March, 2009

March blew out with only a stiff breeze to show its temper. It was overcast and sullen but the temperature topped out at 60 F. It was a good day for Mick and Dan as they went to work for Jim’s Lawn Service after Morning Offering. They mowed their first lawn today and moved 3+ yards of dirt in a job they’re doing for a customer. In between they mulched and mulched some more! By the end of the day, Mick had sold half of his dirt to a customer whose land over her sewer hook-up is sinking as it settles.

I was dealing with a tummy ache of substantial proportions and things moved slowly! I was blessed with a couple of naps, which did not help the tummy but did help my energy level. By bath time I had created the database of Confederation quotes for my UPI article on the open heart—the fourth article in the “Getting Ready for 2012” series.

Romi visited tonight and we chewed over the teleconferencing issue. He recommends that we stop the effort. Since his skills are essential for the project, and he both wants it to stop on his own hook and because he feels it loads up my schedule on Saturdays too much, I said, “OK.” I feel for the participants, especially Tom C, whose idea it was. Oh well, at least we gave it a good try.

Ian and I traded ideas back and forth all day concerning publicizing the new book, which finally arrived this evening! And it is beautiful—the most attractive book cover I have ever seen, I think! It feels good in the hand too. I said that I will let all those who have interviewed me in the past know that I would love to go back on their shows and talk about my book!

The problem is that we are a tiny company with mostly volunteer help. None of us knows anything about marketing. I ended my correspondence by asking him what job description I should write for our volunteer opportunities page. Perhaps we can attract a volunteer who can market 101:The Choice. It deserves the wider audience for whom it was written!

Romi, Gary, Dan and Mick and I shared the Gaia Meditation tonight and Gary offered the closing prayer, a very eloquent one.

Melissa blew in from Avalon after dark just before Mick and I went upstairs, so I do not know whether she will work here tomorrow or whether she was just picking up her Caretaker fee for April! The morrow will tell!

2009-03-31

April 1, 2009 6:12am

March blew out with only the wind to show its temper. It was overcast and sullen but the temperature topped out at 60 F. It was a good day for Mick and Dan as they went to work for Jim’s Lawn Service after Morning Offering. They mowed their first lawn today and moved 3+ “yards” of dirt in a job they’re doing for a customer. In between they mulched and mulched some more! By end of day Mick had sold half the dirt to a customer whose earth over her new sewer hook-up is sinking as it settles.

I was dealing with a tummy ache of substantial proportions today and things moved slowly! I was blessed with a couple of naps, which did not help the tummy but did help my energy level. By bath time I had created the database of Confederation quotes for my UPI article on the open heart—the fourth article in the “Getting Ready for 2012” series. Hopefully I will write it tomorrow.

Ian and I traded ideas in e-mails back and forth all day concerning publicizing the new book, which finally arrived this evening! And it is beautiful—it boasts the most attractive book cover I have ever seen, I think! It feels good in the hand too. I said that I will let all those who have interviewed me in the past know that I would love to go back on their shows and talk about my book!

Gary, Dan and Mick and I shared the Gaia Meditation tonight and Gary offered the closing prayer, a very eloquent one.

Melissa blew in from Avalon after dark just before Mick and I went upstairs, so I do not know whether she will work here tomorrow or whether she was just picking up her Avalon Caretaker fee for April! The morrow will tell!

2009-03-30

March 31, 2009 5:39am

After a briefer Morning Offering than usual, Mick took Dan D Lion McCarty Cat to the vet for an outside cat’s rabies booster shot and a look at that paw. Dan can stay outside again! But his bite wound still is infected, though healing, so Mick will be giving Dan D antibiotics for another two weeks.

Then he and the other Dan in the household, John Daniel, went out to mulch, garden, rake and clear for Jim’s Lawn Service. They got a huge number of odd jobs done today, coming home triumphant at dusk having completely cleared the storm debris from yet another new customer’s back-of-the-lot collection. It is amazing to hear just how much they get done in a day!

Instead of working on my article for this week, which is my habit on Mondays, I was inspired to clear the desk and Inbox up here, and by bath time, I had an empty Inbox and 33 e-notes in my “Sent” folder, all done today! I caught up with old friends, settled small questions and generally expressed myself!

I also finished collecting recipes from last week’s paper, which had a real harvest of great ideas for the creative chef this edition, wrote some thank-you notes, ordered a new product called Moxxor that looks promising (www.mega-omega.com), an anti-oxidant omega-3 capsule which others have had good results using, and in general cleaned house!

It was exhilarating to look at that empty Inbox!

After our bath, Mick and I came upstairs for a tryst and had an adventure in shared energy and the praise of the one Creator with our bodies. Then we drifted and chatted in the afterglow. We came down to a late supper and Dan joined us for the Gaia Meditation, at which I offered the closing prayer.

2009-03-29

March 30, 2009 5:46am

It always happens, here in Kentucky. Before the weather relents and leaves winter behind, there is a last blast, often a severe spell of weather. And this year, it happened overnight last night. Winds of up to 65 mph, large hail and lightning storms clobbered our area. In Corydon, from which fair village two of our meditators came last night, two tornadoes touched down, causing trailers to wrap around trees and lifting roofs off houses and barns. I will expect at least one customer to call Jim’s Lawn Service with yet more storm debris for JLS to remove (Oh, no!).

Mick wheeled me into church for the service in the blustery cold. It felt very Lenten, as did the service. We sang “Ah Holy Jesus”, the Lenten Liturgy, “Miserere Mei” and “Were You There”. Father Joe preached a children’s sermon about Holy Week being the week Jesus looks for us and hopefully finds us witnessing to Him.

Mick and I tried to watch our films, as is our usual Sabbath afternoon wont, but our DVD player rolled over and died for good today. I had been saving amazon.com coupons from our credit card usage and we used $150.00 worth of them to purchase a new Philips DVD. Hopefully we’ll be set up again in good fettle by next Sunday!

We enjoyed a restorative nap instead, and then watched the Cardinals get beaten in the NCAA tourney by Michigan State, which was the better team today.

Mick had grass on his mind, and drove around to all his customers, some old and some new, for tomorrow, checking to see if the green stuff was growing yet. Nope! So he and Dan will continue doing non-mowing chores tomorrow. Meanwhile, I had a wonderfully relaxing round of solitaire.

Mick continued watching NCAA basketball games while we had supper. I read The Wrecking Crew and did a crossword puzzle, close to completing the book of New York Times Sunday puzzles Mel gave me for Christmas. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

Mick and I talked a bit about our fatigue level before we said our last prayers for the day. Not the daily weariness and not the physical fatigue, but the exhaustion which comes from having no vacation this year.

Usually in February we are able to get away to Nebraska for a week or so, and if we’re lucky I get asked to speak at a convention and we have another week to rest and enjoy the event. Neither of us is built for idleness, so this couple of weeks’ R&R sets us up to hit the spring season with gusto.

This year we had no chance to get away. In January and February, when Mick normally has an off season, there was storm debris from Hurricane Ike to finish removing and just when he was through with that, the ice storm devastated the area. Mick finished storm debris removal from that event just last week. He worked full-time through the off-season.

In addition, in every spare moment Jim was creating more business. He typed the address data base for Anchorage and then created JLS letters requesting new business for the coming mowing season. After the letters were sent out, he started visiting potential customers, making bids on their mowing and making out his new schedule. And of course many of his new customers had a backlog of storm debris and other clean-up, so he had another round of that!

He spent time training Daniel. He still has a lot of non-mowing chores on his list, and the first mowing comes on this Friday, as several of his Friday customers’ grass is already growing. So he will be working those chores in along with the mowing.

Psychologically, it is not the best way for him to start the 39-week-long mowing season! My heart goes out to him. But Mick will win through, with his mantra of “Relax and enjoy.”

All thanks and kudos to you, Mick! May angels swarm around you to lift your spirits with wings of peace and joy, while the nature spirits and plant devas dance with you, their beloved partner in creating natural beauty and that ineffable feeling of a loved and cherished lawn for each of your customers.

2009-03-28

March 29, 2009 6:35am

After Morning Offering, Mick cleaned the kitchen and then did a round of weekly errands while I continued to clear the stack of office work that had accumulated in my bower office. We rendezvoused for lunch and then Mick and Dan were off to have a training session at Steve’s big estate in the Shelbyville area. Dan now has an hour of actual mowing on the riding mowers and another one on the ride-behind mowers. Dan likes to feel the breeze and do the job, he says, with his greatest challenge being to mow a truly straight line and leave those pretty “stripes” in the lawn.

I continued to knock out details and by the time the Live Chat began, I had mowed down the stack except for collecting several new recipes and writing a couple of thank-you notes. Hopefully I will find a little time to see to those details tomorrow at our afternoon break.

Mick did not get to see much of this game, but the Cardinals of the University of Louisville won again and will be in the NCAA “Elite 8”. So will the Lady Cards! It is a good year in b-ball for my alma mater.

We enjoyed meeting two new people, Michael and Richard, at the public meeting tonight. They hail from Corydon, Indiana, about a 45-minute drive down-river from Louisville. Allen F came down from the Cincinnati area and Gary and Dan attended with Mick and me filling out the number. It was a very fun night, with lots of good questions raised. The group question was from Dan, and was on the subject of how to maximize one’s polarization in service to others. I look forward to reading the response when I edit the transcript.

I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer at the end of the Channeled Meditation tonight.

2009-03-27

March 28, 2009 6:48am

Friday was a lowering, glowering sort of day, warm and sullen. It had rained overnight and more weather is due behind it, so the clouds never parted. After Morning Offering Mick and Dan set out for their spring clean-ups at various customers’ homes. He says he will just about have everyone’s lawn ready to mow when mowing is called for—some customers being ready now, others in a week or so.

I edited the last transcript that has come in to my Inbox recently, a personal channeling session for the redoubtable Tom C, one of my favorite seekers and people, I admit unabashedly. It was very pleasant to work with Mr. C’s good energy and I finished the editing and sent the transcript off to our archive site in mid-afternoon. I think a lot of people will appreciate their advice to him.

What remains for me is lots of office work and the inevitable burgeoning Inbox. I started in on the pile of office work and by bath time I had -

• Written to Riverside Parking requesting that they consider adding more handicapped parking slots to their garage at the E.ON Building, where I have to go each spring to see Linda, the tax preparer

• Written to Rebecca R, a woman who says the Ra books have found her and who wishes to come to a meeting soon, to send her directions and welcome her to the group

• Thanked a couple of seekers for their very kind notes of appreciation to me

• Called the Absolutely Salon to catch up with my next two appointments—I lost their little card somehow

• Written to Dr. J of 21st-Century Medicine, an osteopath who has been extremely helpful in the past, telling him that I did indeed with to schedule an appointment with him—but not until I finish my present dance with the allopathic medical community. My GP has sent me to six specialists now, trying to solve the riddle of my present cluster of symptoms. I told him that I think I am on my last specialist, a nephrologist, and that he has done the last test—a scan of the arteries around the kidneys—and I need about a month to take the prescription he will inevitably prescribe and see if it helps. I will then be free to work with him, able to tell if what HE does helps. If one sees more than one type of healer at one time, one never knows what exactly has helped.

• Figured out the proper divisions of principle and interest Linda needs me to get Pam to use in paying off JLS’s lease-to-purchase debt on the Skag riding mower Steve F. donated to L/L Research, using the information I got by phone from Linda D and sending the payment plan to Pam, our bookkeeper

• Sent a brief notice about removing the Avalon Journal to our web guy on the archive site for posting—I mention the Avalon Journal often in these Camelot Journal entries, and I want people who look for it to know we intended for it to be gone.

• Written Jack K, who has been such a great help to Barbara B, encouraging him on his present plan of action

• Written to Gary, my intrepid admin, asking him to look into getting me a good earpiece for the telephone in my office.

• Written again to Gary concerning the USB telephone recorder I have in the upstairs office here, asking him to troubleshoot it. He gets it working for me. I see that it works—ah! And then I need it, try to use it and it will not work. It’s not me—the three times this has happened, it does not work for Gary either. So he resets it, and we repeat the dismal scenario. I asked Gary to figure out why this happens, or get me a new recorder. When I do counseling, I like to be able to send the discussion to the counselee. And when I do interviews, I would like to capture the interview here rather than depending upon others.

• Tried to get in touch with the nephrologist, Dr. R, whose instructions had been to start taking a certain medicine, but only after I had done the kidney scan. I did that scan on Monday, and as of today had heard nothing. R’s nurse assistant said she would determine his preferences and leave the instructions on the phone machine.

Mick and I enjoyed a slow and soaking bath, then a slow and sensuous energy exchange, a grand adventure in feeling wonderful and praising the Lord with our bodies. I am so deeply enamored of my beautiful husband! We joined Dan and Gary for supper and found ourselves alone by the time we offered the Gaia Meditation. Mick gave the closing prayer.

While Mick shifted around names and dates and developed his first draft of a weekly schedule of JLS mowing, we enjoyed watching our favorites, the Louisville Cardinals, mop up the floor with the Arizona team in the NCAA tourney. Arizona is a perfectly worthy team, but unlucky tonight. Never have we seen a more engaging group of athletes than the U of Louisville team who had such a good time doing the mopping! And then Mick watched other games until bedtime while I dreamed and dozed beside him.

2009-03-26

March 27, 2009 5:52am

It was raining fairly hard when I awoke, having overslept until almost 7:30. So it did not matter a lot that I had missed Mick’s and my usual wake-up call of 7:00. However, because of the extra sleep, I needed to spend the bulk of the morning having my chapel time and doing the journal writing that I normally would have done between 5:00, when I normally awaken, and 7:00.

I also wrote Gary with the request to see the chart which I feel sure he has made of the tapes sent out to transcribers after Channeling Intensive Four. Either I am confused, which often happens, or the tapes are mislabeled. I await clarification!

After lunch Mel, Gary and I sat down and chewed through details concerning the upcoming 2012 Gathering in April. It was a fruitful meeting. And Gary furnished me with a copy of the curriculum which I can use for creating my final plans for the Gathering.

My efforts to create a new Avalon Journal on B4 came to naught due to Mel’s concerns for security. Indeed, we lost ground there, because in order to address her concerns I agreed to remove the archives of the Avalon Journal from our site.

It is a disappointment to me, because I feel that the work that is being accomplished there is exciting, and I looked forward to writing about it. However, even though I cannot understand them, I think Mel’s personal concerns do count, and so we are cooperating to alleviate those concerns.

Mick and Dan danced around the raindrops and accomplished a full day’s work, freeing St. Luke’s campus of hanging limbs and working for several other customers as well, doing spring clean-up in preparation for the mowing which shall begin within the next couple of weeks.

It was heaven to see Mick and enjoy a quiet evening with him. At 8:00 we came downstairs to share a late supper with Gary and Dan. Mick offered the prayer at the close of the Gaia Meditation.

2009-03-25

March 26, 2009 10:32am

After Morning Offering, Mick took our newest mower, a ride-behind Skag named Chuck, to have a Skag velky mounted on it. The ride-behind chariot which the previous owner had on the machine was not made for it. So it did not hook up and out of the way for travel. It’s previous owner did not need it to do so, since it was used only for mowing his lawn. But Mick needs the maker’s chariot, as he needs to transport the mower safely to and fro.

By the time he returned, the overnight rains had reduced and he and Dan set forth to battle the mist and drizzle, which combination my blessed mother called “mizzle”, and finished a huge job of mulching a customer’s yard. Then they did a variety of smaller jobs, coming home at dusk quite satisfied with their success at dodging the raindrops and gittingerdun.

I began my work day by clearing away all the details for creating a lease-to-buy agreement between JLS and L/L Research for the large riding Skag mower which was donated to L/L Research by Steve F. I was alerted to the need for this by Linda, our tax preparer. Apparently the IRS frowns on gentlemen’s agreements!

She also alerted Mel and me to the need to create Avalon Farm accounts in considerably more detail than we currently have. Mel already has these accounts kept in her hard-copy records. However QuickBooks does not. Mel tried to give them to Pam, our bookkeeper, last year when she began the chicken project, but Pam was unaware of the need for such detail.

So I tasked Melissa with creating a full, official ledger of the Avalon Farm accounts for 2008, to replace her various scraps of paper, and then tasked Pam with mirroring all these new details digitally on QuickBooks. We can then send Linda a revised set of L/L Research books for 2008 and Linda will have what she needs to do the L/L Research tax return in exquisite detail.

Mel and I then went on a round of errands. I gave blood for my monthly labs for Dr. June. We shopped for boots for Mel, unsuccessfully—perhaps we can try again tomorrow. And we picked up various items for Camelot and Avalon at Wal-Mart.

In the afternoon Mel went up to Avalon to feed the chickens and cats and see to things there. Then she scooted back here, as the three criminals who escaped from a prison in Indiana, and were last seen only a few miles from Avalon, are still on the loose. We will be so glad when they and their eleven guns are caught.

I spent the rest of the afternoon editing a transcript of a Special Meditation session which occurred during the last Channeling Intensive, when the Channeling Circle members requested a Q&A from the Q’uo group, and sending that on to Ian.

Mick and I enjoyed a bath together and then I was off to choir practice. I came home to join Mick, Dan, Mel and Gary for supper and conversation. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-03-24

March 25, 2009 5:36am

It was pleasantly warm today, topping out above sixty F. After Morning Offering Mick and Dan went to work and laid more mulch in one day than they ever have before! They ended the day with another cubic yard still to purchase, shovel and rake into place for their customer with a whole lot of yard! Jim also did a walk-around with Father Joe on St. Luke’s campus, noting all of the trees with hanging branches from the ice storm which JLS will cut down for the church. Mick had previously been told that a tree service would remove those branches. However the tree service’s bid to the church was quite high and so Jim’s Lawn Service got the job after all.

Having overslept badly, I spent my morning in writing my journals and having my prayer time. In the afternoon I edited Channeling Circle 14 and sent it off to the archive site just before bath time. Now we only have one CC session from Channeling Intensive Four yet to receive back from the transcriber. CC-14 was a fairly rough session, to which Dan had re-listened, capturing most of what was channeled. We really need a better microphone for these sessions, one that can pick up soft voices from up to sixteen feet away, which is the length of Camelot’s living room.

Before I left the office for the day I wrote Wynn F, who wrote to ask me how I felt the interview on BBS last night had gone. I replied that I thought it went well, and thanked him for letting me know that the feedback had been great. I made a date to talk with him again on April 27th at 9:00 p.m. EDT on the same show.

When Mick and I heard on the morning news that three armed and dangerous escapees from a southern Indiana prison had last been seen close to Avalon, we gave Mel a call and invited her to stay with us overnight, or until they catch the criminals. These men have stolen two vehicles, and in both cases they beat the vehicles’ owners until they had to be hospitalized. We want our Melissa to be safe! She came, reluctantly, very upset at having to miss a day of work. But I am glad she is here. Hopefully we will awaken tomorrow hearing that they have caught these men.

Gary and I also met for a work session in late afternoon. He called blitzprint and found that the books, which we were told would be here on March 18th, were still in Canada. There was a hold-up with our credit card. I called the credit card people and got that straightened out. And Gary and I decided to change the announcement on B4 to reflect that 101 was still not available but would come in next week.

It was grand to reunite with Mick at evenentide, have a refreshing bath and some quiet time with him before supper. We came downstairs to join Mel, Gary and Dan for supper. However when Mick went out to feed Dan D. Lion, our outside cat, he discovered that poor Dan D. had been bitten badly by some critter, so Mick spent the evening at the emergency vet’s. He finally returned home at 10:30! Dan D. will have to stay inside until his paw heals. Mick installed him in his bedroom after putting plastic down on his carpet—Dan has a habit which we have never been able to break of marking his territory, even though he has been neutered.

2009-03-23

March 24, 2009 9:51am

This was a very low-energy day for me, starting, after Morning Offering, with going to the Baptist East Hospital center in Middletown for a scan of the blood vessels leading into and out of my kidneys. The position in which it was necessary to lie in order for the technician to perform the scan was excruciating to me, so I returned home feeling limp as a rag.

I treated myself to a special brunch as a reward for getting through the scan and then started to do the research for my UPI article, the third in a series on getting ready for 2012. I was interested to see where spirit would lead me, and it turned out to be the subject of polarity. It was very enjoyable to reread the Ra group’s words on the subject. Except for a couple of naps, I worked on the article all day and finished it just before bath time.

I wrote Mel, asking her to prepare a report on what the plumber’s recent evaluation of Camelot’s plumbing revealed, prioritizing and pricing the repairs and giving a worst-case-scenario for each repair if we did not perform it. That should give Mick and me the information we need to figure the timing on when we repair each item. We’ve had indications that a plumbing repair campaign needs doing, and the plumber’s assessment confirms that. Pipes are thinning, connections are loose and there are a couple of pin-hole leaks.

Sandie S sent me a forward which I thought was excellent, so I pass it on to you. The link is http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/248704259. Obama apparently wrote the larger of the new-age groups and asked them for input. I wrote a little essay on what love calls us to do, regarding public policy, and signed the petition.

Mick and Dan had a good day mulching and power-seeding, cleaning flower beds and mowing down old decorative grasses and lariope for customers. So far, even though the mowing season is still a week or two away, he’s had plenty for both Dan and him to do each day, and he is very pleased at the way Dan has taken to the job.

Mick told me tonight that, far from its being a hassle to him to have a full-time helper as he feared, there has actually been a lifting of his worries. He is delighted, now, that he made the decision to expand the business! And that is even before his schedule is full - I think he still lacks about ten hours of mowing to have the fully packed schedule of fifty hours per week which he wants. That’s twenty-five actual hours per week of mowing, since there are two of them working the schedule.

That is so great to hear! Since I was instrumental in encouraging him to make the decision to expand, I am thrilled indeed to hear that it was a good decision! Whew!

I fully expect his mowing schedule to be full by the time he begins to mow, as he is giving bids out every day. He just picked up another job today, our neighbors to the south. He now mows all the yards on our little street except one!

After a luxuriously slow bath, Mick and I came upstairs for a date and shared brilliant, powerful and loving energy that blew us both away! We came downstairs to share our dinner with Gary and Dan and conversed with them most pleasantly until the Gaia Meditation. Gary offered a beautiful prayer tonight at its close.

2009-03-22

March 23, 2009 4:42am

Sunday started quite chilly but warmed up all day, finishing almost at sixty F. I enjoyed singing Stainer’s pretty, simple piece, “God So Loved the World” at church, and continuing to chant the Lenten Litany. Mick picked me up after the service and brought me back to his just-cleaned house, and we sat down for lunch and our movies.

The first movie was defective, and we did not know that until we brought it upstairs and tried to play it in my bedroom. Already ensconced there, we decided to play the second film upstairs also. In terms of my seeing the film, it was a bad decision, as I immediately dozed off, resting under a cover on my comfortable bed. I missed the entire film! So there are no film reviews to share with you today!

I had a dream that I was on a trip with Mick and Mel. I went blind, suddenly, while driving and had to let Mel take over. My eyesight came back eventually, and we all stopped at a motel for the night. There I found my eyesight going again. It was a relief to awaken!

Mick enjoyed watching basketball and I enjoyed playing solitaire until dinner time, which we shared with Tiffani and Gary; now back from a day of hiking, and Dan, back from a visit to Cave City. Gary offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2009-03-21

March 22, 2009 6:56am

It has been a lovely, sunny, somewhat chilly day, and daffodils are everywhere. I hope I may have the grace to see the glory, this year, for each year it goes by so very quickly, this most blessed season of springtime, and at its end, with the hot weather here, I regret missing every wildflower and nodding blossom of this early blooming season that I neglected to notice.

Regrets of that kind are already pouring in!

After a short Morning Offering Mick went into Saturday Morning mode, cleaning the kitchen and running errands. Meanwhile Romi arrived to set up for the teleconferencing experiment and fiddled with headphones and a web camera while I finished my chapel time and Holly Journal.

At 10:30 the Channeling Circle members came on line together, or tried to do so. It was a zoo. Our plan was to have a talk around the circle and then a channeling from the Q’uo group. The aim was to see whether I could feel the presence and energy of the teleconferencing members, who are physically distant.

And the teleconference succeeded in that I was able to determine that I can sense their presence and energy just fine. We had to know that before we could even think about having Channeling Circle sessions on-line.

As for anything other than that, everything that you could think of to go wrong did so. Dean was on-line and clearly audible for a while but when we all had to disconnect and reboot, we lost him. Gerri was audible for a short while and then her equipment stopped working. Romi broke away from the upstairs office and got on the telephone with her to try to mend things, but it was hopeless. Tom was never able to get his audio to work, either hearing or speaking. It broke up continuously. Romi was on the phone with him as well.

Lorena was clear and both audible and easy to see throughout the morning session. John was also. So they are the teleconferencing group that made it to the channeling session.

I do not believe I have ever had a greater challenge than tuning and channeling this morning! There was a constant swishing, buzzing and roaring sound in my earphones, as if a large airplane were going by overhead and the mike was picking up the sound. And off and on, feedback occurred and I could hear my voice echoing about a second behind my every word.

I look forward to seeing that transcript! If I succeeded in producing any usable material I will cheer!

My nerves were tattered after that and I gratefully went downstairs and took a very long lunch, sitting with Mick and reading a particularly delicious novel while Mick napped and watched basketball. At 3:00 I came upstairs and had the Live Chat session on B4, which I enjoyed thoroughly.

I have come to “know” some of the nicest people, whose real names I do not know, nor have I seen their faces. But oguz, peelstreetguy, 3D sunset, kuru, Mr. Rabbit and others are dear to me anyway. I do know Monica, and she was the source of several interesting queries yesterday, as were the others.

Fortunately, Steve, the webmaster of B4, archives these Q and A sessions, so that people can go back and read them if they wish. Occasionally I think the work is useful in the sense that others might also find the answers a good resource.

After the Live Chat I bathed with Mick and sat down to an early supper. Allen F came down from Cincinnati to join Romi, Tiff, Gary, Mick and me for the public meeting at 8:00. It was a silent meditation tonight after the round-robin discussion, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer at the end of it.

Afterwards we put out the strawberries and cheese and crackers that Allen had brought as a love offering and noshed and conversed until about 10:30 when the party broke up.

2009-03-20

March 21, 2009 7:01am

Happy first day of spring! Unofficially the birds and blossoms have been trumpeting the return of the sun for a couple of weeks, but now it is official! Our day was chilly but sunny, the perfect day for Gary and Tiffani to play tennis—Gary for the first time. He won the last set, said Tiff, because he wore her out as he learned!

After Morning Offering Jim and Dan set out to create beauty in the lawns of Anchorage, returning home happy and weary at dusk. Meanwhile Mel and I set out for downtown Louisville and a date with Linda the tax preparer. Two and a half hours and a million details later, we were through the fire and out the other side and returned home armed with a list of items needed still by Linda.

By 4:00 she and I had done what we could. There are a few loose ends which wait the tying by next week’s answered phone calls, but no more effort was needed today. It is terrific to have that annual meeting behind me. Linda makes it as painless as possible, but bleagh!

I finally finished re-editing Dan’s re-listening of the CC-16 transcript. He recovered much good material and the resulting transcript is greatly improved, complete and clear, thanks to his patience and sharp hearing. There were probably half a dozen whole paragraphs of channeling he recovered, including Romi’s first complete paragraph of channeled material! I know Ro will like to see that.

Ian and I corresponded about Susanna Angela’s translations of Q’uo channelings into Italian. He will archive them on llresearch. Her Italian translations will join Micheline’s French ones and Terry’s Chinese ones! And I believe we have a few Portuguese Q’uo channelings as well. Our site is beginning to be multilingual! That is more than I can say for myself, sadly.

I wrote Anne H from Norway to welcome her to the Riedel Gathering on 2012 in April. That event is now full, although I am sure Gary is keeping a waiting list in case someone drops out. I look forward to seeing her again!

Lastly for the day, I bit the bullet and decided to write Bob F at Hampton Roads Publishing. He has been considering The Aaron/Q’uo Dialogues for most of a year now. Seven weeks ago he wrote and said that he would let me know yes or no very shortly. So I felt it was time to ask for a reality check. I do wish to see this book published, if not at Hampton Roads, then elsewhere.

Mel had to rush home to Avalon after all her hard work on the taxes, where she was indispensable, because one of our chickens is ailing. It is too bad, for she was invited to go with us tonight for the big treat. We’re praying for our baby!

After a bath with Mick and a quick kiss good-bye I left him to his basketball and went with Gary and Tiffani to the Seelbach Hotel’s Oak Room. Tiff treated us to an incredible and delightful gustatory experience, a seven-course tasting meal, with paired wines. We nibbled and considered, loved this and didn’t love that and had a marvelous time!

The ambience in the spacious nineteenth-century room, which sprawls lazily along the mezzanine of the classically beautiful and historic hotel, was superb. Mozart played softly for most of the evening, sporadically interspersed with Fala, Schubert and other pleasant chamber music. The ceilings were a long way away and elegant. There were Moorish arches drawn across the top of every huge window by dark, heavily carved and embellished wood. There was exquisite rococo detailing on the wooden pillars as well. The service was discreet and friendly and the imagination of the chef was amazing! The sommelier created some wonderful tastes with his wine choices. I had such a good time!

I fear that Tiff and I lost Gary as we chatted from time to time! At one point I glanced over and he was making a detailed search of the inside of his jacket. We changed the subject to metaphysics immediately and drew him back in!

I came home thinking that Mick had only two more minutes to watch of his game, but it took two overtimes for Siena to win, so Mick and I had a good snuggle after all before our last prayers. Siena will play my alma mater, U of L, next in the NCAA Tournament.

Jim offered the Gaia Meditation tonight all alone while Gary, Tiffani and I were lost to the pleasures of the palate. (Blush!)

2009-03-19

March 20, 2009 5:55am

Today was the epitome of early spring. It had rained overnight and the many kinds of daffodils we have in the yard were sweet with dew and radiant in the sunshine. Crabapple trees along Evergreen Road had come into blossom overnight and a carpet of small white flowers has begun blooming next door in their acre of side yard.

Mick and Dan set out to work after Morning Offering, putting down and spreading various kinds of ground-cover mulch for two customers. Mick is exhilarated at how much they are getting done. He is enjoying working with a helper. Dan’s enjoying the job too.

Dan and I had a good talk yesterday evening about his job. He is still learning it, he says, and is applying himself not only to do each chore—trimming, mowing, and so forth—exactly as Mick would like, but also to learn Mick’s vision. He sees Jim’s love of the work and says sometimes he can catch Mick working with the nature spirits and devas. We talked about how Mick sees the natural world as dancing, and himself as a partner in the dance. I told him how often Mick will say, “And we made her look pretty.” It is a labor of love, as Mick does it. Dan really resonates with that.

I managed to fall asleep again this morning, again limiting the work I got done today! The angels have been putting me down for naps lately! I roused at last and continued to edit the Channeling Circle 16 transcript, using Dan’s re-listened version of the session. After lunch I continued to edit, getting all but the last three pages checked, paragraph by paragraph.

It is a slow process, but Dan has recovered whole paragraphs of the channeling and it makes the session so much more complete. He’s got a good pair of ears! I will enjoy finishing that and sending it to our web guy for the archive site.

It contains Romi’s first whole paragraph of channeled material. I was elated that Dan recovered that! Romi has struggled to learn, and is coming along!

At 3:00, I went to Absolutely Salon for a manicure-pedicure. What a joy to have Beth repair my ingrown fingernails! She got my fingers feeling good again! I brought a light green polish and a blue with a touch of green for a shimmering cover, and now my nails are the color of early spring leaves! I love to express myself with color!

I came home to greet Tiffani, who had put in a good day working on her book, and Gary, who was manning the L/L helm. Gary says that today we filled up for the April workshop on 2012 in memory of Bob Riedel, registering Anne H from Norway. I am delighted that she is coming! I met her at the Mackinac Island Gathering in 2007. Her beauty and ebullient personality are matched by her wide metaphysical reading and her militant spirit of activism. She will make a wonderful addition to the very interesting group of attendees. I am looking forward to the occasion!

It gives me my first chance to teach from my new book, and also to get some early feedback from readers. I can’t wait to find out how well I accomplished the task I set myself with this book—to create a fun, light-hearted yet good entry into the principles of the Law of One. It will be fun to talk about the Game of Life and how to become Players. And it will be a privilege to share Avalon with the group as well as Camelot. Both campuses should be at their height of spring beauty.

Mick and I bathed and rested upstairs until dinnertime. Then we joined Tiff, Gary and Dan for supper and conversation, listening to Jon Stewart for a while. Tiffani proposes that we have a wonderfully adventurous dinner out tomorrow night! With my delight in eating out, I thought it a grand idea, and very generous of her! Dan begged off, as he is going to visit his parents in Cave City for the weekend, and Mick claimed the evening for NCAA Cards-watching, but Gary is in, as am I. And I volunteered Melissa as well. She and I will take the tax preparation work in to Linda tomorrow morning, and what a nifty way to recover from that agony! There are always at least two hours of searching for detail after detail, racking my brains and the records for elusive answers to questions I never considered! Never my favorite activity! But then it will be done for another year! Ah!

Tiffani and I had the MOST fun on line, looking at a couple of different restaurants’ on-line sites, and finally settling on The Oak Room at the Seelbach Hotel. She wants to try their ostrich appetizer. I enjoyed an “ostrich burger” at the state fair several years ago and know the meat is light and tasty, but the chef at the Seelbach will likely dress it with a bit more sophistication than the vendor at the Kentucky State Fair! And to top off the evening, Tiff, Gary and Mel will go roller-skating! I will bow out for that part of it, needing to come home and go to bed early.

We had the Gaia Meditation together, with me offering the closing prayer. Then Mick invited me to come upstairs early and it turned out that he was feeling decidedly amorous, which was grand news for me! So we ended our day with a beautiful energy exchange and I got to fall asleep in the afterglow after our last prayers, a sweet pleasure indeed.

2009-03-18

March 19, 2009 9:20am

What a beautiful day it was! When I went to an appointment with my gynecologist—always the least fun thing to do but necessary from time to time to check for cancer—all the Bradford pears were in bloom on the Norton Suburban Hospital campus. Many trees are now pink with bursting leaf-buds and daffodils are everywhere.

It is sad to see all the storm debris still piled high at roadsides throughout the city. The city has received federal aid to deal with it and crews are working seven days a week, twelve hours a day to haul it all away. And still they’ve not made much of a dent in the mess yet. But spring is coming on anyway!

I have not been up to Avalon since the storm, but Mel has mentioned several times that Avalon was also devastated by the ice storm. She has worked hard to clear the debris in the open areas, but in the denser woods, where she cannot easily work, trees and branches are down on every knob and in every hollow. It will be a long time before we really recover from this catastrophe of nature.

This was a patch-patch, catch-up day for me. It was most fortuitous that I was struggling to finish the tax preparation work right when Pam, our bookkeeper, was working at her desk. Always confused around financial paperwork, I asked her this and that question and she ended up staying two extra hours and revising several accounts and ways of posting that will give me better access to the facts concerning our income in the future. She was so kind to stick around and do that! So I now have all the work done and we are ready to take the records to Linda D, our tax preparer since 1984, on Friday.

The only glitch was that I could not find our worksheet. Mel and I have labored mightily over that. And I think she will be able to access it. I just could not find it! I remember, however, that she cleverly printed out a hard copy when we finished work at our last session together on this project. So with the facts I wrote down by hand today, we’re ready for Linda whether or not we can find the worksheet on the computer.

It is always so good to be done with this particular chore! But it is worthwhile for us to spend the time collecting the information, because we can really use Schedule A to knock back our tax liability, what with my medicine and doctor bills and our office-in-home expenses.

I talked with our bank today and found that in order to complete our on-line banking profile, Mick and I need to fill out an “accounts linking” form. So I picked the form up while I was out this afternoon. Mick and I filled it in this evening and I faxed it off. Now, after the 48-hour wait for processing, Pam should be able to see all of our account information on-line. She says this will help her a lot.

I corresponded with Gary and Steve E on routine matters, sending Gary a needed address and Steve thanks for dealing with a glitch in the server that hosts B4. And I wrote to thank Steve M for sharing a serendipitous anagram with me: An anagram for Barack Hussein Obama - ‘Abraham is back - One US’. That’s the third time I have heard it suggested that Obama is a reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln. If he is, he certainly married more wisely this time around! I am most impressed with Michelle Obama.

I was feeling dizzy and somewhat ill today, and found myself waking up from a two-hour nap at lunchtime, so I did not get as much done as I had hoped by far. But I am a happy woman, just finishing the tax prep!

Mick and Dan mulched and mulched some more today, working a long day to finish at one customer whose grounds needed 17 square yards of mulch altogether! Mick says it is the most he has ever spread for one customer. But he said they made her yard look pretty! Dan is working out beautifully, he says. Thank you, Lord!

This expansion was a gamble on Mick’s part, but it looks as though it has all gone very smoothly. Calls keep coming in and Mick keeps estimating new jobs and sending out his bids. I suspect that by April he and Dan will have a full schedule.

And Dan is a terrific worker, steady and always good natured, keeping up with Mick effortlessly - and Mick is a hard worker. We feel very lucky that Dan and we came together. Fortunately, Dan thinks so too. He had his first paycheck today!

Choir practice was a splendid, fruitful time tonight, as we are now practicing for Easter as well as for Lent, so some of the music was light and bright. I learned a lot of music! And when I got home, Gary and Tiffani were both on hand to share supper with us. We had a delightful conversation. Mick offered the closing prayer tonight at the Gaia Meditation.

2009-03-17

March 18, 2009 5:42am

It was a lovely, bright day today, seventy F and full of birdsong and daffodils, the tulip leaves thrusting higher every day now. Mick and Dan set out after Morning Offering to make one customer’s very large yard and pool pretty for a party tomorrow and to mulch for another customer. They ran out of daylight on the second job, to which they shall return tomorrow.

I overslept this morning, so I spent my time until 9:30 finishing my prayer time and writing the Holly Journal entry for today. Then I was off with Dianne to keep a haircut appointment and have lunch with her. I had a great time! I am stretching the time between haircuts from six weeks to eight these days, so I do feel somewhat shaggy towards the end of the second month! It feels terrific to be all trimmed up. The purple cast to my hair has faded considerably now. I think one more haircut and all the color in my hair will be my own! I have enjoyed it! But I am also looking forward to going natural for the summer.

I had a long talk with Gary this afternoon, working on various things. As always, my admin is the best. He tells me that we are accumulating a good many orders for 101: The Choice! I can’t wait for the books to come in. They ship from the printer tomorrow.

I also spent an unconscionable amount of time trying to get our four accounts with National City viewable from the internet. Eventually I succeeded with three accounts out of four. I have a request in to the bank for help with the fourth.

I also corresponded with Ian on a couple of issues, lovely things to think out, like should we have a link to our Italian translations of various Q’uo channelings, or should we mirror them on our site, and no, Micheline’s notation of a typo in 101, saying that ‘pavalon’ is actually spelled ‘pavilion’ is incorrect since for Noyes students the open-sided structure with sprung board flooring on which we dance IS called the pavalon, although it mightily resembles a pavilion!

I also wrote Jack, recommending Leigh Ann Loggins as a psychic. It was a pleasure to give her a good recommendation. Her work with the angels is as good in its way as Barbara B’s work with Aaron.

And I wrote Mel, authorizing the purchase of a thermostat for Moonshine Farm Truck. She pulled the old radiator, which was rotten, and is now getting ready to install its rebuilt replacement, and felt that the thermostat needed replacement now as well. Also, I let her know that we’re scheduled to go take our taxes to Linda at Compton Kottke this Friday at 10:00 a.m.

I was glad for bath time to come, feeling quite weary. Afterwards, Mick and I came upstairs for an amazing, perhaps best-in-lifetime energy exchange. I am humble before the Creator’s beauty.

We snoozed until suppertime, which we enjoyed with Dan and Gary. Gary offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-03-16

March 17, 2009 5:52am

My day was all too simple—I had a dentist’s appointment and had to take sedation immediately after Morning Offering in order to prepare for it. I slept well! Then in the afternoon there was more sedation. Gary drove me to the dentist’s and Mick picked me up afterwards. All went well! And I slept the rest of the evening away.

As for Mick and Dan, this was their first day of working together. They had a good day mulching for a customer who is putting her house up for sale and wants everything to look its best. It was an all-day job!

Tiffani and Ryan stopped by the house to enjoy an evening with Gary and as I sleepily came home from the dentist’s, they were having a great time playing Trivial Pursuit on the back deck! Tiff said she really loved their stay at the 21C Hotel. Ryan agreed with me that their restaurant’s buffalo tenderloin is yummy!

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-03-15

March 16, 2009 5:52am

Happy Sabbath! I attended church at St. Luke’s while Mick cleaned Camelot until she shone this morning. We sang an Oldryoyd piece and the Lenten Litany in a beautiful service. Father Joe talked about new beginnings.

Mick and I sat down to lunch and the film, K-Pax, a beautifully played art film starring Kevin Spacey as a man who has created a new persona for himself as an alien so that he does not have to deal with traumatic events that have occurred to him. Jeff Bridges offers a counter-dynamic of considerable weight in his portrayal of the psychiatrist who attempts to help him, while himself under siege by his own neurosis. Mick and I thought it ironic that Bridges, who played an alien so well in Starman, landed a role aiding an alleged alien in this film.

I enjoyed the movie, largely due to Spacey’s powerfully nuanced performance. Sometimes movies which use psychological illness as a parable for the health of our culture work well.

Sometimes they do not.

We started to watch our second film of the day, Blindness, but did not wade in above our waists into its waters. Blindness is a 2008 dramatic film that is an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by José Saramago, about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. The film is written by Don McKellar and directed by Fernando Meirelles with Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo as the main characters.

The film starts with a furious traffic jam, at the center of which is a young man who has suddenly gone blind. That’s the situation. There did not seem to be a plot. The situation simply spreads. More people begin going blind spontaneously. After a half hour or so, we decided that this particular piece of social commentary was not interesting enough to us to spend two hours watching it.

So we spent a lazy afternoon napping, then puttering. I had some late chapel time and enjoyed reading, then deleting, a bunch of forwards, political commentary from some correspondents and jokes from others.

Dan transcribed yesterday’s channeling session in the afternoon and we enjoyed his company off and on during the day.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-03-14

March 15, 2009 7:02am

I was very low on energy today and enjoyed a very long sleep, not awakening until it was time to get up and awaken Mick at 8:00. So after Morning Offering I spent my morning napping, inadvertently, and writing my journals. I had a lovely prayer time before lunch. Meanwhile Mick cleaned the kitchen and did his Saturday errands.

By lunchtime, Tiffani had surfaced, after having a night of sleep broken by her husband and friends texting her in the wee small hours to wish her Happy Birthday! And Dan came back from a quick visit to his family in the Bowling Green area. Melissa was busy as a beaver and accomplished much today, doing a lot of paperwork, taking Moonshine’s rotten radiator in to a small shop in Clarksville, Indiana and trading it for a rebuilt one, hunting up lots of electrical supplies on the way. She intends to work on our wiring at Camelot next week.

I spent my afternoon working on Channeling Circle 16. There were lots of “inaudibles” in the original transcription, and Dan had spent hours earlier in the week re-listening to the tape and recovering more text from the session. I am going through the transcript paragraph by paragraph and adding in his new material. It is slow and picky work, and I only got about halfway through with the work.

I worked with Steve E a bit, asking if we could use a higher resolution on the book covers in the online store on B4. They are at present quite fuzzy. I also created a possible “news release” for B4’s news section.

Mel topped off her busy day by making some delicious lasagna and framing the book cover proof for 101. When Vara left in 2005, she took with her some art work which we had hanging in the living room. I have gradually placed new art work in the various “holes” in the collage of paintings on that wall, and this book cover will complete the ensemble of pictures and prints. She and Dan work together very well—they matted the art work together and did an impeccable job.

From 3:00 to 5:00, I participated in a Live Chat on B4, fielding many good questions and enjoying the companionship of many sweet souls during that time together. C-jean recommended a series created by Oprah and Eckhart Tolle. The link is http://www.opraheckhartvideo.com/Chapter_1.html.

Romi arrived in late afternoon and I talked with him about handing off the Alphabet Mosaics project to Ian, who has graciously offered to take it on. Romi was greatly relieved to be free of the work and promised to collect all the scanning that he has done so far on a CD for our web guy, and agreed that when he was here on Tuesday, we would go through the table of contents and be absolutely sure we are sending Ian fair copies of every remaining image to be scanned.

We all enjoyed conversation and dinner together before settling into our public meditation, having our round-robin discussion and then preparing for a channeling session. After I tuned, we asked the Q’uo group Dan’s question about free will and karma. Tiffani asked about the spiritual value of money. There were other excellent questions and I think it was a good session. I look forward to editing the transcript. I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer at the end of the session.

Mick excused himself from the meditation—a rare event—because the University of Louisville was playing Syracuse for the championship of the Big East Conference and he dearly wanted to see that. He was rewarded with their good defensive game and their substantial win.

Meanwhile, after the meditation we created some orange punch to finish celebrating Tiff’s natal day, and greatly enjoyed using my pretty punch bowl and some very delicate glasses from my vast collection of broken sets inherited from my Mom’s side of the family. We had a great conversation and enjoyed the moment!

When I came upstairs to join Mick after 11:00, we finished watching the game and the after-game coverage before enjoying a late date and sharing some wonderful sacred energy together.

2009-03-14

March 15, 2009 6:58am

I was very low on energy today and enjoyed a very long sleep, not awakening until it was time to get up and awaken Mick at 8:00. After Morning Offering I spent my morning napping, inadvertently, and writing my journals. I had a lovely prayer time before lunch. Meanwhile Mick cleaned the kitchen and did his Saturday errands.

Melissa was busy as a beaver and accomplished much today, doing a lot of paperwork, taking Moonshine Farm Truck’s rotten radiator in to a small shop in Clarksville, Indiana and trading it for a rebuilt one, and hunting up lots of electrical supplies on the way. She intends to work on our wiring at Camelot next week.

I worked with Steve E a bit by e-mail, asking if we could use a higher resolution on the book covers in the online store on B4. They are at present quite fuzzy. I also created a possible “news release” for B4’s news section.

Mel topped off her busy day by making some delicious lasagna and framing the book cover proof for 101. When Vara left in 2005, she took with her some art work which we had hanging in the living room. I have gradually placed new art work in the various “holes” in the collage of paintings on that wall, and this book cover will complete the ensemble of pictures and prints again. She and Dan work together very well—they matted the art work together and did an impeccable job.

Romi arrived in late afternoon and I talked with him about handing off the Alphabet Mosaics project to Ian, who has graciously offered to take it on. Romi was greatly relieved to be free of the work and promised to collect all the scanning that he has done so far on a CD for our web guy, and agreed that when he was here on Tuesday, we would go through the table of contents of Dana’s book and be absolutely sure we are sending Ian fair copies of every remaining image to be scanned. I am so excited!

Mick excused himself from the meditation—a rare event—because the University of Louisville was playing Syracuse for the championship of the Big East Conference and he dearly wanted to see that game. He was rewarded with their good defensive game and their substantial win.

Meanwhile, after the meditation we created some orange punch to finish celebrating Tiff’s natal day, and greatly enjoyed serving it from my pretty punch bowl and some very delicate glasses from my vast collection of broken sets inherited from my Mom’s side of the family. We had a great conversation and lots of laughter and enjoyed the moment thoroughly!

When I came upstairs to join Mick after 11:00, we finished watching the game and the after-game coverage together before enjoying a late date and sharing some wonderful sacred energy together.

2009-03-13

March 14, 2009 7:10am

What a day Mick had today! After Morning Offering he and the daffodils braved the chilly weather at three customers’ homes, two of the jobs being only normally difficult but the third being a real stopper. He went down to Shelbyville to see how Steve F’s three acres had fared in the ice storm. Oy! No damage was done to the house, but branches and debris were everywhere and it had that look of devastation which the ice storm seemed to design effortlessly. Mick came home incredibly weary!

I spent the morning talking with Ian, always a very pleasant occupation and today, especially so, as we were talking about the possibility of his finishing up Dana Redfield’s Alphabet Mosaics! Romi has had heavy weather with it, and Ian feels he could probably complete it for him, if Romi would like him to take it off of his hands. I can’t wait to share this with Ro! This may be the break for which he has been hoping, as currently Romi feels snowed under.

Ian and I chewed over the idea of using Dana’s nearly illegible but very atmospheric 8 ½” x 14” ‘Master Sheet’ of the alphabet for the cover art, wrapping it around front and back covers with the extra space used for the title, author and other cover text.

I talked with Steve E briefly as he put 101 in the on-line store, and then again when I went to the store and found that when one clicks on the image enlarger for the book cover, it opens to a beautiful big cover—but only the top sixth or so shows, and there is no scrolling down possible. Ian sent Steve a smaller image which, when opened, just fills the viewscreen, and Steve will try to substitute that. Steve also agreed to put a link to the archive site’s downloadable desktop version of the cover.

101 is due to ship next Wednesday, so by the time Gary gets back from his current hiking odyssey, goes to work Tuesday and prepares all the orders that come in, the books will be here. Hopefully there will be a nice spike of pre-orders that come in right away!

In the early afternoon I took Stanley Outback in to the dealer for an oil change and then started to make some brownies for our birthday girl, Tiffani. I got the ingredients all ready but then had to take a breather and Tiff caught on to what I was doing and finished making them herself. So much for my efforts to be nurturing!

And Tiffani’s birthday was further off-kilter because she invited us all out to eat at the Brown Hotel’s English Grill, a very posh eatery where we had wonderful food and a lovely, extended conversation. Mick looked handsome in his suit and Melissa was in her element, looking very glamorous with her hair flowing over her shoulders and a pretty outfit to grace her slender, dancer’s frame. Tiffani always looks perfectly smashing, slim, tall and elegant. She had her hair up tonight for a special bit of panache.

Mel was incredibly helpful this morning, taking a plumber around and getting an accurate estimate of what Camelot needs done in order to come up to code and repair the various things that have started to go wrong. It is not as bad as I thought it might be. We will need to have the work done in stages, but I think it is financially do-able. Camelot was built in 1923 and old houses do tend to need their pipes refreshed after the first 85 years or so!

In the afternoon Mel took on the rearrangement of the upstairs “guest room” that will be her room, now that Dan is ensconced in her old room in the basement. She moved file drawers, took out shelves and in general created a new space for herself. We chewed over what sort of window shades and valences to find for the room’s windows and how to redesign the closet for her needs. We also need a desk for the room, as Mel will have her own computer here as soon as Romi can set it up. The PC which we retired from downstairs as being unable to handle the huge software for bookkeeping should do fine for smaller applications.

The Gaia Meditation was held, impromptu, in the car on the way home from the Brown Hotel, with me offering the closing prayer.

2009-03-12

March 13, 2009 6:45am

While the weather remains cold, Mick’s heart is warm as he surveys his rapidly growing list of customers! After Morning Offering, he departed Camelot for a full day of debris clean-up for two of his older customers and a party-clean-up round for a third.

It is very gratifying to hear the calls coming in as spring advances despite the chilly weather. His roster of new customers keeps growing and he has many bids out for more mowing jobs. And spring is coming, even though we had snow showers tonight. I saw forsythia in bloom on the expressway today, and there are daffodils up in our yard to join the crocuses!

I planned to do little today besides writing my journals, and that was how the day went. I feel a bit better, although my symptoms seem worse since colds break up noisily, but I am not terribly swift of brain or body yet!

However I had a delightful lunch date with my college friend, Sydney the Star-Sniffer. I have always called her that because of a freckle on the end of her nose which in my myth she got from checking out a star at close range. Her innocent and pervasive curiosity is deep in her character, almost as much so as her ability to laugh and make me laugh. Syd has taught for decades at U of L as a language professor.

Syd and I met because we were the only two freshmen in our class at the University of Louisville who were admitted as juniors. This meant that we could take any courses we wished, including graduate courses, from our first semester. It was a wonderful freedom and we took full advantage of it! We are both sadly deficient in the sciences as a result, but our fine and liberal arts education was absolutely top-notch.

We had a great time together taking Russian for three years, plus several other languages which we studied without credit just because our Russian teacher, Dr. Broderius, was willing to take us on. He led us through Erse, Gothic, Turkish, Czech and Swedish, to name a few.

Now both of us are somewhat the worse for wear physically, and plump as raisins because neither of us can exercise any longer. But we still find much to laugh and talk about and we had a lovely lunch together at Ramsi’s.

Gary tells me that 101 is promised from the printer on March 18th! Steve has started a count-down announcement on B4, and the announcement is also up on llresearch.org. We have a gratifying number of people writing in asking to be put on a send list for notification when the book is actually in our hands.

Dianne wrote in to say how much she loves the cover to the book, which is now downloadable from our archive site, www.llresearch.org. She is using it as her desktop. Michele M. did a wonderful job creating it, that’s for sure! And our web guy was most kind to make it available.

He also wrote to assure me that he is preparing the Spring 2009 issue of Light/Lines and to ask for a conference by phone tomorrow morning.

And I believe the three worthy and hard-working moderators for B4’s forums have settled on a plan of action regarding the possibility of too much STS information in a particular thread on the LOO forum. It’s the best of all possible outcomes—no action needed except to revise the Guidelines to indicate more strongly that we are a service-to-others site, our mission being to aid those seekers who are looking for STO resources in building their spiritual paths. We shall leave it to other sites to cover the service-to-self point of view.

It can be argued that we owe it to logic to be equal in our discussion of STS and STO, but I do not feel that is true. Our sources, the Confederation entities, are unabashedly biased. And this is the Density of Choice. We have chosen! It’s fine to talk about STS as we experience it while trying to live an STO life. It is not fine to recommend the STS path or to extol its virtues.

So the Guidelines will be enhanced to reflect that point. And we will continue to enjoy free discussion on the forums! Praise the Lord!

Mick arrived home at dusk and we enjoyed a bath and a long nap together before coming down for dinner, which I skipped because of a picky tummy, and the Gaia Meditation, at which I offered the closing prayer.

Gary came upstairs to the first floor at the Gaia Meditation with his full hiking gear on, looking very much the epitome of the man of the trail. Valerie picked him up shortly thereafter. He and Valerie will celebrate her birthday this weekend with a camping trip. She gets to pick the trails and the pace! Gary has a tendency to see a crag and go for it with abandon, leaving all others behind! This weekend he will go more slowly!

Meanwhile, Tiffani’s birthday, which is tomorrow, will be celebrated with us at the Brown Hotel’s restaurant and then we will come back here for orange punch and Caramel Pecan Brownies with frosting. She is at the midway point on her sojourn here, and is satisfied with the amount of work she has been able to get done on her book. I believe she is planning to spend the weekend at Louisville’s very chic 21C Hotel and Art Gallery with her husband, Ryan, before she comes back to Camelot for another week of work.

2009-03-11

March 12, 2009 3:31pm

Our weather is see-sawing, and it is no wonder we have dealt with colds here at Camelot. After near-80-degree temperatures yesterday, we started today in the fifties and by nightfall we were below freezing again. Mick’s back to his long johns and I took the day off to rest and encourage my body to heal up from a minor cold.

I did take a bit of time in the office after lunch to send Ian what he needed to complete our spring issue of Light/Lines.

When Mick came home at dusk from a very heavy day of limb-clearing, we enjoyed a bath together and then a perfectly wonderful date. We then joined Dan and Gary, who were both working in the downstairs office today, and Tiffani, who had put in a good day’s work on her book, for a companionable supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer.

Gary and I had a great conversation after he put in the considerable time it took to read the entire thread on the LOO forum on B4. His feeling is that we are in very good shape there and do not need to post any warnings or ban anybody! I was delighted to hear this. We both feel the site’s forum guidelines need to be tweaked to make it clearer that we are unabashedly service-to-others in our mission and viewpoint, but that can be done carefully and with no feeling of urgency.

It has been a good exercise for me in discernment. After a previous bad experience with a single and very determined negative-polarity poster on a forum of a previous incarnation of B4, I was ready to eliminate the thread in question in this present forum, in order to avoid bringing the site down again. But we did not have to do that. We took the time to come to a hopefully more balanced judgment. Kudos to Gary for taking the time to read the entire thread!

2009-03-10

March 11, 2009 6:16am

We broke a record which had stood since 1879 for the high temperature today, topping out at 78 F. It was quite warm and stuffy, since the southern winds were full of rain. Mick has gone from wearing long johns to changing his tee shirts several times today to keep dry as he works, all within one week. And tomorrow a cold front pushes through and we’ll be back down in the thirties by tomorrow evening.

It is no wonder that Mick caught a chill over the weekend. I seem to have followed suit. The raspy throat and slight temperature are a definite slowdown for me. I had many naps today! Hopefully I shall shake this off as quickly as Mick did.

After Morning Offering Mick set out on a varied day of chores which he accomplished for customers new and old. He arrived home at dusk very pleased with his day! He said that he “made all his yards look pretty”.

I took the opportunity of having a lazy day and accomplished the writing of some snail mail letters. Pupie got a thank-you note from me along with our news, on the occasion of her gift of the “Forgiveness” stained glass piece, truly an exquisite artistic creation.

And I wrote Susie S, the faithful servant of the light, now 86, who for so many years in the eighties and nineties created a mail-list community of LOO seekers with her LOON—Law of One Newsletter - thanking her for her sending me a small newsletter packed with all the Christmas news from nine surviving “LOONIE” members.

I also arranged for my parents, Don Elkins, my maternal grandmother and Jim’s Dad to have the Sanctuary Candle at St. Luke’s burn in their memory for five successive Sundays.

I collected two new chicken dishes, two stews, one flavored in the Mediterranean style with Kalamata olives and rice and the other more of a French dish with new potatoes, carrots and leeks. We are focusing on saving dollars where we can, and stews are wonderful, healthful dishes that cost less than fancier dishes because they use the entire chicken and fill out the dish with high-carbohydrate starches and grains. Mick grabbed one of them for next week’s menu.

I found a recipe for Korean chicken soup that uses chili paste, and as i reworked the recipe I retitled it Sinus Clearing Chicken Soup!

In e-mail work, I got Gary’s announcement of 101 sent off to Ian. It is a tad off the wall, but very cute and I think it is good.

I wrote Jack to clarify some terms which I used to explain why I would not accept specific questions in his upcoming Q’uo session. I would not be surprised if he backs out of that. He has been mistrustful and confrontive with us from the beginning. We shall see.

I sent Ian our Spring 2009 issue of Light/Lines along with my comments.

I wrote Ian and Gary concerning the possible publication of Micheline’s French translation of 101 by us, as opposed to a French publisher.

Lastly, I OK’d a venture by Gary which would affect our entire site. He wants to standardize the terminology for our various meditations through the years. He wrote the proposal to Ian. Again, we’ll see. It is a good idea, for istance, to call our regular L/L Research meditations “public meditations” instead of “Saturday Meditations” or “Sunday Meditations.” But what a lot of work it would be for Ian to go through and edit each and every session! I doubt that our web guy will be up for that!

We had a busy household today, with Tiff working on her laptop in the living room, Gary and Dan in the office on the two computers there and me in my office upstairs pounding away on Jennie Traveller. It was most enjoyable to feel the hum of us all working on our projects.

Gary offered a beautiful closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-03-09

March 10, 2009 6:32am

We are still warming up, now well into the seventies, today! It is unseasonable and will probably fetch more rainstorms, but the warmth feels fine! After Morning Offering Mick set out on a very full day of clearing storm debris for a new customer with seven acres of lawn, coming home at dusk very weary indeed.

I got Tiffani squared away with a power source for her laptop and left her to a day of working on her book in the living room. Dan continued his cleaning of the upper kitchen shelves, polishing the silver pieces and making everything gleam and sparkle. It is so good to see my mother’s family’s old things looking pretty!

By the end of the day I had written part two of my new series on 2012 for my UPI column and posted it. I decided that I needed to take on the bugaboo of ascension/apocalypse. It gets in the way of thinking about 2012 because it induces fear. Hopefully I was persuasive! It feels like a good series, and good timing in the writing of it, with 101 coming out very soon.

Around the edges I fished around in our recipes database for a good dessert for Tiffani’s upcoming birthday party on Friday and found three recipes that looked very good, Grand Marnier Brownies, Caramel Pecan Brownies and Heath Toffee Cheese Cake. Tiff chose the Caramel Pecan Brownies. I also found a nice orange punch recipe. We have our par-tay food!

Ian wrote, gently inquiring after the announcement for 101. I found that it had stalled at Gary’s desk and wrote to let Ian know that, and to ask Gary to make getting the announcement together his highest priority when he comes to work tomorrow.

Finally, thanks to letters from Steve and 3-D Sunset, plus my own process, I got a fairly solid sense of how I’d prefer to respond to the issue on B4’s forums where a thread of discussion has begun to include some material saying that STS is better than STO and inviting others to examine STS further. We are not a site devoted to STS. Our Confederation sources are firmly biased towards STO, and so are we at L/L Research.

So I wrote Steve, Gary and Monica and shared my thoughts, of which there were two. Firstly, I suggested that the three moderators get together and write a post to that forum explaining their concern and stating that from now on the posts to that thread would be closely watched. Any poster promoting STS would be warned. If that poster continued to write STS-promotional material, he would be banned.

Secondly, I suggested enhancing our guidelines to address more specifically the site’s STO bias and its unwillingness to support strictly STS discussion.

This way, we delete nothing. The thread remains. We single out and separate from no one. We simply set the site’s ground rules for posting more clearly. And we set the stage for appropriate action in the future. Hopefully, the STS posters among the group will heed the new rules. If not, we will continue to love them but remove their STS posts.

I realize that talking about STS is part of the seeker’s process, and I have nothing against comparing STS and STO, or writing about trying to be STO but finding oneself in STS territory inadvertently, or other riffs that touch on but do not promote STS.

But service to self is not our polarity. I have no trouble with our site being biased. We’re shamelessly service-to-others in polarity. We’re not looking for the balanced view here! That will never move us into harvestability. This is the Density of Choice. We’re a site promoting the STO choice.

After I closed up the office I went downstairs and pulled out the fresh Avalon eggs which I’d hard-boiled last Friday. Tiff and Dan came to help me and together we got them shelled very quickly. I tossed some Vegannaise, herbs and spices in with the yolks and created some stuffed eggs for our delectation this week. They won’t last long with this crowd!

Mick and I lazed and rested, both of us napping, after our bath until 9:00, then went down to join Dan and Tiffani for a late supper and the Gaia Meditation. I offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-03-08

March 9, 2009 7:21am

The Sabbath was warm and sunny until mid-afternoon, when the sky suddenly lowered, darkened and sprung forth with a veritable cloud of rain and wind that obliterated even the house next door from sight. It did not last long but what fury it held! We heard later on the news that north of here there was a tornado and south, flooding. We lucked out today!

After church at St. Luke’s, Mick and I enjoyed the film, Gospel Hill, with our lunch. Danny Glover and Angela Bassett ably played a couple whose lives have been forever touched by the political activism of Glover’s character’s father, played by Samuel L. Jackson, who was killed in the small town of Julia as he campaigned for equal rights for people of color thirty years earlier. Despite the subject matter, which is often treated with righteous indignation and fire, this was a quiet film. The fire was banked. The tone was thoughtful. The burden was “why?”

Why was the murder never solved when it happened in broad daylight, in the main street, with witnesses all around? Why were the people of Gospel Hill, where the black population had lived ever since slavery was abolished—but not servitude and inequality—being ignored because a corporation wanted their property for a golf course? These questions were not answered but the environment of them was explored, and very well. It was, in fact, an elegant little film, with a delightful sound track and an excellent and large ensemble. It deserves the term, art film, as it renders issues into art and indignation into exploration of our culture.

We paused for a nap, and then watched another Samuel L. Jackson film, Resurrecting the Champ. Two men dominated this film, Samuel L. Jackson as The Champ and Josh Hartnett as the sportswriter who resurrects him. Jackson chews holes in the scenery, having lots of fun with the boozing, semi-coherent champ and achieving despite the overacting a wonderfully drawn characterization.

Hartnett’s character is less spectacular and his acting technique is subtle; his character complex and ever more interesting in its nuances as the film unfolds. I think his dilemma touches us all. That dilemma is wrapped up in questions like, what is our best work? Where is our touchstone for personal excellence? When have we done enough?

The two were supported by a solid ensemble including Alan Alda, Kathryn Morris, Terry Hatcher and Peter Coyote. Production values were uniformly good. Perhaps the film was a bit long for its subject matter, at almost two hours, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nevertheless.

Tiffani arrived, driven from the airport by Dan, and we conversed until dinner time. We offered the Gaia Meditation together, with Mick praying the closing prayer, and then Mick and I went upstairs for some quiet time alone before bed. Tiffani hopes to pull the book she and her father are writing together here at Camelot in the next two weeks. I told her, “I can promise that I will be working and the house will be quiet all day, every day!” Tiff was thankful for that, and hopeful that her work ahead will go well.

2009-03-07

March 8, 2009 6:39am

It was actually a bit warm today, the thermometer veering towards 80 F! However, Mick caught a chill offering bids yesterday morning, when it was still a bit colder than he thought, and so he stayed inside today. After Morning Offering Doctor Carla put the good man to rest with a terrific book to read (Lance Armstrong’s biography), a tall glass of orange juice and the TV controls. He napped three times during the day, and felt a bit better by bedtime. I am hoping another day of rest on the Sabbath tomorrow will have him back in the pink of health.

I had set myself to work on the Inbox here in the upstairs office, and did a few things, although I was very lazy about it. The topic of the day seems to be our B4 blog and postings that have seemed to Monica and Steve, the moderators, to move too close to STS in polarity. On the face of it, the solution seems simple—delete the entire thread. However many posts floated back and forth all day, from Gary to Steve to Monica to me. We had not come to consensus by quitting time. We’ll see what the morrow brings!

I continued to work with Ian on archive-related questions, knocking out little bits of confusion where we found it. He also reported that he OK’d the new cover proof for 101, which means that we’ll now get those books very soon!

I wrote up some new text for Steve E so that he could make a better-looking book entry in the online store on B4 for 101: The Choice.

In the afternoon, Gary sent me the actual posts made by this allegedly STS poster. While his polarity is mixed because of his arrogance, it is not totally STS. It does not have the cut-and-dried intent to destroy our site which the disruptor on B4’s previous incarnation displayed. He simply has an attitude of being better than anyone else, including Ra. This is the spiritual sin of pride, and it is not a pleasant thing to see. However, it does not constitute a pure STS thread.

Gary suggested in that letter that he prune the thread of the STS themes and retain the edited version. I will be interested to see what he cobbles together.

Gary cleaned the kitchen before he set off for a very quick weekend hike with his friend, Jessica and her boy friend in Tennessee. He is very keen on trying out all his hiking gear there before he sets out upon his week-long hike with Jeremy and Mike. He literally was a happy camper! His grin as he left could warm a small house!

Romi came over in the afternoon and worked on Dana Redfield’s Alphabet Mosaics, scanning in more images. And Melissa called after lunch from Avalon, asking me to check her work on the book from yesterday. Sure enough, on one of the nine images she crafted from Dana’s original Master Sheet for the alphabet, which was illegible, she had failed to reduce the image to 91%. She talked me through that, and got all of her handiwork ready for Ro to scan. The book is coming along, slow as ice melting at 33 degrees F, but coming.

I continued to have a toothache and to reflect upon what to do about my new dentist. I am definitely not returning to his ministrations. But I do not know whether to continue with the same dental service, to which I have gone for over a quarter century, or to find a whole new dentist’s office. I shall have to deal with that on Monday. Because something is wrong about this dentist’s work on me last Thursday. The whole right side of my mouth is sore and there is tenderness and bleeding at the site of his filling replacement.

Ro, Gary, Mick and I enjoyed dinner together after Mick’s and my bath, and Dan joined us at the public meeting, as did Alan F, who drove down from Cincinnati. We enjoyed a good talk around the circle and then a silent meditation together. I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer at the end of the silent meditation.

Alan brought cookies and strawberries; I got out some brie to breathe before the meeting and Ro made his Love Tea, so we had a most pleasant conversation after the meditation, fueled with some noshes. Alan and Romi left Camelot close to midnight and Mick and I went straight to bed! With the time change, it will be early to church tomorrow morning!

Mick did not join the conversation but rather went around the house changing all the clocks as we “spring forward” to daylight saving time. Then he watched the U of L basketball game. It was lovely! I got in on the last two minutes to see U of L become the Big East champs! It is a terrific victory for the Cards. Pitino got them into that conference several years ago because he wanted the Cards to play with the big boys and get better experience to ready them for the pro teams. Now they are its champs! Go Cards! And Go Pitino!

2009-03-06

March 7, 2009 7:15am

It was full spring weather today, in the 70s F and fair all day. Mick celebrated the day by leaving off his long johns and working in shirtsleeves! He spent his morning cleaning the kitchen and doing errands and then had a spate of bid-offering. He has continued to reap telephone calls and serious interest from a variety of Anchorage folks and out of kindness to me, he figures his bids and then adds $5.00 to the total. I asked him to do that because he chronically underbids. And he agrees! So this is our system now!

I had an interesting ethical consideration to ponder this morning, in the shape of there being a thread on our forums which has to do strictly with how to be of service to self. It has increasingly bothered both moderators, Steve and Monica. They came to Gary and me for a solution. In the end I used our guidelines to offer a solution: eliminate the thread. We need to stay on track, on mission and on polarity, and the Confederation did not come to help STS folks graduate; they came to work with STO people. I offered my counsel to the group and encouraged further discussion as I would like to come to consensus before acting.

I also winkled out an editing solution from a little tangle Ian found in the channeling session from Valentine’s Day.

Then it was time for Mel and me to do errands and have a planning session. We found a really nice frame for the proof of the cover for 101: The Choice, found some material to use for hanging Pupie’s beautiful little stained glass piece, Forgiveness, got some chicken feed and cat food for Avalon and then worked over lunch at The Alley Cat Café on a long list of Avalon considerations.

We have a wonderful supporter of our bio-dynamic farming ambitions for Avalon in Board member Steve M, who has offered to help educate Mel by sending her to a near-by farm that practices bio-dynamic farming techniques, and also has offered to pay for a complete set of bio-dynamic products which are used to fertilize and heal the land. We had a happy discussion about obtaining those and using them.

The farm needs a ladder and a come-along for Mel’s tree felling work and for repair of the cabin, Sugar Shack, and I OK’d those purchases.

And we talked about tasking for the next month or so there. Mel wants to do a spring grading of the access road, so there is more tractor work in store and I may need to visit Avalon when she works on the steeper part of the road on Avalon’s tall, unwieldy Massey-Ferguson tractor, just for insurance—the insurance of Mel’s knowing there’s someone to call 911 if she and the tractor tumble into the ravine!

Mel says the place is still devastated from the ice storm. She cannot get to all the damage as much of it is in deep forest. She is concentrating on the trees downed in the fields and on the access road.

She is taking a Master Forester course now, and is most enthusiastic about the tree felling project, on which she has been working for many months now. She will have a forester come soon and mark the trees to be felled in more parts of Avalon in order to thin the canopy and encourage the growth of our more choice trees.

We came back to Camelot and settled in to working on the taxes again, this time winning through the notation of our Office in Home Expenses. Now we have only one more work period to go, on income and tax and legal expenses, and we will be ready to take our tax information to Linda D at Compton-Kottke. Whee! I will make the appointment for week after next, and we will finish up on Taxes 2008 next week when she is here. What a blessing to have that done!

Before Mel left tonight she hung Pupie’s beautiful Forgiveness stained glass piece in my office, where it will catch the morning sun perfectly.

I went to Baptist East Hospital in late afternoon for a mammogram, that instrument of quiet torture which photographs the breast area and delves for traces of cancer. It has saved many a life and I’d be a fool not to have these done each year, but they are no fun whatsoever and I was delighted to have mine done for another year!

Mick was running our bath when I arrived back at Camelot, having marveled during the drive home at how disheveled everything still looks in our area. The ice storm took down trees and limbs, and most of those have been collected now, and form an unlikely looking rough fence along Anchorage roadways. The roadside ‘fences’ are there because the Louisville Public Works Department has agreed to collect them all, free of charge. However it is a huge job, and they are not in our neighborhood yet, so we are waiting and waiting!

But beyond that obvious sign of extreme weather, there is the golden-brown hue of all the tiny debris, twigs too small to pick up, bark and old leaves, that now decorates the ground everywhere. Mick has made his customers’ lawns look sweet again by mowing these small signs of the storm until they become fertilizer for the soil or, in some cases, raking up the debris into bags for disposal. But most lawns still look neglected and scruffy. Spring will soon spring forth with new grasses and wildflowers and gently bury the past! And I look forward to it!

After our bath, Mick and I had a wonderful date, sharing amazingly powerful energy which spiked as a steady state. Afterwards we looked at each other round-eyed and sort of blinked, owl-eyed with awe. Thank you, Lord!

Daniel went back to his parents’ home near Bowling Green to gather another load of his possessions. He promises to be back in time to pick Tiffani up from the airport Sunday.

Gary had his chef’s hat on today, producing lots of bison brown-sugar meat loaf, a lemon-broccoli dish and pasta with sweet peas and beans for our enjoyment during the next week.

We gathered for a late supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer.

2009-03-05

March 6, 2009 6:07am

While the sun was fitful, southerly breezes kissed us all day, sometimes gusting up to 35 miles per hour, bringing in near-70-degree temperatures. Mick worked in shirtsleeves for the first time in a long while!

After Morning Offering he had a day-long schedule of storm clean-up for his customers. He is coming to the end of the work for his old customers, but several of the new people who have called Mick to talk about hiring him to mow this summer want him to do storm debris work for them as well, so Mick’s dealings with downed limbs is far from over!

Mick says he is pleased with the results of the letter. It is early days yet, and he has gotten a quarter or so of the work he needs to make Daniel’s helping Mick pay off. And this is only one week after mailing the letters. As the spring progresses, I feel many more Anchorage households will turn their minds to lawn care and remember Mick’s nice letter.

I spent most of my day editing Channeling Circle 16. It was very rough. I think partially the problem was the microphone. There were more than the usual number of inaudible phrases and sentences. And I had trouble figuring out which CC member was channeling when! So I sent the edited transcript back to Gary and asked him to get the CC members to identify their channeling for sure.

I took some time this afternoon to go to Absolutely Salon for a manicure. Beth gently went after all my ingrown fingernails and I am comfortable typing once again!

Daniel has settled in quickly here at Camelot. He got his first Louisville haircut, then spent his day working for Gary in the office, starting to get his volunteer work for March knocked out. Gary has him accessing donated books into the L/L Metaphysical Library. We have received five boxes full of donations since the start of 2009.

Gary and I talked briefly about sending our proposal letter to Lorisa on her derivative manuscript, Octave of Infinity. He will cobble together a version of it which he will send to me for tweaking.

Melissa came to town early but spent by far the largest part of her day seeing to her beloved Saab, an older vehicle which has been her trusted wheels for over a decade. Her mechanic is far away in the west end of downtown Louisville. She said that while she waited she got to see lots of YV, which she does not have yet on Avalon.

After Mick and I bathed, we watched Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now news show and then TV Lite—CSI and House episodes—before coming downstairs to join everyone for a late supper, which we ate while enjoying the Colbert Rapport and Jon Stewart.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation, singing a little ditty from Ra Dass’s old album:

Love is the ocean, I am one with thee.
First a tiny lake and now a mighty sea,
O love, I am one with thee.

Bliss is the ocean, I am one with thee.
First a tiny lake and now a mighty sea,
O bliss, I am one with thee.

Peace is the ocean, I am one with thee.
First a tiny lake, and now a mighty sea,
O peace, I am one with thee.
O bliss, I am one with thee.
O love, I am one with thee.

2009-03-04

March 5, 2009 6:08am

While the skies lowered and cleared in quick succession all day, the temperature soared to nearly 60 F. After Morning Offering, Mick put in some time working for a client, even doing the unlikely Lawn Service task of walking his dogs while the client is in the hospital. He then went on to two other customers’ yards for continued storm clean-up and had a good day of it.

I worked on editing the transcript of the February 14th channeling until it was time for my meeting with Father Joe. We met at Limestone Restaurant, where we dined before I offered my Lenten Confession. The food was delicious, tomato bisque soup and a seafood crepe for me, schnitzel for the good Reverend. Confession was good too. I find it a wonderful way to hit the reset button, ditch all my pangs of “coulda-shoulda” and enter into new life.

When I returned I finished the editing on the Valentine’s Day channeling and sent the session off to Ian and Gary and then began editing Channeling Circle 16, the first of the four CC sessions from Channeling Intensive Four to come back from the swiftest of our transcribers. Joan A. Aaron T is close behind her for quick turnarounds. Thank you, ladies! Mick called bath time before I got very far on editing CC-16.

Around the edges I wrote to thank Steve E for getting our announcement of 101: The Choice and its presence in the online store all ready to go the instant we actually get the books from the printer. And I wrote to confirm with Tiffani M, one of our Board members, that she can indeed come to Camelot for two weeks to get her book written. Tiff is a financial whiz, and her book consists of interviews with wealthy business people who are sharing tips on how to increase wealth. That should be a popular book when she gets it done!

Daniel E moved in to Camelot today. He is eager to begin earning his “rent” for March by doing chores, and boy, do we have some for him to do! Mick usually accomplishes a long “honey-do” list for the household in January and February, normally his off-season. However thanks to the massive storm damage suffered by every single customer he has, Mick has had zero down-time this winter. So all the once-a-year chores still need doing. We have a lot of things on shelves that need to be washed, polished if they are silver, and replaced on cleaned shelves, a pantry to clean out, cabinets to refresh and that sort of thing. I will be thankful indeed to have those chores done, come warm weather!

My wonderfully amorous husband asked me for a date this morning, and when we had bathed together, we came upstairs for a tryst and shared some wonderful, lilting energy. After a time of resting in the afterglow, we came down to share a delicious late supper with Gary and Daniel. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

As I was walking in from the garage after my Confession with Father Joe this afternoon, a keening hawk flew to the tree nearest me and had a conversation of some length with me. My heart soared with him as he took to the air and hung in a slow circle of salute before flying off. What a wonderful sign!

2009-03-03

March 4, 2009 6:44am

The temperature remained below freezing today, but the sweet sunshine made the cold far easier to take. I know that Mick will enjoy getting out of his long johns when it warms up, though! He used them today as he put new panes of glass on the greenhouse, fixed the fence and did a number of other things to complete the storm damage repairs to his customer’s farm.

After Morning Offering I made some telephone calls, my least favorite chore of all, as I dislike telephones intensely. I am now possessed of two more doctors’ appointments, one for a mammogram and the other for a routine GYN check-up. I missed those appointments last fall in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and finally remembered that I needed to re-make them. I also tried to make an appointment to get Stanley Outback’s oil changed but was unable to get through. I’ll have to try again tomorrow.

I took the channeling session Mick chose for our spring issue of Light/Lines and gave it a thorough examination. I was happy to find only two typos in it! Ian will not have much to change as he puts the Newsletter together for us. Then I wrote the Comments section, talking about B4, 101, The Alphabet Mosaics, our April Gathering in memory of Bob Reidel and Channeling Intensive Six. I sent that down to Gary for his second-pair-of-eyes read-through. He is quite good at finding and fixing my oopses, and adding in what I have left out.

He came up to the office to chew over plans for announcing 101 and getting our on-line store ready to sell the book. He wants to wait until we have the books in hand before putting the ad in the store. I suggested that he and Steve get everything ready to go ahead of time, and then just activate the store’s icon for 101 the day we receive our books from blitzprint. It should happen soon!

I ended my day with a disastrously uncomfortable dentist’s appointment. Everything seemed to go badly. The chair did not fit and my back complained with increasing bitterness throughout my time in it. I was supposed to receive nitrous gas to ease the discomfort but the machine was broken and delivered only oxygen. And the appointment lasted 90 minutes! Why did it take so long to replace one filling? I have no idea! I was a basket case by the time I got home! Mick soothed my condition with lots of TLC and a strong drink!

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-03-02

March 3, 2009 7:00am

The temperature just nudged at the 30-degree mark F today, but the weather was fine, with clear skies and sunshine streaming in the windows. After Morning Offering Mick was busy as a beaver, working on bids for potential customers whose yards he has now seen, taking more calls and in general wearing his businessman’s hat with style. In the afternoon he worked at the big farm again, this time clearing away a half-dozen hanging limbs on the property and disposing of them. He says that one more day’s work, repairing the greenhouse and fence line, will see the end of that job.

It was all storm damage, to be billed to the customer’s insurance company, and he is glad to get that finished before Pam comes on Wednesday to do the February billing, as he will now be able to be compensated for that immediately. It was a huge job!

I started my day off by writing Mel concerning the conversation Gary, Mick and I had yesterday evening about getting Daniel settled in, just to clue her in on what is happening. I hope to find her a good desk for her computer in her new room upstairs. She swears that a desk is all the furniture she needs to make her new room perfect. We’ll see. If it were I, I would want a chest of drawers and not have to place my things on open shelves, which is what the room has now—and plenty of them!

Then I wrote the first of a series of articles for my UPI blog, “A Small Medium at Large”, on the subject of 2012. Lately, every time I am interviewed that question comes up, so I figure it is time for a good long look at the subject.

I always pray and tune before I work creatively, since I know the work comes through me, not from me, and today was no exception. I had prayed first for the Holy Spirit’s help with the article at Morning Offering and then again just before I wrote. Then halfway through the writing, I was overcome by energy and had to stop writing and just take it in. It poured in for a good two minutes. I gave myself again to prayer. When I came out of that state, I found the rest of the article to fall into place line by line, idea by idea, with no conscious effort. It was a delicious experience! I can’t wait for next Monday to come so I can find out where Spirit wants to take me next!

Since I talk about my new book, 101: The Choice, in my article, and hopefully people will want to order the book, I sent a request off to Gary and Steve E to get the book listed ASAP in the on-line store on www.bring4th.org. Gary will work on the announcement of its availability tomorrow for posting on both sites. Meanwhile he is keeping a pre-publication send list for those who want the book as early as possible.

Around the edges I reworked some brownie recipes, including one that sounds positively decadent, Crème de Menthe Brownies with Creme de Menthe Frosting! And I responded to Ian’s various concerns on the archive site. So often, our web guy is quicker off the block than am I when it comes to what is needed. I am most grateful!

As I was signing off, I told him that tomorrow I would probably be sending him a new Light/Lines Newsletter. And falling right in line with that prediction, Mick selected a channeling to use for that after dinner last night. It is the one from November 22, 2008, with Q’uo responding to a question from Gary concerning channeling the light versus becoming the light. I will enjoy working that up.

After Mick and I had a whirlpool and bathed together we came upstairs for a delicious, prolonged date and shared an amazing amount of energy. What an adventure! Then we descended to greet Gary and share a late supper, offering the Gaia Meditation a bit late tonight. Mick prayed at the closing.

Gary was in alt over his new backpack and sleeping bag. He is collecting gear to use for a protracted hiking vacation which he will take soon with two buddies, Jeremy W and Mike T. Jeremy and Mike are both very knowledgeable, savvy tech guys who absolutely love TLOO and I can just imagine the conversations that these three guys will have around the campfire!

2009-03-01

March 2, 2009 6:25am

It was a cold Sabbath, the temperature hovering at freezing by late afternoon under a fine, clear sky and brisk breezes. It was good to see the sunshine again. Our first crocus opened today in the ruins garden, and the birds are everywhere now. So hope of spring is alive, though shivering!

We sang a particularly beautiful service today at St. Luke’s, an anthem by Tarrant, “Lord For Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake”, and another by Jan Bender, “Begone, Satan!”, combining with a sung Lenten Litany for a service of thematic purity, one of the most satisfying services of which it has ever been my pleasure to be a part. It sets me up well for my upcoming confession this next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Mick cleaned the house and when he brought me home, we settled into our lunch and the first of our two features, The Way of War, with Cuba Gooding, Jr. playing the spy who knows too much. Crisply directed and possessed of a fairly successful system of flashbacks to enunciate Gooding’s character’s experiences, it yet failed to take me fully into the action. It seemed to be weighed down with the cynicism of its premises. I thoroughly enjoyed the sound track, which was full of jazzy blues, and Gooding’s stylish work.

Over popcorn, we played Changeling, a film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood with Ron Howard’s production aid. I did not expect to like the film, but how wrong I was! It told a true story which involves a thoroughly corrupted police department in Los Angelos in the twenties and early thirties, a woman whose son has been abducted and the killer who steals him from his neighborhood.

The police are unable to find the boy, but they are given a child who says he is the well-publicized missing boy. They try to foist this child on the mother of the missing boy. She states immediately upon meeting him that he is not her son. This makes the police look incompetent, so they insist she has her son, he has just shrunk three inches and gotten circumcised. When Jolie’s character still rejects the boy, she is imprisoned in a mental hospital. It is a bizarre tale, only made palatable by being quite true.

Angelina Jolie plays the mother with a style reminiscent of Loretta Young—slightly overblown and histrionic at times, but entirely believable. Jeffrey Donovan plays the police officer in charge of foisting the ersatz son on the mother with particular finesse, creating a sharp-edged character with a complexity and subtlety which I admired far more than in his competent TV work in Burn Notice. And Jason Butler Harner shines in his supporting role as the killer, creating a characterization that was far more fearsome in his slovenly, shambling charm than a stereotypical bad man would have been.

Clint Eastwood starred off-screen with his intelligent and sophisticated direction. His music was a treat to the ear and his Los Angelos was impeccably and impressively believable as the young city with its trolleys and period cars and streets. I would guess that Eastwood used extant footage of the city as it was then to achieve the chiaroscuro and sepia-toned ambiance of the piece. I recommend seeing this film. It has the solid feel of a classic.

Tobey is finishing up the LOO Relistening Project, and ran across a couple of names in the material. He wrote asking how to deal with them. One of those named people is still alive, so I wrote a friend of mine who knows her and asked her to ask the lady how she wants to be named. In the other case I was able to OK using the full name.

Gary, Mick and I had a small powwow after a pizza dinner concerning the upcoming arrival at Camelot of John Daniel E, Mick’s new full-time helper. Gary agreed to go through the room which has been Mel’s, but is about to become Daniel’s, and bring any personal items up to Mel’s new home away from Avalon Farm, a room across from my bedroom on the second floor. We also worked out the order in which we would offer Daniel chores for his volunteer hours, which he will work in order to pay his rent.

Gary offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

March, 2009

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March, 2009