June, 2009

June closed out with a picture-perfect day. After Morning Offering, Mick tackled a bear of a work-day, triumphing, eventually, with all lawns mowed and several chores done as well. He is working his way around trimming all the the hedges in a customer’s yard right now—he says she has the most he has ever seen on one property, so he is putting in about 90 minutes a day on that job until it is done.

I got my journal entries made and then set off with Dianne S for a haircut and facial at Images Salon. We had lunch together at The Limestone, which she gave me for my birthday present, and stopped on the way home to acquire the groceries to make quiche, since Camelot is the owner of eggs and cheese that are close to the end of their shelf life. The Avalon hens are busy, and the cheese is left over from our last Gathering. When Melissa put two dozen eggs on top of the to-go-to-compost container this morning, I knew we had to save them!

Melissa worked in the upstairs guest room today to set up a new computer station, which will certainly come in handy when both Pam and Gary are on the job, and another person wants computer access. She also cooked, making egg salad, devilled eggs—you see the theme here!—another pan of zucchini au gratin, artichoke-spinach dip and freezer-canned strawberry jam.

I worked in the afternoon on editing a Channeling Circle session which had come in from L/L Research’s faithful transcriber, Aaron T, getting it almost half done before Mick called bath time.

I also heard the good news from Ian that the re-printing project is now going forward for 101 and A Wanderer’s Handbook, and that The Alphabet Mosaics is now back up on lulu.com, ready for people to buy. Here’s a toast to glitches unraveled! We are not reinstating TAM in our on-line store until Ian has seen the proof and approved it. Hopefully that will come soon!

The image of Phineas T. Pinkham from Flying Aces Magazine is now in the mail to Ian, so he can move forward with completing Don Elkins’ booklet. I believe all is in order for the 25-year commemorative collection of our Light/Lines Newsletters as well. Both of those new books will be wonderful additions to our array of offerings for the seeker. Don’s writing is unique in its perspective and may well be crucially helpful for those seekers who approach life from a scientific viewpoint. And we always publish in our Light/Lines newsletters what Mick considers to be our best channeling, so a 25-year collection of that contains a whole lot of good channeling!

Mick and I spent a quiet evening with Romi and Gary, sharing supper, conversation of a particularly interesting kind to me since it was all about relationships, and the Gaia Meditation with them. Romi offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-29

June 30, 2009 8:10am

It was a gift of a day, far cooler and less humid than the last couple of weeks have been. And dry! Jim set out after Morning Offering and got all of today’s jobs done, plus two ahead for tomorrow, which will be a huge day. Then he spent another 90 minutes trimming hedges for a customer before coming home at last for a bath.

I had overslept and so spent the first part of my working day writing my journal entries and having chapel time. Then I focused on the cover art for Don Elkins’ booklet. Ian and I had agreed to use a cartoon of Phineas T. Pinkham, from Flying Aces Magazine, which was Don’s favorite magazine when he was a child, for the cover image. Pinkham was a fictional World War I pilot and Don enjoyed his stories so much that he often gave his name as Phineas T. Pinkham. I wrote the story of the image up for Ian and sent that off.

At lunch time I had a planning meeting with Melissa, working on Avalon issues. She has found a grant program for people wanting to dig wells in our county, and will apply on our behalf for a grant to dig a well on Avalon.

She has built a new shed for the riding mower which Dianne S is donating to L/L Research. It should be a real help to her on the farm, as there is lots to mow. Previously Melissa has had to make do with a DR brush mower, a walk-behind model with a narrow cut.

She brought the cost of the shed in at around $100.00 - $60.00 for the roof-piece and $40.00 for spikes. For the lumber, she has traded eggs for scrap wood at a couple of her haunts and plundered our Avalon ruins once again as well.

It has been a season of needed repairs, and thanks to more of Melissa’s traded eggs, she managed to fix a puzzling electrical problem in the farm truck for only $16.00 labor plus the cost of a new alternator! When you have old equipment, as we do, it’s patch, patch, patch! But she always finds a way to lessen the cost.

Melissa spent her afternoon cooking, preparing zucchini grown on Avalon, using my Zucchini Au Gratin recipe. We also got the groceries to make Spinach Artichoke Dip, which Mick and I will take to the party at our neighbors’ after the Anchorage Fourth of July parade comes through our little lane.

When I returned to my bower office I found that I needed to meet with Gary, for Ian had sent a multi-part letter trying to consolidate and solve all of his enigmas. And I did not have the answers! Gary and I spent the next hour or so combing through his requests while I slowly built an eight-part response covering all the bases! It was time well-spent, as these were all issues we needed to resolve, having to do with one or another of the books we have in process.

Ian also asked what my plans were for the e-version of Dana’s The Alphabet Mosaics, and I finished my work day by describing to him just what I had in mind. He will give me what he feels is the best version of the printed book for me to use in creating the e-book.

After Mick and I had a relaxing bath and invited the angels to heal the weariness of the day while we lay in the water, we came upstairs for a date and made sweet love together. In the afterglow, Mick said we were storage and delivery systems for love and light—a just observation, I thought.

We came down for the Gaia Meditation, at which I offered the closing prayer, and then enjoyed a late supper and conversation with Gary and Melissa before bedtime.

2009-06-28

June 29, 2009 9:38am

It was our fourth summer Sunday, and a lovely one at that. I spent my morning at church, practicing and then singing the service. It was a tough Sunday for me as far as dealing with discomfort, as back spasms wracked me for most of the time at St. Luke’s, and the pews are unforgiving, but it is worth it to be able to be a part of the music and to take part in the service. We sang Cesar Franck’s “Domine, Non Secundum Peccata Nostra” for the offertory and “Wrap Me in Thy Spirit’s Tether” at the communion.

Mick cleaned the house and then picked me up. We shared lunch and a nice nap before watching The International, an action movie starring Clive Owen as an Interpol agent on the track of an international bank which is in the very shady business of selling cheap and outdated Chinese missiles to revolutionaries, knowing that the countermeasures for those missiles are already in the established governments’ hands. It is realistic in that Owens’s character fails to break the bank and barely escapes with his life. Surrounded by a great ensemble, notably including Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ulrich Thomsen and Luca Barbareschi, Owen delivers an excellent performance. Notable also is the post-modern musical score, a work of tone clusters and rhythmic drumming.

I thoroughly enjoyed the action, set as it was against a backdrop of surely some of the most impressive modern buildings in Europe. The action moved from Italy to Germany to France to New York, sometimes with a speed that bewildered me, since I could not read the sub-titles explaining location. The titles were in a font very hard to read and small as well, so that often even Mick, with his relatively good vision, could not make them out. It was a small but damaging detail.

The core of the piece was a phrase repeated by Owens’s character several times, “I’m confused.” Each character was confused about some facet of the bank’s plan and each was betrayed by someone he thought was an ally. Meanwhile, the bank and its shady dealings were triumphant. The nameless menace of international banking reigned supreme

During our late-afternoon break I caught up with the needs of Ian as he patiently moves towards completion on the re-printing project and the printing of Elkins’ booklet and the 25-year collection of our L/L Research Light/Lines newsletters.

During and after Mick’s and my supper we watched that great old comedy, The Philadelphia Story, starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and James Stewart. It is a silly story, much contrived of plot and dated by its snappy dialogue and utter lack of deeper meaning, but it is delightful for all of that! It is to be forgiven the lack of depth, since the world was at war and the Battle of Britain was at its height as the film came out. People needed a lift. And they got a lovely one in this film.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-27

June 28, 2009 6:34am

Ironically, when Mick does not have to mow, we finally get a completely dry day! After Morning Offering, Mick went into Saturday mode, cleaning the kitchen and then doing errands in the stifling, humid heat. I came upstairs and after falling asleep repeatedly at the office computer, decided to let myself sleep for a change. So I lay down on my bed and snoozed until lunch.

After lunch, Mick worked with the plantings in our yard, filling three large garbage bags with weeds. Then he drove to Dianne S’s home in Bedford to pick up the mower she is donating to L/L Research. However the mower would not start, so Mick came home empty handed. The mower is too large a machine to heft by hand, being a riding mower. Melissa promised to see to its readiness before his next effort. She had no idea the battery was down, since the mower was packed into a garage full of surrounding clutter.

Meanwhile, I repeated this morning’s actions, and slept like a baby all afternoon, until 6:00 p.m. Nothing got done in my office today! However Gary was at the L/L Research Inbox and put in a good day. One thing he did was to go through all of the recent conversation between Ian and me and list all the details with which he needed to work, and then systematically knock those out. We are dealing with five books right now, reprinting 101 and A Wanderer’s Handbook and printing for the first time Don Elkins’ booklet and the 25-year collection of Light/Lines. As well, we’re repairing the glitch in The Alphabet Mosaics and offering that for sale.

I optimistically think the reprinting is in hand now. And TAM should also be done, from this end, although Ian still has some hoops to navigate with lulu.com, the printer. But for the other two books there is the cover art to consider, plus the ISBN numbers to update and then the barcodes to obtain, all of which is Gary’s to do. So he was busy!

Ian sent word that the new summer issue of Light/Lines was posted, so Gary sent that out today to our ‘send’ list of subscribers.

I did feel somewhat the better for all the napping, although I believe I could do it all over again—and I may indeed do a reprise of that long afternoon nap tomorrow, as it is the Sabbath, our day of rest. Hopefully all the weekend sleep will make me feel much perkier come Monday!

Mick and I enjoyed two old movies on TV last night. We watched Notorious, fascinated by Ingrid Bergman’s timeless beauty and especially her ability to express volumes with her eyes and expression. It remains a very stylish film, the suspense maintained throughout, to an accompaniment of swelling violins. And Cary Grant’s impeccable style creates a good foil for Bergman as he battles the Nazis after World War II against the backdrop of Rio’s sweeping harbor.

Then we watched Prime, a romantic comedy starring Uma Thurman as a 37-year-old woman in love with her therapist’s 23-year-old son. The therapist is played with delicious frumpiness by Meryl Streep, and Bryan Greenberg is the young artist with whom Uma is in love. It was pure fun and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Gary joined us for the Gaia Meditation and I offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-06-26

June 27, 2009 6:16am

Thunder startled me out of sleep at 4:00 a.m. and when I awakened at 6:30, it was still raining. Mick had asked me to wake him up at 7:00, which I did, but he said there was no use in getting up until the rain finished, so at least I got my journal entries made and had my chapel time before Morning Offering, which felt good for a change. My body seems to like to sleep more than it used to, and I have been tardy in getting those entries made lately.

I got back to my UPI-article writing after Morning Offering, while Mick went on errands, taking a tire to be fixed and picking up repaired lawn service tools. At about 11:00 Mick declared the grass dry enough to cut, and off he went, along with Gary, having lost the first precious three hours of his working day. But the dynamic duo got every lawn mowed and detailed by dusk! Another week successfully concluded for Jim’s Lawn Service!

I finished and posted my UPI article on Michaelle Small Wright in the afternoon, then turned to the e-mail Inbox.

- Ian and I wrote back and forth making a final decision on the matter of ISBN numbers for our books. We decided to keep the old ten-digit numbers for already-published books—which means we reprint 101 and AWH unchanged—and to create the new thirteen-digit numbers for hitherto unpublished books—which means we wait to print Don Elkins’ little booklet and the Light/Lines newsletter 25-year retrospective volume until we create the new ISBN numbers and get lulu to send us new barcodes.

- Cleaned up some beautiful forwards of photos of scenes and cute animals to send to those who send me the same.

- Wrote to Gerri G just to say hey, as she swam into my mind this morning and kept smiling at me!

- Thanked our neighbor for a party invitation on the 4th of July and let her know I’d poll the household and RSVP as soon as I could

I had the nicest call from Barbara S of the private banking group at National City. Rita C is usually our teller there, but Barbara got wind of my persistent and unsuccessful attempts to get L/L Research’s account on-line for Pam M, our bookkeeper. I have been trying to do so since March but after three trips to the bank and multiple telephone calls, I still have had no joy.

We talked about through what hoops I still needed to maneuver and she filled out all manner of paperwork for me over the telephone, then faxed me the final forms needed so I could affix my signature and send them back to her. Hopefully, this will do it, and within a couple of days, we will finally have access!

Mick and I had a lovely bath and then a delightful date, resting together in the afterglow for a while before coming downstairs for a late dinner and the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer.

2009-06-25

June 26, 2009 5:59am

After a short and early Morning Offering, Mick set out on his mowing rounds, determined to accomplish all his jobs for today, plus tackle some emergency needs from customers, especially a limb of the St. Luke’s campus which had dropped but then gotten caught on other limbs halfway down and was dangling dangerously. It was hanging fairly high up, but in the end Mick was able to nab it and bring it down safely. He was thrilled to be ending the day all caught up and ahead on the ever-evolving list of extra chores which are an increasingly large part of his work load.

I had overslept again, and so needed most of the morning work time to catch up on my journal entries and to have my chapel time.

But before I did that, I began my work day by talking by telephone with Dr. Lang, an osteopath and nutritionist recommended to me by Allen F., a regular at our public meditation and study meetings. He suggested last spring that I call her, but I was engaged until recently in following through with a total of five specialists whom my GP wanted me to see. As soon as the last specialist said, “You’re cleared,” I called her. She will send me some “foods”—she distinguishes her products from medicines or herbals - to get me started on a new health offensive.

I spent the remainder of my work day working on a UPI Difference-Maker article about Perelandra and Michaelle Small Wright. I now have over half of the article written, and will conclude the writing tomorrow. It is a joy to work with these ideas!

Gary asked for help in battling the blue jays which are stealing Dan D. Lion’s food off the front porch. I sent away to Gempler’s for a fake owl. The owl arrived. However, in its first day on the job, the very realistic-looking owl did not seem to intimidate them. Back to the drawing board!

I corresponded further with Stella V, who has agreed to consider writing a workbook for 101! Gary sent her a copy of the book so she could contemplate how to go about that. I am thrilled that we may have a workbook soon to companion 101 and to make it a better teaching vehicle.

Pam was at her post today, and finished all the revisions to L/L Research’ 2008 books which Linda D, our tax accountant, had requested. First, she and Melissa created a completely transparent and detailed set of Avalon Farm books. They show the same totals as before, of course, as we were always telling the exact truth. But now they show details and contain all the accounts needed to fill out Schedule F, the farm reporting schedule. And there were also alterations in how we report Accounts Receivable, needed to avoid inaccuracies in reporting income from book sales.

It was a tedious business to fix things, but what a relief now to have everything the way Linda wants it! And hopefully, in future years, everything will automatically be in order, with these new procedures in place. We sent off a new accountant’s copy to Compton Kottke in the afternoon amid general rejoicing!

Gary did me the great favor of getting together the ingredients in the vitamin capsule I take daily and the liquid minerals as well, and faxed those details to Dr. Lang. She wanted to see what was in the supplements I take.

Gary joined Mick and me for a late supper and conversation, and Gary offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation. Then Mick and I watched an interesting film, The Game, which we had not seen when it came out in 1997. Its clever plot twists and turns from one spooky moment to another, and the eerie sound track wih its wandering piano melodies, composed by Howard Shore, adds to the atmosphere.

It is the longest-running, most diabolical practical joke one could ever imagine, and Michael Douglas does a great job of being beleaguered and demoralized by it. Deborah Kara Unger is an intriguing foil to Douglas’s frenzied attempts to extricate himself from the joke, and Sean Penn appears briefly as Douglas’s brother. We enjoyed the film.

2009-06-24

June 25, 2009 7:25am

After Morning Offering Mick armed himself with copious amounts of liquid and went out into the summer’s heat to mow, coming home at eventide well satisfied with his day.

I had an angel nap in the morning, as well as taking the time to write my journals and have tabernacle time, always a most empowering time as the “still small voice” refreshes me. After lunch I had a manicure, three fingers still needing rescue from ingrown nails, and my fingers felt much better for it. My nail enamel this week is silver with silver sparkles.

I began collecting the quotes I will use for my UPI article on Perelandra, but did not finish, so I will take that up tomorrow.

Around the edges, I wrote Gary concerning how to respond to a seeker who is thinking about channeling and wrote Stella V in the Netherlands concerning her offer to work on a workbook for 101: The Choice, a project very dear to my heart. And I wrote to thank Romi for sending some material which Don N at BBS Radio requested to him. I heard back from Connie M and we will meet for lunch next week, when I see Dr. Johnson. And I sent some forwarded jokes and cute photos on to those who trade such items with me, after cleaning them up.

Mick and I bathed and then enjoyed a quiet evening. Gary was gone tonight, so we supped alone and watched Catwoman, a superhero vehicle for Halle Berry. Frances Conroy was a deliciously twitchy Catlady and Sharon Stone did a nice turn as Laurel, sometime ally. I loved the color sense of the film and reveled in Halle Berry’s grace in her role as she cavorted sinuously. It was true to its comic book origins, simplistic and tons of fun.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-23

June 24, 2009 10:16am

After Morning Offering, Mick went out into a steambath of a day, with heat indices over 100 F, and did his mowing and chores for the day. He cuts the heat with lots of Fierce, a drink designed to replace electrolytes, plus a gallon jug of water which he freezes overnight. He places it on the driveway of the homes for which he is mowing, right by his truck. It melts in the sun and heat all day, affording him a continuing supply of ice water.

In this kind of heat he brings two of these jugs. He also munches on apples and bananas when he feels weary, which gives him natural fruit sugar and potassium. Mick came home very pleased with his day, caught up once again.

I overslept, which is getting to be a habit with me, and I marvel at it. It is the only time in my life that I have slept past 5:30 on a regular basis. So I spent most of my morning writing my journal entries and having chapel time. I also took a look at a bunch of super-serious forwards from Rho, Elihu and Daphne, who are all oriented towards politics and economics. The articles they sent tend towards paranoia and fear.

I understand the paranoia. The world is full of people using people and groups of people conspiring to use other groups of people. That’s what the service-to-self polarity consists in. The situation is bound to occur near graduation time in The Density of Choice. I do not believe this can be fixed by direct attack. And most of us live our lives below the radar of their machinations anyway.

I can understand the fear also. We are using too much stuff and the rest of the world is using too little. Instead of tucking ourselves and our too-much-stuff into gated communities, it seems to me that our best bet as a race is to attempt to trim our life styles so that we are using less money to live and giving more money to the disenfranchised of our human race.

That is easier said than done. But the principle is true. We are going in that direction in this household and on Avalon Farm, and in a few years we should be eating much more of our own, farm-grown food. Hopefully by then we will have a new Avalon well dug, and have improved our solar array there. Getting off the grid as much as one can is a good idea. If we all put our minds to it, what wonders could we create? How many could we feed, shelter and educate?

After lunch I met with Gary and we crunched our way through the contract for a Taiwanese publisher to translate and print 101. There is nothing like legalese to cross one’s eyes and befuddle one’s mind. However we persevered and sent the result off to Terry H in Taipei.

I tried to get interested in collecting information to use in a UPI Difference-Maker article on Amy Goodman. I esteem and honor her and get all my news from her show, Democracy Now, which I trust to offer straight, fair information with lots of discussion on both sides of any issue. But it did not feel right to write the article. So I stopped working and gave myself some nap time.

In the evening, I found out why the UPI article on Amy Goodman felt wrong. In the L/L Research Inbox were two e-mails from people who had read my article on Natural Farming, which I posted last week. One of the letters contained a question on Perelandra. That is the article I am supposed to write next!

I snagged our Library’s copy of Behaving as if the God in All Life Mattered: A New Ecology, by Michaelle Small Wright, and brought it to my office, along with the two letters, to work with tomorrow. What a blessing to have that fascinating information to share! Thank you, Julie U and Kathleen N!

I much prefer writing in response to people’s questions when I do these articles. The energy that floats my boat is not the kind of energy that has an axe to grind, in and of itself, since The Law of One is universal. I can start anywhere and end up with the LOO and its basic principles of love, free will, unity and polarity. So while I have a whole universe of possibilities in terms of subjects on which to write, I have no angle that makes me choose one over another. Consequently, questions from readers are a great boon.

Mick and I bathed and spent a quiet evening, sharing a late supper and conversation with Romi, who visited tonight, and Gary. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

We said goodnight to Ro and Gary shortly afterwards and came upstairs to watch The Mexican, a very funny “road film” starring Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. What a delightful comedy! The two pair wonderfully and have a real knack for timing and body language which made the film hum along, with generous supplies of chortles all the way. James Gandolfini was superb as Julia’s sidekick, a gay assassin in love. I am always charmed when Pitt acts dumb, something at which he excels. Most people who possess his physical beauty are too vain to look silly on purpose, but he loves to do just that and he does it well.

I heartily recommend this unassuming film, which shines in production values and has an especially catchy soundtrack.

2009-06-22

June 23, 2009 9:13am

In a way it was sad for me to see the sun come up today, since from now until the winter solstice, it shall be retreating from us a little bit each day. The season of beginnings is at an end. Now we welcome the heat of deep summer in sultry Kentucky. So be it!

After Morning Offering Mick hurried off to mow and got one big job done before the heavens opened. It poured rain until lunchtime, an interruption which did not sit well with him. He went on needed errands and had lunch and finally outwaited the weather. And he was off again until nearly dusk, back on schedule by the end of the day.

I dedicated this day to paperwork as it had again stacked up and needed the doing. “Niggle, niggle, niggle,” says the red tape! I made appointments with Dr. Lang, a nutritionist, and Dr. Johnson, an osteopath with many alternative healing modes in his arsenal, and will begin a new generation of wellness seeking, hopefully using their alternative healing methods to lessen the symptoms that currently are limiting me so severely. Allopathic techniques have now failed me completely.

Melissa did an assessment of Camelot’s electrical system and gave us a report on it which indicated that we needed to repair three outlets, so I called New Circle Mechanical, which has been our electrical repair company for the last few years, and miraculously they were able to send someone today! So our wiring is once again certified to be OK!

I went up to the bank in order to straighten out the glitch that has us unable to access one of our accounts on-line. After a half-hour there, I was told that all was well. However when I returned home, and Gary and I tried that theory out, it did not hold water. I called the on-line help number for National City Bank and found that according to their notes, I would have to begin the application process all over, from the beginning. Gary will go back to the bank for me tomorrow and get new forms for us to fill out. I found myself muttering about incompetent tellers and gritting my teeth at my wasted journey and worked on relaxing and enjoying!

To sweeten my temper I collected a recipe for spinach creamed with mushrooms and cheddar and gruyere cheeses, which looks so good that I will suggest making it for Homecoming 2009’s welcoming dinner. And I also found a good recipe for devilling eggs, using a kind of pickle I have not seen before, Pop’s Pepper Patch Habargardill pickles. Clearly, we shall have to get some of those and try them out! We have farm eggs which make superior egg salad.

I wrote a note to Tiffani, letting her know that we were thinking of her and the baby on board and wishing them both well. And I wrote Connie M, letting her know when I was going to see Dr. Johnson and asking if she’d like to get together for lunch on that day—Connie works right down the street from Johnson’s offices. Mishlin and Lana L-B and I also exchanged loving notes.

Melissa asked me to write a “letter to the editor” on her behalf and I did that, and sent the finished letter to her for her approval.

I also got my lab work for the month out of the way at LabCorp, and filled out the accompanying sheet of monthly questions and faxed it to Dr. June, my rheumatologist. She watches my liver function because of the prescriptions she has me taking for rheumatoid arthritis.

As I rebooted my computer for the night, I realized how much lighter I felt with all these little details accomplished. I can turn back to L/L Research work now with a clear conscience!

Mick and I finished our day’s work in perfect synch, and shared our bath and then a date. Whee! Near 9:00 p.m., we came downstairs and joined Gary for a late supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which Gary offered the closing prayer.

2009-06-21

June 22, 2009 6:08am

The Sabbath was warm and muggy. It had rained overnight and I was glad to see that the nandina bushes along the ramp at church had come into bloom as Mick wheeled me in for pre-service choir practice.

It was a good service, the preaching being about unity, a subject dear to my heart. We sang “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind”, a poem by John G. Whittier harmonized by H. Parry. I love those words!

“Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways.
Restore us to our rightful mind!
In purer lives, our service find;
In deeper reverence, praise.”

For the communion music Lisa chose an old favorite, W. Byrd’s “Ave Verum Corpus”, so we had superb music today.

After lunch and a nap for Mick—I was unusually wakeful and spent my time reading and working a puzzle—we viewed an exquisite gem of a film, Elegy. I was prepared not to like if, as it covers ground trampled into mud long ago—the plight of an older roué who prizes his independence but falls in love at last with an inappropriately young and beautiful girl. Ben Kingsley is distinguished by a long and much acclaimed career which began in 1972. In 1982 he won the Best Actor Oscar for his eponymous role in Gandhi. Penelope Cruz is relatively new to the scene and her career is young, having begun in the mid-nineties, but she, too, is acclaimed for roles such as Volver, for which she won the Best Actress award from the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Best-Actress Oscar.

I think the two powerhouse actors were drawn to the tired story of autumn-spring romance by the Nicholas Meyer screenplay adaptation of Philip Roth’s The Dying Animal. It was pitch-perfect throughout. And the direction, by Isabel Coixet, was simply superb. There were no superfluous scenes. There was no excess. In the midst of a visually lush production and backed by a sumptuous sound track of classical and romantic piano music, there was the feeling of spareness and minimalism. It takes enormous discipline to bring such an offering to the screen, and I thank the ensemble from my heart! This film was a real pleasure to see.

During our break I finished reading Papa’s recent letters to me and wrote him a letter of thanks in return. He sent me twelve recordings of news stories from Pacifica Public Radio in California which he wants me to hear, for my upcoming birthday, plus an intriguing book by Elijah Wald, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock and Roll. Papa has been my teacher for the last ten years or so, being very smart about politics and encyclopedic as a historian. I shall send him a CD of my journals, channeling and writing since the last time I wrote him, which was for his birthday last January, to accompany my letter.

Mick and I had a late supper and offered the Gaia Meditation, at which I prayed at the end, and then enjoyed seeing Kurt Russell tear up his role of a morally ambiguous policeman in Dark Blue, a 2002 film about the LAPD’s Special Crimes Unit that made it to TV tonight. The question it raises is as hard to answer as it is ancient: when a man is utterly corrupt and has walked away without punishment from any number of heinous crimes, is it wrong to kill him in the line of duty for something he has, in fact, not done yet, though intending to do so? Russell has a terrific screen presence and the capacity to rivet attention with very simple, straightforward and emotionally accessible acting. He was good in this film.

2009-06-20

June 21, 2009 5:35am

After Morning Offering, I spent my working day editing Lana L-B’s Chapter 8 of her book-to-be, True to America. She is working at offering a book about how to keep our country on track with the Constitution of the United States, a document that has recently undergone some serious shredding by national policy makers. It is a good effort by my old friend and I am glad to be her “editor from Hell”!

Around the edges I caught up my personal e-mail and continued a brisk correspondence with Gary and Ian on reprinting policy, Bowker ISBN numbers and allied issues.

Mick was all over the place today, doing mower maintenance, tidying up his customers’ storm debris in our wild area prior to further disposing of it, cleaning the kitchen, doing two rounds of errands and driving over to Shelbyville in the afternoon to mow Steve F’s three acres of lawn. Mick has been taking care of Steve’s place until it sells for over a year now, in exchange for the big Scag mower he donated to L/L Research, which JLS is renting-to-buy from L/L. After just two more cuttings, the amount of Steve’s donation in kind will have been balanced by Mick’s lawn work, and he will be able to begin charging Steve for his mowing.

Poor Steve! In this flat housing market, he has had no luck selling his beautiful mansion. And he is long gone from this area, living in spiritual community out west.

Gary was at the L/L Research helm today. He brought me several heartwarming letters that had come in, thanking me for 101, thanking L/L Research for The Law of One or offering to volunteer to help. I was especially touched by Margaret of The Netherlands, who offered to translate TLOO into Dutch. We said, “Yes!”

In the evening Mick and I bathed and then came upstairs to have a date, sharing fine, bright energy with each other and the Creator. Gary joined us for a late supper and the Gaia Meditation and offered the closing prayer.

2009-06-19

June 20, 2009 6:58am

It was a punishing day, with heat indices over 100 F and high humidity. After an early and abbreviated Morning Offering, Mick and Gary went out into the heat and twelve and a half hours later, came home weary but triumphant, having carried several more trailer-loads of storm debris away from twelve customers’ lawns—making up four jobs from Thursday, plus all of today’s people - and then having mowed and detailed them. Some people in the area are still out of power from this latest storm, and you can see lots of debris still around—but not on the lawns of JLS customers!

I came up to my office after Morning Offering, missing the moaning of the rain crows, as people around here call the doves. Their mournful, poignant cries have been a constant and agreeable accompaniment to my life in the wet weather we’ve been having. I continued researching Meishu-sama Okada and, after lunch, wrote the Difference Maker article on him and Susumu Hashimoto, and Natural Farming. It gave me a chance to talk about Avalon Farm, L/L Research’s wilderness farm which is patiently being groomed to be a bio-dynamic farm by our faithful caretaker. It was fun to weave all the pieces together.

A transcript recorded on February 28, 2009, had come in from Dan E, and I edited that as the shadows lengthened, wishing to keep working in solidarity with Mick and Gary. It was a different kind of session, all about the terms used in the Ra contact, such as mind/body/spirit, love/light, light/love, space/time and time/space. I sent that on to Ian before quitting for the day.

Rho M sent a very sweet video on blessings and God’s love, which I forwarded to several people. Some messages never grow stale.

There was a good bit of to-and-fro with Gary and Ian on the reprinting concerns. I think we are growing ever closer to closure on that.

Ian’s reading on the ISBN number issue—they’ve switched to 13-digit ISBN numbers and our sheet of available numbers is the old 10-digit format—is to convert the numbers for new publications, and keep the old numbers for the already-published books.

At the end of a very long day I treated myself to a browse through the menus of our local eateries. I found a very nice-looking five-course tasting menu, with matching wines, at Limestone Restaurant, and forwarded the whole menu to Mick for his consideration and possible approval as the site for my birthday dinner this year. It sounds delicious. I love the adventure of new tastes! And the portions in a tasting-menu meal are always small, so you have the delightful variety of tastes but not the overstuffed blues at the end. My birthday comes up on July 16th, a natal date I share with Red Skelton and Mary Baker Eddy, which I have always thought fitting. I am a natural priestess who loves to laugh! I will be 66!

Mick, Gary and I ate together, having ordered take-away from Ruby Tuesday, and Mick offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation. Then Mick and I came upstairs for a late date and made sweet love together before saying our last prayers and wishing each other happy dreams.

2009-06-18

June 19, 2009 5:48am

It rained overnight, and when I awakened—barely in time to make it downstairs by our 7:00 rendezvous for a morning snuggle—I found Mick already buzzing around, doing morning chores. The reason was that a monster storm was coming our way by mid-morning. After an early and brief Morning Offering, Mick was off and mowing. He finished mowing the largest lawn of the day just as the storm hit. Hurricane-force winds pushed a tree down across our street, which unfortunately landed on our neighbor’s car and knocked out the back window as well as inflicting other damage on the vehicle. As soon as they had taken photos of the damage, Mick cut away the tree from their car.

This same neighbor had a tough day! Their generator did not come on when the power went out. When they called the serviceman, Kyle, they found that Kyle had a tree down across his driveway from this same storm and therefore could not immediately come to their aid! They were due for an out-of-town visit with their kids and grandkids anyway, and decided to leave things as they were and make that trip and hopefully, by the time they return tomorrow, either the generator will be fixed or the power will be back on.

Ironically, the one customer Mick had managed to cut called him right back with a report of multiple branches down there. So he went back out in the wet to clear their storm debris. Then he made the rounds of his customers, looking for debris, and filled his trailer by the end of the day with the downed limbs. So Mick is behind on his mowing, but at least when he and Gary go to mow tomorrow, they will not have to stop and clear the yards.

This was the day for trees coming down. In the afternoon, a tree service hired by our village took down one of our largest, oldest trees, which the tree committee had diagnosed as having heart-rot.

I continued to research Susumu Hashimoto and found that he is a student of Mokichi Okada. So I turned to researching this gentleman, the father of “natural farming”. His vision is a lovely one. I’ll continue this research tomorrow. It should make for a good article on these Difference-Makers of a different stripe.

I was touched to receive letters from Mishlin and Tom C concerning the dream about which I wrote in yesterday’s journal entry. They offered very inspiring thoughts about the dream’s interpretation. I wrote to assure both of them that every fibre of my being wishes to stay right here on this Earth-plane, and do the work I feel called to do.

I had asked Gary to check into a reader’s suggestion that our ISBN numbers are out of date, and he responded that the reader was right! It is apparently an easy matter to change our ten-digit numbers to the new 13-digit length, and we will do that for the two dozen or so numbers which Bowker has assigned us, which we have not yet used. A question remains about the numbers already used in our books. Since we are in the middle of reprinting two of them, should we change those numbers in those books? I sent Ian an inquiry on that, asking for his opinion.

Gary wrote asking about our re-order of A Wanderer’s Handbook, since we would save over $400.00 by ordering 250 instead of 100 copies. I responded, suggesting that the extra thousand dollars which the change in the order would cost is not money I see lying around L/L Research’s bank account. And I want to order the smaller amount because I really, really want to be able to pay our fees for admin, bookkeeper and Avalon caretaker, not just this month but four and five months from now.

Gary feels that we are doing better financially than ever before, breaking even each month or even going in the black. I asked him please to get with Pam, our bookkeeper, and show me some figures. If he is accurate, this is terrific news. We have never before had an income stream, through donations and sales, that floated our boat, and have always limped along from month to month and from hand to mouth, writing special friends of L/L and asking for help when it was needed. I would love for this to be true!

I had a 4:00 appointment with the nephrologist, who proclaimed my blood pressure satisfactory now. So finally I am through with seeing allopathic specialists—there were five in all that my hard-working GP called in, trying to help me feel better - and I can make appointments with a nutritionist and an osteopath and start a new health initiative. Both of these people are excellent alternative healers and I look forward to hearing what they may have to say.

Mick and I enjoyed a quiet evening, chuckling over Steve Colbert and taking in some junk TV, and shared supper and conversation with Gary. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-17

June 18, 2009 8:50am

The day was dry, for a change, except for showers overnight, and after Morning Offering, Mick made the most of it, coming home all caught up and with some additional chores done for customers as well.

I had a low-energy day, napping inadvertently in the morning. Mick’s glasses needed repair, so at lunchtime Melissa and I took off for Gaddie’s Vision Center and got that taken care of. Gaddie’s does such a good job! They replaced the broken nose-guard, tightened up every screw and gave the glasses back to me looking brand-new, and all for free. They are a local group, and we like supporting local people when we can find them.

Melissa and I also stopped at a consignment shop in Middletown and found a delicious summer dress marked down to a good price, but with the waist elastic ruined. When we pointed that out to the owner, she reduced the price again by half, and my shopping gene stood up and cheered. It’s a lovely, drifty dress in lime green, the color of my new shoes, which makes it even better! Melissa dropped me off at the manicurist’s shop and did the rest of her chores while I got my ingrown fingernails trimmed up and had them painted—what else—lime green!

I got a nice note back from my Anthem Medicare Supplemental insurance people, whom I had written concerning their dispute with Norton Health Care. They assured me that they were trying hard to come to an agreement with them. It seems to be about corporate greed. Anthem wants to maintain payments which run 27% behind what Norton gets from other insurers for claims. Anthem says that Norton is simply greedy. It takes one to know one, as they say! Government insurance, which Obama is attempting to bring into play, would eliminate this aspect.

When I lived in Canada, the insurance was nationalized, and if you were ill or hurt, your social security card gave you the right to be taken care of. Period. And I cannot believe that that country is wealthier than the USA. Our medical insurance situation here in America is a scandal. If more citizens realized clearly just how deeply the insurance industry is bilking us, surely they—we—would rise up and vote in nationalized medical insurance.

Gary shared with me some kind words from readers about 101: The Choice, which had come into the L/L Research Inbox. It really made my day!

I got a note from Pupak H-B, a woman of Iranian-Japanese descent who was my student in the nineties and is my beloved friend forever. Her concern, of course, was for Iran in this time of exacerbated turmoil there. She says,

“For many people of my generation the scenes on the streets are reminiscent of the revolution day. In some rallies I hear the same chants and protest slogans that I heard 30 years ago. And in many ways the social upsurge we are witnessing is, or could be, significantly different.

“Today my cousin sent me a message from Tehran, bearing the words, “a million people walking in silence.” My fervent prayer, and that of millions of others I am sure, is for a non-violent social transformation. This is the moment of the blossoming of our social Buddha-field, a time of spiritual awakening, an opening of the heart, en masse. It is a critical moment.

“Please join me in my prayers and intense desire to see peaceful transformation in the social structure of Iran, and an opening to the social and spiritual renaissance that most of us are waiting for. Let us weave our waves of love and ask for prevention of violence and an everlasting transformation to restore the freedom, respect and dignity of being human in Iran.”

I cannot think of a better prayer than “a million people walking in silence” for social transformation. Please join Pupie and L/L Research in praying for peace. We have begun including Pupie’s prayer concern in our Gaia Meditations nightly.

I sent on to Gary and Mick our little village’s notice that they would begin today to remove trees which they have marked as dangerous from the roadway’s edge on our street. One of our largest old maples is so marked. It is right by our driveway. I expect we will hear the racket of saws and chipper-shredders tomorrow. The concern for us is not the noise but having access to our own driveway.

I let Ian know that Gary has fulfilled his part of our new re-ordering protocol and has shipped to blitzprint.com copies of 101 and A Wanderer’s Handbook as authority copies for the cover art on the reprints.

I spent the rest of my afternoon browsing through my folder of candidates for Difference Maker articles, listening for resonance, and found Susumu Hashimoto, an inspiring Japanese farmer. Tomorrow I will begin doing research for an article on him.

Melissa, Gary and I had a conference before she left at bath time and agreed on a new policy regarding visits to Avalon. We will no longer offer official visits to our Gathering attendees. We have been plagued with trouble every time we try to go there as a group, despite our best efforts, and we decided it is better to leave Avalon Farm, which is just beginning to be developed, to its wilderness solitude and Melissa’s constant, skillful and loving ministrations until such time as she feels it is ‘ready for prime time.”

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-16

June 17, 2009 5:56am

This late spring has been wetter than any I can recall, which is good for growing things and therefore for Jim’s Lawn Service! But it makes Mick’s work challenging on days like this—a band of rain stormed through around noon, and then again in late afternoon strong winds and heavy rains pounded down. Nevertheless, Mick got all his lawns for the day mown!

After Morning Offering I spent a bit of time just enjoying our yard before coming up to work, as the elderberry trees are in glorious bloom, and the oak-leaf hydrangeas are too, making the yard a paradise of white, clustered blooms set off by the many hues of the day lilies, which are opening now all over Camelot. Along Little Locust Creek, the wet-weather spring which flows through our yard, the old stand of tiger lilies marches now in full array, while one-of-a-kind lilies from our local breeder are budding out around our trees and among our plantings. As the irises retire, dozens of lilies are stepping forward for their time in the sun. The breeder experiments with new hybrids, and sells lucky us the “failures”, which do not seem at all like failures to us!

Gary sent me some suggestions for amending the current issue of Light/Lines and I got the new version of it together and sent it on to Ian. He’s out of town, but will post it when he returns next week.

I asked Gary to send a copy of the two books we are having reprinted, 101 and A Wanderer’s Handbook, to blitzprint for them to use as authority copies in reprinting the cover art for the two books.

And I brought him up to date on Ian’s and my conversation about having banner headlines for events and other announcements on the archive site, with a link to the full information on B4. That is where we are headed, as soon as the webmaster for B4, Steve E, finishes creating for Gary the capability of working with the content on B4. The transition state has been a bit confused!

Ian would prefer that we have no announcements on llr.org at all, just a permanent link to B4 news. However my sense is that there are plenty of people who never go to B4, don’t want to chat or use the forums and just want to search our archives. So I feel we need those headline announcements on llr.

I wrote Morris, L/L Research’s Vice-President, concerning the proposed new offer to Schiffer to buy back our printing rights to The Law of One, giving him more details of the effort and promising an update in a couple of weeks. I also addressed his question concerning selling TLOO through Amazon, if we do get the rights back, suggesting that it is a non-issue until such time as we succeed in recovering our printing rights.

Steve M wrote telling me about his current project and how he will report on it at Homecoming 2009. I was fascinated! He will talk about economics and politics using the model of “all is one”.

Daphne K wrote asking for advice, but did not elaborate so I wrote to ask her whassup. And I sent a Kentucky Report to Rick, who keeps me informed as to conditions in Maine, where he and his wife, Dianne, live. He reports lots of foxes showing up these days for their twilight feeding. I reported that deer are eating our day lilies!

And Monica L wrote to offer us a donation of books on esoteric Christianity, which is the name of one of the collections in our L/L Research Special Library. I wrote to thank her and encourage her to box them up and send them to us.

Then I cleared away the paperwork which seems to spring up so easily on my desk, writing a formal letter to my medical Rx insurance carrier requesting a new ID card with the right spelling of my name. This clerical error on their part has caused a lot of confusion and cost to me, as they have been kicking back requests for coverage with notes of “non-matching ID”. In telephone calls to them I have twice gotten people from India with accents almost too thick to understand, who refused to believe their company had made an error and told me to go to the Social Security office and get my ID updated. But my SS card is right, all my other ID is right—it is only their card on which my name is misspelled. Hopefully snail-mail copies of my ID will convince them.

Lastly for the work day’s paperwork, I tackled writing Anthem, which company carries my Medicare Supplemental insurance, asking them please to come to agreement with Norton Health Care, which they are threatening to drop from their authorized list of medical vendors. It is all about money, of course.

I celebrated my cleared desk by collecting a delicious-sounding recipe for cream of asparagus soup from the newspaper. It features wine and many herbs as well as carrots, potatoes, garlic and spinach. I’ll propose to Gary that we consider making it for the Homecoming lunch menu this year.

At 5:30 I talked with Nalin K, who is going to India for a month to meditate at various holy shrines. I gave him my blessing, a ritual that comes from his Asian cultural background, where a seeker pursuing such a mission of service to others asks for an elder’s blessing before setting out. I know his service will make a difference and lighten the consciousness of the planet. We had a very loving conversation. I found that he and his wife are expecting an addition to their family! What wonderful news for them!

Mick and I came together at dusk for a bath and then another date, this time a tempestuous, very focused and powerful energy exchange at a tempo of allegro assai, in contrast to yesterday’s date, which was a slow dance in a mood of andante con affetuoso. Whee!

Melissa, Gary, Romi and Mick and I enjoyed a late supper and conversation together and Romi offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2009-06-15

June 16, 2009 9:42am

A nightmare plagued my sleep when I did finally succumb to slumber at 3:00 a.m. Nausea kept me awake till then. I awakened twice to make runs to the bathroom, but when I went back to sleep, the nightmare returned. It was not scary in the usual sense. There was no seen threat. In the nightmare I went with a couple of co-workers to a very beautiful estate where some of my belongings were stored. We were supposed to take them back home.

For a while I tried to leave the house carrying a cut-glass bowl that the caretaker said was mine, although I did not recognize it or want it, but I could not leave. So I set down the bowl, but still I could not find the door to freedom.

Every room into which I wandered, looking for a way out, was furnished with amazing antiques, lovely art and precious bibelots of every kind. Silk covered the walls and the ceilings were paneled with elegant 18th-century designs. It was a glorious mansion, but I could not leave it. I would get out into a patio and walk its length only to find that the far gate led back into another part of the house. I escaped only by awakening, having overslept badly.

The clinging feeling of impending doom took a while to dissipate. And the basic theme of the nightmare is one I have had many times throughout my life—not being able to leave a dwelling, no matter how many turns I take. And feeling that low-keyed but adhering dread. Never before, however, have I seen so magnificent a place in such a dream.

I have pondered the dream off and on all day for hints and inklings of meaning, but nothing resonates. I don’t shop retail. I never buy bibelots, or antiques, or anything like that for myself. I do not covet such things. So there is nothing literal that rings a bell.

As to the theme of trying to escape, I could see the dream being about my illnesses, which have piled up on me recently, with the addition of the burning nausea which has been my constant companion for the last month. Added to the extreme limitations on moving around that have been mine for the last year and more, the nausea creates a sense of being closed in physically by discomfort. Surely it would be good to escape that discomfort! But then, if that is the meaning, what is the importance of everything in this castle being so rare and expensive?

After Morning Offering I wrote my journal entries and had some chapel time and then turned to creating the summer 2009 issue of Light/Lines, Issue 110. Mick chose for it the session recorded here at Camelot on May 23rd. I re-edited that, finding some typos and cleaning them up. Then I wrote the comments and sent the issue off to Ian for final work and posting to our site. Ian responded with the news that he will be unable to work with it until next week, due to prior commitments. Later, Gary said he had some corrections and additions for me to add, so at least I will have the time to get the new version of the newsletter to him before he has already finalized it.

Eli wrote today to ask permission to create a special issue of Both Sides Now containing the series of six UPI articles I wrote about Dana Redfield and her work. I said, sure! I am flattered by his enthusiasm for those articles. I think they contain some of my best writing, since my affection for Dana, combined with my desire to share her excellent work with the world, prompted me to do my very best for her.

Eli also asked about the purchase information for Dana’s book, The Alphabet Mosaics. I let him know about the current glitch, and that it should be fixed by the time he prepares that issue. It is easy to buy her book—go to www.lulu.com, type in her name or the title of the book, and click on “buy now” when the book comes up.

Mike Quinsey of Connecting the Light on www.bbsradio.com agreed to have me on his show again on September 18th. I look forward to the conversation.

Mick did all his mowing and then planted window boxes with annuals and herbs for a customer before coming home at almost 7:00 p.m., having had to dodge rain twice today. So his day went long. He says that tomorrow, it may go even longer! More storms are predicted to blow through here, some with high winds and even tornadoes imbedded.

We enjoyed a bath together and then a wonderfully slow-moving, luxuriant date before having a late supper and joining Gary for the Gaia Meditation. Gary offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-06-14

June 15, 2009 5:50am

Thunder and rain awakened me this morning before dawn as weather pushed through, but by the time I again stirred, it had departed for the morning, although at eventide, it stormed again. It was bliss to let the rains come, enjoying them thoroughly, since Mick did not have to mow today.

Mick cleaned house while I sang in the choir at St. Luke’s. Our offertory was “Heavenly Light” today. After we lunched, we napped in our love seat together until 2:30, and then watched Clint Eastwood distinguish himself as director and actor in Gran Torino. It is a film about redemption and forgiveness, which sounds heavy! But working with the skilful screenplay by Nick Schenk, from a story by David Johannson, Eastwood as Walt Kowalski and Christopher Carley as his young priest bounce the ponderous ideas around only tangentially, Kowalski sending the priest packing repeatedly.

Kowalski is a Korean vet, now long retired from factory work. He lives in a neighborhood from which almost all the other white residents have departed. Next door a Korean family has moved in, and their teenaged son, Thao, and his sister, Sue, played beautifully by Bee Vang and Ahney Her, begin getting harassed by the Korean gang which wants Thao to join them. After an abortive attempt to steal Kowalski’s cherry 1972 Gran Torino, Thao refuses to join the gang and instead works off his moral debt to Kowalski by doing chores. A bond forms between Kowalski and Thao. Sue loosens up the irascible vet and persuades him to join their extended family for grilling out. Another bond forms there.

The theme of forgiveness is thusly played out rather than talked about, as Kowalski teaches Thao how to talk “like a man” and gets him a construction job. And the redemption that cannot come for Kowalski in his talks with the young priest is played out in a most compelling way in the film’s unexpected, brilliantly played conclusion.

I was hollowed out by the suffering in this film and full of unshed tears at the end—unshed simply because there was no dwelling upon the events leading to Kowalski’s death. Instead, the closing scene revolves around the reading of Kowalski’s will and the disposition of his Gran Torino. It is hilarious, a perfect foil to the powerful, profound burden of the film. It leaves one in laughter, not tears.

I really cannot recommend this film too highly. The acting, the ensemble, the production values and the music are all tops. Eastwood and Jamie Cullum collaborate on the theme song for the film, Gran Torino, whose burden is “your world is nothing more than all the tiny things you’ve left behind.” Eastwood himself sings the first chorus of this sweet song over the closing credits, sounding a good bit like Tom Waits—rough, experienced and almost unbearably poignant.

In our break time, I responded to Mike Quinsey’s invitation to return to his show on BBS Radio (www.bbsradio.com), Connecting the Light. We settled on September 18th for my return. I also wrote Don Newsom, head of BBS, at Mike’s request, to confirm to Don that I wanted to get a digital version of Mike’s and my conversation. Don was most gracious and promised it to me.

Eating very lightly all day, I did pretty well until bedtime, when the megrims struck hard, keeping me up through the early hours of tomorrow while I listened to yet another storm roll through in the pitch-dark. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-13

June 14, 2009 8:20pm

It was a pretty day outside. Mick did kitchen cleaning and errands in the morning, after Morning Offering, and then spent his afternoon cutting our grass and trimming up all the walks and plantings. Then he trimmed our hedge, which has celebrated this wet spring by going wild. He was so tickled to put in some time here at Camelot! Next week, he hopes to coax Gary into taking care of the mowing here, so he can weed everything we have. It all needs it! Fortunately, a lot of the weeds are blooming right now, so it is a good time to be behind.

As for me, I was very much under the weather and slept a lot of the day away. Other than writing my journal entries for the day, I was unproductive. By virtue of eating little, I was feeling somewhat better by the Gaia Meditation, at which I offered the closing prayer.

Gary is spending his weekend hiking in the Red River Gorge area! He looked excited when he left. I know he’ll have a terrific time in that beautiful, wild area.

2009-06-12

June 13, 2009 3:06pm

We awakened to mist and sprinkles, which had not been forecast, but after Morning Offering Mick and Gary went out to do their work anyway, mowing ten lawns. Then Gary came back to Camelot and cooked, preparing bison meatballs in wine sauce, orecchiette with spinach and herbs and sweet corn pudding for next week’s meals. Meanwhile, Mick answered an emergency call from a customer who was giving a party tonight and had some last-minute touch-ups to do. The touch-ups ended up being quite hefty work, but Mick came through for the family!

I was under the weather and sleepy today and had several inadvertent naps and one official one. In between the naps I did manage to get some e-mail answered, eventually clearing the Inbox of everything from Ian and Gary. We’re having conversations about several projects at once!

One thread is the reprinting of 101 and A Wanderer’s Handbook. We are developing a protocol on that in order to help Gary and I do our part for future reprinting. Our process this time has been a bit ragged.

Another thread is the booklet of Don’s manuscript fragment and the Light/Lines collection, for both of which volumes we are now finalizing the cover art work.

Another thread is the foul-up at lulu.com with Dana’s book, which came back with all the mosaic pages blank. That won’t work! I let Ian know and he’s on the case! We’ll have things fixed shortly.

In late afternoon I had a good conversation on BBS Radio with Mike Quinsey on his show, Connecting the Light. It was an hour interview and it sped quickly, since Mike asked one interesting question after another and then let me talk. He asked me on-air for another interview later in the year and I look forward to it. To find that show in its audio form go to www.bbsradio.com—you have to pay a fee to access the archives. Or wait until Mike sends me the digital version, and we give that to one of our faithful transcribers, and soon, have the text version of that conversation up in our Library on www.llresearch.org, which is free!

I folded myself into the bath with Mick after that, and we came upstairs for a lovely date, snoozing only briefly afterwards, since it was so late! Mick offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-11

June 12, 2009 9:13am

It had rained heavily overnight, so we awakened to a dripping, very green world. There was hope that the weather would settle by the time we finished Morning Offering, but Mick went to work in the wet, gardening until the skies cleared and ducking for cover twice during the day as very heavy rainstorms came through, depositing three inches of rain before nightfall. Nevertheless, Mick somehow managed to finish all his mowing, clear gutters for one customer and garden for another one.

I spent most of the working day doing my least favorite thing—seeing to paper details. My medical insurance had three separate issues to resolve and it took the morning and, after lunch, until about 4:00 to do what I could with them. One problem, a lab which had misspelled my name on their forms, promised to re-file.

After sorting through the paperwork I went to Louisville Pharmacy, a half-hour drive southeast from Anchorage, and gave them new imprints of my insurance cards. Very kindly, they will re-file on 18 months of insurance claims, all of which have been turned down for “non-matching ID”.

Then I went to Walgreen’s, where they had failed to get paperwork which OK’d Elmiron for insurance coverage. They could not correct the problem although they did note the OK-Elmiron document for next time, because they keep the insurance information on prescriptions in the computer for only six days, and I was not aware of the problem until after that length of time. They did, however, trace the problem to the misspelling of my name on the Rx Insurance card.

So I called Social Security to ask for a card with the right spelling. It turns out that although it is entirely their mistake, I will have to receive a form, fill it out, and take it in person to the Social Security office way the heck down Hurstbourne and very hard to find. There they will start the paperwork needed to issue me a new card. Eventually.

Oh, joy!

Around the edges of the day, I wrote Angelika of the Earth Transformation Conference (http://www.earthtransformation.com/) to talk further about details of my stay there in Kona next January. For those who love Hawaii, or just warm places in cold weather, this is an excellent gathering to choose to attend! I’ll be speaking at the Conference and also having a workshop the day after it ends.

I finished the day by writing a note to our Board members concerning the fact that the fellow who has sat on our printing rights for The Law of One series since 1983 has passed into larger life as of six months ago. I thought it best to wait six months before investigating the possibility of buying back the rights, in order to allow new management to take hold there. If we get a good response from the Board, perhaps we will be able to make them an offer for the rights to TLOO. We have the copyright, but not the right to print the books. I sent the note back to Gary with an edited version of his update to the Board. Gary will now edit the whole thing and send it on to the Board.

We enjoyed a very quiet evening with Gary. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2009-06-10

June 11, 2009 5:32am

It was a tough day for Mick, since we awakened to rain. Off and on, and sometimes heavily, it rained all day. Somehow, Mick managed to get all his mowing done, plus one big, three-acre mowing job which is not due until tomorrow. Tomorrow’s forecast is worse than today’s!

After Morning Offering I came upstairs and opened my e-mail to discover that Tobey W has now finished re-listening to Ra Session 106, the very last session recorded! He says he is not finished with the re-listening project, because the first sixteen sessions were very faint on Tobey’s copy of he tapes, and Gary has produced a better set of them. So now Tobey will re-re-listen to those! Still, I wrote him a big congratulatory note! It is a huge accomplishment and it establishes for the first time an authority copy of the Ra Sessions. Scholars will appreciate that.

As I promised Ian, I sent him the 2007 and 2008 files of the Holly Journal. It took a lot of sends! From now on, I will catch him up on those entries at the end of each year.

Gary sent me the link to Mike Quinsey’s site on BBS Radio (http://www.bbsradio.com/bbc/connecting_the_light.php). He will be interviewing me this Friday evening at 5:00 EDT on his show, Connecting the Light. He looks like a nice guy with some interesting experiences behind him, and I look forward to talking with him.

The e-mail between Ian and me on the reprinting of 101 and A Wanderer’s Handbook continued. There is a whole lot of detail involved and I am most grateful to both Ian and Gary for slogging through it all with me. It is good to contemplate that once this has been done, future reprints of these books will be dead easy!

I crowned my morning endeavors with an angel nap, from which I awakened only at lunch time. And after lunch, I had a manicure/pedicure appointment with Bethany at Absolutely Salon. This week’s enamel is nearly clear with white sparkles—demure and summery, which fits my mood. This was a low-productivity day for me in terms of outer work.

Gary spent a good bit of time on his day off on L/L Research matters, which is not usual, but the reason became apparent when he asked permission to make up this next Saturday’s work next Wednesday and to go hiking in Red River Gorge this weekend instead. I gave permission and told him to have fun! I know that he will leave me in good shape over the weekend. And with him working here on Mondays now, it is not such a big stretch to give him the day off on Saturday.

Mick and I both dozed throughout the relaxation time after our bath, and enjoyed the quietest of evenings afterwards. Mick offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-09

June 10, 2009 9:28am

I gloriously overslept and barely got downstairs to join Mick at the appointed weekday hour of 7:00, so after Morning Offering I spent the first part of my day writing my journal entries and having chapel time. The rest of the day I worked on a UPI article which I called “Wending our Way Towards the One”. I posted that just before bath time.

In the cracks of the day I had quite a bit of e-mail correspondence with our archive site web guy on ongoing projects. He is trying to get two more volumes ready for print-on-demand status at lulu.com, a 25-year collection of our quarterly newsletter, Light/Lines and a little, 32-page booklet containing Don Elkins’ start on a book about The Law of One he titled The Law of One: Accelerating Personal Evolution. We talked back and forth about editing questions, cover art and price.

Ian says that he does not want to receive the Holly Journal entries day by day—one way of his always having a complete record of them—but did request that I send him the entries for 2007 and 2008. I will do that tomorrow.

I told Ian that I see no reason to do anything with the Holly Journal Words until I either depart from this Earth or cease doing these very brief bits of channeling from the Holy Spirit. Rather, I envision collecting them, when one of those two things happens, into a book called Holly’s Dictionary. Since it is Christian-oriented channeling the audience for it will be small, but the little Words are very uplifting for those who are mystical Christians. And hopefully, by the time I die, the entries will make a nice, thick volume.

I also talked back and forth with both Ian and Gary concerning a change that is in process on www.bring4th.org. Steve E, the webmaster, is creating a way for Gary to add and remove material in every sector of B4, which will mean a terrific amount of increased flexibility in keeping people up to date on L/L Research happenings. And it will free Steve up to develop the site further in ways he has hoped to include ever since we agreed that he would be webmaster, well over a year ago. It will be a tremendously helpful change for the site! Steve has the coding complete for a couple of sections, now, and is adding more as fast as he can find the time to do the work. Go Big Steve!

Mick went out to mow early and came home late, but triumphant, with two of tomorrow’s jobs done. The forecast is for possibly heavy rains tomorrow, off and on, and it is even worse for Thursday, so he is trying to beat the odds—again! It is very good for the Earth and for Mick’s business to have plentiful rains. Without rain, the grass stops growing and Mick’s mowing income is reduced by half. So he is glad of the rain. At the same time, it challenges his ability to get the mowing done between the raindrops!

Despite his extravagantly long workday, Mick was unexpectedly amorous and asked for a date again tonight. Two days in a row! Did I mention that Mick is 62? I am unabashedly round-heeled where my beautiful husband is concerned, and we played and danced in the fields of the Lord, sharing powerful energy and creating a gift for the Creator as well. Eventually we came downstairs for a late supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which Gary offered the closing prayer.

2009-06-08

June 9, 2009 10:54am

With the weather forecast as rainy in the afternoon, Mick headed out after an early Morning Offering to make hay while the sun shone, literally! In the event, this part of the county got only some sprinkles, and Mick came home at 7:00 having mowed a big job ahead for tomorrow! Go Mick!

I wrote my journals and had my chapel time. Then I turned to writing a UPI article, since it is my day to do so. I have many candidates backed up in my files for inclusion in my Difference-Maker series but that did not feel right. I wanted to write from the heart today. As I was contemplating what WAS on my heart, I found a new transcript had come in for me to edit. In reading the first paragraph or so of it, I knew I had found the burden of my article.

So I shifted gears and edited the transcript, since I had to have it edited in order to quote from it for the article. I finished it soon after lunch and sent it on to Ian and Gary—Ian for putting in final format and posting to the archive site and Gary for sending copies of it on to Judy C, Matthew and Cynthia B, whose questions were asked at the end of the session.

I never did get to writing that article! Suddenly my Inbox was bristling with other things. One big thing was that when Ian saw the fragment from Don Elkins which I’d sent to him after doing another edit to bolster Mick’s original editing of the fragment, he liked it enough to format it for lulu.com. he felt it would make a nice booklet. I totally agreed. So I got Gary to bring me our ISBN numbers list and we assigned a number to Don’s work and I sent that off to Ian.

I sent Gary the PDF from Ian of this Elkins fragment and asked Gary to talk to lulu about printing charges. We need to come up with a price for the booklet.

Another large and exciting item from Ian was that he is attempting to finalize the 25-year commemorative issue of Light/Lines, L/L Research’s quarterly (more or less) newsletter since 1983. We entered into a conversation concerning its cover art. He sent me an old image, from Book I of The Law of One’s photo section, of Mick typing away in the office on Watterson Trail. He asked Gary and me to come up with a similar photo using the typewriter we still do have, stored away as an archival item. Gary liked the idea and said he will work on that!

Ian felt that Mick would not want his old image—or any likeness—on the cover but I felt that he would, because in that photo he still has all his hair and his beard, which he wore when he was younger. So I asked him. He said, “Sure!” I let Ian know that as well.

Finally, Ian and I talked a bit about the Holly Journal, which, one day, is slated to become Holly’s Dictionary. He asked me to fill in his archives, and I wrote to ask him from what date he needed entries. I know he has some already.

Ian, Gary and I all felt that the old web site, www.lawofone.org, which we have not used for years, should be allowed to become defunct. Gary will notify the domain-name company.

I sent Ian Gary’s listing of all the channeling sessions, including the Channeling Circle sessions from Channeling Intensive Five, which are outstanding. It’s a short list—one Saturday session from May and the five CC sessions from CI-5. Especially for the CC sessions, it helps our archivist to know what’s coming!

Scott Hutchins, a man from New York who has been trying for years to write a screenplay of Don’s and my “parable for all ages”, The Crucifixion of Esmerelda Sweetwater, asked me for my edit of an article he wrote on a film Don and I made in 1972, The Girl Snatchers. I asked Gary to ask Scott to re-send me the original article, which I did not keep. What the one film has to do with the other screenplay, I do not know. But I will be glad to edit the article for him. Apparently it reads like Greek to whoever is assessing it. It is easy to get carried away by detail!

Gary kindly sent me the blanks to fill in for the lulu.com thank-you note for The Alphabet Mosaics, and I filled them in and sent them back to him. I cannot work the software for doing this myself from lulu.com’s form. However he is more computer-savvy than I am and can do that!

Lastly for the day, I responded to an e-mail from L/L Research’s old friend, Mark Hunziker. He tried in 2005 to create a video for us. We taped for three days and got a lot of good audio from me—but we have never seen the video, since he ran out of time for the project and sent the video tapes to us. and we have never found a volunteer who can print up the video, transcribe the audio, or otherwise work with it. It is a project waiting to happen. Mark has some health problems and wrote to say he’s going vegan to fix them. I wrote to congratulate him on being proactive and wished him great good luck.

You can see why I never got to the writing of the UPI article! Perhaps tomorrow!

Mick and I had a date after our bath and then came downstairs to enjoy dinner with Gary and Melissa, both of whom were at work all day. Gary was manning the L/L Research Inbox while Melissa was continuing to record in QuickBooks the Avalon Farm receipts for 2008.

It looks like this project may be finished tomorrow! Then we can send Compton Kottke a new accountant’s copy of the L/L Research books for 2008 and Linda D can finish the 2008 L/L Research tax report. It is not due until August 15th, so she has plenty of time. Yay!

It’s been a pull for us, but I think we are now on a good track as far as reporting of all income and expenses. We were not at all dishonest before, we just did not have detailed accounts, so everything got reported in one general amount. Now we have the details! Tomorrow, Melissa will begin on the 2009 receipts and when she is done with that, Pam will have all she needs to be current with all Avalon Farm books! Another big yay!

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-07

June 8, 2009 5:54am

Sunday was truly a day of rest for me. I stayed home from church and nursed my tummy by staying away from any work all day and just reading or napping. The ploy did not seem to make any difference to the condition, but I had a lovely rest!

In the afternoon Mick and I watched three-fourths of the film, Revolutionary Road. The stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, playing Frank and April Wheeler, did a good job, and were ably supported by Kathy Bates and Michael Shannon as her son. The relentless dumbness of the whole premise finally wore Mick and me down and overcame our admiration for the actors. And we simply turned the movie off.

It is a portrayal of the fraying marriage of two pretty young people who sleep-walk through their sexual betrayal of each other, a hobby at which no one has much fun, and express their “lives of quiet desperation”. It is set in the 1950s, a time of conformity and an as-yet-unspoiled American Dream. I remember Rally Round the Flag, Boys, starring Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, as a far more incisive critique of the same subject matter.

The ultimate frustration I had with the film was that the premise to start with—that the couple was going to sell off and go to Paris so Frank could ‘find himself’—had the potential for creating an interesting story. The story ended up, however, being the process of their talking themselves out of it. Surely, that makes the point the author intended—that the desperation wins—and yet, why make this movie to re-re-remake this point?

For the evening we watched Casino Royale on the tube and enjoyed it again thoroughly. The dandy action is backed by gorgeous scenery in Montenegro and Venice and features Daniel Craig as 007 and Eva Green as the Bond Girl du Cine, both of whom create powerful, complex characters, no small feat in a Bond film! Judi Dench is also very tasty as ‘M’.

Gary joined us for dinner and offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-06-06

June 7, 2009 7:00am

It was a gloriously sunny day today, and we celebrated the fulfillment of spring as, after Morning Offering, we went about our day. Mick cleaned the kitchen and went on his round of weekly chores while Gary manned the Inbox at the L/L Research desk. I had overslept badly, so occupied myself in the morning with writing my journals and having chapel time.

Ian wrote to note that the two books which need reprinting, 101: The Choice and A Wanderer’s Handbook, were ready, at his end, to send to blitzprint.com so I asked Gary for a consult. After lunch we met and soon I realized that we could not determine how big a printing to order until we did some research. So I asked Gary to calculate how much the combined fees for him, Pam and Melissa would be through September, and how much income we could expect through that same term. I want to get as big a printing of the books as we can, but not if we cannot then pay our fees for these three hard workers.

Then I wrote the letter to all the people on the “send” list I had collected who might be interested in buying a copy of The Alphabet Mosaics. I hope many of them will get a copy of Dana’s book! I also wrote a snail mail letter to Dana’s parents, asking them to ask one of her siblings or her daughter—anyone with computer savvy—to export to me Dana’s MS Outlook Contacts when they get a chance. It is our only remaining way to let people know about her book. I hope someone there in Moab can do that for us.

Lulu.com sent me a request, to fill in the blanks on a computer-generated thank-you note” which they will send out with each copy of the book. However, they sent it to me in a format which seems to use a drawing program and I could not get the blanks to take regular typing, so I wrote them to ask for a format I can use in Word.

I finally retired to my bed for a good, official Saturday afternoon nap! Mick woke me to get a shower and get ready for our night out at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. I wore my new green dress and felt very pretty. Mick looked great in his ensemble as well—as Gene P said last Sunday when Mick came to church, he “cleans up very well!” We toasted our twenty-two years together, decided it was an amazing adventure, and asked for another twenty-two years!

Unfortunately, my stomach was not at all cooperating, so most of my delicious lamb chops came home with me in a doggie bag, to eat in the next few days.

Gary joined us for the Gaia Meditation, at which I offered the closing prayer tonight, and then for watching the film, Defiance, on our home screen. Starring Daniel Craig and telling the unbelievable but true story of Tuvye Bielsky and his four brothers, Jews driven from their homes in Byelorussia in World War II by the Nazis. They decide to live in the vast forest near their old village. Gradually they are joined by more displaced Jews. They live there until the end of the war, becoming partisans, working with the Russians to undermine the Nazis. It was a very gripping film.

Craig was marvelous in his role as their leader, and was ably aided by Liev Schrieber, Jamie Bell and George MacKay as his brothers. The entire ensemble shone, containing as it did actual descendents of this ragged, heroic band. The production values soared, especially the music, written by James Newton Howard. The forest was a character as well, still primeval in Lithuania, not far from the original setting. In every season its beauty shone. I loved this film and would recommend it to all.

2009-06-05

June 6, 2009 6:50am

Mick awakened with the sun today and after morning Offering, he and Gary went out into the cool, clear sunshine that prevailed after the rains of yesterday and mowed all of Thursday’s and all of Friday’s jobs! Mick was sure he’d have to mow on Saturday morning, but no! He is done! It was a long old work day, but there was joy in knowing that at the end of the day, his week’s work is complete. He said it was the most he has ever earned in one day and the most acres he’s ever mowed!

I spent my working day catching up on office chores. Gary sent me up a digital copy of the contract we have with Schiffer Pubs for Book I of The Law of One, which he scanned into memory for the purposes of showing the editor of Nexus magazine in Germany what we were up against in terms of OK-ing his German translation on TLOO. He is dealing with Schiffer now, trying to buy the German-language rights. We wish him good, good luck! But if they won’t deal with him, we are still prepared to help him with translation questions, as we have done with others—Terry H in Taiwan, who has translated TLOO into Chinese, and Mishlin D, who has done the same in French.

Ian notified me that at long last The Alphabet Mosaics is in print, available on-line from www.lulu.com! I ordered what I imagine were the first four copies when I got that news! I want to give a copy to Romi, one to Eli, who helped Dana with the font for the Wisdom poems, and one to Ian himself. And we will have the fourth copy for the Library. I’m excited to have this project come to fruition! Now I can create an e-book version, and be through with this project and able to move on to creating 102: The Outer Work.

In the afternoon I went up to a consignment store in Middletown, Sunny Daize, and found a deliciously summery light-green dress, nicely styled on the bias but simple otherwise, for my big night out tomorrow evening in celebration of our twenty-second anniversary. I was the lucky recipient of a mis-marking in size—the dress was marked 22, which I missed seeing—I wear an 18 currently—but by golly, it fit perfectly. Meanwhile, the dress had languished on the rack, since no one wearing a 22 could get into it, and it was marked down twice! My shopping gene was very pleased!

I still had some time to work, since Mick did not get back until 7:00, so I wrote four notes thanking people for their good thoughts—my aunt Louise and Vicki T of Cosmic Awareness Communications, who had sent anniversary cards, Kurt R, who had sent photos of his beautiful spring flowers and Elihu Edelson, who had most kindly created two special issues of Both Sides Now for my series of UPI articles on 2012 and on The Law of One.

Mick asked me for a date this morning, and despite the long, hard working day he’d had, he was most romantic and we made sweet love after our bath. We went downstairs after that and conversed with Gary. We all had a late supper after the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer.

2009-06-04

June 5, 2009 5:49am

Rain! We awakened to it and it stayed with us in substantial amounts until well into the afternoon! Mick tried to mow, but this was not a gentle rain. So he had an inadvertent rain day. As it began to slow down in late afternoon, he got in two hours of gardening for a customer, weeding and transplanting and coming home just soaked. He also got two good naps and did a bunch of errands! And now, for all his trouble, he gets to put in a full day’s work on Saturday this week! One chorus of the “Lawn Service Blues”!

After Morning Offering I worked on editing a fragment from Don Elkins, his 1984 try at writing a book like my 101: The Choice, where he was reporting on the main principles of TLOO. Its 24 pages are excellent and with that scientific slant that Don always had to his thinking. I finished editing it right at bath time and sent it on to the archive site web guy for inclusion.

E-mail was active all day. Fr. Ben Sanders wrote to turn me down as to being a chaplain for a prayer retreat next spring, due to illness. He is a cancer survivor, but is not scot-free; tests show he still has “markers” for prostate cancer. He cannot accept a gig so far ahead. I wrote back to sympathize and ask him for suggestions for a replacement chaplain.

Ian and I wrote back and forth, getting ducks in a row on the cover art for The Alphabet Mosaics. That “stuck” energy on the AM project is no more! Now it is in Gary’s hands—he must deal with lulu.com, getting the contract together, OK-ing the printing of a proof and so forth. I’m excited!

I finally remembered to e-mail Gary the three recipes Mick and I picked out a good three weeks ago, and which I never produced so Gary could cook them—bison meat balls in wine sauce, orecchiette with spinach and herbs and sweet corn pudding. Gary will not cook them this week, as he has no time to drive to Whole Foods to get the ground bison, but next week, we will dine upon that menu.

We have had an offer from the German editor of Nexus to translate TLOO into German! I gave a tentative go-ahead—tentative only in that I do not know this person yet, and I want to see how he goes in translating Book I. The mark of a good translator is his questions to us, for the Ra sessions are not easy to understand fully in English, much less in a second language. I asked Gary to check out Nexus on-line.

Mick and I had a good movie night on TV, catching a James Bond film, Casino Royale and then Stargate: Continuum. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, although we had seen both films before once. Gary joined us for the Gaia Meditation and offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-06-03

June 4, 2009 9:27am

It was lovely today and after Morning Offering Mick made the most of it, getting his mowing done and then doing two gardening jobs to boot before coming home.

I had overslept, so spent part of the morning writing the Camelot Journal entry for yesterday, having my chapel time and then writing a Holly Journal entry. I spent the rest of the working day finishing the UPI article on Difference Makers Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Baba Ram Dass.

Off and on all day, I supervised Melissa, Avalon’s Caretaker, and Pam, our bookkeeper, as they worked on adding Melissa’s newly crafted accounts for Avalon Farm to QuickBooks. Pam will come back tomorrow to begin entering the data for 2008. Melissa did a fine job on this, and I know our tax accountant, Linda D, will be tickled to have the fuller reporting. Melissa will finish bringing the Avalon Farm books up to date for 2009 in her paper ledger, and then will give that data to Pam as well. Then we’ll be all set! At last! Whee!

Pam has once again been shafted at the bookkeeping job she has other than ours! At first the company wanted her for forty hours a week and gave her a hard time about working a four-day week so she could keep us. But about six months ago, they began to cut her hours. Now they are down to giving her ten hours a week, which is not enough to pay her bills. So today I wrote a recommendation for her, for a job as bookkeeper for the Oldham County school system. I hope she gets that! It sounds very stable—and I know she will find a way to keep working for us in addition to that. We are devoted to each other.

In late afternoon I went to Absolutely Salon to get my nails done. This week I chose French blue with a topping of little French blue hearts. I will be wearing things that tone in with French blue this next week! And the ploy of going to weekly for manicures is working—only minimal discomfort from ingrown fingernails this last week!

Mick and I bathed together and had a quiet evening. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2009-06-02

June 3, 2009 8:44am

I awakened with my tummy locked again, so skipped breakfast completely and just enjoyed the Morning Offering as food for the soul! Afterwards, Mick set out on a marathon day—somehow all three of his “every other week” mowing jobs for Tuesday needed mowing today. Oh well, he will have a very easy Tuesday next week!

I worked at my e-mail for the morning.

- I let Dianne S, who is donating a little riding mower to L/L Research, know that Mick would be able to pick up the mower and transport it to Avalon sometime in August. Melissa still needs to build an enclosed shelter for the machine, and Mick’s work schedule is tightly packed until the grass slows down, which always happens in August’s draught season.

- I reviewed Gary’s finished issue of Gatherings Newsletter and OK’d it.

- Ian suggested that when we re-order A Wanderer’s Handbook and 101: The Choice from blitzprint, we send along a copy of each book so they can see what the cover art is supposed to look like. I thanked him for the suggestion and passed it on to Gary.

- I am working on a UPI article and needed a book we have in the Library here, so I sent Gary on a hunt for Ram Dass’s Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying. Our Library is not the most well-kept collection, since I have not had time to be a proper librarian to it since 1976! At that time I had catalogued about one-third of our collection. Since then, I have not catalogued a single book! And the Library has grown by leaps and bounds. There is always other work that is higher priority. So we have our books in collections. It is a much less formal and less accurate way to arrange the books, but it’s the best we can manage for now. He found the book, nevertheless!

- Tommy wrote to say that he’s still working with Dusk and Dawn Productions to get CDs of our music CD, The Journey, printed up. We do still have a few tapes of that, but everyone has switched to CDs now, and we want to change all our tapes to the CD format.

- About a half-dozen personal e-mails and forwards of cute photos and the like wound up my e-stint.

After lunch I talked with Father Joe by telephone about the possibility of having a retreat or some such prayer-oriented event under the aegis of The Anglican Fellowship of Prayer at St. Luke’s next Lent. He was a very positive supporter and promised me the use of the campus for a weekend in Lent 2010. I enjoyed the conversation and the warmth of his encouragement.

Acting on his suggestion, I wrote Fr. Ben Sanders to ask if he would be kind enough to take the position of chaplain for that event. Fr. Ben was my priest at Calvary for close to twenty years, and my regard for his godly abilities is extremely high. I hope he says yes!

Then I turned to the UPI article, a Difference-Maker article on Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Baba Ram Dass, both of whom have done wonderful, inspiring work on what Reb Zalman calls spiritual eldering and Ram Dass calls conscious aging. I made progress in that article, but will have to finish it up tomorrow.

Mick called bath time at 7:00, when he finally returned after ten solid hours of mowing and gardening, and we shared a bath and then an intense and revivifying energy exchange. In the afterglow we snoozed and watched junk TV, then went downstairs for the Gaia Meditation, at which Romi, who was visiting tonight, offered the final prayer. We finished the evening with late supper and conversation.

June rang in with real heat, sending the thermometer to ninety F and creating a humid day indeed for Mick’s work. After Morning Offering he went out and worked all the day, finishing with some gardening and transplanting for a couple of customers after the day’s mowing.

I was both ill and exhausted, and enjoyed a morning nap and an afternoon siesta. I spent a lot of the morning on the telephone straightening out our L/L Research credit card situation. Advanta went out of business, with very little warning to its card holders, on May 30th, and Mick, Melissa and I all habitually used an Advanta card for L/L Research purchases. I activated an old American Express L/L card of ours which had been allowed to go inactive.

And because many places do not take American Express, I also ordered new cards for us three from the card company which issues the L/L Research Visa that Gary uses. In the interest of keeping a tight hold on cards, we had destroyed our redundant L/L Visa cards a few years ago, preferring to have and use just one card. Thank heavens for our older cards!

I worked up a new Daily Report Form for Jim’s Lawn Service, increasing the amount of reporting lines from seven to ten, as Mick sometimes gets ten different jobs done in a day now! He really is a miracle worker on a daily basis! And I typed up his 2009 mowing schedule, which has settled down now to its final form.

The e-mail had some things which needed tending. I talked back and forth with Father Joe at St. Luke’s concerning the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer retreat which, as their diocesan representative, I would like to work towards offering next Lent. I enjoy such retreats myself, and it would be lovely to be able to share such a gathering with those from around the Louisville area who would like to attend one.

The Bishop has remained unresponsive to my request for a meeting on the matter of this retreat, so Fr. Joe and I feel it is best to create the plan for a gathering and then present it to the Bishop as a fait accompli and just ask him to help publicize it, which will not be much trouble for him. A Bishop near retirement age—or for Bishop Gulick, near the age of itchy feet after fifteen years in this diocese—tends to be hard to hail.

Fr. Joe likes my ideas so far, which include having silent time together at meals while readings are offered, having Fr. Ben Sanders as chaplain if he will agree, having Lisa Lewis as music director, having Evensong with Kathy, Brench, Geri and Lynn—all friends of mine from St. Luke’s choir who grew up with me at St. Mark’s thirty to fifty years ago—as a chapel choir, and having the option of being silent for the whole retreat. It’s a start!

Our society is very obliging when it comes to getting things done from the home, but one can get caught in some good screw-ups! My latest example is an order from Vermont Country Store, the only place I have found in recent years that still carries Buster Brown socks, soft, lisle anklets which are sized and which stay nicely on my size-five feet in bed on cold winter nights. I ordered a new batch of them last winter when my old ones started singing “Hole-y, Hole-y, Hole-y”, but they never came. In March I let VCS know that, and they kindly sent me a duplicate order. During the Channeling Intensive, the original order was finally delivered! Today they let me know that they will send me a pre-paid shipping ticket to reclaim that box. One can use only so many socks at once!

I wrote a congratulatory note to our archive site web guy, who has, at some cost to his time, figured out a better search function for the site. This is a huge help for those of us who potter through the archives doing key word searches!

Gary wrote me to ask for some things he needs before he re-orders two of my books, A Wanderer’s Handbook and 101: The Choice, which are close to running out of copies in our inventory. It’s wonderful to see 101 flying off the shelves, and to see AWH still selling steadily. So I had some correspondence with Ian on that topic, and he sent me some of the needed items for Gary to use. Others he will have to produce after some labors of love.

I heard from Lee B, a dear old friend from college days, who now is senior writer for the B Scaler company, a tech group on the west coast. He just finished their on-line user’s manual, which he sent me. I wrote him to commend his work and wish him well. He calls me Brother Carla and I call him Sister Lee, the product of a conversation, which must have taken place thirty years ago, about all of us being one beneath our biological sexuality! Aren’t friends wonderful? They so enrich our lives!

Mishlin, who is coming to Homecoming 2009 from Brussels, wrote to ask me Gary’s size, as she wants to bring him a gift, and I replied that for all Gary’s height, 6’2”, he is slender and takes a size large. Gary has written her many times as she translates our work—so far she has completed French translations of TLOO and 101 and now is working on Q’uo sessions. She wants to give him a thank-you gift.

My tummy locked up again tonight, with no food allowed, which has to be good for my diet! With Melissa here tomorrow, I may ask her to retrieve me some White Castle burgers at lunch. Sometimes, they are the cure when this happens to me. It sounds all wrong, I know! But hey, it works!

Mick was truly whipped this evening, so we were a compatible pair after our bath as we napped the evening away. He offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

June, 2009

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June, 2009