History is infinite.

History is infinite, that's for sure. You've gotta start somewhere, and pretty much it doesn't matter where you start because it's all connected, like a universe-sized dot-to-dot you could never finish but you started when you were born. Or maybe before...

History can't be learned "in order," because it's never going to be orderly. It doesn't even happen in order, because often facts aren't discovered until years after incidents occur, and so the history of them unfolds and is clarified and expanded all the time. People knew zip about Pompeii until 1700-and-some years after it was buried. Someday people might know more about Amelia Earhart's disappearance or the assassination of JFK than they do now, after all who knew them personally will have been long dead.

SandraDodd.com/history
photo of flower and map in my kitchen
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Choosing More Peace

There will never be perfect peace. We can't even define "peace."
There can be a closer approximation to ideal peace. People can come nearer to the way they would like to be, but only incrementally, choice by choice.

If you want to live peacefully, make the more peaceful choice.

Peace is all about choices.

To have peace in your house, be more peaceful.


SandraDodd.com/peace/noisy
doodly art by Holly Dodd

Patterns on patterns

Bricks, bars, sun and shade make patterns in an alley between shops.

Find and play with patterns.


SandraDodd.com/patterns
photo by Sandra, Albuquerque, October 2010

Following directions

Years ago a school-at-home family visited us from another state for a few days. Holly and one of the visiting girls brought a "preschool workbook" to me (a coloring book with puzzle pages) and asked what the directions said. It said circle in red... something. I don't remember the puzzle involved. But she asked if she had to use red, and I said no, to use any color she wanted to, and that she didn't even have to circle them.

The other mom stiffened, and when the little girls were gone said, "We believe it's important for our girls to follow directions."

That coloring book had no authority, and there was no advantage to anyone of that page being done according to arbitrary directions.

Some directions are more important than others. Some involve safety and property. Games have directions. Kits have directions. Recipes are directions. People can decide whether to play differently, put the kit together in a creative way, or tweak a recipe in progress.

It's good to make a conscious decision about what kind of directions you will follow without question, and which are less binding on you and your family.

Big world

Here is a peacock in India. Hema Bharadwaj took the photo:



This peacock lives wherever it wants to, in Albuquerque, and was photographed by Holly Dodd. Where it wants to live is wandering around the zoo. 🙂



Below is a picture I took of Holly and another zoo peacock last year.

click here for more peacock images
What do you know about peacocks? What do you need to know? Does what you know touch geography? Art, biology, or animal behavior? History, mythology or fashion?

You probably don't "need" to know anything about peacocks, really, but I bet you already knew several things.
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Look more closely

Sometimes the world is a busy, confusing place. With sounds, sights, smells and distracting thoughts, sometimes it's hard to choose one thing to focus on.


In the midst of years' of wiring and amendments (skylight diffused by poles and fencing) and current decorations (paper balloon, beer flags), hidden by fluff and color, is a bit of traditional architectural strength, in the way two vigas (the large crossbeams) are joined over a post and corbel (that wooden platform on top of the vertical post).


Some details of the world around you are more important than others to the strength of the structure of your life—relationships, needs of children and partners, safety, warmth.

In small ways and large, look for important details while enjoying the colorful swirl of the world around you.

Movement and Life

All around you is life. People, plants, animals, moving and growing. Thoughts, feelings and relationships, alive and changing. Remember that your child is, every moment, in various states of wakefulness, emotion, hunger/satiation, comfort, and those states change.

Click below to see the image above in a different way: