I’ve been reading Diane Wilson’s Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life. The material is new to me, yet deeply familiar. Reading the book is somehow like coming home.
My sister called last night. I returned her call this morning. As sometimes happens, we got to talking about our upbringing. I was musing about how “Native” our parent’s values were. “No surprise,” my sister suggested, “Dad’s Mom was a full blood.” Continue reading
Today is the Autumn Equinox. Perhaps I’ll walk to the end of our street, look out over the lake and mountains, and finally figure out due west.
The equinoxes are about balance. Light and Darkness stand for a brief moment in something approaching equilibrium. Of course, this is a daily occurrence for people living on the equator, and the equinox perhaps has less meaning. Here in the high latitudes, the Equinox has held great meaning since time immemorial.
As a survivor of a catastrophic bout of polio, balance and equilibrium are major concerns for me. Falling is an ever present danger, and as I age, falling becomes more dangerous. I work hard to keep bones fit, but osteoporosis is a real threat for anyone with limited mobility. Continue reading
Spring is finally here! This morning we have sun! Actually, we have had sun for a couple of days now. This follows nearly eight inches of rain during April, which, accompanied by snow melt resulted in much flooding.
Grades are nearly ready to pass in…..
Tonight we attend a belated community Sedar, honoring the local refuge communities.
Somehow, I missed Blogging Against Disability Day. I’m not sure how that happened. Oh, bother…. Visit the site and read the many posts from around the world.
Here is a lovely post by Mom on the Side, who wrote about a reunion, and posted splendid photos of the event. Here is an excerpt.
Very excited today not because of the Royal Wedding but because Kristine came to visit we haven’t seen her for years and had completely lost touch.
It was so great for the girls to catch up and find out what the other has been doing. They have both grown so much in the last 4 years and there have been challenges and changes for both of them . Kristine is the only other girl we know like Chelsea and I was so happy that they bonded immediately. There was lots of sharing, talking and laughter.
They are the same age but ironically Chelsea who is British goes to the American School and Kristine who is American goes to the British School Tanglin so their paths may never have crossed if they both hadn’t done their FHC at St Ignatius….
This set me to thinking about how much of a drain my Polio and recovery must have been for my already overworked, and cash short parents. I also thought about my sister who went to live with relatives for several months so my parents could try to deal with the demands of caring for me. I deeply appreciate them all.
Being spring, my brain fog has intensified along with the fatigue. Sometimes we manage to get away to a warm place for a few days during the winter, which makes an enormous difference in my pain and energy levels. This year we did not. Thus, the fog has rolled in and seems intent on staying. Blogeration wrote about her experience with “Brain Fog”. Here is a bit of her post:
My renown loquaciousness abandoned me the instant I tried to write essays, leaving me slumped over the keyboard and close to tears, struggling to recall the sentence I had formed in my head ten seconds ago.
Is that familiar or what?!
I hope Spring has come to your neighborhood, wherever you may live. Blessings!
We are solidly embedded in the Twelve Days of Christmas, the time between Christmas Day and January 6th, Epiphany. The natural world lies deep in early winter dormancy. We have had a few cold days. Today is warmer. A light snow falls.
Our neighbors are out on skis and snowshoes. Some access the trails by cutting through our yard, waving and shouting to us as they do. The woods are inviting; they seem to call us out, into the chill and quiet. A few birds twitter from the trees. The wind whistles, purrs, and occasionally, moans in the treetops. The snow crackles under our booted feet.
New Year’s Eve is Friday. Usually the night is cold, a challenge for those revelers out for Burlington’s First Night celebration. This year, the forecast is for record warm nighttime temperatures. New Year’s Day promises rain showers and highs in the mid to upper forties. Warmer nighttime temperatures is a trend in Vermont, a trend consistent with global warming models.
Another very noticeable change is the dramatic decline in fine arts events as part of First Night. This trend began a few years ago and seems to be accelerating. First Night began as an arts focused events, but now primarily showcases popular culture. For those of us who enjoy chamber and early music, this is a significant loss.
Thinking about First Night, I am reminded we seem to have misplaced our communal sense of balance. Traditional peoples, whether in the Americas or India, place a high value on finding the balance between innovation and tradition. (Did you know there are First Nations composers of new classical music!?) Of course, we do not always succeed, for the lure of the new is very powerful. There seems to be less of a focus on balance in Western cultures.
In the First Nations view of the world, the challenge is to find that illusive point or practice that keeps our lives, and the world, in balance. That task is passed from person to person, generation to generation. We are always losing our way, then, somehow, finding our way back to the path. Ritual and ceremony help both to right our imbalances, and illuminate the path ahead.
The Twelve Days of Christmas remind us the sacred dwells in the very corporeality of our lives, in the world’s very flesh and bone. So we live our lives, aware of our mortality and the transient nature of all being. Balance has something to do with our capacity to dwell in the sacred moment, and to feel gratitude, right along with love, sadness, and fear. From that dwelling sometimes comes epiphany. May it be so for you.