Fishing for Peace

Fishing is such a hard life; but those who do it love it.

There’s so much to contend with, long hours and weather, as well as the danger of the work.

Recently (if you use that word with a bit of a long view), they’ve had to contend with over fishing and new styles of fishing so as not to over fish or to take fish they’re not fishing for. For years fishing hauled in huge catches of the wrong fish along with the right ones. and for years the way we fished was damaging to the stocks of fish. And for years, waterfolk have had to sit out the seasons because the stocks were so decimated. But finally the fish are coming back and new fishing styles are improving the way we fish.

This has caused hardship and expense for those who make their living on the water.

You wonder what makes folk return to the sea.

Well, for some, it’s probably all they’ve ever known. But for the others it’s the water that draws them back again and again.

I’ve been immersed in Blue Mind: The Surprising Science that Shows How Being Neear, In, On or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, more Connected, and Better at What You Do by Wallace J. Nichols. It’s a fascinating read.

Bottom line, even if they love their work, it’s hard work with sometimes disappointing results. If you eat fish, you owe them deep gratitude for the work they do. I love fish and I give thanks for their work on the water. Peace to the fisherfolk and to those who enjoy the fruits of their labor.

If You Want to Make Peace on Labor Day

Read some history — find out what working conditions were. do what you can to change that.

Read something about poverty and what perpetuates it.

Confront some of your (oh, our!) misconceptions about the choices people living in poverty make.

Work to raise the minimum wage.

Support labor movements particularly in the service industries.

Bring back the union labels.

Thank the people who work to save your lives and stand with them.

Stand up. Make Peace.

Behold the Day! A Day for Peace!

It is such a gorgeous day. Sunny and lovely. It’s the last day of the pool, alas, alack. It’s hard to let it go, but I’ve had such a wonderful summer. So great. How can I be anything other than thrilled? OK, a little mournful, but the end of summer play means a year of meaningful work.

For me this is a day of back to work and picnics and friends.

A day to savor everything we have and live in happy expectation of what’s ahead. Good times, good friends, good work! And because I’ll be at my husband’s family for a picnic, Sweet love, sweet family and sweet music. (and great food! Picnics!)

This is a day for Peace in the heart and to make Peace in the world.

So let’s do that thing. Have a great day. Enjoy some Peace. Make some more!

A Jumble of Peace

I am not a fan of yard sales, except of course, that I sort of am.

I wouldn’t stop into one in my neighborhood, because really, there is nothing that I need. And most the stuff I want I don’t need and probably can’t afford. I’m unlikely to find that at yard sales.

But my faith community has two of these a year. They bracket my sabbatical/vacation. They are huge and chaotic. I’m sort of chaotic myself, so I find them incredibly distracting. I dropped in the other day when people were working. The only things I could see were the things of my sister’s that I’d given away. I didn’t have a lot of interest in seeing them.

But we have them and they do a jumble of things. They let people let go of things. People like me take stuff that we’ve held onto from our dearly beloved and release it. People who need things but can’t afford them can sometimes get incredible bargains. Or they can get some little luxury that they didn’t imagine they could afford, but there it is with a $2 price tag on it. And people with collections find that one thing they’ve been searching for. And other people, well, they just can’t resist a bargain. And they shop. And in the meantime, the people from our community get to know one another. We do physical work that makes our community stronger as it strengthens our connections. And we make money that helps our community meet our obligations. We can even make plans with some of this money. That’s pretty exciting.

It really is a jumble of things that come from this huge jumble of things. It’s probably well worth a bit of pastoral confusion. After all, it’s never just my Peace at stake, is it?

But, oh, my goodness, what a lot of mayhem — but oh, such great food!

Ponds of Peace

My brother is a deliberate man. He, unlike his speed demon sister(s), studies things, thinks about them, and gradually goes about working his way through whatever he’s doing.

So he is with ponds. He decided he wanted to build a pond up on the mountain. So for a year he read about it. And he built one. And then he built a second one. Cindy and he got crazy with this one. They’ve filled it up with native fish and other nibbling things. They put the right plants (including the oh, my goodness, mountain cranberries) in and around the pond. It looks sort of murky, but when you cup your hands and bring the water up it’s crystal clear. It’s a living pond. It’s gorgeous.

And it’s oh, so swimable, if you don’t mind those nibbly moments in your close encounters of the fishy kind.

The water is silky and smooth and it was perfect for swimming… or, well, floating. Tom and I both got a little weepy thinking about how much the parents and debbie’s family would have love the pond. And all of them and then eventually most of us, will wind up in the blueberry patch that overlooks the pond, good ash making the soil just a bit more fertile.

The night before, a mama deer and her fawn had bedded down where we’ll end up. Cindy’s a hunter, but she has a big safe space around the house and a woods that mama lives in where no one hunts and few even walk. Mother Earth at her most grand.

Nature, getting back to itself. There is so much Peace in this land. So much Peace in that pond… just a really sweet balance in life on earth… I gave thanks and reveled in Peace, Love and all the bounty of their garden. Late summer. It’s an amazing thing. And, oh, my goodness, somehow summer has drifted into September… Peace.

The Peace of Water

I’m currently reading Blue Mind, by Wallace J. Nichols. Now I know why I love the water. Now I also know why I have a short attention span… oh, electronics, you danger…

Being by, in, or under water does wonders for us. Baths may literally be saving my sanity!

And apart from all that, or maybe because of all that, water is beautiful.

This guy is happy about the water he’s giving the world, it’s in every line…

Turns out it’s a great thing to have water features at schools and universities. it calms folks down and helps them center.

And here we all are… wasting water, not protecting it.

There’s Peace in Water and everyone’s need for water demands that we make Peace for Water. 80 Indian nations are at Standing Rock protesting a pipeline for the sake of water. 80 nations may be more nations than have ever gathered before… ancient enemies have united for the sake of water.

Let us Peace in the name of Water, which brings Peace in and of itself.

The Funnel Cake of Peace

There are two women I know and love in this Valley. We get our picture taken a lot because we’re women from different traditions trying to gather the Valley together around things that matter.

And, we sometimes gather people together around things that don’t matter. Yesterday was one of those days. It was our fourth (or so) mostly annual Interfaith Coalition No Pork Picnic at a wonderful small family owned amusement park (Number One in the nation, we add proudly).

Yesterday Rabbi Nina wrote, Eradicating Peace, one funnel cake at a time. To which I added, putting the fun back in funnel cake. And so the picture from this gathering that we’ll send to the paper will have more than the three of us and we’ll all be holding a plate of funnel cake.

We didn’t have as many people as we’d hoped we might, since we’d had to reschedule for last week’s thunderstorms. But those who came stayed and played. (I just found out one family stayed through dinner!)

I’m not a huge amusement park fan. Once I’ve ridden the skloosh (a fast plow into a huge puddle of water!) and gotten soaking wet, i’m done for the day. Pullllease can I go home.

But there we all were, eating funnel cake and laughing. Life is very sweet — funnel cake is a good reminder. Interfaith community changes the world and it can always use a bit of sweetness and laughter. So here’s to you and here’s to us, lifting that Funnel Cake to Peace!

The Soft Peace of Later Early Mornings

In about a month, I’m going to have to steel myself for early morning risings. If I want to continue my journey toward health and strength, I’m going to have to get up early to swim. In the middle of the Winter, that’s going to mean before dawn. I’ll get to ease into it however… the Earth is gentle with us that way… but inexorable!

It’s really rather exciting to map the Sun times and the Moon times and know a bit about where we are in this world. And so lovely to have Deb Slade and Trish Stroble documenting our journey around the Sun. Since Deb often shoots from a similar place we can see how — I was about to say the Sun moves, but it’s really the Earth, isn’t it, as it tilts and spins…

But, whatever the hour, here comes the Sun with the soft and beautiful Sunrise (almost an hour later than its earliest rising around the Summer Solstice). Go have a wonderful day. Peace.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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