May, 2009

It was a lovely day indeed, the last of the low-humidity, cool days for now, says the weatherperson. Mick came to church with me this morning so that our 22nd wedding anniversary could be blessed at the service. We sang Tallis and Thiman anthems and celebrated the birthday of the church, since today is Pentecost Sunday. Fr. Joe gave the children noisemakers and brought the choir down into the congregation and it was a noisy, happy party indeed!

In the afternoon Steve and Gerri—Lorena and Maria had left early to get back to their children—Jim, Gary and I worked out a question for our last Channeling Circle session, this one on the balancing exercises. Gerri is studying them with her LOO group and wanted to know how to balance extreme negative feelings, like murder. We tuned and had the session. I look forward to editing that transcript and reading it myself. It was interesting.

We bade Steve and Gerri good-bye after the session. We have agreed to meet again on the first Saturday in October, and each month after that, for a Channeling Circle session. So we will have a CC each first Saturday, regular channeling meditations on second and fourth Saturdays and a silent meditation on the third Saturday next school year, when public meetings begin again. And as of now, I am on summer retreat until Homecoming! Whee! I will continue to work creatively, but curtail channeling, counseling and teaching.

Mick and I came upstairs for a lovely date and snoozed in the afterglow until suppertime. Gary bought us take-away from Ruby Tuesday and we had a delicious dinner, and then offered the Gaia Meditation. Mick prayed at the end tonight.

2009-05-30

May 31, 2009 6:14am

Mick’s and my twenty-second anniversary day rolled in sweet and warm. After Morning Offering the Channeling Intensive group studied in the Channeling Quotes collection and then we tuned and had a Channeling Circle session. The question with which we opened had to do with how to know you were on the right path, and what to do when a path peters out and seems to fail. It was a good session, a long one, with solid contributions by all the members. Steve had a turn as Senior Channel.

Mick and I took a nap during the break after lunch and came back at three o’clock to have another study session. We then tuned and sat for another Channeling Circle. This time the Senior Channel was Maria. The opening question was on grace. It seemed a particularly beautiful session and a good end to a hard-working day for the group.

Mick and I bathed and then Steve, Lorena, Gerri and I went to Limestone Restaurant for our supper. It was simply lovely there, the many aquaria displaying colorful fish, the music muted and jazzy and the food scrumptious. We all shared food around except for Gerri, who is on a diet consisting largely in cabbage soup. She subsisted on Cobb salad.

For the rest of us, we shared starters of Truffle Gruyere Mac and a raw sea food bar and entrees of crab cakes, shrimp, potato cakes and seared Ahi tuna, with sides of creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. Each dish was prepared with intelligence and a lavish hand with spices and herbs and we were awash in great tastes.

We came home to greet Mick, who had gotten his cleaning done for the week, and Gary, who was back from a long day working with Valerie to create a school garden project. He was exhausted after nine hours of working with 50-pound bags of dirt and digging through hardpan, and glad to be home at last! He offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation. Then Lorena left early, heading back to her beloved family, close to Chicago. We conversed until almost midnight before saying goodnight.

Sometime today I got a letter back from Angelika at the Hawaii Earth Transformation Conference, volunteering to pay Jim’s ticket next January! So I will get the opportunity to offer some thoughts on the Law of One and 2012 amidst warm weather and the Pacific shore! We are looking forward to it!

2009-05-29

May 30, 2009 6:14am

It was a perfect day in the southern part of heaven today! Kentucky enjoyed barely 70 degrees, a breeze and sweet sunshine all day. Mick and Gary went out after Morning Offering and mowed and detailed ten lawns! All went well, and Mick made it home in time to share a bath with me and be part of the Channeling Intensive group’s dinner out at Ruby Tuesday.

Our first day of channeling practice went very well. In the morning we studied the Channeling Quotes collection for an hour, then tuned and had a Channeling Circle. The question to Laitos had to do with how to balance and eliminate low self-worth, and its effects on channeling especially. Steve, Gerri and Lorena all did a great job, as did Romi in his role as battery, and I will be interested to read the sessions when it comes back from the transcriber for me to edit.

After lunch—Gary’s soup was delicious!—and a good break, during which I took a nap, we again had an hour of study, which was mostly discussion this time, and a good one. Then the group chose to tune for a second Channeling Circle session.

This time the question was from Romi, who was on board all day, substituting for Gary while Gary worked with Mick at Jim’s Lawn Service. Romi worked the tape recorders, held my hand for the channeling sessions and worked in the kitchen, preparing and then clearing away lunch. He wanted to know more about his role as battery. He has struggled with the channeling, and today chose not to participate as a channel and be a battery instead.

You just never know how things will develop in a group. For some developing new channels, Romi’s slow start as a channel might seem to be holding people back. That is decidedly not so with this group of very loving people. To them, he is invaluable because of his stable, steady nature. Repeatedly they have encouraged him to hang in there and said if he never channels, they still want him in the group because as a battery, he is just perfect. So he said, “How can I be a better battery?”

Again, it was an interesting session, and this time Lorena chose the position of senior channel, opening and closing the session and fielding questions after the main question had been answered by Laitos. She did well, as did Steve and Gerri. We all felt happy in the day’s work.

I got in a bath with Mick before we went to Ruby Tuesday. Dinner was delicious and the camaraderie was warm and comfortable, with lots of laughter to help us digest the excellent food. When we returned, we held the Gaia Meditation, with me offering the closing prayer tonight.

2009-05-28

May 29, 2009 6:01am

I wrote my journal entries after Morning Offering while Mick went out into the drizzly day and managed to knock out all his jobs with his usual savoir-faire plus a new rain jacket which he says works well!

Then I did a bit of e-mail. Angelika, of the Hawaii Earth Transformation Conference, which will take place in January 2010 in Kona, invited me to join them as a speaker and to create a post-conference workshop. I wrote back explaining that I was wheelchair-bound and needed a helper. I asked for them to OK a second ticket for this helper. It looks like a fun conference and a great place to have one! I hope that they say yes.

They wanted me to speak on the Law of One and 2012, so I sent them links to material I have offered recently on 2012, at the Mackinac Island Gathering and BBS Radio, and in my UPI series on getting ready for 2012.

I also responded to a lovely note from Talitha, who herself is recovering from illness and cannot be here for this Channeling Intensive.

For the rest of the day, until the Intensive began, I rested and napped. I cannot seem to shake the nausea, but at least I have done what I can do to store up some energy.

Gary cooked the white chili and got the kitchen set up, ordered our pizza dinner, ran the vacuum and scrubbed what needed scrubbing and was in the shower when the guests began arriving, having done a wonderful day’s work in preparations.

Mick and I rendezvoused after his last lawn was mown and shared a bath. We were barely dressed again when Steve T, the first to arrive, came. As we sat and conversed, Lorena and Gerri joined us. Maria will make up our complement, arriving early tomorrow morning. Len cannot make it because of health problems. We enjoyed our pizza and made the circle for the Gaia Meditation, with Mick offering a lovely prayer at the end. Then we had a great talk around the circle before calling it a night around 11:00 p.m.

Mick and I had a late date, sharing marvelous, lively energy. We said our last prayers of the day somewhat after midnight.

2009-05-27

May 28, 2009 5:47am

The rains were spotty all day, and after Morning Offering Mick spent his working day dodging the raindrops as he accomplished all of his mowing jobs and even added some gardening time on to the end of his schedule, planting ferns and sowing grass seed for a customer.

Gary was out and about, getting things ready for the Channeling Intensive which opens here at Camelot tomorrow. He laid in our groceries for breakfasts and lunches over the weekend and mowed our grass, then set about getting fresh sheets on every bed and towels and washcloths laid out for the attendees. We will have a small group this time, so we should be able to house everyone, which makes for a very cozy atmosphere. We will have a pizza-and-salad meal tomorrow night, so he does not need to cook for that, but he will prepare white chili for our lunch menu. And the addition to our Channeling Quotes collection is now all printed out and ready for the members as well.

I wrote the L/L Research Gatherings Newsletter copy for our next issue this morning and sent it to Gary. Largely, I talked about Homecoming 2009, which will take place here at Camelot the first weekend in September. We still have seats for that available, and hopefully this newsletter will help to fill them. The people already coming are a great bunch and I know the Gathering will be exciting!

In the afternoon I edited Channeling Circle 15, which is, I believe, the last of the CC sessions from Channeling Intensive Four. We got up to date there just in time to be ready to create some more CC sessions! It was interesting for me to see how well our channels are coming along.

Rho M sent along a very interesting article about Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court nominee. She seems an excellent choice indeed, very experienced and with a solid history of liberal decisions which appeals mightily to me.

I should have known that some former volunteer would worry that I was talking about her in last week’s UPI article, when I said that some volunteers were not terribly helpful, from my point of view. Pupie wrote in asking, “Is that about me?” Of course it was not - Pu was a wonderful presence at L/L Research and always a joy to know. I wrote to tell her so.

I ended the afternoon by getting my nails done at Absolutely Salon. I have been struggling with ingrown fingernails—a particularly painful little problem since I type at the computer as a way of life, so the sore fingers are in constant use—and it is such a relief, when Bethany trims away the ingrown edges! I chose light blue, translucent enamel topped with light green sparkles for the polish today, since channeling uses the green and blue energy centers.

The burning nausea I have been experiencing continues, and if I awaken with that condition still active tomorrow morning, I will take the first part of the day off and rest. I have been eating little more than soup and Ensure for a couple of weeks now, which minimizes the discomfort but does not remove the nausea completely. And I find that nausea is more difficult to work around than most other kinds of discomfort.

Gary called at nine to say that he was a mile away on a walk that went longer than he had planned, so Mick and I offered the Gaia Meditation without him tonight. Mick offered the closing prayer.

2009-05-26

May 27, 2009 8:53am

It was softly raining when I awakened, but stopped during Morning Offering and was dry until just before Mick finished his mowing for the day, a very handy timing! Mick did have to change clothes a couple of times, when a stray shower caught him well and truly, but he finished his scheduled mowing for the day and was even home a bit early.

I worked further on the UPI article on Reb Zalman, deciding to make it a dual article, including Ram Dass, since both gentlemen have written eloquently about elderhood and the spiritual vitality of the older seeker. However, I continued feeling quite poorly and finally retired from the lists without writing the article, napping for the last portion of the afternoon. I did manage to give blood for my monthly labs today and it was good to get that chore done! Vicki, the lab tech at LabCorp, got me on the first stick, always a thrill!

Melissa finished her first run-through on the Avalon Farm books for 2008 and left the rough draft for me to check—she went back to Avalon during my nap. I sent a fax to Compton Kottke to let Linda D, our tax accountant, know that this issue was on the way to being resolved. She will be pleased!

Gary and I had a brief meeting today after lunch to cinch up the plans for the Channeling Intensive, which begins day after tomorrow and extends over the weekend, and to lay down the first plans for Homecoming 2009, which will occur the first weekend in September.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-05-25

May 26, 2009 5:29am

It was raining fairly heavily when we awakened, and throughout the day, it rained again now and then, making Mick dodge between the raindrops when he went out to mow after Morning Offering. Three changes of clothing later, he came home with all his lawns mown and some limbs which had fallen on St. Luke’s campus all sawed and removed. That will make his job easier tomorrow!

I was working and moving slowly today, but got the research done for a difference-maker article on Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, a strong voice for the spiritual worth of older people.

Melissa was in town today, working on creating a set of Avalon Farm books that details spending in a way consistent with Schedule F’s line items. This will make it possible for Linda, our tax accountant, to report on Melissa’s work on Avalon in the way preferred by the IRS. We have always reported before in full, just not in the detail Linda wants for us. She hopes to finish that job tomorrow, and leave our bookkeeper, Pam, with all the information needed to input Avalon Farm’s books for 2008 into QuickBooks, replacing the old figures with the new, detailed ones.

Gary was at the L/L Research helm today, working at the Inbox and getting things ready for the Channeling Intensive later this week.

At dusk, Mick and I bathed and then came upstairs for a wonderful dance in the fields of the Lord. The energy between us was lucid and articulate tonight, making for a beautiful date indeed. We rested in the afterglow for a while before joining Melissa and Gary for supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which I offered the closing prayer.

2009-05-24

May 25, 2009 5:50am

It was a lovely Sabbath, although I was under the weather and decided to stay home this morning and miss St. Luke’s service. Instead I whiled away the time with the Sunday puzzles while Mick cleaned the house, the noise of the vacuum chasing the cats under the bed or under the covers.

With lunch, we saw Valkyrie, a film which tells the story of one of over a dozen attempts by the German military to assassinate Hitler during the latter part of World War II. Director Bryan Singer did an excellent job of telling the tale, with soaring production values and fine acting beefing up the good script. Tom Cruise headed the cast. He was almost a dead ringer for the true-life Claus Von Stauffenberg, and his non-dramatic, minimalist performance was gripping and rang true. He was surrounded with a solid ensemble—Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terrence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin McNally, David Schofield and David Bamber as Adolf Hitler all offered strong performances. And Carice van Houten was memorable in her cameo portrayal of Von Stauffenberg’s wife.

I did not expect to enjoy this film, since I knew the outcome. But I was soon swept up into the action and marveled at the incredibly rich detail of the production. One memorable scene, to which we returned often, was a room full of dozens of teletype machines, a kind I have never seen because they went out of date in the late nineteen-forties. Where in the world did they find those? There was a feeling of utter authenticity to every detail. It was good to revisit the Germany which did not buy into Hitler’s madness, and the Germans who tried to deliver the world from it.

Mick and I napped and then puttered, I with e-mail and he with yard maintenance, until dusk, when we sat down to dinner and a second film, Twilight. This gothic romance was most enjoyable to watch. It sustained a brooding intensity with seeming effortlessness. The young actors who played the central couple, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, were just about perfect, Stewart’s innocence paired with Pattinson’s experience, human with vampire.

I was especially struck by the ability Stewart had to express the complex feelings of first love, and by Pattinson’s ability to brood a la James Dean without overplaying his part. Stewart stuttered and hitched her way to the first telling of her love in very believable fashion, bringing to mind for me my own naïve and tumultuous feelings of early romance. And Pattinson carried a character which by its definition is over-the-top so believably that I could see his century of bitter experience—his character had been 17 when he was “turned” by vampire bite in 1918 - and sympathize with him. Twilight was enjoyable from beginning to end, with no false notes. It was a good day at the movies on our “small screen”!

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-05-23

May 24, 2009 4:43pm

We awakened to another splendid day! After Morning Offering Mick cleaned the kitchen and did his weekly errands before driving over to Shelbyville to cut Steve F’s acres. Fielder and Susie were in the shop, so he used Thetis and Chuck for the first time in a while, thrilled to have a good set of back-up mowers!

I dealt first with Gary’s note, which indicated that we would need to ask our web guy to update the Channeling Quotes collection for Channeling Intensive 5, sending the updated database to Ian for reformatting. Ian kindly did that by end of day, which means that Gary will be able to reproduce the new pages in good time and add them to the attendees’ folders next week when CI-5 assembles.

Eli wrote to ask for some more material for the special issue of Both Sides Now in which he has assembled my series of five articles on getting ready for 2012. I am honored that he feels my work is worth publishing. He said, kindly, that my information does not dwell on items which cannot be proven, nor does it dwell on fear-based aspects of 2012. Instead, it offers information in a down-to-earth manner which he finds helpful. I think that the Confederation information tends towards this emotionally neutral, helpful viewpoint, and I am glad to have this report published!

So I wrote the couple of short paragraphs that he requested, one on 101: The Choice and one on The Alphabet Mosaics. I finished just in time for lunch with Mick before he headed to Shelbyville. If any of you would like to get this special issue, or subscribe to Eli’s very thoughtful magazine, you can write him at editor@bothsidesnow.info and get signed up.

In the afternoon I discovered that Barbara Brodsky wishes to use my ten-part series on the energy body in her five Intensives leading up to 2012, which she and Aaron call Venture Fourth. So I cobbled together a table of my titles for the ten pieces and the corresponding UPI titles—which are none too clear, not written by me but by the UPI editor we had then—so that when I sent her the articles from the UPI site, she would be able to sort out the articles in the proper order. Then I got on the UPI site, www.religionandspirituality.com, and found the articles, forwarding them all to her. I am tickled that she will use them!

I sent the last article to her at 2:56, dashed to the bathroom for a break and at 3:00 had the last Live Chat session on B4 until September. It was a very lively session and most enjoyable. It went way long because Monica was working on what is apparently a hot topic both on the B4 forum and also on the Wilcock forum, the question of whether 2012 is going to occur in a moment where we all go poof and disappear along with 3-D Earth, or whether it is a gradual Harvest with 3-D Earth moving forward undisturbed. I am a “gradual” believer and feel that, physically speaking, 12-21-2012 is a non-event, rather like Y2K was. if you want to see what happened in that discussion, Steve archives these LC sessions on B4.

Mick came back from Shelbyville in perfect time for me to join him for a bath, an early supper and then the last public L/L Research meeting before we break for summer retreat. We had a good round-robin discussion, with Allen F, Romi, Gary and Rebecca joining Mick and me. The question for Q’uo tonight was on mental instability and Wanderers and seemed interesting, as far as I was able to determine from within the bubble of doing the channeling—one does not retain much, usually. I look forward to editing the transcription.

I had an unusual experience tonight as we were creating the group question. Each time I looked at the big bunch of peony blossoms Mick had collected in a vase, I went into an altered state, where I was the light. It was delightful, lasting, in and out, for several minutes, but it severely hampered me from attending to the conversation! I guess there are pros and cons to everything, including bliss!

I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer at the end of the public meditation tonight.

2009-05-22

May 23, 2009 6:30am

It was another lovely day for Mick and Gary as they set out after Morning Offering to mow and trim nine lawns. Friday is always the biggest day for Jim’s Lawn Service since so many customers want their lawns mown then, to have them fresh for the weekend’s entertaining.

Gary came home around three, and Mick finished up the day’s gardening while Gary created next week’s food from my recipes. We’re having a cod dish, a spinach dish and garlicky mashed potatoes this week.

Most of my day was spent updating the Channeling Quotes Database, which we have used since Channeling Intensive 2 for study. I concluded that work in the afternoon and sent it on to Gary to format properly and print out for inclusion in our workbooks for next weekend’s Channeling Intensive 5.

Then I turned to the e-mail Inbox and cleaned it up. Three people sent me rainbow photos in the mail today! How’s that for a loving, light-filled synchronicity? Eli sent photos of mandalas he’s painting in rainbow hues, Ba sent the rainbows sprinkled across the bed on which she meditates and Jude sent me a photo of a breathtaking prism of rainbow colors which came to touch one of her art prints on her wall!

Eli and Romi both sent me information on The Alphabet Mosaics in response to my request to them yesterday to hunt for more addresses to which to send notice when her book is printed.

I answered some personal e-mail. And I let Ian know that one of our recent sessions on our archive site was not opening properly for me. The odds are good that it is my mistake!

Mick called bath time just as I was finishing the last letter, which I call exquisite timing! We had a good whirlpool and bath and then came upstairs for a lovely date. The afterglow brought us both to some snoozing before we came downstairs for dinner and the Gaia Meditation. Gary offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-05-21

May 22, 2009 5:35am

The spell of sweet sunshine continues! But it is beginning to heat up, and spring’s balminess is yielding to summer’s sultry heat. It rose to 86 F this afternoon. Mick enjoyed the pleasant heat as he powered through his work of the day.

After Morning Offering, I finished writing my journals and then went to St. Luke’s to sing at the funeral of Denise S. It was a lovely service. Denise had been a violinist and much of the service music was offered by a trio of her fellow players, playing pieces by Massenet, Franck and Bach. In a touching moment, her nephew, who is blind, took out his own violin and played “Amazing Grace”.

In the afternoon, I finished collecting e-addresses from my folder of letters from Dana Redfield. Then I got an e-mail together to send to the four of her friends whom I know the best—Romi, Mary Alice, Mary and Elihu, and attached that distribution list, asking them to check their e-mails from her and add any new addresses they find therein. When The Alphabet Mosaics is printed, I will use that list and notify all her friends of the chance to help donate to pay for the printing costs. A donation in any amount will get them a copy of her beautiful book.

I responded to personal e-mail from friends—Dianne S, Rick C, Lisa L, Julie P and Marcia M. And I wrote Lynn C, a fellow children’s choir member from St. Mark’s back in the fifties, to get our choirmaster’s address. Phil Malpas, a wonderful church musician who loved children and knew they could sing really well, taught us both our basics as choir members way back then, and he is turning 90 this month. I want to send him a card.

Jim rolled in full of good cheer a bit after 6:00, and we bathed and had a quiet and most enjoyable evening, dining with Gary and sharing the Gaia Meditation with him. I offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-05-20

May 21, 2009 5:43am

The stunningly beautiful spring weather continued for Mick and me as, after Morning Offering, Mick set out on his day’s quota of mowing and gardening. Many of his customers live right around here and often today I could hear the unique sound of one or another of his machines—mower, blower or trimmer—as I worked in my bower office. The trimmer’s varying whine sounds like a huge mosquito, circling for a bite! Mick is oblivious to the noise, since he puts on his iTunes earpods and then sound-blocking headphones. His ears are full of his music du matin!

I overslept this morning and so wrote my journal entries after Morning Offering. Then I turned to the Alphabet Mosaics project, since Ian wrote to say that he was working to finalize the manuscript for the printer. I started on collecting all the addresses of Dana Redfield’s friends which I could find in my e-mail records, looking at the other people to whom she sent letters in the address lines of her e-mails to me. I also wrote her parents to ask if a family member could export to me the Outlook address book from the computer she used. I feel sure her friends would like to be notified of her book being published at last.

I wrote a thank you note to Julie P, the wonderfully hospitable hostess of our recent choir party, sending her my Sweet Corn Pudding recipe and asking for her pasta recipe, which was delicious.

Then I reworked my to-do list, happily eliminating many line items, and adding a few chores to replace them, before I ended my work day. I had felt quite poorly all day, so retired from the office early and had a nap before going to choir practice.

We have moved, as a choir, from the undercroft to Board Hall, a very pleasant change, since the hall is air-conditioned and has a bright, resonant sound, with high ceilings and good acoustics. The St. Luke’s Pre-School is taking over the undercroft. We sang in Board Hall tonight, preparing for Sunday services to come. We did not have to prepare anything for Denise S’s funeral tomorrow, as soloists and orchestra will do the honors at offertory and communion.

Gary was outside, still, working at his computer on the front porch when I got home from choir practice. It’s a sign of the warm weather to see him out there again! He often reads and works out there when the weather is clement, loving the fresh air and communing with Dan D. Lion. It’s humorous to see our Santa Claus cookie jar out there, guarding Dan D’s food bowl, scarecrow-like, from scavenging blue jays which have taken to stealing his food.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-05-19

May 20, 2009 9:24am

Another glorious day greeted Mick and me today, cool and sunny and breezy with birdsong and the scent of honeysuckle and peonies in the air. After Morning Offering Mick set out on his knightly rounds, bringing beauty to the lawns of Anchorage. I finished my article for UPI, reading through the “Living the Law of One” text and making a few changes to help the prose flow better before sending it on to the www.religionandspirituality.com site and to Gary for his send.

He will send it out next week, since he just sent the one from last week out yesterday, having been on vacation last week. That way, I will have all of next week to catch up the quotes database on channeling which we will continue to use in this next Channeling Intensive. If you’re curious, however, and want to look it up, it is on the UPI site.

I spent most of the rest of the work-day editing a new transcript, the Saturday Meditation from April 25th. Gary’s question was on humility, with questions at the end on sexual energy exchange and global warming. It was an interesting session.

Sometimes the channeling brings in odd bits from my store of knowledge and this session included a quote from Rick Pitino, basketball coach at the University of Louisville, concerning the “precious present.” It was humorous to come across “the one known as Rick” in the Q’uo’s discussion. I footnoted it and found that the phrase is actually the name of a book by Spencer Johnson from which Pitino reads excerpts to his players at the start of each season.

Eli E and I tend to have wide-ranging conversations and today he sent me a photo of his mailbox, which is substantially rusted, and discolored also simply by the erosion of time, here and there, from black enamel to gray. Its hinges are held together by duct tape. In the subject line, he wrote, “Art Object?”

I responded by sending him a web site devoted to Wabi-Sabi art. This Japanese genre values and honors the things of this world in their process of decay. Here’s the link: http://www.utne.com/2001-09-01/Wabi-Sabi.aspx. I’m a fan. As my body moves from its youthful slenderness and cleanness of line to its present blurred and rounded form, I can see its beauty as Wabi-Sabi in nature, every wrinkle and roundness part of the beauty of this body as it wears into old age in just this and that way.

One of our choir members, Denise S, died today of cancer after a brief and swift illness, and choirmistress Lisa wrote to ask the choir to sing on Thursday morning. I wrote asking her where the choir would rehearse beforehand. If they practice in the undercroft, I cannot join for the rehearsal. Hopefully we will practice upstairs, where I can be wheeled in and then just stay in place for the service.

I got a private message on B4 from a man who wished to make his confession and start a new life, so I got out my trusty prayer book and went through the ritual of Reconciliation of a Penitent with him. I felt very privileged to be a part of his healing.

A mystery was solved today—at least it was a mystery to me! I kept asking Wynn for the digital recordings of our conversations, and not receiving them. It turns out that they’ve been sent to Gary. And he has been saving them for the summertime, when all the channelings for this season are transcribed and Aaron T, our indefatigable transcriber par excellence, will have free time to transcribe them. It is far harder to transcribe me talking than me channeling, as I talk a lot faster than Q’uo does! I am SO glad to discover this! And it was good to e-meet Kathy, the BBS employee who does the sending of those recordings.

My last work for the day was a fairly long letter to my sister in law. I have gotten to know her better in the process of planning last Christmas’s Rueckert get-together, and she has been writing me ever since at a far deeper level than before. I shared some of my experiences of old rejection, responding to her pain and grief at her rejection by a group whom she served with devotion for eighteen years. The group’s board asked her to step down. She’s a tough lady—she relinquished the reins immediately and set herself to scrubbing down her home with the newly freed time, and cleaning out all her closets! Go Mary!

2009-05-18

May 19, 2009 9:42am

It was so pleasant to awaken to sunshine and soft, cool breezes today! I awoke quite late for me, and had to write my journal entries after Morning Offering instead of before it. After I accomplished those, I worked on the final article in the “Law of One” series of four articles I have written for my UPI blog on their web site, www.religionandspirituality.com. This last one discusses living the Law of One. I shall need to do a final read-through tomorrow before I post it—I ran out of time today.

Melissa was in town today and kindly brought me some White Castles to minister to my sadly aching tummy. The “cure” worked, as usual, but—also as usual—the effects wore off by nightfall.

She and I talked about her creating a set of Avalon Farm books for 2008 which will be done according to Linda’s request. Melissa already has ledgers which record every nickel she has spent, so we are fortunate in having all the data we need. She promised to take the QuickBooks list of accounts suggested for farm owners, plus the IRS Schedule F—the farm schedule—plus any sub-schedules, like the one for tree farming, and create a polished, detailed set of farm books for L/L Research by next Wednesday, nine days from now.

It is perfect timing, because Pam will need to work on L/L’s Accounts Receivable to clean up our reporting of donations. There is a glitch there which creates an incorrect income stream, because the sales are recorded when they are charged, and again when our on-line merchant service sends us deposits by electronic transfer. We have until August 15th to report to the IRS, so I think we will be able to correct our books easily by then.

It is a shame that we must spend so much time keeping these books, when we are non-profit. We are not recording vast sums of money here! But the IRS wants to see details from companies like L/L Research, and if we want to maintain our very favorable tax status of 501(c) 3, our books must be transparent.

Pam is glad for the work! Her other bookkeeping job has cut her hours, so she’s happy to put in the time here. The payoff is that once these corrections are made, the bookkeeping and tax reporting to Linda each year should be smooth and completely correct. Here’s hoping!

Mick came home with all his lawns mown and detailed, plus a few extra chores done for some of his worthy widows, who are most grateful to be able to call on him for this and that “honey-do”. We shared a whirlpool and a bath. Then we had a date that was truly a heavenly time, exchanging perhaps the highest intensity of energy I have ever experienced! Praise the Lord!

I ate lightly at supper, feeling quite poorly still, and while Gary and Mick offered the Gaia Meditation, I came upstairs for a telephone interview with Wynn Free on BBS Radio from 9:00 to 10:00. I think it went well. We talked about some interesting subjects, including the energy body and how Christianity and other religions fit into the Law of One.

2009-05-17

May 18, 2009 9:15am

It was a gift of a Sunday, cool, bright and lovely. As we bumped across the tracks on the way to church, I enjoyed seeing the tidiness of the neighborhood, relieved at last by the power company of its storm debris from last winter’s ice storm.

I was barely moving today, feeling most poorly, but I did make it to church and was glad for it. The comforting words of the rituals and the power of the Holy Eucharist are wonderful. The choir as a whole did not sing today, which was good timing for me—for some reason my throat was closed tightly, and I could barely sing the hymns.

Mick and I lunched and napped before watching our film of the day, Slumdog Millionaire. Directed by Danny Boyle and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan, it is a generous film, richly detailed with the endless crowds and mean streets of Mumbai. The outer structure of the film is a television show, the Indian version of So You Want to Be a Millionaire. The protagonist, Jamal, played as a young adult by Dev Patel, answers a series of questions in order to win his millions. With each question, there comes a splurge of bewildering detail as Jamal remembers the circumstances under which he learned the answer to that question.

At first I had a bewildering sense of dislocation as I was plunged into the swirl of the inner story, and it did not help that there are three actors for each of the main roles, young, middle-teens and young adult. The subtitles are wretchedly small and hard to see. The music is an auditory assault. The film moves very quickly. Once I became used to the dense and whirling story line, however, I was completely won over and became totally absorbed into Jamal’s world of poverty, dishonesty, betrayal and love.

By the end of the film I had become a bit more aware of a world I have never known. India’s poverty is as staggering as its population and somehow, the film caught both. Jamal, his older brother and the girl-child he loves exist on a trash heap and watch Jamal’s mother die in a brutal police action against Muslims. In one pivotal scene, Jamal leaps into a well of sewage, emerging victorious with a pasteboard photo of a movie star who is passing through his area. Covered with muck, reeking to high heaven, he pushes through the crowds to get the star’s autograph. Jamal’s brother steals the autograph and sells it for a few rupees, betraying him without apology. The name of the star is one of the questions Jamal answers correctly in the quiz show.

I heartily recommend this film on a number of levels. It is an astonishing feat, to pack so much story, movement and feeling into two hours.

The rest of our day passed quietly, and Mick offered a lovely prayer at the end of the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-05-16

May 17, 2009 6:00am

It was a lovely day! In the low seventies, sunny, breezes smiling through the new-leafed trees, the weather was welcoming and dry. After Morning Offering, Mick cleaned the kitchen and did his errands while I worked on my journals and then continued to clean up my Inbox. In the afternoon, Mick created the same beauty here at Camelot that he had done for so many of his customers all week, mowing, trimming and blowing clear the meadow which is our lawn, and all our many plantings and gardens.

At 3:00 I had a Live Chat with four people on B4, a small but very good group. We talked a lot about addiction and recovery today. And in the evening, we welcomed Romi, who came to the public meeting early enough to field the book orders which had come into Gary’s Inbox since Romi was here on Tuesday. At 8:00, we had a very pleasant talk around the circle and then a silent meditation. I included the Gaia Meditation prayer in the prayer I offered at the close of the silent meditation.

My indisposition continues, as does my primary focus upon tuning my attitude to one of joy, peace and thanksgiving.

2009-05-15

May 16, 2009 6:54am

After an abbreviated Morning Offering, Mick went on his mowing rounds, getting every lawn mowed, plus cutting an extra lawn which an old customer begged him to do, as his mower was at the shop. He was just finishing up the maintenance of his equipment when the heavens opened and it was rainy the rest of the evening—the second Friday in a row that has happened. This was an amazingly challenging week for a gardener, with rain every day, but Mick triumphed!

I continued to feel poorly today, so I took a large part of the morning simply to have an official nap, which helped a lot! During the work day I got a few items scratched off my to-do list.

- I wrote the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer, volunteering to be a diocesan representative

- I wrote Bill A, whom I congratulated on being a short-timer now, by snail mail—he has less than four years to go to complete his prison sentence! We have corresponded for over twenty years now.

- I sent Tobey W congratulations for finishing the re-listening of Ra Session 105, the next-to-last session. He only has one last session to check, and that huge project will be completed!

- I suggested to Helen by e-mail that she visit sometime in July. That gives me some time to get to feeling better!

- I collected a delicious sounding pasta-spinach recipe, a recipe for meatballs with carrots and onions in wine sauce and an interesting recipe for cream of leek soup.

- I updated my to-do list and felt far more organized, even though I have not done the chores on it yet!

I also spent some time in the office downstairs, dealing with the incoming mail in Gary’s absence. It seems there is never a lack of paper to move around!

Mick came home full of romance, and we had a bath and then played in the fields of the Lord together, sharing wonderful energy. Later we celebrated his accomplishing the impossible this week and staying on schedule by ordering take-away from Ruby Tuesday’s. It was delicious!

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation by singing a verse of “Twilight’s A-Stealing over the Lea”, a lovely old white spiritual. It ends,

“Far away, beyond the northern skies,
Where the love-light never, never dies,
Gleameth a mansion filled with delight!
Sweet, happy home, good-night.”

2009-05-14

May 15, 2009 5:38am

Another rainy day! Mick and I awakened to the sound of rain on the roof as a fierce storm blew through, moving east of us by about 10:00. Mick had to wait this storm out, as it produced heavy rains, but after Morning Offering he was out and mowing at the first sign of clearing, and mowed all of today’s customers and about one-third of tomorrow’s lawns as well.

I spent a marginal day, continuing to feel poorly. After writing my journal entries, I continued to pare down the Inbox. For a while, this area was under a “Boil Water Advisory”, since the pressure of the storms had burst a big water main a bit north of us. By mid-afternoon, the Louisville Water Company announced that our water supply was safe. I sent both advisories on to Mick, feeling grateful indeed that our water was again good to drink.

Ian wrote to say that he had been working on mending some details with our archive site. When the internet changed some coding, our “Next/Previous” bottom-page links began moving around, taking the rest of the bottom-page material with them. After some work on his part, the links are now staying put. Go, Ian! He is also continuing to finalize The Alphabet Mosaics. I wrote him back in thanks, and to wish his father-in-law a good recovery from a recent illness.

Eli sent in a photo of his recent home improvement—his wood stove is now on a new set of blocks, faced with handsome tiling. I sent my congratulations, and told him that our stove at Avalon has also been recently redone but without the tiles to give it panache as well as a new measure of safety.

Lastly, I wrote Melissa by e-mail concerning some work on the Avalon farm accounts which our tax accountant, Linda, wants her to do. Linda is trying to get our L/L Research tax report in better order.

I also wrote a snail-mail letter to Jim’s Mom. I have not spoken with her on the telephone for quite a while, because Mick calls her on Sunday afternoons as I am napping. I wanted to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. She is a good soul and a devoted Mom.

As you can see, I accomplished little today in the world! However, my time was well spent, working on my attitude and resting from labors until I feel less nauseated.

Mick blew in as the rains began again at 5:30 or so, full of good energy and pleased with his work day. We bathed together before enjoying a quiet evening. He offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-05-13

May 14, 2009 11:22am

Since this period of physical discomfort and nausea seems to be somewhat more prolonged than I at first expected, I have decided to set diminished outer expectations for myself for a while and focus on inner work. This has resulted in an enhanced experience of the beauty and power of the natural environment and a keener appreciation of all the blessings of the moment. The sight of the lovely, lush grass drinking in the many storms and showers of rain is heady indeed when one is tuned to it! And the beauty of the “tulips” of the tulip poplars, come newly to bloom this week, brings me a sense of profound content.

After Morning Offering, Mick headed out very early, barely past 7:00 a.m., determined to mow between the all-too-frequent raindrops which keep falling on his head! After a wet start, the weather cooperated for several hours, and by 5:30, Mick had gotten his lawns done for today and some lawns cut ahead for tomorrow. It’s a miracle that he manages this, in a week with solid rain forecast, Monday through Saturday.

I worked, when I was not dropping inadvertently into angel naps or otherwise distracted, on the e-mail Inbox today. Firstly, I caught up with Ian’s correspondence, which concerned The Alphabet Mosaics and a site which a couple has created which has stolen all of our material from the archive site and then paired it with David W’s “Ra” channeling, a most unfortunate juxtaposition. After we both looked at this site in some detail, we knew that no request from us not to do these things would have the slightest effect on them—they have other sites selling everything from herbs to conspiracy theories.

We ended by discussing the efforts we make to keep our work purely a labor of love, and resolved to rest from trying to defend ourselves from such misconceived treatment by others who distort our work for commercial purposes. (Or porpoises, on such a wet day!)

Gary sent me a list of alternative printers to the Brother product we just bought, and I responded with my permission for him to send back the Brother and get another printer if he felt he could find a better one for less money. As for myself, I told him, I had been satisfied to keep to the same model we had just worn out since it had performed faultlessly until it croaked. Other printers we have previously had were either finicky, with lots of down time for repairs, or very expensive to feed with toner. Knowing my reasoning here, when he returns from his vacation in the Great Smokies, he can follow through as he wishes.

Dino had written Gary concerning 2012, and he forwarded me Dino’s letter. Dino’s questions centered around the concept that if third density did not end by shaking humankind off like fleas, that we would continue to reproduce forever and third density would never end. I responded with my feelings concerning how the shift will occur.

My belief is that when the Indigo Children with dual-activated bodies complete their karma-induced mission of restoring Planet Earth to health, there will cease to be souls waiting to incarnate into third density on Earth, and the race will die out naturally, since no souls waiting to incarnate means no more babies being born.

Eli sent me a bunch of links to videos of Pete Seeger’s ninetieth birthday concert, a most enjoyable series of vignettes of the cream of our musicians celebrating with him at Madison Square Garden. I wrote to thank him and tell him that my early days were awash with Seeger records, the favorite of which was the immortal Goofing-Off Suite.

My beloved friend from MacDuffie days, Helen C-D, wrote to invite me to visit and I begged off for now, letting her in on the current body drama I am experiencing. I have total faith that this, too, shall pass! I have recovered from much worse situations than this one.

I ended my very modest work for the day by talking with Pam, our bookkeeper, concerning some problems Linda, our tax accountant, has found with our way of reporting income at L/L Research. It is serious enough that Linda has obtained permission from the IRS to take three more months to report for 2008. It was apparently a good talk, and Pam is now awaiting Linda’s fax, containing explicit instructions on how to mend the reporting process.

Unfortunately, the erroneous reporting results in it appearing that we receive twice as much income from book sales as is correct, since the income is reported when people buy from the store, and again when the bank lets us know that the on-line merchant service has deposited the charged funds into our account.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon officially napping, lying down in my bedroom with dear little Chloe, my “Inkspot Kitty”, on my chest. Mick awoke me at bath time and we then dressed and went to the choir party, bearing two big pans of corn pudding, almost all of which was eaten! Go, Dianne! She did almost all of the work preparing that recipe for the event.

It was such a wonderful drive over to Julie’s home, where the party was held. We used Google directions, which took us to the wrong end of her road—it was gated, with no attendant, and locked us out. However the drive brought us through many roads on which we had never been, and we saw an amazing number of very high-end subdivisions which we never knew were part of our county! With everything lush and blooming, it was just the prettiest drive! Mick had his cell phone with him and I had printed out our choir mistress’s e-mail on the party, which included Julie’s telephone number, so we called and she set us aright. Apparently we were one of several couples which had done the same thing!

We got there a bit late, as a result, and enjoyed a lovely party. Julie has lovingly decorated her home with a collection of Meissen’s Blue Onion pattern, one piece lovelier than the next. When deep pockets are allied with impeccable taste, the results are breathtaking!

We had drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and then enjoyed lots of salads, chicken tetrazzini, a scrumptious broccoli casserole and the corn pudding before ending with a several-tiered, very fancy birthday cake home-made by Laurinda S, who doesn’t even sing with the choir! What a loving gesture!

Mick and I had a very quiet and short Gaia Meditation before the dessert course! We said the closing prayer together—”My peace I give to you; my peace I leave with you, not as the world gives, give I unto you.” Amen! Help us to hear you, dear Jesus!

2009-05-12

May 13, 2009 5:55am

After Morning Offering, Mick had a long, triumphant day of mowing, finishing his work with a lawn cut ahead for tomorrow and one for Thursday! Since the predictions for both days are full of rain, this is great!

Dianne collected me soon after Mick left and we had a fine morning of haircuts and facials at Images Salon. We then drove out to the Captain’s Quarters Restaurant and ate lunch out on their decks, watching the very swollen Ohio River flow by with not a boat or barge in sight out on its half-mile width of open water. The restaurant’s little yacht, The Princess, was snugged up into the outlet of Harrod’s Creek, away from the open river, since the river in flood can contain nasty surprises indeed. Dianne and I lucked out with sunshine and sweet breezes for our outing and had a lovely time.

I was feeling fairly well until after lunch, when she and I came back by the grocery to pick up ingredients for Sweet Corn Pudding and then made the dish—a big double recipe—for the choir party tomorrow night. I pressed ahead with the work until I made myself ill again, all the tummy symptoms returning with a vengeance. I spent the rest of the day in misery, just hanging on! Hopefully, the night’s sleep will restore me to better health.

Romi visited tonight, packing up and mailing out the book orders which have come into the store since Saturday. He is taking over that chore until Gary returns from his week of hiking the Appalachian Trail down in Tennessee. It is most kind of him to do so.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-05-11

May 12, 2009 5:42am

It was a one-note day for both Mick and me. After Morning Offering, Mick set out to mow and mow he did! We got him off early and he did not retire from the field until after 7:00 p.m. The weather forecast for the rest of the week suggests rain possibilities every single day! So Mick is mowing ahead.

For me, the day was spent writing the third article in the series about the Law of One. Still feeling poorly, I did the work in stages, taking my time and glad to complete the writing by the time Mick rolled in. I posted it on the UPI web site, www.religionandspirituality.com, but without Gary to send it out, it will languish unread, for the most part, until he returns from his hiking vacation next week.

I tried drinking a glass of Ensure rather than eating lunch today, and felt better for it. So I shall continue with that diet change. There was definitely less nausea with that tactic than with my usual lunch choices—a sandwich or an egg. I’m tickled to find something I can do to better my situation!

I wrote the lady who is hosting the St. Luke’s choir party on Wednesday, asking her for directions to her house. They were probably passed out at church, which I missed last Sunday. Mick will help me make a corn pudding for that event tomorrow night.

After Mick and I bathed, we enjoyed a lovely, sparkling time of sexual energy exchange together with the Creator before coming downstairs for a late supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which I offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-05-10

May 11, 2009 10:35am

Happy Birthday, Mick! He is 62 today! We celebrated the day quietly but most satisfactorily. After a Morning Offering and our customary perusal of the Sunday paper, He opened his gifts. I gave him a pile of music CDs including new issues by Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and U2, and classic George Harrison and Tom Petty albums plus a little pile of Obama tee shirts and a Yon Ka moisturizer for his face. His Mom gave him some cash and a beautiful cowboy-style shirt, which he will have to wait until next fall to enjoy, plus a cake. And Gary gave him a gift certificate at Home Depot.

I was feeling very much under the weather and did not go to church, so we went right into our Sunday afternoon schedule after Mick did a cursory vacuuming of the downstairs—Gary had not cooked this week, and with only us in the house, it has stayed quite clean. After lunch, we took a lovely, long nap and then watched a film.

Mick chose The Reader this week, an elegiac, slow-moving film about a lawyer, Michael, in Berlin whose love life begins with an affair with an older woman, Hanna, played with beautifully disciplined restraint by Kate Winslet. Hanna is a ticket puncher for the tram system who finds the lawyer-to-be—the younger version of Michael played by David Kross—in the alcove in front of her apartment building, being wretchedly ill. She pities him and takes him in.

They share a series of silent, almost motionless times of love-making before Hanna moves away to take the job of guard at Auschwitz and they lose touch. Foreplay for them consists of his reading to her from the books he is studying in college. The film does not blink at nudity, even frontal male nudity. And within the film, even that becomes gray and unerotic.

Michael discovers in Law School that Kate’s character is now on trial for war crimes. She and her fellow guards have followed orders and played it safe, yet people have died. And because a book has been written by a surviver who names those guards, they and no others are tried.

Judgement is heavy and fierce. yet there is a telling moment when Hanna asks the judge, “What would you have done?” The judge does not reply.

Because she will not admit that she cannot read or write, she is entrapped by her co-guards at Auschwitz into taking the blame for an incident and receives a life sentence, while they get off with short sentences. There in prison, she receives tape after tape of the older Michael reading her favorite books. Using the tapes, she teaches herself to read. When her sentence is up over twenty years later, Michael - the older Michael played with superb distinction and loving attention to detail by Ralph Fiennes - arranges for her to have a job and finds her a small apartment, but she is unable to face the outside world and hangs herself in her cell on the eve of her freedom.

In one way, the film is two hours of nothing much. The action is as slow as stone being eroded by water. Almost no voices are raised; no distance is traveled. Sydney Pollack, whose last producing job this is, creates an atmosphere of earth colors, gray buildings, sunless skies, expressionless conversations. The music of the film is likewise muted, gentle, largo. The real-life Auschwitz, shown during the action, is silently appalling as it shows the thousands of pairs of empty shoes stored in the long lines of empty bunks.

In another way, the film focuses with exquisite care on the great issues of life: What is love? What is justice? What is kindness? For that, it is to be applauded. It earns the status of “art film” effortlessly. All in all, I recommend this film.

Mick took his break time digging a garden by hand for a customer. This particular customer asked for her garden to be tilled a month ago, which Mick did. Then two weeks ago, she declared that it needed another tilling before she could work it. He tilled it again. She called Mick almost in tears last Tuesday, saying that she could not plant in her garden because there were still clumps in it too big for her. For the rest of the week, it rained almost continuously and her garden was awash. Mick could do nothing in it until today, when the soil had somewhat dried out. Knowing that his next week is chock-a-block mowing, and that his tiller would still leave some lumps in the soil—which most gardeners simply smash down and break up as they plant—he dug it by hand. On his birthday! And on a Sunday, our one day off. He is a very, very sweet and kind man!

I went back to bed while he was gone, and enjoyed a good snooze and then some solitaire. Then we dressed up—Mick looked so handsome in a seersucker jacket and white pants, with a red rose in his lapel—and went for dinner to Le Relais, a French restaurant at Bowman Field. We enjoyed crab cakes, a cream of broccoli and mushroom soup with a heavenly texture and then filets of steak with a peppercorn sauce and Brussels sprouts, asparagus and French fries. Afterwards we came home and Mick had cake and ice cream, the cake courtesy of his Mom, who mailed it from Nebraska. We even got in a sweet and sexy necking session before bedtime!

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-05-09

May 10, 2009 6:28am

I still felt poorly today, and so remained out of the office except for writing my Camelot Journal and Holly Journal entries for yesterday. I continued to snooze, hopefully healing up that which ails me, until late afternoon, when I talked with those who were on B4’s Live Chat.

Meanwhile, Mick put in an extra working day for Jim’s Lawn Service, working in two customers’ gardens in the morning and driving over to Shelbyville to cut another customer’s three acres of grass in the afternoon. We reunited at bath time and enjoyed an early supper before welcoming Allen and Romi, and then a new couple, who came quite late, having gotten thoroughly lost. It is easy to do around here, since the area was not planned but “grew like Topsy” with no roads being straight or foursquare.

The question for tonight’s channeling session was concerning the feeling Mick has that as the spiritual walk continues, it seems to grow harder, not easier. It was an interesting topic and I look forward to reading what they had to say when I edit the transcript.

I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer at the end of the public meditation.

2009-05-08

May 9, 2009 6:37am

Mick had a triumphant day! After Morning Offering, he and Gary went out into the wet world—it had rained heavily overnight, but stopped raining just as they set out to mow—and got all eleven of their lawns mowed and detailed. As they were riding home, the work all done, the heavens opened and the rest of the day, it just poured. They made use of every little dry minute and all the work got done. I would wager that his is the only lawn service in town that can say that, this week!

Gary hit the shower and within the hour he was gone, heading to Tennessee for his first wilderness hike of any length. He will walk part of the Appalachian Trail with two buddies, Jeremy W and Mikey B. Mike T, the fourth member of this group, had been planning to join them for this event for most of a year, but the first day of the actual hike coincides with Mother’s Day and Mike T is a server at his local Ruth’s Chris Steak House. The boss said no, and that was that, if Mike wants a job tomorrow. And of course, he does! Unfair!

We’ll see just how well Mick and I fare without Gary this next week! His lives are inextricably entwined with ours, as he is my admin for four days a week, and Mick’s Jim’s Lawn Service helper on Fridays. I know we will miss him!

I was very much under the weather today and opted to spend it in bed. I give! Uncle! I slept all day! Then Mick came home and we had a bath and then a lovely date, sharing beautiful energy with the infinite One. Then we both napped! After supper I napped some more! I awakened to offer the Gaia Meditation and say the closing prayer, and then I had a final nap before bedtime!

Hopefully all this rest will set me on the path to feeling lots better. Fortunately, tomorrow is the weekend, and if necessary I can rest most of tomorrow and all of Sunday without missing any deadlines or appointments except singing at church.

All this rain has created a perfectly beautiful world around us! The grass is lush and green, the indoor plants we just took outside are thriving with the generously soaking rains of the past few days and the peonies and azaleas are bursting with blooms. The irises are in their glory and I see all sorts of day-lily stalks jumping up, joining the wood poppies and may-apples. It’s heavenly! Thank you, Lord!

2009-05-07

May 8, 2009 5:44am

The rains went in and out today, all day, and after Morning Offering Mick dodged the raindrops to get all his mowing done for today, plus a job for tomorrow. Rain is predicted for overnight tonight and into the morning, then a break until late afternoon, when strong storms are predicted. These last two weeks have caught the area up in terms of rainfall for the month, but we are still two inches behind for the year. This next 24 hours should catch us up for the year.

I continued feeling poorly, but did not take the day off, in spite of the nausea. When one goes to bed with an illness, one is stuck with focusing on the illness. I wanted to take my mind off the body drama. I worked as I could at the laptop, in my Mama chair, accepting the frequent angel naps but managing to get some things done between snoozes.

Aaron had sent in the April 11th channeling session, which took up Mick’s question on why men are afraid of women and tend to subjugate them, especially in terms of the priesthood. It was an interesting session to read. I sent it on to Ian for his tender editing and coding ministrations and eventual addition to the archives.

I collected a killer recipe for butternut squash au gratin, with the gratin flavored by roasted and then crushed whole peppercorns, nutmegs and cardamom pods. The spices are steeped in the cream, and then are strained out and the flavored cream moistens the squash and the cheese layers. It sounds wonderful!

I wrote Melissa, who had called asking if I needed my clothes switched seasonally. I let her know that Mick has been taking down a load of winter duds each evening when we come down for supper, and bringing up a load of the summer clothes when we come up to snuggle before bedtime, so I have that covered. It was most kind of her to offer!

The man from the Brother Company came to install our new copier, the old one having given up the ghost with a fatal “error 71”. It cost $400 to repair the fuses and laser and $400 to buy a new machine, so voila, we bought a new machine. Gary tried manfully to get it to work this afternoon, but he could not get it to recognize our local network—the house has five computers linked together—so we will have to leave it to Romi’s technical expertise on Saturday when he comes.

I ended the working day by sorting through the piles of office details that have stacked up, hoping to feel well enough to work with them on the morrow, and then quit for the day.

Mick blew in full of good energy at 7:30, with all his goals accomplished for the day. We shared a bath and went directly to supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which Gary offered the closing prayer. Then we came upstairs and snoozed and conversed until bedtime.

2009-05-06

May 7, 2009 9:33am

After an early and abbreviated Morning Offering, my personal hero, Mick, set out in the drizzle to mow his lawns. It had rained overnight and drizzled most of the day, but he only took one break, when it really came down hard for a while. And somehow he got every lawn mown and detailed by evening! In addition, as he so often does, he did many extra jobs for his customers as he went, planting some bushes here and moving a bed of hosta there, and crowning the day by cutting up and taking away a fallen limb which had fallen across a customer’s garage roof.

My tummy continued to be nauseated, that symptom joined by a headache and sore eyes, and I was tempted to give up and go to bed, but I had just enough wit to press on, and generally, in the end, one feels better for being up and doing. I worked in small doses and got the second article on the Law of One written. This week’s article is on the Ra group, and I enjoyed sharing their amazing story.

Gary sent an e-note suggesting that we cancel the upcoming Channeling Intensive since only four people will attend. However, I know that for the four who come, it will be a better gathering for being a smaller one, since they will have more opportunity to work. The fewer the better, really, in terms of those present having a good chance to practice. So we will welcome Maria, Lorena, Gerri and Len during the last weekend in May as planned.

Gary sent off the paperwork and books to the Library of Congress in order to secure official LC copyrights for the only books for which we have none—A Book of Days and Living the Law of One—101: The Choice. It is good to have that detail completed.

My last letter for the day was to Mishlin, encouraging her to submit a topic for Homecoming. Being a humble and observant person, she has long felt that most topics do not meet the criterion of “it will matter as much in ten thousand years as right now.” And that is certainly true! But if we observed that strictly, would we ever ask a question?

She is interested in synchronicities, since so many of them have happened to her lately, and I told her that was an excellent topic for Homecoming, since every seeker who wakes up and begins to work consciously towards polarizing towards service to others begins to experience a growing number of them.

By nightfall I was truly whipped, and had to miss choir rehearsal, something I dislike doing, since I always need the practice. I think I will take at least a part of tomorrow off and get in some pure rest if these acute symptoms continue tomorrow.

Mick and I bathed and then spent a very quiet evening, napping, conversing and offering the Gaia Meditation with Gary. Mick offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-05-05

May 6, 2009 10:39am

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I do not celebrate war, and the historical Cinco de Mayo celebrates a little known, bloody and crucial battle where the Mexican Army defeated the superior forces of Napoleon’s French Army with better tactics and kept France from supplying the Confederate government with funds for a year during the Civil War in The United States, giving the North a chance to build their Army and swinging the outcome of the war towards a Union victory.

But I celebrate Mexican-American solidarity, which the holiday has come to represent. Much has been made of the bad effects of Mexicans in the States, but my guess is that the Latinos, not to mention the Asians, will be the 21st Century’s Irish. Like the Irish, most Mexicans and most Asians have great work ethics and sound family values. They bless and enrich America with their hopes, dreams and persistent hard work!

This has been a tough day for me! My stomach continues to rebel, and by late afternoon I gave up all pretense of trying to be productive in an outer way and began to focus on the inner processes of holding to faith and cheerfulness, knowing that all is well no matter what the outer picture appears to be.

Before I resigned my efforts in the office I did finish the research for the second article in The Law of One series for UPI and began the writing. I shall see how sound it is tomorrow, by which time I hope to be in better fettle!

I got an interesting forward from Eli concerning Pete Seeger, who is turning 90! There is a movement afoot to talk the Nobel Prize Committee into giving him a Nobel Peace Prize. He certainly deserves one! He has been a balladeer for justice, equality and peace his whole life long, endlessly active wherever he finds a cause to celebrate. Because he is getting on in years, people are beginning to worry that he will not live long enough to collect one—the Nobel is given only to living people.

This concern has resulted in a web site being organized, and there is a petition to sign which will be sent to the Nobel Prize Committee. Here’s the address, if you’d like to add your vote: http://www.nobelprize4pete.org/. Click on “Sign the petition” and it’s just a matter of filling in the form.

I also wrote Micheline, explaining why our web guy does not want to put French-language tags on our site—essentially, he does not have the time to do so, and to continue to add other language tags for other-language translations as they come in, which they continue to do. He is already stretched to keep up with adding her French translations to our Library, as the coding must be done separately for each session she translates. Instead, he put up a nice note on the splash page in English directing French-speaking readers to her translations, a good compromise.

I came down to the living room at 5:00 to rest and await Mick’s return, and found that it was good timing, as Gary was attempting, with little initial luck, to start the process of filling out the forms for getting an official Library of Congress copyright for all our books. Because the law says that original works are copyrighted if they have that notice in them when they are published, we have been lax about doing the paperwork in recent years. However, the intellectual-properties lawyer whom we consulted last week advised us to go through the rigmarole and get everything copyrighted by LC. I found the folder of all our copyrights so that Gary could see what we had already done, and advised him to seek help on line from an LC librarian.

I had a record seven inadvertent naps during the “working day”—a euphemism for me today!—and continued to sink into slumber any time I sat still for a while in the evening. I am definitely way under the weather! I tend, when well, to be very alert! Once I get this latest allopathic specialist’s new prescription for blood pressure medication and take it for a month or so, I will be able to move further into seeking alternative sources for diagnosis and treatment. Meanwhile I am grateful for all the absent healing from Reiki friends and for the prayer help as well.

Mick had an amazing day, getting all his mowing done through the raindrops, and we enjoyed a very quiet evening together! Romi visited and he offered the prayer at the close of the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-05-04

May 5, 2009 5:39am

After Morning Offering, Mick got a few sprinkles as he set out to mow his lawns for the day, but he persevered and got it all done anyway! He had a scare today when one of his customers called him in alarm, saying that the large amount of storm debris he had cut and stacked for her was not being picked up because it was not right on the road—Mick said that he could not put it on the road without blocking the road, because of the way her fence-line ran, so he got it as close as he could. The sanitation crew must have relented! When he got to her house, all the debris was gone and she was looking good!

I was under the weather today, with a sick stomach distracting me from creative work. This was one day I was glad when angel naps claimed me, which they did no less than six times! I decided to clear away e-mail instead of writing an article, and got a good bit done. By the end of the afternoon all letters from my two web guys were answered. It is good to get the concerns of last week put to rest at last. And I believe all has been done in an atmosphere of love and support. That is a triumph, since strong and varying opinions were involved!

I ended the afternoon by editing Channeling Circle 14, the next-to-last session from Channeling Intensive Four that is still out. A couple of our transcribers did not get their sessions done, so Gary sent them out again to others—Aaron T and Joan A—and now we are only waiting on one last session to have those archives completed. It’s a good thing! The next Channeling Intensive comes up in less than a month!

Mick and I had a lovely date, and shared abundant energy before napping in the afterglow. Each time is different, and tonight’s energy was airy and bubbly, like the waves in an ocean just before the big storm. It was a pure delight and we both thanked the Lord! After a late supper I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

Jim picked Gary up from the airport after that, and Gary reported on a sad adventure. There were strong storms in Dallas, so the airplane diverted to Lubbock, where Gary spent a lonely, non-Dave-Matthews-Band Saturday night before finally getting to Dallas the next morning. And Tiffani did not get to attend either because Gary was holding the tickets. However he enjoyed the visit and spent time with Tiff and Ryan and also with Julie, who came over to join them. Julie was just recently at Camelot for the “Getting Ready for 2012” Gathering. So he had a fine time, after all!

2009-05-03

May 4, 2009 5:58am

Our Sabbath was overcast and cool, with small rains remaining after a soaking rain of about two inches overnight. All the honeysuckle that grows wild in the hedgerows here is in sumptuous bloom and the world was sweet and glistening as Mick wheeled me up the ramp to St. Luke’s for pre-service choir practice.

We had a lovely service today, with great energy in the sermon and music from Josef Rheinberger (Regina Coeli) and Bairstow (The King of Love) to celebrate “Good Shepherd” Sunday—the name taken from the theme for the day, “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. I lay down my life for my sheep.” Meanwhile Mick had effected sacred offices at Camelot, rendering all the house bright and clean.

We lunched together and then read and napped before viewing The Wrestler, in which Mickey Rourke won the Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and Marisa Tomei won the nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Rourke is uniquely capable of filling this role authentically. His battered face reflects his real-life passion for fighting—he left the film industry in the nineties, condemning his life as an actor as a false one and working for years as a professional boxer. His authenticity in the role was outstanding. And unlike his earlier career, where he tended to mumble and vogue, his acting was understated, lucid and natural.

To say I enjoyed the film would be glib, for I had a complex reaction to the film. On the level of the passion play of human relationships, I was utterly absorbed and touched by Evan Rachel Woods’ and Rourke’s characters’ father-daughter struggle, and Marisa Tomei’s and Rourke’s characters’ love story. I also loved much of the sound track, especially Bruce Springsteens’s eponymous song, “The Wrestler.”

As a distanced critic I applauded the film’s extensive use of professional wrestlers, who helped the viewer see the back-stage aspect of wrestling—how the spectacles we see in the ring are choreographed.

And as a person I was horrified by the violence so casually spread abroad at such events. It was all too graphically real, and I hid behind the pages of a book I was reading during some of the more violent fight scenes, just as I would do if I had to watch wrestling on TV.

The rest of our day was quiet and pleasant, with Mick puttering and I playing solitaire and reading, enjoying the weekly dose of leisure time. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-05-02

May 3, 2009 6:36am

Saturday was a split day, with a rainy morning and a cool, dry and breezy afternoon and evening. After Morning Offering, Gary and I came upstairs and had our powwow, going through 12 agenda items. Some points had to do with the B4 site, some with policy, and others with a wide range of topics from tee shirts to copyrights. It was a good meeting, taking me right up to lunch time.

Meanwhile, Mick did his Saturday errands and cleaned the kitchen. We enjoyed a good lunchtime together before he took all the indoor house plants outside for the summer and then drove Gary to the airport. Gary is going to Texas to stay with Tiffani and see a Dave Matthews Band concert.

I took an angel nap in the afternoon, awakening just in time for the Live Chat on B4. We had a good conversation there about a wide range of topics, from my birthday to who Q’uo is.

Before we had our bath, I put on my Derby hat and joined Mick to watch the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby. Mine That Bird - an unlikely name for a thoroughbred - ran away with the race. It was Calvin Borel’s year. Yesterday, he was the jockey on Rachel Alexandra, who won the Kentucky Oaks by 20 lengths. Today, his Bird won by six-plus lengths. All the horses were lovely - but of course for me, it’s about the hats as much as the horses! I love to see the Derby fashions, especially the hats. The Derby is the last bastion of The Hat and I adore hats!

In the evening, Allen F and Romi joined Mick and me for our public meeting. After a good talk around the circle of seeking, we had a resounding silent meditation together. I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer at the end of the meditation.

2009-05-01

May 2, 2009 6:36am

Happy May! A very pretty month indeed! When I was a child, we got out of school for the summer in May. Even today, I love the month for that old reason! Mick’s birthday is the tenth of May and our wedding anniversary is May 30th. And to boot, the azaleas are now in full bloom and the first of the irises are in bud! I love May!

Unfortunately for Jim’s Lawn Service, however, it had rained overnight and was still drizzling as Mick and Gary went out after Morning Offering and mowed their last five lawns of the week. It is an incredible feat, getting every lawn mown and beautifully detailed with raindrops falling non-stop from Tuesday onward.

I was blissfully untroubled by any need to go outside today and so the rains felt cozy and sweet to me as I watched the grasses plump up and the new leaves shine with life through the windows of my bower office. It is in the front of the house on the second floor and its four big windows march across the entire front wall, so I can see a gorgeous panorama of blooming dogwood and redbud right now against a background of bigger trees just coming into leaf.

I sent a couple of e-mail reminders to Melissa on some chores that need doing from her end of things—the farm books for 2008 need completing and handing in to Pam, and the report of the plumbing repairs discovered when she brought in a plumber to Camelot for an evaluation needs writing up.

I then turned to editing a new transcript that has come in from Aaron, our most prolific transcriber. It is the session from the 28th of March, an interesting discussion from Q’uo of how to polarize more effectively towards service to others. It contains a question at the end that will be a resource for many, as it had to do with the use of drugs for spiritual enlightenment, a question we have fielded often through the years. The Q’uo group’s response was solid information.

I sent that off to Gary so he could, if possible, fill in the names—well, in the transcript, the initials—of the questioners at the end of the session. And I sent Ian a note letting him know that Gary and I had not yet met, and so I would have to hang fire on further correspondence on the matters Gary and I will cover at our meeting. Gary told me in the evening that he and I would meet on the morrow.

I spent the rest of the afternoon creating an agenda for that meeting with Gary. I combed through the recent correspondence with Ian and Steve E, our two webmasters, making sure that I got all discussion points listed. We will hopefully come out of this spate of discussions on content, arrangement and management of various details of B4 with a new set of protocols that everyone likes and that work well. We’ve stuttered a bit on those issues lately. It will be good to get things talked through to good solutions!

Talitha wrote in to tell me that our prayers are working! She is feeling much better! Praise the Lord!

Mick had rounded out his afternoon with a gardening job for a special client, our trust officer, Doris, whom we adore! She is such a good person, as well as a canny financial adviser. She has a patio home, at the present bursting at the seams with her family—she has two adoptive children—her sister’s grandchildren. Their mother has had a long and dismal history with substance abuse. And as well, she has taken in their grandmother, her sister, who is a semi-invalid. She is a courageous and loving woman to begin a family in her fifties! Mick made Doris’s patio shine with new annuals and some new ground covers and small bushes to replace plantings that have had their day in the sun and then failed.

Gary worked in the office all afternoon and evening, trying to get all caught up with high-priority chores at the L/L Research helm before he takes off for Texas, where he will see a Dave Matthews Band concert with Tiffani and visit with Julie as well. Both women were attendees at the recent Bob Reidel Memorial Gathering here at Camelot. He’s looking forward to seeing Tiff’s new house—he is staying in her guest cottage. Tiffani learned while she was here that she is carrying a child, something she and Ryan have wished to occur ever since their marriage last August. She is so thrilled, and we are so happy for her!

Mick and I bathed and then had a lovely date. The energy was magnificent tonight! We came downstairs to share a late supper with Gary. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

May, 2009

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May, 2009