they got me/we...singing and dreaming...

I am dicing onions and tomatoes, Erik is cutting up hot spicy peppas, and we are listening/watching PlayingForChange goodness, a "must" whenever we're sharing space. This one is my favorite and makes me dream of my future as a social worker and desiring to be part of something like this...international creative musical peace addressing racism war in a one-love kind of positive tribe vibe way...I'm thankful for them...makin' me dream, inspiring me...

"I learned about the sacred art of self-decoration with the monarch butterflies perched atop my head, lightening bugs as my night jewelry, and emerald green frogs as bracelets"

-Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves

Good morning scattered tribe~

Happy Friday everyone...

My tribe is scattered today, some in transit (my beloved with a long train of a truck) and others having arrived but far away. Erik is foraging for goodness in the rainforest of northern Australia, Tina's in Germany, Leo's somewhere between Lansing and Wellfleet (closer to Lansing at this point). So, I woke up feeling how small the world seems --Precious ones hither and yon but I feel them close.

To get into the Friday morning groove, here's a little ditty for you by Michael Franti called Hello Bonjour and it's about the world without borders, it's about the Tribe scattered but connected...Bumps to Michael for his Portugues~

So hello, Bonjour, Ola, BON DIAAAA~

I am on the "finished" side of the paper that I just emailed to my professor, and another paper deadline on the horizon. For a moment though, I'm going to take a breather and tell you a little about my morning.

I woke up, drank my coffee, and checked my email. As I did so, a good friend and colleague from Sri Lanka (actually her technology savvy daughter) instant messaged me asking if I could Skype. We have not laid precious eyes on one another for a few years and I was in a sleepy eyed, jammies, hair-fairy'd, needing a shower kind of place so I suggested Skype in 15 minutes and she accepted. I downed the rest of my coffee, jumped in the shower, dressed and dialed up. Rohani's voice soon filled our kitchen :) and Leo and I told her about our lives here in the States now...fishing and taking care of elders, studying and trying to save money...she understood and could relate on many levels and it felt good to share these realities together. We showed her our tupperware of dry lentils, a staple in Sri Lanka and luckily something we loved loved loved to eat. The fact that we still eat it totally cracked her up and we let the cadence and sound of her voice and laugh soak in. Rohani. What a gift to spend a little time together this morning.

All clean and dressed so early in the morning on a Sunday, I decided to head for P-town to St. Mary's, lil church right by the sea. It was the first Sunday of advent and the bishop was visiting. I. LOVE. HER. Poetic presence, sings during her sermons, has mastered the art of the quiet moments between words, elicits nods and groans from her audience, and most important of all, channels inspiration to open our hearts and minds and lives ever wider to better love one another.

And so it was that I sat down to write that paper, all filled up inside from my morning...and so it is that I have finished at this reasonable hour. I'm headed for bed with a book for class.

Sleep come soon for me and for you~

Eating with the fullest pleasure...

Eating with the fullest pleasure — pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance — is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world.

In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend.

-Wendell Berry

Amen Mr Berry...and with that,

bon appetit sisters and brothers!

Thanksgiving

Light shine upon the fellowship of these days~

Together we give thanks for those precious things in our lives for which it is easy to give thanks; as well for those difficulties that challenge us and by which we are learning to be humble, gentle, patient and trusting...trusting that what is unfolding in our lives has meaning and purpose, and that we are moving ever closer to our beautiful potential, to our individual and collective highest good. Amen.

~Peace be with you~

"How does one become a butterfly?" she asked pensively.

"You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."

-Trina Paulus, from Hope for the Flowers

A nugget from one of my groups this past week that I thought I'd share with you precious lights, 'round about.

Inspiration be yours as a new week begins~

the power of Presence

"...they also serve who only stand and wait"

-John Milton

This is one of my Grandfather's favorite lines, and has been very helpful to him over the years serving as a chaplain in the hospital as well as a pastor. It has been his advice to me in my work with families separated by war over the years, and again now as I participate in various therapeutic environments as a Masters of Social Work intern.

Our very Presence is a gift we bring in service to those around us. When we feel at a loss for words, when we aren't sure how to respond, what to say...often just holding the moment together, being present to what is being shared is enough.

~they also serve who only stand and wait~

Love and light in your direction and thank you for being Present to the little ones and the old ones and the strange and ordinary ones in your day today~

me lately

I was super bored last Sunday at work, MY LAST SUNDAY SHIFT UNTIL NEXT MAY!!! so I took a few pictures of myself, the "me lately" pics. It's been awhile since I've shown my face :) Today was my first free Sunday here on the Cape since last May. Leo and I attended a holy halloween service at the UU church in Brewster which warmed my soul in the middle of this nor-easter wind and rain chillin' our bones (high winds and rain, no snow for us). The theme of the service was honoring our ancient ones, our ancestors, bringing in the new season of quiet, of darkness, of reflection and remembering. I remembered many, my father, my mama-in-law, and a friend of ours died just yesterday. Phil Pollard. A whimsical, creative, open and loving special soul. It was the place for us to be this morning. I appreciated the message, the community that gathered, the opportunity to remember in fellowship (thanks Monica). We're now home. Football is on TV. Banana bread in the oven (Eva's recipe), the house smells yummy. My mom is on her eastward journey. She'll arrive tomorrow, moving in, begining a new job here on the Cape. I'm so proud of her, and of Tina and Mom for "moving confidently in the direction of their dreams" of living out here full-time.

The Great Spirit moves within and across our lives in large and intimate ways, blessings abound and look how we are stretched, and see how we grow, and oh how much we are learning, learning.

Bowing in remembrance, in welcoming anticipation, and with thanksgiving for this rich and strange and wonderful ride.

Love to you in your many directions~

creation of the beloved community

I read this quote of BU alum, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Dean of Boston University's blog. It resonated and inspired me to share with you precious lights:

"...the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community."

Amen to that.

Amen to actively creating and re-creating the beloved community.

Thank you for being part of mine.

"...best preacher that ever was..."

-from an Emily Dickinson poem

Presence

From On Being website:

‎"I learned over the months that to evoke a place where hope might arise, I had to give up any idea of service and to offer instead my willingness to be deeply, authentically present, much the way that a mother does with her infant." ~Judith Leipzig

Let girls be girls...

Something I saw on The Elders website today...and watching this on the same day as it was announced that three women won the Nobel Peace Prize, it's been a day to be thankful for many things, including strong women leaders, (s)heroes to inspire us and show us the way:

bringing in the day

Morning clouds over Newcomb Hollow

We bring in this day watching seals in the water and crazy beautiful cloud action above.

"Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness."

-from Mary Oliver's Why I Wake Early

Elder time

Elders are the roots of our tender growing. We open ourselves and our cups are filled. History and lore, what a beautiful way to learn. From the mouths of ones own tribe.

Even the quiet, together times when nothing is being said but much is being shared through presence alone, even these and especially these moments are the ones that I tuck away as greatest blessings...Erik and I made our way to Sioux Falls, South Dakota a few months back to spend some time with our grandparents.

It was days before my grandfather's 92nd birthday, and they celebrated their 60-somethingth wedding anniversary while we were there. This last picture is them looking through their wedding album, Gramps with an LED-flashlight to see better by, Gram recalling the stories that went along with the images...

Blessings abound. Eldertime, grounding ourselves, rooting down, listening to where and what we come from, and also sharing what we've learned and what we've seen and experienced out there in the world....what this tree, this tribe is becoming. It is a gift to them as well.

Whispered upon the earliest light,

Peace in my mindheart

Peace in my body

Peace to those near

Peace to those far

Peace in all directions

with no exceptions

Peace

Peace

Peace

happy fridayyyy

Happy Friday and there is a clear sky after a night of rain. Sheets are in the wash to hang out in the morning sun before work. Sunkissed sheets, on the list of my favorite smells. I am behind in my school work, I am behind in my chores, but I am present to this morning and I have been present to the people around me this week. All in all it's been a good week. I found a Mary Oliver poem this morning that I think some of you might appreciate, as I did through nods and mmm's and yesssses~

Blessings to your weekend, for goodness of the good-est kind~

Ocean by Mary Oliver

I am in love with Ocean

lifting her thousands of white hats

in the chop of the storm,

or lying smooth and blue, the

loveliest bed in the world.

In the personal life, there is

always grief more than enough,

a heart-load for each one of us

on the dusty road. I suppose

there is a reason for this, so I will be

patient, acquiescent. But I will live

nowhere except here, by Ocean, trusting

equally in all the blast and welcome

of her sorrowless, salt self.

-Mary Oliver

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai, first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, environmental activist, leader of the Green Belt Movement died yesterday. I became aware of her and her work through a Speaking of Faith (now On Being) interview a few years back. I found this little snippet on YouTube, her hummingbird story...enjoy and be inspired. Wangari Maathai, we will watch for you in the dancing leaves, in the waving branches, thank you, thank you:

under the same sky

I spoke with my 92 year old grandfather last night on the phone and at his recommendation, I stood on the porch and looked at the full moon with my binoculars (Erik's binoculars actually). I highly recommend it. You will fall in love all over again with that milky sphere, I guarantee.

When we got off the phone, Gramps was going to pull aside the curtain in his nursing home room and look too. Simple grace....we are under the same sky, we are looking at the same moon.

Oh we many lights shining together even when we're apart.

Nodding as I read in one of my textbooks for Intro to Clinical Practice:

"Silence is a form of communication, not just a blank space between periods of speech."

Indeed it is.

via Danielle's Facebook comes a really wonderful little vignette:

I see you, he said.

And he did.

That was all that was said.

And that was everything.

Sunrise

I'm doing pretty well this week at making time to play before and after work. Last night we surfed the sundown. A little seaweedy, cold, and small....but fast and fun. The fact that I am still on my learning curve and lookin' like a fool more than lookin' cool didn't stop me from having the biggest smile on my face as I walked up the hill to the truck last night. Gallon jugs with warm water felt like heaven pouring over our heads to rinse off the salt and seaweed. We headed over to Mac's at the harbor, ordered up goodness and ate in the truck as the wind whistled through the mast lines of the boats lined up for the night. Crawled into bed early, leftover seaweed bits and all. This morning we were at the beach at 6 and while the surf has dropped off, it was a beautiful place to sit and watch the awakening day. Blessings to yours. Happy Friday.

"...smell the sea and feel the sky

let your soul and spirit fly

into the mystic..."

summatyyyme

Some of you might know that Leo and I transplant ourselves in the summertime and live with dear friends while we rent the house out to tourists. Our summer residence is a divine cottage style Cape Cod house topped with 20-something solar panels (we feed the grid, even with all of the Blandford gadgets), rainharvesting bin, lots of sunny space to hang our clothes and sheets after washing (my favorite smell ever, sundried clothes), and a wonderful bountiful garden with beans, beets, squash, melon, tomatoes, and stuff for later in the fall like parsnips. Feeling really grateful for our summer digs that come with such meaningful, genuine fellowship as well as abundant and good vibes with the elements. Loving this summer-time, loving this place~

peace in all directions, love in all directions

this music

At the Edge of the Ocean

I have heard this music before,

saith the body.

-Mary Oliver from New and Selected Poems

Ni haoooo

Leo and I have embarked on another leg of our serendipitous journey. We've begun taking Chinese language classes together. They're being taught by a young married couple, a Taiwanese woman who comes from the south of Taiwan from an aboriginal tribe, and a whitie Wellfleetian surfer man who was born and raised here in Wellfleet, went to Taiwan and learned Chinese, met his wife and married, and lived in the south of Taiwan, surfing and getting his Masters (in Chinese!!) in Aboriginal Studies. Our energy was shining so bright in class last night as we heard their story. And that's because of our story: Leo's late mother is from Taiwan, and her mother (Leo's grandmother who is still living in Taiwan) is of aboriginal descent. Leo has wanted to learn the language, return to Taiwan to connect with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, AAAAAND surf in the waters of the motherland. He's also long been curious about his aboriginal bloodline. These two teachers embody all of those elements that Leo has been moving towards in his mind for years. As for me, my late father spent a great deal of the last ten years of his life in China and had learned enough of the language to travel, live, and work there. He worked hard at it and his dedication and efforts paid off in meaningful friendships with several Chinese people, young and old. I never got there while my father was still living. It will be an intense experience for me when I finally visit China.

Sitting in class last night, listening to Akay and Caleb speak, making new yet familiar tones with our mouths and drawing these ancient and beautiful characters, stroke by stroke, it was as if we had Arrived in a time and place that had been waiting for us, especially us. There were places in our minds and hearts popping open like a million little morning glories. Something old and familiar, yet new and exciting was tapped in that room last night.

in the Flow and feeling fine....

our homework for tomorrow is to create our Chinese name. Leo knew right away what he wanted. I'm pondering....

Chocolate Drops jam out near Highland Lighthouse

We went to see the Carolina Chocolate Drops last night under a lil tent by the sea here in North Truro. Faaaaaantastic show with lots of clapping, stomping, singing, and grooving on our parts and totally jamming out on the part of the Chocolate Drops. The music kicked the winds up and by the end of the show spirits and breezes were soaring.

I checked YouTube and www.carolinachocolatedrops.com for a video and this one gives a little background and has some different music clips in it. Check their tour dates. If they come anywhere near you, GO and be lifted and inspired :)

Ever since happiness heard your name

It has been running through the streets

Trying to find you.

-Hafiz