I have been taking time to save my mind and heart this summer. Every morning, really, every morning in June and July (so far) I have started the day with coffee, dog tending and some readings. The Daily Lectionary, Richard Rohr, poems from a few favorite Mary Oliver collections, Cloud Walking, a book of daily prayers and meditations from Bishop Steven Charleston, John O’Donohue’s blessings–and whatever else is near that catches my interest.
(This is by Mary Oliver. I challenge you to forget that pink foot scratching.)
It’s pretty cool how there is a synchronicity to it all. I will read a daily verse, then randomly flip a page in a book of poems and find another, and they kind of connect, often alarmingly so. I cannot tell you how reassuring this is. Especially when what I call “the news world” is so discordant. When I am finished I pray for all kinds of people and situations.
I started doing it because I was so afraid of what is happening that I couldn’t sleep. Now, these quiet mornings have emphasized how good the real world is, and how critical it is not to lose sight of that in all the terrible noise. It’s not that complicated is it? Plus, at this point, all I can do about it is vote in the fall (I always do), hand out the buns and chip plates for the Friends of the Library 4th of July barbecue, volunteer for the KHNS radio fund drive, write an obituary for an old friend, be nice to people, make a good meal — and pray.
In Tenakee I baked a salmonberry rhubarb crisp. There was whipping cream in the Snyder Mercantile (open daily 11-2) but I didn’t have a way to whip it. My kitchen is slowly getting stocked. Chip fastened a wooden spoon to the drill, but it didn’t work. I remembered making butter with kindergarteners years ago by rolling a jar of cream across the floor. Whipped cream is just unfinished butter, so I poured the cream and sugar in a jar, shook it, dancing back and forth — and it worked!
At the Haines Farmer’s Market when I told a fellow KHNS country show host who is being treated for breast cancer that I had her on my ever-growing prayer list, she teared up. She said she feels “all the love and good vibes.” She also said that her out-of-the-blue diagnosis made her realize she wasn’t “special.” I think I know what she means. Of course she is special, you are too. BUT, none of us gets a free pass from suffering. That’s how it is. In this we are not unique. Still, what does she feel now? The response. Love. From friends and family, and from complete strangers. Nurses, doctors, health aids, a flight attendant that slips you a chocolate even if you aren’t in first class.
I didn’t mean to digress.
What I meant to do is show you what I have been up too– spending summertime with the kids and hanging out in Tenakee and at home– (it’s been very dry but rain is coming, a lot, they say 5-6 inches tomorrow. )
The Tenakee cabin project began two years ago. Part of the deal with the carpenter who built it was that I couldn’t share any pics and stories. It is worth it. And it helped me write more privately about the place, and that’s been great.
There are no cars in Tenakee. Only hand carts, wagons, bikes, and slow four-wheelers ( 10 mph. People and dogs have the right-of-way.)
I have been riding the ferry a lot.
JJ and the kids jumped on the boat to Haines with us after we came through Juneau at the end of June and just left. The second crew from Juneau arrives next week. The sisters, spouses and cousins make for a good kind of crowd if you meet them on a hike and around the dinner table.
The dogs are happy when everyone is here, too.
