I know why spring in Seattle is the best thing ever... finally there is sun again! I was out last night bare-feet dancing at a bluegrass show then biking home until quite late in the night (for me at least). And now it is 7am and the sun is peaking through my window. I'm really close to just calling it a mornin' and getting out in the garden. There are tomatoes ready to be transplanted, potatoes ready to be planted, and calendula and merigolds ready to go in the ground too... hooray! This weekend is amazing, already. It is sunny and full of music. Last night there was a great show that I found out about from this fella I met in the Arboretum. Today I'm going to busk at the street fair in the u-district, then go see Mason Jennings, Brett Dennen and Missy Higgins... then on Sunday I'm playing my song "Blackberries" as the prelude at church and Sunday night is the monthly songwriters group I go to. All good things....and rounding it out with a morning in the garden might just be the best thing ever! It seems like my perfect day of garden+music+outside time keeps happening. Sorry no pictures my camera died (not just the batteries) Maybe I'll get it looked at next month. But love to all in the meantime!

Grateful list:
-my overnight at L'Arche, seeing the whole day with folks was really great
-music!!! This weekend is so full of it! This is one of the bands that I saw last night http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=114224068 check them out!
-clean water to drink
-this morning!
-sunshine!
-food, it's really a miracle
-biking around in the sun
-laughter
-barefoot dancin'

Here it is, Mothers' Day... My little mama sure is a good one. It's helpful to remember that life really is just on journey of healing. I only say that because it can be easy to think that your past led you to where you are, but the truth is you are where you are... that matters more than how you got there sometimes. BUT I do want to thank my mama, who is one of the most giving people I know. That's no joke. I want to grow up and give like her. So THANKS mama!

At a formation (the weekly spiritual training at L'Arche) we had to describe our favorite day. I said mine has a formula: eatin' garden food, being outside, making music, and having a bit of quiet time to myself... this day has been recreating itself a lot lately. Last night we had a beautiful potluck and jam here at Sula. Below is the first harvest from Sarah's garden. I have to admit, I've been snacking on the lettuce in ours in a most un-ritualized way. I couldn't really help it, when I nap in the area just near our lettuce. :)

Now, I know you're not going to believe this, but Sarah I went on our usual weekend hike, this time to Redmond Watershed Preserve. We found 54, yes 54!, 4 leaf clovers. Then we got to smell skunk cabbage! It was such a perfect day.

Here's a picture from Mt. Baker beach... it is certainly a favorite local spot. If you visit, it is a must see.

I appreciate this poem, it is one of Sarah's favorites, and I think y'all might like it to. I love that it speaks to the beauty in this fallible world.

***

Song For Baby-O, Unborn Sweetheart

when you break thru

you'll find

a poet here

not quite what one would choose.

I won't promise

you'll never go hungry

or that you won't be sad

on this gutted

breaking

globe

but I can show you

baby

enough to love

to break your heart

forever

Diane DiPrima

****

Oh yeah... about that KY job, well my heart is nearly sold on it entirely. I'm waiting to hear back about the health insurance. I just feel really led to work on Energy Empowerment in Appalachia... it is something that runs pretty deeply in me. I've been really surprised at how it feels.... making this decision... you always hear from people about love and life work that "you'll know when it is right, you will just feel it"... and I have never felt so internally led to something as I do to this position. Berea gave me so much, and among it was a connection to that land. I really want to give something back to it.

Grateful list:
-my mama!
-morning prayer
-plants
-tire gardens
-music, music, music!
-garden food
-Josh Ritter's line from a song "oh the heart has no bones you say so it can't break, but the purpose of loving is the pounding it takes"
-slow Sundays
-Sarah's friendship (and fake-dating)

Kentucky?

Hey dear folks,

   just a short note to let y'all know that I might be headin' back east next year...?  Not sure yet, but I'm interested in a position in little ol' Berea.  I'm also interested in an outdoor ed gig in Ohio, and another in Arcata... and another year or so of L'Arche?... It reminded me of working in the garden yesterday, transplanting little lettuce plants out of a tire that was too full to a patch we tilled up near the fence.  In pondering this, my prayer for the day is such:

 

****

 

Dear heart,

   Please before you prune out the little starts, the tiny sprouts, the baby seedlings, all reaching for the sun, all competing for the limited resource of your life... please before spacing out your garden--take stock that there is a great deal blooming here.  There is.  So on this day when it is too soon to decide which plants to water, let it all bloom. 

 

****

 

...and tomorrow I go one day farther in the sorting out of my seedlings with a phone interview for the Energy Empowerment in Appalachia position at Berea.  So, goodnight to y'all. 

 

grateful list:

-more than one opportunity to choose from

-gardens

-my seester, Missy Suzanne

-the funny messages on my answering machine telling me to move back to Berea "for the Saturday night jam sessions"

-lettuce plants

-midnight phone calls across time zones to wake up a friend and say "Hey, I might take this job...and it scares me!"

-the return of sun this spring

-bike ridin'

-clean water to drink

-photography, writing, and music all things that aim to capture something beyond themselves

-this one wild life!