Freedom

In the fenced in field in which we live,
we presume to be free.
We will run quickly and kick our heels high,
and though the late shadows chase us,
we will not see them.

In the end, the night will fall,
and we will sleep deeply,
even through the howling wind,
we will not awaken.

Red

Red, creeps up her bark
Lit and flamed in ardent fire
The forest ignites

A rainy day

It is difficult to think, in this season, of anything but the dismal gray of politics and the economy. Wouldn't it be nice if instead our thoughts danced on about how good the grass tastes when it is wet, and how the mountains look with a light mist shroud? I'd like to set my mind alight with those kinds of things...

Losing weight: Notes from the Kitchen

I'm totally off of sugar which feels great. For the most part I just eat nothing sweet, but when I NEED to have it, there is an (albeit expensive so you will want to conserve if you aren't rich) product called Organic 0 by Wholesome Sweeteners which is almost as sweet as sugar, and is made from sugar, but does not harm you, it is an organic and naturally occurring process.

I'm off of butter and have reduced other milk fats. I'm eating a non-transfat spread from the health food store which is just fine. I am eating non-fat Greek Yogurt and that is just as yummy as whole milk yogurt, I want to make it myself so that I can save $. I eat reduced fat organic cheeses and they are just fine. Olive oil and nuts, etc. are fine fats that help, but milk-fat doesn't do anything for you. I still have half and half in my coffee. Fat free half and half seems to have corn syrup which is evil.

I don't have wine every night, but switch between red wine and kombucha, which I make myself.

I eat cacao nibs instead of sweetened chocolate. Last night, I made tapioca pudding with unsweetened chocolate powder. I used the Organic 0 to sweeten it, and I put cacoa nibs and greek yogurt on top. Yummy. I gorged. Today I was less than yesterday on the scale. I love that.

It is gently raining outside right now, a wisp from the far off distant tail of Gustav which is currently over Louisiana and ruining everyone's life.

Hope

What means this Hope?

Hope is a future that is entirely sustainable.

Hope is a green energy policy that will bring us beyond oil.

Hope is an abundance of good jobs to implement a sustainable future beyond oil.

Hope is a passion for local food, and the end of unsustainable corporate agribusiness that use unstainable farming practices and unstainable energy practices to bring guilt ridden, unhealthy food to the table.

Hope is a healthcare policy that will include all Americans as their inalienable right.

Hope is our youth never having to go to war.

Hope is ethical banking and credit practices that don’t give credit to those who can’t afford it.

Hope is a coming together of people from all races and religions to a cause higher than prejudices of the past.

Hope is a joining of all nations to unite in a common cause of peace, justice and liberty for all.

And Hope is the Global turning back of the environmental mess we have made, so that end the end there will still be someone left…

to Hope

A Drink of Water

After a long dry summer, Fay appeared to cry all over Western North Carolina.

And that will be nothing compared to the tears I will cry if Obama loses this election.

My new home

The thunder crashes down every afternoon where the roots have just been planted.
Ticks run to bite and copperheads lurk in the fields but no twisters here.
A kitty that once was free now roams his North Carolina prison, purring happily.
The bedroom has been painted where Green Tara and Quan Yin will rule the nest.
The nameless shapely goddess with no face spreads her arms to the world.
With the twist of a wire the music fills the floors with sound.
Mahler’s fourth with an echo of tears wanders up the stairs.
Friends and family so precious and dear are far away now.
I gaze out at the mountain, the soft and rolling mountain,
My eyes wander to the plant outside the window.
And wonder if the leaves will survive the plight of the Japanese Beetle.

From the Aerie

FEBRUARY

Orange covered sky
Winter's rising from the bay
Warming hints of blue

MARCH




Dawn, the rising sun
On the Vernal Equinox
Vallejo Stonehenge







Moon follows sun's path
Full face smiles on Spring's first eve
Crane points to Aries





APRIL











Rising moon looms full
Shades of pink and grey tint sky
Where has the month gone?

Moon lantern through lace
Cable car flies up the tracks
Am I to sprout wings?

Chores Will Set You Free

The Government will not set you free, CHORES will set you free.

This is a phrase I heard for the first time while visiting Asheville, North Carolina last month. I attended a traveling puppet show by a talented group of young folk. Their show was reminiscent of 1960’s style counter-culture troubadours and was a delightful breath of fresh air. Sadly, I’m not remembering the name of the troupe, so if anyone knows it, please let me know and I will gladly credit them on my blog.

Meanwhile, the phrase seems particularly pertinent in light of the latest political grumblings in regards to Obama’s choice of the word ‘bitter’. You all know what I’m talking about, bitter, so they turn to guns and religion instead of government, bla bla bla. Does anyone actually think the government will come to the rescue? I think not. Rescue won't come until people are ready to rein in their spending habits, and get out there in their back yards, if they still have one that hasn’t been repossessed by the bank, and grow themselves some food!

Eat local. Grow your own food. Don’t spend more than you have. Vote for Obama if you agree that the last 20 years have given us bad government, at least he’s honest about that, maybe he'll actually bring something better. But don’t think of him or any presidential choice as a savior. It ain’t so. Do your chores, use that elbow grease, help out your neighbor, be active in your own community. I think that’s what it's all about.

Impact Dreams

I don't usually write about dreams on my blog, but this one seemed important somehow. For the record, I'd have to say this is about the 4th or 5th dream I've had in which Barack Obama played a positive role. I've never dreamed about Hillary Clinton or any other political figure. I find the dreams a little odd, I don't idolize Obama, although I do hope he becomes president. Remember when reading, it is a dream, and it is strange as dreams are...

The Dream:

I had a doctor’s appointment, and I intended to keep it. I had heard that President Bush was going to be coming to the First Methodist Church on Montgomery Drive in Santa Rosa, and I wanted to go, just to see a President. I was standing on the street in a crowd when Obama walked by, followed by some noble people in orange/red robes of justice. He stopped and pointed to me and another person and motioned for us to follow. I thought about my doctor’s appointment, but being hand picked to follow behind and become a part of his council, I felt I had to continue walking behind Obama. When we got to where we were headed, I told Obama that I had an appointment but I would be happy to cancel. He nodded his head, and left to go to Mars for an important council of leaders. As he left, a large part of earth was sucked out of the atmosphere like a ball, like the moon.

There were scenes of Obama in this place, making important decisions with consequences for the survival of the planet. And there was concern about the consequences of the hole in the atmosphere, and the ball of earth just rolling off and disappearing like it did.

Awaiting the return of Obama, there were large crowds of people in the place where I was. I was standing by the ocean. It was chaotic and frenetic and very dark. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and was afraid. If the ball were going to come back into the atmosphere and hurtle toward Earth it would crush us all. There was a fearful knowing of this among the people. Suddenly the air was raining objects, and the ball came into sight, green and blue like a little earth, it could be seen far off, spinning and coming quickly, its shadow looming over us as it approached. I reached out and took as many as possible into my arms, and everyone else was doing the same. The impact came as expected, but it wasn’t painful. Instead, it was as if we were all released. My cells felt the sense of intermingling, oneness. The missing part of the earth rejoined itself.

And then it was peaceful, and I was walking by the sea. Everyone I passed held up their hand and we touched hands together like prayers, and looked into each other’s eyes. We recognized each other and although we were strangers, we knew each other. We also knew nature, and when I breathed, I could feel the cleanliness of the air; the Earth was restored. That’s not to say there weren’t those who didn’t believe, I could hear comments of non-belief of the restoration being spoken by some. But they would soon see that it was true, because the evidence was everywhere.

And then, as is the usual final course of any dream, I woke up.

Walking with Pappy

Yesterday my father and I stepped out of our flat on Russian Hill in North Beach to walk down the hill to have lunch at a nearby Afghani Restaurant. It has been a dream of his for a while to go have their lunch buffet, and although he attempted it last week on his own, he found it closed. He made the mistake of assuming it was closed because of the massive crane that was up on the hill directly behind the building. So we decided to try again and walked down the three flights of stairs and down the street toward the restaurant.

Normally, for me, this is a 5 minute walk, but no matter how slowly I walked, I could not keep pace with my father. I had to stop every few feet and wait for him. My father has spent his entire life walking around this city, and it is a little disconcerting that it should be so difficult now. I remember when he first began slowing down; it was several years ago, and seemed to contain itself to the hills. However, as he has aged, so has he slowed. It is almost like a battery running down. Rue the day that he can no longer walk.

The restaurant was closed permanently, it seems they have moved locations, we won’t be going to the new one. Instead we went to a Chinese restaurant next door, which although it was a Hunan place, it was not so hot. My father took the bus home. I walked back home, stopped first at a couple of stores, and was still home at least 15 minutes before he was.

He’s a slow ol’ geezer, but I love him.