Much-ness!

"Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions."
                                                                                                     -Peace Pilgrim

I was looking over all the stuff that has somehow accumulated this year
 and the word-much-ness came to my thoughts. It is a funny word- and I am
 not even sure if it is a word, but it must be because I heard it in a sermon
 last night. 
It was used in reference to a few passages about becoming overwhelmed.
We are all doing too much these days. We satisfy obligations, meet expectations
from others, as well as trying to live up to our own expectations for ourselves.
The point of the passages-(Exodus 18:13-18 and Acts 6:1-2) is that
sometimes we try to do it all-live each role-mother, daughter, friend,
teacher, employee, etc. perfectly -and we stretch ourselves so thin that we become ineffective. Then we wonder why we get overwhelmed!
My reference to the word much-ness was about feeling
overwhelmed too, but in a way that had to do with too much stuff!
Most of my accumulation can be given freely to others, but there is
weird stuff that no one would want.
 So the stuff will get sorted into piles for Goodwill, trash, and boxes for shipping "home". And then once it has traveled the length of the country, it will get sorted again and tossed or given away or put into a drawer somewhere. 
So what is about our STUFF that makes it so hard to get rid of?? People with storage units sometimes go years without ever seeing their stuff, but continue to make monthly payments so that they can still own their stuff even though it is costing them more to keep it than it did to buy it! Crazy how much control stuff can have over a person!
I would love to get to the place that I delete more than I accumulate. That my material possessions just fall away, and I am left with only life's essentials.
"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants." -Epictetus
    

Tree Thoughts

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
~ Kahlil Gibran ~

I couldn't help but to notice the gorgeous texture of this tree. It was near the beach and dancing in the wind the day I took this photo.It reminded me of trees I have seen in the Maine woods that have been carved by lovers. Except this carver preferred to etch lines in code.

And this  lovely woven basket is also part of a tree by the beach.

Jagged and spotted but perfect and a magnificent work of art.

This gnarly faced knot in an old tree smiled his gummy smile as I walked by and I turned around and faced him in all of his hideousness and we winked at each other. No one had taken his photo in a very long time and he seemed grateful for the attention.

  

Stormy Sunday!

Crazy weather for San Diego!!!
Hail, cold rain, dark clouds, and then sun.
And after that, lots more rain!
And in New England-record warm temperatures! 

Ireland!

When  the plane landed in Shannon
as the sun was coming up over all that lovely Emeraldness
everywhere as far as you could see, glistening in those first few rays of sunshine, and the flight attendant said "Welcome to Ireland" in Gaelic,
 tears filled my eyes
and I knew I was home at last.
 My ancestors knew this land as their own, but I was celebrating
 my fiftieth birthday with this first trip.
I felt the magic at once and it hasn't left me since.
The music of speech caught my imagination , the landscape recognized me, and even the sheep came running down a hill all ba--aaaaing greetings in sheep-brogue. Everything felt familiar although I was a stranger and mere observer.
The sea and the hills and the joy in voices of the children still call me home.   

West Coast Spring

A warm Saturday in March and Spring is everywhere! The color is amazing, and a breeze from the sea scents the air. The bougainvillea and status bouquet came from the walk to the fuchsia patch and the orange bursts of color were in clumps above the ridge so that red and purple and pink and orange covered the land like a craggy rainbow. And to think,,,,, this is only my first Spring this year. The Maine one will be different but equally wonderful!

March On!

March is here and it is snowing in Maine. My house is getting its first real burial of the year. Here in California, it is windy and cool (temps in the 50s), but sunny with no sign of snow. Spring is happening here in a lovely way-new buds on trees, birds learning to fly, flowers where none were yesterday. I am grateful to be here now because when I go back to Maine it will be Spring again. Two Springs in one year! It is almost more loveliness than a person should be allowed!

Spontaneous Dancing

Music and a flowing silk scarf inspired spontaneous dancing today. Teachers just put on music and didn't announce that it was time to dance. The children heard music and got up from play and found partners and began dancing. Holding hands and laughing like elderly couples who have been dancing for a long time.