500 little redwood trees

"It pleases me greatly to know that some of these trees will grow and thrive and continue to bless people and the environment for many years to come."

(Sister Julie of Starcross Community)

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Van Morrison lyrics:

Oh redwood tree

Please let us under

When we were young we used to go

Under the redwood tree

And it smells like rain

Maybe even thunder

Won't you keep us from all harm

Wonderful redwood tree

From Wiki:

In April 1971 Morrison and his family moved to Marin County, California, before he recorded his previous album, Tupelo Honey.  Their new home was on the side of a hill in rural countryside close to San Francisco, with redwood trees nearby.

"Redwood Tree" is a song of reconciliation, which seems to graft Van's Belfast childhood onto California, where redwoods actually grow, "Keep us from all harm", an invocation to the spirit of the ancient wood.

(Brian Hinton)

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Could that song have inspired the creation of the largest redwood forest outside of the United States"

What is the Giants Grove?

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Having grown up in the company of redwood trees, not all that far south of where Van Morrison and his family lived in 1971, I'm delighted to learn that Van Morrison, too, experienced redwood trees as protectors.  My request to my family and friends is that my ashes be placed at the base of a local coast redwood tree, one of very few in this part of the world and dear to me.

Seeking refuge when there is no comfort / George Floyd May 25, 2020

Refuge is not the same as comfort.

“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were no more.”

Jeremiah 31:15

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ref·uge

/ˈrefˌyo͞oj,ˈrefˌyo͞oZH/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble.

   "he was forced to take refuge in the French embassy"

   • something providing shelter.

     plural noun: refuges

     "the family came to be seen as a refuge from a harsh world"

     Similar:

     shelter

     protection

     safety

     security

     asylum

     sanctuary

     preservation

     safe keeping

     place of shelter

     place of safety

     haven

     safe haven

     sanctum

     safe house

     harbor

     port in a storm

     ark

     retreat

     bolthole

     foxhole

     hiding place

     hideaway

     hideout

     fastness

     querencia
   • an institution providing safe accommodations for women who have suffered violence from a spouse or partner.
2. 
   
3. *   Music, poetry, art, books, the natural world, community.
4. 
   

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I remember being a child and weeping with other children when we learned by way of a classroom loudspeaker that President Kennedy had been shot and killed in Texas.

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We're not alone.  Never will be.  

It's been two years since George Floyd was murdered.  Just realized that.

“For the ones who stayed,” “For the ones who left,” “And for all the ones who were lost."

As soon as it came out on DVD, I put Kenneth Branagh's "Belfast" on hold at our public library.  The waiting list was long.  On Thursday, I received email notification that it was my turn to watch one of the available copies.  On Friday morning, I woke up at 2 a.m. and decided to watch it then and there.  I watched it through once and then again with the commentary.  

Timeless and timely.

“For the ones who stayed,” “For the ones who left,” “And for all the ones who were lost."

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"Time heals, after all -- although the clock that marks that kind of time has no hands."

(Suze Rotolo)

Alive Alive-O

How can I be useful, of what service can I be?  There is something inside me, what can it be?
-- Vincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853 - July 29, 1890)



O, what kind of love is this that goes from bad to worse?
-- Bob Dylan, lyrics from "Tears of Rage"

Days Like This

Into the Mystic / Painting Music / Weaving Music

"Of course music is spiritual.  It couldn't be anything else."
(Van Morrison)

7:30 in the evening / Just like this

Listen.

"THE VOICE OF MAHALIA JACKSON CAME THROUGH THE ETHER" (VAN MORRISON)

Sometime between 1954 and 1956, which was the year that I turned 7 years old, I was playing quietly in the living room of my family's rented home in Taft, California. The television was on, but I wasn't paying attention to it until I heard a powerful voice that moved my young heart and soul. I looked up, and there was Mahalia Jackson on the small black-and-white screen. Unforgettable.

"It is easy to be independent when you've got money. But to be independent when you haven't got a thing -- that's the Lord's test."
(Mahalia Jackson)