Green Tribe of Belonging

 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...

 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...

 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...