Go to the Birds!

Why Birds?  I have had extraordinary experiences with birds. 

For example, a few years back I was feeding the birds around and in a large bush in front of my living room window.  I had been in the kitchen, and when I went to the living room, I saw a bird with a very long tail. It was sidewise to me, and then it turned directly towards me.  I caught the feeling of this bird, wanting food but unable to get at it because of it's long tail. 

I watched, and waited, and finally it did find a way to get out of the bush. 

In the aftermath, it felt important to see what kind of bird this was.  With help from an ornithologist (a bird specialist) I discovered this was a juvenile cormorant.  Now a cormorant is almost always found on the edge of the sea.  It eats fish.  So the food I had for the usual bird wouldn't have worked anyway.  I wonder still whether that juvenile bird found his way to the bay off the Pacific Ocean some few miles away.

More recently, I saw a juvenile Northern Harrier Hawk.  It was on the roof in a place that it was visible from where I was standing.  At first I didn't see much of it, and the back feathers were mostly grey, so I didn't think of it as unusual.  And then it flew.  The underbelly was mostly gold and some grey, and as the bird flew, I saw a round patch of white just at the base of the body.  I had never seen anything like it.  So I got out my Audubon book.  Nothing like it there.  But I wouldn't give up -- I went to Sibley, and quite quickly identified this beauty.  Sibley says the juvenile's gold/orange fades to whitish by spring.  Sibley also said the white rump is always obvious.  I also found that it is a rare occurrence, even though the Northern Harrier is widespread.

Finally, a hawk has been taking refuge in the trees, near to the suet.  I am not sure what kind of hawk, though I suspect it is a Swainson's Hawk.  My guess is that there is actually a pair, nesting in the Rhododendron.  Last year there was a pair of Starlings nesting in a large, 10 foot stump.  There was a hole just enough for the birds to get into it. 

There are lots of usual birds: right at this moment there is a flicker feeding at the suet cage.  There are Finches, Juncos, Chickadees, Sparrows and a Stellar Jay.  I love them all!

The Day After

I had an interesting phone call yesterday evening - a young woman wanted to convince me to vote for same sex marriage.  It was late in the evening, but she was determined.  I told her I had voted a week before, and that I did vote yes on same sex marriage.  I told her I think it is essential.  It is really way past time.

I have friends who are devoted to their partners.  Two women friends have been together for more than twenty years.  They created their own wedding in a park.  I was in the wedding party. The brides were ecstatic.  Some years later they went to Canada:  July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage.

My friends had moved to California, and then the same sex marriage became law there.  The period of granting such licenses began on June 16, 2008, due to a ruling by the Supreme Court of California based on an equal protection argument and ended November 5, 2008, due to the passage of Proposition 8, an amendment to the California Constitution that limited marriages to those between one man and one woman.

Before the passage of Proposition 8, California was only the second state to allow same-sex marriage. Marriages granted by any civil entity, foreign or otherwise, anytime before the passage of Proposition 8 remained legally recognized and retained full state-level marriage rights. Subsequent state legislation established that any same-sex marriages granted by other jurisdictions after the passage of Proposition 8 retain the state rights that come with marriage, except for the legal term "marriage" itself.

Perry v. Brown (formerly Perry v. Schwarzenegger), 671 F.3d 1052, is a case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on February 7, 2012. A three judge appellate panel of the Ninth Circuit held that California's Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative  that amended the state constitution state constitution to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples, was declared unconstitutional. 

This was an historic decision, which opened the way for states to allow same sex marriages.  For me it was important because of my friends, male and female, who are in a same sex union.  The two women I have mentioned went through everything they could in order to be legally married.  There are many challenges for same sex partners who do not have a legal right as married partners.  One of the most basic is part of the usual marriage verbiage: in sickness and in health.  I know some same sex partners who were not even allowed in the hospital room when their beloved were sick or even dying.  Think about it -- it is heartbreaking.

So YES, it is essential!

Perelandra

I first heard of Perelandra in the mid 80's, when I visited a friend.  I wasn't up to par, and she suggested I do a "coning".  MAP is the name of program: Medical Assistance Program, and a coning is a connection with nature: the devas and Pan; and with the human side: the White Brotherhood, and with my own soul. The Great White Brotherhood is a spiritual order, an organization of Ascended Masters united for the highest purposes of God on Earth.

My friend had me read the process, and I settled in comfortably on the sofa.  Immediately when I asked, I saw symbols for my White Brotherhood personal MAP team and my team for helping others.  The symbols for my teams were so perfect for me: a bear for my personal work, and a momma bear herding her babies for working with others.  I was born in Alaska, and bear has been my healing ally, with me all my life.

Later, the same friend was learning to work with flower essences, and I was a guinea pig.  She would put together a flower essence combination for me, and I would take it for a couple of weeks.  Often when I came back to tell what happened, I thought nothing had happened.  Then she would read what I had described that I wanted to work on. And the issue had been resolved, usually with such ease I hardly noticed that anything was different. 

An intuitive friend told me I would make my own essences, and I scoffed at that.   Then, in 1992, I moved to the country.  There was large back yard, and lots of well composted horse manure. My housemate had the garden workbook, but wasn't using it and gave it to me.  So  I made a garden with the help of the devas and nature spirits.  When flowers filled the garden,  I thought it was a great idea to make essences. One day when I was in the garden making essences, I called the friend who foretold that I would make essences.

A few years later a friend gave me the entire sets of Perelandra essences, along with the books!  And, you guessed it,  off I went again to work with conings of all kinds.  I have used conings for myself and for others.  I also use a coning to do almost anything difficult, important, or new to me.  It always makes anything easier.

I am SOOO grateful: for Perelandra, and for all the people who helped along the way.  I suggest you check it out at www.perelandra-ltd.com/

Hair!

 My grandmothers were such a wonderful, profound part of my life.  They always loved me, and they taught me a lot.  But some of our time together was very special.  I remember one summer when I was about three years old my Mom was busy with something, and hadn't the money or space to hire a full-time nanny.  So I spent half the the summer with each of my grandmothers.

My Dad's Mother was in Wisconsin Dells.  Most of my cousins were living in this summer resort.  I was in the middle of the cousins age-wise.  Grandma Kimball, my Dad's Mom, would pick berries and I ate as many as I could.  In later years I would pick along side her.  She picked at least twice as fast as I was, even when I was in college.

I remember that my Mom called her Mom "Ma" but my Mom wouldn't allow me to call her Ma!  Gramma Long lived in a very small village, and there was an outhouse.  It was a novelty, but not my favorite thing to use.  She cooked over a wood-fired iron cook-stove. And I can remember her skill.  She made donuts, which I had never had before that time.  There was a dog, and lots of cats.

My most vivid memory of that summer is about my hair.  I have lots of very thick, curly hair, even today.  Now, of course, it is short.  But until late in grade school it was mostly long.  My Mother would put it into ringlets after the weekly hair washing (I hated it!).  And each morning she brushed and tamed my hair into shape.  But the Grandmothers hadn't the practice that Mom had.  I don't remember how well, or not, they were at taming my mane.  But I am sure it was a challenge!

I had gone to camp the summer I was two.  My parents were teaching, and I was with a group of children of various ages. The counselors were very strict about keeping the children together, and not allowing them to sit with parents. We had meetings in a large tent, and I could see my Mom and Dad.  I escaped and went to sit with them, but someone came and got me.  I don't think I dared cry.

So . . . that week my hair went unbrushed.  My Dad tells me that he saw me with the group, my hair wild and tangled.  I don't remember what it took for Mom to get it back to shining orderly curls.

I also had an "Auntie."   Auntie Anna Esau wasn't really an aunt.  Though she was almost old enough to be a granny, she never married.  We had a wonderful friendship.  Anna adored me and I adored her.  Often people would stop and comment on how beautiful my hair was.  At the time I was less than five years old. I didn't know better when I went up to passersby and said, "Isn't my hair pretty?"  And, of course, they said yes, probably with a chuckle.  My Mom was mortified, but Anna just laughed and said, "She's just telling the truth!"

These days, I have a wonderful friend who has hair a lot like mine.  He has a hair salon, and tames the curls, now short, and makes them beautiful.  Thank you Ward Wicklund!

The Music of Ireland

Today I listened to the "Irish Priests", one of my Christmas favorites, even though it isn't really Christmas music.  Dad heard the music and asked for the CD to listen to, and we got into a discussion about Ireland.  I think my Irish blood is about 4 or 5 generations back.  My Irish ancestors were part of the Long clan.  My Grandfather on my Mother's side was Vern Long.

My Dad has been to Ireland and I haven't - yet.  He learned quite a bit about Ireland however, when he went there.  He told me about a book:  How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahill.  Cahill argues a case for the Irish people's critical role in preserving Western Civilization from utter destruction by the Huns and the Germanic tribes.  The Wikipedia entry is skeptical.  I would guess that there were many factors in European civilization, including the Irish monks toiling away at copying books. 

 We do know that Ireland has a long history of avoiding death as a penalty in any case.  We also know that St. Patrick brought Christianity, or to be precise, Catholicism, to Ireland.  Whether he got rid of the snakes is a very different question!  We also know that the Irish have music in their blood.  My Grandpa loved to sing, and it was one of the few ways of entertainment on the farm when my Mother was growing up.  Not so long before my Grandpa Long went to the nursing home, I went to where he lived, along with my Mother and her husband.  We all sang, even Grandpa.  It was quite wonderful.

No one can dispute the music and dancing of Ireland.  Both music and dance have been important for me as far back as I can remember.  I can't dance anymore in my arthritic body, but I can sing, and I do!  I love to hear beautiful music, especially if it is meaningful and/or fun.  And someday soon, I will visit Ireland in person.

Protest in the Sixties

It has been quite a while since I was in college in the University of Iowa.  It was in the second half of the sixties, and into the beginning of the seventies. Viet Nam was a constant nagging in the background, and at times burst into the open.  Dick Gregory talked to a huge auditorium full of students.  At the time he was on a hunger strike. There were peaceful protests on the grounds of the University, and at one point a temporary building was burned. 

I was in my junior year when Kent State burst into riots.  The University decided that anyone who chose could take their grade as it stood, and go home. I took the option, but I didn't have to go home because I lived off campus.

I was living in a community supported by the Lutheran Church.  We were a fairly large group, and we had adult mentors.  We discussed what we wanted to achieve: to tell adults why we were against the Viet Nam War.  As we had a church supporting us, we went to as many churches as we could, talking about what mattered to us. We simply did not believe war was the way to peace.

The University brought in the National Guards.  I remember taking a walk and passing a place where there were Guardsmen with rifles in hand. I didn't really believe the Guardsman would shoot me just walking by, but it was definitely scary.  Spooky!  The issues are not exactly the same, yet there are similarities.  The young people today are no longer in a lottery, and don't have to go to war against their will.  But there is so much damage to those who choose to go into the military - not just physical.  In fact, the mental and emotional damage can be even more difficult. 

My prayer is that we all will come to terms and stop killing people.  May we learn that we are all part of the whole, and we must learn to respect every being on the planet.

Upside Down Cake

"Let them eat cake!" This phrase is usually attributed to Marie Antoinette, even though there is no evidence for her having said this.  Yet whoever first said this . . . the attitude has survived much too long.  We are seeing it once again in the United States.  The big corporations once had legal boundaries, and once upon a time we had currency backed up with gold. The world we live in is cake turned upside down and messy.

There was a time when employers had a kind of unwritten contract with employees even if there was no written contract.  Employees often spent their entire working life in one corporation or company.  Now I don't necessarily advocate having the same job forever.  Yet, there is a very different expectation in much of corporate America these days.  Too often profits are the only goal.

Now the corporations are legally allowed to use their monetary clout in candidate elections. Two years ago, the Supreme Court overruled two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations. A bitterly divided Supreme Court ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.We haven't had a presidential election since then, but we will see what happens in the months to come.

I remember reading a speech by Adlai Stevenson, which suggested that if we had free trade around the entire globe, we would have no more war.  He was wrong, as we now know.  We arguably have more war on this planet than either Stevenson or Eisenhower could have imagined.  Sadly, we do not know how to end it. Much of it is about religion, but not all.  Some is about greed, and some is just about having enough to survive.

In the United States these days, too many people are hungry.  If you go to the the social services nearest you, I would bet that the room is full and people are waiting to see if they can get food, medical care and so on. The United States is on the same path that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette took in the 18th century. We no longer use the guillotine, but I wonder what will happen when the peasants get really hungry?