8.11.15 In the pounding rain, down at the OK Corral tonight

As the day drew to a close, out the back windows summoned a salmon sunset, going fast, flashing between the trees.

So as he drove into the yard, back from Crossfit and all those maniacs there, I jumped in, grabbed the keys, grinned at him, and ran on down the road, to the Eagle Sanctuary.

 On the way, I stopped at Mitch's Marina, where the salmon sunset was dancing with the deep blue of a big summer storm about to drop. It was magnificent, shining upon the swirling Connecticut's waters, as people sat out in front of their summertime RV's and watched the day's end.

Down at the Sanctuary, an Eagle flew across the horizon, as the skies opened up and the rains thundered down into the parched land, washing all things clean, as all things drank thirstily, as the storm clouds pounded by, and the earth turned away from the glowing sun.

8.11.15 I confess, I loved their hands, caught in a moment.

8.11.15 Thirty seven? Thirty eight? Long ago and far away, it was a wonderful wedding day.

 

I mailed in to make two friends ministers ( in case one was late, which they were), we had a nice quickie ceremony at our house with family (5,000 family it seemed), and then hopped into a limo (a wedding gift) with our 4 year old and his best friend, to go on up to a friend's huge rental in Shelburne, where out back , all our friends basked in the sun,next to the humungo in-ground pool, dropped their young ones at the child care tent, played badminton and ran around the lawn, and then had a remarkable pot luck dinner. I made all the kids go home and then we danced to a DJ in a big old barn.

 We baked our wedding cake via a Gourmet recipe, let it sit in the car in the hot sun for a few days before I finally got it to a friend's freezer, sewed our silk pantsuits and my shirt, and enjoyed the very best party,

 so that our oldest, for years, asked if we could do that fun party again...again.

Today, here we are, thick and thin and up and down and still, it all deepens.

8.12.15 Find the places where you have choice.

Find the choice. 

Find the places where you have choice.

And let go of how you wish things would just be. 

How people should just know how to be. 

Let go of all those things, and make the choice.

8.12.15 " We have a responsibility not to let ourselves be judged."

 “We have a responsibility not to let ourselves be judged.

We do not have to accept others' evaluations of our worth, nor are we obligated to believe in their superiority.

        Whichever role we are assigned, we can stop the game by refusing to play our expected part.

        When someone suggests that our recent behavior has undone our right to exist, a useful question to ask is, "What do you want? What can I do to make the situation better?"

        This often reduces the Judge's voice to silence, because what the Judge really wants- but cannot admit- is to make you feel bad, not to get the floor clean.

        When we feel secure in our inherent value, we do not have to argue about our worth as human beings.

        Instead, we can attempt to solve the problem.” 

          Starhawk, Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery

8.11.15 All the sweet little pretty baby birds of the season, greeting the day

8.10.15 And here I have a daughter

     Almost at mid August now, for two days running , the air in the morning has been cool, the ground increasingly damp with the heavy late summer's dew.

     Yesterday while coming to work on our rental cottage, my daughter and her boyfriend once again perused my herb gardens. She a budding acupuncturist and herbalist, he a budding Naturopath and acupuncturist , and herbalist . Both of them enthusiastically learning into the realm of possibilities, with natural and complementary healing.
     She told me they were posting one herb a day on Instagram, describing it's properties in both Western and traditional Chinese medicine terms. So I checked it out; doing a great job!
We walked by all the house plants that are happily sitting outside, getting rained on, cleansed by fresh air and night bathing and wind and storm. Many of which I'll repot nicely , and send off with her , come fall.
     I showed them, in the shade garden, the delicate Wood Betony, wonderful for ongoing support of certain types of headache. Their intricate couple blossoms on a elongated stalk with delicate small leaves.
     She asked for a Mullein plant in full bloom, that she could take a photo of, for their educational posting. But the time of Mullen is largely passed by, so I showed them the Blue Vervain, just exquisite - minute long spikes of blue flowers, A wonderful adaptogen nervous system herb, to calm people and support high blood pressure and the normal stresses of life. They most often grow in roadside ditches that have a good supply of water, but I have several volunteers in my garden, that surprise me each year, popping up here and there with their beautifully serrated leaves, growing to about 5 feet. Sprinkled through the herb garden.
I also showed them the remarkable elecampane that a wonderful client gave me several years ago, that returns every year with it's enormous soft leaves, it's 6 1/2 foot tall branches topped with lovely yellow flowers, reaching for the sky. Remarkable for acute or ongoing use of bronchial and other respiratory challenges. Paired nicely with bloodroot for wet coughs, or lobelia , in tiny bits, , for tight coughs.
     And so it went, the wondering, they're excited faces, discovering those things that could be helpful for people, and exactly how.
     I remember being 18, and some macrobiotic guy at college on Long Island introducing me to rice crackers, to the concept of brown rice. How horrible those rice crackers and the unyeasted bread seemed at first, until my understanding motivated me to get to know them, get to appreciate and finally enjoy them.
     So it goes with herbs. So much of this realm of natural healing seems so odd to people. With the gradual institutionalization , we slowly have poor quality ginkgo and other things making their way into CVS aisles. Which for most part is a good thing. A lot is lost in the institutionalization of anything. Natural healing. Feminism. Political concerns. Assumptions are made, the precautions and dangers overlooked, the profit a primary focus.
     But I spent 27 years studying and learning very carefully, judiciously sharing information with clients, and then palpating organs and systems as they took or did things, observing carefully what happened. Learning when and how and what the Contraindications were. It really was a remarkable path.
     And now it is of the most supreme help in my private life, with my own health, and extraordinarily enough, the health of my beloved.
     And here I have a daughter in law as a chiropractor, a daughter as an acupuncturist and her dear one as a naturopath. 
     Moving down the road in their own unique ways, proliferating this understanding until, now, of all things, naturopathic medicine is proving its own in a pivotal manner, for cancer care. The ultimate benefit for all.