Blue Peace, llvl

We have to take the signs where we get them when the temp is hovering in the teens. The weather will turn. It’s March.

Everyone is stir-crazy. We’ve been inside too long. Spoke to my friend who owns a cafe the other day. Business is ‘way off. For a while she worried, is it me? One of her suppliers came by and said everyone’s business is off. It’s too cold to go out. We’re all spending a lot more than we’d planned on heat. And we’re huddled against the cold.

The river freezes and thaws. And so do we.

But yesterday the sky was so blue. It wasn’t a winter blue; it was the blue of spring. Deep, beautiful blue. A promise in the midst of very cold weather. We’ll take that, and we’ll remember… Spring is coming. And with spring, a different sort of Peace-making, a sweet growing Peace… Ah, beauty!

C’mon sun! (and hey, it’s Pi Day, Pie Day… how bad can it be?)

Home, Peace, LLVL

In the last year, I’ve had to pinch myself several times… I can’t quite believe my good fortune. I am living in a place that every part of me considers home. I love the landscape, I love the seasons. I love the communities. I love the opportunities. I love the Music and Art that get made here. I love that I get to be part of all of it.

In addition I am doing the work of my heart. All the pieces of it. I have good colleagues and fellow travelers on this Peace Road. Wonderful People keep walking into my life and We keep making connections.

I have to credit my husband with some of this drive toward joy and fulfillment. Until I met Steve a little more than years ago, I don’t know that I’d ever gotten to know anyone well who was as involved as he is in his Work and his Art. I’ve always been driven, but I don’t know that I’ve always reveled in the achievement of dreams… But here, it’s possible… Or, here I’ve figured out how to make it possible.

It feels like magic sometimes that I can love my life so much. But then I remember that magic (and life and love) are very hard work. and so is Peace. But… let’s do them anyway!

Spring Peace Cusp, LLVL

I wrote today’s musing knowing that I was starting on the Spring side of the Cusp and would soon be reverting to the Winter Side. Now that we’re back, it’s hard to remember yesterday.

But that’s what life’s like on the cusp… and it’s what it’s like when you’re being present to you local reality. La vida is what it is. Tomorrow doesn’t really matter, although it can be prepared for. Yesterday is a blessing to be counted and a lesson to be learned from. Today is where life is happening. Live into the possibilities! Make Peace with Now.

Yesterday life was open and expansive. Today it’s inward and focused. And we have to be where we are. That’s life. That’s Peace. Right here right now, in la vida local. And aren’t we lucky. (even if a touch cold! Where did I put those wrist warmers?)

Sabbath Peace, Local Possibilities

It seems appropriate to me, to be back here in my life in time for the Sabbath. I spent so many years outside the church, so to realize that I define not only who I am but how I live by it seems odd to me. I like it. But it’s not how I envisioned spending my life. Yet here I am, living richly. (It’s good to remind myself, because having been shorted on sleep yesterday to catch the plane, I’m going to take a moment to catch up… Losing sleep does not make for a cheery, healthy Ann. au contraire!)

Just in time for Spring, our community is going to start gathering funds for feeding kids on the weekends. We want to lead the Valley toward a life where No Child Goes Hungry… wouldn’t that be amazing? so, it’s time for the seedlings to start poking their heads above the soil — along with the crocus!

So, as the world thaws and the waters start to flow… look out… Love will be Flowing as well… Check in, see how you can help.

The Possibility of Peace… and then the Realities… let’s go!

Everwhere Peace, Every Vida Local

When you’re an activist, and this year I’ve come to terms with that part of myself… it’s hard to leave. What if something wonderful happens and I miss it. (and it did, two wonderful things!) What if something horrible happens and I’m needed. (because no one else in the world is capable, let alone the fabulous people I work with.)

But it was time and family beckoned… and ok, let’s be frank… so did the warmth. And it is a wonderful thing indeed to be here. Miss my beloved, will bring him next time. Slept until 10:00 did that, like, oh, never!

And it is fun to visit and get into someone’s life. And these are cousins we didn’t know well as they were growing up, because our parents hadn’t done a good job of making the generations friends.

But here we are friends now, so we all work at visiting. And given their florida location, i admit, it’s no hardship.

But yesterday, when we walked in, this is what greeted me… which for some reason i can’t get to face the right direction… grrrrrrrrr. but she’s just as cute from the side view…

so, i was happy, happy, happy. and doesn’t it just show you. wherever you go… there you are!

Whatever Happens, Sabbath Peace

Well, we’re either getting the biggest snow ever or nothing. They’re predicting a trace to 20 inches.

It’ll be what it is. In the meantime. You and I had better get on with our lives. if it’s a big snow, it’s Sunday shoveling, snow angels, hot chocolate and the NY Times by the fire… or something. It’s going to be wonderful, whatever it is. Or will be if you decide to let it.

Peace. Sabbath. Snow. (nevermind the date) Or No Snow. If it’s snow, it will be Peace and Quiet, the beautiful muffling quiet of snow…

I can’t be bothered worrying about what’s going to happen. Because it’s going to happen whether or not I worry about it. So I wish you a Joyous and Peaceful Sabbath — a mid week break before resuming whatever passes for normal life.

Peace Dawn in La Vida Local

It is that time of year when you get up just a bit earlier. The light calls. And it’s worth answering its call because it’s gorgeous if you can get yourself out of bed. But there’s more than Beauty waiting, there’s Possibility.

It’s time. Goodness knows I’ve put it off long enough this winter. I’ve been sad, I’ve been sleepy. I’ve been shoveling snow. And all those things are fine… they are what they are.

In addition, the project I’m working on has been too big to get my arms around until now… It’s still too big, but there are little moments of clarity. Little things are getting done (shout hallelujah!) that are making it possible to understand what it might be. The team is lining up and finding their feet… and we’re off tripping and figuring things out. (I’m not trying to tease, the minute I’ve got a website for this baby, you’ll hear from me!)

This is the time of year for figuring it out. It’s time (Ann, are you listening?) to set the alarm and get up and get going. Because the world needs just the brand of Peace you have to offer. Wake up, wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead. Sometimes waking up is the prayer you need to offer the world. Get up, get up, get up, get out of bed! You’ve got your work cut out for you! Cheer up, cheer up, the sun is red! live, laugh, love and be happy! Joy is waiting for you. And Peace is made of Joy.

Sugar, Peace & La Vida Local

It’s sugar time here. Or was for a weekend. And won’t be again for a while, if, as is threatened, another Polar Vortex comes rushing through.

It’s the thing about living where you live. In New York City or the Bay Area, if I talked about sugaring, it was all a metaphor. It didn’t happen there.

But here, where I live, weather conditions change and people I know go out into the woods and stick a spigot in their trees and hang a bucket on it. And then they boil. One woman boils in her house. My buddy in MN boils over an open fire. He wrote this morning saying it’ll be the Equinox before they have the first syrup over ice cream… It’s hard work that relaxes, makes memories and deepens the sweetness of the syrup.

Another guy I know is talking about becoming a beekeeper. Lots of people I know garden and then make amazing meals from their take. Since I still tend to eat ingredients rather than a meal, (although whew! can this girl chop veggies for a salad!)

When you live close to the land, the land is part of the local life… whether you work the land or admire it from afar.

Sugaring, bringing a little slow Peace and Sweetness into everyone’s life.

Frozen Tears Need Peace Sabbath, llvl

It seems we need to find new ways of observing and respecting one another’s boundaries. Perhaps the pendulum has swung as far as it might in this one direction so that we can begin to establish new rules of engagement of the most personal nature.

A new civilization… one with awareness, one with respect, one with deliberately slow Sabbaths..

I believe always in our good intentions. But perhaps we need a little more formality than we’re used to?

It’s something to ruminate on, this chilly morning, ways to let the tears soften and flow and for us to hold our seat. I also wish those struggling with their challenges glimpses of normalcy in their lives, long moments to remember who they are apart from whatever threatens…

Sabbath Peace… and please be careful, I’ve heard it’s very icy this morning.

Icy Peace Assists, llvl

This was the first Winter in a very long time that we’ve had snow storm after snow storm causing dangerous conditions. Facebook has been littered with stories of massive pile ups on major high ways and cars sliding off roads into ditches.

Yesterday was the worst of conditions, a sudden ice storm left everything coated in about a quarter inch of ice. and the icicles were enormous.

For some folks, this was just one more day we had to be out and about. For others, it was another storm and we couldn’t, couldn’t, couldn’t postpone things any longer… although this was highly dangerous for a couple hours.

The only hope one had was that neighbors would drag you out of any icy puddles. At the end of this long snow spell, neighbors are pretty well primed to be helpful. So, be careful out there, there are snow piles, thin crusted puddles, and slush. And be neighborly… it’s the only Peace you can see… but when someone picks you up off your butt… it’s pretty real.

A new acquaintance from the Quartet I’ve been raving about slipped yesterday and his viola was shattered. He says it’s repairable… I can’t imagine the shock… but a neighbor who repairs string instruments has two for him to try and borrow… helping him out of that snow pile… and dusting him off as best as possible…

So mind your footing and keep your hands out to pull a neighbor out of a jam. Peace.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

Tag Archives: seasons