Basil pesto

My friends Jan & Bob had a surfeit of basil and brought a a whole bag to our eucharistic community this morning. I made off with most of it! I am busy stripping off the leaves to a heady aroma wafting up. Pesto was one of Bartzy's favorites. I know he is occupied with the delights and challenges of the spiritual world, and yet it is my hope that this evocative aroma reaches him and reminds him of the love we send. In the meantime I plan to freeze some of the pesto for his brother and sister.

Here is the recipe I am jumping off from - using walnuts instead of pine nuts for their Omega 3"s (???) Oh drat, it didn't work. Google "basil pesto walnuts". There is a conspiracy afoot at google, I fear. I am having to do fancy tricks (for me) to bypass the school's google account. Zounds!

Little Lost Lamb

My son Bartzy loved the Little Lost Lamb. He was my own little lost lamb, kicking up his heels and wandering off. I promised him I would follow him even to Hell if necessary to find him again. Fortunately, I never had to go that far. He was safe in the arms of the Good Shepherd all along.

Today I received in the mail a replacement copy of The Little Lost Lamb, which went missing after my move. How wonderful is that, to receive the book on the anniversary of the day that our Little Lost Lamb transitioned from the physical world into the spiritual world. We love you, Bartzy, our Little Lost Lamb who was Found!

Bartholomew

Eight years ago today Bartholomew took his leap into Grace. I have worried that this day would be very painful for me. I think of Bartzy every day, but anniversaries have a special punch to them. I lit a candle (not a Jahrzeit candle but a bigger one), and to my astonishment, every time I catch a glimpse of it, I feel joy thinking of Bart.

Just now I came away from seeing a neighbor who has been battling cancer (again) for the last year. Just a month ago she was "given" about a month to live, Chemo was doing nothing for her but tearing her down. Three weeks ago she started going to a doctor of Chinese medicine. Her well-being and stamina took a 180 degree turn in two days.

Somehow it all seems woven together. Keep walking on water with eyes fixed on Jesus.

Elderberry Rosehip

Today a new little being came into my life.As I move from being primarily with the Kindergarten (although, who knows?), during an "appreciation ceremoniette," I discovered Elderberry Rosehip in a juniper tree, and I was overcome with joy. Now I sense how the kindergarten children feel when Fairy Mother brings them their own Little One, their own Fairy Baby to care for.

Thank you, Fairy Mother!!!!!

Help Along the Way

I have read three things just this morning, just past dawn, that seem to be helping me either find myself, or not need to. Here is the morning meditation from Richard Rohr:

If Jesus is the archetype of how the divine gift is being given, Mary is the archetype of how the divine gift is always received: it is always totally free and undeserved. The shocking thing is that the Scripture actually says almost nothing about Mary. No credit ratings are stated, no achievements; it doesn’t say she prayed a lot or went to the temple. No talk of heroic deeds, or even love for the poor. She is the poor one herself.

Mary knows how to receive a gift with total freedom, without needing to say “Lord, I am not worthy.” She knows how to be totally vulnerable and humble before Mystery. Mary knows she did not earn anything. It was all mercy, grace, and God’s utterly free and gratuitous choice. (Mary uses the word “mercy” three times in her Magnificat [Luke 1:46-55]). Mary had nothing to do with it, except, of course, saying YES to it!

*******

and then this came for this week's (the 6th week's) Calendar of the Soul reading.:

There has arisen from its narrow limits
My self and finds itself
As revelation of all worlds
Within the sway of time and space;
The world, as archetype divine,
Displays to me at every turn
The truth of my own likeness.
___________________________________

English translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch
___________________________________

Es ist erstanden aus der Eigenheit
Mein Selbst und findet sich
Als Weltenoffenbarung
In Zeit- und Raumeskräften;
Die Welt, sie zeigt mir überall
Als göttlich Urbild
Des eignen Abbilds Wahrheit.

*****

Later: I have already forgotten what the third thing was. Tonight, several days later, I had dinner with old friends who were visiting Santa Fe. One talked about moving to Ann Arbor years ago from Takoma Park and "not knowing who she was anymore...." , she didn't have her friends to hold a mirror up for her anymore. It is comforting to me to hear others express spontaneously what I happen to be feeling.

Hello, let me introduce myself (to myself)

It has been a very long time since I have written, and I am planning to give this little blog new focus. I don't have time to get into it right now, but stay tuned (to myself).

Babies etc

Danelle and Chris are on their way to pick up baby Mateo. A week ago they had no idea! In the meantime Leigh is either far more pregnant than she thought, or else she is carrying twins. We shall see.

I have just received my acceptance letter into the Remedial Program at Rudolf Steiner College. Yikes! Too much! But this is what I would like to do, to prepare myself to be of service.

Too many penguins in my life... far too many penguins.

Faeries

When I began the summer from school, I wanted to delve more deeply into the world of the elementals. I vowed to read about them and to spend more time in "nature" and open myself up. Life has intervened in the form of eye surgeries etc. as well as a short-term job assisting a business manager, as far from the realm of faerie as you might want to roam. Now, coming close to the end of the summer, panic strikes. Another summer flowing by without projects completed.

I went to the Library to pick up some picture books (lots of Francis books, Zelda & Ivy, etc) for the two little girls from the family who are visiting. And I picked up a Patricia McKillip book, Winter Rose, that I thought I had read, but I had not. And now I am being seduced into the rather dangerous world of Faerie once again. I realized that I had never followed who Patirica McKillip is, only wanting to read her books and perhaps enter her world (when I am courageous.)

This quote was in Faces of Fantasy (by Patti Perret):

I write fantasy because it's there. I have no other excuse for sitting down for several hours a day indulging my imagination. Daydreaming. Thinking up imaginary people, impossible places. Imagination is the golden-eyed monster that never sleeps. It must be fed; it cannot be ignored. Making it tell the same tale over and over again makes it thin and whining; its scales begin to fall off; its fiery breath becomes a trickle of smoke. It is best fed by reality, an odd diet for something nonexistent; there are few details of daily life and its broad range of emotional context that can't be transformed into food for the imagination. It must be visited constantly, or else it begins to become restless and emit strange bellows at embarrassing moments; ignoring it only makes it grow larger and noisier. Content, it dreams awake, and spins the fabric of tales. There is really nothing to be done with such imagery except to use it: in writing, in art. Those who fear the imagination condemn it: something childish, they say, something monsterish, misbegotten. Not all of us dream awake. But those of us who do have no choice.

I found this online.

Now I am restless again and want to wear only green and silver and brown flowing garments. And I have found that Brian Froud no longer frightens me the way he used to do.