MAW

This is a great week. It's Marcel Appreciation Week!

I have had the good fortune to meet a dude who is super patient and kind--and not only to me.

He shares many of my values and beliefs about the right ways to behave to contribute to a functioning society.

I am so grateful for his generosity of time and food. We have discovered that experimenting with (and without) different recipes can lead to culinary mirth and nourishment, often with a ginger aftertaste.

Yesterday's specific points included thanking him for being such a conscientious and careful driver who shuttles me all over creation without ever complaining. How in the heck?

I admire how skilled he is at parenting two teenagers, now. He manages to keep his wits about him and maintain perspective of issues, taking multiple preferences into account at any given time.

Like I said, I am so excited about celebrating such a top human this week (and as often as possible).

 

Loving today.

November 2017 AntiGravity "Bird's Nest"

  This is where I am.  I could focus on all the things about myself that are different from others; such an exercise might help me understand surface reasons relationships ended as they did.  At least for now, I wish to celebrate the good choices that have been made for me and the ones I have made to get me as far as I have come.
  I think deeply and love fully.  I seek humor that refrains from ostracising people unfairly; ostriches are usually fair game, though.  If I am stronger than yesterday—physically, mentally, or both—I continue the evolution toward unlimited supporting of myself and thriving in my connection to community.
  This week I remembered a song like a long-lost friend from a couple of years ago.  The ukulele chords came back, first.  After playing other music, a general impression of the song returned.  I played some more other music.  Then, the notion that the lyrics were about a girl and included something silver surfaced.  I played more other tunes.  Then, "Suddenly I See" arrived and gave me the biggest hug!  I jumped up and down.  All the chords were there in muscle memory.  The lyrics came back, too.  What a moment.
  The next day, I got to spend an hour with two of my favorite visitor friends.  Little Amber sat on my feet at one point while I talked with her kind dad about his brilliant wife and other peaceful subjects.  She seemed curious but more calm.  I feel so inspired by their precious relationship with each other.
  Then yesterday, I got reacquainted with a mother who had asked to book me for her daughter's birthday party ten months in advance.  Now we're four months out and she gave me the exact date.  Her daughter wasn't sure about StoryPlace at first.  I slowed down and rested with her in the present, blowing bubbles, looking for the little mouse puppet, and playing peek-a-boo with her around the space until she calmed down and remembered the joy to be found there.
  I am so grateful to be alive.

Working through world news

Hope Town Lighthouse, Elbow Cay, Abaco, Bahamas by Dmadeo

I have been wishing for some guidance on how to maintain a personal calm while crazy stuff is happening overseas.

Today I thought, "Perhaps some of the advice I've gotten about other things in the past could apply to my present situation."
Maybe it can.

Some wise folks speaking at the Shambhala Meditation Centre of New York City have made their talks available in a podcast series, for which I am immensely grateful.  It's called Meditation in the City.  I hope to make a pilgrimage to the site someday and attend one of the Weekly Dharma Gatherings myself.  In the meantime, I listen, learn, and attempt to apply.

So, how should I act when others annoy me?  Well, Ethan Nichtern passed along some ideas from his teachers in the Buddhist tradition.  Start by choosing to get curious about the source of frustration and attempt growth.  Whenever I can remember that I'll never experience another sentient being's feelings directly, I may find it slightly less difficult to generate compassion, even as I feel a twinge of loneliness.  I think it was Lodro Rinzler who said that bit, actually.  Anyway, they both know their stuff!
Ethan spoke of the disappointment I could feel when I become aware that someone must take the high road, and I realise it is I.  If no one takes it, humanity's consciousness suffers the hit.  Knowledge offers me both power and responsibility.
What seems true, also, is the notion that happy people don't go around trying to cause conflict and pain for others.  Another way Ethan worded it once was, "I know you're suffering; that's why you did that stupid thing.  May you suffer less."  Occasionally I prefer the slightly more edgy, "Go love yourself."

Even with these kindness guidelines, I find news stories about poaching, murder, fraud, and rape really challenging.  I don't want to relocate under a box; yet, I feel powerless to "be the change I wish to see in the world" from here.  I avoid taking part in those activities myself and wouldn't pretend to approve of anyone's behaviour if they told me they did.  Even so, bringing up the topics in conversation seems like fear mongering or stirring up negativity unnecessarily.  I appreciate my isolation and the large number of aspects of my life which allow me to feel safe, peaceful, and abundant.

More songs for my nephew (and the other kids I'm lucky to have in my life)

Ostrich

That ostrich there takes fatherly care

He stays with his egg clutch for days (50!)

If twenty babies hatch and, "Need seeds!"

He's happy to help with that phase

Rhino

I've got a two-ton pal who runs with a crash

She charges credit when she's rationing cash

Her horn is made of keratin

Her skin is latticed collagen

And tapirs are her next of kin

Rhinoceros, rhinoceros

Go rhino, go!

That's Amore (or A Moray, in this case)

Ocean dwelling, pea green
If he seems a bit mean
That's a moray

With a mouth that won't close
Good for chomping his foes
That's a moray

Hiding in the reef, darting like a thief
Causing lots of grief as he sorts out his dinner

Seabaja.com Isla Tortuga photo Panamic green moray eels

Sharp serrated fangs out from overhangs
Curb his hunger pangs; he emerges a winner

Benthic fish with a wish
For raw crab on his dish
That's a moray

His fierce face from above
Only mothers could love
That's a moray

Check his vomerine teeth
He can hide in their sheath
That's a moray!

Kids' Songs

You'll have to check with me for the tunes on these; as far as I know they're not parodies of anything!

Giraffe

I'm a little giraffe, and I live in the zoo
I make friends with the staff; they look after me, too
When I'm five-and-a-half metres tall like my dad
I can reach my own leaves
Won't I be glad?!

Horse

The horse gets up rather early

She finds her favourite grass and hay

And when the dew shines soft and pearly

She knows it's going to be a great day!

Musical Tour of 20th Century Exhibition

1940s
Take the A Train (1938, Billy Strayhorn)

You must fight the Germans

And host 100,000 (a hundred thousand) other soldiers

1,400 (Fourteen hundred) women

Will pack up and depart with their new husbands

But your kids can go to Health Camps

Maintain teeth that shine like headlamps

Alas! What of the Treaty?

One hundred years from signing we’re reminded

Of the promises made then.


1950s
Hound Dog (1952, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller)

I wouldn’t want to be a Springbok in 1956

I wouldn’t wanna be a Springbok in 1956

When the All Blacks win at Eden and they send them home with nix

But back another 3 years, that is quite a time

Jump back another 3 years; that is quite a time

There’s a visit from Elizabeth and Edmund’s famous climb!


1960s
Hello Dolly (1963, Jerry Herman)

Goodbye, railways

Yes, so long, assets

We enjoyed the opportunities for wealth

These User Pays changes challenge all ranges

After medical and Uni bills

We’re left with … health

At least the pub’s serving

All the deserving

And the pill allows for family planning, too

Hey, brave UK people

Pack up and head our way, people

NZ may never grow this way, again.


1970s
Sing a Song (1972, Joe Raposo)

March, march along

Claim our ground

Show we’re strong

Speak for ancestors gone

Let their stories live on

Hey! Women, too.

We’ve been stifled and now it’s time we flew

Some worry while others act in ways to rectify what was wrong

We march, march along.


1980s
Thriller (1983, Rod Temperton)

It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark

Under the moonlight they feel a jolt that almost stops their heart

They spring to life

Their sinking ship is not imagination

Their only crime was stepping up to controversial lines

(There were no signs)

On this the terror, terror night

The secret agents bomb the Greenpeace ship without a fight

This is a terror, terror night

And France’s flat denial only serves to heighten the slight.


1990s
You’ve Got a Friend in Me (1995, Randy Newman)

They’ve got some land for me

They’ve got some land for me

Thanks, Waitangi, help them see

Uphold the Treaty and its bold decree

With the Tribunal settle 2 and 3

Return stolen land to me

Won’t you please?

Give back my land to me

(Bridge)
Some folks might be a bit more conservative

Naïve and frightened, too

But with the new Human Rights Act

We’re free to be ourselves with glee

And as the years go by

These issues could fade and die

If we work towards unity

Fair treatment sea to sea

It’s our plea

Same opportunities

Let it be

Grant what is right to me!