The Best Neighbors

 I've included the card from Tom (on the left) and Patty (on the right) because this neighborhood does party together.  We are all ages, all incomes, some retired, some professional.  It is all made possible because both Tom and Patty Hunt make it their business to learn names and wave as neighbors drive by.

This card is so appropriate because we gather on the front porch on Friday nights in the summer and drink wine.  But the best part is the conversation.  We love to have new folks join us and hear their stories.

Often our conversation centers on the books we are reading so this past fall Patty, David and I attended a talk by Sharyn McCrumb, an Appalachian writer of some renown. So Patty and Tom presented me with a singed copy of her latest book.  It continues to amaze me how appropriate these gifts have been.  There certainly has been a lot of thought given to each one.  I will enjoy Ghost Riders.  Thank you, Tom and Patty not only for this gift but for all the wonderful conversations that we have had.  You are the BEST!

One Fall Day

"....God wishes to see people happy amidst the simple beauty of nature"

One fall day, Gayle, Dolores and I walked the Lick Run Greenway.  Gayle's birthday card reminds me of that morning and the simple pleasure of walking with friends. We were happy just as God intended.  

We gathered Hedge Apples along the way because they were thought to repel spiders.  Gayle's grandfather had them placed in bowls around his basement for that purpose.  Little did we know we were picking up a fortune.  The Coop is selling them for 45 cents each.  Dolores says we can get rich.

And the gift, a bracelet which is in memory of Mel Simmons.  the proceeds go to support the Mel Foundation and the work they do funding cancer research. It's lovely.  Thank you, Gayle.  I look forward to many more Greenway walks.  I treasure your friendship.

My Favorite Things

When I die I want flowers.......lots of flowers.  But not those funeral wreaths or tightly arranged vases of hot house roses.  No, I want baskets of flowers tumbling around and joyfully reaching out into the space they inhabit.  

Although Mary didn't make the party, she got it right when she sent flowers, two large bunches of color which I have enjoyed on the table in the foyer every time I pass through the house.  We know that Mary was involved in her favorite thing, remodeling houses, that afternoon.  Finding herself covered in paint and dust she realized the party was going on without her and this was a problem.  You see, Mary is a party girl as well as a talented designer who has rehabbed two of the most dilapidated houses in our neighborhood. She loves our neighborhood, throws parties so we can all get together, and always checks before renting to a new tenant to see if they will fit in with the neighbors.  We missed you, Mary but the flowers were wonderful! Thank you.

Hard Cider is In

The sale of hard cider is up 65%.  After hearing this on Public Radio I cracked open the first bottle of the Foggy Ridge Cider that Ed and Cindy gave me.  Wonderful!  Not only was it cool and refreshing but that little tangy bite was perfect.  I remember drinking cider as a child that was a bit fermented and then with health laws in place we couldn't get hard cider any more.  Now I find it in all the stores sometimes replacing beer.  

Ed told me about their tour of the Foggy Ridge bottling facility in Dugspur, VA where this gift was purchased.  It's always exciting to find good local items and businesses that are flourishing.  David and Carol had come for dinner and we shared this first bottle which made a good addition to the talapia and salad greens from the backyard winter garden. I felt quite included with the "in" crowd now taking up the joys of hard cider.

Thank you, Cindy and Ed!

When You Know How it Was Made and Share the Appreciation It's Even More a Miracle.

My cousin, David, was older than I and as a result we didn't get really acquainted until he and I both returned to Roanoke some six years ago.  One of our common joys is shopping for original hand-built pottery so we try to take in the Pottery Show every year.  Admiring the raku pottery by David Overshire I told David he should purchase it.  I had one of Overshire's pieces from two years ago and appreciate the the smooth texture and subtle glazing of his work. David purchased it. Unknown to me he was buying it for me. 

I have taken many pottery classes over the years.  The poem above is one that was written by a fellow student in 1971, Virginia Downes, a doctor.  I don't remember much about Virginia but have kept her poem and often contemplated her description of making a pot as a symbol of birth and God as the potter "giving birth", "delivering a pot" and "working miracles'.  

When thinking of how to thank you, David, I remembered the poem and pulled it off the shelf to once again consider the significance.  This pot I will treasure.  Thank you!

Peace, There is Always Hope 

Some may wonder what will happen to our children.  Will they be embroiled in wars and violence as they grow into adulthood?

Hannah loves peace signs and she picked out this peace sculpture which is made of folded paper magazines.  It was also made in the USA.  Today it sits in my dining room reminding me that there is hope just as Hannah brings hope to my life.  In her I see a sweet peacefulness and joy that will influence not only her life but extend to all she meets in this world.  Thank you, Hannah, for reminding me and for being a special person who brings me hope for peace.  Love, SuSue.

Sisters Jackie, Frankie, and Clare

Logos

 

Why wonder about the loaves and the fishes?
If you say the right words, the wine expands.
If you say them with love
and the felt ferocity of that love
and the felt necessity of that love,
the fish explode into the many.
Imagine him, speaking,
and don't worry about what is reality,
or what is plain, or what is mysterious.
If you were there, it was all those things.
If you can imagine it, it was all those things.
Eat, drink, be happy.
Accept the miracle.
Accept, too, each spoken word
spoken with love.

 

~ Mary Oliver ~

 

(Why I Wake Early)

Synchronicity, when found is effervescent.  Like the carbonation of a soda drink a synchronistic moment bubbles up joy because in that moment we know that somehow we are all connected.  And this is truly magnificent!

Jackie read the poem (above) from Mary Oliver as her gift.  Only moments later as I opened Clare's gift and found a portion of that same poem I am once again reminded that SW Virginia is a blessed place, a thin, sacred place where connections are easy to find whether they be friends, animals or the earth.  This I have learned.

The Grand Marnier will expand as we open it on Tuesday and watch the election returns.  Thank you, Clare, for the gift and for coming to my party. Thank you for being my friend!

Unfinished Projects

It was a visceral reaction that I had when opening my gift from Jackie.  There it was; a beautiful crewel embroidery of yellow finches resting on intricate branches.  But it was a kit; yet to be stitched.  Anything cloth, or string, or yarn with the potential of becoming something more excites me to the max.  Just touching it; feeling the texture and almost feeling the colors sends my senses over the edge.

It was my Mother who taught me to embroider when I was a young girl making tea towels (now that is what I buy and collect from second hand shops) and later a cross stitch border on a full skirt.  Later she showed me the counted cross stitch, popular in the 70's.  Trying it I decided there would never be enough patience in me for such intricate work but did a second small piece and was hooked.  As I focused on my stitching evening after evening Dennis used to say it did something for my brain.  But this kit was crewel embroidery.  I have done some crewel but it was Mother who excelled at it and expanded it into some heirloom pieces using many more techniques along with gold and silver threads. She was an artist!

The first thing I thought of when opening the gift was, "Wonderful, I will love doing this.  When can I start?"  Then the harsh reality hit; what is it that I need to complete before beginning a new project?"  No one knows the number of unfinished projects that are in my closet.  Considering just the embroidery ones is daunting.  What about the counted cross stitch, "Taking Turns" a P. Buckley Moss design which was intended for my sister as a gift at least 20 years ago, or the small Christmas stockings and the placemats?

These days it's weaving and art quilting that draws me.  In an effort to be more sustainable and not use up the earth's resources I am trying to reduce and reuse. And it's here the creativity kicks in.  Why not take all these unfinished projects and put them together into an art quilt?  It will be named, "Unfinished Projects."

Your gift, Jackie, is turning out to be more than you realized. It's the incubator for a whole new way of creating.  We'll see just when it gets finished. Thank you.

My Bread

There must be something about baking when the winds begin to blow; one worries about the electricity going off; rain is falling and there is even a possibility of SNOW!  I asked my friend, Marilyn, how her daughter, Kristi, was getting along in Pennsylvania.  "Oh, she's getting ready for the hurricane.  She is baking cookies and corn bread, heating up the kitchen so when the electricity goes out the kitchen will be warm."  Sounds logical!  We have always laughed that Kristi and I have the same kind of brain.   I was baking bread in Virginia!

My Bread by Jim Lahey has recipes and directions for NO KNEAD BREAD.  This fasinated me two years ago when I hear him interviewed about his method and his new book.  Thank you, Martha, for giving me this book!  I love it!  Not only does it have great recipes, but it has pictures that make you salivate.  There is no resisting the plunge into the dough after spending just a few minutes looking at it.  We've talked about this method over the last two years.  I found wonderful discounted clay bread bakers at the seconds store of  Emerson Creek Pottery in Bedford, VA for King Author Flour Co. and gave one to my sister, Martha, for Christmas.  Unfortunately it broke in the mail so I went back this year and got another.  I am here to tell you that it works beautifully, the clay baker and the basic recipe from the book.

Now that I have taken the picture, I am off to taste the bread.

Project Completed!

Thank you, Dennis, for coming from Florida and being here to celebrate with me.  You told me you would come and repair our wall and you did.  This was your gift.

After working Saturday morning you ran out of materials......river stones?  I had seen them for sale around town but Ann decided we should go down to the river and collect them so the wall would stay local.  Now collecting several dozen stones from along the Roanoke River Greenway is not simple.  "Take the truck down," she suggested, "and we will load it up."  But you can't take a truck on the Greenway.  "Let's send all the family members down and have them carry up three or four."  So we went looking.  I remember that in my youth one could easily find the smooth elongated stones.  That's why so many walls were built using those stones. But with the flood control excavations along the river a lot of rif-raf was brought in for fill.  We didn't find many true authentic river rock.  We used what we had and then made a step for easy passage from one yard to another.  

Thanks to our family Master Stone Mason, Dennis, the wall is completed.  Today I took down the "wet cement" sign.  Project completed!

Becky knows that I love red so she ordered this vintage step stool for the kitchen.  This was a pretty significant step because it is meant to replace  Madeline's (her mother, my aunt) stool that has resided in the corner of the kitchen for at least 65 years.  They remember Madeline resting on the stool while she cooked.  But these days it's in pretty bad shape.

There's another story here.  Carol, Becky and I have a special talent for putting things together.  We are a team and recently spent two days putting Carol's new computer table together laughing the entire time.  Becky sorted the pieces; Carol handled the screws; and I directed.  Well ladies, I need you here!  This stool is in fifteen pieces and needs to be put together.

Thank you, Becky, for the gift.  It fits the red kitchen and I love it, or I will love it when you both come and help me put it together.  See you soon.

This morning I am beginning to read, To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue, an Irish writer of several books. His words are poignant raising up a sense of indwelling Spirit.  Here he speaks of new frontiers and the courage it takes to embark on those adventures.

May I have the courage today

To live the life that I would love,

To postpone my dream no longer

But do at last what I came here for 

And waste my heart on fear no more.

This 70th birthday as well as these words remind me that there are only so many years left that I might live that life that I am meant to live.  It's the life of the true self unfettered with the fear of judgement or failure.

Thank you Pat and Chuck.  To Bless the Space Between Us is a treasure!

What a Party!

On Saturday thirty-six of my family and friends surprised me with a birthday party for my 70th birthday.  For the last three months I had been questioned, lied to, mislead, and generally confused about what was going to happen on October 20.  To see that so many people came to celebrate was the most affirming event of my life.  I have a fantastically loving family and awesome friends for whom I am ever grateful!

The presents which ranged from poems to bottles of wine seem hold such special significance that it had to be an act of the Spirit among us.   For the next month this blog will be my experience of the gifts of love that were given to me and a thank you to each and every person who came.  Today they are still on the floor of the living room just as we left them on Saturday. Each day as I am moved to experience one of the presents, I will remove it from it's wrappings and on this Blog write about it and thank the person who presented it.  In this way we will continue the party together for the next month . I hope you enjoy!

Death Arrives

We had to "put down" a horse this week. His name was BamBam; he wasn't ours but one belonging to a friend and he had been with us since we opened the barn in 2007. BamBam was only 25 years old but his legs were giving out, the tendons were disintegrating and he was beginning to walk on his hocks.

Not ever having seen the "putting down" of a horse, such a large, majestic creature I had visions of holes in the ground and tractors dragging the dead corpse into the hole then pushing the dirt over the mangled body. However, it turned out to be more of a spiritual experience. The Vet arrived and soon after Bob drove in with his big red tractor. Bob was a gentle soul with cowboy hat and walked slowly up to the barn to chat with us for a few moments. He then unloaded his tractor and I led Bam out to the back pasture. Bob began to dig into the soft sugar sand making a smooth dig. I wondered why he had a ladder with him. BamBam was lead out and turned away from the hole in the shade of a near by tree. We hugged the horse, shed some tears, gave him his last carrot. Then the Vet gave him the shot and he sagged to the ground feeling pain no longer. Bob finished the grave and slowly and respectfully lifted the body with his wide front end loader and lowered BamBam into the grave. The ladder was so he could go down and arrange the body. So gentle, so respectful was this gentle act and I was overcome with gratitude.

I have been involved with an Engaging Spirituality Group at church. A 21 week journey into Christian spirituality we have just completed a section on death and resurrection. Here is a quote:

Though tragic, death always arrives to make space for new life. Encounters with death can jog our memory about our interrelatedness to everything in the cosmic, pascal cycle of disintegration and reintegration. From creation to recreation, the mystery of God's presence at life's origins, endings and new beginnings are revealed in our daily dying to life. In this way, paradoxically, death gives rise to hope, for without death's mysterious and definitive interruption, we would have precious little use for hope. " The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of our God." Job 1:21.

BamBam's death makes way for new life. At this moment we do not know what that new life will be at Barrett Farms, a new horse coming to share life with us or this expanded understanding of death and regeneration which a such a natural part of life? What I do know is that this brave fellow creature will always be remembered and loved.

The next morning Ann left with the trailer (pictured above) and with Charlie, our latest equine companion and headed off on a trail ride. It was a new morning.

Interiority

"For what have I come....?"

All of creation, it seems, has been obedient to its destiny, “each mortal thing does one thing and the same . . . myself it speaks and spells, crying, ‘What I do is me, for that I came’” (Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘As Kingfishers Catch Fire’). Wouldn’t it be our last and greatest humiliation, if we one day realized that all other creatures have obeyed their destiny with a kind of humility and with trustful surrender? All except us. Center for Action and Contemplation, Daily Reflection January 8, 2012