Summer Breeze

"There is nothing in the Holy

that is not being revealed

100 percent right now."

-Gerald Hair

After spending the entire day wrestling with technology

I had the pleasure of sitting by my bedroom slider tonight,

listening to the rustling leaves and melodic windchimes

as they moved in the evening breeze. It's amazing how

calming the sounds of nature can be to a cranky old soul

such as myself. And all it takes is my stopping what I'm

doing, and noticing that all is holy.

Then I began to hum that old Seals & Croft song -

"Summer breeze makes me feel fine -

blowing through the jasmine in my mind."

(or lavender for Sequimites)

It was a respite-filled moment.

photo of dungeness bridge

Got Clotter?

"Clutter is stuck energy.

The word "clutter" derives from the Middle English word "clotter,"

which means to coagulate -

and that's about as stuck as you can get."

-Karen Kingston

There's a whole lot of coagulation going on in this photo!

(Expect more clutter quotes as I'm putting together a workshop

on Creating Sacred Space for August 20th in Port Townsend.)

Zoe's Feast

Have you ever seen the film Babette's Feast?  It's the story of a French refugee arriving at the door of 2 elderly and austere Scandinavian spinsters to work as their housekeeper and cook.  Babette works quietly for years before winning 10000 francs in a French lottery and instead of using the money to move back to Paris she spends all of it on the creation of a sumptuous banquet to end all sumptuous banquests in order to show her appreciation for her hosts and their congregation. 

Well tonight I had the taste of a Babette in the making.  Her name is Zoe, and she is the 13 year old granddaughter of my friend Donna.  She spent 2 days preparing an amazing meal for us. We began with a lovely bruschetta appetizer and then sat down to the main meal of stuffed ravioli and bacon wrapped shrimp and spinach salad.  Did I mention that Zoe made the ravioli from scratch?  Did I also mention that she makes up her own recipes?

Then we finished with a dessert of raspberry mousse with our initials created in chocolate.  (Mine is sideways in the picture.)  All I kept thinking was "Holy Food for Holy People".....you could taste the love.  And it was definitely a Eucharistic moment.  Thank you Zoe for sharing your creative gift.  May your passion for preparing such feasts continue as you bless all those who partake of such a grace as this.

If you can just keep your head...or not

One of the best parts of owning a Statuary

is that I can bring the orphans home.

I'm not sure why I like these three so much

but they make for pleasant company.

And they give a whole new meaning to Rudyard Kipling's poem, "If"....

"If you can keep your head when all about you

are losing theirs and blaming it on you;"

the church vs. change

another clever cartoon from dave walker!

befriending doubt

"Of course I have doubt.

I invite her over for dinner and then I send her on her way. I've befriended her.

If I'm an artist living an artist's life, doing these things,

then of course I will be visited by doubt.

If not, there would be something wrong.

She's my recurring house guest."

- Edward Field

Source: quoted in Writing and the Spiritual Life by Patrice Vecchione

from a recent inward/outward.

it's a small world after all

"The world is becoming smaller now,

to the degree that all parts of the world

are obviously part of yourself.

Thus, destruction of your enemy is

destruction of yourself."

- The Dalai Lama