Ingrid: “gratefulness, the heart of prayer.” At 17-years-old, she took the courageous step to travel 7,000 miles alone, from her home in tiny Yugoslavia, to St. Helena, Calif. She would attend her senior year of high school with “foreign” students, and live with a strange host family. She would make the grueling 10-mile hike … [Read more…]
We Are Seven William Wordsworth —A simple child, That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death? I met a little cottage girl: She was eight years old, she said; Her hair was thick with many a curl That clustered round her head. … [Read more…]
The Lone Ranger Hopefully, readers of this blog will regard the title as semi-facetious and not boorish ego-basking. Being the facilitator of Biodesign was often exhilarating, delightful, humorous, dramatic gratifying and many other positives. It could also be terrifying, aggravating, traumatic, chaotic and many other negatives. Dealing with negative forces sometimes required me to … [Read more…]
Assume The Virtue Though You Have It Not William Shakespeare At least one time each year a student would ask, “You know a thousand quotes, how do you do that? I usually laughed and said, “It really is not as hard as it may appear. It is simply a matter of starting with the … [Read more…]
Thoreau, Lemmings and Simple Gifts When our son-in-law gifted us with a computer, the first thing I “Googled” was the story about the Alaskan Lemmings launching themselves into the sea, as a means of population control. According to Google, Disney had to go to elaborate (and deceptive) staging to accomplish the footage necessary for … [Read more…]
Three Clerics Three clerics, representing three of the world’s great religions, met at a conference on World Unity. They became fast friends and agreed to meet monthly to compare customs, rituals and the logistics of operating their respective houses of worship. During one of the meetings the subject of gathering and disbursing monetary donations arose. … [Read more…]
UFOs or Not The recent reference to UFOs was not based on science fiction. When Christie and I moved to St. Helena, Ca. (1970) we had a lot of work to do restoring an old Craftsman-style home. I was working on the roof, shortly after sunset, when I noticed three bright orange lights in … [Read more…]
Out Of The Mud Comes The Lotus It is striking to see beautiful Lotus flowers in mucky, smelly swamps. The overarching theme is that from dead, decaying vegetation something of great beauty springs forth. Although the colored varieties can be striking, the metaphorical contrast between muck and pristine white can be stunning. Many world … [Read more…]
This photo is being offered as an invitation to “Vashon Jane,” and other mountain lovers, to make a spirit visit to one of the most sacred Biodesign trail junctions. This one was not a typical right/left junction; either of those options would have resulted in death. This option was of a vertical nature and involved … [Read more…]
Perfect Sincerity and Vulnerability Part II When the slide-show team completed their program they announced that they wanted to show it to the class before the parent’s night. They felt that there were potentially intimate moments that they wanted their classmates to see before they shared with a larger audience. They asked the superintendent’s … [Read more…]