Merry Christmas

Happy Winter Solstice

WINTER SOLSTICE 2005

We are approaching the seasonal time of the solar year when the ‘sun stands still’—the Winter Solstice. Our word solstice comes from the Latin sol stetit meaning ‘sun stands still.’ For approximately six days, it appears that the sun does not move—mythologically recorded in various cultures tales and mysteries ranging from the legends of the Pacific Islander’s Maui to the enigma surrounding Machu Picchu’s Sun Stone...The Winter Solstice marks the time of the longest dark and the shortest light... At this most important and very special and sacred time of the year, it is most appropriate to consider ones past year and the year to come. The following are some questions that you can ask yourself and include in your Winter Solstice honoring and celebration:



As the light returns what issues are blocking my lights expansion?

What patterns do I need to change to transform into a more loving and powerful divine human being?

What fears can I release over the next year?

What life lessons have I learned over the past year? And what do I need to do so that I do not repeat the mistakes of the past?

How best can I bring out the light to myself, to family, to others and to the earth and all its creatures?

What do I need to release that is hindering my spiritual power?

What spiritual commitment do I need to make that will heal the past, empower the present and provide the achievement of Divinehood in the future?

At this time of the returning light, honor the silence, the darkness, and the mystery of life from which all new creation emerges. Rejoice in this time of love and cheer for the eternal renewal of all things.

Happy Winter Solstice

Copyright ©2001 Spiritual Growth - Morning Star Institute. All Rights Reserved.

Christmas Lights in Sandestin

The resort is decked out with little white lights everywhere....at the gated entrances, at the neighborhood entrances, on individual houses and in Baytowne Wharf, the village within the resort.  Not "over the top" glam, but bright, cheery, holiday-spirit lights.  Here are some examples you can click to enlarge:

Main Gate

Around the Neighborhoods

Ok, I've just spent the entire evening (like four hours) searching for dozens of pictures of beautiful houses in Sandestin and their Christmas decorations (not just these simple neighborhood signs) that I took and downloaded somewhere on this computer.  I browsed through them all just the other day and now for the life of me, I cannot find them.  If anyone knows anything I don't about finding them, please holler!  Dang, this is a MYSTERY!

So unfortunately, I have to end here.

Mending Wall

One of my favorite poems is "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost.  In addition to loving the beauty of its natural rhythm, I can relate to the speaker's frustration at not being able to get his message through to his neighbor.  (There where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines, I tell him....He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'....I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: 'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it where there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall I'd ask to know what I was walling in or walling out, and to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn't love a wall that wants it down.') 

His neighbor, living life on a more perfunctory and surface level than the speaker, cannot even begin to understand the futility of his actions (He moves in darkness as it seems to me~ Not of woods only and the shade of trees).  It is saddening to know what won't exist, because of the neighbor's inability, fear, disbelief or mindless, comfortable routine (He will not go behind his father's saying, and he likes having thought of it so well, he says again, "Good fences make good neighbors.")

It has been argued that people like him go through life just fine, not needing or wanting true intimacy, not creating much depth in their relationships, preferring to swim in the safe and calm, but shallow waters (We keep the wall between us as we go.)  Maybe so.

But I am not one of them.

Mending Wall

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun,

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:

I have come after them and made repair

Where they have left not one stone on a stone,

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls

We have to use a spell to make them balance:

'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'

We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

Oh, just another kind of out-door game,

One on a side. It comes to little more:

There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head:

'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it

Where there are cows?

But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offence.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,

But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather

He said it for himself. I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me~

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father's saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

(Click to enlarge)

Talk, talk, talk

You didn't meant to say it.  It just slipped out.  Everybody knows how it feels when the gossip engine is in full swing, when the camaraderie of shared complaints and put-downs makes you say things you promised yourself not to --- little tidbits you'd been told in confidence, jokes and jabs you toss out for public enjoyment [or to vent frustration] though you'd never speak them right to someone's face.  We all understand.

But knowing that we all understand doesn't make it [good for relationships or our own well-being.]  And working harder to bite your lip next time only provides temporary relief.  "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34) --- so that if we want our words (or our silence) to be [caring, uplifting, positive], we must change our attitudes to match.

So...want to withstand the urge to sling the next insult?  Then try [understanding the unmet needs, hurting places of] the person who irritates you.  Want to never make another idle remark at another's expense?  [Pray for a loving heart, patience, and compassion.  Pray for guidance in seeing what unresolved issues might be behind another's words or actions.  Pray for tolerance.  Pray for the wisdom to identify what are others' issues and what are your own.....and pray for help with your own, for those are the only ones you can change.  Pray for the loving attitude and words to approach people when problems or hurts arise, so that understanding, peace and forgiveness might take root.  Don't bury issues, as that only causes resentment, passive-aggressive behavior and emotional wall-building.  And pray for an open heart and attitude so that others' may approach you, in kind.]

[And after praying for those things has become a constant in your life, pray for the strength not to let others' hurtful words or actions diminish your self-esteem.  Pray for the wisdom of discerning who is growing by personal insight and/or prayer and resolve to keep company with those people, instead of surrounding yourself with people who are negative, defensive, or closed to real intimacy.  Be accepting of and kind to the latter, but inspired and supported by the former.]

(from The One Minute Bible, edited with my words in brackets)

Scariest Train Rides

The other week I saw an article online about the scariest train rides in the world.  These particular ones struck me as most precarious, as they might my fellow adventurers/travelers (I capitulate to spelling that with one "l", although I confess I don't know when the rule was changed....sigh....and I taught English!  Oh well, language is always in flux....)

(Click to enlarge photos)

The Yukon, Alaska

Georgetown Loop

Kuranda scenic railway, Australia

Cipularang

White Pass, Yukon, Alaska

Tofu Attempt #1

Bit the bullet and dove into a vegan dinner tonight.  (After signing up at PCRM's website for the 21 Day Vegan Kick Off, starting Jan. 1, 2010....if interested, it's free:  21DayKickstart.org.  You will be sent via email daily recipes, info about veganism, tips, online interviews, etc.  PCRM is Physicians For Responsible Medicine, if you aren't aware...)

Tofu's marinating in an Asian marinade, corn waiting to nuke, wasabi-garlic mashed potatoes are made (cooked faster than I thought...first time making mashed potatoes, honestly....do you know any other almost-60-year-old women who have never made them?  Sheese.)

[Watching the Susan Boyle story on television.  Isn't that a dream come true, real fairy tale?  The refrain of the song she is singing that was written for her is "I can finally say I'm free.....I am who I was born to be."  You can't help tearing up and feeling so happy for her.]

Well, while I wait for the tofu to get ready to grill on my new cast iron skillet, here's what it looks like soaking up the flavors (mirin, tamiri, rice vinegar, Asian chili sauce, sesame oil, fresh chopped ginger, garlic):

And here are my first-time wasabi-garlic mashed potatoes....

And voila, dinner....

Ok, now the truth....this was the first time I used the cast iron grill pan.  They said to heat it over a high flame for 3 minutes (after having applied vegetable oil).  Oh my God.  Can you say s-m-o-k-e?  And after only a minute?!  I had to open all of the windows, get the whole-house fan going and the vent over the stove and still the fire alarm sounded.  Eeeek.  (Isn't Canola oil vegetable oil?  Or was the 3 minutes over high heat too much?)  The air is finally clearing now, two hours after I polluted it.

Plus those beautiful grill marks?  Uh, burnt.

But after I scraped the tofu from the pan and finished cooking it, I added some water and cornstarch to the marinade and it made a wonderful Asian sauce. (Not pictured.)  Sweetened up the charcoal taste of the grill marks just fine. However, live and learn.  I'm not going to cook the thick slices the recipe called for from now on....I'm going to slice it much thinner so it soaks up more marinade and cooks more quickly (on a lower heat.)  And now I have half of it left to cube and warm up in a stirfry this week.

Corn was great;  potatoes were good.

And all in all, I did it!  I am a tofu cook. 

Kind of.