Magnificent Dark Moon Peace Sky

Immediately after posting yesterday, I was poking around on FB and lo! and behold, my niece had just posted an incredible vid of the Andromeda Galexy that NASA has released. You thought you were insignificant yesterday, simply staring up at the stars? Whew!

My friend Jim reminded me of the importance of our task as appreciator of the beauty.

I find that the beauty moves me even more strongly to embrace Peace, to declare myself its ally and one of its creators.

The Universe reminds us that there is both overwhelming Abundance and breath-taking Beauty. Let’s lean back, look up, remember that our neighbors are just as awestruck as we, and let’s make a celebration of Peace and Love.

It may be through out this year as we look at the Moon with Lorraine’s beautiful Moon Shots and reflect on the Lunacy of Peace to which the Moon calls us, that the Dark Moon might become a very special celebration of the festival of the Dark of the Moon — the time when we stop and take stock of the immensity of our Cosmos and the call to respond to that wonder and awe with Peace.

Defiant Peace, llvl

I think too often we think of Peace as sort of a milquetoast cousin. (Caspar Milquetoast, cartoon character drawn by HT Webster (1885-1952), American Cartoonist. a very timid, unassertive, spineless person, especially one who is easily dominated or intimidated. Do’t you love that word?) But any way Peace. It gets thought of as sort of soppy, and saccharine. Or such an esteemed ideal there’s just not arriving at its boundless possibilities.

But it’s not. It’s strong and persistent. It trickles the idea of itself into even the most recalcitrant soul. Peace.

Yesterday, just a day after this picture was taken, was cold and blustery. This morning, despite the wind’s bravado, there are still leaves proudly dancing. They’ve made their own Peace with this season and they’re leaving in their own time. In the meantime, there’s Beauty and Abundance and Color. And no small amount of Joy.

There’s a lot we could learn from that, don’t you think? Peace… it’s never out of season — and it’s always out of season, and that’s it’s beauty.

Peace Thinking, again, llvl

It’s been interesting to look at my life that is so luxurious in love at the same time the world is blowing up in hatred. I don’t know how to bottle this feeling or calibrate it so that others could understand, I just know (believe?) that openness to intimate relationships lessens our openness to hatred. I know for me it heightens the need to participate in some ameliorating of the problems…

My friend, father Kerry, posted a picture today of a man receiving 450 lashes in Saudi Arabia for the crime of being gay. We shudder in horror, but don’t make sure our PA state government (and your state’s government?) pass simple non-discrimination bills that would provide safety in work and home. We watch in pity on Facebook as an 8th grader posts one of those index card videos talking about cutting himself or committing suicide because he’s being bullied for being gay, but aren’t actively involved in anti-bullying programs at home. Wonder how we pray with our lives… and what our prayers should be.

It’s hard to take these painful thoughts and mix them into my vacation thoughts. I needed this break, I’m not apologizing, even to myself, for having taken it. I can feel a natural ending as I begin to long to write and return to my work… although as was obvious from my progress yesterday, not too much… I love that Facebook keeps me aware of your lives if not actually in them. I cherish this precious time with friends here… and love that this Saturday’s moon will shine on us all.

Blessings and Peace be with us all.

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.

Nature’s Pyrotechnic Peace, llvl

Oh, Pennsylvania gardens in the summer! Lush, no other word, except perhaps, pyrotechnic, which our photographer Deb suggested when sending this picture. The greenery explodes, the color pops. “Look,” gardens cry. “Celebrate!” I love the way the spikes burst out of the ground in this photo.

Flowers and plants have their own reason for doing their dance, but we’re the happy recipients of their bounty and their beauty. Doesn’t matter if you’re a vegetable gardener, a flower gardener or, like me, simply a garden appreciator, there they are, gorgeous.

Gardens require a lot of labor. Feeding the world and dazzling us with delight takes tending. I’m so grateful for folks who do the work. I’ve been a dedicated apartment dweller my whole life… I live without dirt, because i pretty much break out in hives or poison ivy in the great outdoors… but that doesn’t mean i’m not dazzled or grateful.

Life. Wild and glorious. Mother Earth is bountiful. And too often we are careless stewards of this abundance. Our approach to such beauty should be reverent and tender. Yesterday I had what i hope may turn out to have been a fruitful conversation about the benefits of boiling water vs roundup for a man beside himself because grass kept pushing up in his sidewalk.

This abundant garden is where we live. For our own sake, and for our Mother’s, why would we put poison on the ground? The Earth gives us life. Shouldn’t we, if we can’t conceive of giving life back, at least consider not poisoning what nurtures us? It seems very little to ask, especially when the world is exploding in bounty under our feet and fingertips.

You understand why painters paint and sketchers sketch and writers write, trying to embrace and honor the beauty. There are so many reasons I’m happy and lucky to live here… gardens are a pretty fabulous reason. Nature, let us be one with it. Let us be at Peace in it.

Abundance and Peace, llvl

I’m having a sobering 4th of July. Thinking about what I love about the US and saddened by some of the things I know. So my post is a sideways post. I’m choosing to remember, I’m choosing to face toward the abundance.

I’m not ignoring the challenging, I’m fueling myself and I’m reminding myself. There is so much that is great and wonderful. I can work with that. I can work for that.

I need the reassurance these proud blooms give us… because there are people who are counting on me. and you… as Pete Seeger taught us “when there are problems to be solved, let’s get all the world involved, God’s counting on me. God’s counting on you.”

Peace, baby! Happy Fourth. Celebrate today. Work tomorrow. Stand up! Step up! Be Present! Be Beautiful. (i’m a whole buncha damned bumperstickers).

June Garden Peace, llvl

This year, we’re having the June we remember from our childhoods. Beautiful days, impressive storms and wild riotous gardens. I know, I know, I say this every season, because there’s always something beautiful, but there’s nothing quite like June. It’s awash in Possibility and in Purpose. It’s green, green, green.

I loved the solitary splendor of this iris. Vibrantly purple, less ornate than its cousin the bearded iris, it’s a simple stalk of Beauty. We’re transfixed. But that iris is simply doing it’s job. We see it as singular, but it’s one more beautiful bloom in the garden.

That’s who we’re meant to be, I think: Individuals, Fulfilling our own destiny in an abundant garden. Gorgeous blossoms in a sea of abundance. Bringing Beauty, bringing Peace, is not simply our job. We’re simply there to bring the Peace we can. We need to count on our neighbors to bring the Peace they can. We each have our own work.

In a small village, it’s easier to see both your work and your neighbor’s. We can understand how to help one another grow and flourish. We can see the payoff. But no matter how large or small your village, find a small group and get to work. Then let the movement build.

There are so many reasons the world needs our abilities to bring, Peace to bring Change. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the weight of things that are wrong in this world. And then, I remember. I live in a village. I live la vida local. I can make a small but important difference. If I do my part and you do yours and we encourage one another, pretty soon change can start… Remember, you’re a beautiful Iris in a sea of Peace. This is your season to shine. Start there.

More June Peace, llvl

The days continue to extend an invitation to come out into the world. It is flat out gorgeous! This pic has kept me enraptured all week. I was so happy to find the rhododendron festooning the forest with colors other than sun-dappled green this weekend.

Today the eagle was on the river shore across from Turrie and my breakfast place. Everybody was plastered to the window, watching. Share a moment like that and our differences melt away. The next time we meet, we’re friendlier, laughing more freely.

Softened edges make differences less obvious. and that’s a good thing.

go on, git out there! Peace.

Purple Peace-Seeing, llvl

This is Beauty in the local life, that’s for sure — all this glorious purple… I’m counting purple blessings as fast as I can!

Let’s all be one-eyed, one horned flying Purple Peace-Makers… (so could not resist!)

And I admit, I’ve been considering whether I might not start working to see if i can’t develop some, i don’t know, 89th sense that allows me to see the color of a word. What the heck, I learned to parallel park, I can do anything! Possibilities abound!

I’m also trying to train myself to see the Abundance as well as the deprivation as a call to Peace. There is so much that we must share, rather than there is so much that we must have it all to ourselves. To fill up and overflow… into Peace-Making. From Peace-Seeing into Peace-Making… Are you with me?

That Keep-Trying Spring Peace, llvl

When you’re in the depths of winter, you think about Spring and you think you know what it means. (Substitute any seasons here. I think longing clouds your vision.) I know I don’t remember the allergens (achoo!), but I don’t think you remember Spring’s long and sustained beauty. There are too many wonderful flowers blooming, too many trees bursting with color; the scent of all the unfolding dances on the breeze — oh right the breezes and the gales.

There’s a rail trail in our area and a girlfriend and I strolled down it at dusk, talking about life and its challenges. It’s hard to decide whether the setting was simply antithetical to our conversation or a balm! Life is very hard and life is very beautiful. There we were, all in one splash. The trail cuts through people’s back yards, farmers fields and wooded copses. It does that all in rapid succession, lest you think i walked for miles and miles and miles. Violets, bulbs, trees, new plantings, birds and barking dogs soothed conversations of loss and challenging presents and subsequent futures.

As we were walking for clarity and health, the earth was offering Beauty. Maybe the conundrum of Spring that I was poking at earlier is that it is so ephemeral and short-lived, in such an exuberant and sustained way. That’s good to remember when life is confusing. Peace comes in many guises, doesn’t it, and it keeps opening new ways to walk. Filled up with beauty and gratitude and searching for Peace in the midst of the chaos. We’ll make it the weather and the rest of us… Our lives depend on it.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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