Music & Peace (right here at home), llvl

I hope that where you live is as extraordinary as where I live. I’m betting that it is. If you’re not exploring that, oh, poor you.

Now, I completely believe that there are great and wonderful things about where I live, and my husband, and not simply because I love him and he’s my husband, is one of those things. He’s not simply a good drummer, which is wonderful, but he’s a generous drummer. He wants to make everyone sound good. And he plays with two musicians who can play anything (and do!). They’re in the hum a few bars school of back-up bands. Both the bassist and the guitarist sing, both do jazz, country, funk, rock and now Irish and who knows what else and Steve’s there with the beat. Hot town in the Summertime and the living is soooo easy.

And I must admit, the guy that owns the tavern’s pretty wonderful as well, recognizing that this could happen. Sure he’s making money on it, but that’s fine… because he’s made a place for a community to come together. It’s not every joint in town that is going to have jazz, Irish music, country, 70s peace rock, blues… you name it, all jumbled up into one big happy evening. Steve’s gotten what he wanted, our local musical heroes stepping outside their musical genres, stepping in and playing or singing back up, roaring to attention when the kidlets try something out. If you’d have heard the band singing along with one young man accompanying himself singing “Eight Days a Week” on the ukelele. It was a moment you’re sorry you missed. oh, and when that 15 year old went head to head with Elvis and didn’t do badly at all? that was another one.

I got to chacha with Sue, always a fave, sing back up with Charlie (we found that back up!), shout at friends over the loud music, and generally have a marvelous time.

If you live here and you don’t wander by at least once, you’re wasting your time… if you live somewhere else, figure out where to go where your village’s lines get all mixed up. This type of event builds relationships across all sorts of lines. It teaches us to be kind.

And score. I signed up two more musicians for the Love Flows concert I’ll do in the fall, (we hope!). Watch this spot for new songs. But in the meantime, find out where Peace is mixing it up. If you can’t find it, start it.

There’s science between what happens in our brains, bodies and psyches when we sing together. It’s why hymn sings work. It’s why Eight Days a Week (The Beatles, who ever thought of them as hymnists?) worked for everyone that night. Great community. Great fun. oh, yahoo…

It’s a river of Peace, it’s a river of Sound, it’s a river of Love… C’mon, Wade in the Water!

A Little Lightning Bug Peace, llvl

Perfect June nights… This region is known for them. Driving through the darkness, watching fireflies cavort in the cornfields — it’s just the most Peace-giving thing. Courtship for lightning bugs is a lovely thing to watch. Blink on. Blink off.

It’s hard to describe how happy they make me. How that simple dance reassures me.

May you find the sweet, sacred Peace that your vida local offers. And may you give yourself the time to simply be present to it.

Summer, Sabbath, Creeks & Peace, llvl

You take your Sabbath where you can get it. Mine started before sundown yesterday with a stroll down to the creek, followed by a quiet plop or two as we settled into our chairs in the middle of the creek.

And there we sat. With no particular place to go and nothing pressing on our minds. People kayaked by. They inner-tubed by. And there we were on the front porch of Peace.

We all waved and wished one another a good evening… Just being neighborly as folks traveled a sweet highway.

A friend joined us. More desultory conversation ensued.

And then the frogs sang.

Ah, the Sweet Sacred Peace Prayers of Summer. Mother Earth was putting on the ritz in a quiet kinda way. This is what a Sabbath is all about for this (don’t tell anyone this part) Country girl.

Weaving Peace, llvl

This may well have been a road I shouldn’t have wandered down. To know, know, know me is know that I’m not really very crafty. So, I hope I got the images right… or right enough.

But the notion was that Peace is so surprising that entirely new scenarios, so different from what we’d planned can just occur. Sometimes that means that our plans are incomplete… so the pretty picture we’d envisioned doesn’t come to fruition. Other times things happen that we’d never ever conceived of. Boom and something’s moved to a new and wonderful place.

And of course there are set backs, which require re-evaluating our plans and starting over from a new beginning.

But all in all, it’s beautiful…because we’re moving toward Peace. So forgive me my incomplete metaphors… and keep weaving Peace, or planting Peace Gardens, or walking the Peace Road. Find the metaphor that works for you and work it!

The Peace That Is, llvl

We so often want what is different from what we have that we overlook the bounty of what we have.

And when things we’ve loved die, we mourn because we miss them. And we do, we miss both the things and the people… But at some point, our grief must make place for the splendor that still is.

It’s a delicate process to find the balance where we care for our grieving hearts and manage to let the beauty heal us. But in that Peace garden, we can find both our healing and our purpose, possibilities exist. Sometimes the gardens are actual gardens. Sometimes the Peace garden is our little local life. Sometimes it’s a world stage. Wherever it is, Peace it up! And enjoy what is…

All Out for Peace, llvl

It was a long, chilly spring here, which kept the violets happy. So that made me happy!

But summer has arrived. When this picture came across my desktop yesterday, I wasn’t altogether sure where I was going with it, and then I got it. These flowers don’t hesitate. They don’t wonder whether now’s the right time, or this is the right place. They offer their beauty — they go for it.

I may be the only one who dances back and forth from one foot to the other, but somehow I doubt it. Not every place, not everyone wants what i have to offer. oh well. That doesn’t mean I don’t offer it. It doesn’t mean I’ll be unappreciated. It may mean I should steer my blooming away from someone’s lawn, if they spend their time ruthlessly cutting it back, but sometimes they need to encounter Love’s profligacy…

it’s in each of us to be beautiful. It’s in each of us to be passionate. Let’s go for it! Life isn’t to be lived in black and white, it’s to be experienced (and appreciated) in its full living color! It’s summertime! Burst forth for Peace. Explode with Joy. Go for it; go all out for Peace.

Circle of Peace, llvl

Yesterday I received a call, asking me if I were free to perform a wedding. He and his partner are taking advantage of the new changes to the law in Pennsylvania and choosing to protect their relationship of many years. He called me because he had participated in a celebration of life service that I did.

Turns out that the memorial was for a dear friend whose wife is one of my besties. The poignancy of that connection was piercing. And where did I go in the midst of all that sniffling? Well, right to this week’s picture-perfect puzzle piece of the Sky. There we were, this world and the next, neatly folded together.

So that’s another piece, the way someone’s vision inspires and explains my own. another easy fit. Something you can find if you open to the possibility of its being there. Something that is there if you ask…

And, today, there will be another picture. How can it be as wonderful as this one? I often ask myself that… but then it is. and it is because the seasons keep turning and something shows up that’s worthy of our notice. And that’s the lovely sacred, sweetness of Life and Joy and Peace. We have to make space for the Wonder and the Hope, or people won’t pay attention. Yes, that’s our job, making space for the incredible. Sometimes just saying Oh, look at that, changes everything. It’s pretty simple if you think about it.

Life moves from Winter to Summer and back again. Life moves from Death to Commitment. Live moves and we get to be part of that — and we get to have companions on the way. Pretty damn’ sweet!

Peace Potential, llvl

Living into Peace and la vida local means opening our eyes and really seeing what’s here. We’re all programmed to see what’s wrong with where we are, we all have criticism down to a fine art, but it can be a challenge to see what’s right about where we are.

And so much is. Wherever we live, there is so much talent and there are so many people trying to do what they can to make the world better. If we look for them, we will see them and encourage them. Their very existence will encourage us.

Married to Steve, I see a lot of music. This Valley is filled with music and wonderful musicians of all ages and all genres and all levels of ability. And you see people trying new things. Recently Steve got a new drum student, a retired professor, who’s always wanted to play the drums. There he is, making himself bigger, staying curious as an elder.

But it doesn’t have to be music, it can be anything. What do you want to do? What will make you curious, interested, alive? Find someone who’s doing that and listen to them. Learn from them.

Make the world better. Start by making your world better and share your joy. Share it first with those who are sharing their joy!

Start by making your world Peaceful and share your Peace. Again share it with those who are already celebrating Peace. We’re the home team for Peace and Joy. Let’s give it our all.

Sippin’ at June Sabbath Peace, llvl

June in Central PA. Nothing more beautiful (allergens notwithstanding.) The thing about exquisite weather is that it’s only wonderful if it’s appreciated. Reveled in, even…

And right here there’s much to enjoy. I suspect, if you’re really living your vida local, that there’s much to revel in where you are as well. Every place has treasures. And we have to lift them up, whenever we get the opportunity, because otherwise we forget how remarkable life is. If we’re not filling up, we’re not fueled for the journey.

So right here right now, in this little Valley, we’ve got amazing seasoned musicians and fabulous ascendant ones (and she’s off to Illinois!). We’ve got great restaurants and, you’re fabulous, so I’m sure you have great friends, too!

This isn’t a restaurant I can visit very often. Pretty rich for my budget, but i don’t need it all the time. I wallow in it when I get it and then get back to life. But oh, during the wallowing, it’s wonderful. Add in the music? yay! I get a lot of music married to Steve, but some nights, when everything’s aligned and the right people are in the right places, it lifts right into sacred experience!

So, today’s the Sabbath. Count your blessings and then wallow in them. You’ll count different blessings than i do, but there are so many! Enjoy the Peace, sip away slowly at it. Fill up, because you’ll need them when it’s all about back to work. Thanks for everything — and Kate Anderson, here’s listening to you, babe! Soar.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

The Priestess Is In