are we still first world?

(no, he's not leaning against a mirror...that's his brother's back)

No one should live a third world life in a first world country.

Chuck Currie

where there's a will....

Lead your life so you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.

Will Rogers

what part of speech would you be?

Why indeed must 'God' be a noun? Why not a verb - the most active and dynamic of all.

Mary Daly

Happy birthday, brother mine!

courage

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Each journey may begin with a single step, but it is a collection of those that takes one to the end of the trail. Consider the possibilities of what the critics have to say because sometimes they hold a partial truth. All the while, hang onto what is true and right.

You'll know it when you see it.

moving forward

Once social change begins it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.

Cesar Chavez

I love this: You cannot uneducate.

When I was teaching high school, kids would ask me why they had to read. I told them that if they could read there was nothing that they couldn't learn to do.

I wonder how many of them believed me. Even one would have been worth it.

indendence: a sinister beginning

Richard Rohr says it so well:

In the biblical tradition, the power on the Right and the power on the Left are symbolized by the kings and the prophets, respectively. There is almost a necessary tension and even opposition between them. There is only one time in all the Hebrew Scriptures that those two ever made friends, and then only barely. That is when David the King accepted the critique of Nathan the prophet, after Nathan accused him of his sinfulness and David had the humility to say that he was correct: “I have sinned against the Lord” (see 2 Samuel 12).

The Right always considers itself the product of rationality, experience and civilization. The people on the Left are always the product of these “silly” people’s movements arising out of high-minded ideology, unbearable injustices, or both. Neither of these currents is totally rational (even the Supreme Court disagrees on what is rational). Movements from the Left are normally not well-planned at the beginning. They are intuitive and come from what is suffered by the little people, who at that point are of no account and have no press or status. Thus they rely on symbols, songs, slogans, and momentary charismatic leaders to get off the ground. Remember when white people laughed at black people for singing, “We Shall Overcome”? Today we can remember those naive English colonists on the East Coast of America who said “No taxation without representation.” The pattern is always the same: “kings” (power) versus “prophets” (truth).

Richard Rohr

Adapted from A Lever and a Place to Stand, pp. 97-98

clouds come and go

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

Mahatma Gandhi

So does the sun. I thought about mowing today. Perhaps tomorrow I will put some legs on that thought.

In the meantime, doing those tasks that I can do from my chair seems like a really good idea.

Have a safe and joyous 4th of July!

alone together

Language...has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone
And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone.

Paul Tillich

We're managing. All four of us. The sweet little girl had a big presence.

She no longer greets me, the first one up, and follows me around until I feed her. She no longer arrives just as I finish my shower and waits for attention--preferably with the brush. She no longer tolerates my cutting her toenails or giving her baths because she just can't keep it up herself.

She showed me herself, tail held high in the full plumage she used to sport, running and playing. She is happy. In her last days, she couldn't lift her tail. She wanted attention and wanted to be fed but could only eat a teaspoon at a time.

Now she is her beautiful self again. And she is happy.

farewell, misi

(honeyboy keeping misi company)

I don't care if you're dead
Jesus is here, and he wants
To resurrect somebody.

Rumi

Misi failed quickly and it became clear that she was in pain and suffering. We made the very hard decision to help her leave.

While we waited for the doctor to come to the house, I told HoneyBoy that it was time to say goodbye to Misi. We sat on the porch and I let HoneyBoy in the house. When we came in, this is what we saw.

So long, Misi. We miss you.

what i've been doing today...

Work is not always required.
There is such a thing as sacred idleness.

George MacDonald

Also known as sabbath. I sometimes sabbath all weekend. This may be one of those.

Happy sacred idleness to you.

i know what these will be

(our baby limes)

We know what we are, but not what we may be.

William Shakespeare

Salad...and chili lime peanuts.

love thursday 06.28.12 ~ "thank you"...two words worth saying repeatedly

(misi having a moment of self-love with her
reflection...like narcissus)

We must find time to stop and thank the people who have made a difference in our lives.

Dan Zadra

Misi has not been feeling well. She is (as posted earlier) 18. She is stiff and skinny and requires medication. She has good days and bad days. Some mornings we don't know whether she will still be breathing when we get up. So far, she always is. Some days she surprises us by coming upstairs on her own and requesting attention.

She is a love. She is sweet. We are glad she is still with us, yet we don't know for how much longer.

Thank you, Misi, for all the joy you have brought to our lives.

And thank you to all of you for continuing to come here and let me know that you enjoy reading / looking at my posts.

Thank you.

two oranges and a lime and ease

The peace that we are looking for is not peace that crumbles as soon as there is difficulty or chaos. Whether we’re seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises. Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.

Pema Chödrön

Those are the two orange boys--now three years old. This is their birthday week. They were each less than one pound when they came home. Now? Mijo is pushing 20 pounds and HoneyBoy is probably 16. So glad they made it through that early illness.

The tree is a kaffir lime. We love the fruit and the leaves for cooking. The leaves we use to make chili lime peanuts. The fruit we use to dress a brussel sprout slaw--my favorite salad.

The quote speaks to the kind of ease I think I am supposed to find this year. Good luck to me....

reflections on ease

I've been thinking about my word for the year: ease. The last couple days, I wondered how I ever agreed to that. As I have mentioned before, my word often does not bring me what I expect..like ease, but brings me opportunities in which I need to find ease--because the situation I find myself in is not easy.

Crap.

Will someone please remind me of this at the end of the year when I am contemplating what comes next? Please?

mijo is a guest in a posh hotel

blackbird is back

truly...love for no reason at all

Everyone loves a good secret.

Thanks, Puanani, for sharing this with me.

from the archives

I've been remiss with blogging lately. I guess I am in another transition. And now, my NEW computer is in the shop. Bummer. Everything is harder on a machine that I am not used to. Bear with me. I'll keep up as best I can. Thanks for continuing to visit.

love thursday 06.21.12 ~ i love this shot

She hasn't been back yet this year. I hope she returns.

is it really summer?

This is an old picture...but it feels like this today. Rainy, dark...damp. Summer doesn't start until July 5th in Oregon. Great....

our souls are connected

When peoples care for you and cry for you, they can straighten out your soul.

Langston Hughes

I've taken a break from input lately. Long ago I stopped reading, listening to, or watching the news. More recently I decided to stop looking at Facebook. I'll probably go back to it some day. Just not now.

I'm feeling a need for connection and what I see there is divisive, derisive, and...frankly, often upsetting. I get enough of that without seeking it out on my community pages.

For the time being if there is something you want me to see or know about, send it to me directly since I won't be seeing the posts.

Time for a little soul straightening, I guess.

a hand to hold

Is there better advice than this: to hold hands? Think about what it means. Packed in there is taking care of each other, feeling connected and maintaining the safety of our kids. We need a hand to hold--metaphorically when we want support and literally when we're crossing the street. Robert Fulghum, of All I really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten fame, includes this nugget of wisdom in an essay: "When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together."

Did you hear about the Iowa couple married for 72 years who died an hour apart? They'd been in a car accident and were in the emergency room. When it was clear their injuries were not improving, they were placed side by side. Guess what they did? They held hands. When they died, they were still holding hands, the husband departing an hour before his wife. After he died, her heartbeat was visible on his heart monitor. Why? Because they were holding hands.

Andy Smallman

reprinted in its entirety from Ode Magazine
read more of Andy's posts at www.odewire.com

the whole family did yard work today

I'm not sure what this chore was...
but he did it faithfully.

happy 18th, misi

words to live by #2

It's time for greatness -- not for greed. It's a time for idealism -- not ideology. It is a time not just for compassionate words, but compassionate action.

Marian Wright Edelman

Every once in a while, it would be nice if we could all hear the same words at the same time, wouldn't it?

I keep struggling with the compassionate action being my first move. I do think about my need to move in that direction--even if it is just an ideal some days.

love thursday 06.14.12 ~ heaven now

“Everything exposed to the light itself becomes light,” says Ephesians 5:13. In prayer, we merely keep returning the divine gaze and we become its reflection, almost in spite of ourselves (2 Corinthians 3:18). The word “prayer” has often been trivialized by making it into a way of getting what we want. But I use “prayer” as the umbrella word for any interior journeys or practices that allow you to experience faith, hope, and love within yourself. It is not a technique for getting things, a pious exercise that somehow makes God happy, or a requirement for entry into heaven. It is much more like practicing heaven now.

Richard Rohr

Happy Love Thursday, everyone. May you pray Heaven now.

smooth move

Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.

Thomas Jefferson

And make sure it is not hot when you do it...

...said she who is minus a few fingerprints, left behind on the grill.

(I'm fine...truly. Just one of those unthinking moves that, fortunately, did not cause lasting pain--just some I-can't-believe-I-did-that reminders.)

mijo and the puppy

This earth is a garden, the Lord its gardener, cherishing all, none neglected.

Sikh blessing

Mijo loves him, too. See how the puppy imitates his BIG brother?

honeyboy grooming puppy

My friend Mary gave me a puppy. (Note to self: Never admire the possessions of someone who is packing to move across the country.) He's the kind I like:

1) Corgi

2) Battery powered

3) Doesn't have to be walked, fed, or potty trained

4) The cats love him

tattoo step two

There is nothing to share. It didn't work. The product is supposed to be kind of like henna only black so it looks like a real tattoo. Now I am going to have to go back to the drawing board...so to speak...to see if I can make it work.

I was so looking forward to surprising you all.

tattoo step one

tattoo day

I'll keep you posted....

:)

love thursday 06.07.12 ~ he truly never met a stranger

Every morning when I wake up, I dedicate myself to helping others to find peace of mind. Then, when I meet people, I think of them as long term friends; I don't regard others as strangers.

HH Dalai Lama

mijo knows the way to peace

(prime real estate)

If there is righteousness in the heart / There will be beauty in character / If there is beauty in character / There will be harmony in the home / When there is harmony in the home / There will be order in the nation / When there is order in the nation / There will be peace in the world.

Sri Sathya sai Baba

sharing...

(guess which one is bigger)

...sort of.

honeyboy germinating the seeds

Mysteriously hidden within each of us are the seeds that can germinate into a new society, a new planet. Like the corn, we have hidden deep within our living process a wisdom that reaches back to all knowledge and beyond all possibilities.... We have the wisdom of the ancestors reaching back to the mighty power of all creation... within us."

Anne Wilson Schaef

mijo flipflops

lily

blooms

love thursday 05.31.12 ~ the proposal

You’re a song...a wished-for song!

Rumi

something to think about

Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities.

Winston Churchill

Maybe we should start before we exhaust all other possibilities.

camouflage in their environment

will

(the original red...after 5 coats)

I do pray for love for my neighbor, even those who commit vile acts against children and other human beings, and it is always a pleasure to witness another receiving well-deserved accolades.

But I have trouble with this part: "Force your will, as far as possible, to comply in all things with others' wishes although sometimes you may lose your own rights by doing so."

To me, allowing others to do violence to us or to abuse us in other ways, even relatively small ways, does no use to the perpetrator or to us.

I taught my children, and I continue to teach my grandchildren, to understand and respect boundaries--theirs, mine, another's. Surehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif, there are times that giving way and giving in are useful and right. Other times, they only seem to perpetuate evil and wrongdoing.

Somehow it seems to me that we cannot fully respect another--and love them--if we have no similar respect and love for ourselves.

I am open to new understanding and suspect I am missing something. Thoughts?

One of my friends posted the above in response to this post. (Thanks for that, by the way. I do get around to things eventually--even if months later!) I didn't want to let this go by without further discussion.

I agree with you. It is important to respect boundaries--yours, mine, and others'. I hope that Teresa's prayer is not just from a place of needing to bow to the will of the patriarchal church and that it does come from a heart of Christian love. I am in no position to judge that.

On the other hand, there are times when it does behoove me to put my own will aside for the greater good. And when that is so...man, it is hard. There is a difference between putting aside one's own will for the greater good and putting it aside to give in to a powerful structure.

Agree...disagree...discuss.

how do you want to be remembered?

I want to be remembered as someone who used herself and anything she could touch to work for justice and freedom ... I want to be remembered as one who tried.

Dorothy Height

snoring or purring?

You decide....

the beauty of pollination

(Thanks for sharing, Mary.)

love thursday 05.24.12 ~ the three faces of mijo...

Life is so very difficult. How can we be anything but kind.

Buddha

...because I love that face and I just can't get enough of it.

the answers...

Humans can't live in the present, like animals do. Humans are always thinking about the future or the past. So it's a veil of tears, man. I don't know anything that's going to benefit me now, except love. I just need an overwhelming amount of love. And a nap. Mostly a nap.

Townes Van Zandt

...to these questions:

1) Better but not good enough.

2) No.

3) Yes.

After looking at the colors in the light (and the dark), we decided that as much as we love the colors and the combination, it just doesn't go with the paint job in the living room. The brightness overwhelms the subtlety of the previous choices, so we're going to go a different direction.

On one hand, it makes me sad because we do so love the colors. On the other hand...I'm just wanting to get this project done. How many coats of paint can you put on one wall? I mean, really?

So send me some love since I don't think a nap is likely.

meet my new best friend...

The sages do not consider that making no mistakes is a blessing. They believe, rather, that the great virtue of man lies in his ability to correct his mistakes and continually make a new man of himself.

Wang Yang-Ming

Chinese Philosopher

Floetrol.


You probably remember my love affair with Frog Tape. Don't get me wrong. That hasn't cooled. I still love Frog Tape. But you know...different strokes for different folks.

Floetrol makes the paint flow. Truly. Frog Tape makes it stop. It's a perfect right hand-left hand thing. And I'm not saying which is which. I guess it depends upon which direction you are facing.

After four coats of red paint (the last one with Floetrol), when the lights are off the paint looks even. Today, I have three questions:

1) What will the coverage look like when I turn the light on?

2) Will one more coat cover it?

3) Do I have enough paint for one more coat?

I've been praying for mercy and hoping that my paint holds out like the oil in the virgins' lamps.

love free or die

All religions, all this singing, is one song.
The differences are just illusion and vanity.
The sun's light looks a little different on this wall than it does on that wall … but it's still one light.

Rumi

Yesterday I saw a movie. Love Free or Die is about Bishop Gene Robinson of the Episcopal church. He was the first openly gay priest to be consecrated into the bishopric.

Gene is an amazing man who lives honestly and transparently. He lives the life of Christ.

And the movie is well done. See it.

what i wish someone had told me...

When painting something red, always paint a green tinted primer first. Always.

Too late.

red badge of courage

Today I am earning my red badge of courage. No, I am not going to war (and this is in no way meant to minimize the sacrifices of those who go to battle, nor to compare myself to them). The phrase seems to fit, though.

I am painting a wall red.

I have never painted a wall red.

Red paint goes on streaky over white paint.

This particular shade of red looks quite...pink--rosy, if you wish to call it that.

Fortunately, I have enough paint for several coats if that is what is required. I knew I would have to paint at least two. From where I sit right now? Maybe more.

I'll let you know when I'm done.

Oy.

finally...someone saying what i've been thinking and saying

When I consider the lack of cooperation in human society, I can only conclude that it stems from ignorance of our interdependent nature. I am often moved by the example of small insects, such as bees. The laws of nature dictate that bees work together in order to survive. As a result, they possess an instinctive sense of social responsibility. They have no constitution, laws, police, religion or moral training, but because of their nature they labor faithfully together. Occasionally they may fight, but in general the whole colony survives on the basis of cooperation. Human beings, on the other hand, have constitutions, vast legal systems and police forces; we have religion, remarkable intelligence and a heart with great capacity to love. But despite our many extraordinary qualities, in actual practice we lag behind those small insects; in some ways, I feel we are poorer than the bees.

HH Dalai Lama

And you know that queen bee? The one at the top whom everyone labors for? If the drones don't love her...they kill her.

In a recent NPR story about bees, the beekeeper talked about introducing a new queen into a hive. In order for her to move in and take over, she has a limited amount of time to create enough pheromones for the hive to "fall in love" with her--literally. If she doesn't succeed, they kill her. It is as simple as that.

Most of us have fallen out of love with the BS from the 1%. We don't buy that taxing them will hurt us. We no longer buy the trickle down line. In fact, the only thing that runs downhill? Yeah...the BS they keep trying to feed us.

People who don't have jobs don't buy stuff. People who don't consume--whether rich (who can't buy enough to make up for the rest of us) or unemployed and poor (who don't have discretionary income and hardly have enough to buy what they need on a day to day basis)--don't create jobs.

Those who believe that taxing the rich will make it worse for them--please, give it up. It is time to create flow. It is time to loosen up. It is time to go back to work. Uncork the bottle. Let the haves loosen their grip. It will benefit them, too. No BS.

love thursday 05.17.12 ~ the greatest of these is love

All through the Verba Seniorum we find a repeated insistence on the primacy of love over everything else in the spiritual life: over knowledge, gnosis, asceticism, contemplation, solitude, prayer. Love in fact is the spiritual life, and without it all the other exercises of the spirit, however lofty, are emptied of content and become mere illusions. The more lofty they are, the more dangerous the illusion.

Thomas Merton

If we spend one moment every day trying to love someone or something, we have chosen the better path.

If we practice loving rather than judging, criticizing, hating, mocking, despising, or looking on with condescension, we have chosen the better path.

It doesn't matter how rich, beautiful, smart, funny, thin, fat, tall, short, stylish, tan, coiffed, shaved, or made up we are if we don't have love. Period.

Anything that is not about the practice of love is dangerous. [See above.]

truth-telling 101

Honesty without kindness, humor, and goodheartedness can be just mean. From the very beginning to the very end, pointing to our own hearts to discover what is true isn’t just a matter of honesty but also of compassion and respect for what we see.

Pema Chodron

I love this. Of course, it is important to be honest. However, telling the truth at the expense of someone else's feelings and well-being is just plain not necessary. I remember Master Choa (Pranic Healing teacher) saying, "If the choice is between truth and kindness, choose kindness."

I get the point. I have been guilty of point blank brutal honesty. It is not all it is cracked up to be. I have hurt others with my honest opinions. As a practice, kindness and compassion go a lot further than "just telling the truth."

Consider. Consider the other.

infinite

I opened my hand and the Infinite ran to the edges of space – and all possibilities are contained therein, all possibilities, even sorrow. In the end, nothing that ever caused one pain will exist. No one will begrudge Me. The Absolute Innocence of all within my Creation takes a while to understand.

St. Catherine of Siena

from “No One Will Begrudge Me”

our company while dining on the front porch

Slowly the land reveals itself
To us.

We learn to recognize
The difference between
Killing time
And resting.

Linford Detweiler

is right the same for everyone?

You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

Rosa Parks

One of my Facebook friends and former student "hosted" a conversation today about the righteous beliefs of certain individuals effecting behaviors that cause harm to others. He is a licensed minister himself, yet he has come to a place in his search where he is no longer able to embrace the evangelical path he once followed. He shared deeply and honestly about his beliefs and his questions. I honor and applaud him for that.

A passionate discussion ensued. What amazes me is how "right" the believers think they are. The host quite honestly said, "I don't know. Maybe you're right. Maybe not. But I don't believe that is the Truth." His gentleness and sincerity endeared him to me.

All I could add to the discussion is this: "I think when it is time to meet 'the maker' we will be surprised at what is considered sin. EVERY ONE of us will be surprised about something." I'd even go so far as to say that what is "right" for one person is "sin" for another in some situations.

It all comes down to Love, doesn't it? That's always right.

my three greatest thrills of the day

1) I got a new mop. You've already heard my housecleaning status. I got a mop on day two. It broke before I could finish the whole house. I took it back. Today, I got a new wet/dry dust mop. I even swept again.

2) I found the GFCI in the garage. Two outlets stopped working--suddenly...mysteriously. I looked everywhere. I consulted my friend. I consulted the Internet. The consensus seemed to be that a GFCI had been tripped. No GFCI existed that I could find--at least, not one that was in any way connected to the outlets that stopped working. Then I remembered that the builder had given us pictures of the house under construction so we could see how wiring and plumbing had been done. Not only did I remember that we had the pictures, but SO found them! One picture in the garage showed a potential outlet not otherwise in evidence. I counted the studs from the door to the outlet in the picture, multiplied by 16, measured that many inches along the wall, and moved the boxes that were on the shelves...in front of the GFCI...that had been tripped. I pushed the button. The outlets now work. I didn't have to call an electrician after all.

3) I caught the shrew that HoneyBoy brought in the house. We came home from dinner and HoneyBoy stared intently at a spot between a chair and lamp. SO said, "Oh oh." And rightly so. I moved the chair. The shrew made a break. I got a rag from the kitchen and came back to the spot. Neither HoneyBoy nor I could find the little bugger. I moved the lamp. The shrew ran and HoneyBoy followed. He made a u-turn and came toward me. When he was within reach, I threw the rag over him. Got him. Then I threw him out. Threw the cat out, too.

drunk on beloved

Every question I ask is about you,
Every step I take is toward you.
I slept well last night
but I woke up drunk.
I must have dreamt about you.

Rumi

Happy Friday! May you be drunk on the love of the Beloved.

love thursday 05.10.12 ~ perfect love

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

1 John 4:18

That, my friends, is my sermon for the day. To live by those words is quite another story. I think of the current state of the union and how divided we are--politically, economically, racially, and by gender and orientation. How did we get here?

May we all reach perfection in Love. True Love.

(Cleaning update: Day three...only the master bath left to clean. YES!)

cleaning day 2

The sequel.

I bought a mop. Getting up and down from the floor...being on my hands and knees on the hardwood and tile...ouch. The ancient mop we have is a sponge mop and it just doesn't do the job. It streaks the floors. In keeping with our non-toxic cleaning theme, I got a microfiber mop.

I love cleaning with microfiber.

Wait...let me rephrase that. If I have to clean...microfiber is the way to go. Water and microfiber. Period.

I'm not sure I will finish the job today. It depends on my stamina and whether I choose to work into the evening. It's never taken me 3 days to clean the house before. I can't even remember when it has taken me two day. But then, I've never been this close to 60 and never had three bathrooms and three cats when I was the one responsible for all the cleaning.

So...it is what it is. If it takes me three days, so be it.

Master bath, closet, and bedroom and hall bath left to do. I'll keep you posted.

cleaning day

Today I am cleaning house. I'm trying to break the suction that keeps me stuck somewhere between "what's the use?" and "I don't care." I get up and move. I do the little things that stare at me:

fold a pile of laundry that has been waiting for days

move the holder for the outside temperature gauge because we continue to bump it where it is and the sensor falls on cement

change a litter box

start by washing the floor in the laundry room where Misi pees outside the box--oh yes, we are a creative household here

feed the squirrels

take the magazines to the recycle bin

sit a spell

get up and start the next room

I am taking it a room at a time. I will get as far as I get today. Maybe just downstairs--or part of downstairs. Maybe I'll even start upstairs. Maybe not. One. Room. At. A. Time.

That is good enough. The flow may be interrupted, yet it is better than no flow at all.

Maybe I will even go outside and sit in the sun. I hear it calling me....

spirit

As one's fortunes are reduced, one's spirit must expand to fill the void.

Winston Churchill

Sometimes, I'd like a little less opportunity to expand spirit to fill the void.

planting the garden

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.

George Washington Carver

Potatoes, brussel sprouts, cilantro, zucchini--probably something else I am not remembering. All in the ground today.

Lawn mowed.

That's the nature broadcast to me today.

like a cat

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has not choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Franz Kafka

My friend who sent this wondered if that is what my cats are doing when they are at my feet--rolling in ecstasy. I think yes. Especially, Mijo who rolls at my feet every morning while I am doing my ablutions, waiting for me to brush him.

It works.

banana so far this year

love thursday 05.03.12 ~ ease

God always entices us through love.

Richard Rohr

I'm still thinking about ease. Being in the Beloved is ease. How quickly I forget. How I love being reminded in all ways, big and small.

I can't say that I am entirely uncranky yet. This patch of attitude still needs some weeding, yet the fruit still grows. Truth is, I am enticed by love. I keep returning to that flow and wanting to walk in it--swim in it daily.

Sigh. Some days I float downstream. Other days, I just can't overcome the upstream current. I am remembering that it is the same for others. At least for today, I remember.

rich life of ease

We've forgotten that a rich life consists fundamentally of serving others, trying to leave the world a little better than you found it. We need the courage to question the powers that be, the courage to be impatient with evil and patient with people, the courage to fight for social justice. In many instances we will be stepping out on nothing, and just hoping to land on something. But that's the struggle. To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word.

Cornel West

from The Impossible Will Take a Little While

On a day when I am frustrated by the things I'm not getting accomplished, the problems that are beyond my control to solve, the people who are oblivious to the rest of us moving through the same place and time with them, it is good to remember that serving others and improving the planet are always in my realm of choice.

I keep forgetting that this year's word is ease. Many parts have not and do not seem easy at all. Yet, I have learned from this process in years past that the path is not always one defined by the key word. The path usually challenges me to find my word in the midst of...something else.

Finding ease in the midst of frustration, confusion, struggle, and despair--that's my challenge this year. May you find ease in the middle of it all.

here's to dreams...and to mothers

But my mother never laughed at my dreams. She would say, “If you really want something, if you work hard, if you take advantage of opportunity and if you never give up, you will find a way.” See, how lucky I was. I’m now working so much with young people because I could kill myself trying to save chimps and forests, but if we’re not raising new generations to be better stewards than we’ve been, then we might as well give up. So I can go to kids living in poverty in Tanzania or the inner-city Bronx, and tell them my story, and say, “Follow your dreams.” And they write to me and say, “You taught us that because you did it, I can do it, too.” And that is just right.

Jane Goodall

Thanks, Mom.

homeopathy

Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it a poison or a remedy.

Paracelsus

HoneyBoy is recovering well from his amputation. It's been less than a year and I think that an event so big takes a long time to heal. Just after the accident and surgery, I asked my naturopath what homeopathic remedies I might give HoneyBoy to help manage his pain. The vet prescribed pain killers, of course, and I wanted to do whatever I could to assist HoneyBoy's healing and comfort--especially once the vet deemed that narcotics were no longer in order.

With amputation, phantom limb pain is always a possibility. Of course, we don't know what he is feeling for sure, but there are times HoneyBoy just acts like he is in pain. He doesn't purr much. His nose turns white. He isolates. He just seems off. When he starts behaving in these ways, we know it is time to give him a dose of homeopathics.

If you've ever medicated a cat, you know that getting the medicine in his mouth can be a challenge. One person with two hands is sometimes not enough. However, when HoneyBoy sees one of us coming with the dropper, he gets excited. He opens his mouth and licks his lips in anticipation. Okay...he doesn't really open his mouth, but he does hold still and doesn't pull away. I can give him his dose by squirting the liquid in the corner of his mouth. Once he has swallowed it, he frequently wants to lick the dropper. And then, within minutes, his nose pinks up and he is ready to tear around the house--chasing his brother and generally acting like alpha cat again.

It's not the taste that makes him want the meds. Basically, it tastes like water. He knows relief is coming. That's the only explanation that makes sense.

Clearly, he feels better. Is placebo effect possible in a cat? First of all...I don't think so. And second...who cares? If it works. it works. I don't really care how.

things i am doing (will do) to improve the world now

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

Anne Frank

• keep my mouth shut
• speak up
• tell the truth
• do my share
• continue to learn to love for no reason at all
• be responsible
• blame accurately
• compost
• recycle
• suit up and show up

You?

slow jam

don't it make you want to go home?

We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home.

Australian Aboriginal Proverb

Sometimes it feels like I have been here so long, I've forgotten what home is like.

Tell me. What do you remember?

love thursday 04.26.12 ~ carry on

In everyone there is the capacity to wake up, to understand, and to love.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The stars and planets have been messing with me. Having so much water in my natal chart, I feel the forces shifting even when I don't know what is happening with my conscious mind.

Mars, the planet of "war," busies itself crossing everyone and everything in its path these days. Needless to say, I've been noticing the conflict cross my path moment by moment today.

I pray that I wake up more in Love and not in War.

because we haven't had enough dolly lately

When I'm inspired, I get excited because I can't wait to see what I'll come up with next!!

Dolly

Wouldn't it be a kick to sit and have tea with her? How can one person come up with so many pithy statements?

Another one I read the other day from Dolly: "I will never be like Meryl Streep...but then she will never be like Dolly." Ain't that the truth?

Wonderful, beautiful, original women--both of them. And talented and...the list goes on.

Speaking of women...did you hear that Tennessee has voted in both the Senate (28-2) and House (80-18) to make miscarriage murder? I wonder how many women are in those legislative bodies. I would guess that not more than 2 senators and not more than 18 members of the house are women. As I understand it, this bill is not limited to situations like violent attacks causing miscarriage so that the attacker can then be charged with murder. It covers any act that might be deemed contributing to miscarriage. According to whom, I wonder?

I think Dolly should run for President and Meryl should be her VP. Maybe things would change for the better...for a change.

(Have you ever noticed how many questions I ask? Must be the Socratic method.)

you know...she has a point

You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories.just change their height and hair color. No one ever once has recognized him or herself in my fiction. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better.

Anne Lamott

what i did this weekend

I rearranged under the kitchen sink, serviced the water filter, and installed an instant hot water dispenser. It will make life much easier to have it.

The black box is the instant hot. In order to get everything to fit, I removed a space consuming shelf from the back of the cupboard. That exposed a couple of pipes with big holes around them, so I filled the holes with foam insulation.

When I removed the shelf, the conduit--which was already in the way--was even more in the way. I moved the connection from the bottom of the switch box to the top and ran the conduit/wire from the top along the front of the cabinet to where it drops down to the garbage disposal.

I also acquired and learned to use a copper tubing cutter. I love tools. I especially love cool tools that are not very expensive that make a job infinitely more doable. So now I have the job done, a new tool, and a new skill.

When we rise in the morning and listen to the radio or read the newspaper, we are confronted with the same sad news: violence, crime, wars, and disasters. I cannot recall a single day without a report of something terrible happening somewhere. Even in these modern times it is clear that one's precious life is not safe. No former generation has had to experience so much bad news as we face today; this constant awareness of fear and tension should make any sensitive and compassionate person question seriously the progress of our modern world.

HH Dalai Lama

Just thought I would share some good news.

the future

Pacifist soldiers:

I will not carry a gun, Frank. When I got thrown into this war I had a clear understanding with the Pentagon: no guns. I'll carry your books, I'll carry a torch, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash and carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I'll even 'hari-kari' if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun!

Hawkeye

M*A*S*H

i'm here to tell you...it does exist

i have an idea... #2

Instead of charging 6th graders $100 to participate in school sports, how about professional teams (you know, the ones that make millions and pay the players large sums of money) fund school sports across the board. After all...aren't they the feeder programs?

love thursday 04.19.12 ~ it could be you

Do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.

Zechariah 7:10

You never know when the other shoe is going to drop. You never know when you will be the one in pain--in need. You never know when you will be the one required to rely on the kindness of strangers.

Even if you have everything you need and a big fat offshore bank account to boot, you never know when you might become one of the least of these. Some of us are not very far from that at the moment ourselves.

You never know.

Listen to your mother...be nice.

note to self: open wide your heart

There is no need to go searching for a remedy for the evils of the time. The remedy already exists – it is the gift of one’s self to those who have fallen so low that even hope fails them. Open wide your heart.

Rene Bazin

Love for no reason at all has escaped me lately. Today drivers, servers, pedestrians--everyone was a bit spacey.

When I took the right away (and it was mine) other drivers honked at me. Really? Yeah. Really.

What...is...up?

I have to go back to opening my heart...for all reasons and none at all.

Yeah. I do.

and god said...

"If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be."

Deuteronomy 15:7-8

And that seems to be something that was said in a variety of ways in both the OLD and NEW testaments. Lest there be any confusion.

how am i affecting the world today?

(someone turn off the light...)

We are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we are so deeply interconnected with one another. Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being Love is the supreme creative act.

Ram Dass

Even my kitties are affecting the world every moment. In a good way...a very good way.

good to know i'm getting it right

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.

Lao Tzu

live everything now

(strawberries liked the greenhouse, too)

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke

we have met the enemy and he is us

(first shoots of the season)

That immigrant culture that has renewed us … has been at the core of our strength. I don’t know when immigrants became the enemy.

Condoleezza Rice

former Secretary of State
speaking at Duke University

I've wondered about this for some time. Unless one is Native American, we are all immigrants or from immigrant stock. Some of our ancestors came willingly. Some did not. It is likely that Condoleezza's did not.

Some came legally. Some did not.

Perhaps I would feel different if I lived nearer a border. Perhaps not.

What's true is that we need reform--of laws, procedures, and most of all...attitudes. The attitude adjustment is needed across the board, no doubt...on both sides of the border.

love thursday 04.12.12 ~ love is just common sense

(see how much banana has grown?)

Love, compassion and concern for others are real sources of happiness. If you have these in abundance, you will not be disturbed even by the most uncomfortable circumstances. If you nurse hatred, however, you will not be happy even in the lap of luxury. Thus, if we really want happiness, we must widen the sphere of love. This is both religious thinking and basic common sense.

Dalai Lama

I'd like to sit down and have a beer with HHDL...and John Lennon...and Jesus. They got it. I'd like to be with people who get it for a while.

Happy Love Thursday. You all get it, too.

how may i serve?

Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.

Rachel Naomi Remen

A Time for Listening and Caring

I love to help--especially if it is something I am good at or it involves learning something new.

Fixing gives me great satisfaction. You will have noticed that in all the reports I make on this blog. And being a homeowner, I always have something I can fix.

I believe she is right about service. It comes from a different place. My inner experience is very different from either of the other two. Service expands us both--the server and the served--and lifts the experience to sacred.

How may I serve? How may I serve you?

another truth quote

Sometimes we tell the truth because we just can't help ourselves. Sometimes we tell the truth because the truth is all we have to give. And sometimes, we tell the truth because we owe the other person at least that much.

Author Unknown

full menu

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

Bishop Desmond Tutu

YES!

happy easter

(my new boots after the 1st mow of the year)

Nothing is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of pleasures, costs nothing, and conveys much.

Erastus Wiman

A good religion for any of us.

caution: more than one swear word in this post i call "good friday confession" (and i'm not even catholic)...true story

(remember i said the fire and water
in my chart make steam? well....)

Friday afternoon at Office Max, I stood in line at the cashier. He attended to the customer ahead of me, but there was a lull after he called for help from someone on the floor. The printer cartridges in my basket qualified me for free batteries and I didn't know where to find them. I took advantage of the lull in their transaction to ask. He told me where to look--literally 5 steps from where I was standing.

I set my basket by the register and walked to the battery display. While I was procuring the batteries, two more people joined the line to pay--an older man and then a woman. The man who came after me scooted up so close to the register that I had to squeeze by him, excusing myself as I went, to return to my basket.

Since four people now stood in line, the existing cashier called for another to come check. When cashier number two arrived, he said, "I can help the next person in line." The first cashier said, "And that would be her," pointing at me. So I raised my basket and turned to go around to the other counter where the two cashiers now stood back to back.

As I did so, the male customer bumped into me, pushing past to be next. Did I mention he was behind me? I wasn't looking at him as I moved. The man growled something at me, implying that I was out of line (pun intended). My limbic brain kicked. Fight popped up--not flight. "He told me to go!" My voice probably registered as yelling to some observers in the area. Again the man grumbled.

"Be a cranky old man! I don't give a shit!" Oh, yes. I said that.

"Nice talk. What are you? A nun?" cranky man asked. Apparently, it is worse for a woman to say "shit" to a man's face than it is for a man to body-block a woman to get ahead of her in line.

"As a matter of fact, I am!" I retorted, putting my ink and batteries on the counter--ahead of him.

"It figures." He stood there for a second then dropped his would-be purchases on the counter at the next empty check stand, stomped out of the store, and drove off in his white sedan.

"What an asshole..." in not quite a stage whisper and still mad, I had my last word. Oh, yes. I did.

At the completion of my transaction, the first cashier turned to me and said, "He was cranky. He almost ran me over in the parking lot."

I apologized for my behavior. Cashier number two said, "No. You're good. You didn't hit anybody. It's okay." (That's true. I didn't...this time...but that's another story.)

Even before I left the store, I started wondering what was going on for that man. He could have been in grief or pain. He could have been in a hurry for myriad reasons. He could have just been a personality disordered asshole. I don't know. It doesn't matter. The interaction happened. I swore in his direction. I got angry--and yes, he behaved badly. At that moment, I didn't love him for no reason at all. So, I prayed for him and sent him blessings.

If you watched Brené's TED talk that I posted a few days ago, you will note that her Texas family's motto is "Lock and Load." It's probably a good thing I don't own a gun. I want to be a pacifist. I am not.

But I can continue on my quest for love--with or without reason.

time for a new story

Everywhere I go — from villages outside Kandy, Sri Lanka, to community centers in Amman, Jordan, to offices at the State Department in Washington, D.C. — I find people with a similar story. When thousands of people discover that their story is also someone else's story, they have the chance to write a new story together.

Eboo Patel

love thursday 04.05.12 ~ i love spa day with mary

Love is creative. It does not flow along the easy paths, spending itself in the attractive. It cuts new channels, goes where it is needed.

Evelyn Underhill

forward

So let us go forward quietly, each on his own path, forever making for the light.

Vincent Van Gogh

I've always loved Vincent Van Gogh's story and his work. Yes, he was a tortured soul, but what a spirit.

And I had the opportunity to see his work at the Art Institute in Chicago during my one visit there. Breathtaking. It's alive. Prints do NOT do it justice.

post birthday

Just remember, there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything and the wrong way is to keep trying to make everybody else do it the right way.

M*A*S*H, Colonel Potter

For my birthday, I was well celebrated. It was the first nice day of spring and I actually got to go topless on my way home from work. (Doesn't that just burn your eyes?)

I think I will just keep celebrating as long as someone is willing to celebrate with me. I think I am lined up through the weekend.

time for everything

(the pillow was there. it was in his way. so he sat while he ate.)

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven... a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 5-8

This is one of my favorite passages. It covers the middle way. It's not about always being in the middle but finding the middle through the averages.

Wisdom arrives when we know which is which.

Every time I read this passage, I hear this song (which I also love):

And now, I have an ear worm.

i like how this woman thinks