November, 2009

It was chilly but sunny again today, a welcome bright day to end November! After Morning Offering Mick set out on a full day of work for a customer, everything from clearing all the leaves to grooming a stretch of about fifty yards of steep, ivy-covered slope from the cliff-end of their back yard, which is about thirty feet off the roadway, to the pavement. Then he tackled the house itself, clearing the gutters and removing ivy from the roof of the house and garage. Lastly, he took down an old arbor which had been crushed by the growth of a tree, and then under-pruned the lower limbs of that tree to prevent further damage. Mick said it was a good day’s work!

I dealt with various health woes. Firstly, I was fortunate enough to get an emergency appointment with my dentist and he diagnosed a mouth infection in short order—after over an hour’s wait to see him—and wrote a prescription for antibiotics to cure that.

I barely had time to drop off the prescription at the pharmacy before my therapy appointment with KORT. I emerged from that a total physical wreck! Rehab is never easy! And I still had to give blood for my monthly labs for Dr. June, which I did. Then I picked up the prescription for antibiotics and went thankfully home, where I lay back in my mama chair and let everything go—ah! After I recovered my breath and sense, I got myself upstairs for a lie-down nap in my bedroom and emerged at bath time with only the nerve pain with which I had started the day—a very good outcome considering!

Sonia finished stuffing the fund-raising letters and Gary finished stamping them by evening—they will go first class mail in order to reassure our people that we are genuine and not just a mailing-list vendor advertising by bulk mail. We prayed and blessed them on their way before Gary took them to the post office to be mailed.

I have not heard yet from the hospital about the MRI I am supposed to have. But at last I did hear from my brother, Tommy, and we had a good long talk. It was good to be back in touch with him. While he is suffering greatly during a time of estrangement from his family brought on by his bad choices, he is taking hold, doing the right things to make things better and taking the long view. I have every hope for an eventual good outcome.

It was a great relief to me to speak with him, as his cryptic message to me of last Wednesday was so brief that I was concerned he was in a bad accident in a ditch, or on his last legs in the hospital. Since both of our parents died fairly young of heart-related disease, that is where my mind goes when I get an emergency call and then silence! Thank heavens his woes are not physical.

I took some time to write to his wife. I love her dearly and wanted to tell her so. She, too, is suffering at this point, although she is entirely blameless. My heart goes out to her as well as to my bro.

I was never so glad to see my beloved Mick come home, and to realize that in our little world everything is just so beautiful. Between us is utter truth and absolute love. We are each others’ safe place in this world. And we thoroughly enjoyed our bath together, and then a most invigorating date. What a miracle that even with all my current limitations we can rock each others’ worlds! We took great delight in doing so!

Then we went downstairs to have dinner and conversation with Gary and Sonia and share the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer.

2009-11-29

November 30, 2009 6:11am

We awakened to a hesitant and treacly sun which grew in power all day, giving us a beautiful Sabbath. I had been awake for two hours by sunup due to the nerve pain, but entertained myself with reading and writing my journal entries, and had a strengthening chapel time.

At St. Luke’s I’d been asked to quiet the congregation before the service, which I did, and I think that went well. Then we had a perfectly splendid service welcoming in Advent. We began with a silent processional by the choir and clergy, chanting Malcolm Archer’s “Blessed Are You. Sovereign Lord,” for the lighting of the first Advent candle in the wreath. Father Joe preached a fine sermon on letting Jesus come into our lives in power and grace by focusing upon His coming with the same excitement with which we view ball games.

Paul Manz’s “E’en so, Lord, Quickly Come” was a lovely offertory and it sounded especially good, the choir seeming to perform above usual standards. And the Taize chant, “Wait for the Lord” at the Communion was meltingly sweet. I truly felt the Presence today in this worshiping community of ST. Luke’s and am so thankful to be part of it.

Mick and I napped after lunch and then watched Duplicity, a spy-versus-spy romance starring Clive Owens and Julia Roberts. The couple had style, the plot had smarts and Paul Giamatti had the best role I have ever seen him take on, where he managed to be slimy, sneaky and teddy-bear loveable all at the same time in his role as the corporate head who figures out the spies’ plotting and surprises everybody. Enjoy seeing it, by all means, but expect to be constantly confused. It is not unpleasant! And who ever had a hard time looking at Julia and Clive?

As has been my wont since this nerve pain hit, I rested for the remainder of the day, enjoying Mick’s company when he was with me and celebrating his energy when he was out in Camelot’s yard, making her look prettier and prettier. Mark my words, Camelot will look her very best in February, when the very least bloom is apparent. This is because in the off-season, Mick spends his “honey-do” time grooming Camelot’s many plantings, repairing what’s broken or sunken in our bricked walks and otherwise making our little acre look its very best.

Sonia created more turkey to go with the other thanksgiving leftovers and we dined well in the late evening. Football was the order of the day—she and Mick are extremely compatible in TV watching since they both love that game. As for me, I had a book! I was dandy.

Tonight, Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2009-11-28

November 29, 2009 6:09am

While the day was cool, it was full of sunshine! Since we were having a public meditation in the evening, we skipped most of the Morning Offering, doing only the Banishing Ritual. Mick was off on errands in the morning while Sonia did some cooking and cleaning before giving herself over to the massive supply of good football games in mid-afternoon.

I rested all day, except for creating my journal entries and offering chapel time, until the Live Chat on B4 at 3:00 p.m. The discussion was spirited and interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed the time. Then I went back into resting mode until dinnertime, which Mick and I shared with Sonia, and then the public meditation. The nerve pain I am experiencing is undiminished. However when Mick massages the area, I am often able to gain enough relief to go to sleep for a couple of hours, which is such a blessing!

We welcomed to the circle of seeking John Daniel, whom we have not seen since spring, and who has to drive from Bowling Green, a four-hour drive, to come here, as well as Lynn. We had a very good meeting. The question this evening had to do with how to become the Creator. I had the feeling that this particular session was a good one, and will be very interested to edit that transcript when it comes back from the transcribers. I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer at the end of the channeling session.

Mick and I said good-night to Lynn and John Daniel fairly early after that, as both of them needed to be going, and spent the remainder of our evening watching more football. Mick is in his element during this brief football season, when his favorite college teams are playing, and it is grand just to be with him and soak up the happy vibes! Of course I do a lot more reading than watching, which Mick blessedly does not mind.

2009-11-27

November 28, 2009 5:47am

After Morning Offering, Mick dressed in his long johns and warmest jacket and went off to continue to put his customers’ lawns and gardens to bed for the winter. He came home about 3:00 and did machine maintenance until the Nebraska-Oklahoma game came on TV and after that, we watched the game together.

My efforts to make the date for the hospital test, or to find the lab where I give blood for tests monthly open, or to contact my dentist—I have an infection in my mouth—were unified in failing. I got several good naps in after Mick massaged my left arm. And I got my prayer time in and journals written. All in all, for what is happening in my life right now, I had a good day!

Sonia and Melissa gave their entire work day over to the challenging questions, “What dishwasher shall we buy, and at what price?” This was prompted by a discussion with the dishwasher repairman who told us, intending to come out this morning and fix the old dishwasher, which had blown something big, that he would charge $120 for the visit, plus the cost of parts, which were in the hundreds, plus an amazing hourly amount for labor. He agreed that the company’s strategy is to make it so prohibitive to fix older machines—ours is a ‘96—that the customer buys a new machine instead.

The two smart shoppers researched every ad. They researched every machine. Then they struck, bringing home a thousand-dollar machine for half that amount, when you take off the rebates plus an additional “Black Friday” 25% discount for earliness. It was very impressive shopping. And the company will install it and take away the old machine for free next Wednesday.

Mick and I enjoyed together the age-old dance of body, mind and soul after our bath. I marvel at this miracle. Presently I can barely move a finger without extreme pain, no did Mick ask me to. Merely to touch was to spiral into the most extravagant pleasure. Outwardly, I am in a difficult and challenging physical situation, one perhaps not alterable except by a very substantial operation on my spine. Inwardly, I frolicked with my beautiful husband in an energy dance that cannot possibly be described except with the most fulsome praise. How very fortunate we are that we have moved through all the chakras together to find ourselves in sacred fields of the Lord’s blessing. Praise the Lord!

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-26

November 27, 2009 5:47am

The weather turned cold for Thanksgiving Day, but the snow promised did not appear. Mick’s one job for the day was to make a bid on clearing the gutters of a mansion on the high bluffs by the Ohio River. Its rooves were steeper and more dangerous than the guttering at St. Luke’s, and could not be handled just by Mick. He would have had to hire a ladder and crew. And it was still risky to try, because of the way the land fell away from the castle. So he passed on the job. Good decision, Mick!

After Morning Offering I got my journals written and chapel time in. I also edited Mike J’s special channeling session, although that was undeniably a bad decision, for the rest of my Thanksgiving Day was a blur of nerve pain.

Sonia and Melissa were incredible! At noon, when our guests, Eric and Phell, came, the two wonder women put out the most delicious hors d’oeuvres I ever tasted and we poured wine for everyone. At 3:00, the feast itself was served—a beautiful turkey roasted in butter with homemade chestnut stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and green bean casserole. Except for some pleasant classical music I had put on for background ambience, there was a reverent silence as the food was enjoyed!

Peach and pumpkin pies completed the offering, and we sent the S’s home with lots of good leftovers when they departed around 5:00. Unfortunately, Baykal, who had been invited, needed to study more than to feast! Oh my, what culinary delights he missed!

Mick and I spent the next two hours napping and then came downstairs to play a game of Jeopardy with Sonia and Melissa. It is always fun to guess with play money! We enjoyed our time together thoroughly. At 9:00 we offered the Gaia Meditation. Mick said the closing prayer tonight.

Before our feasting, Mick read from Abraham Lincoln’s original proclamation of Thanksgiving Day. Let me reproduce some of this beautiful text here:

“The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

“In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

“And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”

The Ra group said that Lincoln was a Walk-In, a special type of Wanderer. It is wonderful to me that this great soul turned from self-congratulation to thanksgiving, from pride to humility and from worldly things to reverence before the Creator of all. How incredibly fortunate we have been, here in America, to have had people like Lincoln to keep us focused on spiritual things.

Mick and I talked to Mom later in the evening, wishing her a Happy Thanksgiving, and I talked to every member of Tommy Rueckert’s family except Tom himself. This concerns me, and I will attempt to call my youngest brother again on the morrow.

Of course I did not expect to hear from the hospital on a holiday concerning this MRI test with dye which Dr. Campbell wants to see done one me before settling on doing the spinal operation. However there is no hope of my getting an epidural cortisone shot into the neck area of the spine until after this test is done, and therefore no pain relief is in sight for me right now. I can only thank the Lord for those challenges that lie before me, and pray that the difficult emotions I am feeling may translate into genuinely helpful words as I write 102: The Outer Work.

2009-11-25

November 26, 2009 6:49am

After Morning Offering, Mick set out to groom two large estates for Thanksgiving festivities on the morrow. Though the cool weather was uncertain, it stayed dry enough for him to do all he needed to do, plus some kind chores for the worthy widows among his customers who were starting to work with Christmas decorations.

Melissa and I set out early to Dr. Campbell’s, the spinal specialist. After taking more X-rays, he has called for a diagnostic test, some sort of beefed-up MRI with dyes involved. It is likely he will recommend a spinal fusion of several of my vertebrae, with rods, plates and pins inserted to stabilize what apparently is a spine falling apart, hence the incredible amounts of nerve pain.

This pattern must play out over time. I expect to hear from the hospital soon as to when the MRI will happen. Until then, I cannot have an epidural to lessen this pain or make trip plans. So my personal challenge continues. Imagine all the emotions I am feeling! I told Mick that this whole experience happened at the right time—I am writing about life on Planet Earth, with its suffering and difficult emotions, and how to find the love, in 102.

I know my writing there will be greatly improved because of so much current experience with these difficult emotions during this time. It is always better to talk from experience. High-sounding words have no effect on real people with real problems. So I am grateful for this exquisitely good timing, and will attempt to keep good track of all my feelings and processes at this time.

Melissa and I came home to Camelot to find Gary preparing our fundraising letter for insertion into envelopes. He solved the envelope-crease problem and all our envelopes look pretty! Sonia will be stuffing and mailing them out for the rest of November I am sure. There are over 1,100 people in our fundraising database—those who have come to us in the past for one reason or another.

We ordered in Chinese for lunch, since we were all so busy and the kitchen was awash in Thanksgiving feast preparations, and I enjoyed an order of Crab Rangoon, which I dearly love, and an egg roll. Then I had my manicure/pedicure for this month, and went from there to a therapy session at KORT. My therapist there agrees completely with Dr. Campbell, which is reassuring.

Sonia, Melissa, Mick and I dined together on the last of the pot roast before Melissa went back to Avalon to tuck in the chickens and pat her cats. She’ll come back tomorrow to join us for the festivities.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-24

November 25, 2009 6:08am

The day was blustery and uncertain, but smoothed itself into sunshine and pretty clouds by noon. After Morning Offering Mick busied himself with the leaves remaining after two full days of work at one of his customers, climbing over, under and around thick plantings all about the mansion and guest house, blowing, raking and bagging leaves. He says that tomorrow, a couple of hours’ work should get the entire job done at last. It is the most challenging job he ever undertook, he says, in leaf clearing, because of the masive plantings everywhere and the sheer size of the estate grounds, which are meticulously groomed for seven full acres.

Sonia headed out early to hunt and gather for Thanksgiving, and then spent her morning preparing a beautiful spinach quiche for the meeting I had here at noon with those ladies working on “A Day of Contemplation and Song” at St. Luke’s next February 20th. We got the menu organized, the schedule set, the workshop classes placed and the publicity letter cobbled together. Sonia’s quiche was such a hit, it was entirely gone after the ladies left! It must have fueled our discussion well! I got the publicity letter back to Lisa, who will create a unique letterhead for it, with all changes incorporated, by the end of the afternoon.

That meeting was exhausting for me, and I took myself to bed afterwards for a good nap! When I awakened, I worked with e-mail concerns. Mish and I wrote back and forth about the use of a work—effect or affect—in a transcript. I wrote three people requests for their snail-mail addresses in order to finish the details of our Christmas card list. And one last time, I fiddled with our L/L Research fund-raising letter, choosing tiny details like the font of our DBA name (AGaramond) and where to place our web site addresses (at the bottom of the letter, not the top). Steve M had returned my Chapter One of 102 and I thanked him for the work. I also thanked him for some thoughtful gifts he is sending to make me smile while my arm heals.

Lastly, I commissioned Pupak, a student and friend from Britain, for a stained glass piece. She is raising funds to go to Iran and present her translation of a work she feels may aid the peace process in her home country. Pupie does incredibly beautiful work, and I suggested a piece for us with the theme of Don Quixote and The Impossible Dream.

This cause is a super-good one. Pu is the kind of woman you meet and just immediately want to help, for her motives and ideals are so pure. And she is such an artist! If you would like to order a piece from her and help send her to Iran—the price is only $100.00 for a 12” square piece, very inexpensive for such art—her e-address is hoopoesong@gmail.com. To see examples of her exquisite work, go to http://pomegranate-ensouled.blogspot.com/.

Gary wrestled most of his working day with the very pesky tendency of the printer to crease the envelopes we are using to send out the fund-raising letters, all 1,100 of them. By day’s end he had solved the problem. It is, however to be noted as a good thing that his hair is cut quite short, else I believe he may have snatched himself bald over the aggravation of it.

I began, after I awoke from my long nap, to work on the yearly newsletter we always enclose with our Christmas cards, but ran out of time before Mick called bath time. After our bath together we joined Melissa, Sonia and Gary for a wonderful dinner and conversation. Melissa has been working for one of Jim’s other customers—she finally got the first customer moved completely! It only took a month!—and will stay over tonight so she can get me to appointments tomorrow, especially the doctor who can give me a prescription for epidural cortisone treatment.

Tonight at the Gaia Meditation I offered the closing prayer.

2009-11-23

November 24, 2009 6:00am

After Morning Offering Mick went out into the uncertain but improving weather and managed to complete his entire day’s schedule, plus some extra chores for a couple of his customers bent on having their lawns look perfect for Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, Sonia hunted and gathered in preparation for a glorious Thanksgiving feast, as well as making a magnificent pot roast for Mick and me, plus a roasted chicken for Gary, who does not eat red meat except for bison. We dined in style indeed tonight. I love food and love to eat, and Sonia’s meals are absolutely delightful. Thank you Sonia and thank you, Lord!

Gary spent a good deal of time today working with the Christmas Card list, getting snail mail addresses where needed and categorizing our sizeable list as to whether the people are Jim’s Lawn Service customers, L/L contacts, St. Luke’s people, my MacDuffie classmates or friends and relatives. We do not want to miss greeting those L/L seekers who have been kind to us in the past with donations, or who were part of Gatherings, but the names swim together after a few years, and we’re trying to get more of a handle on whom to keep on the list as one who has current interest and whom to drop because of lack of recent communication. We don’t just want to nag people! We hope only to alert interested people to our very real needs for money to pay our bills.

I mostly rested today, a strict necessity at this point to help me heal up from the nerve pain which is now streaming down both my arms. However, I did take the time to write a journal entry for the last weekend, and then in the afternoon I cobbled together what I hope is a sincere and effective donations request letter for our 2009 fund-raising campaign. Gary, Mick and Sonia all thought it was a good effort. Now will come the gargantuan task of sending the letter out to our L/L mailing list, which totals over 1,100 persons who have come to see us, got counseling or channeling from us, donated or bought books. If you want to take a short-cut and go ahead and donate, there’s a place in our store to do that - http://store.bring4th.org/index.php?cPath=24.

It is pretty amazing how spirit has led people to help us pay our bills through the years. So we send this year’s request off hoping that people value what we do here in preserving the archives of our channeling, responding to every seeker who writes in and trying to create as much service here at Lighthouse L/L Research as we can, and that they will once again feel moved to help us meet our obligations.

I went to another therapy session with Mrs. Stockwell at Kentucky Orthodepic Rehab. Rehab is never precisely fun but I can see that she is helping me to keep from getting scar tissue on these nerve injuries, and I am grateful for her skilled aid. I flopped and rested aplenty when I got back from that!

Melissa called in because she was felling a big old gnarly tree today on Avalon Farm and needed someone to have her back in case she did not call back in and say the thing was down. And she succeeded perfectly! I tell you, not a lot of women would be out there with a chain saw felling sky-high junk cedars and preparing our land for bio-dynamic farming! Melissa is intrepid.

At 9:00 p.m. Wynn Free called in for his monthly conversation, and we had a good discussion about discernment and the latest shenanigans from some of our good friends in the channeling area. The BBS radio station kept experiencing problems with Wynn and Terry’s feed, so for an unusually long part of the program I just talked all by myself. I hope I was helpful! I am used to responding to Wynn’s questions. But one thing for sure, there is always something on my mind, so I just shared.

Gary offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-21 and 22

November 23, 2009 1:29pm

This is a two-day entry, as I created for myself the need for a complete rest and wrote no journal entries at all! But it has been a wonderful two days.

On Saturday, day before yesterday, I rested almost completely, after an abbreviated Morning Offering, dealing with the nerve pain while Mick scoured the Camelot gardens of leaves and started manicuring the plantings for the winter. Sonia was busy as a bee shining up the house and Gary worked at the L/L Research helm. At 3:00 I did go to work, if you can call it that, and had a Live Chat on B4 for two hours. It felt wonderful!

Admittedly, I could have been more restrained and kept the chat shorter but the conversation was fascinating and I did not want to quit. There was interest in the issue of using substances to enhance spiritual seeking and we talked a lot about that. Steve always puts the sessions up on B4 to review, if you’re interested in how the discussion went.

Then almost immediately Mick, Sonia and I began welcoming our guests for the Public Meeting—Lynn, Baykal and Romi. We asked Q’uo a question concerning the feminine principle and the right use of power for the channeling session. It was an interesting session, I think. I look forward to editing the transcript and reading it as a whole piece—when one channels, one does not get much continuity! Just one concept at a time.

I slept little again last night, for my arm was deep in the well of fire that nerve pain brings. But did I stay home like a sensible person this morning? Well, no, I very much wanted to go to worship, for today is Christ the King Sunday and my heart is the Lord’s. When we sang the “Halleluiah Chorus” from Messiah I was in heaven.

Immediately thereafter, however, I became aware that somewhere in that last twenty one hours—from three p.m. on Saturday afternoon to noon today—I had crossed the line from service to martyrdom. And there was nothing for it but to rest completely again. Which I did. We viewed a fascinating film together, Mick and I—The Taking of Pelham 123—which certainly kept my mind off my troubles! The brash din of rap music, New York City traffic and guns, the excellent ensemble of John Travolta doing a star turn as a quirky and terrifying villain, Denzel Washington playing a good and flawed bureaucrat and John Turturro playing a competent but outfaced cop, the hauntingly lovely theme music by Harry Gregson-Williams and a satisfying ending involving a carton of milk, of all things, had me moaning, ducking and crying. Somebody give director/producer Tony Scott an award and then see to his mental health!

Mick and I finished out our evening watching the American Music Awards, fun stuff!

On Saturday, I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation as we closed our channeling session, and tonight, Mick did the honors. He said, “Lord, bless our weary bones. We offer them to you in love and thanks.”

And so we do. Alleluia!

2009-11-20

November 21, 2009 6:38am

After Morning Offering, Mick and Gary blasted through a big day of leaf mulching and gutter cleaning for a mansion completely socked in with big trees and power lines and then took on several other putting-the-lawn-to-bed jobs. Mick’s mowing season is winding down nicely, just in time for our trip to Nebraska—given that I can get my epidural shot on time—and then JLS winter chores, which have been waiting for him all summer. They came home happy!

Other than writing a note to Daphne on channeling, as she seems to be very active right now and in need of information, I retained the determination to rest and let this nerve pain heal. I seem to be filling a very deep reservoir of needed sleep, one nap at a time! Hopefully this regimen will end soon and deliver me back into my usual working routine. I miss it a great deal! But meanwhile, I am resting and enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

I did just a bit of Christmas shopping on line, finding some goodies for Melissa’s stocking. She absolutely knocked herself out making stockings for everyone last year but I did not catch that she was doing so, and she did not get a stocking. This year, that will not happen! In order to keep the whole plan a secret I even ordered the stocking itself!

Christmas Day is always so heart-opening here, and with Sonia here this year it should just get better and better. We always hope to have Jim’s old neighbor from his days homesteading in Marion County, Eric, and Eric’s wonderful Mom, Phell, with us too. They’ll be here next Thursday for Thanksgiving Day—and you know how fast Christmas comes up after that! I hope they will agree to come spend Christmas with us too.

While Gary worked on the Christmas Card Data Base which will become our Christmas card labels soon, Sonia made a batch of brownies. Mick and I had a beautifully graceful date after our bath and we came downstairs to that wonderful smell of baking! We four shared a most pleasant late dinner and the Gaia Meditation, at which Gary offered the closing prayer.

2009-11-19

November 20, 2009 10:35am

Under overcast skies, Sonia, Mick and I made our Morning Offering and Mick set out to put two large-acreage estates to bed for the winter. Nature smiled and warmed and by afternoon we even basked in sunshine. Mick got all his work done and two big sets of high gutters cleaned as well.

Nerve pain continues to place me mostly on the couch, or on my bed, at leisure. However I pushed the envelope because of having an overwhelming sense that it was time for me to write a UPI article on “Silence and Channeling”. I promised to quit at the 30-minute mark but at that point words were streaming as fast as I could type them down, so I finished the piece. It felt wonderful to do that.

For the remainder of the day I did rest, until Mick came home, at which time we shared a bath. Then we snuggled together and he watched the video interview with me which Anne Hess made at Homecoming to place on YouTube. He liked it fine. I discovered I had made a signal error at one point, calling Jim McCarty “Jim DeWitt”—the name of my first husband, which marriage lasted from 1964 to 1968. Forty years ago! Oh well! No one does faulty memory better than I, pardon the brag!

I went ahead and attended choir practice, figuring that either I could be in pain at home or at church, and at church I could learn the music for Advent and Christmas! It was a good decision. All went well.

I may get up to speak to the congregation briefly next Sunday, before the service, and ask for silence so that Lisa and the choir can offer a wonderfully dramatic start to Advent at St. Luke’s this year. As the choir processes, they will sing a beautiful choral Litany and the acolyte will light the first Advent candle in the wreath.

Our congregation is full of love and fun, and that is wonderful, but lately pre-church has sounded more like a cocktail party than the pre-service prayer visit it needs to be. I’ll see what I can do to change things a bit to the more reverent way.

We ended our day here at Camelot with football on the TV and a late dinner. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2009-11-18

November 19, 2009 6:22am

We awakened to rain and off and on all day, it sprinkled again, but there was plenty of room between the raindrops and after Morning Offering, Mick sallied forth to put to bed two more large acreages for his customers. He is about two-thirds through with that process now, he says.

Melissa and I left shortly thereafter to go to 21st-Century Medicine for my second session of prolotherapy in the lumbar spine and a sacra-cranial massage. We came back by Ruby Tuesday Restaurant and enjoyed using up a twofer coupon, dining well and coming away with a goodie box for another whole meal from its leftovers. We stopped by our favorite consignment shop briefly, and found Pam a beautiful present for Christmas and then Melissa dropped me by Absolutely Salon so that Beth could winkle the ingrown edges off my fingernails, which she then painted ruby red for me, with gold sprinkles. Jane R also gave me a wonderful twenty-minute deep-muscle massage, a treatment which Ms. Stockwell had recommended.

Somehow, we found the time before my therapy appointment to go to the basement and evaluate the start I have made on Christmas presents. It is a very modest start, I must say! But it is good to have that information, as now I can see who among my friends might like my new book, and who will need some thoughtful shopping to find a nice gift. Melissa has been stocking up on vintage Christmas paper at yard sales all year.

Our last stop was the KORT therapy clinic in Crestwood. Ms. Stockwell put my back and left arm through some fairly painful paces, trying to keep the nerve pain from causing scar tissue and crystallization. I came home sore as could be, but content that I had done all I could do today to move my dear body through this crisis.

Sonia and Gary both had days off today, and Sonia happily announced that she was finally caught up on her e-mail! She has been so focused on learning her new office jobs for L/L Research, like mailing and the attendant paperwork, that her personal correspondence had slid a bit. Her big news is a forthcoming wedding in the family next October, an event for which she is being asked to wear black, as it is to be a black and white wedding.

Mick and I enjoyed a long, soaking bath and a snuggle before joining Sonia and Melissa for dinner. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-17

November 18, 2009 4:51am

The day dawned chilly and rainy, and after Morning Offering Mick had to plan carefully to get all his scheduled lawns put to bed, but by judicious insertion of wet-work chores like lopping limbs and cleaning gutters when the rains came down, he got everything on his agenda accomplished and a little more.

Gary manned the L/L Research helm all day, getting some help from Sonia in the afternoon. He is working on e-mail response and planning our fund raising campaign while Sonia is fulfilling book and other orders to seekers.

It was Sonia’s cooking day and she created a fascinating stew with pineapple, pasta, chicken, bell peppers, onions, carrots, peas and a delicious sauce for the Camelot table. Melissa arrived in Bob Reidel’s donated truck, Moonshine—so-called because it has a “bubbler” which looks as though it’s always percolating something - ready to do some more hauling for the customer who has now moved, and to take me to my three appointments tomorrow. And Romi came to work on my computer and the house network. We had a lovely crowd for dinner and conversation, and Gary offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

As for me, I was able to write my journal entries and that was about it for useful work again today. I rotated between resting in my bed and on my mama chair downstairs, as each station offers comfort to my nerve pain in one way, but hampers it in another. I did the isometric exercises given me and look forward to feeling far better as time goes on.

It has become very easy to remain faithful and grateful as this test has extended itself. Clear in my mind is the long-term goal of retaining the ability to use this computer, every day, all day in the service of the one Creator. Rest is required for this little while before I regain that ability. And rest I will, with a merry heart and a great thankfulness that I love to read! I also dreampt up more of my next UPI article. I can’t wait to write it!

2009-11-16

November 17, 2009 9:42am

The last of the warm and sunny days in this spell of fine weather saw Mick, after Morning Offering, out amidst the last of the leaves mulching away. He put several more customers’ yards to bed today, in addition to clearing lots of gutters and raking out plantings. He called the day good but dusty!

I continue to feel distinctly below-par with nerve pain down my arm. I could not work except just enough to make entries in my journals and run through some easy e-mail. One letter Ian forwarded to me for my enjoyment was from a gentleman who wants him to go through our tapes, editing out the many silent pauses. Now that gives me my next article topic for UPI, once I get back to work! That silence is the best part of any channeling tape, carrying information too deep for words!

I had a good appointment with Audrey S, the chief therapist at KORT. She gave me some isometrics to do and we agreed I was simply not a good candidate for full traction, at least not yet. I will see her twice more in the week to come, and hopefully the techniques she has given me will begin to ramp down this fiery pain even before I am able to get in line for the epidural shots which I know will work wonders.

Mick and I enjoyed a very quiet evening with Sonia and Gary. After an early Gaia Meditation, with Gary praying at the end, I came upstairs to converse with Wynn but he forgot our interview date, so Mick and I had more time for a thrilling date which segued naturally into bedtime.

I know things will be getting better for me physically very soon. I am so grateful for Audrey’s great good sense and willingness to work with me. Sonia was a champ, driving me to the appointment. She has not driven out Crestwood way before, so it was a whole new adventure for her!

2009-11-15

November 16, 2009 8:37am

Our autumnal dry spell is approaching drought! Mick mowed our lawn today and came in all dusty. I imagine that when the next storm system moves through it will begin feeling more like November! Right now it could be any mild summer’s day. It is wonderful for Sonia, who dearly loves the sunshine.

I had a day that repeated yesterday’s saga of intense discomfort, and hung in there for Mick’s several very healing massages and then some nap times. I was awake for our movie of the day, one of Sonia’s old favorites, a 2001 release called Moulin Rouge. Starring Nicole Kidman as the actress in a play-within-the-play, Ewan McGregor as the play’s writer and Kidman’s hapless adorer and Richard Roxburgh as the play’s angel and Kidman’s predator, the film is a lush, brash, wonderfully complex assault on eye and ear.

The sound track includes songs from such disparate sources as Sting, Billy Joel, The Sound of Music, the Beatles, U2, Eden Ahbez, Georges van Pahris, Marc Bolan, David Bowie and Elton John. It alone is a delight worth the price of admission.

Baz Luhrman’s creative hand is everywhere in this piece. Only at a second, third or fourth viewing could the filmgoer finally pick out all the in-jokes. I caught Toulouse Lautrec, but did not see Harold Zidler, or the references to the opera, Orpheus and Eurydice, or elements of the Sanskrit play, The Little Clay Cart. Costumes are utterly gorgeous, the scenery is bewilderingly rich, with the overriding motifs of hearts, often as openings through which the action happens, and the red windmill (translated in French as Moulin Rouge) which wheels endlessly in the background, grinding the story into the substance of our delight.

Wait until you are ready for an all-out assault on the senses to see this film, but do see it! It is a superb cinematic tour de force.

We enjoyed a quiet and early evening. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-14

November 15, 2009 4:29pm

While autumn rolled on, giving us harvest-blue skies and golden sun, I had a tough old day! After Morning Offering I went to my office determined to work a bit more than yesterday, but instead I had to quit as soon as I was through writing my journal entries and having chapel time. My best times today were when I was napping. Mick worked tirelessly on my back and arm, several times through the day and evening, massaging the pain down to more manageable levels, and then I could sleep for a while.

I often teach or channel concerning the suffering we have on Earth, calling it a fiery furnace or a refining fire, and today I lived that truth. The pain of this pinched nerve creates a well of bright fire within which I experience the pure, dark beauty of the pain of the world. It is an excoriating time for me, yet I exult in standing in this well of flame and singing, “Alleluiah, Alleluiah, Alleluiah”. Now is my time to walk my talk. I am empty of pretense, lost to pride and brought to nothing, but oh, so full of love for my Beloved, Jesus the Christ.

I take up my cross, such as it is, and as I follow You, my Lord, I pray that I may offer myself in exchange for all those who suffer, that they may be healed. World, I love you!

I know I will come out of this experience, free of this flaming pain and ready again to serve with my outer gifts. I have come through worse and been healed. And this experience, just as those which have come before, shall make me more tempered, flexible, strong and able to serve the light. I embrace it.

And I give thanks, not as one who is appeasing some cruel Creator, but as a spiritual athlete whose coach has let her get in the game at an important time. Battered, weary, and exultant, I tuck the game-sphere of unconditional love and absolute faith under my arm and sprint for the goal. You may try, dear loyal opposition, but you do not have a chance in this world to stop me.

For I am on the King’s Highway. That is my song today. If you do not know the dear words, written by E. A. Cummins in 1922, let me share them:

“I know not where the road will lead I follow day by day,
Or where it ends, I only know I walk the King’s highway.
I know not if the way is long, and no on else can say;
But rough or smooth, uphill or down, I walk the King’s highway.

And some I love have reached the end, but some with me may stay,
Their faith and hope still guiding me: I walk the King’s highway
The way is truth, the way is love. For light and strength I pray,
And through the years of life, to God, I walk the King’s highway.”

My web of love surrounds me, seen and unseen. Gary, the undemonstrative stoic, gave me a long hug at day’s end and said, “This is from me and everyone else who loves you.” Notes of prayer support and caring have poured in. Holly has been in conversation with me off and on all day. All is well. And all will be well.

Unfortunately, I could not even think of typing for two hours straight, so cancelled the Live Chat and for only the fourth time in thirty years, cancelled the public meeting tonight. There was no way I could hold the tuning and focus for channeling tonight. I shall serve again soon. Not tonight. And that’s OK. Some days the service we offer must be simply the pure radiation, through our hearts and into the world, from the infinite One whose name is Love.

Mick, Gary and Sonia all worked hard today, Sonia in the kitchen and in the office, where she is learning to assist Gary, Gary at the L/L helm and Mick making Camelot’s campus look wonderful. We shared Sonia’s delicious late dinner and I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia meditation tonight.

2009-11-13

November 14, 2009 9:20am

The idyllic weather is holding well, and after Morning Offering Mick and Gary polished off some huge jobs and completed JLS’s mowing and leaf-mulching for the week. Mick spent the remainder of the day doing weekly maintenance on his machinery. When he came in he looked as though he’d been in a dust storm. His face was actually gray. The leaf dust is quite irritating to the eyes, so to complete the picture, his eyes were all bloodshot. It was as good a disguise as a Hallowe’en mask!

I tried the gambit of going back to work today and managed an hour or so, writing my journals and taking up concerns that came in via e-mail, mostly having to do with llr.org matters, before I was at the limit of my ability to deal with the nerve pain and backed off for the rest of the day. Although it is punishing, I believe I will continue that technique of trying to rehab myself. Taking a complete rest has not worked. Pushing a bit each day has a lot better chance of working in the long run.

Mick and I enjoyed a very healing bath together at day’s end, then a lovely date which was—in Mick’s word—a thrill indeed! We snuggled together in the afterglow and rejoined the household at 8:00 for a late supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-11-12

November 13, 2009 8:26am

Mick rock and rolled in the lovely autumnal weather today after Morning Offering, coming home well satisfied with his day’s labors. He says that he is now putting most of his customers’ lawns to bed for the winter. A couple more weeks will see the mowing season of Jim’s Lawn Service done, and his off-season of winter chores begun.

I called Dr. June first thing this morning, but she did not return my call all day. She is usually quite good about returning emergency calls. I imagine I will hear from her tomorrow morning. I had a challenging day with continuing nerve pain and a growing surrounding problem as the pain goes untreated. Head, sinuses and adjoining back muscles are all beginning to be involved.

In mid-afternoon, I had a lovely respite of about two hours where Chloe and Pickwick nestled beside and on top of me, and spread their peaceful kitty-cat vibrations over me like a psychic blanket. I enjoyed a lovely nap with them.

Resting is clearly not doing this pain any good. It has only ramped up through the days since it began. I believe I will try working a bit tomorrow. Working the joints that are flared up sounds illogical, but sometimes you just need to take a shot and see how it goes!

Doing inner work today, I had many beautiful moments with Holly and my angels, Q’uo and St. Mary Magdalene and Archangel Michael. It is so true that we are never alone. A great crowd of loving yet unseen help surrounds us all.

Gary did a very sweet thing. He printed out all the comments that have come in lately from my articles. Most of them were incredibly appreciative and supportive. Of course a couple of them were along the lines of, “You’re an idiot,” But that’s OK! I know that already!

Melissa came into town in late afternoon. She and Sonia watched football while Mick and I bathed and then Mick took me to choir practice. After the rehearsal, we kept our date with the church’s photographer and in addition to getting our photo done for the church directory, I also got a new publicity shot of me in my present state of plumpness. The old shot was of a much thinner me, and does not look like me so much any more. I was glad to get that accomplished.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-11

November 12, 2009 5:46am

Our fine fall weather continued today, a gorgeous backdrop for Mick’s mowing and leaf-mulching. He drove over to Shelbyville in the afternoon to clean up Steve F’s property and put that estate’s acreage to bed for the winter. Here in Anchorage there is still some foliage on maple and poplar trees, but out in the country, with not a lot of concrete and paving around to soak up the sun’s heat, autumn has advanced almost completely.

Faced with continuing nerve pain in the shoulder-area joints I need for typing, I decided to rest another day. Again, there was no lessening of the pain. And a further blow occurred when the doctor to whom I will go to get a prescription for another round of epidural pain management cancelled my November 19th appointment. I had to remake it for a week later, which gives me only three days in which to get that first epidural in me before heading for Nebraska.

If this siege continues through the night I will try resting downstairs tomorrow, rather than in my bed upstairs, on the theory that something in the angles of my Mama chair will help my shoulder heal up better than lying on my bed.

I perceive this as a time of absolute challenge. I pray I may meet it with joy and thanksgiving. And I have all the unseen help in this universe—Holly, my many and beloved angels, our dear Confederation entities and my favorite saints—as well as wonderful aid from Sonia, Gary and Mick. It is oceans easier to work with one’s physical challenges when one is embedded in a web of love, which I most certainly am.

Mick and I had a quiet evening, came down for late supper with Sonia and then we shared the Gaia Meditation, with me offering the closing prayer tonight.

2009-11-10

November 11, 2009 8:18am

The weather continues ideal! This is the longest stretch of fair weather we’ve seen in months. Mick took full advantage of it today, making the big St. Luke’s campus look good from one end to the other, as well as trimming all of another customer’s seemingly endless supply of hedges and bushes.

Gary was at the L/L Research helm today, finally catching up on a huge spate of e-mail and fiddling with my poor, confused computer as well. Thirty e-mails had backed up in my Outbox and I could not get Jenny Traveller to send any of it. By sheer perseverance Gary finally got my e-mail sent. But the software was balling up on him too, refusing to open several times and refusing to send again and again! He very kindly wrote up a detailed trouble report for Romi. Hopefully, Romi can repair it for me.

The nerve pain centering in my left arm, but including my back, neck and head on that side, had ramped up since yesterday. Unfortunately, typing aggravates it, and so working in the office today would just create a worse problem for me. So I took the day off to rest, and rest I did, although I have to say I am not psychologically designed to “do” resting very well! It was a lot tougher to deal with the nerve pain I am currently experiencing since I was not doing the work in the office which would have taken my mind off of my woes. I really enjoy the work I do for L/L Research and when I am baffled from doing it, I sorely miss it—pun intended! So instead of outer work I spent my time doing inner work, tuning up to thankfulness and peace and keeping myself truly cheerful.

I am very sorry to report that the strategy has not yielded good results so far. If anything I am in worse shape at this day’s end than when I awakened. Here’s hoping that tomorrow I can tell a prettier story.

It was wonderful to cuddle with Mick after our bath. What a blessing his companionship is to me! Later, Gary, Sonia, Mick and I enjoyed a late supper together and shared the Gaia Meditation, with Mick offering the closing prayer.

2009-11-09

November 10, 2009 10:37am

After Morning Offering Mick sailed off to mulch leaves and worked a very full day, picking up Gary and a rental ladder late in the afternoon to clean St. Luke’s gutters, some of which are amazingly high off the ground. It takes two men to wrangle that tall ladder. Mick was thrilled to have that done for the year!

I continued to search our archives for good quotes for Chapter Two of 102. Around 4:00 I simply gave it up for the day, being unable to manage the nerve pain down my left arm. I had a good nap, then a bath with Mick, and then, despite everything, Mick and I had a wonderful date, dancing in the fields of the Lord, which helped put the pain way in the background for a while!

Over a delicious dinner prepared by Sonia, we had a good house meeting. We discussed adjusting Sonia’s duties so that she will be paid by L/L Research instead of the household, which was fine with her and a boon to Gary, who is swamped these days. And Gary announced his plans to move to Valerie’s, lock stock and Tempur-pedic bed! This will not impact his working for L/L Research at all. And I imagine it will smooth Valerie’s life out to be able to depend on his being there of an evening. I am glad to see the move happen.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-08

November 9, 2009 6:05am

This Sabbath was another gorgeous fall day. There is more and more blue sky to see with the branches increasingly bare. Even our hedge is now mostly bare of leaves. Only the wild honeysuckle and the weeping willow are still leafy and green.

At St. Luke’s we had a beautiful service, singing “Gives Almes of thy Goodes” by Tye at the Offertory and a sweet setting by Peel Castle of “Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face” at the Communion. We also sang “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” for the Recessional hymn—a Quaker song and one of my favorite hymns.

After Mick and I had lunched and napped we viewed Hardwired, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. as a man trapped in a science-fiction nightmare. He has had his health insurance cancelled and then been deliberately struck in a traffic accident by agents of the evil Val Kilmer’s company, Hope Incorporated, so that they can insert a computer into his brain that runs adware constantly. Kilmer sports the campiest haircut in the history of Hollywood Bad Ideas in his role as the master manipulator who wants to implant technology into every consumer’s brain so that he sees hallucinatory advertisements on a constant basis.

Corporations are indeed interested in manipulating us to buy their products, so the plot of this film has a kernel of truth, which did not detract from the fact that the script writer took this idea and wrung it into a puddle. We watched it to the end, so clearly it was not such a bad movie, but neither was it any kind of good one in the mainstream sense, despite the earnest efforts of Gooding, Kilmer and Michael Ironsides, who plays a corporate honcho out to murder Gooding.

I was, however, intrigued by two things: the aesthetic sensibility of the film and its music. As we watched the action, the players and sets tended to be all earth tones—grays or tans. Against this ground of ashy color was placed notes of saturated teals, plus occasional accents of orange or red. This held sway for the entire piece. It was quite effective in producing an ambience much like that of an older sci-fi piece in the same genre, Blade Runner. The music was nearly omnipresent and eerie in a pleasant way. Judged strictly as an art film, it comes off far better than judged as a piece of entertainment.

During the ensuing late-afternoon break, I finished a lengthy letter to Papa on which I have been working for almost a month. When I tried to write Gary about it, asking him to include with it a CD of my recent journals, UPI articles and channeling, I could not access MS Outlook. Thank heaven Gary will be at the L/L Research helm tomorrow! I need to see my Calendar!

Melissa and Sonia both started to watch the film with us, but faded away when they found it not to be entertaining enough. They rejoined Mick and me for a good supper and conversation. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-07

November 8, 2009 6:48am

This is the 25th anniversary of Don’s death. I dreamed about him in the night. We were on board a huge airliner with at least four levels, more like a ship of the sea than of the air. It was flying a long, long way to a destination unknown to me. It was lovely to be with him! After a while he left, saying he would return. However, he did not. So I walked all over the airplane, looking for him. I found one place where he had been, the bar. All of the people there were drinking to his health and clearly adored him, just as I did. But he had moved on.

I continued searching for him and finally came up some steps that suddenly placed me outside the airplane, right at the front of the plane, above the cockpit, with nothing below me but space. I froze, like a cat up a tree. The crew talked me back into the plane and I was safe! Whew! I guess my subconscious is still processing the sad fact that he is not on Airplane Earth any more.

However I can see the years have done their work in me. This dream did not sadden me. Rather, I just thought how good it was to be with him in the dream for a while again. What a treat! Of course, every time I tune to channel, there he is as part of my guidance system. So in fact I “see” him often and we still work together as always.

I awakened as sleepy as a hibernating bear and so after the Morning Offering was over, I put myself back to bed, for I knew I needed to be rested for this evening’s channeling circle session. I had a very good rest and only came down for lunch—our Saturday Burger special. Mick had spent his morning taking Chloe and Dan D. Lion to the vet for their annual check-up. They are both very healthy three-year-old kitties. Dan D has no fleas, despite living outdoors, which I think is very clever of him! They got their shots and behaved admirably, Mick said.

In the afternoon, I worked with some e-mail which largely had to do with whether or not we have access to BBS Radio’s audio archives. We need that in order to capture the audio of the interviews I do for Wynn Free and others so they can be transcribed, edited and put on our archive site as text—for the possible aid they might be to seekers.

At 3:00 I entered the chat room on B4 for two hours of Live Chat. It was a very highly energized session, with lots of questions and good energy all around. Steve E. keeps the transcripts of these LC sessions, so people can go back and read them—more possible resources for the seeker. It feels good! Perhaps I am a storekeeper at heart, for I like to see our shelves well stocked with resources for our readers.

Lorena arrived before I got downstairs and napped after that long drive down from Chicago. We got together for supper. Romi came early too. By 8:00, we had Lynn, her husband Walter, Gary, Melissa, Sonia, Baykal, Lorena, Mick and me. It was a large group for us, crowding the living room nicely. Our Channeling Circle consisted of Romi, Lorena, Lynn, Mick and me. We asked Q’uo a main question concerning synchronicity. I will be interested in reading the transcript when it comes back from the transcriber.

We then broke out the wine and cheese and had a lively conversation until about 11:00. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-06

November 7, 2009 6:48am

The good weather held today and after Morning Offering Mick and Gary made the most of it, getting all the Friday jobs done and then ending with mulching leaves for a customer whose capacious yard resembles a forest.

I had chapel time and wrote my journal entries before heading off with Diane to Images Salon to have a facial and get my hair cut. Diane had her hair colored. We stopped by the Cheesecake Factory Restaurant on the way home so Diane could get a turkey burger and I, a soup-and-half-sandwich plate. It was delicious!

When I returned home it was e-mail time for me, as I had gotten swamped.

- I wrote Ian further concerning changes of text in the Carla’s Niche page on llr.org.

- I wrote him again concerning the work he is doing with Angelo to get good translations into Spanish of Q’uo sessions.

- Don N of BBS Radio sent me new instructions for uploading our sessions for broadcast to BBS.com and I forwarded those to Romi.

- Elihu proposed a recipe exchange so I sent him the recipe for the tomato-artichoke soup we had at this year’s Homecoming. I do not think the software was working properly, because there were supposed to be a chain of other addresses in the letter and there was only Eli!

- I sent Gary instructions for how to pay for the upgrade Mish needs in order to keep translating our work a la Francais.

- I passed Ian’s thoughts, in two batches, on FTP servers on to Gary. The tenor is, we do not want to use one. They are troublemakers because of unlimited access.

- I welcomed Lorena L to stay overnight when she comes to the Channeling Circle session tomorrow night.

- I thanked Sonia for sending me her cell phone number to add to my contact information for her.

- When Mike Quinsey was late in calling me for my interview, I sent an e-mail to him inquiring whether or not I had the right time down.

Then Mike did call, and we had a most enjoyable hour conversing about 2012 and other things. I went downstairs for a bath shared with Mick when the interview finished and then he and I had a lovely and most inspiring date before we came down at nine for a late supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer.

2009-11-05

November 6, 2009 9:19am

Another gorgeous day! After Morning Offering Mick set out to mow his largest acreage, seven acres, all of it heavily treed. It took him forever to mulch the leaves, he said, but he got it all looking pretty. The rest of his day was easy after that!

Both Sonia and Melissa were in and out all day, working with this and that. The house is shining more and more as Sonia cleans things her way, which is more thorough than Mick’s. Women just see things differently, I think. And the more detailed care makes the energy in the house pop nicely.

After I got my journals written and had prayer time, I began collecting quotes on love for Chapter 2 of 102. I got some nice quotes on unconditional love, but am having much more of a challenge finding good Confederation quotes on lesser forms of love, like romantic and brotherly love. There was a good deal of reading on-line through our archives and about 4:00 I got buzzed out from the hours of concentration and left the office to go through my closet one last time and remove summer-weight garments. That made a nice change and my closet is now winter-ready.

Around the edges I wrote e-mail. Besides a bumper crop of forwards—I send them to the people who send them to me, in the areas which they send me, and I get a lot of good forwards to share—I:

- Wrote to Ian concerning the new issue of Light/Lines and also about other website issues, Angelo’s translations of our work into Spanish, reworking the text on the Carla’s Niche page and other items.

- Wrote to Rick in Maine to thank him for his saga of the squirrel and the fox—the squirrel got away!

- Wrote to Miles several times as we discussed how to finalize a unified version of Anne H’s interview with me.

- Wrote to Sonia proposing a possible co-project, cleaning drawers in the hutch in the kitchen, which she really can’t do without me to say yea and nay on pitching things.

- Called Anthem Rx again and then wrote Gary to let him know that I had requested the last form he needs before finishing his report on Anthem’s screw-up.

- Wrote Gary and told him to go ahead and exchange a T-shirt for a customer who cut out the tag, then realized the shirt was the wrong size. We lost some bucks there, but the customer is always right!

- Wrote Gary to crow about receiving the initial payment from our Italian-translation people at Stazione Celeste for their translation of 101.

- Wrote Aaron thanking her for sending me fascinating information on making domes inexpensively. This is probably going to be my next UPI article.

At lunchtime, Gary and I had a very good talk and planning meeting. I am always impressed at how Gary and I can go head to head on things about which we disagree without the least stress or strain, in an atmosphere of total mutual respect. How I wish we could share that willingness to work in humility towards common goals with the world at large. I am most lucky to work with Gary. Indeed, I am fortunate in all of our little spiritual family, for all seem to have that ability to keep the goal and mission in mind. It makes for a peaceful daily life!

Mick got home fairly late, but we snuck in time for a bath before he took me to choir practice. We are now rehearsing Christmas Eve music! It is definitely That Time of Year! Then we shared a late supper with Gary, Sonia and Melissa and offered the Gaia Meditation together. Gary said the closing prayer.

2009-11-04

November 5, 2009 8:45am

Except for a damp and misty beginning to the morning, the weather held today, sunny and golden and warm. Locally we had no races on which to vote except for one part of this county which decided to go “wet” and allow alcoholic beverages to be sold. So there was no political hoopla here.

Across the river in Indiana, however, gambling was made lawful and four casinos were given license to build. People do seem to love to gamble—which to me is a synonym for “lose money stupidly”—and the state loves the income. The only loser is the guy who cannot afford to lose his hard-earned wages, but does.

After Morning Offering Mick set out on his mowing day, which was marred by two break-downs, both on Fielder. First the big belt came off, and Mick stopped to take the mower to Louisville Tractor, where they did a quick fix. Later one of the big back tires got a flat and again Mick had to stop and take the tire to Big O Tires for repair. He still managed to get all his work done! Go Mick!

I spent the first part of my work day writing my journal entries and having chapel time. I finished those things just in time to chat with Barbara B by relay phone—Ba is deaf—and we had a good conversation for about an hour. One good thing that came out of the talk was that I shipped her the final version of The Aaron/Q’uo Dialogues. Ba’s editor had asked her if she had a book prepared which contained conversations with Aaron. So we thought, well, why not conversations with Aaron and Q’uo? Here’s hoping. It would be very helpful to L/L Research’s and Deep Springs’ exchequers to find a niche in the mainstream spiritual book market. And that is wonderful material if I do say so myself.

After lunch I finished writing the UPI article on discernment and sent that off to their www.religionandspirituality.com site and to Gary so he can send it out to our “send” list. The letters from Ellie were very synchronistic and I used them, I hope to good effect.

Sonia spent her day focusing on cleaning up and clearing out our kitchen hutch. She kept visible the cookbooks she wants to explore and put the rest down under the hutch’s ledge, in its lower shelves. The results are a much improved and cleaner space there. Now for the hutch’s drawers!

With my left side nagging at me all day, I was more than happy to lay down my work and bathe and then snuggle with Mick when he came home. We shared supper and the Gaia Meditation with Sonia. Mick offered the closing prayer tonight.

2009-11-03

November 4, 2009 9:30am

Once again the sun shone bright on our old Kentucky home, gradually warming us into the low sixties F. Mick had a very good day, going out after Morning Offering and finishing every job on his plate, plus the little extras he so often does for his customers at no charge.

Sonia spent a good portion of her day working in the kitchen, organizing our supplies and making lasagna, salad and creamed peas for our dinner. Melissa was in and out, partly working for Jim’s customer, finishing up her move, and partially working here on paperwork and on the front porch to make my outdoor “office” more comfortable for me. Gary was at the L/L helm today, swamped with e-mail.

After I finished my chapel time and journal entries, I settled in to edit the transcript of a special meditation we had done for Joel R. The topic he chose to pursue was talking with his guidance, and I imagine that session will be helpful for many people besides him, when Ian gets it added to our archive. I was challenged today with a worsening of the nerve pain in my head, neck, back and down my left arm, so things went a bit more slowly for me all round!

After lunch, I tackled the writing of the UPI article again, and was happily interrupted - more about why I was happy below - by Gary, who was ready to clear away several matters. In the ensuing planning meeting, we finalized the information we asked Miles to place on the YouTube video, got the information needed for the archive site in archiving our Homecoming Gathering and our latest Channeling Intensive, sent publicity to Ian to post on my upcoming talk in January on Kona, Hawaii and filled out a tortuously complex government form which the Italian non-profit company who is publishing 101 in Italian needs in order to make royalty payments to us here in the USA.

While I was downstairs I worked with Melissa in the front porch “office” while she measured and schemed. I will end up with a far more comfy station out there after she is done. She will finish the project in a couple of days.

Now for why I was happy to be interrupted by Gary! The most exciting thing happened while I was working with him! Ellie had written in to us with questions about the dream experiences she had which led her to our work. They were along the lines of inquiry which I am addressing in my current article on discernment. When I pick up the writing of that article tomorrow, I will write it in response to her questions. It will make the article much better. I love synchronicities like this! They let me know I am on task and on target in my creative work.

Along the way I wrote some e-mail.

I worked with Romi and Ian, trying to figure out whether or not we want to invest in Office 2007. Later in the day, Romi and I again mulled this over. We have almost surely decided to pass it up, since it contains many changes which are hard to follow, yet which offer nothing new.

I thanked Delinda B and Father Joe for encouraging me in creating the Quiet Day at St. Luke’s next February for Lent 2010.

I wrote Diane, Rick’s wife, in sympathy as she just had her beloved Dad pass through the gates into larger life.

I wrote Aaron T to thank her for her magnificent transcribing work and also for referring me to a real difference-maker, Michael Young. I added Young to my store of UPI article ideas. There are so many wonderful people in this world that I know I will never run out of good subjects! I have over two dozen candidates for difference-maker articles just waiting for me to take them up and tell their stories.

Mick and I had a bath together at dusk and then I napped next to him, restoring my energies for the evening channeling session requested by author Robert Schwartz. At 7:30 I tuned for the session. Gary, Romi, Sonia, Mick and I joined Schwartz on the telephone for the session at eight. His question had to do with why people on Earth suffer so much. I think it was a good session. I look forward to reading the transcript.

We then enjoyed a late supper together and fine conversation. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2009-11-02

November 3, 2009 8:46am

Mick and I awakened to a lovely fall day, golden and warm. After Morning Offering he got out there and worked his hardest, mulching leaves all over Anchorage. Everything took longer than usual because of all the leaf-fall and then Susie’s muffler came off and she had to be taken to Mower Hospital at Louisville Tractor, so he did not arrive home until close to 7:00 p.m. And he still did not get his last yard finished, as the darkness overtook him. It was one tough day for Mick.

I experienced no angel naps today, the first day since the Gathering that this has been true. I am very glad to be recouping my energies at last. For a while there I wondered if they were gone forever! The first part of the morning was consumed in administrative details.

• I got my journal entries made,

• and called for an appointment at the Norton Leatherman Spine Center. It is time to ask for a new series of epidural cortisone shots there. I have more and more referred pain symptoms in my arms and hands as well as low in my back, and that technique helps with that quite a bit.

• And I got Gary organized on getting Mick some sessions from which to choose the next issue of Light/Lines.

• I called St. Luke’s and reserved a photo appointment after choir practice next week, for their new pictorial directory.

• And I asked Melissa to call her plumber to come out and help us with the kitchen pipes and our outdoor spigot.

• I sent Connie Mick’s wrist and ankle measurements so she can make him replacement copper-bead bracelets. These aid greatly with his Osteo-arthritis. And he has lost them as they have broken on the job after a couple of years’ service.

I got out the newly arrived transcript of the September 26th channeling session and edited that before lunch. It is an interesting session on the question of temptation/catalyst.

After a brief and early lunch, Melissa, Sonia and I went on a hunt for a bedside chest with drawers for the dual purpose of holding the book, beverage and other bedside items on top and holding her lingerie in the drawers. After a rapid-fire trip through Garden Ridge and one through Wal-Mart we found the perfect item, something inexpensive but quite adequate that had “wood” the same shade as the other wood in that room, a cross between maple and pine. Until we retrieve Sonia’s sewing machine from Europe, where she took it when she went to visit a friend last year, and from where she could not bring it when she came home due to changing airplane rules, her needs are met. Yay! She spent the rest of the afternoon piecing the thing together. Those “furniture in a box” folks do not make this easy!

I settled into an afternoon of collecting quotes on discernment for my UPI article. I ran out of steam around four and contemplated lying down, as my left arm and shoulder is bothering me, but eventually I rallied and made a needed phone call on the Quiet Day project, to the head of St. Luke’s Magnificat Chapter of Daughters of the King. The Quiet Day starts with a luncheon, and I wanted to discover if that group would be interested in providing the food for the lunch and the beverages for the day.

It was a most positive conversation, and Carolyn E committed her group to doing just that. She will call me later in the week, after the Daughters have met and voted officially to co-sponsor this event. We will craft the announcements and publicity together.

I am so glad to see this event coming together! I shall write the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer to let them know that it is happening when the details are more completely firmed up.

I spent the remainder of my work day writing Papa, who recently sent me lots of good MP3’s to hear, including some very good music, and of course his voluminous journals.

Melissa came back to Camelot after her afternoon of working with Mick’s customer who is moving. That huge job is almost done now. She was overseeing the placement of a dumpster today. Mick and I bathed and snuggled till nine and then came down to rejoin Melissa and Sonia for the Gaia Meditation, at which I offered the closing prayer, and a late supper.

2009-11-01

November 2, 2009 8:31am

It was a lovely autumn Sabbath, sunny and mild. I enjoyed the day at church greatly. It was a beautiful service in honor of All Saints’ Day. We sang the same hymns which were sung in the church at its first meeting one hundred years ago, in honor of the centennial celebration. For our Offertory we sang Isaac Watts’ sweet poem, “There Is a Land of Pure Delight”, put to music by Grayston Ives, and for communion we sang “O Quam Gloriosum” by Tomas Luis de Victoria. At the end of the service, we sang the Taize chant, “Jesus, Remember Me” over and over while Fr. Joe intoned the names of all those buried from St. Luke’s in the year just passed. I loved Fr. Joe’s sermon on saints. He quoted a little boy as saying that saints are people through whom Jesus’ light shines.

After lunch and a nap, Mick and I viewed The Proposal, a romantic comedy with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds starring as a woman from Canada who needs to marry quickly in order to avoid deportation and her sidekick. Bullock plays the high-powered editor who bargains with her assistant in order to wed. Betty White steals several scenes playing the dotty grandmother who manages to help both people realize that it’s actually a good match. It was sweet fun, fueled by excellent filming on location in Sitka, Alaska and a wonderful sound track put together by Dennis Sands. No Oscars will come from this film, but it was wholesome and good, full of humor and delightfully quirky.

Sonia spent her day watching pro football, as she is a real fan, curled up with Chloe at times. The cats have taken to her, unfortunately to the extent that they keep bringing her dead field mice. We have GOT to get the kitchen sink’s plumbing repaired. I believe the little critters are coming into the house there. One chorus of “This Old House” - Camelot was built in 1923.

I spent my break time writing my journal entries and then writing to Papa for a while. We all got back together for dinner and the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer.

2009-10-31

November 1, 2009 6:54am

This day felt enchanted to me. The weather was pretty, sunny and cool, sweater weather. The leaves are falling very quickly now and many trees are bare.

I came upstairs after Morning Offering and batted out some personal e-mail before having chapel time and writing my journal entries. An angel nap ensued, and I woke from that to find that it was time to meet Linnie for lunch.

It was an exquisitely beautiful visit, which we had over lunch at the Butterfly Tearoom behind Dolfinger’s in the St. Matthews Plaza. We had not seen each other in such a long time, almost a year! And our friendship dates back to 1969! She is family, because when I met her, she and her husband were living with Don Elkins’ Aunt Tot and Uncle Marion.

For many years, Tot, Linnie and I went out one day a week for lunch and shopping and Linnie and I got very close. When Marion died, Linnie and I made sure that Tot had all that she needed. It was fairly intensive because Tot was a very dependent person and she wanted to go out to eat every single day of the week. Somehow we managed!

Tot’s last three years were bedridden, as she broke her hip and never recovered. Again, Linnie and I rallied around. When Tot passed into larger life, Linnie asked me to do the readings at her funeral—as I had also for Uncle Marion when he passed—and we rejoiced that we had taken care of this demanding but very lovable woman as she wished. I believe Linnie’s and my closeness to be true unity and our affection is bone deep.

Things started getting tough for Linnie a couple of years ago. Her husband, who is eighteen years her senior, is now 84. He can barely walk, using a big cane. He cannot work any longer, and his shame at that lack has made him cranky and bitter. And he has symptoms which make it very hard for him to leave home, with closeness to the bathroom. So Linnie shoulders the burden of earning their money and does all of the housework, cooking and errands. Larry sits at the computer all day, every day, and reads about trains and transportation in general.

When Linnie had gall bladder surgery early this year, things got really hard. She recovered fine, but then got the flu, then a sinus infection. Being Linnie, she kept all this to herself. I would call and we would talk, but she would just say that she could not make it out to visit. So I was not there for her, which is such a shame! But that was her wish.

Finally, we were together again and the visit was magical! My beautiful, beautiful friend! It was sheer bliss to share in her vibrations. Linnie is an earth-angel, and love shines from her large gray eyes. Her voice is gentle and I have never in all these years heard a cruel or petty word come from her lips. What a blessing to see her again! We are determined not to be apart any more, and agreed to try to meet for lunch every six weeks or so from now on.

When I returned home, Mick had finished a big round of errands and was settling in to watch some college football, and I sat with him, relishing his dear presence, and read while Sonia and he enjoyed their ball games. At three p.m. I went upstairs for B4’s weekly Live Chat, and after that again spent some time with e-mail. I wrote Ian concerning a question he had about a channeling session. And I sent him Gary’s carefully prepared folder of materials to post in the archives from our Channeling Intensive of last weekend.

After our bath, Mick and I joined Sonia and Gary for supper and more football. Melissa came by after working for Mick’s customer, still helping her to move. She had received some costume items—lots of big Mardi Gras beads, a graduation robe and a stunning feathered mask, which she donned when kids came by to “trick-or-treat”. She is a natural performer and had us laughing till we gasped as she teased the kids at the door. I told her, “Melissa, you are a joy to know!”

Baykal came at 8:00 to join our silent meditation. It was a very good meditation for me. Afterwards we poured a glass of wine for everyone, and put out cheese and crackers as we conversed, with the football game on but the sound off. I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer tonight.

November, 2009

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November, 2009