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they bite

Ah, yes, being in the country is a source of delight. However, there’s one aspect that isn’t a source of delight. In fact, I see no reason for its creation. Nada! The creek is beckoning to me; it needs a little clearing and tender care, and the large brown fallen leaves have to be plucked from the beautiful daffodils that have begun to bloom their bright yellow color, soggy pieces of wood with their bark pulling away are sinking into the very moist ground and need to be lifted and collected, and there are those weeds. . . . I want to do this and I want to do that, but those annoying tiny flies feel they own the creek with its clear water and simple happy sound. Those flies are very good at protecting what they think is theirs. These tiny things go right for the eyes or they hover around the face – always teasing. They get into a hat, and while I’m busy brushing off the hat, they’re busy biting me.

And now bitten and itching I wait my turn to enjoy the land. I’ve tried sneaking out in the early morning before breakfast hoping they’re taking a break. And I’ve tried not using any lotions on my body. I’ve even talked to the energy that they are, feeling that we could connect and they would understand that I have to be out there, too, unhampered by their company. Nah! Nothing works so far. Isn’t it absurd to be detained by a speck-sized something having no real power other that it bites (leaving no serious threat to its victim) and flash flies? There has to be away to get around them. There’s always a way.

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city or country?

It takes a bit of effort to let go of stuff circulating in our head- so many thoughts held onto for dear life. I’m weeding in the Catskills and have been thinking that, for the most part, what we (may I say we?) think we know comes from here, there and everywhere. I wonder what it would feel like to see life with “new eyes,” to let the old stuff go, not a shred of evidence of those former beliefs (unless they serve us well).

Being in the country where it’s quiet, getting up in the morning and seeing an abundance of daffodils in full bloom, and wild turkeys scurrying around with their silly-looking gait, and deers eating fallen apples, gives a sense of whimsical to the day.
Sometimes you got to get away from all the concrete and all the stores in the city. And sometimes you got to just surround yourself with beautiful old, sturdy, green trees, and less extravagances, for a stay in the country. Nature’s way is serene, not noisy, and it gently invites us to stay calm and enjoy what it offers, and perhaps see things with “new eyes.”

“Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” -Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter

“We have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence. A life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that center.” -Thomas Kelly, British educator

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the catskills

Time spent in the Catskills – so close to Manhattan, yet so far away, without newspaper, television, radio, or car is quiet time. Here it’s seven miles to the nearest town. I stay put enjoying the numerous, beautiful massive trees surrounding the house; and the woods inviting me to walk into them to explore; and the daffodils that are beginning to bloom wherever you look; and the streams of clear water gently flowing toward the Black River; and the ladybugs. The lady bugs are everywhere. During the day they’re busy. By evening they’re a shell of their former selves. “What is their life span?” I wonder to myself. It seems they’re here today and gone tomorrow.

There are old, weather-beaten wooden lawn chairs scattered around the back of the house with old worn tables to accompany them. An Adirondack chair looks comfortable in its own space with its back to the house. They beckon the onlooker with their presence. Post card pretty is what they are. They say, when seen from the kitchen window or porch, “life is real good here, find a book, bring a slice of apple pie and a cup of coffee, choose a chair and sit a spell.”

On the land is a well-designed grill made of stone. It’s very old. Actually, it’s a bit regal looking to me. It seems to sense that it fits in nicely with the land. It was probably built by a former occupant of the house-perhaps the same occupant who long ago built the lovely house. The grill has three shelves built-in for placing plates, utensils and pans. It’s a fine place for grilling and gets a lot of use. I said to myself today, “It’s a fine grill for toasting marshmallows, too.” Here the nearest neighbor is not next door. That’s okay, there’s plenty of weeding to do, and you can chat with nature while walking the wheelbarrow full of weeds to the back where someday they’ll be part of a nice bon fire. It sure is a change from life in the big city. They say change is good. I believe it.

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colin wilson

ALIEN DAWN An Investigation into the Contact Experience, by British author Colin Wilson, is a book I got for my birthday. In Chapter 1 he writes that at one time he was “totally uninterested in news items about flying saucers.” Somewhere along the way, that changed for him.

Before I began reading ALIEN DAWN, my limited UFO knowledge was based on mainstream documentaries. These documentaries have a habit of presenting the same information in different ways. ALIEN DAWN is the first UFO book I’ve read, and it was a wild ride at times. Picking up the book to read late in the evening kept me up half the night. The book is thought-provoking, and if you’re unable to turn off your mind’s switch at night, you won’t want it as a bedtime story.

Colin Wilson has a reputation for thoroughly researching a topic. Before putting pen to paper, he reads countless number of books written by writers who’ve spent years studying the subject he intends to write about. He speaks to anyone who’s well-informed on the topic, attends conferences, and willingly travels around the world for information. Some books have a way of turning our belief system upside down. This can be good; it’s a chance to get rid of stagnant information collected through time. This is the kind of book that is the reader’s gain if followed through to the end, because Colin Wilson delivers what he sets out to do. Life is fascinating. Right?

“Faith dares the soul to go further than it can see.” -William Clarke

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once called rose hill

The neighborhood east of Gramercy Park, south of Murray Hill, north of the East Village and west of the FDR Drive was once called Rose Hill. The “borders” are changing and now it’s part of the Gramercy area. Rose Hill is a pretty name, but it never really caught on. I lived there, once upon time, and always thought the neighborhood was rather nondescript. But the people living there enjoyed their quiet neighborhood. There was much less emphasis on what kind of places were there- restaurants, cafes, museums, galleries, sport clubs, etc.-entertainment wasn’t the high point. It can be an advantage when you live in Manhattan surrounded by neighborhoods just a walk away having a very different flavour.

Rose Hill (let’s call it Rose Hill for now) has more charm now than it ever did. Well, at least in my memory. There’s a busy Housing Works on 23rd Street between Lexington and Third next to the post office, and small shops with staying power line the neighborhood streets. Three hospitals are located in the area on First Avenue- the VA Hospital at 23rd Street, and heading north, Bellevue (with a complete makeover and looking good) and NYU.

Want to explore your creative side? At 209 East 23rd Street is the School of Visual Arts www.schoolofvisualarts.edu . And Baruch College www.baruch.cuny.edu , The City University of New York, is at 151 East 25th Street with a large much-needed new building across the street, the older Baruch buildings are still located on 23rd Street.

Walk to Lexington Avenue and you’ll find a nice selection of Indian stores having all the ingredients necessary to prepare an authentic Indian dish. Don’t want to cook? Check out the Indian, Japanese, French, Chinese, Italian, coffee shops, etc. and enjoy.

All things considered, it’s a good quiet neighborhood, as far as Manhattan neighborhoods go. Trains and buses are easily accessible. Want to walk? Choose your direction and in a very short time, you’ll be in Gramercy Park, Murray Hill, the East Village, Chelsea-keep walking-there’s no telling where you’ll end up.

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A fine thing

So much going on in the world; it’s an amazing place. If you watch the news it could make you think that it’s all going to pot at any moment. That’s the reason to check out the opposite views-to keep the balance. Let’s always try to remember to keep the balance, and look at the many other ways there are of viewing our world.

The description of Calcutta in The Asian Journal of THOMAS MERTON on pages 131, 132 reminds me, in a peculiar way, to keep the balance. It’s a fine book. Thomas Merton used the word “fine” a few times. It’s a word I’m going to use more often. One balancing way for me is to believe, attempt to understand and deeply know that love and compassion are powerful forces in the universe. The support of a good book, a wise person, a desperate experience that gives a better understanding of a situation – anything that allows us more clarity of our world in all its extremes – is a fine thing.

Today for me it’s these words:
“Intent is a force that exists in the universe. When sorcerers (those who live of the Source) beckon intent, it comes to them and sets up the path for attainment, which mean that sorcerers always accomplish what they set out to do.” – Carlos Casteneda, The Active Side of Infinity

“Anxiety is the mark of spiritual insecurity.” – Thomas Merton

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. – Goethe

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tea & sympathy

Tea and Sympathy www.teaandsympathynewyork.com is a tiny place, a very cozy place, located at 108-110 Greenwich Avenue in Manhattan. Have you guessed that it’s an “english restaurant”? If you decide to go, be prepared to wait. Remember, waiting is fine. The service is friendly and efficient. I’m at a loss as to how to describe its interior. You’ll have to see for yourself. Suffice it to say that it’s charming and informal.

When my daughter Sumi and I decided to meet one chilly sunny Sunday, it was for a salad. We were being good with that suggestion. But then, after meandering along the streets, Sumi suggested we try Tea and Sympathy. I’d not been there in awhile, and I always got a special feeling at the thought of going there — so off we went, two in agreement. The menu is definitely interesting, the food is tasty, the customers always seem in a good mood, even though space is tight. It’s almost like dining at the small home of an obliging relative who’s invited too many guests and everyone is determined to be comfortable no matter what. There are lots of choices on the menu: Soup, Salads, Starters, Side Dishes, Entrees, Puddings, Sandwiches, Desserts, Daily Specials, Sunday Special, Tea Time and Teas.

To be more specific, you’ll find a variety of good salads like stilton and walnut, smoked trout with horseradish sauce, fresh beetroot salad, there’s shepherd’s pie, tweed kettle pie, bangers, lentil dishes, steak and kidney pie, steak and guinness pie, welsh rarebit, sussex chicken, etc. There are scones with clotted cream and jam, good selection of teas with everyone having their own different appealing teapot. Beware, the desserts will gently call to you, Order me! Order me! They seem to be saying. Or is that my imagination? Next door there’s a “Take Away Menu.”

It’s really nice; it’s really enjoyable. You might really like it.

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patrick mooney, unlearning

After reading a few mind-grabbing articles in Namaste Magazine www.namastepublishing.co.uk , I turned a page and came upon an article by Patrick Mooney, and at the end of it was the heading “Whose Life are You Living?”. Wouldn’t that have caught your attention, too? Patrick Mooney is “an aspiring author, documentary filmmaker, lecturer and creator of the Institute of Unlearning.”

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“We arrive at truth, not by reason only, but also by the heart.” -Blaine Pascal

“If you don’t like where you are, change what you are.” – Henry Knight Miller

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ayahuasca

When I visited Ecuador in 2004, I stayed at a charming spa located two hours north of Quito. Big old bookcases stood in the corners of two sitting rooms, and a few large thick candles were held by wrought iron candle stands, and two large laughing Buddha statues were pure delight. Come to think of it, all the things in the two rooms were large and beautiful and inviting, and all spelled serenity. Most of the books in the old bookcases were left by travelers. I took one and brought it to a comfortable leather chair, sat back and began reading. It was about the ayahuasca plant, also called “the vine of the soul” and “the mother of the jungle” and “the teacher of teachers.” It grows in the Amazon jungle. The book was old and reading it was not easy, but I was enthralled with it.

Then a week after returning to the States I saw the words, “Mystical Healing in the Amazon” on a magazine cover. The December 2004 issue of Spirituality&Health magazine www.spiritualityhealth.com had a thoroughly-researched article about the ayahuasca vine written by Louise Danielle Palmer. She wrote that in Washington, DC she had attended a conference in indigenous healing traditions. It was there that she met Dr. Jacques Mabit, who left France in 1980 and worked for Doctors without Borders www.doctorswithoutborders.org in a small Peruvian village in the Andes. And it was there that he became acquainted with a very different way of healing people using ayahuasca and other plants. Eventually he opened a rehabilitation center in the town of Tarapoto in Peru for the treatment of drug and alcohol addiction.

Ayahuasca is an amazing healing plant as the writer of the article discovered when she traveled to Peru, spoke at length with Dr. Mabit, and took part in the ceremony at his center, Takiwasi www.takiwasi.com . She said, “Ayahuasca is most often mixed with the leaf of the chacruna plant and the tea is ingested only during ceremonies led by an ayahuasquero.” Those who have studied and used it have a deep reverence for its power to heal body and mind and connect one to the divine. Ms. Palmer said that for millennia the plant was used by tribes in the Amazon basin from Colombia, and Brazil to Peru and Suriname.

Ayahuasca and other healing plants are used by those who see things differently. I like to think of this special vine as one of Life’s beautiful gifts.

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mitch, thoughts of a man well-loved

His name was Lucien J. Michaud. He was dad to Judy and Norman, Pep to his grandchildren and great grandchildren, and Mitch to other family members and friends. He died at 90 on 28 February 2006-well-loved. He had beautiful twinkling blue eyes. He gave the most wonderful bear hugs. He was a tall man, and a strong man with a delightful French Canadian accent. He loved to sing. Long ago he was in a band. Perhaps some people are not meant to take their talent public. Instead they entertain groups of family and friends. He could liven up any room with his voice, and he did-with all his heart.

He was a manager of J.F. McElwain Shoe Co. working for 43 years in one of the mills that lined the banks of the Amoskeag River in Manchester, NH. It was a time when many French Canadians left Canada to settle in New England. A book was written about those mills. He enjoyed reading that book. He was a cross country skier, mechanic, belonged to a snowmobile club and chopped wood. For many, chopping wood is part of life in NH. He chopped wood for family and friends until last year. Germaine was his wife for 68 years. It was a good marriage. The love and memories from that marriage will be cherished and passed on for many years to come.

“The best portions of a good man’s life,
His little, nameless, unremembered acts,
Of Kindness and love.” -William Wordsworth

“Four centuries have passed since Saint Teresa of Avila, the great Spanish mystic and reformer, committed to writing the experiences which brought her to the highest degree of sanctity in the Catholic Church. Near the end of her life, she wrote, ” ‘The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.’ ” -P.M.H. Atwater, Lh.D. Future Memory: How Those Who “See the Future” Shed New Light on the Workings of the Human Mind

“He Alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.” -Kahil Gibran

“Let us be kinder to one another.” -Aldous Huxley, on his deathbed

“We can think of no better symbol of man’s earthly life than that of the seed planted in the darkness of the earth in order that it may grow into the perfect flower. The perfect flower, the archetypal flower, is created first in the mind of God, and then the seed is planted in the earth to grow to fullness. So is it with you, who are as seeds planted in physical form to grow towards the light until you become perfect sons and daughters of God-the perfect archetypal God-man which God held in His mind in the beginning.” -White Eagle, Spiritual Unfoldment 1: How to Discover the Invisible Worlds and Find the Source of Healing

” We are above the skies and more than angels. . .
Although we have descended here, let us speed back
what place is this?” -Rumi