SWEET DREAMS

I'm outta here. :-)

 

With the blessing of the Star Kindler,

And the Well-Keeper,

I return home in peace.

 

Candle flames, day dies,

star-sparkle in the skies;

night's promise gladly bringing,

heart's blessing, soul's singing.

 

I seal my soul with the elixir of healing:

seal of truth upon my lips,

seal of nature upon my being,

seal of knowledge upon my mind:

the triple blessing of health upon me.

May healing peace be upon the souls of all beings,

from merciful night

til Spring's true light.

 

May the blessing of the

Friend of Souls,

the Companion of Hearts

accompany me this Spring night.

 

From The Celtic Devtional

LISA TAGGED ME

Without further ado. 

Four jobs I've had in my life:

Baker (worked with Lisa at Chatel),

paper pusher,

baby sitter,

and many, many moons ago-bean picker.

 

Four movies I love:

Cry Freedom

Shadowlands

All Three Rings Movies (I know it's technically three films, but)

Going my Way

 

Four Favorite Television Shows:

MASH reruns

Judging Amy

Babylon 5

X-Files

 

Four Favorite Books:

I only get four? :-(

How Green Was My Valley

Dune

Cry the Beloved Country

In This House of Brede

 

Four places I've been on Vacation

The Oregon Coast Aquarium

The Oregon Trail museum in Eastern Oregon

Half the State Parks on the Oregon Coast

Crater Lake National Park

 

Four of my favorite dishes:

McGraths' s Fisherman's Stew

Homemade french bread with rosemary

Fresh chocolate chip cookies

Milk to go with the cookies

 

Four Places I'd Rather be Right Now:

Any little beachfront motel on the Oregon Coast

Ireland

Visiting my sister in Umatilla

Anywhere there's a cat

 

Four Bloggers I'm Tagging:

Gannet Girl at http://searchthesea.blogspot.com/

The wonderful transplanted beachcomber at http://abeachcombergoeswest.blogspot.com/

Russ at http://journals.aol.com/toonguykc/InnerOuterDemons/

Dave at

http://journals.aol.com/ibspiccoli4life/RandomThoughtsfromaProgressiveMi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IT'S ALMOST BLOSSOM TIME

It isn't quite cherry blossom time yet. But the flowering plums are beginning to bloom. So with that in mind.

Son of the Twilight, Daughter of Dreams, Uncreated Child of the Universe, my heart plays with you. Spring's song broken, heart's token. Candle-message softly spoken; leaves unfurling, light before, open now the soul's door.  I smoor my soul in the eaves of evening: flower of life, flower of light, flower of love, blossom in peace in the heart of all beings. From close of night til light of day. Child of Truth, Mother of the Word, weave your web of sleep about me.

Words from the Celtic Devotional.   Picture one of Mary Barker's flower fairies.

Granted the fairies are probably looking for their long johns and gathering in the primroses or the heather no matter what kind of fairies they are. It hasn't been raining but it hasn't been sunny either. Oh, well Spring "officially" arrives next week.

PANDORA'S BOX

I forwarded a copy of what I wrote about lighting candles to my sister last week and I may have sort of opened Pandora’s Box. Make no mistake, I love her dearly, but when it comes to matters of faith, we’re opposites. I’m most comfortable outside, the poem attributed to St Columcille that describes the perfect hermitage sounds like heaven (I’d be sure of good tight walls and a good fire myself), and I’m increasingly uncomfortable with a lot of the old hymns that are full of battles and fortresses. (Note, I love “In the Garden” now there’s a mystic for you.) And frankly the stuff they’ve come up with where you repeat the same phrase or phrases over and over and over until your eyes glaze over doesn’t do anything for me either. I don’t know, maybe they are going for the zombie effect on purpose, that could explain some of the support for George Bush.

 

Sis belongs to a congregation affiliated with the Four Square Church. She seems to be more comfortable with a system that is more ordered. She like what I wrote and asked what I’d been reading. Tall order, in some ways I think what I wrote probably reflects just about everything I’ve read in the last twenty years. So I started with a little blessing from The Celtic Way of Prayer. She liked it, but wondered if it didn’t come close to Nature Worship. Ok, can of worms time. I’m going to have to walk very carefully here. I don’t believe that any traditional culture “worships” nature. I do believe that I’m up against what 18th and 19th century western Europeans “thought” traditional cultures were worshiping.

 

What philosophers like Rousseau believed about traditional cultures probably says more about Rousseau than the “Noble Savages” he wrote about. The descriptions of the less admiring were usually phrased in a way that made us look more sophisticated and advanced. “Oooooh, look at the silly Hindus. They worship elephants and monkeyS!” “The Chinese are certainly strange. Imagine worshipping great uncle Harold.” Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

 

Any suggestions on how to explain,tactfully, that the Celts and all the others didn’t or don’t worship nature, but they do see the hand of the Creator in all they behold and believe it should be respected. That everywhere you look the Creator can be seen and experienced. 

 

Ran across one interesting website with the view that because we could destroy the natural world proved it wasn’t divine. Interesting idea, bit like the person who hits their spouse because they made them angry, so it’s their fault. Come again. There is a Creator/Creatress. That one part of the created universe can totally trash another part of the created universe only proves that we didn’t get the message. Oh, and if you believe that Man is “Fallen,” the fact that Adam and Eve screwed up does not mean that the rest of creation has a problem.

END OF THE WEEK

I've still been feeling sort of "written out" this week. Beautiful drive home from work yesterday. We've had a cold spell, and actually had snow on the valley floor yesterday morning. Through the day we moved from snow showers to sleet, hail, and finally sunshine. All in the same hour! On the way home I could see the bright white snow on the higher hills, bright blue clear patches, patches of showers (hail showers) where the misty white went all the way to the ground, and clouds ranging from brilliant white through dirty grey and blue black to high white wisps. Very spectacular for a twenty mile drive.

Pink flowering plums or other flowering trees looked unusual with their snowy overcoats and I hope the early spring flower fairies haven't forgotten their overcoats. There's a pot of mini bright red tulips on the front steps. They looked very cold when I passed them on my way to work yesterday. "Where's the rewind button?"

Hauled out my baking stone this morning and knocked out a small batch of french style bread. A four cup or so of flour recipe will make two small loaves of very crusty bread. It only takes about twenty minutes or so from start to finish and the dough can take most of the rest of day to meditate. The baking stone is great for free form loaves and gives a very crusty loaf. You just have to be sure and start the oven early enough that the stone is good and hot. The other secret of a good crusty loaf is to spray a healthy dose of water onto the bottom of the oven so that it fills with steam. This batch got a helping of rosemary and is excellent even without butter. Another good addition is Mrs. Dash's garlic, tomato, basil combination. A couple of teaspoons of that makes a surprisingily tasty loaf.

Doing a batch of bread is a great way to slow down. There was a good little documentary on the tube several years ago. The film profiled a family owned bakery in New York City. I think it was on Manhattan. They used the old wood fired ovens and baked french style bread for dozens of local restaurants. What I really remember is the family patriach describing how you work the dough "until it is full of grace." What a wonderful description.

THIS WEEK

Well, this has been a week. I’m still seeing candles. How bright they are seems to depend on how tired I am. There aren’t as many and they look like they’ve been burning for awhile. Still, it’s kind of neat. Weird, but neat.

 

Kittie number three, AKA Bandit, is now an innie. I’m not sure if she was in heat before we had her spayed but a couple of the local tom’s were veeeeery interested. The last day she was out full time she basically spent trying to keep away from them. I finally got her in about 10:30 and she spent the whole next day sleeping. She’d been getting over a cold, so that got worse. I have never seen a cat with the equivalent of severe laryngitis. It’s hard to assert yourself when you can’t say anything. And nothing looks weirder that a cat doing the meowing movements and nothing comes out. She has adapted a lot faster than I thought she would to being in the house full time. The three are trying to figure out who’s who in the pecking order. Actually Misty and Bandit are duking it out and Lucky is observing. Since the Duchess (Lucky) is built like a small Sherman tank, neither of the others seems to want to argue with her.

 

In the last week or so a few daffodils are up, the crocuses are doing well and the local flowering trees are starting to bloom. Ah, the season of the sneeze. It’s not really that bad. I’ll just keep telling myself that.

 

Let’s see. Mom turned 80 last week. Both sisters had colds so we’ll all get together one of these days. I am slightly in shock. Youngest nephew has shot up about three inches in the last three months. He’s still 13 so he may, just may pass up his six foot plus football playing big brother. I can still reach up and hug him around the neck without his bending over, but the days are numbered.

THE OTHER THREE FINGERS

I had a really good rant going. All the finger pointing on all the issues that are going so wrong is very frustrating. Beyond frustrating actually. By the time anyone admits to being responsible for anythting the country will be a lovely shade of indigo. (i.e. don't hold your breath) Cute picture though, even the red states will be blue. :-(

The rant wouldn't solve anything but I wish all the finger pointers would look at the hand that's doing the pointing. When your hand is folded so the first finger is pointed out, where are the other three fingers pointing? And when you hold out your open hand to help someone where are the fingers pointed?

And I realized that I couldn't point my finger and cast blame without being in the same position as all the rest. (long sigh) :-)