Mississippi Moments

Tuesday, July 29, 2008



It is an 8 Heron Day! It is low tide at Golden Gardens. We made it. There were other animals, too. Some were just waking up after all night partying. Others were still partying. My friend, Will, says I have it wrong when I say things just can't get better. So, I guess it comes down to this. I am Standing in it, Breathing it, Living it, Believing It...with my little dog, too. Especially when I am watching 8 herons gracefully hunting and snapping up fresh, slimy whatevers, the mountains are swathed in grey, and Coli is in my ear singing "Lullabye". It might get better, and I don't need it to...or want it to, either.

Hey, it's Lughnasa in 4 days. Do you have any "Unpacking" you want to do? To lay anything out in the Light to defungi it, or freshen it, or "burn" it...or fix it up for future use? I'm gonna go have a conversation with Sister Tahoma up close. I plan to listen a bunch. I'm bringing the harp, too. For when I don't have English words for what I really have to say.

More Dream R Us
...This morning, I woke up to more of this same wonderful thread. Cedar and I had been out and about in a place sort of like Port Townsend. We had met some folks, played with some dogs, referred someone to Sheltie Rescue instead when he wanted to breed his dog to a Sheltie. I told him there were so many other Shelties that needed forever homes. Then we came home here to Fair Isle. I was hacking away at some minor but invasive blackberries to get to the garage. I also cleared out some old rocking chairs and apple boxes and discovered that there was an old but perfectly functioning VW bus back there for us to go camping in! It was dry. The tires were good. It was empty and sort of clean. Then this part of the dream ended as I was getting ready to go in it. In ordinary reality, Cedar and I are off for a walk at Shilshole this morninng. Want to see if I can do the whole thing. Then we are going down to Mt. Rainier for the rest of the week to camp.....

Monday, July 28, 2008


Dream Update

I had the Heavy Backpack Dream last night again. I stopped. Took it off. And began to unpack it. It was full of dead whales, big, bloated orca carcasses with those hateful, awful names carved into their bellies. When the backpack was empty, I looked around me for the "Thing", the "Name" to put into it. I found some golden thread. When I lifted it, it curved and coiled into a shimmery rendition that spelt "LOVE". That is all I placed in the backpack. Cedar and then I skipped off toward a sun-kissed thread of path through a laughing forest with a sweet brook. A lovely dream. All mine.

Sunday, July 27, 2008




Soft Rain, Sunday Morning
Still waking up. We slept in this morning. Well, Cedar was up at the usual o'dark thirty but he snuggled back in when I wouldn't do the usual grunt "Thank you, God, for this amazing day", stretch, and then get the coffee going. The grunt, prayer, coffee, and stretch came a little while later. Time to catch up on what's been happening, what learning is skipping our way, what lessons are skipping right on by and which ones are sticking.
First off: My dog is a freak. Plain and simple. A "re-re" as Auntie Colleen calls him. I love him as is and because he is! And yesterday was his first day in a festival foray zone. I took him over to Port Gamble to support the Rowanfae Irish dancers in their performance in the Kitsap Arts and Crafts Fair. He did great. We have been training the past two weeks. He was calm, attentive, very well- behaved...and then he saw IT! An Airedale! One of his "kind"! He started whining, pulling, pawing at the air, airsnaps (Airedale lingo for Hey Dude! Wanna play!)and that sideways jump he does so well. Over came the Airedale and his mom. I didn't know them. Rose and Ruffian. We started talking and I explained that he goes to daycare at Camp Alice and hangs out with Airedales. Second sentence-I said his name was Cedar. The lady laughed and said"Oh, THIS is Cedar! We know about him!" Auntie Lydia!" That was all it took. Turns out this is Ruffian and Rose. Ruffian is Kimmie's brother. Kimmie is often at Camp Alice. Cedar gets in trouble because he tries to steal Kimmmie's food and attempts to climb out of the Omega, bottom-feeder position on the canine totem pole. They had a good time in the middle of the street doing "The Airedale Dance". My Sheltie who is not a sheltie and who has a reputation." That's my boy!
The Rowanfae dancers did a beautiful job. They added a choreography this year with druids and animals. We were just coming up the hill and I wished I had been closer but it won't be the only time. Miss Jenny also added a showcase where she had the beginner dancers present the basics of Irish dancing. Then she had more experienced dancers demonstrate how these movements are reflected in the dancing. She ends the Port Gamble show with a maypole dance for the audience. It is a special and festive time that supports local artists and the arts. She herself is a recipient of one of this festival's scholarships. She is an extraordinarily talented, creative designer. I have always said she paints with dancers and music. This is true. She also does this through the costumes she creates. There is nothing like it anywhere but here and through her. THAT is living and breathing your gift! It was also good to see and visit a bit with her folks and others in the Rowanfae community. I usually go camping after this show every summer, but not this time. Other is good, too.

Erin's update:
MLT Irish Dance Camp--so I went back to work for the first time in weeks. Not full time but full energy needed and prep, too. A daily dance/art camp out at the MLT rec center. I had a ball! It took most of my energy for each day--three hours, but it was worth it. Six dancers. We danced for an hour and a half each day, shared Celtic stories, poetry, and blessings. Then we completed a special art activity each day. My favorite was the watercolors of nature with a leprechaun hidden in the picture with an accompanying blessing written by the artist. My favorite (which brought me to tears) wished a blessing of birdsong to love a person through life. They also made a splendid poster for the MLT Tour de Terrace Parade. I hadn't known(honestly it hadn't registered that this was important...it was to the kids and their families). Sara called me from the parade on Friday night--ALL of the dancers were in it, wearing green t-shirts, and the ONLY ONES DANCING! Now, that is succulent! And here's why on another level.....

Dreams-been having standard three kinds. One of them includes what I've been calling the "Has Been" Dream- Has-been teacher, Has-been dancer, Has-been/never-been parent. I wake up with a pit in my stomach and layers of grief sloughing off. It's cosmic dandruff. Anyway, so I literally CHALLENGED the Universe last week. I stood in prayer with my hands on my hips and said-"FINE! IF this is changing, and it is. I trust that I will be nourished with new-to-me, DIFFERENT forms of these "roles" that define me. But they no longer serve me in these forms. I am ME. I want clear, NOW, examples of how the new forms of these NOURISH ME NOW!...BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR----the UNIVERSE AND OUR LOVING PARENT WILL DELUGE YOU! I am standing in the "Shower of YES!"
A few examples to enlighten and enliven your present and mine and a record for me for later when I forget this--which I always do until I come back and read later---
*Teaching-Harp Camp--I did. I was given direct, multiple feedback from beginner harpers about my compassionate, gentle, humorous, and effective style of instruction. I am also working with some students this summer at my home and I am having a ball working with them. And it is strengthening their skills and mine as well. Win-win. I am teaching dance for Tara one lesson a week. With my sister and niece and nephew. And I love it. And it is enough. And the students are learning. As if this should be a surprise.And I am learning new ways to enable success in them and me. And the dance teacher opportunities are coming fast and furious from Tara/Seattle, Duvall, Monroe, and MLT. I wanted to see if I could create an alternative career with dancing/teaching as one of the three prongs, the others being writing and substitute/job-share/consulting as the others. These impulses and intentions are manifesting faster than Squishy hauling feather-butt down the stairs to get outside first thing in the morning!
Dancing-We are working hard in our weekly class with the Sistahs and with Tara alum. We work, laugh, work more, laugh more. And then I practice. And then I hurt. And I laugh. And I move. And I rest and heal. And I do it some more. And when it hurts too much, I don't. And when I was agonizing a little (as 4's do sometimes because we are so special)about not being able to perform in the same way as the past, I received an invitation to call a family ceilidh NEXT MARCH for the city of Duvall with a splendid traditional group called Crumac. And get paid more than an abundant fee for my talent. And then I looked up the group, and it is the former members of Suffering Gaels and another vintage band from the Seattle scene. These are the guys I have been dancing with since I was 9! I love it! It will be fun and dinner gets thrown in. I told them my fee was gas and dinner--anything else was for Mercy Corps. And then the offer came back. Ooh-la-la.
Parenting-It's already happening. all over. all around me. I'm not taking over anyone's "mom-job"--but I have finally laid down the box about what parenting looks and feels like---there is truly no limit to what I am doing this summer and what I have been doing my entire life this time 'round. The ripples are everywhere. It IS a village, a global one. And it matters. As I empty the boxes of memorabilia and all the photos and letters, cards, notes, scrapbooks, homemade art from children around the country, newspaper articles...it freed me up to SEE. REALLY SEE. I also gave away or stewarded everything that I had gathered for the adoption.

Which brings me to the next brand of "Dreams"-this one has been several nights running, same theme, different setting. I am walking. alone. with Cedar. on a path, over bridges, through meadows, into forests, over mountains, near oceans, past small villages. We stay in campgrounds and B&B's where we meet with loved ones--from family of Choice and Family of Origin. Interesting to note---my backpack is TOO HEAVY. I keep laying it down and trying to walk on without it and go a ways and then go back and get it. I have looked in there at some of the stuff I am hauling around. It is literally all the stuff that I am getting into this summer...and getting rid of. Ohh-la-LA! Don't need it anymore. Didn't really need it in the first place. Oh, to be a four. But this is normal---like the song--everyone has a little junk in the trunk---mine just happens to fill a basement and a garage and a classroom. And I notice that neither Cedar nor I have a leash or any kind of fetter. And we are goofy-happy on our journey. I have never not had a map and a destination and RESERVATIONS with a back-up phone number. There is no map, no destination, no reservation, no phone---just happy going, happy being, happy stopping and then not stopping-----I hope to continue unpacking the backpack in this Dream over then next few weeks. We shall see. Are you unpacking anything?
The Dream from last night was different--first time that I actually fought in my dream and protected myself. This is different from when I attacked and in a rage "hurt" Neil. Ooh, it hurts my gut to think about the poison of that energy. That rage. I ask my Lord to take that and continue to forgive it and change it to good and healing for the world as He only can do. And so it is. This Dream last night was different. My community had sold one of my younger sisters to a man for marriage. This man only wanted to marry her because he wanted access to the family's secret resources on a mountain that was ours by right and tradition. He was evil. He wanted to rape, use, and plunder that mountain. I was not given to him because I was older-about 18 years old-and I already had a role teaching the younger children in the village. The family valued my work with the children. It was almost shamanic, my teaching role there. I asserted my right to marry as the oldest daughter---not because I wanted to with this evil man, but to protect my younger sister and my family's resources because I knew that Could. And I married this evil man. And sure enough, he came to get the secret. And I fought him. Just enough to stop his evil. his intent. And it worked. And he tried again. And I stopped him again. I stopped him enough for him to stop trying. And I remained married to him but knew I could walk away at any time. We shall see. I gotta think about this one. My Dreams are windows to my Soul.

I know Astrid Pujari suggested strongly (actually she said several times--STOP THE ENERGY WORK! STOP It! DON'T DO IT.) I have been making a concerted effort to do this. It is a habit just like learning not to make yourself throw up when stressed out or learning when enough exercise is enough exercise or learning how to be a good, responsive friend, or how not to call yourself names like "BIG FAT FAILURE" when you can't be successful in an online doctoral program because you are a people-smart learner and not so much a self-smart learner. I am pretty harsh on myself. Failure. Fraud. Loser. Drama-Queen. Back-Stabber. Crappy Christian. Not quite Valedictorian. Erratic, Undependable Soccer Player. Untrusting of Self Leader. Selfish Woman. Fat. Fat. Scaredy-Scaredy. I would never allow it on someone else but I have been doing it to myself for years. I have also been uncovering all the names and crap that I have been dishing on myself has I look through these tubs of stuff from my life. OH MY GOODNESS___FLASH! THis is what is in the BACKPACK!!! Need more coffee-------be right back..............Here, my Darling Abba---let's unpack all this at the foot of the Cross. By the River of Life. I pray to see myself with the same eyes of love with which You See me and to call myself Beloved Child of Your'n. Amen. And so it is.


This is working. This creation of work, rest, dream, intention, healing to undo the energetic, physical, mental, etc. "soil" in which the cancer grew. Time to clean it up and amend it so OTHER will grow. And OTHER already is.

Adoption News:
There is some. It took courage for me to make contact and inform my adoption consultant about the cancer. I also had some other questions. The moratorium between Viet Nam and the U.S. is underway. There are only a few more referrals coming out of Viet Nam and these are special needs cases before Sept. 1st, 2008. The official word from teh Viet Nam program is that one has to be cancer-free for 3 years. Same with Ethiopia. Other programs like Russia-one canhave NO history of cancer at all, ever. So speaking with my consultant, she said that Viet Nam would likely accept a one year cancer-free with my situation. It is a case by case basis. Also, I have gone from 396 in line to 196 in line to 84! Yes, 84. And by placing myself on hold which I have to do anyway, I will not lose my place in line. Also, the time of the moratorium when there are virtually no referrals coming out of there anyway counts. Also, this agency failed its Hague accreditation so they are in a state of realigning anyway. Are you seeing what I am seeing---it is all in GOD'S PERFECT TIMING. But, wait, there is more. Even though the official word is that no singles are being accepted for the Ethiopia program, they are allowing it for people in the agency because of the situation. I have the name of the facilitator of this program to talk with. My consultant brought it up and started talking to me about being in both programs at the same time. Yes, I would have to come up with another set of fees (Ethiopia is around $28,000). I got this HUGE SURGE of energy. Yes, there would be a year wait with either country if I should get a referral from both at the same time----folks, this was the first time someone in the know was talking to me "AS IF" not "MAYBE IF" or "WHAT IF" BUT AS IF!!!! I am not jumping ahead of myself. And that is exactly what my dreams have been telling me for years---a girl from Asia and a boy from African heritage.I just didn't know the specifics. I still don't know. And I don't have an attachment. I was in the ferry line on the way home frmo harp camp, and I thought I could leave this earth, right now, in this moment, and be completely content with my life this time through. No regrets. None. The rest of this is catsup on the tots. And there have been a ton of tots.

On to Friends et al: I am reconnecting with Friends and Beloveds, one or two a week. I miss everyone. I have been working around this sweet cottage with my sister, Brigie, with projects that are loving on this place. It takes its toll. I am making contact and doing what I can with Intention, Love, and Care. I am not ignoring anyone. I am healing. I made it to French class for half of it this last week and I actually did alright. :) I love French. I love how it broadens my little world.

I am taking longer walks with my dog in the morning and evening. It is quiet. I am up to a slow 30 minutes. And ball in the backyard.

And thinking on how I am going to pay for all of these medical bills. And learning how not to hate kale. And seeing the clear, strong, healing plant energy moving in my body when I take and chew a bite of some made with love, grown locally, and then remembering to note that "seeing" and paying attention to the ordinary reality--that it is slimy, green, and slimy. Like eels. Which I have never eaten anyway. I prefer tots. Fritos. Popcorn. Tortellini. Brenin's sesame noodle salad. And white zin or Mike's Hard Lime.

And there are more scans coming up in the next two weeks. I am not eager over this. And I am. And I am nervous. And scared. And I am going to gird my loins with Harry Potter 5 and 6 on CD and Maude said she would come and be with me when we meet with the team after all the scans are complete.

Went out looking for a dress this week. It made me cry. Working on it. It's not about the dress at all. It's about all the changes that have happened in my body, to my body, over life and time. I'll unpack this from that backpack, too, and then it will be fun...right now, it felt the same way as going down to Cancer Care alliance except I didn't have to pay for parking at Northgate. I know I am a silly girl.
Time to go to Pine Lake and just sit and look at the water. Then maybe get in it or on it. I seem to be the most at peace when I am near water these days.

Thursday, July 17, 2008




Call it Being...Silence

"The reality that is present to us and in us:
call it Being...Silence.
And the simple fact that by being attentive,
by learning to listen
(Or recovering the natural capacity to listen)
we can find ourselves engulfed in such happiness
that it cannot be explained:
the happiness of being one with everything
in that hidden ground of Love
for which there can be no explanations....
May we all grow in grace and peace,
and not neglect the silent that is printed
on the center of our being.
It will not fail us."------Thomas Merton

I am recovering the natural capacity to listen....and it is telling me to sit on my butt and be still. Sit there. Listen.
I am finding that I am resting for my Life, from my former Life, for this Life.
It goes deep. I gave A LOT Of energy away. No regrets. Time to restore and use what is there wisely and joyfully.

And then there is Oscar Wilde's work turned into movies---An Ideal Husband, for example. What a sharp, sardonic, astute, reflexive gift he had to observe and communicate the human craptastic being. And the costumes in this are amazing and it is a comedy of sorts with some heavy hitters--Cate Blanchett, Jeremy Northam, Minnie Driver, and that cute guy from My Best Friend's Wedding. Put in on your list of movies to watch when the weather gets dark and wet. Popcorn optional.

Learning to listen also means paying attention to Dreams again---
It has not been fun having what I call the "Has Been" Dream five nights running.
The basics of this:
Has Been Teacher
Has Been Dancer
Has Been/Never Been Parent
**Seems to be the fears are coming out to play. Same dream. Same craptastic pit of my stomach feelings when I wake up in the morning. Don't want to get up. Do anyway. Coffee. Prayer. Dogsnuggles, walks, and play. Water the garden. Not always in that order. Always helps everything except the feelings that linger. Journaling gives those a place to go.
My Truth, My Life, My Gratitude for all of This from My Loving Lord--that's what is Real.

I have been emptying tubs and boxes of stuff from my former lives in San Diego, Fredericksburg, Montgomery, Pensacola, Killeen, and Seattle. It has all come up just in the last week and a half. A few a day and that is enough-physically, spiritually, and mentally. I have a goal to have the tubs down to one for Christmas stuff, one for crafts, and one for camping. Maybe one for wrapping paper. It is working. I am somewhat impatient. There is a whole lot of love in the process but I don't need or want any of this stuff anymore. None of it. I have what I need in my Heart. I've also given away or returned everything that I have amassed for the adoption. Now I really have an open heart and open space for what may be. And no attachment. Wow is that a freeing spot in which to Be. There is a whole lot of room for joy and belly laughs. And fun with the kids that do show up for whatever amount of time.

I dug up the Doggy Doolie last night. I hurt today but it was the thing to do from my list. It has been there for years. It was full of "stuff" from Fiona and Sadie. It was not user-friendly although the concept certainly is a practical one for disposing of waste. Everything was composted nicely. I bring this up because God can turn anything in your life into compost. I added another container of current compost to it and managed to keep Cedar out of it. We dug in another place together. He is such a lovely boy-dog. And there is a patch of my favorite rose campion flowers back there that must have come through the fence from the neighbors. How lucky is that!?!

Didn't make it to my class down in Renton. Not enough energy. Made a trip to the Animal Shelter with stuff they can use there. Mailed off a box of dictionaries to Jonestown. They need stuff like that and I am not taking more of that for folks. They can send it directly there themselves. I am happy to provide the address.

Had a sweet surprise of a visit last night from Mary and Caitlin Gallagher last night.
For you dancer types, Dale Russ and Mike Saunders are playing at Phinney Center for the contradance on August 1st. What a way to celebrate Lughnasaidh! Maybe Fletcher will wanna go dance on his birthday to the best musicians in the world with lots of lovely people? I'll have to ask him.

Harp camp this weekend. Squishy is at Camp Alice. He practically jumped through the car window when we drove up. Alice was at the front door barking for breakfast and her bark changed when Cedar presented himself! Out comes Auntie Lydia and Little Man starts sniffing all over her---talk about overachieving....she had been up cutting up and preparing beef livers already! Squishy will have the time of his life....and so will I. We were at the vet yesterday. Squishy eats spiders and one bit back. His body didn't like that. I forget if I already wrote about that one. Either way, we are both on fish oil and more exercise. Helps strengthen our immune systems. Did Curves this morning. Barely. Thankfully. And then went to Fred Meyer's and treated myself to some new workout pants---last ones I got were from when I taught for NW Irish dancers. Time for new ones. I am in better shape than those days anyhow. Inside and out. Still haven't found a dress. Haven't had the courage to go. Not yet. Soon though. it's not a big deal---so it's been said.

Don't be afraid to listen to yourself. Really Listen.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008



Seems like a "no-brainer"....

"Seek an outcome with no regrets"

I found this heading on a Seattle PI article this morning. I like it. It resonates. Fits my new "normal"...where the lumps are all mine, the drool (from laughing too much at my dog and my life), the dry-eye syndrome from reading and napping and staring out the window at birds and trees and sky and clouds is all mine.....all mine, mine, MINE...with no regrets...

Here's another cool thing I found written by Joyce Rupp:
Blessed are you,
gracious season of summer,
you surprise us with a variety of gifts from Mother Earth.
We, too, gaze into the earth of ourselves,
beholding gifts waiting
to be honored.

I just love that, too.
And a few other things---
*I danced last night with the Sistahs and a few other Tara alums. T'was hard, good, hurting (a little), sweaty, and FUN! All the technique exercises that we do in the beginner and next beginner classes are paying off in my own dancing. I had/have some challenges holding my shoulders tight and up to keep the scar area from hurting. I will work on breathing, relaxing, and using lots of cream...maybe I should use that anti-wrinkle stuff I got at the Aveda place for my eye wrinkles....might help. comfrey is also my new-again best friend. took a walk around the neighborhood last night with dog to loosen up knees before bed. walking alright today. haven't gone back to Curves for awhile. too much.

Did nothing for three days last week after all the work around here. Literally. sat. slept. sat some more. read from a great book on forensic anthropology called "The Bone Woman". finished it. I hope Meaghan has read this book. If not, it may show up in her life soon. watched a movie called "North Country" about the first class action lawsuit on behalf of a group of women who were being sexually harassed and abused at a mine in Minnesota. Boy, have I had no clue about the shoulders of the women I stand on and what they endured.....good movie. food for thought. not terribly uplifting. the sitting and going nowhere are restorative. the hours seem to wrap themselves around me like one of Val's beautiful, soft, made-with-love-and-nourishing-colors shawls, soothing my skin in and out, allowing my heart and spirit to nestle into a quiet, safe, nurturing coccoon. Just what I need. Must have. Desire. Deserve.

This weekend held two special celebrations--one for my Star-Sister, Jean and one for my Sistah, Brigid. Jean is walking into her 60th year in this ordinary reality. To celebrate, honor, and love her is a Gift to me. More of that to come.:) Brigie had her bridal shower out at Maude's home. Oh, my Goddess---you could sense the estrogen-energy a half-mile before the 164th exit off of I-5! Good gracious---it was HEN CENTRAL---all ages, stages, sizes, shapes, eras....one way to describe it would be to tell you about the types, shades, states of upkeep or lack there of of all the pedicures in the room. Another would be the hair colors, cuts, dos, wigs, and general baldness (Haydn was the one boy in the room)..and we had some dos. She got a lot of great loot and the time was a wondrous scrum. It was overwhelming. And a right of passage. For all of us. I Believe in participating in whatever way I authentically can in these rituals that continue to define the women in my family of origin. They are as important to me as wearing my grandmother's worn-out apron and stirring my tea with Mammo's teaspoon. Auntie Donna (my mom's baby sister) rocks---she carried on the rich tradition from Auntie Helen(my great aunt who is now in Heaven with my grandma-Dorothy)she gave Brigie a box full of cans---with all the labels off of them---to spice up the first year of married life. You never know what you're gonna get for dinner---green beans, peaches, chicken noodle soup---it's all part of the fun!

I start a class tomorrow down in Renton on math and kids and standards. I think it was a mistake. I am not feeling up to it. We shall see. I give myself permission to back out as needed. Time for doing dishes and packaging up dictionaries for Jonestown.

Friday, July 11, 2008



My paper says "NORMAL"...look! right there. on the results section--Normal or benign. Follow-up: normal follow-up. Thus sayeth the mammogram, ultrasound, and the radiologist medical person. First round of first scans-DONE! I am going to take a nap now. And really sleep:). Then I plan to have a milkshake! And a wax.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008



"Nostalgia is sweet and full of poison.
Why think it is important to go on, and to keep going on?
Why cling to thinking of the future and the past?
The present is forever.
There is never anything else."---Gunilla Norris, A Mystic Garden


First of all, Mary J. has given me permission to blog all this.
She doesn't like it that people often think we are "partners" when we are camping.
That simple. And it happened again. (Personally, I am proud to be her "partner". We make a good couple.) We also seem to attract really "interesting" people who want to talk to us. This time it was a woman who offered us a bag of homemade funny brownies to share and her stories to go with it. She was from New Orleans and thought we would understand why a cop pulled her over when she was going around with a bra on her head and smoking a joint. (She says it was her first one. Mary and I don't agree with that tale. First graders can lie better than that...just not about bras and joints. Their stuff is more of "lost" pencils, missing snack, and who's hogging the indigo paint.) This lady wasn't hogging anything. It was ALL out there for God and country to see and enjoy. She also let us know that since she was from New Orleans, she got our situation--because everyone in New Orleans does everyone and that's how it has been for forever and Katrina didn't make any difference in that regard.I guess we were happy to hear it. And all I did was walk over to Mary's side of the ferry to tell her thank you for a great camping trip. Which we did have. Manchester is a sweet place. Love the trails there. And the beach in early, early morning. Tent camping was fine. Cedar thinks the tent is just a big crate for the two of us. While Sadie ate a hole in the front mesh and got out, Cedar doesn't really have that awareness. He tried to jump right through to get at the squirrels a few times and got binged back onto the camping mat. We had a good time. Good fires. Good food. Good conversation. Good relaxing. Looking forward to our next adventure wherever it takes us.
Been working around here like crazy. Trips to Goodwill. Pulled up the old carpet in the second bedroom and removed all the tackstrips and staples. Hard work but totally worth it. The oak in that room is the rich color of my hair---deep sweet red. It's got a bubble in the middle that will need to be fixed but I just can't wait to finish the floors and paint. Then bookshelves and a work corner for me with a reading chair and lamp. A little sanctuary for me and my dog. We have been playing ball in there. It echoes. It reverbs with our laughter and barking. It is high time.

Went down to spend luscious time with the Beloveds at the Field. We had the pleasure of Little Feather's niece, Fiona. She is 6. Like I don't know how to be around that kind of miracle. Hah! It was a treat. And Squishy loves her. Slept ALOT. In the moshpit, a huge raised bed with a circle window out to birds and garden, bordered by bookshelves and lots of pillows. Perfect for all kinds of activities. And it was my first time to nap, dream, snooze, read, stare, think, rest, and linger in that space. I want one for Fair Isle. I'll put it on the list.

Today we (Brigie and her Matt and me) are moving one of the woodpiles, de-mossing the garage, pruning the pear tree, pressure washing the garage and cleaning the gutters. If we can fit in a trip to the dump, then we will. Then I get to go up to dance and perhaps have a conversation with a grandmere from France who is here visiting. After that, Little Feather is coming up with Fiona and we will have some time to enjoy together. She (LF) has a training meeting in Seattle tomorrow and Fiona is going back to her mom and dad's in Bellingham. Fair Isle is a middle meeting point.

I am doing the "energy dance". I still tend to use too much at once. Then I am down for the count the following day. All day. Weird. To me. Still want to be back to "normal". Don't know what that is..yet. Have appointments on Friday this week. Had one yesterday. Hope the news will be well...will deal with that when we come to it. Walking short and several with Squishy during the days. And lots of sheltie-ball in the backyard. Best I can do right now. Heading to Curves when I can. Still falling off the "recovery" stations when I run in place. Bummer. Eating chicken once a week. Body is having a reaction to that.

I am very excited about Turi and her coming experience at the Tallis School. YOU GO, GIRL!

Loved meeting with Book Group Sister-Friends for our monthly gathering. We read A Thousand Splendid Suns. Difficult read. Couldn't finish it. Will later this summer. Caught up in historical writings by Drew Gilpin Faust. Amazing writer. Really knows her stuff and does her research about the American Civil War. Currently reading The Republic of Suffering. Have another on hold at the library about slaveholding women in the south during the War. Also listened to HP #7. Boy, did I miss a ton from when I blew through it in Scotland last summer. It certainly was a roller coaster and a great ending!

All is well in Fletcher Land. Really well.

And Nicole Kidman had a baby named Sunday. On a Tuesday. Well, okay then.