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Lighting the Path

 Christmas has usually been a happy holiday for me. As a kid, we siblings would come down the stairway early in the morning to discover what had appeared under the tree and in our stockings. It was exciting and a sweet tradition. And singing Christmas carols has always been a joyful group experience for me. This has seemed the season of giving, of honoring each other, of love. But I found myself unexpectedly pulling away from Christmas this year. I have been so dismayed by all the terrible things people in our country have been doing in the name of Christianity recently. No, I do not want to kill people in the name of Christianity, or deport them, or arrest them, or degrade them. I want to have no part in this cruelty! Of course, I do realize that politicians will use whatever they can to dupe followers into their own agenda. So using our tendency  toward intolerance and fear of people not like us, and making it into a Christian value, can work in the short term to push a poli...
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Grrrrrr!

 It is New Year's Eve, and I should probably be writing something profound and celebratory. But I've been struggling with anger for several days, and when I tried to write a nice poem for my poetry group last night, all I could manage to write about was anger. Hmm. Even though it's not an emotion that we often welcome, it may be a common one for us living through the past year. So I'll paste my anger poem below, with the hope that as we enter 2026, there will be hope that things get less bad, that we'll feel more hope than frustration, and that we'll take a turn for the better. Fingers crossed..... GRRRR! My mother always told me I was hiding behind the door when they passed the patience out. She told me this, of course, when I really wanted things to move along more quickly. Then I read that folks like me who were born under the sign of Gemini had little patience. So I had an excuse! But the book didn’t say how angry I was capable of getting. These days my ange...
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The Turning of the Year

 We're having a Winter Solstice bonfire tonight at Prairie Hill. Our common house was already scheduled with something else for the two nights closest to this cosmic event, and it was too cold then to do something outdoors. But today it is much warmer (in the mid-forties!) and perfect for an outdoor bonfire. I don't know about others here, but I need this focus on something much bigger than ourselves. When I look at the news, it is hard not to be shocked by how our species has gotten so screwed up! It is the Christmas season, but what people are doing in the name of Christianity in our country is making me recoil. And then I over-react and don't want to hear the Christmas carols that I've loved all my life. I imagine I'll love these beautiful carols again, but right now I need to go back further in our history. Humans started celebrating the Winter Solstice over 10,000 years ago in Neolithic times. Ancient cultures were much more connected to the rhythms of the eart...
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From Tribulation to Gratitude

 It's been too long since I've written on this blog. I usually try to write something at least somewhat inspiring, something in the world that I've discovered and want to share. However, my last three weeks have been kind of a nightmare, and it has been hard to think of anything very positive. But it is definitely time to write something, so I guess I'll write some about my last three weeks, and hope that by the end, I will come out with something positive. I know we're all suffering through hard times just now, if not personally, then in the wider world. And we're all connected in this. Even if someone never watched the news, or lived deep in a forest with only deer and rabbits as friends, I think there is something in the atmosphere in this troubled world that would affect us even then. We've gotten off the healthy track, and everything is diminished. Here's how my tough last three weeks started. When you've grown a child in your own body, there is...
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Catching Up

 I've not written a blog post for several weeks. At first it was because I was so gosh-darn busy. But then my grandson's health emergency called me to drive down to Asheville to be of support. I have not done a road trip for years. Both my daughters emphatically told me it was not safe for someone as old as I am to go on a long car trip by myself. And I more or less agreed. It is true that as you age, many things get less sharp: hearing, reactions, thinking. But this seemed really important so I suddenly decided to drive south and started the next morning. By the time I got to Asheville, three days later (!), I was inclined to agree that my daughters had been right. But I made it! So that's where I am, hoping to be a helpful, supportive presence to my daughter's family as they try to find answers and healing. I don't have much to write about, nothing particularly enlightening. But the week before I left Iowa, I wrote four "cinquaines" for my poetry group, ...
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Feeling Angry, Feeling Guilty,, and Then Feeling Grateful

 A room-full of us watched an earth-shaking movie on Saturday. It's called "Regenerating Life". We didn't really know what to expect, but it had been highly recommended so when we entered the room, we probably all thought it would be at least somewhat educational. What we didn't realize is that it would totally shake us up, in a good way. It is almost 3 hours long, and that's a long time to sit. But most of us stayed through the whole thing, and as soon as it was finished, people started asking if they could see it again. There was so much information that we wanted to hold onto. So I am now figuring out when we can re-show it. You have to rent this one from Prime, but it's worth the cost!! When I left the group on Saturday, I was feeling glad that I'd picked a good movie. And I was full of the insights and discoveries the movie shared: scientific breakthroughs that were new to all of us, perspective on the recent history of our species in the world, w...
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Earthcare film at Prairie Hill this Saturday at 2:00

 I'm posting this announcement to folks who subscribe to my blog and are in the local area. Our Earthcare Working Group is having our monthly meeting this Saturday at 2:00 at Prairie Hill. We've got a film to show that I heard about when I was attending the fall gathering of Quaker Earthcare Witness in New York (though I was just on my laptop, attending on zoom). It looks like a great film, and anyone interested is welcome to come and join us. We'll be meeting in the common house living room, and there will be snacks after the movie before we get a chance to talk about our reactions. Here's a description: The documentary,   Regenerating Life,  scientifically and spiritually examines humanity’s relationship to our planet, and premises that CO2 increase and fossil fuel overconsumption is merely symptomatic of the greater problem of our disconnection and systemic disharmony with the sacred mother earth. Screening of this film is wholeheartedly recommended by the Earthcare ...
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