I have just read "Messages From Nature" and am captivated by your work. It has been a learning experience for me in many ways. I hold more respect for my daughter's compassion as an animal rescuer. I am in awe of your navigating skills and hold newly found admiration for my young cousin, Stephanie Hart, who navigates for a Connecticut Sailing Club. Lastly, I feel your dear father's touching story sheds light on your attraction and love for animals. What a legacy.

Rita Goodgame
Little Rock, AR

  "I finished reading Messages from Nature and I really enjoyed it. Not only was it fun because I know the author, but the stories were great. I loved your father’s story of Jerry Too! Is there anything you haven’t done? The story about sailing to St. Martin was wonderful and scary; and of course we love St. Martin so it was special. You rock girl!"

dcaudill@

  "A wonderful story Patricia. And wonderful things you are doing for animals."

Joe Camp Author
Joe's best selling book, The Soul of a Horse: Life Lessons from the Herd, published by Random House/Harmony Books, follows three novels, a non-fiction inspirational book, seven produced theatrical screenplays, and the first four Benji Promise Books, for children three to seven years of age.

  How wondrous is life through the writings of Patricia Daly-Lipe. Her books Nature's Wisdom (original edition) and Messages from Nature (re-written edition) display her spiritual, respectful camaraderie with life. Her psychic partnership with animals is evident from her loving care for her pets and understanding of their timely deaths. You'll cry also over her father's heart- tugging rendition of greyhound racing. These soul-warming writings of her life's vignettes will invoke your honor of the undaunted spirit of passengers in Nature's realm. Furthermore, with her intelligent passion for life and understanding of Nature, elegant Patricia steers amazingly competently the ships in dangerous, high- rolling seas. She writes like a sailor, a scientist, an historian, and an artist, as her soul rises philosophically into the beyond.

Constance "Tina" Stonestreet Medical-Science Editor,
Ordained Minister, and Artist-Craftswoman

  This is Patricia Daly-Lipe’s gift: She tells your story – tells all of our stories – through her own experiences with beloved companions, animal and otherwise. The lean, wiry power of Daly-Lipe’s wordcraft compels you to immerse yourself in her tales, knowing full well that her tales are your tales. It is a fast read, but don’t be in a hurry; reign yourself in and savor the journey.
  When you read Messages from Nature’s (formerly Nature's Wisdom) – and read it you must – you will, by turns, smile, laugh, cheer, weep, grieve, and heal. And most of all you will rejoice at the opportunity to be invited along the diverse paths of this talented writer’s own journey in the unified company of empathy and compassion. The work chronicles Daly-Lipe’s respect – and love – for all life.
  Daly-Lipe is skilled at transferring her thoughts to her reader via creative imagery consisting of supremely well chosen words. If there is truth to Mark Twain’s observation that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug, then Daly-Lipe’s prose and poetry crackle with benevolent lightning. (No offense is intended, however, toward lightning bugs.) In addition, her spare and precise writing credits us readers with being inside her, with being one with her, as she describes her experiences. She writes, for example, of Mr. Woodstock, the rescued pup from Albemarle County, Virginia, who adopts sea legs and becomes an icon aboard the author’s sailing craft. She slips the term yacht pup in on us without explanation; she knows we know what a yacht pup is and sees no need to puff the phrase up with quotation marks or italics. Oh, sure, Daly-Lipe seems to reason, not everyone yachts, but each of us has a car pup, a couch pup, a barn pup, or an office pup. She seems to know we’re with her on this one, too.
  Actually, we’re with her all the way anyway, so compassion-rich are her tales and so compelling is her manner of telling them. When you experience, through Daly-Lipe, the abundant truths waiting Out There to be harvested by the diligent and willing among us, you will be in possession of glistening gems of nature’s wisdom by their handfuls. “If we listen,” Daly-Lipe writes, “our animals will teach us more about love than most of our human friends can or will.”

Reviewed by Patti Cole, Contributing Editor to laJoie

  Dr. Pat Daly-Lipe is a highly skilled writer whose love and compassion for animals is evident throughout (this volume). Messages from Nature (formerly Nature’s Wisdom) is a joy to read and resounds with respect and honor for all life, non-human and human, a rare quality these days.

Rita Reynolds, author of Blessing the Bridge, What Animals Have to Teach Us About Death, Dying, and Beyond. She is also co-editor and publisher of laJoie Magazine, a quarterly publication dedicated to promoting human appreciation for all animals.

  I was just telling Brad that you have an incredible gift for writing about animals. Everything you write gets me crying. Your deep love of animals is so clear and you have a talent for drawing the reader into the story. Brad suggested I tell you. I think you are amazing in that ability. I hope the world sees more animal-related literature from you.

Betsy Clark, Haymarket, VA

  "This is a wonderful book for all ages. If you need a great gift to give someone, what better than Messages from Nature (formerly Nature’s Wisdom)? These heart-warming stories are both entertaining and meaningful.”

Devan, age 10

  Messages from Nature (formerly Nature’s Wisdom) is a delightful collection of personal stories about animals, people, travel, and the sea. The reader quickly sees that Patricia Daly Lipe is a special person who loves animals and thoroughly understands the special bond that only animals and humans can share.
  It is also evident that she is an accomplished writer who loves travel and adventure. I particularly enjoyed her sailing recounts as I could almost feel the stillness of the too calm, quiet days and the fierceness of the stormy, windy days at sea.
  In this complex world, it is particularly refreshing to find a writer who is able to help us stop, look, reflect, and learn invaluable life lessons that only Nature can teach us. I highly recommend this book.

J. Best, North Carolina

  Messages from Nature (formerly Nature’s Wisdom) is an eclectic collection of short stories and poems, with the unusual twist of Daly-Lipe including some of her father’s works at the end of this 128 page book - His poems are particularly delightful to read!
  Following the tried-and-tested recommendation to ‘Write what you know about’, Daly-Lipe does exactly that, resulting in a patchwork quilt of light-hearted, easy-to-read autobiographical snap-shots of her travels in both the US and Europe, and the events in her life involving her pets.
  And, Daly-Lipe suggests that, “If we listen, our animals will teach us more about love than most of our human friends can or will.”
  Then, the inclusion of Daly-Lipe’s personal photos further adds to her carefully crafted words, as if any additions are needed!
  This collection will particularly appeal to pet owners, animal lovers, nature lovers and travelers. I use the word “travelers” in both the context of physical and spiritual voyages alike. Indeed, Nature’s Wisdom makes for a pleasant voyage on which to embark.

David Taub Feature columnist for Poetry Now,
Britain’s largest circulating poetry and short-story magazine.
Member of Britain’s National Union of Journalists.
Co-author of Language of Souls www.ukpoet.com

  "...you are such an inspiration to me. You write sooo beautifully and also do so with your painting."

-CC-

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    This is the story of a daughter looking for her connection to her family through the past. Patricia Daly-Lipe carefully chooses somebody else's words to kick off each chapter of the book. Then the reader encounters her voice through words written in her journal in the 1950's and 60's as she grows up. We meet an adolescent bewildered by family attachments based on intellectual values more than affection and expressions of love. As a result of an absent father and lack of siblings, she was quite alone when she lost her mother. Her journal pages reflect her philosophical retrospection. She longs to find "who I am and what I am supposed to do with my life." Her story is full of family history intertwined with world history. The entries from her journals about how world events are a part of her life is fascinating.

    The author shares her soul in this memoir in such a way that I found it easy to relate to her story. For those of us who grew up in the times of the Bay of Pigs and JFK and Vatican II, her memories and account of events resonate. Perhaps, I too became a seeker of truth due to the social milieu and political climate of my adolescence.
    Sadly, her family kept many secrets. At the young age of 15, her mother's doctor asked her to bear a dreadful burden by keeping her mother's cancer diagnosis a secret from her. After her mother's death, Daly-Lipe finds hints of a secret French lover in her mother's life!
    Any woman who has also had an experience in international living or studying abroad would find this narrative interesting, I believe. We find that through learning a new language and love of a new place and people, the world is brought closer together. Ultimately we are a family of humankind sharing at our roots, not just a historical past, but one heart and soul.
    I was left wondering and wanting to know more about how her relationship with her mother and father influenced her first marriage. Her story ends abruptly at the recent past, the era of raising her children. This is understandable as is so much easier to look back into the distant past than to write about present life and family members.
    Overall this little memoir is full of lessons about a life well lived and the twists and turns that we find on our life's journey.

Reviewed by Martha Meacham

I thoroughly enjoyed your book though I grieved with you at the grieving parts.
Growing up in Ft. Lauderdale FL in the 50s-70s we went on many trips to Bimini/Bahamas and my dad AL SARNO, SR. worked with boat fiberglass design etc… with both Avenger and Pembroke!!! If my memory serves me right as well as Chris Craft though they were the wood design… He and my mom RUTH SARNO did yacht purveying and interior decorating in that era and later

Al Sarno, PhD, LPC, BCPC

5 April, 2010; A review submitted to Amazon.com
This memoir about a talented and intelligent young lady’s transition from late teen age years to young adulthood opens another world beyond the direct experience of most, including this reader.  We are taken to and from Europe where we meet individuals who place high value on ideas and philosophy, where the author describes art, architecture and ambiance, and introduces the reader to individuals of another almost (as I see it) bygone high culture.  Among others, I was intrigued by the author’s great uncle, Msgr. William A. Hemmick, the only American Canon of St. Peter’s Basilica.  I’ll say no more, but suggest one read the book.  The author uses contemporaneous diary entries coupled with the perspective of the well-educated and successful mature woman.  In this, the author succeeds.  The memoir is not in strict chronological order but arranged as one might remember long ago, which I found helpful.  The book held my attention due to the flow of the writing and my interest due to the subject matter.  The book is easily a one evening read and well worth the effort.

Donald MacLennan

ALL ALONE, From Washington to Rome, a 60s Memoir is an extraordinary memoir that immediately transports the reader to another time and place; a time when art and culture and ideas matter, and a place where beauty and love are natural and innocent. Patricia Daly-Lipe, in a style that is both literary and eloquent, paints a picture of Rome as seen by a young girl coming of age during the ‘60s and left all alone. Her bittersweet memories of the loss of her mother and a failed first love are contrasted by the unbridled joy and wonderment for life she experiences in a foreign country. All ALONE is an honest and thought provoking look into the past that offers all who read it a better understanding of themselves.

13 Oct 2011
    Your book has touched my soul and stoked the artist in me.
    For the last year, I've been working on a book of letters, and inspiration can be tough.  I've found myself attaching my creative source to many unreliable things versus allowing myself to feel and let go of what's famililar and safe. Your book has provided such validation and guidance that I truly believe that I'm on my way to realizing a dream -- to fulfill my purpose.
    Our meeting was not by chance. Your words, as well as the collection of sentiment you gathered, have moved something deep within me and confirmed a mission that I know must be completed. I feel blessed.
    If you are planning any more creative writing seminars or will be speaking somewhere soon or in the future, please do let me know. I'd be honored to speak with you again and personally thank you for mentoring me through this wonderful and terrifying creative process.

Alexis Holmes

Creativity: A Journey to the Source

    Almost all writers experience an interruption to the flow of creativity from time to time. On January 12, artist and writer Patricia Daly-Lipe shared her beliefs about creativity, where it originates and how to connect with our source.
    As a former student of philosophy, Daly-Lipe has plenty of experience living the examined life. She believes that the journey to creativity involves the process, not the final product....
    Daly-Lipe specifically urges writers to allow the words to flow until they take over and time stops....
    To connect to the source of creativity, we also need to see the world in a new way. Daly-Lipe advises writers to allow the world to reveal itself. The word reveal originally meant “remove veil”. When in the act of observing, we need to peel back the layers in order to find the truth.
    According to Daly-Lipe, we are part of nature and the universe is within us. As artists, we have an innate ability to perceive the beauty of the world. Daly-Lipe urges us to take the time to look around. Return to the state of child-like excitement when we learned something new. “The sunset is always there, but really take the time to enjoy it. Look for the extraordinary in the ordinary,” says Daly-Lipe. At one point in the evening, she shared this memorable quote: “The world will never starve for want of wonders, but want of wonder.”
    Most importantly, we should create some record of our lives. Daly-Lipe’s book La Jolla, A Celebration of Its Past is a collection of essays and vignettes that describe history from the point of view of the people who settled there. Daly-Lipe laments that people write few letters today. E-mail is the primary means of communication and messages are usually deleted. She urges us to save e-mails and to keep journals in order to pass on something of ourselves.
    ...Daly-Lipe also reminded us that creativity does not need a purpose. The process should be reward enough. Allow spontaneity to express itself and live in the moment.

Danielle Ring, WIW Member (Washington Independent Writers)

  "Richard Lederer, author, lecturer, and co-host for KPBS radio
  According to San Diego’s own verbivore and commentator of KPBS”s ‘A Way With Words’, Richard Lederer“Myth, Magic, & Metaphor is luminous with oracular wisdom about the nature and sources of creativity.  From first page to last, this book will inspire you to be inspired.” The book was composed to do just that: inspire. It is not to teach or to substantiate a bias. It was written as a jumping off point for the reader to become the writer using etymology, mathematics, painting, music, philosophy, even psychology as some of the concepts for stimulation. As Joseph Campbell stated, 'The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." Nothing more is requested of the reader. Take away the rules. Listen to your heart. That is where you will find the source; in this case, the source of creativity.

Richard Lederer, author, lecturer, and co-host for KPBS radio

  I read, reread and reread MM&M as there is an abundance of enriching material in it. It takes me to a different plane of experience.

C. Cook

  For me, this was a delightful and refreshing book to read. I found myself underlining and asterisking numerous phrases throughout the book to refer to again and again. I would highly recommend it to anyone involved in or interested in the creative arts.

Jane Best, Morgantown, NC

  I read MM&M in one sitting on a bench in Union Square Park, completely engrossed, and unaware of the lunatic babbling of Park denizens. An embarrassment of riches, to say the least. I really enjoyed your ranging mind, and the manifold use of citations and poetic snippets. You are a quintessential humanist. And best of all, you helped unblock me from non-writing.

Joseph Roccasalvo, S.J. author of seven novels including Portrait of A Woman,
Chartreuse, and The Odor of Sanctity plus two plays so far.

  For anyone looking for their creativity button this small, dynamic book is a must read. Ms. Daly leads the reader through an understandable path to finding your creative juices without wandering too far off the journey to finding your writing powers.
     With the many exercises she includes within the chapters it makes this 107 page book even more valuable.  I found this journey to writing can also be applied to other arts that the reader may be interested in pursuing.

Pamela Binder, Bay City, MI

  I have loved reading Myth, Magic and Metaphor. Like a mocingbird sucks nectar; it’s been food for my soul fueling my creative process. Thank you for the gift of it.
  There is so much magic in life, and it’s joyful to witness synchronicities dancing many moments of the day. Your book tapped that mythical connected place, and I feel close to you as the author, as if we have had a close conversation for many hours.
  …I completed my BA at UCSD doing a special projects major entitled “Symbol, Ritual and Transformation” that dealt with my near-death experience through fine art. I have taught hundreds of creativity courses in the years following my BA, as well as developing a private practice integrating psychology, creativity and spirituality. (My PhD dissertation was entitled “Art and Soul: Creative Process as Spiritual Path”, I’d like to turn it into a book-sound familiar?) Our teaching philosophy is very similar. Now, after 20 years of supporting other people in their journey, I am taking a year long sabbatical to do my own creative work of writing and painting full time. Yeah! So your book landed into my hands in perfect timing.
  In my daily writing this morning, a rain of tears came down my face when I wrote about aching to share more of myself with the world in my writing and art. Your book encourages me. It was fun to discover through your web site that you are a painter as well…

Lisa Longworth, Director of the Expressive Art Therapy Department
of International University of Professional Studies

   I can fly! Although I purchased this book for my daughter to share with high school students in her English and creative writing classes, I decided to read it myself before sending it. What a great decision! I read it like a novel, thereby receiving the full impact of the encouragement and excitement being created within me as I turned the pages quickly. Before I had completed the book, I was totally inspired with renewed confidence to practice being creative in ALL areas of my life, not just in my writing. I moved things around my home with abandon, made new desserts with a flourish, and even dared to tie a scarf around my neck and go out in public! All of these things were great FUN! I may never write a novel, but this book has surely inspired me to use my creative spirit as I spice up my life. I thank you, Patty Daly-Lipe for that, and I truly believe this must have been the reason you wrote this book!

A reviewer, Bed & Breakfast owner, March 3, 2004,

   I found this book to be a great source to get the creative juices flowing in ones mind. It isn't a 'how to' book. I believe another reviewer simply didn't understand the authors intention. It is a great upper for anyone feeling a lag in creativity when writing.

Ben, A reviewer, March 1, 2004.

  In the Fall, 2004 issue of laJoie Magazine, (laJoie and Company, P. O. Box 145, Batesville, VA 22924 (540)456-6204, publisher Rita Reynolds has written a lovely “Tribute” to me and to my book, Myth, Magic & Metaphor. I am humbled by such praise. She speaks of my having “a strong sense of compassion, intelligence, creativity, and selflessness.” But it is to the readers of my books that the best tribute comes. “…Myth, Magic & Metaphoris one of those little books that is pure treasure, the needed lift when the spirit is weary.” She then quotes from the book: “More than ever, I feel, three aspects of the human psyche need to be developed, namely: imagination, inspiration, and creativity.... For the artist, there is clarity and an order in the beauty of nature. Our participation in and with nature allows us to recognize that fact. The universe is truly both within us and without/outside us. There is nothing new in this world that is not old. All this, the artist observes and records.”
  Thank you Rita for writing “Standing Tall: A Tribute”. For my web readers, please look at Rita’s book,Crossing the Bridge, What Animals Have to Teach Us About Death, Dying and Beyond and check out her web site. Also, I encourage you to look at her son, Tim’s, beautiful art work,portraits of pets:

Patricia Daly-Lipe, author

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