Dancing Peace, No Moon

The Moon was tucked up in bed, but the party went on anyway.

We sat down by the river. we danced in front of the garage. We ate good food and drank cool things.

There’s really not a better way to say good bye to summer. Thanks for what we had! Come back, we’ll miss you! And oh, this one last dance!

What a fun time was had by all. (if only sweet pea had not been sick.) 🙁

I like all the seasons. I try very hard to like every day. But Summer, I do like what you have to offer.

Peace and thanks for stopping by and staying for a while. Let’s dance some more! Let’s celebrate!

Friends, Sabbath, Renewal, Peace

When I thought about this weekend, I thought about my friends who were getting married and the groom’s daughter, my beloved niece.

Somehow, it escaped my imaginings that there would be other friends i knew there. Their family, the circle of friends from California, whom I knew from my years out there. And I hadn’t really factored in the bride’s huge Canadian Clan. Blessing upon Blessing.

So it was lovely and fun and there were lots of people to talk to and laugh with. The room was gorgeous. I enjoyed the ceremony (and you know how judgmental I can be about that!) So many reasons to celebrate!

And it was all so New York, so that was a lovely revisiting as well. And the Moon made herself a beautiful part of the weekend, that full and lovely Lady!

And today, after a visit with my girlie, I’ll come home to my life. This marks the end of a long and lovely summer. Just a few more days to make sense of all the stuff swirling in my head, after this interruption of wild city life!

Today, I’ll be glad to have a relatively slow day of driving and then sitting around staring emptily into space. I’m not used to weekends on the go. But this was a fabulous one!

And at the end… things were changed and different and wonderful. Peace reigns… even the East River, the view out my window, is quiet this morning as I write. I hope you have a wonderful end of summer day!

Re-membering Peace

Life is made up of such layers. So many things in our lives that have made it sweet and all those things evolve… some are still part of our lives, some are lost to us and some are just now entering.

Yesterday was the second anniversary of Deb’s death. It’s almost time for what would have been my niece’s 49th birthday. All the joy of that family is held closely… and yet… and yet… they’re all gone.

Last night was the pre-wedding celebration of my friend’s second marriage. HIs first wife, my dear friend, died eight years ago. To see him last night, so happy, so happy! Again! At last!

The dinner was at a carousel. It was a lovely venue on the edge of the East River in Brooklyn. Full Moon rising over the park as we took the water taxi in… We sat looking back at the NYC skyline on a gorgeous summer evening. Eating grilled cheese sandwiches from a food truck. Oh, I remember New York, I remember. It was once a love of mine.

And there was my friend, swirling around the carousel, his bride going up and down on the horse beside him, intimately talking and laughing, just the two of them on the ride… so fun.

And lots of old friends with lots of catching up to do.

So many memories. So much happiness tempering the loss. A chance to both be present to the moment and to put all the pieces back together to envision a sweet, sweet future.

Remembering Love is an act of defiance, an act of Peace. And I’d love to stay longer, but New York is outside my hotel, demanding I remember… and an old friend is here to walk through it with me. Bye for now!

Ripe Peach Peace

I totally missed one of my favorite holidays this year because I was traveling. Lammas, the first of August, is always my eat a ripe, juicy peach holiday.

I think there’s nothing more delicious. Nothing more sensual. Nothing more joyful and celebratory of life.

And here we are, with a whole month devoted to such deliciousness! Viva the Fruit Moon!

I think when the fruit is ripe and full, it’s almost a rite of holy obligation to enjoy it if we have the means. And thinking about it, the other part of that obligation is to find a way for others to enjoy as well. Fruit. We should eat it!

Being in our bodies, completely absorbed in appreciating the beauty and abundance of our Mother Earth is a prayer of Peace. Peacing! Praying! Giving thanks!

The Peace Between Goodbye and Hello

I love living where I do. But I also loved living where I lived.

I love my friends from other pieces of my life as much as I adore the ones from this life.

I feel lucky and privileged and loved.

So today, as I stand one foot still in the land I visited and the other stretching toward home, I have to remember that the place in between is also lovely and can be filled with the Peace of both Gratitude and Anticipation. Remembering, Reflecting, Making new memories… all of it. Peace!

Gratitude too for the Ripe Garden Moon. The last day comes not today, but tomorrow!

Mercy, Compassion, Peace

It’s a lovely story — the Bodhisattva paused while entering heaven, heard the cries of the miserable, and returned to Earth so that she could help all beings find their way…

She helps women get pregnant, she has a place for those women who choose not to have a family. She is Artemis, she is Tara, she is Mary, she is the softness toward which we yearn when our hearts need comfort.

This Sangha in San Diego is gorgeous. There are Buddhas all over, but back in the heart of the grounds is a tall and lovely statue of Quan Yin. It’s right around the corner from my friend’s house. He walks there in the morning and the evening. Reports are it was glorious under the full moon, all those alabaster statues gleaming! And the garden was indeed ripe and flowering there!

This part of San Diego is very mixed. Vietnamese, Hmong, Mexican. And it’s residential… I love the fact that Our Lady of Kazan is right down the street… an orthodox church.

But this is a huge Sangha and people come from all over to visit. They own the houses around it and the nuns and priests live there. (The houses are all craftsman cottage neatly adorned with plants and flags. So SoCal!).

And then, apparently, there’s Tet — Vietnamese New Year. Huge throngs of people come in buses… Because Buddha. Because Quan Yin.

May Mercy and Compassion guide us. May they bring us Peace. May we bring Peace.

Lammas Celebrations! Sabbath Peace! Oh, boy!

In-gatherings!

A friend reminded me that the ancient celebrations were more approximate. You didn’t stop to celebrate in the middle of the harvest. You didn’t grind the flour until the wheat was out of the field and threshed.

I love this celebration in the middle of the hot spell. Back home, there’s corn, tomatoes and blueberries. How much sweeter can summer get?

Out here? there are grandchildren, swimming pools and tomatoes. May in fact be sweeter.

And today, another beautiful summer Sabbath, spent with them. Full moons and hot summers. Sacred. Joyous. yeahhhhhhhh.

Hurrah! Peace be with you all.

Blues Chords and Peace over Sacramento

How odd… the woman who’d written to me a couple weeks ago saying, it sure would be nice to see you, then posted: I’m playing in Sacramento. There I was sitting in San Diego at that time, knowing I would be less than a hundred miles away on that day.

So here I am sitting in my hotel room after the concert laughing at how things work out.

I love EG’s music and I adore her. And it was fun to watch a whole new bunch of folk fall in love with the Georgia Songbird under the rising Full Moon. Such a beautiful, beautiful evening.

There she was with a band she’d never heard of just killing her songs! It was great. A few simple blues chords and some fascinating lyrics and the music poured out of those players. That’s the thing about music. It starts with something simple and becomes something magical.

That’s the thing about Peace. It starts with something simple, and, in the hands of the deep-hearted, becomes something magical. Players, giving Peace a chance.

And tomorrow I get to have breakfast with my college buddy. It’s a small world. And I like it like that! And after that? Grandchildren! (and their fabulous parents!) Peace? of a noisy, laughing kind!

Peace Challenges on a Quiet Sabbath Morning

Life has curve balls. Always. Sometimes, I guess we could have seen them coming, other times, we’re totally caught off guard.

But nonetheless, there are challenges. It’s not what we want to know. it’s not what we want to be facing. Sometimes we can share what’s going on and get support and other times we’re pretty much on our own.

In the midst of those things, we need to be tender with ourselves.

We might also want to consider that others are living confusing, challenging lives. Which means that the people getting on our last nerve may also be having problems, and that might cause us, if we’re to be generous and kind, to be a bit more tender with them. (And if not it confuses them!)

So, on this hot and sunny sabbath, I wish you wonder, contemplation and joy. And Peace. I wish us all Peace. Peace that is graced to us, Peace that we make. And, where I am, the Moon has been beautiful these last few nights and the pictures of garden bounty filling FaceBook are incredible. So as the Moon burgeons and swells, I hope you get great big gulping views of it! Summer Moons…. mmmmm. nothing more romantic.

Courage and Peace and Lunacy

To be courageous is always a bit lunatic, isn’t it? To dare to do something that is outside our comfort zone. Luckily it’s the Ripe Garden Moon and it’s full of comfort for when we do the crazy courageous things.

It’s funny what supports us in courage. In the case of my friend, she relied on simple good manners to carry her up and over.

In my case, I just didn’t want to have an unmatched set. And really, everyone else had forgotten I made a mistake and even if they were holding it against me, who cares? It’s my life I want to have organized, nothing to do with anyone else. (so who’s my harshest critic, right, me). So I could just do what I needed to do.

Things happen that need to be dealt with. Sometimes they’re fairly small things. Sometimes they’re big and horrible. But we do what we have to… or at least what we can of what we have to. We step up and do the hard work.

And that is just that…

A certain kind of Peace comes in doing what needs to be done. In doing the right thing. In daring. We like ourselves when we dare for things that matter. so, let’s shall we, let’s Peace.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

Tag Archives: moon