2023 Spring Activities

Shasta and I walk by this Amiot sculpture
almost every morning.

At start of spring I open a trench

in the ground. I put into it 

the winter’s accumulation of paper,

pages I do not want to read 

again, useless words, fragments,

errors. And I put into it

the contents of the outhouse:

light of the sun, growth of the ground,

finished with one of their journeys.

To the sky, to the wind, then

and to the faithful trees, I confess

my sins: that I have not been happy

enough, considering my good luck,

have listened to too muchnoise,

have been inattentive to wonders,

have lusted after praise.

And then upon the gathered refuse

of mind and body, I close the trench

folding shut again the dark,

the deathless earth. Beneath that seal

the old escapes into the new.

                    WENDEL BERRY

The transplanted tomato plants
in their 4" black plastic pots now sit on the heat mattress,
presently set at 80 degrees,
in the mini greenhouse Dwight built for me.
The target date to plant tomato plants
in the ground is Tuesday, May 09.

Calendula transplanted from the
large 6 cell plastic container
pictured in the greenhouse.

Comfrey for the herbal
vinegar I make to abate my osteoporosis.

The strawberry plant are blooming
and setting very small, green berries.
I love picking fresh strawberries
which often go immediately into my mouth.

Sisyrinchium bellum (Californian blue eyed grass)
Ceanothus (California wild lilac ‘Dark Star’)
both blooming now in the front of my house.

The garden at my house is beginning to come alive with flowers and new growth. It is just so exciting to see the product of my labor since Dwight, Shasta and I moved to Cotati. As I do a bit of this and a bit of that outside I have a big belly

 

Halloween

Sitting on the front steps
into my house are
a pumpkin and colorful gourds
which are reminders of the season.

Halloween, shortened from All Hallows' Eve, is a cross quarter day; also know as Samhain. It falls more or less half way between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. 

            "the seed now begins its time of gestation

        the harvest is gathered, the fields lie fallow,

        and the gates of life and death are open."                   

            from Earth Prayers

        edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elinas Amidon

This cross quarter day is near the Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos which is a holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and most of Latin America. So rather than writing the usual two blog posts, I have chosen to incorporate both in this post.

This is the first Halloween and the first Day of the Dead that Dwight will not be with me to celebrate. Much to my dismay this is the beginning of celebrating holidays without Dwight. Of course, he will be front and center in my mind when I do honor these two holidays.

                                        

As we honor those ancestors that have gone before us and those loved ones who have died leaving us bereft, may we prepare our alter with food they enjoyed. The alter may also be covered with colorful leaves that are so abundant presently.

Dwight loved broccoli
so I purchased a modest amount at
this morning's Farmers Market
to enjoy eating on Halloween.

  The longer we are together

the larger death grows around

us.

How many we know now

who are dead! We, who were

young.,

now count the cost of having

been

And yet as we know the dead

we grow familiar with the 

world.

We, who were young and loved

each other

ignorantly, now come to know

each other in love, married

by what we have done, as

much

as by what we intend. Our hair

turns white with our ripening

as though to fly away in some

coming wind, bearing the seed

of what we know. It was bitter

to learn

that we come to death as we

come

to come, bitter to face

the just and solving welcome

that death prepares. But that is

bitter

only to the ignorant, who pray

it will not happen. Having come

the bitter way to better prayer 

we have 

the sweetness of ripening.

How sweet

to know you by the signs of the

world!

                              WENDELL BERRY

to usher in these holidays and open connections with your past ancestors and loved ones that are no longer with you in physical form.

Big Event

“When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, 

and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. 

I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day blind stars

waiting with their light. 

For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, 

and I am free.”

                                       WENDELL BERRY

The 30th Annual Cotati Accordion Festival is a two day, multicultural, multi-generational accordion extravaganza held in La Plaza Park in downtown Cotati. Famous is this event. Several years ago when we were spending time in Santa Barbara and eating at Julia Child's favorite Mexican restaurant, a woman standing in line with us asked where we were from.  When we said "Sonoma County", she said "the home of the Accordion Festival". I was blown away. Of course we had heard of the event but had never been nor did we know anyone who has actually attended the event.

This year the event is on September 25 and 26. We can hear the music right here as we work in our front yard. All the streets are lined with parked cars including the street on which we live. One woman got out of her car and said, "I parked here but have not blocked your driveway." She was so excited to be walking over to the Plaza to hear accordion music and then planned to visit some artists participating in Sonoma County Art Trails. I assured her that she was more than welcome to park where she did since she was so respectful of our ability to back Stella, our Prius, out of the garage and onto Page Street.

Saturday we also went to visit our all time very favorite functional potter here in Sonoma County, and friend, who always participates in Art Trails in spite of the fact he is approaching his 80th birthday. John Chambers has created almost all of the pottery dishes from which we enjoy serving and eating our food.  

The calligraphy was done by
John's late Japanese wife.
I treasure these because no more
are available for purchase
unless of course one can find
one at a yard sale or such.

left to right: fruit bowl, serving bowl,
soup bowl and pudding bowl 
above a large dinner plate
and a lunch plate

We had a lovely visit with John as well as meandered through his home and studio viewing his beautiful work on display. Of course, I could not restrain myself from purchasing 3 bowls, featured below, in the celadon glazed I love so much.

Like Annette Goodheart, my late laughing coach, I partake of and I invite you along for a emotionally releasing

Sad But True

The climate is changing with what use to be normal rainfall
a thing of the past: Northern California has had only two
rain events this winter, via the "Hawaiian Pineapple Express,"
one in December and one in early February. March is predicted to be dry.
Sad but true, our artisian well is no longer running
and actually has not flowed for several years now.
Our small pond is dry, dry, dry, as you can see,
with moss growing where water use to stand.

Within my sadness is joy

Lying on the ground 

I can touch the heavens. --Rumi

Lying on this patch of native bunch grass brings me much joy. I can feel Mother Earth's
gently flowing energy beneath my prone body. While we humans continue to
pollute the planet, Mother Earth continues her gentle steadiness. Feeling her heartbeat
affords all BEings connection with her and with one another.

During this Summer like heat wave
in February I saw my first Pipevine Swallowtail
flitting about MuRefuge in search of
food and mate.

And this morning through the heavy blanket of fog I saw a badger crossing the field
South of MuRefuge. First the badger crossed the field from Northeast to the grove of eucalyptus trees while I was sitting on my zafu, then during breakfast the badger recrossed the field from the grove to the Northeast corner out of sight. "Badger: the Warrior Who Speaks the Truth. If Badger has chosen to appear to you, it is asking you to encourage that part of yourself that vigorously stands up for what you believe in....BEWARE of attacking an individual when the real enemy is their erroneous belief." 
from Spirit Animals by Victoria Covell and illustrations by Noah Buchanan. The badger's message to me this sighting is the BEWARE!

I fully realize I cannot change the "train wreck" happening on our planet. I love practicing rootedness and BEing here at MuRefuge. As my baseball idol, Ichiro says of BEIng an exemplar of baseball, "I lead by example" as I care for this small spot of land called MuRefuge.

No matter how much one may love the world,

one can live fully in it

only by living responsibly in some small part of it.

Where we live and who we live there with

define the terms of our relationship 

to the world and to humanity

--Wendell Berry

For discharging sadness and experiencing joy may we all

A Wonderful Evening

This Friday past Dwight and I joined many young and old like minds at Santa Rosa High School auditorium to glean wisdom from two icons dating back to the 1960's: Wendell Berry and Gary Snyder. The camaraderie of us old folks and the young seeking guidance from these two wise men was wonderful and heartfelt.

Our friend Sharon sent this
via email with "Subject:
weren't Wendell and Gary wonderful?'

The "moderator," who had orchestrated the meeting between these two men who make their homes on either side of our country and instigated the printing of the correspondence between them, kept the evening moving along combining laughter and applause. “Yes,” says Gary Snyder, sporting red socks, “we actually wrote letters and mailed them at our local post office.” 

Counterpoint Press and Copperfield's co-sponsored this "wonderful evening."

Later he went on to share his story of when he was a youngster attending Lutheran Sunday School. He asked his teacher whether his heifer would go to heaven. The Sunday School teacher said, “No.” And Gary’s esponse was “Then I don’t want to go to heaven.” Gary Snyder, as most of you probably know, is a practicing Buddhist.

Wendell Berry, on the other hand, is a Christian. He related his experiences of taking Christianity into the woods, the skillful reframing of the Bible and its teachings he made his own. He calls his practice “woods Christianity.”

The discussion of "wild" and "natural" was the pivotal moment in the evening for me. Gary is clear that "wild" has its own rhythm, its own cycle undaunted by humans and their destructive ways. “Ah ha,” I thought to myself, "that is what Sandy means when she says, 'everything is unfolding perfectly.' " And what a relief to me, the responsible One who takes on what does not need to be taken on from the wild. The baby deer and their moms are in perfect rhythm even though it does not look like that to me. Humans, this one included, have their own "point of view" which is more often than not a distortion of reality.

Perhaps Mary Oliver in her poem “Mysteries, Yes” offers a enlightened point of view we all could visit:

Mysteries, Yes

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous

to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the

mouths of the lambs.

How rivers and stones are forever

in allegiance with gravity

while we ourselves dream of rising.

How two hands touch and the bonds

will never be broken.

How people come, from delight or the

scars of damage,

to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those

who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say

"Look!" and laugh in astonishment,

and bow their heads.

A lively exchange revolved around the article, “Green is Good” by D.T. Max, in the May 12, 2014 issue of The New Yorker. Now, after reading the article myself, I understand the discussion: the Nature Conservancy led by Mark Tercek is now partnering with Dow and other very large companies that are the major polluters of our planet “to save the environment.” This former partner of Goldman Sacks thinks that “environmental organizations have failed to harness the power of markets.” Apparently the old school environmentalists are at logger heads with the new school of “corporation influence.” Wendell Berry adamantly stated that "uncompromising NO" is the only sane stance against manufacturers of toxic chemicals that sully the planet, offering quick fix solutions for ageless human endeavors.

During the question and answer period of the evening a young man asked these two to share their wisdom with the young people his age about how to reconnect with the soil. Gary Snyder answered by saying that observation of the climate of place is the very basement activity, then noticing what grows at that place and when, and what is the first frost date in that place. He continued, saying that for past generations this was not just common knowledge, but deeply felt as well. BEing rooted in one place encourages the connection to and love for that place (a piece of land however large or small one chooses).

Wendell Berry shared his perspective: today people are unwilling to do the hard work of farming, once the main stay of our culture. This choice of easy rather than simple lays fertile ground for accepting toxic chemicals to do what in the past was laboriously done by those connected to the earth. 

I am so grateful that we have a person who is willing, and thoroughly enjoys, the hard work here at MuRefuge.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Vickie

Three Winters ago I planted two different kinds of apricot trees
as an experiment. Would , particularly the Blenheim, produce fruit?
This season the answer was a resounding "YES!"
Oh the taste of these apricots is simply delish!

May each of you enjoy a good belly