There are over 400 Strollers in the 2016 Stroll for Your Soul. We are from far and near, and of all ages.
WEEK THREE – a gallery of photos shared
WEEK TWO
Elsie MacDonald offers her reflection on Week Two:
“Just a few thoughts about these past strolling days …..This week, we have been encouraged to be more aware of our surroundings, to be more in tune…to note the rhythms of the continuous give and take, growth and death as we share our planet. As I walk, I am attentive to the two streams flowing from the interior to Chignecto Bay.
I also walked our property today..a stream is the western border..old trees have fallen branches and twigs and leaves entwined..but there are small spruce emerging from this mossy floor.
I also remember and respect the history….the abateaus are in the distance for the Micmac and Acadians worked this land and sea. The French and British ships passed by to Forts Beausejour and Lawrence. The horses have made dents in this land as they hauled hay to the waiting ships. But today, the buds are stabilizing and sweetening and the birds are feeding and nesting and the hay is taking roots. Good days.”
Anne Pirie is from Sackville NB but she was Strolling on the Whiteman Trail at Five Oaks in Paris, ON. and sent this photo of a gurgling brook.
Claudia Tugwell was out for an evening Stroll and writes: “The Bedford waterfront and the early evening sun caught this bright bouquet. Imagine the effort to push up through a tiny crack of soil to give such abundance!” (Photo: Maurice Tugwell)
Irene Burrell shares lovely tulips from her garden.
And I saw a dinosaur this week!
In the “Leave a Reply” below, you are welcome to say hello, and where you are from, or describe the area where you Stroll.
WEEK ONE:
I love how one Stroller acknowledges our community: “I like the idea of my energy intermingling with the energies of all the other walkers and runners …energy transference…positive energies giving support to the negative energies. Hope you walk with positive light today.”
In the “Leave a Reply” below, you are welcome to say hello, and where you are from, or describe the area where you Stroll.
And you are invited to share a brief reflection or a poem or thought about your first week of Stroll. And if you have pictures to share, feel free to share them on the Prayer Bench Facebook site.
And if you would like to sign up for the Welcome Email and last 14 days of Stroll for Your Soul, you can register here: Stroll is offered at the sale price of $10.
I was working with these words this week. They are from a longer prayer by George MacLeod, the founder of the Iona Community.
Invisible we see You, Christ beneath us.
With earthly eyes we see beneath us stones and dust
and dross, fit subjects for the analyst’s table.
But with the eye of faith, we know You uphold.
In You all things consist and hang together:
The very atom is light energy,
The grass is vibrant,
The rocks pulsate.
All is in flux; turn but a stone and an angel moves.
I hope you experience vibrancy and energy in your Stroll.
And this image is offered by Claudia Tugwell. It is the image of a CD cover and caught her eye when she was noticing star-shapes. Thanks for sharing.
Those of you who know me will know that strolling is not my usual style, neither in walking nor in life. However, right now some of my strolling is with my partner, recovering from surgery. This of course forces me to really stroll and thus to become more truly observant and aware, as this series call us to do. I even found three little violets yesterday on my longer walk which I took back to Wilf. Normally I would probably not have even noticed them. With gratitude
Good morning Kathryn. I will pray your partner continues to get well as you stroll together and after doing so you both continue to take time to stroll enjoying life and all it’s beauty. I too thank Janice for her Stroll for Your Soul retreats. I enjoy the thoughts she can provoke with her words of thinking and writings. I am now a senior and life has slowed down somewhat for me and also a birder so I drive slow, walk slow and am often letting others hurry by me thinking of them to slow down and appreciate what is before you. Seems we are always in a hurry these days. Sometimes we must but taking time to stroll is good for the body as well as for our soul and we all need to do this at least once a day. Happy Strolling Kathryn
As I read this morning’s Stroll words before heading out for my walk, I was moved to tears. That place within me of longing and hope was touched and I wonder again if we will have the wisdom to remember and honour our unity.
I walk along the marsh and around my neighbourhood in East Riverview, NB. This morning on the marsh I rejoiced at the sight of the tree swallows, a pair of Northern Shovellers and a multitude of male redwing blackbirds.
Thank you Janice and all of this community of walkers.
That must be a beautiful stroll Shirley. I love the marshes and the sound of the Redwings as they sing the whole marsh will be filled with song. Every once in a while you can hear a Song sparrow or Savannah singing and of course there are always the noisy crows. Our marshes are alive this time of the year and a restful place to take a chair,sit with a camera and just enjoy. In Salisbury we also can enjoy many eagles flying overhead and a Northern Harrier as he hunts. Enjoy your warm rain day.
I’m Patsy MacLean and I stroll in my neighbourhood of Primrose Point in Cornwall PEI. As I stroll past the West River as it swirls, the yellow daffodils as bright as the sun, the tap,tap, tap of the woodpecker in the majestic pines behind our home, I can feel the cosmic energy and I am so grateful that we are so beautifully alive and connected as we stroll together.
I am enjoying my strolling with your daily guide email to start my day. This time of year there is lots of birding trips so most of my walking is through woods for warblers and ponds for ducks and geese. Yesterday while up north looking for a rare bird I was fortunate to also see over 1000 beautiful snow geese and listen to their distinctive honks. Among all those white geese was a “Blue Morph” a snow goose that has dark and bluish feathers. He looked totally out of place but was enjoying the sun and his brothers and sisters without a care in the world. His honk was as loud and beautiful as the others. I thought we all have something that stands out special from the rest and we should be proud of this and be thankful for our uniqueness. Hoping everyone enjoys their stroll today and finds lots of interesting creatures to drop their pebble by.
I am Margaret, strolling in the Almonte, Ontario area (just west of Ottawa). I have seen ‘cosmic swirls’ in the ploughing tractor trails, on tree bark, and in my ice cream cone! I am walking for the day’s experience , and also in preparation for a 6 day pilgrimage in Nova Scotia this July, walking from Mahone Bay to Halifax, sponsored by the Atlantic School of Theology. I love the knowledge that others are walking their paths while I walk mine, but we walk together in real time and in shared focus. Blessings all.
I am Marilyn, and although the first five days of Stoll took me around the streets of my home in Sackville, NB, the last few days have been in New Dundee, Ontario where I an visiting my daughter’s family. A wee bit ahead of the Maritimes, lawn mowing has started here and gardens already are alive with colour. My grandchildren had fun yesterday morning on our walk to school picking out large garden stones as symbolic of the “planets of the sun” after listening to the Stroll song. Grace named her planet NPP (no pollution please), and Partick’s was called Beef ( yes, like the kind we eat??). It was a delight to share my Stroll time with them.
I’m Bob Johnson in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. I am strolling with my partner, Rob, and our golden retriever, Jack, in our border town home. Part of our walk includes Dover Hill Park which is coming alive with spring flowers and all of our walk is accompanied by song birds, lots and lots of song birds … sometimes it is almost too much!
I’m Janice and I am the host of Prayer Bench. This first week I strolled mostly in Sackville, New Brunswick, but I did have a Stroll along the streets of Halifax too.