 Watercolorist Robert Vaughan (aka Holly's Uncle Bob) painted this picture of Pemaquid Point Light in Bristol, Maine. Click on the photo to be taken to Holly's Instagram page. | | Untitled: Inspired by the Painting of the Lighthouse by Holly Russell You may bask, now,
in the charm of its presence.
Wait till a storm
dashes spray
on the rocks,
and surges drag
the unwary to their doom.
Suddenly, picturesque
earns its right to the bluff.
"Watch my light."
"Hear my voice; heed its call."
Heed your own voice
(the one inside you)
steering you
toward more hospitable shores. Check out Holly's website here for lots more information about her, her poetry, blog and a new venture, notecards. | Hello, Dear Friends John and I continue to keep a watchful eye out for those "more hospitable shores" up ahead. At the moment we are still in the fog of not-knowing - John's stent seems to be holding, aneurysm is causing no problems, and he is looking well, but his kidneys are taking their sweet time in rebounding, which is in itself an unknowable question - will they rebound? Some do, some don't. Then what? Wait and see. Once again, our wait in the fog of not-knowing mirrors on a tiny scale the vast fog of not-knowing out there in the world: will we ever be done with Covid, will democracy prevail, will climate change render us extinct? Put like that, our personal fog becomes bearable, more sardine on toast than Whale of Doom. | On the plus side, the day the surgeon told us John could go ride his bike again,
he found $60 floating around, in four separate bills, in a gutter choked with leaves. We took that as a good sign: 6,000 days of good luck! (Usually he finds pennies).
Other good signs:
John's niece had a baby boy on the 11th - welcome, new little Cameron!
My recently widowed schoolfriend spent six days walking the Camino de Santiago and felt so much lighter in her spirit afterward, she plans to spend a month walking the whole thing next year. Impressive!
Sandy Kirkner from yoga is traveling in the Pacific Northwest and posting the most exquisite photos on Facebook. It was hard to choose only two!
People are on the move after nearly twenty months (!) of being cooped up and for those of us still being careful, it is a treat to live vicariously through their stories and photos. Who knows what will happen next? Whatever it may be, here's to hospitable shores for us all. |  Emi MacColl on the Camino de Santiago | | |  Sandy Kirkner at Port Townsend/Coupeville Ferry. |  Sandy Kirkner at Sol Duc Falls | | | A couple of weeks ago, I posted this cartoon by Loryn Brantz because it is oh so fitting and I'm sure we can all relate. Today I want to share with you the inspiring story behind the cartoon. Hear the perspective on Life from the point of view of a self-described magical thinker. What a beautiful way to be in the world! It's from Humans of New York, one of the very best sites on Facebook. Humans of New York September 28, 2021 “I knew right away something wasn’t right. When they plopped her on my chest, she was amazing, and alive—but she looked like a skinny pink frog. The only way to feed her was to drip milk in her mouth, 24/7. Those first weeks I was getting such little sleep that I began to have hallucinations: babies on the ceiling, babies on the wall. My husband’s job was to hunt down the diagnosis, while I kept her alive. The blood tests suggested two rare genetic conditions. He had a harder time with it than me. Optimism felt like denial to him, so he got lost in the research. But I tend to be a magical thinker. Maybe too much at times. I love Disney World. I worked on Sesame Street. I draw comics for a living, and make children’s books. I’ve even written a letter for after I die. It says: ‘Don’t be sad. We’re given this life and bad things happen, but we get to be with our families and look at trees.’ I’ve heard people ask: ‘Why bring a child into this world?’ With climate change, and all that. Would you choose to be born? My answer is yes. Even during the apocalypse I’d want to be alive. So I could have a few more minutes in the shelter, with my family, watching on TV as the fireballs fall from the sky. Maybe I’m weird like that. My husband is a little weird too. So it just makes sense that now we have this weird, magical kid. Dalia is 2.5 now. She wears her little helmet, and braces. We take little walks, and see the city, and look at trees. Her condition makes it hard to wake up in the morning, so we get to have thirty minutes of huggy time. And any time she smiles it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s not easy. There’s a lot of doctor visits. Therapies every day. But I danced when I was young, so I’m used to repetitive movements. Everything in my life just makes it seem like I was meant for this child. And it’s impossible to predict what will happen. There’s such a wide spectrum with her condition. When we asked the therapist if she’d ever walk, we were told: ‘Miracles happen.’ But Dalia is walking now. So I’m optimistic. I think things will work out. I think she’ll live independently one day. Either that, or I get to live with my best friend forever.”
HONY writes: The universally loved Loryn Brantz is an amazingly talented comic artist and children’s book author. You can follow her on Facebook at Loryn Brantz Books and Illustration for a constant stream of smiles. She also wrote a beautiful illustrated poem to Dalia, called ‘It Had To Be You.’ You can find the poem in full on her latest Instagram post. She’s also turned it into a book that can be read to your own child. If you’d like to support Loryn, you can preorder the book here. | "In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: "When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of silence?" ~Gabrielle Roth | Good Grief Group
Virtual meetings on Zoom.
Mondays from 7:30 - 9:00PM
Meetings are offered at no charge. For people who are grieving all manner of sorrows, from the death of a loved one to health issues to situations arising from the pandemic and everything in between. | Good Grief Group For Pets
Second Friday of the month
6 - 7:30PM
Next meeting Friday, November 12th A rare opportunity to talk about our pets, some recently gone, others long gone, all of them well loved, leaving big holes in our hearts.
Photographs, poems, stories welcome. Reply to this email or text me or leave a Voice Mail at 562-522-8248 to reserve a spot and get the Zoom link. | Mark Nepo writes: "When experiencing grief, we sorely need the company of those who understand loss. And we need the kind outreach of those who are, for the moment, free of loss. We need both: heartfelt company and strength from beyond our pain to bring us back to health." In the Good Grief Group, we play both parts: the grief-stricken and the strong witness. We settle in with a short guided meditation. Then, we take it in turns to name our sorrow out loud which matters, especially in front of witnesses. That's what the rest of us are: witnesses who listen without comment, advice or interruption, because what better gift, besides our 'heartfelt company and strength'? We end with a closing ritual. We leave feeling heard. Please share this information about the Good Grief Groups with anyone who might benefit. No ongoing commitment is required. People come when they have the need. Reply to this email or text me or leave a Voice Mail at 562-522-8248 to reserve a spot and get the Zoom link. |  We need each other! | | On Small Things Alison, in honor of Thich Nhat Hanh's 95th birthday on October 11th: People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child, our own two eyes. All is a miracle. I invite you to consider, where are the miracles in your life? A sunrise, sunset, your pets, your child, any child, certain scents like lavender, lilac, bread baking, chocolate... Just take a moment and let your mind play. |  "All is a miracle." Thich Nhat Hanh | | Small Things Alison are meditations (I use the word loosely) freely given, is me sharing what I can with you while we continue to keep our distance. Poems, stories, visualizations, body scans, loving-kindness - whatever seems to fit the day, to help you 'rest and digest'. You can do them whenever you wish, you can skip some, choose the ones that appeal, listen over and over to favorites, use them to help you sleep. They settle me - I hope they do the same for you. The meditations appear as a voice message on WhatsApp. They begin for you from the date you sign up. How It Works: * Open WhatsApp.
If you don't already have it: go to the App Store and download WhatsApp Messenger. It's free! * Enter your name and/or profile pic. (If your phone number isn't in my contacts, I only see you as an impersonal number and I don't know who you are). * Then click here to join the group Small Things Alison. Its icon is a green chrysalis. Feel free to share the link with others. | for more information on these offerings Let your own voice steer you "toward more hospitable shores." Love, Alison | P.S. Finally, yet another dog here to save us - or at least make us smile. Meet Noodle the pug, and his deep question: Is today a "bones" or a "no bones" day?
From the charming article in the New York Times: ...To be clear, this isn’t a story about a boneless dog. Noodle has bones. But millions of people across the internet are using Mr. Graziano’s TikTok videos as a daily horoscope of sorts to see what kind of day they will have. Think of Noodle as a four-legged mood ring. “Bones days” are good days. As Mr. Graziano said in his TikTok, it’s a day to get out and treat yourself. But that doesn’t necessarily mean “no bones” days are bad. “Obviously, a bones day is a day to celebrate,” Mr. Graziano said during a phone interview on Wednesday while walking Noodle in Upper Manhattan. “No bones days? I don’t think they’re bad days. I think they are days where you just need to be very kind to yourself, sensitive of others, wear your sweatpants, take a bubble bath, self-care. That kind of thing. That’s certainly how Noodle handles his no bones days.”... You might be wondering why you’re reading about a dog and his bones, and why — with everything that’s happening in the world — this dog would even make the news. But there’s more than just another pet video going viral. Between an online world, where it’s easy to insult a stranger from behind a screen, and a real world rife with fears of climate doom, political divisiveness and a stubborn pandemic lies a safe space with a soft dog bed. “I think people are just hanging on by a thread,” Mr. Graziano said. “I think people are tired. I think they’re scared. I think they’re stressed out, and I think they really need a distraction.” Mr. Graziano, who works as a social media manager for a web hosting company, said he thought that living through the pandemic had been a great source of anxiety for many, especially for those who spend a lot of time online. “Twitter is where I ruin my day more often than anywhere,” he said. “I’ll get a glass of water at 4 a.m., absent-mindedly open Twitter, and just think, ‘Oh my gosh, I ruined my day before it even started.’ How on earth is this the world we’re living in?” Mr. Graziano has had Noodle since January 2016, when he got him from a woman who had been fostering him after Noodle was surrendered by his previous owner. With Noodle’s companionship, Mr. Graziano has been able to ride out the pandemic. “Having a dog is the best thing that I’ve done for me,” he said. “No matter what is going on in my life or what’s going on in the world, this dog has no clue. He still has to eat every morning. He’s got to go on his walks.” Do read the whole thing. How can you resist that face? | |
