$400 and still going

Dear friends,

Following yesterday's Downtown Country Fair in Willimantic, CT, I am so happy to let you know that we have raised $400 to date from the sale of my poetry book to donate to environmental work organizations. 

The next donation will be to Center for Whale Research, working to protect critically endangered Orca whales in Washington state.

I am so grateful to be able to contribute in a small way to helping these amazing creatures, and thank you so much for helping.

In case you didn't know, my poetry book is called Fertile Ground: Beauty and Brokenness, and you can get it for $15 at Shundahai Farm, or at the Willimantic Food Coop, or on Etsy, at https://www.etsy.com/shop/shundahaishop

I will continue to donate 100% of the profits to environmental organizations such as Natural Resources Defense Council, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, and Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket. 

Thank you for making a difference 🍄🌎🐬

In light of current events in the news, etc.

I want so badly to be light again 

This heaviness I carry 

I am so tired

And yet, somehow, the openness,

The sky above

Knowing how many others stand beneath it,

Feeling like me,

I know that there's a way

Mark your calendar: Saturday 10 to 2

Dear friends, I will be at the Willimantic Downtown Country Fair this coming Saturday,10/29, from 10 to 2pm. I will have a table, selling my poetry book Fertile Ground: Beauty and Brokenness. 

The book costs $15, and I will donate 100% of profits from the event to Center for Whale Research, an organization currently working to help critically endangered Orca whales like Tahlequah, the mother recently in the news, who pushed her dead baby for over 17 days.

I have already donated $300 from previous sales of my book to Natural Resources Defense Council, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, and Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket. I hope you come out on Saturday (the weather looks great) and help me help these beautiful Orcas, who are suffering as a result of human actions. Thank you so much and I hope to see you there.

If you cannot make, you can also find my book at the Willimantic Food Coop, and online at etsy.com/shop/shundahaishop

I am also donating 100% of profits from those sales.

Anonymous note

My friend Amy found this anonymous note on the street in Williamsburg, VA. It says: 

"What I think is important:

Getting a lot of likes/ followers on social media 

Having tons of friends 

Being skinny/pretty 

Having boys that like me 

Being good at sports 

Getting good grades 

Going to a nice college"

I love this note for how much it reveals, and it also kills me. I hope so much for this young girl that she finds a real friend and some healthy appreciation for herself sooner rather than later.

It also kills me, because many of us who are grown up with kids of our own, STILL, fundamentally feel the same. Our criteria may be a little different, but just as sad and superficial and self defeating.

Prayers for healing for the young person who wrote this note, and for all of us; may find our way, may we help each other, lift each other, and walk in beauty.

Peace 

Something precious

These are marigold seeds in the picture, harvested from our flowers and drying for next year. They smell so good...

Peace 

Fall equinox

Cheerful wild asters bloom, as if to celebrate this beautiful fall equinox day. Enjoy this time of year, of equal light and dark, time when nature begins to draw inward, as if setting an example for us. Time for cozy things, rest, relaxation, recovery. And time also to give gratitude to the elements, earth air water fire, and to all of our relatives, plants and animals, for all their beautiful gifts and abundance that sustain all of us. 

Ometeo - All my relations

Peace 

By your side

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Minoan Goddess

This picture is of a Minoan goddess statue, currently in the Louvre. She is from prehistory, and very lovely. She has her hand on her heart, and a knowing, benevolent smile on her lips. They call her Lady of Auxerre.

I am freaking out a little, because when I found recently, I felt like I was looking at a picture of myself, but in stone, since this has become a favorite meditation for me, with the hand on the heart.

Here's a picture I took last march. I know it's a coincidence, but still, I feel a little like she's reflecting from prehistory, validating something.

Peace 

Glimmer

I hope you have a beautiful day, no matter where you are in life. There's always beauty, even in the darkness days. Remember that when you're not feeling strong, and don't let anyone or anything take away your ability to see it.

Peace 

Walk in beauty

Inspired by Princess Mononoke

These days we all want everything 

We've been told we deserve it 

We live in chronic scarcity

But have more than we need 

We always fear being deprived

It's all done by design 

In this system that profits by

Our sickness and unhappiness 

We're taught that competition is the way 

Only the fittest survive 

Where has this brought us?

There's nothing here to win my friend 

I quit playing this game 

I'll fight you only for one thing 

That you forget these lies 

Refresh your mind, your heart 

So you can find the love,

The peace you're looking for 

And live in harmony again 

While there's still time,

Reflect upon these things,

Quiet your mind 

Honor your life and every other life 

Take only what you need 

Give what you can 

And may you walk in beauty

This beautiful tree

I feel happy to be able to be near this tree every day.

Shelter me in your beauty

For I am weary 

The stories I've been told,

The tricks that I have learnt,

Let me forget.

It's here in the light 

That I will wait 

Till I see clearly 

What I am.

I ask for guidance

That I may do some good

An opportunity

Rain can bring nourishment and relief, or it can bring destruction and devastation. Just like us.

Presence

Real presence can be more healing than any words.

Peace 

Beneath

The answers

I found this to be true in my life, but of course, the hard part is waiting patiently for the answers to arise, when I really want them right now!!!

The flower in the picture is a nasturtium I picked to decorate a salad I made last Sunday. I love nasturtiums, and the bees and humming birds love them too. Speaking of which, we had a resident humming bird that came to all my flowers, and it was so much fun to hear him and see him every day. I called him Hummy. The whole family would give me reports of whether they saw Hummy and what he was doing. But last week he stopped coming. It was his time to fly south, and as I thought about him on his journey, I felt like a little part of me went away with him. He was my Hummy and also a wild animal, and I wonder what places he's seeing now, and maybe other people will come to love him too. I hope so, and wish him safe travels.

Peace 

No need

Contentment

Beautiful morning.

The feel of fall is in the air.

Sitting here with my coffee.

All bundled up and cozy.

Too slow to think, and plan, and organize.

Content to simply be. 

The silence in my head -Contentment.

I love this time of year so much! Thank goodness we're done with that heat...

Peace 

What does Nike believe in?

"Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything" sounds great, but ask yourself what does Nike believe in. Probably whatever sells. 

You don't have to go out and buy Nike in order to believe in or support Kaepernick's message of ending racism and police violence.

Not trying to be a downer, and I do think that there are good aspects about Kaepernick and his message getting so much publicity through Nike, but I also think it's important to think for yourself in a critical way (remember the sweat shops).

Yes, we should definitely do everything we can to stop racism and police violence. But we don't need to go out and buy Nike in order to do that.

These are my thoughts.

Peace 

A nice thing

Last weekend, Ed and the girls took me out to Kathmandu, a Nepalese Restaurant here in town, and got me flowers and a little gift to celebrate that I sold almost all my books (only 5 left!). That was really nice of them, and it made me feel special. Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture just then, so I'll post this one of the four of us from earlier this year, when we were in California.

Peace

Love in action

I saw this phrase, "Love in action" recently, and I thought, how appropriate. Like Goethe said:

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." I feel that the same applies to love.

One thing that's been bringing me joy and satisfaction, and that has been a small way for me to put love in action this season, is the little garden I created.

It cost me next to nothing, money wise, since everything is reused. I spent peanuts for seeds. It cost me time wise, but I can honestly say I loved every second. And the rewards have been amazing: so much beauty and peace.

One unexpected aspect that I absolutely love is all the wildlife my garden has been attracting: humming birds, all kinds of bees and bumble bees, dragon flies; there have been 4 hawks too coming really close, and just letting us know they're here every day, but I can't say that they're here for the garden, although who knows?

I feel like all I did was plant some seeds and cared for them, and it gave rise to a whole mini ecosystem, which took on its own life. 

I am so grateful, and I really encourage you to plant something and make your own little space, and watch life thrive. But please never use sprays, pesticides, etc. You don't need them and you'd be creating more harm than good, so in that case, better not to do anything at all.

I hope my sharing this was useful to you in some way. 

Peace 

Lovely nonetheless

I was inspired to write this little poem by the view from inside a little shed at a friend's house.

I have discovered a small window 

To the outside;

Been trapped inside this darkness 

For too long;

And what I see,

Though not what I expected,

Maybe not what I wanted,

Is lovely, nonetheless 

Peace 

Open wide the doors of understanding

The things they said would bring you joy 

Have only made you suffer

You've built your expectations,

And worked so hard

Molded yourself into 

Whatever was required

To get that job, that house, that body 

To go on that vacation

And when you finally got

What you were looking for

You lived in fear

Of losing it

And you became its servant.

Do not berate yourself 

For falling in this trap

Through which we all must walk 

Before we stop believing 

But ask instead,

What truly brings you joy

Decide that for yourself;

And as for me, I say

Try taking out the "you"

And open wide

The doors of understanding 

And let that be the guide 

The river

That feeling

of driving with the windows down. I love that.