June is upon us...

And that means busy May is done! It continues to be busy though! I am speeding toward the end of my first quarter back in school. I love it!

Still working on business projects but slow. Here is a cool family crest project I did from a postcard into embroidery.

 

Mom and dad are in an RV the driveway while their house is being built. Yesterday we went to help manage some of their stored stuff at my sisters and met this silly pug named Chiclet.

Today we went to the highland games and really enjoyed seeing old friends and the piping, dancing and drumming ...pomp and circumstance!

 

 

 

Hovander park has cool pets.

 

Mermaids and Earth Sanctuary

Hello beloveds!

Last weekend I and 7 of my mermaid buddies went to Whidbey island and stayed at Jill's moms house in Freeland. Near there is a fabulous sacred site called Earth Sanctuary. It's a self guided tour property of pathways to delightful and powerful spiritual installations set in a watery, live flow of run off coming from hills and landing in ponds that link up.

First we went to a vibrant Cretan labyrinth of salad and slate, purified and blessed one another at the entrance and proceeded to start our lives anew right then and there. Then we trekked over to a giant stone circle made of basalt columns where we charged up our blessed shells that bore wishes and blessings from our friday night ceremony. We left these shells at locations that felt powerful or meaningful to us.

I and a few others continued on the path to find a big beaver lodge in one of the ponds. How cool is that! All through this magical property are small stone portals and many spots for sitting and enjoying, praying or meditating. What a gift this family who created it have given us! There is a strong Buddhist and eastern feeling to the property, but the megaliths and other structures give a wonderful blend of pagan and native elements too. I can't wait to return!

Another highlight of the weekend was all of us mermaids dressing up and taking pics of each other as mermaids...what a fun time this was! I saw women transformed into juicy vamps with a silver tail!

 

Blessings of new ideas

How are you? I've been struck with a burst of energy for seeking further education and a new set of skills. Most of you know I've been running my own business for a few years now, quilting and embroidering for clients. It's been a real gift to have my own schedule and succeed in building a large client base. It's been particularly helpful to me during a time of higher needs from Marina and my own body just needing to take things slow. My last post was about exercise and I noticed a clarity of mind that came with my getting in better condition...and I'm not done with that process! I'm really pleased with the sense of accomplishment I get from exercising.....who knew!?

So my big excitement is the idea of returning to either community college or technical college to study computer networking or a related, well paying field. I'm still figuring out the best path for the best return on my educational investment. I already have a BA so I wouldn't necessarily do that again. And Marina will be up for college in two years so getting a higher paying job is crucial at that juncture.

It is always exciting to me to change paths and breathe new life into my spirit. And the thought of working in a male dominated field, populated mostly with young geeky guys doesn't bother me at all! I think my self possession and communication skills will serve me well there.

Blessings of spring to you!!

 

Getting Down to Business

Well, hello! I have been busily trying to change my outlook on exercise, and to that end I have been continuing my Tai Chi at CMAA on Bakerview Rd, and am engaged in a quarter long, 3x/week program at WWU that is for people who need some kind of rehabilitation or are weak, like me! I am getting stronger ... I can feel it! I feel so blessed to have this training time, and my trainer, Abby, is delightful and a perfect handler for me.

I feel very encouraged and that "I can do it"!

I have realized that I must put much more of my focus on taking care of my body, which has been out of my control and feeling weaker. Elaine said to think of it as "my business" that needs taking care of every day, which struck a chord with me. I've been riding the bus up, which is an adventure in itself.

I love being up at WWU, it's so grand and interesting. Lots of energy from the student population and the learning atmosphere. I was approaching red square today and heard a raven calling, and noticed these nicely structured trees when I looked up to see if I could spot it.

I love the little glimpses of spring I've been seeing! I am hopeful that spring is on its way. Here are some catkins, which the trees present us before beginning to bud and leaf.

Blessings of Renewal

 I'm in Hawaii, and it's a good thing because after the rather overwhelming holidays, having some time to find myself again was needed.   Yesterday we were blessed to see many humpback whales on an all day cruise.

Today we had the idea to go to the 'cowboy' town on Maui, which isn't very cowboy-ish, but charming in its way.  On the way, we decided since the distances were actually pretty short, we'd go to Ali'i Kula  lavender farm first.

Turns out that was a great intuitive decision!  As we drove up the mountain and neared the farm, we were drawn in by the scent of sage from another farm and greeted by paragliders above us at the entrance to the lavender filled gardens!   The farm itself is so lovely, with a very spiritual atmosphere that was evident in many a specially created alcove or resting spot graced by a Buddha or a Kwan-Yin or a Hawaiian Goddess.

In fact, I think today's cowboy theme morphed into a completely multi cultural spirituality theme!   When we got to Makawao, the non cowboy town, the first place I went was an east Indian import store where we tried every singing bowl (the metal kind) there and practiced making them vibrate...

Then we went to a farmers market and I bought sprouts from one charming hippie boy and raw macadamia nuts from another!  (spirituality tie-in; one said his sprout money was going to help him fund a program idea he had to help attune people to live in harmony with the land... Sweet!  By the way, there is an herb store in Makawao, the Dragons Den, which helped with my raw throat today.   

 

After lunching in Pa'ia we went back up the mountain to The Sacred Garden of Maliko, a very spiritual place, with again the feeling of welcome for all faiths in solidarity. Labyrinths, statuary, koi ponds and a general feeling of loveliness and connection. I walked the two labyrinths, one a Chartres style (outside surrounded by jungle!) and the other a unicursal style, prayed in the Goddess sanctuary, and of course shopped in their gift shop.   Mmmm.

Christmas and Yule

I am listening to Christmas music lately, the traditional tunes as well as modern ones and some pagan stuff, like Midwinter Moon and  Jaiya's Firedance. I love to sing this time of year. I find myself thinking of going to Catholic church and singing with Mike's family, or going to Lutheran church and singing along with my first husband, Jeff Fox, while he plays the pipe organ.  They even have a cool bell choir there on Christmas eve.

Jeff at Mt Baker Theater

And though I do not enjoy the Christian doctrine as a rule, I do love the tradition and ritual of Christmas services, because there is so much singing! I really like to belt it out!  I always get a giggle out of the off key singers, yet it's wonderful because they too are belting it out, for the joy of it.

I continue to struggle with seasonal depression, so identified since it happened last year too, but this year I have a couple tricks to help me.

  First I'm taking several people's advice, including my husband's; jump on the exercise bike when I am feeling low.  Second, I'm using my happy light by my computer for longer periods (why yes, it's shining on me now!) instead of just in the bathroom when I shower. 
I do have to watch out for heightened emotions, however.  I tend to get sucked into the media's milking of the tender side of the holidays; I'll even cry at ads if they're tearjerkers!  Don't even get me going on the damned holiday movies!  Dana told me she had been watching them so I recorded a couple to watch while on the exercise bike.  VERY light entertainment!


  Mike and I have been watching The Sing-Off.
  It's a show about a bunch of acapella groups competing for some money and a recording contract.  After I got past the cheesy MC the music was wonderful!  This group, Pentatonix, was so creative and exciting, and they won.

 I have been learning about myself this one thing:
I get very emotional when I see groups of people being creative in an organized way.  Parades, marching bands, groups like on the sing-off, and dance groups.  people who aren't rock stars, but are doing something they love.  I always think back to when I used to be in marching band and really liked the way we did cool patterns and went to parades and games to play and march.  I'm probably yearning to feel a part of something like that again.


What I am part of is a wonderful group of people who present celebrational rituals for the seasons.  We are putting on a Yule, or winter solstice event again at a local grange hall.  It will be fun and wonderful community atmosphere, and we get to have a fire outside among the fir trees, in a big cauldron! 

So, enough ramblings for now, and I hope to see YOU soon!
Blessings!

Betsy

Memories, Dreams, All Hallows

Ah, Halloween, All Souls Eve, All Hallows.  The ancient holiday where the dead are honored and the harvests must be done, including the harvesting of the animals you are not willing to feed all winter. Hibernation time is here!  I certainly feel that way anyway.
I remember going to a local event, called Hecate's Sickle Festival, held at  Cornet Bay state park group camp, where we had a silent supper.  At the supper no one said anything the entire time, and we invited our beloved ancestors to dine with us.  The silence is really hard for me, but once I sunk down into it I felt the presence of my dear friend Blake Grinstein, who was lost at sea on his fishing boat, and my beloved cat Bosco, who has been a companion for me on shamanic journeys I have taken.  (A visualized journey into other realities, but is it just visualized???)
This year, I will be thinking of my sweet niece Kate, who passed away a number of years ago, and of someone who really enjoyed her and me, Paul Bingman, who passed away of cancer this year very unexpectedly to me.  I had just emailed him and asked him if I could come visit him this fall for a quilt conference, which was one thing we enjoyed talking about, and a week later I heard he had passed.  It was quite a shock and our local community, which had connections with him, were sad in a deep and regretful way because he hid his illness from us and passed on quietly without our being able to say goodbye.  I hope to do that tonight at a quiet ceremony. 
He is pictured here at Joanna's home during our St. Lucia party hugging Deb.
And I will be thinking of my friends Elaine, Lee and Chloe, who lost their beloved mom/grandma Janet.  I had the honor of spending Thanksgiving with their family last year and really enjoyed talking with Janet and hearing her stories.  Janet passed away this year somewhat unexpectedly and the loss has hurt Elaine and her family very deeply, of course. 

Many blessings and love...... Goodbye friends........


Last night I had a very detailed dream about finding a spot on a campus of some sort where there was a safe that I finally remembered the combination to.  I opened it and found many little mementos of my life, and things I'd saved that were "interesting" "cute" or "neat" to me.  Mostly household objects.  I started pulling them out of the safe, which wasn't just a square box, it was built into a window on the outside of the building, on a corner.  I had to reach into odd little compartments to find more things to pull out, and at one point a rat cruised across the windowsill above the opening that I was reaching into.  I was startled by the rat and wondered if I was going to put my hand in a nest or some poop!  But I figured the rat wasn't in my safe but was just going above it.  I kept unloading.  Soon I had it all out and spread on the ledge by the safe and a table by the window.  I started looking at it all and deciding to give stuff away to passers-by, who seemed like students on this campus. 
That's it for my clear memory, as my cat started poking me to be let out.  I went back to sleep hoping my dream self would work out the rest.

 But the clarity of this dream and the symbolism were good, and considering the time in my life and the time of the year, I consider it very symbolic of my beginning to dig around for the things I've learned and experienced and sharing them with people who might be interested in them.  Also, it's time to let go of things I have stored up and made a part of me, but are probably not needed any more. 

And, all this leads to where we are now, All Hallows, the time of letting go.  I am ready to let go of the people and things that have been hanging on to all these years.  Things change, they wheel turns, and life moves along on it's own pace.  All Hallows is the time for pause and assessment, and sending love across the great divide between life and death to those who have left us bereft.