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More autumnal beauty

Cicely Mary Barker

This beautiful illustration and poem are from the book The Fairies of The Autumn by Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973).

I was already in college when I discovered her work, but that didn’t stop me from absolutely loving it — for its delicate beauty but also for the way it brought fairies to life for me.

We currently live surrounded by oak trees — and in a banner year for acorns! — so I completely resonate with…

The Acorn Fairy
To English folk the mighty oak
Is England’s noblest tree;
Its hard-grained wood is strong and good
As English hearts can be.
And would you know how oak-trees grow,
The secret may be told:
You do but need to plant for seed
One acorn in the mould;
For even so, long years ago,
Were born the oaks of old

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A truly magnificent tree

We had finished lunch at The Expanding Light Retreat and were headed back to the Temple of Light parking lot when this magnificent tree stopped me in my tracks. It was just too beautiful to pass by.

Isn’t autumn wonderful?!?

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Saying farewell to a special soul we never met

Lugano street musician, Jörg Wolters

It’s amazing how you can feel connected to someone you never actually met or talked to. This gentleman — Jörg Wolters — is a beautiful example. I couldn’t begin to guess how many times we saw him playing his organ on the streets of Lugano; I found it to be absolutely delightful every single time.

Originally from Germany, with his top hat and long red beard, he was a well-known face throughout Ticino (Switzerland), performing for over 30 years as a street artist.

The City of Lugano paid homage to Jörg on its social media profiles:
“With deep sadness, we say goodbye to Jörg Wolters, better known as ”Barbarossa” (“Red Beard”), the organ player who with his music brought joy to our streets for over thirty years. A face known and loved by all, Jörg embodied the spirit of freedom and joy of life that he shared every day with his smiles and his music. His presence will remain indelible in the memory of Lugano and in the hearts of those who had the pleasure of meeting him.”

When we were in Lugano last May, I was inspired to capture a few moments on video. I will miss his smile and cheerful music the next time we visit.

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Ready to be done

We spent the morning with our recording tech guys, mixing and mastering the two songs that we’ll be sharing as singles from our soon-to-be-launched Christmas album.

Then I tackled some fairly hefty tasks this afternoon.

And now I really don’t feel like typing another sentence. Yep, I’m truly done for the day!

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An unexpected musical discovery

Yesterday was pedicure time, so I spent about an hour in the chair at Jivani’s (my friend, neighbor, and aesthetician) while she made my toes beautiful.

Although she usually has Ananda Music playing, yesterday she was taking a break from Radio Ananda and listening to an all-classical guitar radio station. I didn’t tune into it so much at first, but bit by bit it grabbed my attention.

I finally made a comment along the lines of, “Wow, this is a really good guitarist!” I might have commented on the intonation, the facility, the expressivity, etc.

Then I was curious to know who this “really good” guitarist was, so I used the Shazam app on my phone and discovered that it was none other than Andrés Segovia, who ranks first on all the lists of “greatest classical guitarists of all time.”

The piece I heard was Castillos de España by Federico Moreno Torroba. All eight movements are delightful but 2. Torija (Elegía) just knocks my socks off. It’s so beautiful I can’t help crying as I listen to it.

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Softest voice. Gentlest hands.

When I’m browsing Facebook and come upon a poem so deeply moving that it makes me weep, I feel compelled to share it.

(The poem is below. The above quote was shared in the Facebook comments; it’s so perfect I had to use it here.)

when I am tested by the complexities of
our modern world, I retreat to the simplest truth I have slowly come to understand:

I cannot hush the roar of a hurricane
or persuade an earthquake to spare the walls I’ve built for my home

my influence on this life is small and I control very little

except for:

1) the softness of my voice
when I speak to myself—

and

2) the gentleness of my hands
when I reach for others

my love,

if we hold fast to
these two things,
how can either of us
fail this great exam
we all must take?

~ john roedel

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The perfect placeholder

It’s been an extremely slow kind of recovery day — unpacking; watering plants; simple household tasks; some much-needed self-care; and just a little bit of work that couldn’t wait.

But my brain is feeling depleted to the point that I couldn’t focus on a topic for tonight.

Then I saw this photo of the view from Aldesago, where we stayed during our visit to Switzerland two years ago, and felt it was the perfect placeholder.

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Farewell to the PNW

So GREEN!

We had an excellent view of Mount Rainier as we flew away from green, moisture-filled Seattle, on our way home to the parched reality that is California.

It was a great weekend but it’s good (very good) to be home.

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Sunday night pizza

It was half gone before it occurred to me to take a picture!

A fabulous and full day in the PNW — choir, purification, Sunday service, delicious lunch, talking to lots of new friends, a visit to Heart Song Hermitage, Ananda Washington’s leadership meeting — all culminating in a well-earned and much-appreciated pizza for dinner.

In fact, we were rather surprised at just how good it was.

The perfect end to a fantastic weekend.

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Great to be here, but…

We’re so happy to be at Ananda Washington once again. But I’m having a (temporary) zero energy moment. I wanted to write something more substantial, but simply don’t have it in me.

Why?

Well, we led a very successful four-hour choir workshop today. Followed by a brief moment to collapse after getting home, before we started preparing for tomorrow.

What are we doing tomorrow?

Well, at 8:00 we leave for the Temple. At 8:25 we’ll have choir rehearsal (we’re singing with choir plus doing a duet after the talk).

9:00 is the purification ceremony for which we are blessers. A brief break, then at 10:00 we give Sunday service. Lunch after service, then we get to visit Heart Song Hermitage, Ananda Washington’s beautiful new retreat center.

The only thing to do now is get myself to bed.