Three months behind and ahead

Just past equinox and three months since the solstice. That December night we experienced an evening of live music with Peter Mayer in Slater. Such a wonderful start to winter. Not my favorite season but Peter warmed my heart with his poetry and voice on the longest night of the year. 

Now he has pledged to release a new song on youtube everyday till "the distancing is over."

I’m pondering the energetic events and surprises of the past three months. Working in retail fueled December, campaigning for Mayor Pete consumed January, kaboom the caucuses deflated February but energy rebalanced with community valentine makers in our dining room, and the dogs - always the dogs. All beneath the brewing cloud of covid-19.

December seems like much longer ago than three months. I contemplate three months ahead and cannot imagine what will happen to all of us. It’s an anxious fearful time that I cannot fully understand. I can only live each day with mindfulness, humility, and compassion. I aspire to let the covid-19 experience make me the best possible person that I can be. Meanwhile, we shall rely upon Maxwell as stabilizer supreme.

Life's Persistance

  Another utterly remarkable weekend here with warm temperatures in the sixties and friendly winds. Once again, perfect dog walking weather and we did plenty of that.  We also paused to rescue a deer who I saw slam into a chain link fence. THAT was a healing experience. We actually thought she had a spinal cord injury and would have to be euthanized. With heavy hearts we trudged home to come back with a rifle. When we got back, she was gone. We searched thoroughly, not wishing to leave her suffering if she had simply dragged herself into hiding. But it was a large fenced area, a finite realm to search, and she was gone. Apparently she needed some recovery time alone and a whiff of spring ahead to choose life.  I like to think of her rally. Leaping over the fence that downed her. Choosing life.

We also marked this day one year without our beloved Tobey. I visit with him each night under the stars. I ask him- sometimes beg him- for help with the new dogs. His remarkable presence continues to inspire me. If Jasper and Bella are not already feeling his welcome, they will be with this anniversary. Thank you, a million thank yous, Tobey.

JASPER LOVE Spring Preview

We had a preview of spring here this February weekend with sunny skies and 38 degrees Fahrenheit. Navigating between frozen snow chunks, intermittent ice patches and eagerly emerging mud made for heavenly dog walks.  We got in three hour-long rambles both days. Oh what smells those canines must be inhaling!

It’s been a winter and a half if you include the caucuses as an extra season. I do. A winter of healing. That sounds serene but bringing Jasper back to some semblance of health has not been a serene journey. More like a slow grind with derailments of despair alternating with bursts of optimism- frozen snow chunks, intermittent ice patches and eagerly emerging mud.

Jasper came home from intensive care weighing 38.8 pounds in mid November. Three months later he’s nine pounds heavier. If we can stay apace, he could be a healthy weight this autumn. That’s our goal.

To that end, we will be launching Jasper Love next month. You are invited to join in Jasper’s care and story.

Autumn Equinox

Change is in the air. Although the humidity feels like peak summer, there is no denying the surrounding signs of autumn. Foliage trades green for yellow. Goldfinches, still tawny, graze the Echinacea seed heads. Spider webs large and small pop up unannounced on familiar pathways.

Ever changing also is pain’s ebb and flow for the creature(s) you love. Some of them are afloat in the blessing bowl. Here is my equinox prayer for us. It’s adapted from Peter Traben Haas in Centering Prayers, 2013.

Help me to stay open to love in this world of pain. Do not let me close down in hurt; open me through forgiveness. When I turn inward in my worries, lift my eyes skyward. If I feel unworthy in loneliness, remind me of my infinitesimal but essential value serving life on our sometimes dreary planet. In silence and surrender, draw me to love.

Summer Haikus

JUNE
Overdue cleaning
BAM! Radiant cool results
refrigerator

JULY
Beyond hotcha plus
Snowbirds have it all backwards
Now go, winter stay

AUGUST
Jasper's B+ poops
Bella's blinking butterflies
one hundred dog days

SEPTEMBER
September acorns
teasing Bella as they fall
Autumn coming down

August Waning

August waning, this year’s grin garden is at its peak. Tucked in and viewable from only 25 feet of gravel road frontage, it’s easy to miss on P Avenue. We call it “P as in peaceful”, but it is often not. That rural road hosts a stunning number of vehicles in big hurries.  I wonder how many people spot the wee garden and how many smiles it evokes. I pull the tan van in or out of there at least once a day. The garden’s surprise has worn off for me, but I still can’t help but smile…

Lunar landings

July 20, 2019

The celebration is now. The build up has been stunning, engaging, and so educational. Even the BBC Proms blasted off on Friday with a musical exploration of the moon -Zosha Di Castri's latest work Long Is the Journey - Short Is the Memory, which marks the 50th anniversary of the lunar landings.

I can recall exactly where I was for the landing and on whose television and in whose company I watched it. One of those event specific memory milestones that bind many earthlings. Yet I do not think I grasped the enormity of it. So, it has been fascinating to reeducate myself this month about what actually happened five decades ago. Indeed, the long journey juxtaposed with the short memory.

It only reinforces my bent for seeking sky. So this evening I stepped outside to photograph a post-rain firmament, but putting on my sandals I was looking down, of course. Behold.

Heavenly blessings all around. Up and down.