Time for Prayer

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Marianne Williamson's Journal: Pray Away the Swine Flu

Pray Away the Swine Flu

Dear God,
Please take away the swine flu.
Amen

...If you get this - if you're already grounded in faith (or at least have read "The Secret") - then take an active part in transforming this thing. The Western allopathic medical community is doing everything it can to treat the disease on the external planes, and of course we're grateful for that. But each and every one of us have work to do on the internal planes, to transform the disease on the level of cause as well as ameliorate whatever effects it has already produced.

l) Pray it away. Just pray it away, asking God as you understand Him, the Divine Physician, Jesus or whatever other form of divine imagery works for you. Simply ask that it be removed from our midst.

2) Send love to Mexico. Between what's actually been happening there with the drug wars, plus all the "Mexico is dangerous" thoughts we've loaded onto it over the last several weeks, it needs a major dose of love - the most powerful medicine of all - to dissolve the fear thoughts that have produced this flu.

Do your part. This thing can be turned around right now, and sent back to the nothingness from whence it came. Each of us needs to stop pretending we're powerless, use the power in our hearts and work the miracles we're entitled to. Prayer is the medium of miracles; in whatever way works for you, pray right now.

Laura says:  we have our work cut out for us!  Put our Prayers to work.  Today.  Now.

I love you.

xoxoLC

A Meandering Date with Myself

Have you ever contemplated the thought

As I once did,

That the Beloved already knew, already knew

Everything long before,

So long before we were ever born.   Hafiz
This is the season of the Perfect Rose.  Roses.  Above my head, gathering all that yellow to shower upon me, and in the shadow a scent sweet beyond comprehension.  
No wonder these are always in the boudoir redolent, soft, sensuous.  Maybe this is my favorite.

Eeeek!

This cheery color combination caught my eye.  A very inviting side gate to a local B & B.
Being brave and taking the camera to new chapters: moving the little dial off of "Auto," branching into trusting my own 'eye' and 'focus' and beyond, into trusting my own aesthetic. Trusting my interactions with my environment, my creative processes, trusting Trust.  Hmmm. Big movement today.

Yesterday I met myself square-on in my ramblings about my 'inner critic.'  I found that I have a rather nasty vocabulary when speaking to Self.  Sorrow made a request for finding Hafiz.  This bumped me back to the reality of Joy:  Hafiz celebrates.  Everything.  Even mistakes and grumbling and, well, generally all that the human experience entails.  OH!  YES!

Yesterday has a yes within it.  

xoxoLC

Painting? Writing? Who's Talking Here?

"...no, it has nothing to do with being dead, it's not death that allows us to understand one another, but poetry."  from Lavinia, by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Tapping in to the creativity that moves me, is an act of faith.  Knowing that the truth of my Being will speak, will reach through and across the ages, will create; is what keeps me breathing.

Currently I am painting.  What is it that makes me "wrong" for not painting 24/7?  Or writing on the same schedule?  Oh, at the same time I am setting out my tomatoes and peppers, right when I should be painting, or was it writing?  Who is in there yammering about what I should be or should have been doing?

Meat Pie used to interrupt my meditation with "Let's go to the Lake, now," a most effective affirmation.  Luna does not, that I am aware of, do mental telepathy.  She is of the physical realm, throwing the toys and kindling at me to get my attention.  This voice, the critical one, must be needing some attention.  Perhaps rather than yelling back, "STOP! You #*#~%*+!!!"

I will take a more loving approach.  Maybe this voice which I am labeling as "bad" has a little something to tell me.  Maybe this voice has a gift for me.  

Hello Little Critic!  Ma cher petite amie!  What shall we talk about today?  "WHAT??? You want pie?  No.  No.  No."  I can tell this is going to take some patience.

Love,

LC  

"Passport Weekend" is a massive wine tasting event.  Gillions of people have traveled millions of miles to come and partake of a weekend in the wine country.  The vineyards are all cleaned up, trimmed, flowers blooming everywhere, and the tasting rooms are all cleaned up and gorgeous as well.  It is a cleaned-up event.  Spring cleaning.  Not to mention, so much work has been done to make the roads safe, since when people start sipping at 11 in the morning, by 2 pm (in the past), there were crazy drivers loose.  Perilous to say the least.  Now there is an obvious Highway Patrol presence, hundreds of Limos, and generally it seems quite a bit more sane.  
This Barrel room was dressed up by some very fabulous paintings.  Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the others!  That's kind of embarrassing, but understand... this place had pretty good wine and excellent hor's d'voures.
An invitation to "Save the Ocean!" this car is covered with sea shells.  Quite an undertaking, and I am sure that the little Honda does not get the gas mileage that its counterparts do.  Does? Anyway, check out the mirror!  The car was parked at my favorite small winery.
Well.  I just loved the shadows.  Reminds me of a painting.  Or a quilt.
Aaahh!  Gasp!  Amazing landscape, looking East from the highest vineyard in Sonoma County. 

From now until school starts in the fall, there are innumerable events going on, often simultaneously, in our corner of the world.  Many are wine related, and there is theatre, art, poetry, Farmer's Mkts., festivals.  It is an amazing place to live and work and raise one's family. Creativity seeps out of the cracks, sings out of the mist, colors life day in and out.   

Today Wayne sang with the Healdsburg Community Chorus for the 18th year in a row!  They sang an ambitious program to a full house, receiving a standing ovation at the end.  

Full, full full weekend!  NOW I HAVE to go paint, or I am going to be mumbling and grumbling that I never get anything done.  Not to mention that the bed is looking pretty inviting.

xoxoLC

After The Cleaning...

Lonely?

A thousand naked amorous ones dwell in ancient caves

Beneath my eyelids.   Hafiz
That Orange tree is distracting.

We had such a good time at the Lake.  We love to go places.  We love each other.  We Love.

I found these cutie-pies behind one of those magnificent stacks of papers and books.
Aaaannnddddd heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrre it is!  A cleaned off desk.  I kept one little stack of books handy.

Now, I am off to celebrate my baby boy's 22nd birthday.  Oh gosh, I just had a rush of that day when he was born (right about now!).  He was nearly born in the car after a madcap drive into Portland, Oregon.  We didn't even check into the U. of O. hospital, since he was born partway down the hall on the gurney.  After spending about an hour or so there, we bundled up and went back home!  Our midwife came with us, so we did all the necessary things in the living room on the floor with all the sisters(5) and brother in attendance.  Yes, we forgot to tell the brother that the new baby would cry, and so of course, when he (2 years old) was holding said baby, baby started to bellow!  Poor boy, so startled that he started to roar as well.  

Having had only daughters, with delicate little mewling cries, these two boys blew off the roof!

Tomorrow:  planting tomatoes and peppers! 

xoxoLC

Morning Meditation: Focus

Before:  Larabee is faced with an obvious #1 on the To Do List...

#2.

Yoda helps me focus.

Usuallly.

Then I think about going out with the dogs, finding Utah...

the river, or the lake

and then, there is the handy-dandy little Pendulum.

Focus.

YES!!!!

It is time to find the wild places

I promise "after" pictures

;-)

xoxo

LC

Spring

Just picked mint.  It almost seems cruel to pour the tea water over the dark green leaves.  But I am intent, just hoping there are no bugs hiding anywhere.  

Jasmine Pearls unwinding.
Mint.  And more mint.  A French Press is a utilitarian friend.
Begin again time:  planting the garden!  We put up the architecture for the Tomato Wall and the Neighbor Beans.  Rotating our crops, so the rows are moved over by the winter garden, and that bed is nearing its plowing-under, as a few of the cabbages are unfurling into tall, blooming trees!  And the Arugula is blooming; very pretty with the Borage.  It is toasty hot today, wildly gorgeous.  

Then, more Bliss:  off to hear a gathering of Poet Laureates, then a little grocery shopping, then home to Mary and Rebekah spending a 'school night' with us!  How cool is this?  Only thing left to weave into the day, is a leap into the river for Luna.  Hmmm, such hardship.

Happy Planting!

xoxoLC

New Boy and More White

He is the new boy in town!  Born April 8, 2009, tall, good-looking and confident.
Isn't it amazing that a foal manages to control those legs within an hour of birthing, to stand and nurse?  And then, start walking, frolicking, racing and ripping around the corral?
If one more person, takes one more photo of an Iris... sigh.  I can't help myself!  Just look into the magical center, marvel in the symmetry, be transported into the land of Invitation and pollen, Come to me, little pollinator, little messenger; Beloved.
Maybe the charm of the "Flag" is the apparent revelation of secret.  The sensual, sexual invitation to intimate gifting; slightly subtle, simultaneously flamboyant.
Oh!  This invitation is juicy!  My my my.  The Iris is so feminine.  The Orange so male.
At a writing workshop recently we were invited to "free-write" a description of The Garden of Eden.  My writing fiddled around on this present reality, where my husband trims all of the apple trees into healthy and perfect form.  The idea of remembering the Garden keeps nudging me.

Remember being the Bee; having access to the most secret and beautiful places.  One of the influential books I read as a child, was by James Michner, "Tales of the South Pacific," and of course, "Hawai'i."  I remember being transported by the whole first half of "Hawai'i," being caught in his descriptions of the first spiders riding the wind and clouds to the Islands.  

I like remembering like that, simply taking the ride, no matter how far-fetched it may appear to the logical or reasonable parts of self.  So, my assignment to Moi, is to keep writing in to this remembering.

Happy Spring Day.

xoxoLC

Art is the conversation between lovers.

Art offers an opening for the heart.

True art makes the divine silence in the soul

Break into applause.

Art is, at last, the knowledge of

Where we are standing--

Where we are standing

In this Wonderland

When we rip off all our clothes

And this blind man's patch, veil

That got tied across our brow.

Hafiz

*****

Ruth

From the Book of Wisdom; Eulogy of Wisdom,

For within her is a spirit intelligent, holy,

unique, manifold, subtle,

mobile, incisive, unsullied,

lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, shrewd,

irresistible, beneficent, friendly to human beings,

steadfast, dependable, unperturbed,

almighty, all-surveying,

penetrating, all intelligent, pure

and most subtle spirits.

Ruth is an artist.  

To say the least.

"Elaine Pagels explains that some gnostics believed... Wisdom texts signified that God himself was a secondary power, created by the divine Mother, the Source of Life."  Ruth's beadwork is inspired and powered by her connection to Creator.  Opulance is catching!  Click on the middle image for a most amazing ray of gold!

This early evening, after a fulfilling day, I am listening to the wind in the chimes, the multilayered birdsong, the clouds deepening overhead.  Yes, I can hear them gathering.  I am listening to an inner layer which is whispering, "Let us go to the river!"

Then, we will return to the studio. 

xoxoLC

Polka Dot Face

She's my little 70lb friend.Yesterday Luna went to doggie-day care for the first time in quite a while.  She had fun, was good and dirty when I picked her up.  Wade had her be a good dog; sit, wait, noooo.  Sit, wait, goooood.  Come.  Load up!  Then he turned to me and said, "Well, you need to come to class tomorrow."  Translated:  Bad Dog!  "Several times," he said.  "She and Katie got into it over and over, all day long!"  Katie is a "little" Rottweiler, as full of "it" as Missy Luna = 2 crabby on-the-top girls!

So today we went to class, up on a hillside, in the sun and grass and wildflowers.  We worked on attention and focus (who, us?).  We are getting very excellent at 'Down!' to the point that I can toss the toy, and she stays put!  Luna is doing very very very well.

On the way home we stopped at a country-road garage sale and got a fabulous little lamp for $5 and and really cool wicker mirror for $5 and a complete set of cotton sheets for the guest bed, and here is the best... a PILE OF BOOKS, thrown in for good measure!  Equals my favorite way to spend $20.

Happy Saturday.  Off to dig in the dirt, paint, read a pile of 'new' books, etc etc etc etc.  Happy, Happy, Happy!

xoxoLC

In the Studio Today

Fear is the cheapest room in the house.

I would like to see you living

In better conditions,

For your mother and my mother

Were friends.    Hafiz



Mmmmm, mmmmm, goood.

xoxoLC