north and west would blow the clothes and give them that fresh outdoor scent. The only thing I didn't like having line-dried were towels.

What I thought was insightful was the concern about using a machine that allows one person to do a job that used to require several people to do that job. The Amish aren't in favor of that because, although it does save time, it prevents a sense of community from developing.

Another Amish farm and greenhouse business 

that Olivia and I visited.

(Taken in May 2018.)

Near the end of the book was the statement, "The Old Order Amish are not against change, but try to carefully determine which changes might adversely affect their church and community." I think this thoughtful approach to life is with merit. What if each person carefully considered how the decisions they made would affect themselves, their families, community, and world? What a different world we would live in.

Braving the Wilderness - Book Review & Notes

For the past couple of weeks, I've been reading Braving the Wilderness - The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown.

I'm not sure who recommended this book or where I heard about it, but it was well worth my time in reading. I wish I would have read this book decades ago.

Some things that Brene Brown wrote about that resonated with me are below.

- I used whatever (addiction) I could find to not feel vulnerable - drinking, smoking, caretaking, and overeating.
- You bend and stretch and grow, but you commit to not moving from who you are.
- Belonging is the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us. Because this yearning is so primal, we often try to acquire it by fitting in and by seeking approval, which are not only hollow substitutions for belonging, but often barriers to it. Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.
- We must sometimes stand alone in our decisions and beliefs despite our fear of criticism and rejection.
- BRAVING - Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault (don't share information or experiences that are not yours to share), Integrity, Nonjudgment, Generosity
- Use the words for assessing your level of self- trust:
B - Did I respect my own boundaries? Was I clear about what's okay and what's not okay?
R - Was I reliable? Did I do what I said I was going to do?
A - Did I hold myself accountable?
V - Did I respect the vault and share appropriately?
I  - Did I act from my integrity?
N - Didi I ask for what I needed? Was I nonjudgmental about needing help?
G - Was I generous toward myself?
- If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your path.
- True belonging doesn't require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.
- Loneliness is the absence of meaningful social interaction - an intimate relationship, friendships, family gatherings, or even community or work group connections
- As an introvert, I deeply value alone time, and a I often feel the loneliest when I'm with other people.
- I don't think there's anything lonelier than being with people and feeling alone.
- Denying you feel lonely makes no more sense than denying you feel hunger. We feel shame even when our loneliness is caused by grief, loss, or heartbreak.
- When we feel isolated, disconnected, and lonely, we try to protect ourselves.
- It's not the quantity of friends but the quality of a few relationships that actually matters.
- Living with air pollution increases your odds of dying early by 5%. Living with obesity, 20%. Excessive drinking, 30%. And living with loneliness? It increases our odds of dying early by 45%.
- It's easier to be angry than it is to be hurt or scared.
- Pain is unrelenting. It will get our attention. Despite our attempts to drown it in addiction...pain will find a way to make itself known.
- Our families and culture believed that the vulnerability that it takes to acknowledge pain was weakness, so we were taught anger, rage, and denial instead. But what we know now is that when we deny our emotion, it owns us. When we own our emotion, we can rebuild and find our way through the pain.
- Sometimes anger can make a far more  difficult emotion like grief, regret, or shame, and we need to use it to dig into what we're really feeling. Either way, anger is a powerful catalyst but a life-sucking companion.
- Courage is forged in pain, but not in all pain. Pain that is denied or ignored becomes fear or hate. Anger that is never transformed becomes resentment and bitterness.
- For the first three-quarters of my life [I felt] like a square peg in a round hole.
- There's an unspoken message that the only stories worth telling are the stories that end up in history books. This is not true. Every story matters.
- Viola Davis lives by a few simple rules:
   1. I'm doing the best I can.
   2. I will allow myself to be seen.
   3. Got further. Don't  be afraid. Put it all out there.
   4. I will not be a mystery to my daughter. She will know me and I will share my stories with her - the stories of failure, shame, and accomplishment.
- I felt alone in the wilderness, but it was okay. I may not have been liked, and that didn't feel so great, but I was in my integrity.
- Neglecting to keep in close contact with people who are important to you is at least as dangerous to your health as a pack-a-day cigarette habit, hypertension, or obesity.
- Research shows that playing cards once a week or meeting friends every Wednesday night...adds as many years to our lives as taking beta blockers or quitting a pack-a-day smoking habit.
- In those vulnerable moments of individual or collective joy, we need to practice gratitude.
- Pain is also a vulnerable emotion. It takes real courage to allow ourselves to feel pain. When we're suffering, many of us are better at causing pain than  feeling it. We spread hurt rather than let it inside.
- We can spend our entire life betraying ourselves and choosing fitting in over standing alone. But once we've stood up for ourselves and our beliefs, the bar is higher.
- Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, joy, trust, intimacy, courage - everything that brings meaning to our life.
- When we let people take our vulnerability or fill us with their hate, we turn over our entire life to them.

Stories in Faith - Book Review

This past week I read Stories in Faith - Exploring Our Unitarian Universalist Principles and Sources through Wisdom Tales by Gail Forsyth-Vail.

This book focuses on sharing 19 stories from various cultures and traditions to help people develop their faith and create meaning in their lives. The stories illustrate the UU's seven Principles and six Sources as framework for the reader to reflect upon and then act on in their congregations and/or at home.

Some of the stories I was familiar with already - like The Brementown Musicians that illustrated the first Principle: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; the creation story (from the Bible) for the second Principle: justice, equity, and compassion.

There were other stories that I had not heard that I enjoyed reading like The Lion's Whisker which illustrated the fourth Principle: a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; and We Are All One which showed the seventh Principle: respect for the interdependent web of all existence.

What I learned from reading this book is that there are six sources that Unitarian Universalists draw upon:
- Direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder
- Words and deeds of prophetic women and men
- Wisdom from the world's religions
- Jewish and Christian teachings
- Humanist teachings and the guidance of reason and science
- Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions

I particularly enjoyed reading the following stories:
- The Christmas Truce
- Rosa Park's life
- The Mustard Seed Medicine
- Abu Kassim's Shoes
- Sand
- The Green Man

Stories in Faith chose to use stories because "we are collectors and tellers of stories - about our own lives, our world, and those who came before. We find new meaning in creating and sharing stories."

What I liked about this book is that were reflections at the end of each story to think about. For example, at the end of The Brementown Musicians, the author writes, "This story is a wonderful, fun reminder of our first Principle, which affirms the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Four animal characters are discarded for having outlived their usefulness, but they find new life with companions who value them and celebrate their uniqueness. Each is able to make a contribution to the group. And the song they sing together is just the right one to sing."

In the story "The Lion's Whisker," the author writes, " We do not always take the time necessary to nurture and support our family relationships. We can be quick to blame those we love for not responding to us as we would like them to. This story calls us to look inside ourselves for qualities that heal and nurture relationships: patience, kindness, and a willingness to truly notice and appreciate others. It affirms these qualities are present in all of us."

Another story I liked, "The Mustard Seed," shares about how "one of the bonds that unite us as human beings is the experience of mourning....The story reminds us to be intentional about learning how to respond with compassion to the grief of others."

"Abu Kassim's Shoes" shows that "when we are weighted down with self-centered behavior, not engaged with our families, communities, and the world, we suffer."

The story about Charles Darwin shared about his calling "to make his contribution to the world through his gift for the natural sciences and his love for observation and experimentation." It went on to say that the "Unitarian Universalist faith calls upon each of us to figure out how our own gifts and skills can help make the world a better place."

In the story called "Sand," the author said that "it invites us to a renewed commitment to care for our shared home on this planet and deepens our respect for that which we often take for granted. It calls us to gratitude for the independent web to which we belong."

The Bluebird Effect - Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds

The Bluebird Effect - Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds by Julie Zickefoose has been on my list of books to read for some time now.

I finally finished the book today and was so happy I read it. The author began illustrating natural history as a college freshman in 1976. This book visually documents her work and joy in rehabilitating birds, and shares through engaging writing about the history, characteristics, and personalities of the birds. It was liking reading the author's nature journal and diary for a number of years, and getting a glimpse into the many lives she has saved.

Below I've included photos that I've taken throughout the years of birds in our backyard interspersed with excerpts from The Bluebird Effect. The exceptions are the hawks and sandhill cranes. One of the photos of the hawks was taken at an event I hosted that benefited many non-profits and the other was taken at a wildlife preserve. The cranes were taken in nearby pastures.

Some of the things that I found interesting that she wrote about follow. These are some of the quotes or paraphrases from The Bluebird Effect:

- I thought about human intervention and the debates around bird feeding. I have colleagues who view bird feeding as the equivalent of turning wild birds into backyard pets.

- Knowledgeable bluebirders maintain that bluebirds don't need a mealworm subsidy to thrive and raise young.
- Where would bluebirds, as a species, be without human intervention? When the long-term decline of bluebirds became evident in the 1960s, the nationwide move to provide housing for them was the largest single-species conservation effort ever launched.
- Mozart kept a pet starling that could whistle parts of his concertos, with its own improvisations and additions. When it died, three years later, he held a funeral, with invited guests in full mourning dress.
- A study of Carolina chickadees showed that fully 7 percent more birds survive the winter when they have access to feeders. Like many birds, chickadees split their diet down the middle in winter, half being vegetable, the other half insects and their eggs. In summer, 90 percent of their sustenance derives from invertebrates.

- Could gratitude be part of a bird's emotional makeup? It was clear to me now that they could distinguish individual people and remember grievances and kindnesses alike.

- I began saving eggshells and baking them in a low oven until they started to brown around the edges, just to make sure they harbored no harmful bacteria from the eggs. Then I'd spread them on a big flat rock out in the yard, where the swallows had room to approach and take off.
- There are a lot of raptor rehabilitation facilities around but very few places that will take songbirds. The simplest reason is that raptors need to be fed once a day.

- Most of the songbirds that get in trouble are orphaned nestlings, and they need to be fed every twenty to forty-five minutes, dawn to dusk, for a period of weeks.

- An osprey's outer toe on each foot can swivel through 180 degrees, giving the bird a choice of a conventional three-toes-forward grip, or two forward, two back. This trait, called "functional zygodactylism," it shares with owls but with no other hawk.
- Sandhill cranes are legally hunted in 13 states in the United States, including Minnesota. In Canada, they can be hunted in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and in Mexico, they're hunted in nine northern and central states. Minnesota implemented its season in 2010.

- Sandhill cranes, if it's extremely lucky, can raise only two young per year. The vast majority of lesser sandhill cranes with successful nests are able to raise only one "colt" per year.
- The sandhill crane has the lowest recruitment rate of any bird now hunted in North America. Recruitment rate is the percentage of any population that is replaced with new young birds in a given year.

- Cardinals have shallow twig nests in low bowers of bramble hung with honeysuckle or grapevine. Clutch size varies from one to five eggs, with an average of three in most nests.

- The northern cardinal's range has expanded dramatically since the early 1800s. At the turn of the twentieth century, cardinals were common in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but stuck only a toe into southern New York.
- Cardinals colonized in the Twin Cities by 1930.

- The cardinal chicks' nesting period is only ten days after hatching. Their low, open-cup nests are so vulnerable to snakes and rodents that the shorter the time they're occupied, the better.
- Like it or not, we're feeding the sharp-shinned and the Cooper's hawk from our [bird] feeding stations, too - they're getting seed, metabolized into blood, bone, and feather.