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Open my heart
The storm is over. I like the sound and feel of “the calm after the storm.” The air is cleaner and the earth is renewed. All the animals have returned. Did you know birds and cats and other animals have fine senses which tell them a storm is coming and to take cover? Cornell Ornithology Department says this about what birds do long before the hurricane or tornado arrives: Different birds use different ways to wait out a storm. Birds that normally roost in a cavity—such as chickadees, small owls, woodpeckers—hide out in their cavity. Birds that roost on branches, such as jays, sparrows, cardinals, crows, etc, tend to perch…
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Gone fishing
It is sunset and I am riding my bike for exercise. I am also on the lookout for birds and other animals. A blue heron flew over my head, legs dragging behind it. Her landing was smooth and she touched down right at the water’s edge. She positioned herself well to search for food. Her eyes were quick and darting. The great blue heron’s eyesight is about 3 times acute as ours. Its binocular vision gives it very good depth perception. Many of us are fishing for something–perhaps a change of scenery or something new by the water’s edge. One of my dear friends who spent many years in the…
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The Farrier
If you have followed my blog, then you know “Rosie” my beloved donkey. She is actually my brother’s friend Sarah’s donkey and she lives on his farm in Western Pennsylvania. My mother took good care of her by giving her treats including lettuce, banana peels, and other vegetables. Donkeys have jobs and her job is to protect the sheep, the lambs and the goats. How does she do that? With a swift kick to the approaching enemy or a stomp which means ” get far away.” She is a beauty at 22 years old and could live to be 40 years old. Recently she was visited by a farrier. Like…
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“Because of the unexpected”
2021 has been a challenging year for me. And yet the more I live into it, the more I realize that nothing in life is certain. We must continually reach for what is good and true and has some meaning to us. Today I am 67 years old, which seems old to me. However, I just finished riding my bike 7 miles beside the sea. The air was refreshing and I felt young– the wind swept over me as the waves crashed all around. The unexpected may not be over. And there is still that hole in my heart which gave breath to me inside my mother. When I was…
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Being Present
I’ve been listening to a wonderful podcast called Art and Faith: A Theology of Making by Makoto Fujimura. It is about creating and painting as a discipline. Even when one is experiencing grief and trauma one can create. Fujimura’s book shows how making art can help us better understand God’s work in our lives. It may even show us how our own creativity can reflect creation itself. I have always been a listener and an observer of the arts. My brief introduction into the world of painting was a disaster. My imagination was willing, but my mastery of the tools was weak. I was also impatient. But I have always…
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My Dear Little Bea
Little Bea In early August of 2014, I returned to New York from cleaning out my mother and father’s house. We were getting ready to sell it. It was a difficult time, but it was also a time of finding “lost” memories and articles of clothing and jewelry that reminded me of their presence and of their physical lives. I found two rings – one of my father’s with gold and a red ruby in it and one of my mother’s with a pale green jade stone. When I wear them, I wear them carefully as I do not want to lose them. In photographs of my father I can…
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Body Armor
I finally watched “My Octopus Teacher” and I walked away from it with tears in my eyes and lessons learned. I won’t tell the whole story in case you haven’t seen it. It is indeed worth your time. The artist–Craig Foster–is an excellent narrator and an even better diver and observer of the ocean beneath–particularly this individual octopus. He comes to the project with depression and burnt out from filming and life. I can relate to that. It took him ten years (& octopuses do not live long) to create this documentary. Frustration and fear concerning my recent illness has grown in me. Its cause’s ability to hide in my…
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Mothering
Memories of our own mothers flood over us on Mother’s Day. Unconditional love, teaching, mentoring and patience is what we like to remember. We don’t have to be mothers to “mother” someone or something. One of my powerful memories is mothering a fledgling that Gregory and I found in our yard one morning. We actually found 3, but one got away and one died in the heat of a July summer. We did manage to feed Laurel the right food after failing a few times. With the help and ingenuity of my father who just happened to be visiting us — Laurel learned to fly under his love and patience.…
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Vulnerability
We often think of vulnerability as a weakness, but I have come to see it as a strength. Vulnerability is having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. I remember visiting Rome and taking a tour through the Coliseum. We learned that gladiators–usually prisoners of war, slaves or criminals–were kept locked in cells in an underground passageway and would be led up a stairway to a trap door that would snap open and leave them stranded on the ground floor in the colosseum to face their opponent and possible death. Talk about vulnerability as weakness, but maybe many of these people…
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Rosie the Donkey
Everything I learned about donkeys I learned from Rosie. Rosie lives on my brother’s farm and she takes care of the sheep and the goats and maybe even the chickens from time to time. In winter she has a very thick coat which is good because some nights are very cold. Donkeys, like horses, sleep standing up. That is hard for us humans to understand, but their bodies are used to and in fact require it. You might see a horse lying down in a meadow on a warm day, but not my Rosie. Rosie is gentle and loves vegetables. She is vegan. When my mother visited the farm she…
