Cathy Edgett

Posted on February 19, 2022February 19, 2022 by Cathy Edgett · 2 Comments

Flow and Glow

Ebi and Ginger, two rescue greyhounds, were with us on our trip to Palm Springs. There’s nothing like being greeted as though you are the most amazing person in the world even if it’s just that morning comes and you’re there.

On our return, our cat needed to go to the Cat Spa. He’s older now and his fur mats in a way we can’t comb through so I sat and talked with a lovely woman as Tiger was outwardly pampered though he didn’t seem to recognize it, but then, he calmed and now he’s happy to be home and freshly groomed.

Life –

My son attended a funeral on Thursday. It was done in the traditional Chinese way. He appreciated the ceremony, the ritual, and suggested he might want some of that when I go. I’ve said I want simplicity, a scattering of ashes in nature, no ceremony at all. He pointed out that I won’t be here, which is true, so this morning I’m with how to satisfy us both which even as I type this sounds ridiculous and I laugh both inside and out. I’m tickled by this odd need to control even when I’m entering and merging with other streams.

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Meeting Expansion In and Out

I’m reading Mary Rose O’Reilley’s book, The Barn at the End of the World.

She writes of trying to make a recipe from an African cookbook. When the pot is overflowing with 1/16 of the ingredients for the Ethiopian stew supposedly for four, she calls her son, an African enthusiast, and learns that a recipe for four is a recipe that feeds four families, or maybe four villages. We each measure differently.

She shares how the poet Mark Doty in writing about the death of his partner from AIDS, “the process of decline gradually stripped Wally of all that was not Everything, and how in that millrace he became most himself. Doty says that death is “the deepest moment in the world … even if that self empties into no one, swift river hurrying into the tumble of rivers, out of individuality, into the great rushing whirlwind of currents.”

I soften, carried on the tides, breathing connectedness, touching in and out.

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Honoring, Embraced

Can it be 17 years since my mother passed on this day? It was 2005 so it must be. I offer comfort to a friend who is grieving the loss of her husband three months ago. Time may not heal pain but it does allow a more open embrace.

The morning sky to the east with the moon still a light to the west

Posted on February 16, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Continuing – Comfort, Flow, and Rest

I seem caught in the roots of Joshua trees, the arms of Cholla cactus, as I hold and process sun and moonlight in new ways. This journey rings through me.

It was complex as my daughter-in-law’s mother passed away recently, so we carried grief with us as well as love and gratitude.

We were wrapped in the words of Pema Chodron: You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.

And there is Bell Hooks:

Imagine how much easier it would be for us to learn how to love if we began with a shared definition. The word “love” is most often defined as a noun,

yet all the more astute theorists of love acknowledge that we would all love better if we used it as a verb.

And now I come to Galway Kinnell’s poem “There Are Things I Tell to No One”

Those close to me might think

I was sad, and try to comfort me, or become sad

themselves.

At such times I go off along, in silence, as if listening

for God.

And then the poem goes on to explain what he means by “God”. This poem speaks to what I felt at Joshua Tree, what I feel now – flow – the ever-moving, balancing and giving flow – the Oneness we are with Gratitude as Blood.

Posted on February 15, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Return

We’re home, after a journey on back roads down, across, and up a huge swath of CA, a state so beautiful, vast, and varied that enchantment expands. The complexity of the landscape helps to explain the variety of perspectives, opinions, and conclusions in this exquisite and complex state.

We return to flowering plum trees, singing birds, buzzing bees, and continuing sunshine.

Keys View: The Coachella Valley, San Andreas Fault, Santa Rosa mountains and the Salton Sea

Posted on February 11, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Traveling

We drove, well, Jeff drove us down to Palm Springs yesterday. We tried to avoid freeways. CA is an amazingly beautiful and geographically and politically complex state. Palm Springs is a dog-friendly place so dinner last night was here. We were seated and each dog presented with a water bowl and duck treat. We’re living the good dog’s life now, and every day of course. Gratitude swells.

Posted on February 9, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Today

Again, I’m outside in the early morning dark lit by stars. I feel the leaves and buds as they begin to rise and emerge from the trees. I’m aware of the blessing of moving through air, of how I influence my surroundings either consciously or unconsciously.

All flows in and out and through me.

What am I here to do and be?

I feel so entwined with the niches in my life, the riches, these words beacon through me, lighthouses guiding fluidity.

John O’Donohue:

I would like to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.

Posted on February 8, 2022February 8, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Gratitude

This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.

Maya Angelou

Posted on February 7, 2022February 7, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Balancing

This morning I was outside with the stars. I rose on starlight.

I’m reading The Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe. It was a book group choice and I was hesitant, but wow. Thumbs and toes way up. I can’t stop. It’s a drama that will keep you entranced as you see how power, money, and lies manipulate and corrupt. It looks at the Sackler family and their founding of Purdue Pharma and the lies they tell as they hire lawyers to cover up what they do.

This is a taste of how they buy politicians.

“Shortly after Rudolph Giulani stepped down from his position as mayor of New York City, he went into business as a consultant, and one of his first two clients was Purdue. When he entered the private sector, Giuliani was looking to make a lot of money quickly. In 2001, he had a net worth of $1 million; five years later, he would report $17 million in income and some $50 million in assets. For Purdue, which was working hard to frame OxyContin abuse as a law enforcement problem, rather than an issue which might implicate the drug itself or the way it was marketed, the former prosecutor who had led New York City after the 9/11 attacks would make an ideal fixer. In Michael Friedman’s view, Giuliani was “uniquely qualified” to help the company.”

And help he did.

Because I often feel our government could move a little more quickly to address obvious wrongs I’m with these words of Auguste Rodin:

Patience is also a form of action.

I’m also with today’s report from Robert Hubbell:

Biden created more jobs in his first year in office than any other president did during their first year.
Biden created more jobs in his first year in office than Trump created in 4 years—because the economy lost 2.9 million jobs during Trump’s tenure.
Biden created more jobs in his first year in office than Trump created his first three years in office (before the pandemic recession).

https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/the-biden-economic-boom

Posted on February 5, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Some Days – All Days

This day was special as all days are. In our family, we receive a Secret Santa gift. Mine was a family photo taken today in Golden Gate Park with brunch afterwards by the ocean at the Park Chalet.

It was so touching, so special, so sweet – no words – no pictures right now just gratitude for the sweetness and love that encircle this world and deep gratitude for my own small circle, as it expands within, and in and out. I am so grateful for my life and this world. Thank you! Head bowed!

Cathy's Blog!

Author: Cathy Edgett