Happy Solstice, everyone! It’s a beautiful summers day here in southern Vermont. The hayfield through the pinewoods to our west has the rumble of an old tractor getting ready to bale. I told Marshall it would be good for our bodies to go help the neighbors bring in a few loads of hay. So far, we’ve managed to get out of bed at the crack of 10 AM. There is a nest of crows nearby and the feeding of the young is a noise of some volume earlier than I would choose. Meanwhile the fireflies each night are numerous and fill the field, trees, and air with twinkling.
Last week I was at the Ghost Ranch at Intermountain Yearly Meeting with 305 Quakers from Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Someone should write a travel book going from yearly meeting to yearly meeting and describing the various differences, history, traditions, and notable characters. This is the 8th yearly meeting I’ve spoken to and they each have a different flavor, each an experiment in Quaker seeking.
I’m so glad Mid-Winter is going back to Ghost Ranch. The area itself is much given to reverence and awe for deep spiritual seeking. On this trip, I did get all the way back into Box Canyon, with the help of some pushy old Quaker ladies –“Oh, it’s just around the next bend” she said, again. There is a cathedral like place where the canyon begins with water and moss coming out of rock walls. Similar to a building in Rome, the high wall comes to an almost circular opening at the top, at least 100 feet above.
I am hoping to get down to the blueberry patch before haying this afternoon and put out some shiny foil ribbons to scare the birds off from eating the fruit. Tomato and basil plants are in and very happy. Firewood has been ordered. Now to plan some surprises for Marshall’s 50th birthday following FGC summer gathering. This year FGC is close enough for me to commute- an odd reality. What is more real- Putney in summer abundance, 2,000 Quakers making a one week village fraught with living, or more pictures of torture from around the world paid for by our taxes? I often make the mistake of thinking I can chose one reality at a time – silly old queen.
I want to mention 2 books I think are important. The first is Ultraprevention by Drs Hyman & Liponis. This book takes all the current information on staying well, especially for middle-aged people, and simply explains the science of nutrition and exercise to avoid the common illnesses so known in later years. I have lost some weight by this book. I’ve been off FRENCH FRIES for a month, talk about revolution!
The second book is called The New Pearl Harbor – Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 by David Ray Griffin. He’s been the professor of philosophy of religion at the Claremont School of Theology in California for over 30 years. In this book he takes all of the important evidence collected by many journalists that doesn’t quite match the official government story of 9/11. He is not a conspiracy theorist. He asks that investigations be made to sort out the truth. As a teacher of ethics, he is excellently suited to map out what inconsistencies might mean regarding less than honest government reports. This is a calm, reasoned book. I think if enough people read it, there will not only be regime change at here home, but some prison sentences and perhaps war crimes charged too. I highly recommend it.
Is there a web/internet/music person out there who can tell me how one song of mine, recorded once, not well received can be all over the internet including Russian, German, and Spanish websites with lyrics and how another song of mine much better known only shows up once when I google myself, but I don’t get my own website?
My keynote to Intermountain Yearly Meeting, Schlepping the Light, will be printed in Friends Bulletin by halves first in July, second half in September. I hope to make a recording of this and my other talks for sale sometime soon.
I want to thank Friends generally for doing so much good hard social change and justice and peace work during our current horror of US leadership. On the one hand, I’ve never been so afraid for our democracy. On the other hand, every Friend I know is involved in some task of bringing peace and justice at home and abroad. My Avoiding Burnout workshops are full of people committed to change and going back out to do some more. If you are tired and will be at FGC gathering, I hope you will come by my deep relaxation sessions in the afternoons for some rest and restoration.