Romance is alive and well

Duke and Duchess of Sussex

We all talked about The Royal Wedding, Sat and Sun...and just a bit on Mon.  But we mainly were struck by how American the service was!  Bishop Curry's sermon was loved by most of us.  And the choir singing Stand By Me!  Super.  But actually, I've never seen a wedding which had that influence. It was kind of over the top.  Most of the weddings I've been too were pretty "English" actually.

The other ongoing big visual is from Hawaii this week, actually this month!

But daily rain has helped set the new plants at the church, so I'm happy for that!

I must also mention how great the gardeners are who showed up last week to dig and plant, which was a hot day, but the results are fantastic looking.

Music and those who bring it to others...

Music is healing.
It touches a place inside us, not so much physical as emotional.
It is where we appreciate beauty.
That place where we suddenly can break out smiling, or crying.
Do we have to learn this? I think not.  I think we all have that spot of appreciation inherent in our beings.

Healing? Yes, because it brings us in touch with that something that is connecting us to beauty, to emotions that want to be expressed. As a counselor, and an elder, I know that healing often comes through expressing our emotions...in a safe way of course.  Not recommending road rage, nor that penicillin isn't a good idea.

Two musical women come to my mind today, women who I know and admire, and am a recipient of their talents and can call them my friends.

Marina Raye - who plays flutes, please listen to an example Here.

I'll just clip from her website about her...

Marina Raye is world-renowned as the "Feminine Voice of the Native Flute". What makes her original compositions so special is their deeply emotive quality which celebrates the essence of peace and harmony. Marina's music is used by many in the healing professions to invoke a state of tranquility and a sense of closeness to nature.

Marina was born in Africa where she spent her first ten years. She draws inspiration from her deep love for the Earth as she shares her vision of the awakening of peace in every heart. Trained as a classical musician, Marina has been called a sonic shaman because of her mastery of the native flute. Her instruments are hand-crafted by her husband, flutemaker Charlie Oakwind. Marina and Charlie live in western North Carolina, in a solar-powered home. They are committed to living gently on the Earth.

Marina and I share more links, having early enjoyed our cat stories together.  And then there's her having purchased some of my pottery, for which I'm so grateful...to think of her home having the pots I created being used by them.   And at my home, I'm doing my yoga or meditating  frequently to Marina's music!

I am fortunate, lucky, blessed (chose the adverb) to know and work often with Annelinde Metzner, a.k.a. Linda.  She is a composer, choir director, leader of Sahara Women's Peace Choir, started the Asheville's women's choir Womansong, teaches music in many forms, and is a very talented poet as well.

Here is a sample of her divine feminine music sung informally in rehearsal at a friends home by the Sahara Peace Choir, when I used to be a member. (I've got a red top on if I remember right.)

And Here's a medley of three songs to the Goddess composed by Annelinde Metzner (www.AnnelindesWorld.blogspot.com) from her songbook, "Lady of Ten Thousand Names." This medley was arranged for the 25th Anniversary Concert of Womansong of Asheville,

Linda has been our music director for the last 10 years, the same amount of time I've been a member of this congregation, The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley, in Black Mountain NC

I've been part of a great community where women not only lead, but express the divine feminine through performances, workshops, classes about goddesses, poetry, readings and sharing with everyone.

Participants in a class that studied goddesses all around the world

Winter solstice with choir singing

A couple of men composing music at a grand piano here at Sepia Saturday this week.

Today's Quote:

Stop running from the ferocity of your own Being...
Burn off all your own games to that in you which is
Pure Intensity...
When you meet the very Core of your Being
become completely loyal to the deepest passion in you
and allow no more waste of time - find that devotion
to Reality [Truth] within yourself...

Aisha Salem

 

Ice comes and goes

This is the first winter I've experienced so much ice, here one day, gone the next...or perhaps staying for several days and nights.  Snow has happened here and there, and seems to disappear faster than the ice has.  It's like the start of the year, when a fog turned roads into ice rinks on New Year's Eve..perhaps a forerunner of the rest of this winter. The nice thing about snow, at least when it's fresh, is that there's dryness to the atmosphere.

Ice on highest elevations as I look over Lake Tomahawk on a day that didn't get above freezing and was windy.  I didn't take a walk, just dashed out of my car to take a picture, then back into warmth.

Anyway, lots of fogs here in Swannanoa Valley, between mountains that are old, a valley that's given shelter to American Indians before the Spanish arrived, before the settlers came from across the Atlantic...so I am just the latest arrival.

Late afternoon sun shines into one of my favorite places to meet friends for coffee, The Dripolator

Last month I celebrated having joined a little congregation here in the valley 10 years ago.  I've never been more happy and felt more at home with these people.  There have been many who I see come and go as their lives change.  And here I am still.  At home.

 Today's quote:

Be the most ethical, the most responsible, the most authentic you can be with every breath you take, because you are cutting a path into tomorrow that others will follow.

Ken Wilber

Pretty ladies

All dressed up and...

September 2009...Black Mountain, NC.

This lovely little lady from Sepia Saturday (HERE) has her hair perfectly in place...and her dress, and shoes and socks.  And she is probably writing a thank you letter to her grandmother.

All of which my mother strived to get me to do, to no avail!

But when I grew up I enjoyed having grown-up tea parties, where we had fun and acted somewhat like what we thought our mothers might have had in mind all along...some of us chose to even wear hats. 

These are photos of some women who got together on an afternoon to drink tea and eat dainty things. We also told some interesting stories, and I can't remember what the topics were, but there were lots of laughs!  I'm not going to try to list all their names.  Some of these wonderful women, so full of life and laughter here, have died since this afternoon tea party.

 The UUCSV banner stands for Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley

 Quote for today:

Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.
Continue to allow humor to lighten the burden of your tender heart.
MAYA ANGELOU