Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Simplicity

I read Garrison Keillor’s column this morning.  He writes:

I’m told that it would take about $167 billion to eliminate malnutrition; about $160 billion worth of food is wasted every year.  Somewhere in there is part of the answer. Call it Democratic socialism, call it Christian obedience, but it’s a principle we need to agree on. And then we need to agree on Medicare for everyone. This summer I’ve gotten hauled into a couple of New York ERs along with people with no funds, no insurance, and the absolute kindness of doctors and nurses testifies to the goodness of our country. Highly trained professionals leaning down to comfort one Lazarus after another — Abraham would be pleased.

It’s rather simple isn’t it.  

Thich Nhat Hanh:  “Emptiness means to be full of everything but empty of a separate existence.”  

 

Trumpets of Love
The iris flower symbolizes faith, hope, wisdom, and courage. 
Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Stillness

I listen to Pico Iyer speak of The Pilgrim’s Way on Waking Up.  One section, The Chapels of Contemplation, brings me to Naoshima and the Chichu Art Museum.  In his immersion in the art and life there, Iyer writes: “In truth the soul’s joy and liberation lie on every side of us, if only we can come to our senses.”

Come to our senses.

Pause, and if you’re intrigued, venture into the museum and integrate into a way of living in community on an island in the Seto Inland Sea in Japan. Is Naoshima Utopia? Read the article and see what you think. Certainly it invites a look into how to integrate old and young, nature and art, and new ways of perceiving and being in the connecting liveliness that brings stillness to our world.

https://benesse-artsite.jp/en/soichiro-fukutake.html



Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Passage

On Friday, I watched my six-year old grandson spend 30 minutes applying orange post-its to a small green jeep to give it a roof and side doors.  It required great scrutiny, attention, and care.  Now, today, my son sent me a photo of him putting on his new cleats for baseball camp.  We bought them last week because the others were too small, and he wanted to wait for the new camp this week to wear them.  He’s moved out of youth sizes into adult – size 1.  Wow! And the cleats have shoe strings which he ties himself.

I sit with it all – processing the passing of a friend’s father and with his death, his parting message of the fullness of love to her, love, love, love dropping into and filling her heart.  I read daily of impermanence, and sometimes it’s so clear, a beautiful light and lift to the heart we share.

Avocet by the marsh.

Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Wonder

Thursday evening, my grandson and I were at Filoli Gardens visiting Rose Wonders, the troll created from nature by Thomas Dambo.  It was quiet, just us.

Haruki Murakami: 

Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.

I wonder ….
What a view!
Touch while held aloft on arms and hands
Looking into her eyes as she looks back.
A place to shelter and rest
Looking out from inside a Cone Home!

Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Friendship

Last night we enjoyed a wonderful gathering with friends old and new at Filoli Gardens for their evening event.  Tonight I read from Brian Doyle, How the Light Gets In and Other Epiphanies.  He ends the essay “Poem for My Friend Shoshana:, with this:

Friends are the clans we belong to by 

accident 

Of place and space and grace. What a gift, such a 

seeming 

Chance: could such a pleasure really be just 

happenstance?  

One person in this group has been battling cancer for ten years. She was forty, and is now fifty. She is a beautiful, bright light for us all!!

Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Birdhouses

I’m intrigued with the variety of experiences at Filoli Gardens.  After lounging in the redwoods, I entered a trail magically filled with birdhouses.  

What do I see up ahead?
All sizes of birdhouses including one for me!
Enter Here!
Surrounding a Tree
Up and Down
A Multitude
Watch out for Earthquakes!



Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Return to Filoli Gardens

Yesterday I explored the lower part of Filoli Gardens, intrigued by the many sculptures along the trail. Then I met Rose Wonders, a Thomas Danbo Troll.  Thomas is a Danish sculpture artist who builds giant trolls from recycled materials.

First artwork to see and enter along the trail. Then I met a bench.
Then I come to Roots and Wings
Support
Reaching upward while grounded. And then, Wind, Water, and Time
Rhythms of the natural world
Dainty Uplift
Refuge
Respite
Rose Wonders
Held
Upcycle!



Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Garrison Keillor Today

Garrison Keillor just sent $100.00 to a guy named Trygve Hammer running as a Democrat for Congress in North Dakota.  Why?

Keillor’s words: 9/10ths of the state is owned by something called Alignment Rectangular Regulatory Trust, the stock of which is 95% held by Chinese investors, will the state still have two U.S. Senators and a seat in Congress? Are citizens allowed to serve in public office if employed by a foreign country? Or does this come under the heading of “None of your business”?

One could ask the same about South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming.

I skip a bit and continue with this: 

The polling I’ve seen from North Dakota tells me that seven out of eight wouldn’t vote for a Democrat if she were appareled in golden light and could levitate. Dakotans think of Democrats as people who saw The Nutcracker too many times as children and who get their political views from Norman Rockwell paintings. People who can’t drive a car without the government GPS telling them when to turn and which way.

He ends with this: There hasn’t been a Democratic Senator from North Dakota since I was in high school. If there’s another one, I want to go to the victory party. I won’t drink but I’ll stand near people who do.

If you agree, you might send money to Trygve Hammer.

Looking down on my grandson’s baseball camp where they teach ethics and affirmations through baseball.
Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Feathering

I’m with Brian Doyle’s closing words in his essay, Silence: “heart naked as a baby”.

It’s so visual, the baby wet and naked in the bath, the heart equally wet, moist, exposed.  I pause, look at my grandson’s baby pictures, a video of him lying on his back waving arms and legs, gurgling at the ceiling fan twirling above, breath, an extravagance rippling through his torso.  

Wonder wanders. Can my heart be “naked as a baby”, breath connecting the years?

Feathers fluffed, standing on naked legs!
Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Return to Our Senses

Today I was at Book Passage attending a reading by Lee Klinger Lesser.  She read from her book Return to Our Senses: A Path to Stability in an Unstable World.  To begin, Lee led us in grounding on our chairs and feeling the support of the earth.  She led us to make a fist and feel how we were affected, and to notice how a fist of anger affects us. Also, notice how a different fist, a softer meeting, can lead us to a resilience that meets the challenges of these days.  Lee discussed her work with Veterans PATH, PATH standing for Peace, Acceptance, Transformation, and Honor.  Lee has changed lives with this program, healed the wounds that come with war.  

She leads retreats with wildfire fighters, helping them to deal with pain, loss, and death.  She spoke of Jarvis Masters, a wonderful man and how he’s transformed his unjust path on Death Row to teach and lead with speaking and his books.  I could go on and on about the open heart that is Lee, and the works she does, but I’ll just say to buy her book and feel hope for opening your heart to bring forth your part in changing yourself, and in that, the world.