Friday, February 26, 2016

Mandala #17 / Siendo Siendo




















"It turned out this man worked for the Dalai Lama. And he said gently - that they believe when a lot of things start going wrong all at once, it is to protect something big and lovely that is trying to get itself born - and that this something needs for you to be distracted so that it can be born as perfectly as possible.”
Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith


Found on Cris R’s blog via Nick’s blog – July 4, 2015

My social energy is quite low, but my creative energy has returned.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Our One Sun






























A few minutes ago while looking at the Lost Coast
webcam, I experienced the anticipation of sunrise at
the ocean, and then my attention was suddenly drawn
to the vision, through the condensation on my window,
of the sun rising over the nearby mountain and shining
through the fog.





Saturday, February 13, 2016

Mandala #16 / Blackbirds Singing On A February Night By The Salish Sea

Being self-employed as a medical transcription editor has its unforeseen benefits, one of which is that when there is no work coming in, I can work on the current mandala in progress.  I just finished this one and will be starting another as soon as I can.  

Good news is that although I am not making enough money to afford massages or homeopathy, there are practitioners who are willing to trade their work for my art work, and for that I am grateful.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Remembering My Dad, Who Had A Friend In Jesus




















The third of five siblings:















Confirmation Day in the Lutheran Church
(center row, center):















High School Theater (the thief with the South High
School letter and two stars for speed skating):



















With his mother and father at their
home in Minneapolis:



















College graduate in Business
Administration:



















In charge of payroll, married to his
first wife:



















This is how I remember my Dad
during the years when I was
growing up:



















If my Dad were still alive, he
would be 102 years old today.
We had a strained relationship
after my mother died in 1994, but
after my father died in 2003, there was
nothing left of him but light and love.

Just happened to read a quote
this morning The Path of the
Yoga Sutras, by Nicolai Bachman,

"That pure light of awareness resting
within each of us was never born
and will never die; it is perpetual
and eternal."

That reminded me of the George
Harrison lyrics from "Any Road",

"I keep traveling around the bend
There was no beginning, there is no end
It wasn't born and never dies
There are no edges, there is no size"

My Dad was a lifelong Christian
who was not without questions
about what he had been taught
in the Lutheran Church as a boy.
In the last years of his life, he had
the words to "What A Friend We Have In Jesus"
written in calligraphy and framed
so that he could see it on a daily basis.

In his last years, my Dad wrote that he felt sure
that Jesus was not God's son.  He experienced
Jesus as a dear friend and expressed his gratitude
to God as he understood God in this way in the last
months of his life:

"My Daily Prayer to My Almighty God

You are above all of creation.

In it You have created all universes and everything in them.

In it You have created millions of stars and planets, far apart.

In it You have created the greatest physical force in our Universe, the magnificent sun.

In it You have created the planet for us all to live on, the Earth.

In it we have You, the sun, oceans, mountains, caves, rivers, lakes, rain, snowflakes, waterfalls, forests, land, air waves we cannot see, every living creature and the most powerful force of all, Love.

Thank You my Almighty God for everything on our planet, Earth.

I ask You, my Almighty God, to forgive me for any harm I have done.

I ask You, my Almighty God, to forgive anyone who harmed me, whether I knew it or not.

You are above all human beings that You have created.

No one on Earth can be compared to You, my Almighty God.

Amen."

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

We Used To Write Letters And Put Stamps On Them / Return of the Canada Geese on February 2





























On February 2, a flock of 5 Canada Geese pairs arrived at the cattail marsh I look out on from my porch, and I remembered when I first learned that Canada Geese mate for life.

Day before yesterday I received a Happy New Year note from an old friend who is using up old stamps.  Does anyone remember the "Letters Mingle Souls" stamps from 1974?

What with work and all, I have much less time for posting on my blog and yet as I settle in the routine of being self-employed, I am finding time again for walking, drawing, playing my autoharp, and getting together with friends for breakfast most mornings.