Stillness (a poem with a new home)

Note:  “What’s he talking about?  The froot loops in his head?!”  Nope, it hit me that this poem I wrote last year well fits our new Idaho milieu, maybe an autumnal eve in Boise National Forest, so let’s dust it off.

Trees fall

startling all

with a cacophony

unremarked.

Colors shift

so swift

and the toy lies

unloved.

Emotions lie

smiles shy

in a tender wasteland

unrequited.

Nonetheless …

shift, lift

share, care

the tease of hope

rekindled.

Canoeing through Springtime in the Mid-Atlantic States

I wish I'd have known about this lil' baby a few years back.  You best hurry on out there and grab one - what better way to avoid Beltway traffic than cruising through a thunderstorm/hurricane up the Potomac river:

http://www.autocanoe.com/

Simplicity -- for Michele Denise and Ellen Marie

Now, what's up with that subject line?  Well, it's too long a story but I'm inspired to share its highlights.

A college friendship among two girls that soon included Ellen's fiancee and Michele's boyfriend.  Then afternoons at Henry's family's dairy farm that involved actually milking cows, followed by nights of nice wine, cheese, cards and laughter.  Life went on, and reality intruded, with them staying on the farm (wow!!), and  Jose and Michele joining the Air Force and literally flying to Germany for Assignment #1.  Ellen beat us to the punch with Cody Parker, a kid whose grown into just an amazing young man.  Then we got Christophr Shane.  So it goes, and we all got some of what we wanted!

Screech-scream-zoom ahead twenty-nine years (aka, a million lifetimes) and I'm calling Ellen with my traditional 'Call before Mother's Day' because she has four biological and two adopted-from-Urals of Russia children.  No need to bother her on Mother's Day when six others have first dibs.

Go figure.  After the chat is hilariously done, Ellen is on the phone with Michele.  For the first time perhaps since we boogied out to Idaho.  And the laughter about life, love, children, cows and gardens went on and on, not to mention mimosas as a reason to get out of bed.

What's my point here?  I guess it's that I'm just a simple man, living on the land and in the moment.  I look up, decades have passed spendiferously by, and here are two simply charming women catching up and reminding me why life is worth living.

Take the moment, take a hold of the simplicity of love, and love your mother.  Or, her memory.  Pick up that phone, my friends, and call/chat/visit with mom, even one who may not even have biological kids.  (Yeah, Katie G, just because you're in Italy, you're not exempt!)  I know a few women out there -- you know I'm talking about you -- that have innate mothering and mentoring stuff that bubbles up, no matter that you don't have biological kids.  You are true mothers of the earth in my mind, so don't forget your role in our world.

So, Henry Lyle has Ellen Marie covered - and Ellen is blessed that he's one of the finest men ever to walk this planet.  Me?  I work daily to deserve Michele Denise.  Hell, some stranger stepped on her foot when she was 16, and still needs to prove that her second glance that day, and her 30+ year gaze, is worth her while.

To her and all of you other mothers, daughters and sisters, I send my best wishes...

Plz opt-in or opt-out for 2013 ... and a Brushstroke of our Lives

It’s way past that time of the year when I ask folks to opt-in or opt-out of my infrequent blog post emails.  So, two questions:

• Do you want to stay on the email distribution this year?
• Would you like an occasional postcard from the Northwest?  If so, please send me your address.  They'll come from places like Craters of the Moon NP, Bend OR, Yellowstone NP and who-knows-Nowhereville ID.

Now on to the fun part – a quick recap of where we’re at in life and on the land…

·         The Maryland house deal closed as hoped and prayed for.  As much as I liked that house, it’s someone else’s joy now.  My mind is mostly in Idaho day-to-day, so I don’t want ever again to think about moving!

·         Life:  our older son is nearly done with his US Navy enlistment and plans on attending the Univ. of Montana (in Missoula) in the fall.  He even may spend a couple months with us.  As for here, my daughter and I have a week-long campout upcoming in mid-May to eastern Oregon and west-central Idaho, to places with good museums (Oregon Trail, regional and Native American), great vistas and hiking choices.  Sometimes, though, we’ll just sit back, burn some wood and play a game.

·         Property:  our 5 undeveloped acres means we’ll never run out of things to do.  We’ll soon begin putting up back yard pasture fencing, along with front yard rail fencing for our dogs.  This project will continue into next year.  Michele continues the charge of building-out the basement rooms, and that’s going well and we hope to get our daughter into her new bedroom later this year.

·         Work:  Ooops,  I put it last.  Wonder why?!  I really do enjoy my job and its potential to let me lead and contribute so much more than back in DC.  I’m teleworking four days a week, and can change my hours on-they-fly between 6-6, so also will start working just a half-Friday this summer.  As an IT project manager, I get immersed in techie gobbledy-gook as well as learning about wildland fires’ lines of business.  No sequester effects out here, so our staff prepares our applications for fire season as usual, though without fun money to expand capabilities.  Meaningful work near the front lines of helping others ... perfect.

Time “to get my shine on!” (a new country song), and head over to a volunteer leaders’ planning session for an annual community cleanup day.  Mixing up work and play … just another interesting day in our Ag (Agricultural) Land!

The Eagles have landed

January of this year, 2013, the weather stayed so cold in Hinckley, Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie & Rocky River that the bald eagles were cruising over houses in hopes of a quick meal.  They could not access fish that were at the bottom of the river and had gathered together.

Some kind souls decided to feed the eagles so they would survive the cold spell.  They gathered fish and started feeding the group of eagles huddled on the shore.

The photos below show what happened.  The photographer's former colleague took these photos in front of his home.  Incredible!



1.  A beautiful morning feeding the eagles, Jan. 2013



2.  Once the fish were thrown, the eagles did not seem to fear the good Samaritans and 
word spread fast!  


3.  Eagles vying for the fish.  January, 2013.



4.  No zoom lens used here!  The photographer was this close!  




5.  Closer yet!

6.  Here are the men who were feeding them.  So close!!

As you know, it was not too long ago that the American Bald Eagle was 
an endangered species.  A fascinating new day for us all.

Note to Self: Breathe, Just Breathe

The Maryland house goes to closing at 1630 EST today.  Paperwork all signed, notarized, covered in our blood/sweat/aggravation, then overnighted to the title company.  Two weeks of pure hell are about to end, no thanks to the money-lending vampires called mortgage lenders.  Enough said, we'll be down to one house and, like one wife, that's enough for any guy!

"Life is like an hourglass, glued to the table." (from a song by Anna Nalick).  Ours has been glued to our foreheads, so now we devolve ourselves downward into the trivalities of life, like watching a full-grown badger jaunting down the field with a  ground squirrel in its mouth - wow.  And turning on our sprinkler system for the first time since winter and hoping it works as advertised.  Or, further reorganizing our garage so we find things!  I love seeing all the free floor space - concrete never looked so sexy.

We breathe, just breathe, and move onward.  Into a glorious sunny day.  We're off to dig up 25 rose bushes being donated to us, then to our friends' home to share stories, eat good specially-prepared stuff Michele did up, and tomorrow take pix of their alpacas for posting on their biz' website.  Maybe go fishing?  And to ponder the decision we made to buy two or three of their alpacas for ourselves - time to introduce ourselves to them!  Life just never gets boring around here...  My best to all of you, my friends, and stay on-board this springtime for more neat happenings (and plz share yours with me).

A Tree falls – and we heard it

Strange how country life can change you, or at least bring you back to the center, one I whirly-dervishly screamed past while in DC.  By the way, I laud, applaud and congratulate those of you who thrive there!  Seriously, but it's just not for me. 

We’re trying to hammer out, one drop of sweat and pain per moment outdoors, what to do with five acres.  Today, we attempted to transplant two trees, with a 50% pass rate – we stripped the bark off the locust tree when trying to pull it out w/truck.  Sigh.  But our too-nearby leach field must win, sorry to say.  We still took a moment to mourn the tree we were trying to rehome.  Just because some dummy planted her too close to the field…

Shout-outs for today:

• Friend Holly, who bought her own digs and whose church family helped her with the move!  Her spiritual support, and too-kind words and strength, have helped me understand this Next Life Plateau!
• Friend Heather, whose feline companion of 17 beautiful years left her for the next adventure.  I tear up thinking of that feeling, we who had to leave behind five cats of our own.  In the silence, I hope she hears the songs of yesterday, and is comforted by the love her friend left her across their homes together.
• Our son Jonathan, who is completing the first week of work at Walmart.  I thank them for trusting to employ him, now let’s hope for he sees the bigger picture -- and his own potential.
• Friend Manya, who has left the company we met at, and embarked on a daunting adventure into the consulting world.  I know she can blow them away, so I hope they hear the insightful words she’s sharing with them.
• My sister Corinna, one of the most beautiful people God ever graced Earth with.  I am proud to be her big brother and hope I can live up to her expectations.  When I think of her, I always smile, and melt a bit too…
• My wife Michele, who constantly leaves me speechless (since meeting her at 17) with new thoughts, an endless bounty of ideas and excitement, and brings me an inner Smile that just is too much for one guy to deserve!  

You hold me with a Touch (a poem)

You hold me with a touch,

And keep me in the moment.

But I’m on to you,

on to your complexity

of emotion, delusion, careening.

You ping me for awhile,

But know that I’m a bit wise.

Enfold me or entreat me, 

but I’m here on the ground.

Crash, bam, lay it out.

And with a rueful smile, I

collect, absorb and endure.

This love is what it is, my son, 

Just for you.

You rush toward moments that cannot

change what Just Is.  

The straight line is,

The jagged edges are,

Unconditional Love.

The Eggs of Easter

It’s fitting to turn my mind to the uplifting celebration that’s Easter.  With its religious messages and fountains of hope, it’s hard to top that with anything secular or worldly, so I won’t even try.  I’m not Catholic (sorry, Lee!), but I can respect the new Pope’s embrace of some of the unseen people in our world, like imprisoned girls in Italy.  That man embodies so much in the way of simple goodness, and I hope the politics of organized religion don’t wear him out. 

The fields and fallow pastures of my own life are full of eggs, as surely are yours.  Looking at my own life, and seeing the eggs of success, not-such-success and those not yet hatched.  Wow, and I’m not even old yet.  To coin a Neil Young lyric, maybe my bonny outlook is because I have someone to love me the whole day through?

So, love yourself this day and this good start may open the doors to other unsought gems.  Or not.  But if you don’t give it a shot, that door don’t open!  I’m no Pollyananna,  just a voice from a contented sunny afternoon…

Cow, Pigs, Wars and Witches in everyone's neck of the Woods

Good long awaited Morning,

I think writer's block hits us all, though for me it's for want of focus on the writing, not for ideas.  Music itself energizes and emphasizes the flavors in life all around us, opening our minds to unsought insights, joys and contemplations.

So, after seven silent weeks, why would I use the subject line of Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture, the famous anthropoligical  book by Marvin Harris, as fodder for today's blog?  I mean, I have several adolescent trees near our leach field that need removal and transplant onto a hillside.  Don't I have better things to accomplish on a Saturday morning?

Yes and no.  Maybe Mr. Harris, who taught Young College Jose about cargo cults and disbelieving that all gold is golden, never left my mind.

I wondered this week about cows, as we debated the neighbor's wisdom in buying 3 pregnant cows as pets for his young kids; he grew up in a dairy farming family, so the species choice sort of makes sense.  But moo'ing and poop'ing cows in one's front yard?  It's their life, though, and we hope they enjoy the cows!

Pigs are everywhere, especially the Pigs of War who can't be happy we've just about lost another round against the bad guys and now are scouring Africa and the Middle East for someplace else to throw away our younger folks' health, ambitions and maybe lives, not to mention more precious tax dollars.  Haven't we enough to do here in our splendid US of A?

A truer War is essentially all around us as we struggle to uphold and celebrate those values that got us here.  Mental illness, mass shootings, and incivility all are things to be fought in a positive, meaningful way.  Me personally, I hear it from places like friends on the phone, the societal debacle that is Detroit, and in the chronically poor whom government of all flavors hasn't raised up.  We must fight on.

And Witches.  Maybe the Evangelical Right has it right and my beliefs, and that of our multi-million member church, have it flat wrong.  I don't see gays and Muslims and etc. as the devil.  Am I to listen to an acquaintance and avoid Ellen DeGeneres because she's gay, and ignore her well-known on-air outreaches to struggling women in need?  That type of stereotyping, especially by people I've met and somewhat like, repels me.  But maybe I've learned and 'felt' the Scriptures wrongly, and God does not really love and cherish us all.  Or maybe the witches are actually someone else, those casters of stones? I wait to be enlightened.

No railing, no flame, no anger today.  Just maybe aggravation that too often we ignore the tough social issues and thus make them ever more difficult to resolve and blend solutions and acceptance into our society.  So many calls to action:  pick one, let's say something like gun ownership, advocating for the poor, or for- or against- gay marriage.  Be willing to listen, to study history and to reflect before contacting your legislators and writing those protest placards.  It helps you grow and helps the rest of us learn -- there are many folks ready to listen.