Month: October 2020

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All Hallows’ Eve blessings

It’s been a very long while since I felt any real affinity for Halloween. I feel more resonance with the multiple day observance of All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day.

Of course, I didn’t have much awarerness of anything except Halloween until well into adulthood. It was as part of a women’s group that I was introduced to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which took place the night before All Saints’ Day, when the veil between the worlds was believed to be lifted. This eventually became what we know as Halloween.

And it was while I was living in Europe that I learned more about All Saints’ Day (La Festa di Ognissanti) and All Souls’ Day (Il Giorno dei Morti or the Day of the Dead). What a difference from Halloween, which had been fun as a child, but for adults seemed to just be an excuse for a silly sort of excess.

So I really appreciate this more meaningful holiday, which encourages me to remember with love my dear ones who have passed on.

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I really, really needed this tonight!

I made the mistake of reading some political stuff on Facebook and was feeling really down. I mean, it’s all just such a mess.

But then I saw this. Whoever and wherever you are, Chad Baker, THANK you! 😂

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Baffled and bemused

I read about the strongly surging virus and I simply can’t wrap my mind around the thinking and the attitudes that have led us to this point.

I mean, if someone really hates wearing a mask, it seems obvious to me that they would compensate for the lack of a mask by being that much more careful about physical distancing and staying away from crowds.

But the opposite seems — all too often — to be true, with people saying “I don’t have to wear a mask and I can go wherever I want and I will do whatever I want to do. So there!” I swear I can practically see the tongue sticking out at the end, it’s such a childishly immature attitude…one that insists on dictating, rather than accepting, reality.

And I just don’t get it. Hence, I am left baffled and bemused.

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From the trees: a mantra for the day

For once I’m writing my blog post before noon. Why? Because inspiration hit early for once!

My friend, Lisa — who feels, as do I, a deep love for the poetry of Mary Oliver — shared a poem that really spoke to me today. And I felt to distill its message down to these words to live by: Go easy; be filled with light; shine.

Trees remind us that we, too, have come into the world to do this. But how quickly we forget…

WHEN I AM AMONG THE TREES
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

@2006 by Mary Oliver
Published by Beacon Press in Thirst, p.4
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Remembering our original plan

Ramesha and I are in the process of launching a new project together. Except that I’m realizing it’s actually kind of an old project, in the sense that it’s partly a resumption of what we thought we were going to do when we arrived from Switzerland in 2006.

Shortly after our Assisi wedding (two years earlier) we felt guided to unite our energies also musically by becoming an actual ensemble. We decided to call ourselves the Harmony Duo as a way of acknowledging and honoring how we were different (in race, nationality, language, and background) yet completely harmonious.

As we started working on our current next steps I felt compelled to search house and office until I located this little notebook, filled with the plans we had for the duo back then.

And we did do some of it…before getting caught up in lots of other wonderful life adventures. Now we’re feeling guided to tune back into those original plans…and we’ll see where it leads us!

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Shorter days AND no power

I’m at the music office, finishing up everything that needs internet before I head home for the night.

Home to a chilly evening without lights, without watching a show with Ramesha, without scrolling the internet…maybe, just maybe, I’ll get to bed earlier than usual!

Hope springs eternal! 😂

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Ballot received and will be counted

“Your ballot for the 2020 General Election was received and will be counted. Thank you for voting!”

It feels great to have this done.

It also brings back memories of living in Switzerland during the 2004 presidential elections. At that time I had only ever voted in person on Election Day and I wasn’t familiar with the absentee ballot process. So I missed the deadline (the only time in my adult life I didn’t vote for President).

The thing that surprised me was how passionately concerned my friends and family in Switzerland were about my participation in the process. For weeks I had people asking whether I had voted yet…and explaining to me about my right to an absentee ballot!

Some were actually rather upset with me when I admitted that I had missed the absentee ballot deadline! I had to assure them that — being from California, which was won handily by John Kerry — I hadn’t thrown the election to George Bush!

So I’m glad to have successfully voted, not just as an American, but also as a global citizen. Because I’m sure that this year my friends and family around the world are more passionately concerned with the outcome than ever before.

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The person who you actually are

Something to think about. After all, who are we really?

A saying like this is great for cutting through the phoney, externally-imposed layers. Eventually we’ll remember who we actually are and what we can actually do.

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Observations of a summer solstice child

The days are growing shorter and we’re once again adjusting to the arrival of full dark at (what seems to me) a ridiculously early hour.

Of course, being a summer solstice baby, I can’t really help myself. You see, I was born on June 20, the height of midsummer. It even happens (occasionally) that the actual solstice will fall on that day.

Over the years I’ve had a number of friends and relatives with whom — despite loving them dearly — I could never quite see eye-to-eye. It was only years later that I realized most of those people were born at or near the winter solstice. No wonder we had a different take on life.

Yes, I know, this isn’t a very scientific conclusion, but it’s a theory that works for me. 🌞