"Love means each person is free to follow his or her heart,
seek his or her own path.
If we truly love, our choices will naturally
and freely serve that love well.
When we give freedom to another, we really give freedom to ourselves."
---Melodie Beattie

It is Good Friday. On my long Friday morning walk with my getting healthier everyday pup, I listened to music that reminded me of the Hope that is the Sacrifice Our Lord Jesus made for us. I looked at the sky. I watched the flickers whicka-whicka-whiccaing it up and then whacking at gutters, metal chimney pipes, and the tops of power poles. I enjoyed the whimsey emerging in the gardens along lower Phinney Ridge and hiked it up the long hill near the Three Billy Goats Gruff community garden. I love to turn around at the top, when I am trying to catch my breath, and look to the Olympics in the west. Today, they were still snuggled under mist quilts. Yesterday, they were out singing the glory of God. I love my Friday morning walks especially because I allow myself a couple of hours if I need/want it before I head off to school. I am with one or more of my best friends. And coffee, of course. It is the end of this work week. And somehow, I always find the Hand of My Maker, and He walks with me. We have long talks. And listens. I smiled this morning in telling Him about the two herons I have seen this week, one heading south--that was a first for me in recent memory. I take that as a harbinger of creativity. The one headed northwesterly reminds me of staying strong for what is Good and Beautiful and True and that we have all our Ancestors and Saints and Spirit Helpers here to help and hold us when the world gets too heavy and chaotic.

I had a moment yesterday, several actually that brought me to tears. I experienced my first ever Sacred, Symbolic Seder meal--complete with ancient Hebrew songs and prayers and stories. Wow. Then my brother sent a video about Dancing and Gift and Heaven and Community. That made me cry for the Amazing Grace and Gift this Life and Love are. It made me press on with my deep cry that "I TRUST YOU!" to God because my circle is bombarded everyday with stories of beloveds who are "fighting "cancer and not winning. There are too many to count. And if they are not my beloveds, they are someone's and that makes them mine. I really hate this. I hate the potential the fear has to rob me and others of the Joy and Gratitude I choose in this Breath. And in the next. And the next. So, this Good Friday, I remember the Deed that was Chosen, Suffered, and Fulfilled on our behalf. And the Rising to New Life that was Chosen and Actualized for Us. It is Finished. And because It was, WE ARE NOT.

So, I am going to follow the "Heron's Way" (thank you, Coli for that song) and sing like our Jewish friends, "Thank you, Amazing Creator, for this day and for all the Blessings and Hope you give to us. Love, your Erin

A trillium and two herons...
And Joey scored two goals for O'Dea on Friday!
And receiving affirmation that my "JOB" is to pray and be a vessel for asking that Healing Energy be sent where it is Needed Most.
And that Women make the world go round....yup. It is spring.

Soo happy to be walking in the sunshine again (like the pup!)---even if it is still in the high 30's.
41 and counting days of clouds, overcast, and rain---not a clear day since Feb. 25th. That is a bit much, even for someone like me who likes the rain, expects the slime, and looks forward to walks in the wet so I can enjoy my cup of tea in the dry and warm even more!....so, I plan to enjoy emphatically the next couple of days, even though my partner has come down with the flu and I'm in a holding pattern to see who else will get sick...not the dog! Not me!

And here is something else...I don't think it is very nice when I see dog walkers go by other peoples' gardens and pick the daffies and other pretty flowers in bloom without so much as a "Hey, is it okay if...?" It's just like letting your dog defecate on their yard and then walking away....not respectful. We can be better than that. If I hadn't been across a busy street on the other side, I would have said something.


The theme of Mass today was about letting God soften your hard heart.Sounds like that bit about "Disarming your heart." Good to think on. Act on. Stay warm and turn your face toward that warm, golden, splendid orb. Whilst you can.

The Singing Darkness
filled me with melodies
until I became a song.
The Singing Darkness
carried me into the dawn and
sent me forth to sing my own song.---Macrina Wiederkehr (The Singing Darkness)


I just love it when I am out walking on these cold, wet mornings and I run into a friend who is also out walking her animal buddy. I had a lovely conversation with a new-to-me neighbor about his thriving heather. Just beautiful. I watched a couple of robins trilling back and forth. When the sky is just beginning to lighten up, the silhouettes of the trees and their buds are striking, actually and symbolically to me.

Porter has a ton of this "greening" energy. So do the children. I am learning that middleschool children are more direct channels of the power of the Mother's Energy.
It has made me curl up and snuggle back under covers for one last winter's nap. It is interesting to watch what it does to the boys. I have had to pull out a few old tools with facial expressions and select phrases. I also have pulled out John Wooden and his Core Character Personal Navigation Points and Leadership Guidance. Powerful stuff. The proof is in the pudding. The walk. All about the walk.

Porter continues to improve. We spend much of Sunday eve making this special dog "mash" with chicken, green beans, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, brown rice, potatoes, apple cider vinegar--and he won't eat it....that's what he thinks! He will get hungry enough. We made enough to feed him through the next few weeks.

I am learning some lessons again about balance. And about how to shield from the news and upsets of the world around me. I guess I always will. The harp calls. So do all the books I brought back from Powell's. And responses in faith journals from children who have read Ecclesiastes who want to know why God affirms a time for war and killing? I said I have the very same questions in my Heart. I can't wait to talk with my Dad about this one.

"Singing Away the Dark" by Caroline Woodward
"I sing for sun,
I sing for strength,
I sing for warm toes, too."

Same for me---and this iversion--
I SLEEP for sun,
I SLEEP for strength,
I SLEEP for warm toes, too."

When I wasn't dancing, figuring out what to do with this wee cottage, taking long walks with the man and dog, cooking for the dog, and discussing anthropomorphism in literature and book series that continue to imprint and impact on our lives with the Philologists, I was sleeping. This entire weekend. I feel as though it was some last hibernation hurrah. Perhaps that's what it was with the star magnolias twinkling and forsythia brightening walks, even rosemary was blloiming out. I can't wait for sceanothis which should be coming along soon.

There is rarely one day in 200 when there is not something on the calendar. That was yesterday. It was puzzling. But I liked it.