SEEING

I was gazing out at the North pasture this Morning. I was admiring the huge thistles that are growing there. Winged dots of bright yellow and black darted among them. The goldfinches seem to own and shepherd these prickly creatures. I have never seen thistles so lush and beautiful.

It wasn't long ago that I would have cringed at the sight of so many thistles in my pasture. Why? Because the narrative of my world said they were bad. How were they bad? I don't even know. I suppose because they may spread and be hard to get rid of. That hasn't been my experience at all. There are thistle years, and years where there are few. Nothing I have done seems to influence this. I used to think that they proliferated more in a dry year- but this year has been wet.

Even back when I cringed at the sight of them, I knew their value. I knew they had deep tap roots and brought minerals up closer to the surface for other plants to thrive. I noticed that the grass growing at the base of the thistles was greener, longer and lusher. This could be because grazing animals avoid the prickles; but last year my sheep ate the same species of thistle with no obvious discomfort.

It has been a gradual process, but I have learned to give up the narrative and 'see' them. They are incredibly beautiful, standing like church spires topped by beautiful tufted purple flowers that emerge from a cone like bud. The flowers turn to wonderful, dandelion like, fluffy seed packages. That is when we really see the goldfinches. They love those seeds.

How can we be so influenced by a cultural narrative that we fail to see? How is it that our perception is so malleable? I know most of us are aware of this phenomenon with dandelions; when we were children we saw their beauty and loved them, as we got older, the culture wears us down and some capitulate and can no longer see their beauty. In the case of dandelions, I have always loved them.

How are we so influenced by cultural narratives? Is there a narrative that okays war? Is there a narrative that okays poverty? Is there a narrative that says it is okay to allow people to be homeless? Is there one that allows inequality? How about the rich and powerful, ripping off the rest of us?

How is it that we have accepted these narratives? Narratives are not truths. They cannot exist without some agreement, acknowledged or subliminal. It is just like the thistles, I couldn't really see their beauty until I gave up the narrative. I opened my eyes. I awakened in this small area.

We are awakening now. Many are flabbergasted, that they ever thought, violence against another people was okay. Many are appalled that we have allowed people to be hungry in a world of plenty. Many are startled when they realize how much their country spends in preparation for war and a mythical defense.

Yes! We can give up the destructive narratives that we have been imbued with. And we are. Every day more and more folks step out into the Light and they realize they have been blind. Oh, to remove the scales from the eyes and see everything is love.

The world seems crazier than it has ever been, however, it is just a demonstration, so folks can see how destructive the narratives of our culture have been. It is clearly obvious we have been stark raving mad. It takes a mad, mad, scene for some people to open their eyes.

All-a-long there have been other narratives. It is paradoxical that the core narratives of any religion would help lead us to paradise: the sermon on the mount; love thy neighbor as thyself; treat others as you would want to be treated; etc. Yet, religion has served more to reinforce the negative narratives, than support the ones they espouse. Let us not dwell on that. Perhaps that is the past. Folks everywhere are waking up.

Let us look around us, maybe that thistle we were seeing is not so bad after all. We don't have to see, how we were programmed to see. If we can see, without our programming, we will really 'see'.

ALL IS LOVE!

Love and Peace, Gregg

NO FEAR

 

I don't know if the world could be more beautiful! It is a Sunny cool Morning, a rooster is serenading me just outside my window, and a cool breeze wafts through my window; just enough to make long sleeves feel good.

My life seems to be back to normal. I don't really know what back to normal means, life always brings us something different, something new; we can learn to accept it, as it comes, without trying to alter or shape it.

Of course we do alter or shape it with every thought and feeling we have. We change our perception by how we see it. Seeing is everything.

I was reading something yesterday and the question was raised, “What is freedom?” The answer was, “No fear.” Wow! I have heard this many, many times before and I have no question about the truth of it. This time, the truth of this, resounded through my being. I must have been sitting on a pile of fears, because I suddenly felt empty of everything but PEACE.

Fear is an intruder that warps our perception. It contaminates our illusion. It sullies and dirties our life. It can be attached to every thought and feeling. We can feel loving one minute and find ourselves struggling hellishly the next. More and more I find it is unnecessary. We don't need to indulge it. We don't need to let it in.

Life comes to us continuously. I like to say, day by day. Our nights, especially our night's sleep, seems to bring us anew. Every day is its own pearl. Every day lives on it's own. Every day is best lived without reference to the day before or the day coming. Focus on the past and future always invites fear.

Can we imagine living without fear? Can we imagine the freedom that brings? Can we imagine pouring our whole heart and soul into living every day, knowing the love of the universe surrounds us? How creative could we be living, in the freedom of love, everyday?

Looking at my day, through a window of peace, I could see the troubles of the day, were not really troubles, they were tasks that enhanced learning. When we take away fear, events are just events, and we may even see the love that surrounds them.

Fears encourages us to defend against fear. Well you know what that means- we make it more real. We learn to fear fear. Wow, what a trap! Better, to realize fear is unreal. It is an invention of our separation. It reinforces our separation and it is totally unreal; and so is our separation, of course. We end up, unknowingly, pursuing fear.

Let's pursue joy instead! Joy is real! Joy is of the universe. We can see it in the flowers. We can see it, gazing at the stars. Joy is everywhere. We can see it when our minds are at peace.

Over and over we discover that peace, joy and love are the same state of mind- just different flavors. We achieve one and the others are ours.

On this marvelous Friday, I wish you, “No Fear”

Love, Peace, and Joy are flooding in, let it fill your day!

Love and Peace, Gregg

OUR TRIP

It seems like I haven't blogged forever. Much has happened. I am still recovering from the trip to Rochester. It wouldn't be such a bad drive if the Twin Cities wasn't halfway in the middle of the trip. The Cities are too big to go around and going though them, on the freeway, was horrendous. We went down on Sunday and the traffic was unbelievable. I, mistakenly, thought that Sunday traffic would be lighter. The trip down was made much worse by construction. On the way back, we skirted the downtown area, by going West. It was still heavy city traffic but less tense driving.

We went to Rochester to visit the Mayo Clinic. Jamie had a three hour consultation to help diagnose a condition, she has had, for at least four years. The main features of this condition is frequent nausea, no appetite, and a darkness of mood. Jamie researched everything that could have this cluster of symptoms; sleep apnea and Lyme’s disease being two of them. She was diagnosed with sleep apnea and learned everything she could about it. Managing her sleep apnea helped, but did not solve all the problems, in the last few months she has felt worse.

Early on she was told by a doctor that she could have Lyme's disease. She went to a specialist who said she did not have Lyme's disease, but he detected another possible ailment, called leptospirosis. This is a disease that can be gotten from a tick bite and the organism, also, inhabits sheep and cattle dung. This was happening about the same time as the sleep apnea discovery and it was a possibility, not a firm diagnoses. It was not followed up on, as treatment for sleep apnea appeared to hold promise.

The consultation at Mayo was to determine if this is primarily a psychiatric problem or a neurological one. The conclusion was that it is neurological and may indeed be leptospirosis. She is being referred for various test, that may include a brain scan and a spinal tap. They also recommend an anti-biotic to see if it will lower her white blood cell count. I might add; a week before going to Mayo, Jamie had a work up by her doctor, here. All her organ functions were in normal limits. But she did have an elevated white count, indicating she had an infection some where in her body.

We are hopeful we are on the right track and our long ordeal is almost over.

I had a lot of resistance to making this trip. It was a three hour drive and I knew most of it would be heavy traffic. I haven't driven much in the city since I retired and that was seventeen years ago; also, I am 82 and have some infirmity. My original plan was to leave at 4:30 AM and then come back the same day. I couldn't imagine leaving our dog for over 24 hours and I have animals to care for. Well, then Naomi volunteered to house sit, so we changed our plan and decided to go Sunday and stay in a hotel. Things seemed to be falling in place and I was beginning to feel more comfortable about making the trip.

Then Sunday Morning something happened, you here about it -read about it, but it has never happened to me. I changed my clothes on Sunday Morning. I took the stuff out of my pockets and transferred them to my new jeans. I was going to go up to town and fill the van up with gas and get the paper, I made an automatic slap at my back pocket, no wallet. I went to fetch my old jeans. They were in the wash. We took all the clothes out of the washer. The wallet wasn't in the pants pocket. [Wow- that water was hot] We fished around in the water and I tried to plunge my arm in. Couldn't find any wallet. Jamie sorted through the wet clothes; there it was wrapped up in a dress.

I had just got $100 from the bank, in case we needed cash on the trip. So I had five soaked twenty dollar bills, plus a few ones and fives. I spread the money out on the table on the deck. Some of the cards and assorted items in my wallet had been there for forty years or so. Perhaps, except for my drivers license and two credit cards there was nothing of real value- but I have been carrying around those soggy pieces of paper for a long time.

Was this an omen!

We weren't leaving until afternoon and everything dried in time. I guess you can't hurt money, because that dried the fastest and the most successfully. You could not tell that it went through the washer.

I guess it wasn't an omen, because things went splendidly. Our hotel room was on the third floor overlooking a very busy corner. We were right across the street from one of the Mayo buildings. It was an old and funky hotel and it fit us perfectly. The a/c unit didn't work well, we opened the window. Rochester is a vital, busy city and the noises were reminiscent of a big city. It was exciting for us country folk. We enjoyed watching all the activity from our perch. Later at night, it wasn't so much fun, the noise changed its quality, but not its volume. I would guess all the deliveries were made at night. One could hear, what sounded like, huge trucks go through the intersection all night long.

We had a great time talking to people and we ate at an excellent restaurant. Rochester seems to be an exciting place to live and it is populated by an international assortment; I suppose both healers and patients.

On Friday I will return to more usual blog material. Of course, I am not good at reading the future.

Love and Peace, Gregg

HEALING OUR SEPARATION

I am getting a late start. This is getting to be a pattern. I went to Mora this Morning. It was nice going to town while it was still cool. The night temperatures have been pleasant but it begins to heat up early. Monday night it stayed pretty warm, and we had some stormy weather, that continued, on and off, until yesterday afternoon. We got about an inch and a quarter of rain. We are supposed to get more rain this evening.

I have to tell a story about myself. Monday, I didn't start my blog until 2:15 PM. It took about an hour, I imagine. I write, using Open Office, and cut and paste to my blog. Before, when I typed directly on the blog space, I would lose what I wrote sometimes, when there was a power failure, or a human caused glitch. I haven't lost a blog since I have been using Open Office.

When I finished my blog. I accidentally clicked the wrong side of the mouse when I was attempting to cut and paste. I corrected myself, but I couldn't get the little screen to come up that said, cut. I tried everything. I clicked on every little icon I could see. All that I did was threaten to lose the whole thing. I discovered I could print it out and I did so. Then I retyped it directly onto the blog space. It took much longer to do, than the original creation. I have a hard time copying. It gives me renewed respect for stenographers and secretaries everywhere. The whole time this was happening, I knew, that if any of my children or grandchildren were here, they would have solved the problem in five minutes. I knew I couldn't have created that big a problem by clicking on the wrong side of the mouse.

I went to bed without knowing my error. I awoke briefly at 4:30 in the Morning and I knew what the problem was; I forgot to hi-light the text! I knew that is what happened, because I did it once before, but I caught it after about five minutes of desperation. I would probably have realized it this time, if I hadn't hit the wrong side of the mouse and blamed that for the problem.

I am not sure I should tell stories like this, folks may think it is creeping senile dementia. That is okay- maybe it is- who knows.

Instead of writing about the destructive results of our separation, I would like to focus on what we can do to help during the awakening.

The awakening is happening! Part of the negative aspects, is all the crap is rising to the top, which has been occupying the main stream media. Ignore it, except for its comic value.

We have been living in an illusion, created by the negative aspects of our egos. We all make choices every second, to focus on love or fear, and we have the world that resulted. This aspect of our egos was heavily exploited by those who wanted to keep us under control. They were, almost successful, at making us all slaves; but not quite. Many folks perked up their ears, at the message that came down through the ages, and many folks added to it and amplified it; the message was clear, we are creating our worldly experience and we can create a different one, by knowing Love is the only energy there is. If enough people shift their focus to love, the false power of the manipulators drops away.

I say categorically: IT HAS HAPPENED!

We will begin to realize it soon, as we further note, the power of the cabal slipping away.

We have been going in a wrong direction for so long, we are going to need, ways to to re-educate people in farming, medicine, education, everything needs to be looked at anew.

All of us, who are opening our eyes, will realize we have a gift or gifts to help our neighbors. Have we been educating our children or training them to fit into a distorted loveless reality? Have we been healing people, or have we been using folks illness and discomfort, to make money? Have we been raising nutritious food for folks, or have we been supplying people, with contaminated products that may contribute to all kinds of diseases and conditions?

We have many questions like this. We are ready to heal the pain of our separation. Once we know, that love is the only energy there is, and we are ONE, there is only one direction to go. Love each other and heal the craziness.

We will do it! I have some ideas we will talk about on Friday.

I have dishes to wash and chores to do.

Love and Peace, Gregg

MORE ON SEPARATION

This probably won't be a long blog, it is already 2:15 PM. Then I don't know how things will turn out. Jamie and I had a lengthy discussion this Morning, then we went to town for shopping and got milk at the Amish.

I have several things to say about our separation at all levels: our bodies from our minds, our minds from our spirit and ourselves from Nature.

Let us begin with our separation from Nature. When we began to see ourselves as separate, from the usual processes, of Nature we began to exploit the Earth, rather than look for the best way, to live in harmony with Her. We began to see the Earth, as an unlimited source of goodies, rather than a living being, eager to care for us. What we lost mainly is WISDOM.

When we quit listening to Nature we gave up any hope of being wise. We fell in-love with that part of our mind, that is capable of taking things apart, without reference to the whole. We are like the small child, who takes apart his grandfather's intricate time piece, scatters the parts across the floor, tries to reduce the small parts into smaller parts in anyway he can. Then he wonders what time it is. He doesn't know what he has done, because he never stopped to 'see' the whole. He did not appreciate the function or the process.

Modern Science started out with observation. The Scientific Method can be described as structured observation. Does not observation include understanding the whole before tearing things apart? Despite our childlike wish to examine all the parts, the scientific method held itself together, fairly well, until the influence of money and power.

Some of the Ancient Greek philosophers taught that everything was energy. One of the philosophers postulated the existence of atoms and wave lengths. They knew of the potential energy that lay within the atom. They were attempting to understand, what we think of, as reality. Would they have tampered with the atom if they had the tools? I don't know. I can't know enough, but we did.

Albert Einstein, among many others at the time, warned against a headlong production of an atom bomb. Why did we do it? Separation on many fronts. Separation from each other, as people, we thought it was okay to kill a bunch of folks across the ocean, because they were labeled an enemy. Separation from observation of the whole: we went ahead with something we did not know enough about.  {A separation from the solid Scientific Principle of Observation}. Without the pressure of money and power, coupled with rampant paranoia, would we have done it? I will leave folks to argue whether it has been a worthwhile endeavor.

There is wisdom in the way Nature works things out. There is wisdom in all the processes of Nature. Our ability to manipulate natural processes, far outweighs our wisdom.

Would most of the pesticides and herbicides exist today, if we could think outside our economic boxes? Would we have created GMOs? Would we have made plastic from petroleum? Plastic was made from hemp before it was made from petroleum, hmmmmmm wonder what happened? Which industry was backed by big money?

This is just an introduction to the discussion, I would like to have, about the consequences of  separation. It is late and I have afternoon chores to do. Let us see what Wednesday brings.

Love and Peace,  Gregg

SEPARATION

 

It was chilly yesterday! It didn't get out of the 60s. That is rare for the middle of July. It is supposed to be pleasant today with highs in the 70s F. Then the heat is going to return; it is forecast to be 90 tomorrow.

I am late getting started. I went to Mora this Morning and since I returned, I have been doing this and that, and not settling down to do my blog.

I can't say I don't have things to blog about, I have been thinking about things all week. I am experiencing a little resistance. Oh well, this is one of those things that I have been thinking about.

All my life, I have wondered why so many of the philosophies, and especially spiritual traditions, taught us to ignore, subjugate or rise above the body; with emphasis on the bodies pleasures. There are a few exceptions.

Christianity denied sex, except for procreation, and that denial still stands in the minds of many Christians. For several centuries of the church's history, the denial of the body extended to all of Nature. Nature was considered evil and although medicines were obtained from Nature, often the procurers of such remedies had to be careful of their reputations, unless they be charged with witchcraft. The denial and separation from Nature is still a powerful force in today's modern world, although most are not aware of the origin.

In the Eastern traditions, the denial took the form of rising above the body, as if one could not be part of body and spirit both at the same time. It is understandable to recognize one would have difficulty knowing, our spiritual reality, if we were focused only on our bodies. However, learning to focus on something other than our bodies does not require denial of them.

Perhaps, it is thought that the ego is an attachment of the body. One could argue that, as the ego was originated to protect our fragile bodies after the original separation. However, the ego has developed into a force that tries to keep us isolated [protected] no matter what our minds are doing. The ego loves to evaluate and judge. It has no trouble extending itself, to what we may think of as spiritual realms, and there is nothing worse than having ego in our spiritual learning. That lends them null and void and predicts a troubled individual. Pride, in spiritual growth; what a contradiction!

Sure, we are spirits that temporarily reside in bodies; and sure, we may rise out of our bodies during meditation. We need reminders, that we are spirits inhabiting bodies, and not bodies that happen to have spirits. But, where in this equation is the idea, that we should reject or deny our bodies.

We cannot be preoccupied with body pleasures, at the same time, we are aware of our totality. Preoccupation with physical pleasure is just that; it is temporary and doesn't deny spirit anymore than preoccupation with spirit should deny the body.

All the the things we think of as evil or negative come from separation. Separation from each other and separation from ourselves; our minds are separated from our bodies and our spirits.

Go through the lists of negatives in your mind anger, jealousy, lust, greed, all fears, etc. Can you think of one that does not come from separation?

If we could see our Oneness, could we hurt each other? Could we allow and ignore suffering of the other? Would there be an other?

If we knew the Oneness of our mind, body and spirit, would we allow our mind to hurt our body? We do now, don't we? And we allow our mind to deny our spirit.

Learning to be separate from our bodies, blinds us, to how separate we are from Nature. AND that is a very, very serious problem. Most of our problems in science, agriculture and medicine, come from our blindness, to what is natural. Our first task upon The Awakening, is to re-connect with Nature.

I have much to say about this, perhaps I will revisit it on Monday. I have things to do. I haven't even washed my dishes yet and it is 1:22 PM.

Happy Friday. Celebrate and let us love all of ourselves!

Love and Peace, Gregg

JUST A NOTE

We had quite a thunderstorm last night. We got an inch and a quarter of rain and the lightening stuck the antenna that supplies our internet. Our internet has just come back up.

However, there will be no blog today, because our marvelous cleaning lady called, and asked if she could come today instead of tomorrow. She will be arriving soon and we will go to Cambridge to the Chinese restaurant; we will check out the thrift shop and do some grocery shopping at Aldis.

I will be back with my blog on Friday.

Love and Peace,  Gregg

A RAMBLER

Another perfect Summer day! This has been the most amazing late Spring and early Summer. It has been a little too hot at times, but mostly, it has been ideal. It is 74.1 F at this moment. It has been down to the fifties at night, perfect sleeping weather. When it is nice like this, I forget about the three to five days in a row, where we might have excessive heat.

Everything is so lush! Which puzzles me. With so much natural food, why are the deer coming into the yard to dine on our perennial gardens? We probably have fifty Hostas planted in several different places. The deer have found most of them and have eaten them down to stalks. What is so interesting is that, we lived here for 42 years and had Hostas, most of that time, and this is the first time they have eaten them. Deer are interesting creatures. For twenty years they ignored my apple trees, then they tormented them for five years, now this year, they are leaving them alone. I am talking about young trees. They can't hurt old trees, except to nibble on low branches.

The deer may have given my Mock Orange the death knell. I love Mock Orange bushes. We are bordering zone 3 and 4. I planted a Philadelphus virginalis some twenty years ago. After 3 or 4 years it wasn't thriving. I moved it to a better location [more Sun]. It thrived, after a couple years, it reached about five feet and had a few blossoms. It should have bloomed profusely the following year. However that winter was open, meaning no snow, and very cold. {2001-2?} It was dead in the spring, however, it came up from the root. Ever since then, one disaster or another, would happen. Once, I backed over it with the mower. It takes a long growing season and a favorable Fall for the new sprouts to harden off, well enough, to survive the Winter. This Spring it looked good, it was a few feet high and it looked like it could make a comeback. Well, it was this year the deer decided it was a delicacy. If I plant another Mock Orange it will be a hardier variety.

We are trying an herbal deer deterrent. I will let you know how it works out.

We didn't make it up to visit my sister Sandy, on Saturday. We were hoping to lounge on the shore of Mille Lacs lake. I couldn't get my brakes repaired. The grinding noise continues and I don't think it is advisable to drive it more than I need to. I have an appointment with the garage for this afternoon.

Instead I mowed the lawn. I got half of it done on Saturday. I checked out the weather forecast for Sunday and it was supposed to be clear in the Morning with a chance of rain after 1PM. “Good”, I thought, “I will get the lawn finished on Sunday Morning” On awakening, yesterday Morning, it was raining. It rained or drizzled all Morning. It cleared up about 1PM and the grass was sufficiently dry that I could mow by 2PM. I was happy to have the lawn all cut at once.

I don't mind that the weather predictors get it wrong occasionally. They are spookily accurate most of the time. It is nice to know Nature has a few tricks up her sleeve.

I know this isn't a typical blog. I don't feel like getting into anything heavy and I don't feel particularly profound. Well I never actually do, any profundity, whatever that is, is by accident.

All that I know, is to live my life in the most loving way possible. Love everything. Forgive anything that displeases and have a kind word for everyone I meet. It's the way to be HAPPY.

Love and Peace, Gregg

DYSFUNCTION

 

It is a gorgeous Morning! It was hot and muggy yesterday but it cooled off last night and dryer air moved in. I said Morning but it is already after Noon. I am getting a very late start. I spent the Morning becoming reacquainted with the dysfunction of the World. I know, I advise against focusing on the horrors of the world, because we grow what we focus on, and we don't want that.

Can we become aware of how crazy the world is without giving the craziness energy? As individuals we are going to do it anyway. We are going to focus on the crazy world until we are convinced of its dysfunction. I am convinced that the dysfunction is so complete and unsustainable that a collapse is unavoidable. It helps, to be aware of it, in order to give up our own dysfunctional beliefs.

Imagine a teeter totter in our minds, one side is weighted with love, the other side fear. Can we look at the negativity of the world without putting weight on the fear side? Can we see the negativity and use it to reinforce our intent to make only loving decisions? I think we need to ask ourselves that question.

I won't go into what I was reading. It doesn't matter. The dysfunction of the projected illusion, the collective ego as it were, the world reflected by the main stream media, is profoundly dysfunctional. Power and money motivates everything, whether it be science, medicine, agriculture, archeology, anthropology, education, you name it.

Oh sure, the people around us can be sane. We can look around us and see nothing but loving people. Yet the systems we work in, whether it be medicine or communications, is driven by profit to the extent of everything else. Yes, we can attempt to be functional in a dysfunctional system. We can make loving decisions even when the protocols in your profession require dubious decisions. It may not be easy and it may cause strain.

Everybody finds themselves in different bubbles of reality. It may be bizarrely crazy in our place of employment and we may have quite pleasant relationships with our family and friends.

The big issue is how can we conduct our lives, in a way, that gives energy to the loving elements and not the fearful side? As part of Source we are creators. We can't, but create, with our perception. We help bring into reality [the shared illusion] that we focus on.

When the teeter totter, in our collective minds, tips to love we will begin to see the emergence of the World we long for. How do we help bring it about? We focus on the love we see in our lives. We become familiar with how our minds work and make only loving decisions.

We need to give up our pet beliefs and we must stop bowing down to authority figures. We all have the truth inside us. Our intuition, will tell us, truth from fiction. We need to practice listening, again some form of meditation is very helpful. Feel for the love inside, lets make all our decisions with love.

We don't have long to wait. The old tired world is about to collapse.

Hey! Have a great Friday! Celebrate!

Love and Peace, Gregg

BURGEONING OF NATURE

As I mentioned Monday, the weather can change over night, it was still pleasant Monday but Tuesday it got hot. It was 88 F at one point. It actually wasn't too unpleasant, if you stayed in one spot and didn't do much. That was me. I did the basic chores, letting the chickens out, getting eggs, doing dishes, otherwise I sat in a chair on the porch and drank water and took a couple naps on the porch cot.

Noah visited and we had good conversation and settled most of the worlds problems. Well at least, we identified them.

I was surprised when I went out to let the chickens out, to note that both their feeders, one for mash and one for corn, were empty and their water was down to dregs. I am usually a better husband than that. However, I know they were not lacking because they had food yesterday. I never used to give them water on the inside of the coop in the Summertime. It is just in the last few Summers I have been doing that. If they have water we have the option of not letting them out of the coop first thing in the Morning. There may be a reason; a violent thunderstorm or we want to be away in the Morning, and for some reason, we don't want to let the chickens out. It never happens though, I always let them out as soon as the dawn predators, are no longer lurking. We have had foxes, great horned owls and possibly coyotes lurking around after Sunrise. I usually let them out about 8 AM. There is less egg laying out, also, if we don't let them out at the crack of dawn.

This is a Summer where we wouldn't have to feed the chickens at all. Everything is so lush. The flora and fauna are exploding! It is a miracle of growth around here. We have swans nesting on ponds. I haven't seen any cygnets yet, but I have seen hundreds of goslings. The pheasants and the turkeys have big broods. A simple drive to Mora turns out to be a spectacular adventure. I saw a Scarlet Tanager on the drive to Mora Monday. I know they are not rare, but I don't get to see them often, I love the contrast between the deep, rich red and pure black.

And the deer. I love them and they seem to be multiplying. We see fawns, singles, twins and even triplets frequently. Except for the fact that they have chosen this year to feast on the Hostas, we really enjoy their company.

Have other people noticed this? Or is it just in the bubble we find ourselves in? It seems like there is an energy in the universe that is causing Nature to explode. We are going through a period of greater intensity of cosmic rays. Could that have something to do with it?

Is it the tsunami of love we hear about? According to some folks there is supposed to be an increase of love on Earth that is to tip the scales, in the mind of humankind, toward love. The idea is that love and fear have existed, pretty equally, in our collective minds, for several centuries and a tsunami of love [or energy] from the Central Sun is to trigger off the awakening. Something is happening; more later.

I have to do my dishes then go to the garage. My van has developed a noisy rear brake. I don't think it is metal to metal. It may be the warning plug some brake bands are equipped with. I would like to get the vehicle fixed before Saturday as we have a gathering to attend, at my Sisters, on Mille Lacs lake.

Love and Peace, Gregg

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

 

It is a cool beginning to July. It is quite pleasant, it is 10:20 AM and it is just over 70 F. It was in the low 60s when I got up. We had a week or two of temperatures that were above normal, but it seems to be shaping up to be a cool Spring and early Summer. Although, this is Minnesota, the weather could flip flop overnight and we could have temperatures in the nineties.

We had a very pleasant day yesterday. Five of my six children, their spouses and children, gathered at the cottage on Big Marine Lake as part of the 4^th of July celebration. We visited them. We had a great time! I love our family gatherings.

The cottage has been in the family since 1940. My Grandparents bought it in conjunction with their second oldest daughter and her husband. I spent much of my early years there. I learned how to sail. We had a succession of sail boats; some authentic and some converted row boats. One of the most memorable was an old duck boat we equipped with a mast and sail. It flew across the lake, but with a jury-rigged centerboard, it could scuttle sideways too.

We spent many hours fishing on the lake, walking in the woods and cooking out at our favorite spot. Many birthday parties and other celebrations were held there. Somethings I remember vividly. When I was ten years old, we spent a few days out there with our Mom, and my Dad commuted to work. We did not have electricity or a portable radio [they were rare in those days]. My Dad arrived and announced that the War was over [VJ Day]. It was so exciting and such a relief. The war occupied my life from 6 years old to 10. No more rationing. No more air raid drills. Of course, in those tender years, I did not know we were on the threshold of endless war.

My Aunt and Uncle moved out of state [early 1950s?] and my Grandfather bought out there interest. My grandparents had nine children, seven which had survived to this point. Some had numerous children, of their own, and the cottage was a Summer haven for many years. It was a great place to get away. There was no electricity or running water. We got our water from a pump shared by two other cottages. They did have an old electric generator installed that was used when there was large gatherings. Many of us preferred to use the kerosene lamps.

The original cottage was a grand affair. A beautiful Tiffany lamp suspended by a fine retractable brass chain over the dining room table, a hand crafted ash cupboard full of Royal Dalton and Haviland dinner ware. Beautifully made kerosene lamps on brackets suspended from the walls with mirrored glass reflectors to focus the light. Two kitchens, a Summer kitchen, with a sink and a wood range and a regular kitchen, also with a wood range. It was characterized by rustic elegance.

Over the years the cottage lost some of its original elegance with attempts at modernization and just wear and tear.

Sometime in the late 1970s the original cottage burnt down. It was replaced on the same footprint but it paled compared to the original.

The Cottage passed to their surviving children at my Grandparents death. I can't remember how it all worked out but after my Father died, my brother, Garth and his Wife and my brother Michael, bought out the remaining family interest in the cottage. They purchased it with an investment in mind and hoped to sell it. With the crash, and then swings in the real estate market, this hasn't happened. There are plans afoot, I don't know if they will or should materialize.

Visiting the cottage brings back many memories. I moved here in 1975 and my connection with the cottage was lost. I had my own piece of paradise in the country, and it was now 70+ miles away, rather than the 30+ miles it was. 1940 to 1975, 35 years of my life, it was of significance.

We spent many Fourth of July's at the cottage.

Have a great Fourth of July. Let us celebrate our liberation from all our negative beliefs. Let us celebrate our freedom from all our craziness. Let us celebrate the freedom of everyone on Earth.

Let us celebrate, that we are all shining beings of light, worthy of all the love of this great Universe.

Love and Peace, Gregg