HOLIDAY

ZENDO MONDAY
12.16.2019

Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison and Friend

After two lively hours of community and comforts, I came home with gobs of Lasagna and a generous bag of cookies too. Here is our New York Zen for Contemplative Care after the cleanup

My long time yoga buddy, Joanne as we readied to leave

Amusingly out of focus because she moved when I caught her unawares and because I was exhausted

~*~

IN THE WINDOWS

At Housing Works

 At the Opera Thrift Shop

1.

2.

 At my home

 ~*~

CARDS

1.

2.

 3.

~*~


TUESDAY
12.17.2019
Slept very late after a restless night to dawn.
This evening many phone conversations back an forth with my nephew Dennis Slater dealing with the official obituary for my brother/his father William James Slater to be published in the New York Times tomorrow and other family detail matters. I am so grateful for his skill and dedication to managing this very demanding task.
(photographs on the shelf above my computer)
~*~

SEASONAL HOMAGE
WEDNESDAY
12.18.2019
For my dear friend N.A. who is elsewhere.
I decorated this award statue she received long ago and left with me. Then added a beloved Holiday greeting from another friend N.W. (saved for years) and a Santa hat from my Christmas box to include everyone in this secular tradition. I am nostalgic for all my far away friends of the heart.

~*~

DUMB LUCK, HAPPY CHANCE and GIVING THANKS

I'd been following fires, wars and elections.
She sings the way I was feeling.

https://youtu.be/2rd8VktT8xY

Surprise from Jude Hill
The mail arrived reminding me of generous friendship
and I decided everything would be Okay.

~*~

Serendipity
Ran into Joanne, my long time Yogi friend.
Hadn't seen each other for a year!

Happy chance

We walked to her place nearby so I could meet
"Milton", a real sweetie.

"Soon" we say.

~*~

Monday dawned at Noon.
.
 ~*~

Preparation for a Feast
Tri-colored Quinoi, Sweet Onion, Sweet eating pumpkins, Cashews, Fennel and Nutmeg...

*
add Blue Agave

*
Add Sweet Butter, and

*
there's green string beans too.
~*~

Accidental Event
One of the four 90 minute tapes broke.
Wish I hadn't given away my splicer.

~*~
  
UNITED
by
Naomi Shihab Nye

When sleepless, it’s helpful to meditate on mottoes of the states.
South Carolina, “While I breathe I hope.” Perhaps this could be
the new flag on the empty flagpole.
Or “I Direct” from Maine—why?
Because Maine gets the first sunrise? How bossy, Maine!
Kansas, “To the Stars through Difficulties”—
clackety wagon wheels, long, long land
and the droning press of heat—cool stars, relief.
In Arkansas, “The People Rule”—lucky you.
Idaho, “Let It Be Perpetual”—now this is strange.
Idaho, what is your “it”?
Who chose these lines?
How many contenders?
What would my motto be tonight, in tangled sheets?
Texas—“Friendship”—now boasts the Open Carry law.
Wisconsin, where my mother’s parents are buried,
chose “Forward.”
New Mexico, “It Grows As It Goes”—now this is scary.
Two dangling its. This does not represent that glorious place.
West Virginia, “Mountaineers Are Always Free”—really?
Washington, you’re wise.
What could be better than “By and By”?
Oklahoma must be tired—“Labor Conquers all Things.”
Oklahoma, get together with Nevada, who chose only
“Industry” as motto. I think of Nevada as a playground
or mostly empty. How wrong we are about one another.
For Alaska to pick “North to the Future”
seems odd. Where else are they going?
 
 ~*~

Stumbled Upon This
I subscribed to the site. Many Episodes.
I watched them all.

https://youtu.be/hEDWHQr2W jw
 ~*~

Next
Rain for California Fires
An end to all Wars
Planet Healing
Universal Kindness 
~*~ 

ENLIGHTENED BEING

"It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience,

including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path,

and to proceed.

"My belief is that I wasn't born into Judaism by accident, and so

I needed to find ways to honor that."

"In India, there's a way of seeing life as a cosmic play. It's called Lila.

I can watch my life, and I can see my guru playing with me."

“We're all just walking each other home.”

  

All quotes from Ram Das

Here he is on

SOUNDCLOUD

~*~