Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!
We went to Greenfield on Halloween night because they cancelled Trick or Treating in Northfield.  We had a wonderful time in a sweet neighborhood.  The kids made out with a ton of candy!

The kids tallied their candy at a friend's house.

Here is our annual family photo on the front steps.  I think I am always a witch and it is always thrown together in the five minutes before we leave for stumbling through the dark trick or treating.
Georgia was a police officer and Lily was Katniss from The Hunger Games.  Rob chose not to dress up this year.
(ha ha ha, just kidding- he was a zombie rock star)

The stash had to be categorized and assessed; then the trading could begin.

My sister sent lovely bottles with labels of toadstools and bat wings which were very pleasing for the girls to drink their apple juice then next day while we recovered.

Happy Second B-day Cookie!!

She loves her new birthday sweater, just kidding-she is being tortured for the b-day photo.

here is her elaborate b-day "cake" with dog food and bacon and cream cheese.  (She has devoured 2 blocks of cream cheese in the last few months so we figure she must really like it.  We find the silver wrapping licked shiny clean in her crate.)  she didn't like the flame but the girls wished her wish and we let her eat in peace.

The heart on her head is so perfect.  She is unruly and difficult but I am hoping she grows into the heart on her head.

Hurricane Sandy

 We were ready for hurricane Sandy, whatever that means, really.  Food,water and batteries.  We took a long walk with the dog before the wind and rain began.  Before we would be stuck in the house for days.  



The air was quiet.  I wondered how different the woods would look when I came back again.

We cleaned the house before we were trapped in the dark for days or weeks.  Georgia was in charge of the mudroom.  She does a great job, but you can't try and help her or offer suggestions.  Here she looks like a cleaning ninja focused on her task.

 We never lost power.  The wind was a bit loud and feisty, but nothing more than a usual rainstorm.  The girls hoped for the power to go out, prayed whenever the lights flickered, but still the power persisted.  After cleaning, Georgia set out games and candles and we played bingo in the fake dark.

 As I drove to work Tuesday morning through some small puddles I thought of this Jane Kenyon poem After the Hurricane.
I love this poem but really relished the oddly disappointed line: 

"we didn't get to demonstrate our grit."
 

 Jane Kenyon
After the Hurricane

I walk the fibrous woodland path to the pond.
Acorns break from the trees, drop
through amber autumn air
which does not stir.  The dog runs way ahead.

I find him snuffling on the shore
among water weeds that detached in the surge;
a broad soft band of rufous pine needles;
a bar of sand, and shards of mica
glinting in the bright but tepid sun.

Here, really, we had only hard rain.
The cell I bought for the lamp
and kettles of water I drew remain
unused.  All day we were restless, drowsy,
and afraid, and finally, let down:
we didn't get to demonstrate our grit.

In the full, still pond the likeness
of golden birch leaves and the light they emit
shines exact.  When the dog sees himself
his hackles rise.  I stir away his trouble
with a stick.

A crow breaks in upon our satisfaction.
we look up to see it lift heavily
from its nest high in the hemlock, and the bough
equivocate in the peculiar light.  It was
the author of Walden, wasn't it,
who made a sacrament of saying no.

Skeleton Crew

 http://www.skeletoncrewtheater.com/show.html
We went to the interactive forest walk with the Skeleton Crew last night.  It was really fun and quite magical.  I highly recommend it.  Georgia and Lily were elated after we came out from the candlelit woods at the end of the hour long performance. Georgia wanted to stay and live there.


There was a quest with riddles to be answered, puzzles to connect and choices to be made.  It was the perfect blend of a little bit spooky but mostly funny and beautiful.

Here are three large witches by a cauldron.  They were siblings who fought all the time.  They asked if people in the audience (10 or so people at a time, led by 3 guides through the woods) could relate. We all could.

The girls were mesmerized.  Part of the fun was that we didn't really have any idea what to expect.

Our friend picks the rubber rat out of the pile of leaves to add to the brew!












 The Skeleton reminded me of Johnny Depp in the Pirates movies.  He was goofy and dancing, which helped the children stay brave as they entered the graveyard in the moonlight.

The quest ended happily with the Jack O'Lantern.  The bright lights in the darkness were welcoming us back to the campground and the Pumpkin puppet was very enthusiastic.  All the puppeteers were amazing.  There were many more creatures I didn't capture with my camera.  The girls wanted to go right back in and do it again, but Rob and I were tired.  It was great time and now, hopfully, we won't be quite as furious when another storm messes with our trick-or-treat plans.

Good Luck and Happy Halloween!

Crystals

The day I got home from the hospital after my back surgery I went to my book shelf to pick a book.  I had so many wonderful ones to choose from.  I was surprised to find myself drawn to a series of crystal healing books I have had hanging around for more than a decade.  They always seemed too dense and complex and if I was looking for information on crystals I would look in one of the books that was more like a guide book, where I could look up each stone individually.

When Rob and I lived out in Oregon in 1992 he worked at Powell's books and I had alot of free time.  We had moved out there for me to go to Reed College and after a semester, it was very clear this was not the place to get an education in feminist anthropology, like I had hoped it would be; so I applied to other schools and took a semester off, working as a nanny.

I read many many books at that time.  We were swimming in them.  It was a time of discovery. (We also found coffee. I have a funny memory of crying with a heart rate of about 120 as I wandered the aisles of the huge city-block-sized bookstore, waiting for Rob to get off work,and then realizing it might have something to do with the triple espresso drink I had just ingested for free at the bookstore coffee shop.)  We perused the aisles of the eclectic bookstore for hours and enjoyed living together, being far from New England for a bit.

We were very young and cute.  Weren't we?

Anyway, I read many books by Diane Stein
http://www.dianestein.net/
She was a gentle teacher in the ancient healing crafts of women using energy, herbs, crystals, colors and many other methods.  I started my crystal collection then and have used them to wear, give as gifts, put on my altar, or even sleep with, over the years.

I even found this on a recent trip to my parent's house.
It was a science project from 5th grade using electricity to light up a light-bulb when you matched the correct month with its birthstone.  I remember being very excited about stones and crystals even then.

So, I've really enjoyed finally reading the Katrina Raphaell books over the last month.  I've also spent more time with my crystals now that they are out on my desk.  They look so beautiful in the light.

I am excited to make them part of my healing practice.  Crystals can be used to quickly remove and move energy blockages and transmit positive healing energy.

This large quartz crystal is called an ISIS crystal.
It has a 5 sided face and is said to transmit and connect with feminine energies.  As Katrina Raphaell writes, "The Isis crystal, also referred to as the Goddess crystal, demonstrates how to spiritually unite the elements of polarity.  The configuration of the 5 angles reach perfect completion in the culminating point, showing the possibility for mental and emotional balance in the material world." p.164 The Crystalline Transmission

Sounds good, right?

Clear quartz points help to focus and direct energy.  Here is my collection of them in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Isn't this necklace lovely?  My friend, who had no idea of my recent crystal immersion, sent me this quartz necklace from Rock River in Vermont when I was recovering.  I love it.  It's got little rainbows when it catches the light, just so.

Here are some lovely big quartz crystals I have been collecting over the years.  I go to bead shops and new age shops, but some of the best finds have been at local gem and mineral shows and natural history museums. 

Mermaids

My love of mermaids continues.  I found both of these images over the last few months.  The first is a mermaid suit made for a double amputee.  It is a beautiful piece made by the people who did the Lord of the Rings costumes.


http://inhabitat.com/weta-workshop-designs-mermaid-suit-for-a-double-leg-amputee/mermaid3/

Read more: Weta Workshop Design Mermaid Suit For Double Leg Amputee | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World


Then I found this website from Oprah Magazine and I love the images in the film.  The girls were intrigued and tried to sign up to be mermaids on the website.




http://www.susanrockefeller.com/films/mission-of-mermaids 

Sunshine!

Finally the sun came out this weekend!

We stopped by Upingill to get some milk and Georgia made friends with the kitty.  She still has her cat-whisperer gift.

Mini gourds on the windowsill. It's so strange to see sunshine and shadow.

Lily had soccer practice at 8:30 Sat morning and Georgia and I went down to the river.  It starts out foggy and then the sun burns it off and suddenly we're squinting and hot.

We also went to Picadilly Farm.  It was a good day for farms and food.  Georgia prayed to find a dead mouse (We were told that Suzie had already picked up 4 corpses that morning from the hard work of the mother and daughter mouser cats.)  Georgia scoured the barn and found one she wanted to bring home.  No way!  Here's Lily in the doorway of the barn.  The world outside looked so bright when we were leaving the barn.

SPLASH!

Rainy Day walk.  Who cares if our feet get wet when the rest of us is soaking?

Mama Gena Lecture

I went to the Mama Gena lecture alone.

I had some great friends on the verge of coming, but it didn't work out.
I KNEW I had to go, so I said Rob, "I'm have to go alone, but I can do it.  I went to India alone-  I can go to a damn lecture."  He gave me kiss and told me I was brave as he dug in to the fried chicken I bought at BigY, a consolation prize to the family for me going out in the evening for the first time in over a month.

I lingered in my car once I got there, but then I did get out and proudly buy my single aisle ticket.  Turns out, I sat next to a lovely woman who shares my name and by the end of the night, through Mama Gena's exercises, we had shared our dreams, doubts and hopes!

The interactive lecture was inspiring and funny.  For me, it was a transition back into the world after more than a month of healing that was quiet and focused on family and home.

There were many enforced dance breaks, boogieing with our feather boas we each got as a gift.  Mama Gena had everyone laughing and crying in the audience of maybe 150 women.  The age range was lovely and inspiring.  When someone was telling the story of "How I got my fat ass here tonight" Mama Gena forbid them or any of us to use those words to describe themselves.  She yelled, "All we've got are hot asses here! Let's her you say it.  Everyone.  I have a smoking hot ass."  We all had to stand up and say it.

It was all very funny and wonderful, but I was thrilled to be way in the back of the orchestra where I would not be handed a mic and asked to reveal my deepest desires or to dance on stage.
We quickly learned if you denied having any desires or said something like "4 more hours in the day to get things done" then you will be brought up on stage!  Maybe, like on woman, you could be made to take out your grey long ponytail, shake it and made to say, until we really believed you, "In these jeans I have a hot ass!" (This was a grandma, who, after being encouraged by Mama Gena and the shouting crowd, revealed her desire was to be outside in a hot tub with the 6 shirtless male dancers who had carried Mama Gena in!)  Any age - any size; Mama Gena believes that by stepping into your power you can change the world and have a marvelous time doing it.  Our power is in our deepest desires.

My new friend, fellow drive-over-an-hour-and-come-alone-Catherine next to me, chuckled. "Instead of paying extra to sit up in front; I would have paid extra to sit back here." I nodded in agreement from our hidden position, but then Mama Gena came wandering back towards us with her microphone.  She found us!  In the back row!  "Tell us your desires."  She requested of us.  We had all just done an exercise with our partner that involved saying what we deeply desired, then releasing any doubts out loud and then grabbing our pussy(!) and saying our desires again.  It really did change the tone and the mood in the auditorium.  The was ALOT of laughing but also a claiming.  People chimed out "I will travel the world!"  "I will find my love!"  when they were, as Mama Gena says, "connected to their sacred power source"

I paused, busted, and admitted into the microphone, "We were actually just saying, we would have paid extra to sit in the back and hide from the mic!"  Mama Gena laughed and shook her head.  "Don't you know I can feel that?  I'll come find you!  You can't hide from your desires. Do you think I wanted this to be my desire?  To talk to women about pussy?  DO you think I would have chosen this!?"

I was shocked.

I sat there dumbfounded with the mic in my hand because that question was why I was there.

The first time I tried to read her book I was put off by the talk of manicures and bubble baths, but I tried it again this year and realized she is actually a revolutionary, guiding women to love themselves and then ignite their power in this world and in their loves, which is gorgeous to behold.  Toward the end of the book, she got me when she wrote:
 

Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts — The Book

"Take it from me, the risks are worth it.
Do you think when I started my journey, I wanted  to end up running Pussy Central, USA?  Do you think I wanted my job to be all about the sensual unfolding of women?  Don't you think I wished it could be about something way, way more socially acceptable?  Believe me, I tried everything else.  But this Womanly Arts thing changed my life."

http://www.mamagenas.com/books/

So I held the mic to my mouth and said

"That's the quote from your book that brought me here!  That you wouldn't have chosen pussy as your life's work, but it chose you!  I am a nurse, but my calling is to be an energy healer with Reiki and energy therapies, but now I've realized that the crystals are calling to me; have been calling to me since I was a child!  How woo woo can you get?!  I'm a nurse.  How can I be a crystal healer?  But it is my desire.  It is what is calling me"

She nodded emphatically, then said, "YES!  You are a nurse in the hospital surrounded by people who might not get it, but the desire will come out; you will follow it.  You must. It will burst out of you and bring you to the next level"  (Or something encouraging and lovely like that like that; I was rather thunderstruck that I had just revealed my desire to an auditorium full of strangers.)  People clapped and she said, "Gorgeous, speaking out about desires.  Give her a round of applause!" and the room clapped for me.

I felt very full after that.
Like that was the reason I had to be there.

The women around me looked at me with love and support.  The woman in front of me turned and whispered, "I love crystals!"
My practice partner wondered why there was a problem with being a crystal healer and a nurse and I felt, "Huh.  She's right.  There isn't."

The night went on with more dancing, more deeply hidden desires coming to light and an inspired feeling of positive female energy.  It was great.

I was tired and hungry but proud I had gone and listened to the inner voice that tells me to do the things I am meant to do even if, sometimes, I wish it could be a tiny bit easier.  At least I know I am not alone.

Outside nap

I was finally ready to brave getting on the trampoline after a month of healing from my back surgery.  Not to jump, but for an outside nap on a wonderful warm sunny afternoon.

I climbed up and settled in just as the drone of the neighbor's leaf blower kicked in.  Really?  After your house has been pretty much abandoned for the last year?  Your going to drop someone off to mow, weedwack and leaf blow?  During my first attempt at a the outside nap I've been dreaming about and yearning for, for forever?

I had taken a sniff of the precious rose oil I had received as a sample in the mail. It takes 60 flowers to make one drop of rose oil!  This was from Turkey and smelled Heavenly.  A bit remained on my nose and I could smell it; apparently so could a bee.  It hovered above my face. I covered my face with my comforter.  I could hear it buzzing just over my head the entire 45 minutes I was out there.  The leaf blower noise came and went.  I did not sleep. 

Here is a photo of the warm sleepy chamber I was in, under my comforter, hiding from bee and lawn equipment.  It was not the restful nap I had hoped for, but it did remind me of being under the covers at night with a flashlight when I was a kid.  And it did drive home how powerful essential oils are and how far their scent can travel.....

Fall Morning

The view from Upingill farm in Gill.  The way-up field was empty of cows and Georgia asked if that was where they put the cows for time-outs?

So foggy and blue this morning on the river.  The water was like glass, quietly reflecting the sky.

Rob stole Georgia's bike and went down the hill with Georgia running after him.  Thankfully he did not break it.

Look at this huge cabbage, such a big green flower.

And some geese honking as they fly overhead!

Strike pics from Oct 5th

Baystate Franklin Medical Center is where I work as a nurse.  The second floor is where you'll find the amazing OB unit.  Baystate, the large corporation that bought Franklin more than 12 years ago, is not friendly to unions and is doing some aggressive union busting right now.  They want to cut the nurse's benefits, force them to work past their shift without paying overtime, and continue with the sick policy that forces us to come to work sick.
Sigh.
SO, I dragged myself out of my cozy healing home and went to picket for an hour.  It was great to see everyone and feel the support from the community as people joined us in picketing and honked with thumbs-up as they drove by.  But it was sad to see the place I think of as a second home and feel such frustration and disconnect.  My surgery occurred when the tension was building between the union and management, so I feel a bit guilty for not being there when my co-workers were having such a hard time.

Nursing is a very difficult complicated job.  It is rewarding but very draining, too.  My regular doctor says that, as far as health and stress, working as a nurse 24 hours a week is the equivalent of working full time at most other jobs.  She urges us to work part time and take care of ourselves so we can continue to work and be healthy. 

And Florence Nightingale said,

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts."

Visiting Miss Sparkle

We love to visit our chicken, Sparkle, at our neighbors where she is doing very well.  We think she is the prettiest sweetest chicken around.

You can see she is a bit bigger than the others and Jill, her adoptive chicken mother, broke it to us this week, that Sparkle is actually a bully.

Our Sparkle!
A Bully!
She also is molting -again.  She seems to have a bit of gout and her egg shells are going through a soft phase again.
So our prize chicken might not be a prize, but we are fond of her and so glad she's still alive in a chicken friendly environment, although it's too bad she might be a jerk.

Rob and the girls would love to get chickens again.  The girls love to chase the chicks, pick them up and carry them around, clucking.



Having our own chickens was too stressful for me and for Cookie so I say no way.

Although I did love them wandering around the yard in the sunshine.

Lily in her favorite sweatshirt and moccasins.  Our yard is through the woods on the other side.

Retreat Farm

We headed to the retreat farm before it closes in October.

http://theretreatfarm.com/

 The chick room is filled with soft fluffy chickens.

Peeping.

So sweet.

  There were two litters of piglets and a pregnant sow who was starting to labor.

Lily gave the very pregnant sow a back scratch.
While Georgia fed the white rabbit some Red Clover flowers after she got chased out of the adult chicken room by a testy rooster.

I kept returning to the pink piglets.  I had just been listening to a lecture on sibling rivalry.  The speaker was saying that sibling rivalry is wired in.  Even in a happy balanced family the children are always very aware of what kind of attention their siblings are getting from their parents.  It is a survival mechanism.  It was funny to see the piglets burrow and kick into their brothers and sisters to get the food they wanted.  There was alot of squealing!

Lily let this piglet nibble on her hands with its sharp little teeth.  It is such a pretty farm, sunlight pouring in the open windows and little sparrows moving into the barn and hopping around then flying back out into the fresh air.