Rainbow Sprite

Today we were blessed with a double rainbow above our garden, two large arcs of sunshine refracting a hope born of rain...ahhhh. The lower rainbow had ten stripes in all, quite something,and we all witnessed the ten minute miracle together. It felt good. Aurora has the chicken pox this week, and I am just so happy it is this week...half term, meaning a week off in the middle of the third term, more like year round school in the scheduling. Poor girl is covered, even over her eyelids and on the soles of her feet! So, her performance with the school choir is over and she danced the maypole with her class, and now we have nowhere we are needed...just chill. Reading masses of books and deep cleaning for spring and for Kaiah, who arrives next week. Peace and Joy :-)

Summer Dreams

The lush green summer of NC was real in my sleep over the weekend. I was walking in the grass, hearing the cicadas, feeling the swish laugh sway of all the beautiful women who live there. I am remembering the emergence of fireflies and the amazing luna moth who lived in our backyard. The irises would be blooming about now, and maybe the mosquitoes are not out in full force yet. Day trips to the beach would be happening, and I would be salty and sunny and gentle.
Often now, I don't even recognize myself. I know I wanted this, these changes, and that in time all things will be held inside of me at once. City girl, working girl, cycles spiral across time, and love does does not diminish across such spirals!

"Know that the world of created beings in like pure and clear water, reflecting the attributes of God. Their knowledge, justice and kindness reflects God's like a heavenly star is reflected in running water. Earthly kings reflect God's kingship. Scholars mirror the wisdom of God. People and nations may change as one generation replaces another; but the divine attributes are eternal. The water flowing in the stream changes many times, but the reflection of the moon and stars in the water remains the same." Rumi, the mathnavi 6:3172-3178

Starry eyes shining out :O

Hammam

Hammam is way of going to the sauna I have learned from a new Tunzinian friend. All over Eastern Europe, Scandanavia, and the Middle East sauna is a big deal. There are massive spas built, and people do it to keep themselves warm and healthy...when I go with the this small group of women it takes us 3 hours, and it is delightful! Firts scrub with oil removing soap, then the steam sauna, then exfoliate the body with special hand towels and a cold shower...jacuzzi and fresh air, then the dry sauna, cold shower, jacuzzi and fresh air, then if you are lucky, rest in a warm room in a dry towel and have fresh fruit, or put honey or salt all over your body (we can't do this part in England, the English do not use saunas in this way; in fact, we are quite strange to the other gym goers, who are treadmilling and racquetballing away)...then dry sauna, cold shower, and nice hot shower with regular soap and shampoo...lotions and potions away! "A woman looks best 2 hours after she does sauna" my friend says. She has been doing it since she was a little girl. We are meeting once a week, boy am I lucky! And finally, I am really connecting in feminine ways.

With my last essay in, and only the dissertation to write, being in my body is coming back in the most odd ways. Hammam, break dancing (yes, can you believe it!), swimming laps, and whirling. What strange and wonderful choreography may come out when I next enter the studio :)

Happy days...

This Quiet Place

This quiet place is not a place at all. In hushed tones my body trembles, exhausted from four days of full on chicken pox, , , I am grateful for this space, this time to listen deeply to my young son's heart and just to be, with him while he is so young and vulnerable. We are always young and vulnerable...so now I hold myself :)
I begin my massive end of taught courses essay this evening, which is due in three days, and I plunge into the grave of time, into the space of nospace, for this is what my essay is about. My gen, gen X, our world is not a world of wood and stone and bone, it is one of light and flight and really real unrealities. And somehow, in the academic language, by piecing together the bold and not-so-bold thoughts of my predecessors, I will make just this statement.
We live in our bodies, we love inside experience, we exist in so many thought forms and locations at once, we weep terribly as we track the crystal frequencies of this time.
We are turtles, stacked upon each other, towering between earth and sky.
~swish~

Merry

Three weeks of gorgeous sun! It's the merry old month of May: windows open, incense and candles late into the summer night, barbecue all afternoon, and a big full moon... Love and Joy and Tears and Flow and then a quite space emerges surrounded by the etheric currents of growth. When put through the seive, the self reorganizes, and I think moving to another country is like being put through a seive.... Here is a picture of the family at Bath Abbey. Sending Joy~

Power Puff

Well my little princess rode a 15 mile course yesterday to celebrate May Day and what a proud mama I am. She and Kevin took off at 9:30 am to the meeting point at Midsummer Common in Cambridge (3 miles from home) and rode up to Reach, a small village which is really two blocks of houses among a bunch of farm fields, 12 miles north. When they arrived at the starting point nobody believed that she, at 6 years old and on a little 16" pink bike, could actually do the ride. Not only did she do it, she kept pace with the whole crew, like an energizer bunny. The mayor of Cambridge and his female counterpart were there to welcome the riding crew, singing God Save the Queen and throwing bundles of shiny new pennies in the air. The maypole was danced and then a typical English country fair ensued....carnival rides, fish and chips, beer, beer, beer, Morris dancing, more rides, etc... It was windy and cold and you know, it didn't bother us...we had a great time! Letting go to become English? Mini me triathletes? I look at us and laugh at this absurdity and I love it.

Side by Side

Spring continues to flower with Lilacs coming out this week and the first roses in some gardens. I am back in Cambridge, grateful for my time in Norway and for the opportunity to exchange with so many great young people from all over Europe. Shop talk, art talk, it is always good to be with a group who shares many of the same assumptions about ways of approaching life.
The highlight was a night of African dance where a circle of women just shared and shared and shared, drenched with sweat, risky moves, speaking beyond words, celebrating life and each other. I have so missed being in circles of women (buyahh NC peeps)! This was a treasure for my body and heart in Norway.
Also of great importance to me was Nidaros Cathedral. Situated on a slope above the river, enclosed by mountains and fjords, erected over thousands of years, this cathedral is the first one I have encountered that actually reached out and met me. There are powerful paintings and icons hung here, tombs of great masters, and secrets around every corner. On three separate occasions I was drawn in and deeply moved. I could have spent a solid week inside!
And now, my mother-in-law is visiting and we took the occasion to visit Bath. Having arrived in the late afternoon to find a choral concert on in the Abbey last night, we took the opportunity to listen to an amazing group of young people exquisitely resounding the likes of John Tavener, Eric Whitacer, and other great writers. Two of the songs had that opening effect..the room was hushed and still, as if holding our breath. The sound literally swirled around the high arches and through our bodies, and the light of the setting sun displayed webs of color for the eyes.
What wonders await the traveller....