Quiet, Sabbath Peace

Sometimes, when life has been very busy. Sometimes when life has been very disappointing. Sometimes, just because life is life, it’s lovely to take a day off. A day where something gets accomplished, but the biggest milestone might be a visit to the drugstore to restock your kleenex supply. A day where you indulge yourself in a new book and a luxurious read. A day when you sit across a table from friends and catch up.

It’s been a busy week. No one had planned on the need to respond to fearmongering. It didn’t take a lot of big work, but a fair amount of busy work. It was very satisfying that we showed up, a diverse interesting bunch of folk. We stood around and chatted, dropped some cash in the barrel for Love Flows, drank some cider and just generally said Peace and Community matters. It was very sweet.

It’s been a disappointing week. I’d been very excited to be doing a workshop on the Five Fold Goddess, so when the weekend folded, I was sad. I’m sure I’ll do something with it, but it was a chance to step into some work I miss doing.

And there were just things that need to be done around the house. I didn’t make much of a dent in that list, but a little. Here’s to civilization.

And for me, nothing says luxury like a long comfortable chat with friends. I had not one but two of those.

All of that adds up to a day of gentle, simple Peace, the kind of which I would wish for all of you. Maybe today… who knows… Your life will be the sweeter for some quiet indulgence. Blessings on your day. May it be joyful.

Celebrating Community Peace, llvl

My bro- and sis-in-law have the world’s blowout on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. It’s huge. They spend weeks preparing and friends come by and help garden and generally spiff. Did I mention I have the world’s best bro- and sis-in-law? This marriage business has all sorts of benefits you don’t expect. Not just a great husband, but kids and a great family. Sold to the Priestess!

The all-important porta-potty arrives. Tents go up. Lights get strung. The fire gets laid.

Then people arrive in droves, carting in sound boards and mics. The world’s biggest beer ice chest gets filled. Missy Margaret’s fabulous redone antique cooler gets stocked with soda.

And we’re off. hundreds of people show up toting food and beverage, chairs, and instruments. savory food on these tables. dessert on that one. hotdogs outside on the grill. It’s a madhouse where no one gets mad. You rarely have a good long visit with anyone, unless you do.

Last year, i could barely show up because Deb was newly dead. This year, I was thrilled to be there and delighted that the woman who took Deb’s blood was hanging out. Three years ago we fretted that Than wouldn’t make it to the next party. This year… the party was bigger than ever and he was king of the hill… and that makes his world happy and grateful.

Not only was there no hurricane yesterday, the rain held off.

Living la vida local. Outside with good food and neighbors and music that was sometimes great, sometimes not… sometimes Peace is elusive. But sometimes Magic happens and Peace shows up right along the river with loads of laughing people… Peace… and today, i’m off for my last outdoor swim at the town pool… magic enough for me.

Neither Here nor There Peace, llvl

Swedish Summer has reverted back to its more normal up, down, little of this, little of that. (I’m trying not to feel too guilty that I sent my fleece jacket home… can it be my fault? Aren’t I the center of the universe?) At least, and Hallelujah, the horrible forest fire has finally been brought under control.

But for me the point about this weather… about any weather really, it is what it is. No, I’m not jumping in the lake every day. My astonishing tan, despite loads of #70, is fading… but I’m hanging with dear, dear friends and making space in my brain. Sometimes even using my brain.

My honey’s in CA with our family and his music. That’s pretty great. That’s a lot of Love. Love I can’t believe I’ve fallen into.

And if I were so full of hubris as to name all this bounty simply good enough, shame on me! My life is pretty damned fabulous even in this in-between weather in this state of leaving a Paradise I’ve visited and coming home to the Paradise I inhabit.

There’s so much turmoil in the world. Things are truly horrible. These problems are far greater than I can impact directly. Far greater than I can reason out — if you can reason out hatred… I’m trying very hard to remember that I can grieve, pray, and get to work at home. Get to work loving. Get to work helping. Get to work on my work, on being the best Ann… not just the resting Ann.

And so the transition. From here to there which will soon be here. Being present is actually a slow and fluid process… this particular here is so precious and so seldom shared with my friends, it takes time to disentangle and time to become the woman enrapt and rapped in her sacred, mundane life. Who cares if it’s cloudy or sunny? Love is. Peace is. And both will be as we believe they matter…

Today I get another picture from Deb to lure me home… that’s pretty sweet. Tomorrow you get it!

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.

Picnic Peace, llvl

Sitting on the rocks in the middle of the sea, I am certain that I could do this at home.

But, I don’t.

Why is that? Why don’t I take stillness in the midst of the great beauty that is my home ground… indeed my life.

It’s not as if it’s not there to enjoy. Just over a week ago, I was out on a boat in the middle of the Susquehanna with my brother- and sister-in-spirit. and it was quiet and sweet. Not long before that, I was sat in the middle of Penn’s creek. But this absolute do-nothingness, absolute immersion in the elements, day after day, that is not something I give myself. It’s a shame. I know, all of life is not a vacation, but it’s not all work, either.

And this is wonderful. Because here I am, in the company of old friends, marooned on an island and sucking the marrow out of the day. yum. drinks on hotel patio overlooking the harbor. shelling shrimp at 9 at night (or what they’re calling night but is really full sunshine) on the home patio overlooking the harbor. Go to bed. get up. more of the same.

Just a few responsibilities: Be present. Enjoy. Count blessings. Give thanks. I hope I’m succeeding in my assignments. I’m sure at some point I’ll write, but… not for a while… and in the meantime, I’ll savor the Peace. Life is sacred. It is often filled with joy. To live this way is a prayer. I am the among the luckiest women in the world.

So, you heard it here first. Picnics in beautiful spots when i come home. ‘k?

Peace, Peace, cha-cha-cha, llvl

Ah, it’s sweet to dance. Sometimes, I take my life for granted and then I remember, wait Steve Mitchell has my back beat! oh, yay! And I’ve got my good friend Sue who loves to dance, and so we do. Week after week. And then sometimes, one or the other of us is away and boom, we’re back in it. Welcome to living my wonderful little vida local!

Having been “the tall girl in class” I always had to lead anyway, so i got some practice there, and Sue’s a great follower — at least in dance. In other things she’s a heckuva leader!

And dancing is pretty completely disconnected from my brain in any conscious way… once in a while I’ll find myself saying, oh, try this… but that’s sorta it. Mostly it’s just rhythmic Joy — choreographed laughter.

How excited was I when my poet friend Tom wrote this? Very!

Good one today …
Everyday too
But this one’s
With cowbells

Cowbells and Peace. cha-cha-cha.

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!

Feelin’ it Peace, llvl

Sunday we had a humor service at church. I tend to love humor as it occurs rather than as it’s planned, but I admit it, I roared… The kids were hilarious. The other guy definitely upstaged me, glad i wasn’t competing. I did my usual oh, so meaningful sermon. (eyes roll) But it seemed to go over.

What I love about this community is that we laugh all the time. When we’re working on hard things and when life is going along easily. What I also love is that we cry easily too. We’re willing to invest in one another and experience the edges of life, which are often sharp and uncomfortable and to do that right alongside the mundane and daily life.

Emotions exist to be experienced. I’m not talking about drama queens, I’m talking about life’s normal ups and downs. What does it mean that we have drugs we inject into our foreheads and our upper lips so that we have no lines? I’m not excited I’m older, I’m far creakier than I was. Yes I have very different fun than I used to have, but I had that fun and that wasn’t better, it just was. Life’s an amazing thing. And of course, getting older means living a rich life of memory and possibility. It means more moments of self reflection and more moments of pure magic. And it means finding your equilibrium, your balance.

One thing we know about these great prophets is that were in life. May the same be said for us!

Circle Singing Peace Sabbath, llvl

Yesterday I sat with 15 people and we sang together. No one knew what we were going to sing until a leader started the song. Every song started slowly and tentatively until we’d really learned it and then it would soar and weave until it died away.

This morning, I can’t actually remember anything we can sing, but I can clearly call to mind (heart, body and soul) how it felt to sing.

We started the process with listening. Wonder as the singing started, and then with attention as we learned the song line by line. And then, the great unfolding. Oh, to sit still and sing, sing, sing. It was lovely…

When I lived in California and A Communion of Women met weekly, we sang. Chant after chant. Chants and songs I’d written, chants and songs others had. It was healing! And back here, I haven’t done that much. These songs were songs most of us didn’t know and we went and went and went. Those songs were songs we didn’t… sometimes that meant that the singing was extended, sometimes it meant it was curtailed, and still we sang.

Often my focus is on the world’s Peace, or my community’s. Yesterday, the work was inward facing… and I loved it. Thanks Wendy Luella Perkins for your visit from Ontario. Thanks friends for the singing Joy/singing Peace. What a way to bring in the Sabbath.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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