Strange Snow...

Strange Snow

by Neinah Avelin

A strange snow is falling 

around me

broadcast from a 

goose grey sky.

Not the usual 

silent flakes 

but something other.

This snow in tiny 

snowball form 

passes by my ears with 

a quiet hiss 

on their way

to be collected in

mossy twigs,

foxes coats 

and curled and dried

leaves left 

from the fall.

Giving...

(Finding myself speechless and the incredible generosity of a total stranger...)

Today at work I'd got an inkling to go to lunch with CG and his lunch buddy Mino... Most days I do my own thing, preferring to work through lunch and leave work earlier... but today, as my belly rumbled at me and with quite a lot of work yet to get through I invited myself along...

As I thought he would, CG drove us to a little Mexican place on the island.  A family run business that had three restaurants, the one closest to work (which CG loved to frequent,) had closed just a few weeks previous (like several other small businesses in our area,) due to the lack of business. So here we were trekking several extra miles for his favorite chile rellenos...

Behind the counter the man (Miguel the owner,) started to chat with CG, remembering him from the other restaurant..., then he looked at me, and I was shocked that not only did he remember me from the one time I went in there when he had been working, but also remembered our conversation about his beautiful reproduction painting of Our Lady Of Guadalupe situated on the restaurant wall looking down kindly upon the hungry customers...

He pointed to the wall of this restaurant, and asked if I noticed the same painting?  "I did," I replied (still shocked he remembered me,) "she's very beautiful, one day I will go visit Our Lady in the Basilica in Mexico City." I told him..

He served us our food and disappeared into the kitchen.  We sat at our table and started our lunch, Miguel appeared again, carrying a slightly smaller, framed image of Our Lady of Guadalupe... holding it out to me he said, "this is for you."

Our Lady of Guadalupe

If your curious you can check her out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

I couldn't believe my ears, and was so stunned by his generosity.  I immediately said "oh no... I couldn't... "  I was a little embarrased, but he went on, saying that he had brought this back from Mexico city and that he wanted me to have it..  So, I said "yes."  Standing up I gave this generous stranger a BIG thank you hug,,, and hugged my own copy of Our Lady...

Our Lady - Looking very much at home here.

Do you have a story to share about the kindness of a stranger?

It can be such a powerful experience can't it?  Proving the point to me over and over again, that though we think that we are "separate" from others (folks different from us - spiritually, economically, racially etc. etc.) We truly aren't that different..., we aren't that separate... The fact that I can share a love of an image with a total stranger, and he endows and trusts me with this image that he loves and cares about so much makes me filled with love and filled with wonder and appreciation, at the kindness of this stranger.

A Day Late...

Though Valentines Day was yesterday, I wish to celebrate it with you today...

So, Happy Valentines Day Dear Friends and Family!!!

Last night the power went out at our house before I could make a special dinner for CG and I, so I'm planning on making it special tonight instead, but... the power just went out again for who knows how long...  So maybe this "special dinner" won't get cooked for a while...

 Still one very lovely side benefit of having no power is the excuse to light up the house with candles...

...which I absolutely LOVE....

I love the softness that candle light brings to a room, don't you?

Here is a love poem by the great and wonderful poet  Pablo Neruda

'Who ever desired each other as we do'

Who ever desired each other as we do? Let us look

for the ancient ashes of hearts that burned,

and let our kisses touch there, one by one,

till the flower, disembodied, rises again.

Let us love that Desire that consumed its own fruit

and went down, aspect and power, into the earth;

We are its continuing light,

its indestructible, fragile seed.

Happy late Valentines Day...

With LOVE,

Neinah

A Love Poem...

Its a short post today I'm sorry to say... a visit to the oral surgeon has stopped me from jaw-in too much..

Love you lots,

Neinah

A Homecoming ~

by Wendell Berry

One faith is bondage.  Two

are free.  In the trust

of old love, cultivation shows

a dark and graceful wilderness

at its heart.  Wild

in that wilderness, we roam

the distance of our faith;

safe beyond the bounds

of what we know.  O love,

open.  Show me

my country.  Take me home.

~o~0~o~

A request for loving prayer...

For Roger...

Please join me if you will and send loving prayers

to the husband of my sweet sister.

He has a short time left and 

I pray that he knows a kind of gentleness and

peace, that he truly deserves.

Thank you.

Neinah

A Way To Share The Love...

For me, Valentines is another way to spread the love...

So in the spirit of sharing, I invited a few friends over for tea, chocolate cupcakes (sorry forgot to take photo's) and Valentine making...

I pulled out my considerable stash of craft supplies that I'd accumulated over the past half a dozen years...  Ribbons, glitter, stickers, sequins, buttons, beads, vintage papers, and confetti covered the dining room table, barely giving us room to move...  Oh, but what fun we had...

(Notice the prevalence of RED worn by Les Artists)

So many exquisite Valentines were made by all, so diverse, so creative, so filled with the love of these beautiful women.

Do you have a special way to celebrate Valentines?  

If you make your own Valentine Cards I'd love to see them... If you send me a photo, I'll post it during the next week...

XO Neinah

Love And Kindness...

Hearts for valentines...

The weather has been grey and a tad gloomy, but inside I'm humming and feeling cheery...  It will soon be Valentines day - possibly my most favorite of all holidays, that makes the most sense, and makes my heart sing... How about you? Does Valentines Day make you smile, or sing, or hum?

When I was younger "love" had to look a certain way, but as I get older, I see the value of "Love" in all its guises.

Love is worthy of celebrating,  I will be writing and sharing over the next few days... I hope you'll join me.

Love,

Neinah

KINDNESS

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

you must travel where the Indian in the white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he too was someone

who journeyed through the night with plans

and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes any sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to mail letters and

purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

It is I you have been looking or,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.

~o~o~o~

Walking The Beach In The Rain...

Having been camped up the house for a day and a half, we decided a walk on the nearby beach would be good, regardless of the winter rain...

Walking along the beached logs...

some look like giant whale vertebrae.

In a driftwood house...

we found sanctuary from the rain.

I loved these sweet little sea birds, as they joyfully played in the chilly

water.  Swimming and diving like synchronized swimmers with dear little

swim caps on their heads... (any idea's on what they might be?)

Who was watching who..???  I'm not sure, but these NorthWest Crows

have certainly got their act together, feeding on all manner of shellfish, washed-up

half eaten carrion, and of course goodies that unsuspecting picnic-ers who turn there 

back for a second and don't know how wily these corvid characters can be... 

I love going to the beach at any time of year,,, its ever changing, inspiring and beautiful.

Here's a Mary Oliver poem I'd like to share...

Winter

And the waves

gush pearls

from their snowy throats

as they come 

leaping 

over the moss-green,

black-green,

glass-green roughage--

as they crumble

on the incline

scattering

whatever they carry

in their invisible

and motherly

hands:

stones,

seaweed,

mussels,

icy and plump

with waled shells,

waiting

for the gatherers

who come flying

on their long white wings--

who comes walking,

who comes muttering:

thank you,

old dainties,

dark wreckage,

coins of the sea

in my pockets

and plenty for the gulls

and wind still pounding

and the sea still streaming in like a mother wild with gifts--

in this world i am as rich

as I need to be.