Peace Weather, LLVL

What is it about the weather that causes us to shake our heads and wax eloquent? Nothing like a long-term forecast to really get the head-wagging going.

If you’re going to live around here (my here and wherever your here is), you’re going to have to dress for it And then go on about your day.

It’s a good idea to stop the tire-burners and not to saw down a forest. So sign your petitions, donate, act respectfully. Those are long term support you can offer the weather and the people needing to live in Peace in their here. You can lobby for food for families and for some fuel oil relief as well. We have work to do on weather’s behalf, that’s for sure.

But pretty much on a day-to-day basis, you just have to dress for it. It’s Winter. There’s a whole category of appropriate clothing in the catalogs and stores.

I’m not sure why it makes me so grumpy, but, really, people spend a lot of time grumbling about a daily given. It’s just weather. Wear your raincoat. Or your boot and mittens. Winter cold serves a purpose. So does summer heat. (oh, and springing flowers and falling leaves.) You live here. Enjoy it. Weather’s fine. C’mon out and live la vida local. Feelin’ darn Peaceful out here. Have a lovely day.

Elate, Joy, Advent, Sabbath, Peace

Well that’s a mouthful! But a fun one!

The third candle is Joy. Part of life’s journey is enjoyment. Are you quick to smile at a baby or laugh at a joke? It’s amazing how much better a day is when we make the effort to be joyful. People respond to joy. Life is short, let us live into it.

May I take joy in the dailiness of life, revel in its opportunities and in the people I encounter. May I be filled with wonder and amazement at life’s beauty and bounty. Blessed be.

And the today’s verb is to elate. To be elated. To allow the Joy of this Holiday season to move you to gratitude, certainly, but also to full on appreciation of, elation in the moment.

Here the white stuff makes me incredibly happy! Last night I got to go out and walk in Winter Wonderland. It was gorgeous. This morning I’m far more elated now that the snow is off the car and I believe it will pull out of the parking spot! But really, enjoy it! It’s the Sabbath so you might give yourself the chance to lean into the feelings of happiness. Thank Mother Nature for the snow and the beauty. And then allow yourself to feel it! Elation! ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Threads of Peace

One of the interesting parts of writing the musings is that a line sometimes emerges that you hadn’t planned. There you are heading somewhere, and poof, a new metaphor. I was caught by the notion of spinning the mist into the threads of Peace.

Before we can begin to weave a blanket to warm us, we must spin the thread and that thread must contain all the colors of the seasons, winter whites, spring greens, summer golds and winter reds and oranges, the many colors of the sky and the waters and our beloved Mother Earth.

Only then can we begin to weave a blanket that will comfort and protect all of us. I am here, we can tell the world, these are my colors, this is what I know and can teach you about. Which are yours… what can you tell me about them?

My father, the dye chemist, was very proud that he could hand spin… and proud too that he could find the chemicals that made the colors sing. Everything adds something to the thread. Some of it will be expertly spun, some of it some of us will make a hash of… but once there is thread, we can weave that bumpy, uneven totally gorgeous mantle of Peace.

Softening Peace

We’re getting deeper and deeper into Autumn. Even though the temps are lolling around in September ranges, Mother Earth keeps changing and preparing for winter. The hours of daylight are lessening. Pretty soon, there’s going to be that unnatural jolt into darkness… wow, maybe the government won’t change to standard time if they’re out lolling about.

But change or not, there are still more hours of darkness… and a lot more slow dawn and twilight. And that’s the beauty of Fall.

I know. I’ve been whining a lot because I’m caught in that place in between. Everything requires two or three steps to be done before it. It’s very hard for me. I’m a charge ahead kinda woman and this is a slog through it time… outside and in… and by in let’s include both my heart and my house.

My house will be lovely. It’s unlovely now. My heart will be patched over. It’s still got draining wounds.

But this process of healing is not to be wished away. This is time too. This is what it takes to merge the stuff of generations. This is what it takes for a heart to hold love. That I can’t do what i’ve always done, think the way I’ve always thought, laugh the way I so often do, is what’s true. And in that truth is a wretched beauty.

This is the cost of having a sweet sister. This is the price of having familial history. You pay the price that the silver might shine and the wood might gleam and the glassware sparkle. All that shining, gleaming and sparkling is your past. hmmm… maybe there’s a poem in this, I should stop!

But living here, now, being present, is the only way to get to ‘way over yonder…. whether that’s ‘way, ‘way, ‘way over yonder or simply tomorrow. It’s also the only way of making memories to make our futures sweet. Peace is where we are, or it isn’t anywhere.

Sun-Gold Peace

Tomato season. It’s always been a favorite. When they were fresh from the garden, there was always a plate of them on the table. Daddy always grew both yellow (which were maybe really orange, but tastier than most of the orange ones I find recently) and red. Mom never dressed them, just sliced them and put them out.

We all always waited until the meal was over to dive in, er, pass the plate. It was one of the few times that gluttony was encouraged at our house!

To this day, my favorite dinner is corn on the cob with tomatoes sliced onto the buttery plate. It’s a delightful indulgence, throughout which I can be heard murmuring, “mmm, mmm, mmm.” It’s both grace and a paean of praise and gratitude. “Blessed be the Earth that grows the food!” And the hands that till the soil and the hands that serve it and the energy the food imparts to the work of the world.

I think tomatoes taste like life. They taste like the sun and the soil and the rain that grows them. And those little sun-gold varieties? oh, yeah! Rub off the dirt and go, giving thanks all the way!

Cabbage Peace

Cabbage is one of those things that goes in and out of favor. In this country I suspect there were periods when we didn’t want to eat cabbage because it is “poor” food. Exactly. That’s one of the things that makes it extraordinary. Wherever you come from, whatever variety you grow, it can fill you up. If more of us ate it and ate more of it, there might be more food for others.

And it’s good for us. Another sturdy vegetable that can deliver health-giving properties all year long. It’s back in vogue at the moment, fermented foods are surging in popularity. What ferments better than cabbage. Although cabbage is one of those places that I surprise myself with my limitations. I don’t think i want kraut with jalepeno nor do i particularly want it with eggs for breakfast.

It grows well in cold climates, and it stores well, so, people eat it in soups and stews all year long. Certainly borscht, that wonderful adventure in beets, owes almost as much to cabbage as to beets. Apparently there are some versions that grow well in tropical climates as well… It’s got a long growing season wherever it lives and will keep delivering bounty and vitamins and minerals to your door. Hooray for cabbage!

Around here, you eat cabbage with onions and noodles and call it tasty. My mother used to sauté it with onion and apples when we were having pork or sausage. I like it in stir fries, I’ve eaten, and am not sure I’m in love with kim chee. But it’s a great vegetable.

And I love the silly references to finding babies under cabbage leaves (those that aren’t left under the gooseberry bushes or brought by storks.). It didn’t teach great physiology, but it’s sweet. There’s a painting from 1820 of a “maiden” discovering a baby under a cabbage leaf you can see here. This was early in Queen Victoria’s reign (like year 2). Good to know she didn’t invent prudishness, she merely popularized it. That Mother Nature doesn’t merely feed you, she brings you babies!

But here’s today’s paean to good and responsible eating: the cabbage! Cabbages for Peace, across cultures and socio-economic divides.

Majestic Peace – Past and Present

My parents made it to Denali, but they never saw the mountain… that and the Galapagos Island were two of Dad’s great regrets. The privilege of Denali, and oh, we saw it and saw it and saw it was magnified somehow by knowing we completed a journey for them.

It’s a gorgeous Mountain. And the terrain is fascinating. Once again, Nature offers us a different glimpse of her power and Beauty. There is great Peace in this land that cannot be disturbed by the humans. A geologist friend says: Mother Earth bats last. In this place, you understand, whatever we do, she will triumph. There are many sweet beings whose existence we threaten, but the powerful Earth will prevail. It’s a sobering thought.

Peace and Getting By…

One of the main shopping districts in Ketchikan was at one point the red-light district. Prostitution was the #1 industry in Ketchikan in the 1920s, somewhat ahead of fishing. Not only did the women offer “comfort” services, you could also get bootleg Canadian whiskey. Is it only me who finds it odd that it’s now the quaint shopping district? And that people flock to shop there… without a thought to what it meant to women whose only business options were their bodies?

I was happier shopping in Saxman Park, which is a living Native Village that is working to preserve and celebrate their heritage. They have (and are working to restore and build new) the largest collection of Totem Poles. There was a fascinating conversation on what they were and what the symbols meant… That was a highlight…

I felt myself a rather odd and uncomfortable witness to the wild dreams that brought people to this area that turned into grueling work and difficult conditions. Oddly, however, thanks to the Japanese current… one of those hardships is NOT bitter winters. Ah, the nature of humans and the nature of Nature!

But on a pretty summer morning,Ketchikan was a place of serene beauty and Peace. except of course for the bears running through the streets. They were pretty excited about the salmon. eek! Ah Mother Earth!

A Breath of Fresh Air Sabbath Peace

I’m a little out of sequence on the Alaska trip, there’s Ketchikan to write about: it was our first stop on the cruise. But yesterday was so warm and I, very uncharacteristically, spent much of it running around in and out of the heat at our church’s yard sale, that I was focused a lot on the notion of fresh air. (and the swimming pool, I thought a lot about the swimming pool as well! And you can bet I came home, cleaned up and went to visit my beloved town pool.)

We were taken by surprise on this trip. Everyone had warned us about how cold it would be. We didn’t even take shorts. Only one pair of capris. And there we were, off guard. But the water is frigid and there are glaciers (glaciers!!!) I’ve never experienced such a sweet breath of air.

Sadly, if you don’t get there soon, you may not either. Global warming has raised temperatures there nearly 11˚ in the last few years. That’s a lot. Hence the ridiculously warm temperatures. Alaskans were swimming in 39˚ glacial lakes. brr. But they were so warm.

If you can, find yourself a place this sabbath to enjoy a sweet breath of cool air or a sweet swim and take this hot day very languidly… it’s what we’re supposed to do.

Peace Harmony

Well, Happy Solstice, my friends! One of the things that’s been hard to adjust to since we’ve returned is that we have dark here (and clouds, barely saw a cloud in Alaska). They have light there, a lot of it, especially as we were bearing down on the Solstice. But on the other hand, I was so reassured to see that the well beloved fireflies have returned — just in time for the California kids to arrive next week. oh, there will be ice cream and fireflies at the Purple Cow!

I haven’t even begun to process Alaska, things to catch up on after time away. But I as aware when I was there, in that vast land of mountains, sky and water, that when left to itself, the land has its own kind of harmony, even if it’s sometimes harsh. And in the face of so much land and so few people, the people will-he-nil-he live in harmony with the land and the seasons as well. There are lessons to be taken from that, for sure… And Mother Earth is inclined to teach those lessons.

And I guess that says as much about Harmony as anything, doesn’t it? Living with what is here, what we’re given? and then finding the place to add our voice to the chorus! What could be sweeter? What would be better work? What could be more Peaceful?

Remember back when Coke wanted to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony? Well, harmony is imperfect, but it’s fun to look for and fun to participate in.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

Tag Archives: Mother Earth