Fairy Tale Peace, llvl

Oh, the forests are really mysterious here. Not in a creepy way, just mossy and green and beautiful, with big stones and fallen trees. It’s easy to imagine that the little people dwell amongst the rocks and roots. And there are lots of animals. We were just out at Kjell and Lorraine’s cottage, and in the surrounding forests there are elk, deer, foxes, and a rumored wolf or two. Birds for days. Pheasants and swallows and gulls. Across the way from where we swim is an island that an osprey has claimed and the county has acquiesced. “OK, that bunch of rocks is yours. No one can fish there!”

And the clear lakes are so beautiful. They’re connected to one another by canals so you could take your row boat or kayak or little motorboat all the way from here to Stockholm, but why would you, when it’s so beautiful here?

Lorraine fretted that we wouldn’t find a good place to go into the lake, after we waded through the grass to get to the edge, but there it was a little dip just big enough for three or four to sit with easy entry into the lake. Fifteen feet out and you’re floating and you can see your feet if you hang straight down, but not past that, and really, who wants to know? It was a little rocky to sit, so we scrounged around for little canvas stools to take (Lorraine has EVERYTHING squirreled away in her studio out there). Kjell decided it needed a permanent solution, so he “just knocked together” a beautiful bench to stand… They’ll be swimming there all summer…

But, fairy tales, isn’t that where we started? Sitting on the porch, looking at the woods (because we did a lot of that), I thought about how scary fairy tales are. We talked a little about that. What were they teaching? Was it that everything came out well in the end? Was it that you really should listen when your parents say, don’t do that because they can go so horribly astray?

But then I thought, ever the Pollyanna, despite Barbara Erenriech’s new “Bright-Siding,” that I’m slogging my way through, scaring myself at every turn. (Oh, don’t you hate to see where you’re shallow and oh, go ahead, wrong?)… I thought well, if things are so mucked about in the middle of fairy tales, but eventually get figured out, can’t we be the ones who figure things out?

And of course, can’t we be ones who figure things out without killing off folk? Because of course in fairy tales there’s only one bad guy/gal and you kill them and you’re all fixed… but when you’re working toward Peace, killing is a bit beside the point…

Lots of thoughts and all a fair distance from where there were first just the wee folk peering out at us. I’ll think again in a bit… it’s time to go out and walk around!

Mixed Up, Tongue-tied Peace, llvl

Oh, there are those days when you have no ideas where you are in the world when you travel like this. And it’s not just where you are, it’s what language (if any) you’re speaking. For me, my fluency in Swedish rises and falls as I’m here. Sometimes I can’t get the 10,000 (ok an extra 3) vowels right. All just slightly off American pronunciations and use the wrong one, not only does the word change meaning, you can look a little cray-cray. “huh?”

Some days I have no language at all, not a word to be found in either Swedish or English and don’t even think about French. And other days the language is all mixed up — an odd mixture of swinglish roots, prefixes and suffixes, nouns and verbs and adjectives… oh the adjectives are almost always in the wrong language.

Luckily, my friends, one American Swede and one Swede, are pretty good this… they’ve both had the same experience. And of course, Swedes, even those not American born, speak English fluently. Many Swedes want to speak English and get some practice in — never mind that they get to watch English and American TV. (And let’s not even mention the 6 year old with a Swedish mother and English dad attending school in Copenhagen and speaking all three languages fluently!) So I bump along. Sometimes I feel like someone’s very cute pet goat: look what I can do: Speak, Ann! (give me more cake, please! Let’s go swimming!)

But it is exactly in that laughing stew that the willingness to understand and be understood exists. It is in that hunger for friendship and acceptance of differences that Peace is born. We’ve all loved one another a long time. I’d like to think others of us could learn to Love in that same stew. Come on in, the Peace Stew’s here for everyone… Waking up to the need. Developing the hunger. Stepping up to the challenge… doing the Work. Peace.

Peace Wabbits. Well, Hares, llvl

You forget how big hares are, when they’re just a word you’re using. But as we were sitting there watching the evening slowly, slowly die, one of them came crashing through the underbrush to take a look at us before loping down the path to the road.

“Hmph,” you could practically see him think as he had to detour around the car. What are they doing here again?

And then twenty yards from the deck where we sat watching, the sun slowly gave up its struggle to shine through the woods. Then it was dusk and it was pretty easy to imagine that you might see the animals that truly do live there. But this day there were no elk or deer, just the ghost memories of them.

It made you consider as we sat in this little Paradise, what the animals might be thinking if they were the sort to do that. How they might fret and grumble about what humans are doing to their world. And it must be said, that in this place, at this cabin, very little, life is lived according to Nature, there’s very little other than our quiet presence to disturb it…

But so many things are threatened. And it seems that people need to push at the edges. There’s an osprey off on an island, and they’ve reserved that island to him. but if you don’t think people need to park their fishing boat right at the very boundary of the forbidden…

Now when life is so slow, it’s easier to hear Mother Earth inhale and exhale; easier to see her beauty; easier to worry about the ways we degrade her.

I wonder why I live so far from Nature when I’m back at my home? And those hares? They’re HUGE! You had to think about Monty Python.

Sounds of Peace, llvl

The joy of being with people you know is not having to talk — or talking when you want to, about whatever you choose. Present time, past times… whatever…

But the silence… I love to live — for a while, at least — in the midst of Nature’s grand silence. To sit long enough that the silence becomes filled with the Earth’s own movements and that of her creatures.

If you’re reading this, you know me, or you’re coming to know me. I am not an outside kinda girl. I live very happily celebrating nature from outside my window or alongside a creek. But don’t ask me to make big excursions in the out-of-doors! I must be a throwback to an earlier genetic mass, because everyone in my family likes to be out in the middle of it. Me? not so much!

But sitting on my friends’ porch, up at their little piece of loveliness in the woods is heaven (especially because i can recharge my e-book! What a great thing that reader is, last time I came on this vacation, I had to carry books. I’m a very fast reader. There were never enough. Now, just one tiny, little device.). The outside toilet and I made peace a long time ago.

I’m captivated by what looks like much of Sweden’s populations ability to sit still. Certainly, there are people lots of places with cell phones. But there are a lot of people without, who are just being. sitting, watching, appreciating. And who then hoist themselves out of their chairs to pack up some sandwiches and thermoses and go down to the lake to bob and float and swim.

It’s really pretty close to heaven and feels a lot like Peace. It’s good to have some familiarity with it, if you’re going to campaign for it.

The Peace of Deep Friendship, llvl

There is no greater joy, I think, than to have fast friends. People who know us. I love making new friends. But oh, those friends who understand where we’ve come from and how we got to where we are today.

I love those instantaneous “oh, I like you” relationships. But I really love those friendships that you grow into and grow in. The ones that just keep spiraling deeper. The ones that aren’t dependent on constantly shared lives but which sweeten on shared understandings.

Being here in these friendships is like swimming in beloved waters. You simply soak them in, gratitude for being alive fills each moment. It’s as if your ability to be present is sharply magnified and you are who you are.

Such friendships call you to account and give you space to reflect.

Such friendships remind you when you miss the mark but offer you the opportunity to try again.

If I have a creation myth, it is about being called into relationship with the Divine. Nothing more sacred than friendship… Oh, we give thanks, for this precious day…

I’ve been singing that a lot recently. Sweet Deep Peace in the rising and falling of conversations with friends.

Island Paradise Peace, llvl

I don’t think there’s any way around this. I think the Swedes are better at being still and in the moment than we are. It could be just me, but many of us, even on vacation are good at just sitting, delighting in the moment. The countryside is beautiful, but there’s beauty everywhere. I’d match my Central Susquehanna’s beauty against beauty anywhere.

One of the things I’ve recognized since I’ve been here is that I occasionally grab Paradise when I meet it. I sat and the stream with Emily and watched the world go by. I floated on the river on my Brother- and Sister-in-law’s boat when my friends came.

And maybe it was just because I’m here that people have taken more time to sit and admire the harbor or the forests, but I don’t think so. They’re on vacation. They’re out in Nature enjoying it. Not necessarily doing something, just being there. Passing around the slightly flavored water and sipping it slowly.

One afternoon, while visiting a sister and her beau, whose daughter and granddaughter were visiting as well, we all piled in the boat and boated around the island. Margita and the 6 year old pulled mackerel lines behind, once we got out on the ocean side of the island. Sophie, the daughter cut their heads off. Björn grilled the fish and we ate them for dinner 3 hours later. Paradise. The sight and taste of the sea. Sweet companionship. A quick stop for a dessert cheese which provided late-afternoon ice creams to tide us over to dinner.

And then the next morning, getting up and packing and then making the time to go down and slip into the sea, there just to bob around like so much flotsam, or is it jetsam, I always forget.

Paradise is here. It’s meant to be enjoyed. It’s meant to be shared. Peace, sweet Peace is in the still, sweet moments in between… (and it’s also, if you get the chance, to be found on islands off the coast of wherever you are. Or in the forests, or the mountains, or the deserts. Just sit and look at Mother Earth. Nature is there to be appreciated. Families are there to be made. Blessings are to be counted. Connections are waiting to slip into place!

Slightly Connected Peace, llvl

It’s so sweet having good friends scattered over this country. There is much to be grateful to the Rotary Exchange Program for!

It’s always seemed weird that these separate little worlds don’t know one another. Well, my friend Lorraine knows everyone, because either we lived in the same town for a while, or people have come through Kristinehamn (K-hamn) and stopped to see me at Lorraine’s house. Altogether, it’s a pretty fine thing.

But this week, there was a little breakdown. Margita, in whose house I lived in K-hamn when I was here, came to Fjällbacka to pick me up at Margareta’s summer home. They’d never met before. Marg had lived at my family’s when my brother was an exchange student in Mönsterås in 1967-68. So there were Marg and her daughter Katarina and her boyfriend Mikke. (We were all sort of collapsed in heat after the cake party for Marg’s name day. Yep, gotta celebrate not just your birthday, but your name day as well. More cake. And this was right in the middle of — don’t you love this — housewife week, when one often has cake parties. But hey, it’s cake. I can slide right over the political correctness!)

But Margita came and we went and got pizzas and clambered aboard Marg’s boat and whisked ourselves out to an island in the middle of this rocky bay. Oh, the water was amazing, cool and refreshing. Nothing like the time i was there with my parents and the water was well… frrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeezing comes to mind! But Betty went in, so we all did, squealing all the way!

Ah, it was nice to have those edges meet. so sweet, so sweet. sisters of my heart. Marg’s very clear about being my “big” sister, because she has me by a year. And since I’m, shall we say, down one big sister, i’ll take it! Sweet, wonderful crazy time.

Worlds colliding and enjoying one another. Isn’t that what we have to learn to do? To sit at one another’s house and eat cake and on one another’s boat and eat pizza and to laugh, to laugh, to laugh. If the Rotary know this… shouldn’t everyone! This isn’t a secret to keep, this is a sacred truth to shout aloud!

Joy, Joy, Peace, Peace, llvl

I believe it’s important to live into Beauty and Love when given the opportunity. And I believe it’s important to make the opportunities. What a delight to be living that out. Almost moment by moment. It’s so rare for me to be here, that I’m working very hard to experience every moment. I’m working — or not working — to know Peace from the inside.

I’m not silly enough to think that I must know personal Peace to work for global Peace. But I am smart enough to revel in what’s here. To notice. To rejoice. Those are important, don’t you think? I’m so privileged to be living back into these friendships and this beautiful country.

To be in the sea is such a delight for me… It’s full of memories and pleasure and so much joy. It buoys my heart as well as my body. And to share that with friends, friends who belong in different lives… the joy deepens!

There we were, dashing about cleaning up the house and making and assembling cakes. Four people; four cakes. New marketing idea for USA: cake bottoms! I was charged with the meringue whipped cream fruit cake. stacking, I can do it! Lovely, lovely, lovely!

And now, it’s time to pack away these beautiful thoughts and move on to the next, oh, my goodness, wonderful island. My soul continues to expand.

And at the same time, I think of the places and the people whose lives are not filled with expansion. I hold my friend Sonia in my heart, whose family still lives in Palestine and who is building a house there. Whatever the problems, bombs are not the answer, not, not, not. We must do better…

And those of us who live in Peace must pay attention and be grateful. We’ve got to help Love to conquer Fear. We are the ones the world has been waiting for… Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me. and you. Peaceful Prayers be with you, my friends.

Sabbath Seal Peace, llvl

Well, it doesn’t get much more local than yesterday. It was hard not to be present to every seemingly perfect moment. The day before was the day of seeing the seals. They were hilarious. Look, the neighbors dropped by! And there they were in a big-eyed smiling circle, just hanging out…

Marg, my first Swedish sister, who lived at my house when my brother was an exchange student, took me out for our daily constitutional, hup, hup. We ended that with a plop into the sea. It’s gorgeous on the coast, but there’s not a lot of shade because it gets scoured by winter storms. So the water felt wonderfully refreshing. Silly Swedes were saying, oh, how warm (70˚!)… i was gasping a bit, but really… it was so clean and clear AND it was warm enough to discourage man o war jellyfish from the day before. yikes.

I need to fasten this ability to stop daily life and be present to the moment in my brain. it’s good to do this now and again. look at this. look at that. look at this. oh, taste this. summer, summer, summer. sea, wind, water, sun. and love! 45 whole years of it.

Tomorrow I move on, and I’m both sad and excited. This time is so worth the work and the wait and the resources required. I tried to think yesterday… didn’t work to well. Love will keep growing if you just pay attention. Connections will be woven.

Today is Sunday and there’s a cake party underway. two cakes being baked. I’ve been assigned to assemble the meringue torte… under strict instructions. but what the heck. meringue, raspberries, blueberries, whipped cream. for that, I’ll follow anyone’s direction, do it just the way they want.

Yesterday was a tired day. couldn’t remember how to walk or speak swedish or do anything, so i stuck to doing the dishes and folding up the wash.

We finished the evening sitting on the patio until it finally got dark at about 11:30 (sun went down at about 10:10!). Two of Marg’s friends dropped by and there was a lot of laughter and tales of days gone by. Life is for the Living. the Sabbath is for the noticing. (I’ll be noticing the four cakes!) and for the reflecting as I pack down my suitcase for the next time… Heaven has been spotted many times. The bad news is that there are 4 inch slugs in Paradise. and i stepped on one… urgh. Peace. Gratitude. Beauty. Wonder. Love. ahhhhhhhhhh. Keeping the sacred in the sabbatical.

Variations on Peace, llvl

It’s all well and good for me to appreciate the glories of my local life, whether at home or at my friends’ homes. It is good to appreciate. But at the same time, I think, you hold the tension of life where things are not going well… There are always horrifying things, but today there seem to be so many.

With a dear friend, living with AIDS for 23 years now, I’m aware of the huge scientific loss of the Malaysia flight in addition to the humanitarian loss. What, you wonder, would make people think this violent act was a good idea? And then list all the other places in the world where people suffer horrendously for other people’s greed…

I’m grateful to know that a sister UU church is standing up and saying No to the hatred in Texas — And I’m sure there are plenty of other churches along side them… but horrified there are churches standing together on the other side of the street, that the welcome being extended is a counter protest.

So, when life is breathtaking in a little village in Sweden (or a little village in Pennsylvania), I think we must store that up against the horror — store it up so we have fuel to get back to work when the time is right… It was a beautiful day touring around the bay yesterday. The beauty is outrageous. The skies were clear and the temperature was perfect. The whole day was a prayer of gratitude and beauty.

And somehow the intermingled stories of the oysterwoman and her priest brother were just so simple and lovely. So I breathe in the love, the wonder, and the simplicity and let it soothe my soul. And I try to be present to each of the fabulous moments. There are so many right now. I am so lucky. I am so grateful. I am at Peace.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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