2008-01-29

Snow had fallen; just enough to see on roofs and lawns and it was quite cold all day. After Morning Offering I started in again on the Laughlin speech, doing a good bit of organizing of already written material and then moving ahead. It is beginning to take shape in a way I like. I hope to get much further tomorrow, as the reorganization should hold. The remaining material concerns my own refinements on the art of channeling, so there is not the same painstaking care needed as was needed when presenting Elkins’ ideas. It should go faster.

I dropped Gary a note to let him know that Mick would call him sometime this afternoon, and also to ask him to send a reminder, to the couple involved in the Camelot Project, that I will be available for interviewing at the International UFO Congress for the entire week that the convention is held.

And I dropped Melissa a note to welcome her to her town chores – she planned to come down to Louisville today from Avalon Farm – and send her some information on raising llamas and alpacas. When she gets a fence built to hold the animals, we have some animals offered to us of both of those species! So she is researching how to care for them.

Mick and I shared the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

We’ll have to watch the weather reports carefully tomorrow! Once again, icing is threatening our route home through Missouri and Illinois. If things still look challenging along that route by late tomorrow afternoon, we’ll need to change our travel plans and take a northern route, staying on I-80 instead of heading south either at York or at Omaha.

2008-01-28

The weather moderated with a sudden warm snap, which made Jim’s chore of taking down the Christmas wreath from Dad McCarty’s grave much more pleasant than it would have been yesterday, or than it will be tomorrow. While we were out doing that errand and a couple of others, we were privileged to watch the front come through. It was very dramatic! Nature offers so many beauties to anyone with the eyes to see them! For a while, you could look one way, in this land of the big sky, and see nothing but storm clouds, very threatening and lowering, while if you looked the other way, the sun was shining brightly in an innocent blue sky.

After Morning Offering I began writing my speech for the International UFO Congress. By the end of the day, I had eight pages done: a good start. I am beginning to get my feet under me and see the shape of the whole talk far better than before.

I responded to a note from Barbara, who reported that she had at last finished the very last editing of her part of The Aaron/Q’uo Dialogues. What a signal blessing! Now all is in Judy’s hands. Interestingly enough, Ba was dealing with some issues which my Holly Journal for the day addressed, so I forwarded her that entry as I wrote her back. She is still in South America, visiting John of God.

Jim and I offered the peace together at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-27

This Sabbath Day was a near loss as far as working for L/L Research! My only work for L/L today, after Morning Offering, was to write Gary and rule on a question from Steve E as to whether we wanted to sell banner ads on www.bringth.org. I ruled no. We can sell other people’s items in our store, once we get the store fully operational, in our “Friends of L/L Research” section, but we need to choose our friends carefully. We do want an income stream! We need a better one. Yet above all we want to serve those who come our way, and those banner ads are a pain.

Other than that, my day was spent in dining well – we went to Grandpa’s Steak House for their buffet – and sleeping. I was totally knocked out and slept the whole afternoon away while Mick and Mom watched Tiger Woods play some good golf. I have no idea why I was so beat, as I had plenty of sleep last night! But it certainly felt good.

We enjoyed the remake of The Longest Yard with Mom after a light supper. Mick and I shared the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-26

Our second travel day dawned ice-cold and full of sunshine. We made our Morning Offering, found breakfast and were on the road by late morning. The temperatures rose throughout the day and we ended with a balmy 45 degrees F to bless our way.

We had a fascinating episode which lasted most of the afternoon. I was expressing to Mick my awareness that the upcoming Channeling Intensive would be hard on me physically, so I needed to be sure to rest when I had the chance during those four days. I also was expressing concern that, by teaching this technique again, I may again be responsible for someone ending up in a mental hospital, as has happened before when participants in such circles have not followed my directions. Yet, I told Mick, at the same time I felt strongly moved to do this.

Then I started talking about the book, what was left to write and how it was coming. Again, I was saying that it felt as though things were going as they should there. And after that, I continued sharing about the upcoming speech in Laughlin and how good it was to present this material and explain Don’s experiment in channeling, using his own words.

The refrain for all of these concerns was that it all felt right; it felt as though my way were being blessed and that I should go for it.

Only after I finally wound down did Mick tell me that the whole time I had been talking, he kept seeing hawks. He kept count. As I finished my long rap, the hundredth hawk flew right over the car! We agreed this was a very good sign!!!

I got a bit of L/L Research business done before leaving the motel this morning. I sent in my “Who Am I?” essay to Gary – after all, the rule is that we all write one to begin the session’s work, and consider them at our first meeting. I am no exception!

And I wrote Nicole B-I of the International UFO Congress staff to let her know that we preferred to arrive the day before the convention begins and leave the day after it ends, in order to participate fully in the doings. Previously I had not indicated a preference. Also, I let her know that there is a non-stop Southwest Airlines flight from Louisville to Las Vegas (or, as the Elk used to call that fair city, Lost Wages) and returning which we would greatly prefer to a flight where we have to lay over somewhere.

We arrived at Mom McCarty’s at 7:00, local time. She had a big supper ready for us and we settled in and unpacked only after we ate. It is good to be here and share some time with Mom! She is a happy camper when we’re here! Naturally she adores her only son! And she is very fond of me as well, although I am quite sure I took a lot of getting used to, a quarter century ago, when she and I first met!

Mick offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-25

Departure Day dawned brilliantly sunny and around zero degrees F! "The earth stood hard as iron; water like a stone", says the old hymn, and so it is today! After Morning Offering Jim packed things up downstairs while I put Jenny Traveller to bed in her travel case and got Gary to load up my portable printer. We said good-bye to the kitty cats, with much regret, and set out on our journey.

It was a lovely day of easy travel. And it is always a joy to spend the day traveling with Mick! We crossed over into Indiana at 2 p.m. and passed through St. Louis near 4:00. As we went west, the skies clouded over, first looking like herds of sheep and then, the cover growing thicker, having the appearance of a sky full of cotton balls. However it remained dry.

Jim had gotten a three-CD set of Queen’s music and we thoroughly enjoyed listening to their virtuosic work as we sailed through the faded fields of winter, with only the leaves stubbornly clinging to white oaks giving the eye some color.

We came to the Isle of Capri Casino Hotel in Booneville, Missouri, at 6:30 and enjoyed a delightful evening, dining very well in their restaurant and then coming back to our room for some good TV and the Gaia Meditation. Jim offered the closing prayer tonight. Tomorrow, we finish our trip to Nebraska!

2008-01-24

We awoke to severe cold but brilliant sunshine. Somehow having the sun out makes a huge difference in one’s mood! It is truly good to see Mister Sun after some gray days.

After Morning Offering Mick continued cleaning out all the kitchen cabinets and finished the job by lunchtime. I began closing down my office for the trip by clearing some items from my desk. Appointments were registered and I updated my to-do list. I ended the morning by having a manicure, a luxury indeed. I feel so much better when traveling if I am well groomed!

After lunch I cleaned up the very last of my Christmas thank-you notes, writing some on behalf of L/L Research for generous donations of books, CDs and DVDs on spiritual subjects which kind folks had sent in to say “Happy Holidays” to us. Then I went to Images Salon to change my hair color to auburn and get it cut.

My hair was stubborn at holding on to the cherry-red color I have enjoyed over the Christmas season, so the salon did a second round of coloring, at no extra charge, which was wonderful of them! However it did make me late in arriving home. Mick had a bath waiting and we enjoyed a good, restorative whirlpool together and a light supper. Then Mick came upstairs with me and helped me pack. Now I am all ready except for packing my computer kit and small printer. I will do that after writing my journals entries tomorrow morning.

I offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-23

The day was freezing-cold but Mick and I had a bright and cheery day anyway, as we began to move towards being ready for our trip to Nebraska on Friday. After Morning Offering I worked to finalize the database for Elkins’ quotes on the ET channeling experiment which has become L/L Research. I just barely got that finished before Dianne S arrived for our girlfriend lunch. Sadly, Melissa had decided not to join us, being concerned about the rain or snow forecast as possible for later today, so there were just the two of us. We had a delightful time together, strengthening each others’ hands for service and offering that love and support that only girlfriends know.

In the afternoon, I worked on the detailed outline of my Laughlin speech, using my database and other resources. I got through the channeling part of it, but only got the bare bones of a discussion of 2012 finished before bath time. I sent that on to Gary so that he can be working on finding images to go behind the talk, using Power Point.

Mick had spent the day in the kitchen, emptying the cabinets, wiping them out and replacing our things in good order. He has found a number of things to give to Goodwill, if Melissa cannot use them on the farm. I love the feeling of getting shipshape! Things tend to go missing after our gatherings as the attendees help us get the kitchen cleaned up after meals, only to be found the next time Mick does this routine with the cabinets!

He also finished up the cleaning out of my wardrobe by going through my sweaters to remove the ones that are too small for me, currently. He found 21 such sweaters, further enlarging my next donation to Goodwill, after Melissa has been through the bounty first. She is my old size, size 6, and it is likely that she can get good wear out of my beloved older garments.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-22

A beautiful snow had fallen when we awoke today, just an inch and largely decorative rather than any sort of nuisance. Kentucky snowfalls are generally like that, a pleasure to the eye but not a serious winter problem. Thank the Lord!

Mick went to St. Luke’s to clear away their walks, as they offer a pre-school and the kids need to have safe walkways. That is the second time in just a few days! So our Morning Offering was delayed quite a bit. I did not get into my office until almost 11 a.m. I spent my time before lunch working on the section on psychic greeting again, starting over, as I did not like the feel of what I had produced yesterday. I was not able to finish that before lunch, but I got a good start.

After a most pleasant lunch and stretching exercises with Mick, I came back to the office and worked through the rest of Secrets of the UFO, collecting quotes for my database for the Laughlin speech. Then I went through everything else I have from the Elk, his speech at JCC in 1983, his interview in 1978 and his “page one” document. I did not finish taking quotes from this final piece of Elkins’ words on the channeling experiment, but it is good to know I am close to finished. I need to create my detailed outline before I leave for Nebraska day after tomorrow.

I corresponded with Ian on the matter of Sean Donovan, who has a web site on Dan Fry, www.danielfry.com. I know little about Fry except that Elkins thought his contact was legitimate and when he visited and spoke with him, he liked him a lot. Fry aso received channeling of the Confederation type.

Ian also had a question on a recent channeling session I sent in to be added to our archives, which I answered. It’s so good to know that these transcripts are “out there” for people to use if they find them helpful.

I got my teeth cleaned this afternoon, a necessary evil! My teeth are still my own except for a few crowns, and at my age that is a valuable asset. False teeth are forever bothering the wearer, no matter how fine a set they are! My mouth looks good except for one filling which has gotten too old, is cracking and needs to be replaced. Oh joy!

Romance found me tonight, as Mick asked me for a date again and we had a lovely, inspirited energy exchange. I love to sink down through all the chakras with Mick, starting with the purely sexual attraction we have always had, and then relaxing and talking together, moving through the orange and yellow rays, into the unconditional love of the heart, then into the enhanced communication and communion of blue ray and into indigo for our inclusion of the Creator and our opening of the gateway to intelligent infinity.

Romi came for a visit tonight for the Gaia Meditation, at which he offered the final prayer, and then he stayed for a good conversation and a cup of tea. He says that he is all but finished with the CD of our collected 2007 public meditations! It will be good to take it to Laughlin and perhaps sell some copies there.

2008-01-21

While the weather worsened I stayed in! After Morning Offering I finalized the section on Ritual in Chapter 11 and wrote the first draft of the section on Psychic Greeting. It’s not quite popping yet: I will revisit it tomorrow.

After lunch I worked my way through the introduction to TLOO, Book I, where Don talks about the channeling experiment at L/L Research. Then I began, and am probably all but through with, the material in Secrets of the UFO, harvesting the things the Elk said about the experiment therein. The only information I still have to capture after that, before I write my detailed discussion of the history of the channeling experiment in our group, is Don’s very short piece, intended as a new book but only containing a few pages, which he began shortly before he died in 1984.

I think for the speech as well as for the introduction to the Light/Lines collection, it is important to quote his intentions as he wrote them. It feels great to be able to represent him and share his work with the Laughlin UFO convention.

Speaking of which, you should come! It looks as though in addition to Mick and me, we will have Romi V and Neil C, both L/L Research members. Come join the L/L Research crowd! I think it will be a fun time as well as very interesting, with 40 speakers and a big honking film festival.

Throughout the day I was working intermittently with Ian to finalize the details on the “Origins of L/L Research” niche in our Library, and by the end of the day, Ian had it all in place! Kudos to our llresearch webmaster!! We’re still collecting the transcribed material from our faithful transcribers so not all the material is there yet, but there is plenty to chew on, and Ian arranged the information clearly. It’s swell to have this archive in place before Laughlin, for I will refer to it in my talk.

I was more than usually below par tonight and had to turn down a date with my baby. Crikey, what a loss! Hopefully, Mick will ask me again soon! Ah, well, with or without sexual energy exchanges, I think the two of us exchange huge amounts of energy just by being together. I feel extremely lucky to have such a wonderful companion for all my days and ways.

At the Gaia Meditation tonight, Mick offered the final prayer.

2008-01-20

While the cold weather reigned outside, cozy warmth awaited Mick and me inside as we awoke to the Sabbath. Still feeling distinctly below par, I again eschewed church and stayed in all day.

We relaxed with the Sunday paper – Jim with sports and I with the puzzles – and then he cleaned house while I came upstairs and edited the last new transcript in my Inbox. I was eager to clear the Inbox of recent sessions to edit, as I will dedicate this week to coming up with a detailed outline of my Laughlin speech on channeling to leave with Ian and Gary so they can work on images for the Power point presentation to go with it.

I have recently chosen to confine my use of alcohol, sweets and carbonated beverages to Sunday, so I had a most sybaritic gustatory day, with fast food for breakfast and lunch and Pepsis and vodka to drink in the evening. I have enjoyed this new routine. Drinking mostly water, I have become more aware of the great blessing of this simple substance! And eating half-portions is very good for my burgeoning figure.

I have been blessed in this effort. I have not at all suffered the removal of these things from my diet. I have had not one hunger pang! Thank you, Lord!

We watched two films this afternoon. The first, Reign Over Me, is so good that I gave it an ovation when it ended. I have never seen Adam Sandler before in a role in which he could shine as an actor rather than as a buffoon. His portrayal of a victim of post-traumatic stress syndrome was lovely, touching and nuanced. And Don Cheadle was an excellent foil for him playing his friend. Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows and Donald Sutherland offered a compact, muscular ensemble in supporting roles. The entire movie was on key in a profound way with not one note out of place.

The second offering was just silly. I felt as though I were watching a first film from a college student. Titled The Black Widow, it was the brain child of Willem Dafoe and Giadra Colagrande, who also co-starred in it. The characters consisted only of those two as owner and caretaker of a house, plus a waiter, a shop clerk/lover and a motel owner. I might also count the house's television and an owl as characters. The piece inched along at an arctic creep and had little to recommend it in any way except the cinematography, which had its moments. We decided to keep watching it simply because we were curious as to how the film could possible go anywhere.

And in fact, it did not, except to comment in a muddled way on the difficulty of establishing trust and intimacy with another human being. It wins a prize for worst ending, as well!

In late afternoon, after our double feature, I came upstairs to continue to clear my desk and made some progress, scheduling a couple of appointments, making a contribution to our local library stations – there are three of them, one for classical sounds, one for NPR and one for jazz and alternative music – and answering an editing question from Ian on a transcript as he was putting the last three I sent him up on line.

I heard from Steve E. that he does indeed hope to launch the L/L Research on-line store by Monday! Yee ha!!!

Given Mick's love of football, it is no wonder that we spent the evening watching the New England Patriots edge out the Green Bay Packers for the NFL championship and a ticket to the Superbowl. It was a real treat to watch this game, a really close contest which ended only in overtime. However I felt for the players, the spectators and the press crew who called the game for TV, as the game was played in sub-zero temperatures.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-19

It was very cold outside today, but fortunately I did not have to poke my nose outside the door, so I stayed toasty-warm! I had had a very wakeful night and was somnolent, to the point that I fell asleep twice during Morning Offering! I could not rouse myself to the point of being creative when I came upstairs to work, so I dropped back and punted by editing the second of three transcripts newly deposited in my Inbox. This good work filled my time until lunch, which I shared with Mick.

Then Mick loaded up the trailer with firewood for Melissa and made the trip to Avalon for the third time this week. He reported a lovely, quiet drive with almost no traffic, probably due to the arctic temperatures.

I had a good afternoon creatively, getting into my wakeful stride at last and finishing the first draft of the section on channeling. At the end of the afternoon I worked to further clear my desk of the after-Christmas piles. My father’s brother married a Spanish woman, Conchita, and they produced a son, Carlos, who went to school here in Louisville and lived with my Mother, who doted on him, and he, on her. Since that time Conchita always sends all of us “kids” greetings at Christmas. She sends them all to me, and I send them on. I got those envelopes, with her cheery cards and postal cards of Venezia, where she now lives, ready to mail out to my brothers, Tommy and Jim.

I found a big envelope and mailed Melissa the information on the wood which is supposedly the oldest in the world, which a friend of L/L Research sent us as a gift and which I gave to Mel for Avalon. And I recaptured some gift books for which I have not yet sent thank-you’s. They came in after the first of the year and slipped in under my radar! It feels good to be tidying up the loose ends. Yet to do: the Christmas letter to my MacDuffie classmates. And a few other things as well.

I worked a bit with Gary on the on-line store, resolving a glitch in shipping charges. The store creeps towards being launched! With this last snag loosened, perhaps it will be up by Monday, webmaster Steve E says. Whee! It will be special to have that in place in time for Laughlin.

Ian and I corresponded about how to treat alternate spellings in the Detroit Group material – Hatton for Hatonn and Odina for Adonai. I suggested correcting the text to match the rest of the usage on site, but inserting footnotes to note the original spellings in the manuscript. That passed Ian’s muster, so I shall expect a manuscript from Ian shortly to OK for placement on site. That, too, will be good to have up on site before I go to Laughlin.

Gary and I conferred briefly on the matter of mugs. I’d originally asked for “L/L Research”, our web address and the Don Quixote logo for one side of the mug and “All Is One” for the other side. But printing the second side ups the cost of the mug, so we dropped the idea. I also asked Gary to check to see whether the company will be able to use the white-background image on the white cup OK or whether they need a clear background for the image. We don’t want a patchy-colored mug!

Romi came for the channeling meditation and we fielded a good question from Mick on how to use the principles of Western white ritual magic in everyday life. It was an interesting session, which I look forward to reading as I edit the transcript, eventually.

Romi, Mick and I discussed the format for our BBS tapes over his Love Tea and shortbread cookies. He has been including the Lord’s prayer which we offer before the channeling, and the chanting and prayer which we offer after the channeling, on the BBS CDs. However, our older audiocassette tapes, which Gary has been transferring to CD, are recorded without the opening and ending tags, consisting only of the channeling itself. So our CDs are inconsistent. We decided to include only the channeling on all the CDs for BBS.

Romi also reported that he is finalizing his CD of all of our 2007 public channeling sessions, so we can have one to take to Laughlin. With that CD and the volume of 25 years of collected Light/Lines newsletters, we have a fine array of items for the convention-goers - a retrospective of what L/L has produced over the long haul and a CD of what we've done lately. It feels good!

2008-01-18

Mick and I awoke to a freshening day, a respite for the moment between two cold snaps. I count that as lucky! After Morning Offering I worked on finalizing the section on ritual, but was still not entirely happy with it when I quit to keep my luncheon date with Connie M. We had a wonderful girlfriend time, both of us feeling much refreshed for the sharing of energy. It is good to see Connie so much her old self after all the difficulties she had dealing with her Mom before she got it together to walk away from the fiendish tangle her Mom had created in her life.

She tells me her Mom is still at it, working by telephone to create upset and spread such emotions as rage, prejudice, hatred and jealousy. Fortunately, the effect is muted at a distance and Connie can far better see the manipulations involved and step away from reacting to them. Go, Connie!

I do not know why some parental relationships dwindle down to such a bitter brew. Connie feels that her Mom has been taken over by a reptilian and become a negative walk-in. The details of her story tend to support that theory, fanciful as it seems.

Sadly, her Mom is also gunning for Connie's daughter – her Mom’s granddaughter – way out in California. Molly calls her Mom fairly frequently in distress after such a poisonous telephone call and needs to be talked down from wanting to throttle her grandmother. Connie is getting very good at seeing that her Mom is really no longer "in there". This eases the pain a lot.

Back home, I supplied Gary with our older photo albums so he can begin scanning images to use for the Power Point Presentation that will run behind my talk in Laughlin. I shall have to practice with it, once I get my speech roughed out in detail.

I ran across a nifty, easy recipe for beer cheese and collected it for making on Superbowl Sunday for the Mick! He has such fun on that day, and he deserves a good nosh.

I wrote Fr. Ken, who has been a wonderful priestly influence on my life since 1968, assuring him that we would be praying for his wife, Phyl, as she undergoes cancer surgery.

Mick and I had decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day by taking in a night of jazz at the Jazz Factory, and I made that reservation. The program will be aimed especially at lovers, and we certainly qualify! My illness and inability to exercise for this last year has made me look overweight and not that great, but my black-Irish cowboy still looks 40 and very buff, so the romance is unlikely on the face of it, but somehow the passion between us remains, proof against time and the erosion of my beauty. Praise the Lord!

I took some time to write a little introduction for Ian, who is creating a niche for the work of the Detroit channeling group, back in the '50s, whose material gave Don the idea of forming a channeling circle here in Louisville back in 1962. We only have a portion of the work transcribed so far – about half of The Brown Notebook material and a quarter of the later Man, Consciousness and Understanding manuscripts – but Ian wants to create a niche for it now, so he can get the existing material “out there” for people to see. I am very glad to see this occur so people can see our “roots” as a channeling group.

After our bath and whirlpool, Mick and I spent more time going through my clothes, sifting through to see what still fits. All my vests are too small and many of my blazers and jackets do not meet across my chest any more. Every suit had to go! And almost all my pretty dresses also. It felt wonderful to pull the beloved old garments out, fold them lovingly and bid them goodbye. I have loved wearing them! And I bless them on their way for someone else to enjoy when they find them at Goodwill.

Downstairs we enjoyed supper and found a block of CSI Miami. We like all the CSI series, but I especially enjoy the use of color in the Miami production, as well as the campy, over-the-top character played with such verve by David Caruso. While I was enjoying that, I finished up the Christmas thank-you notes that had been lagging on my to-do list, except for one, which I shall tackle tomorrow night. It involves a lot of reading, so deserves a time slot of its own!

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-17

It was snowing when I awoke, and continued until about 9 a.m., a lovely, gentle fall which covered the lawns while courteously leaving the streets and walkways clear. It was simply beautiful. The warmth of the day, with temperatures rising to about 45, kept the snow purely decorative.

After Morning Offering I finished my first draft of the section in Chapter 11 on the Player’s use of ritual. Tomorrow I’ll make sure it is complete before going on to a discussion of channeling. I love the way my work is focusing on channeling right now. I have a channeling intensive to teach/learn coming up, a speech on channeling to offer at Laughlin in February, an introduction for the Light/Lines compendium to write and now i am working on the subjet for the Choice book. How nifty is that!

This afternoon, Mick took me for my Christmas present – a shopping spree at a consignment shop. I found the suit I will wear for my Laughlin speech, a nice warm dress for the banquet there and a Pendleton suit, a nice, cheery red one, for Valentine’s Day’s visit to hear some jazz from Harry Pickens. Also, I found a good olive green skirt and a pair of dressy tan-stripe pants. It’s good to have a pair of dress pants again. A couple of pretty tops and a new sweater rounded out the selection of new things. It was SO MUCH FUN!

In the afternoon I finished reading The Brown Notebook and taking notes from it. I sent along the notes collected so far to Gary, who will be creating a database of images for making a Power Point Presentation to have clicking along behind my talk.

After Mick and I bathed, we luxuriated in a romping, zippy energy exchange, offering each other all our love and light and reveling in the Creator’s presence. Afterwards I lay, replete and thankful, offering the first few verses of the Te Deum Laudamus:

“We praise you, O Lord! We acknowledge you to be the Lord! All the Earth does worship you, the Father everlasting! To you all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein! To you seraphim and cherubim continually do cry, 'Holy! Holy! Holy!”

In time, we arose and Mick helped me work some more with my closet, trying on jackets and removing those that no longer fit me. I love to go to Goodwill with these beautiful clothes, so that people with little of this world's money can enjoy the pleasure of wearing these lovely garments. It keeps the energy going and gives me a wonderful feeling of plenty.

I really do love clothes! And they are like little people to me, each garment having its own personality. When I finish this process, I will have many fewer garments in my closet, but the ones that are there will fit me and constitute a wonderful array of choices, so I can express my mood of the day with my clothes.

Gary offered the prayer at the close of the Gaia Meditation tonight, and then we conversed until time for Gary to go to Valerie’s and for us to go up to bed.

2008-01-16

After Morning Offering on this cold, cold day I got a medical test I had collected here at home all ready to mail, with a million forms, it seemed, to go with, and bundled it up to mail in to the lab. It is a saliva test, which is part of what Dr. Johnson is using to determine my hormone replacement needs. It offers a lot more sophisticated level of information than the usual hormone replacement test and results in a compounded product which values six different measurements instead of two. It is a lot of trouble, but the results are worth it in terms of my comfort - relative freedom from night sweats and hot flashes.

Then I finalized the section in Chapter 11 on the magical personality and began the section on ritual, which took me to lunch.

After lunch I went back to the Brown Notebook and continued reading. I have two pages, now, of quotes from the Brown Notebook to use in preparing my speech for the UFO Congress. I should be able to finish this part of the research tomorrow.

At the end of the afternoon I spent some time working in my closet, which has been sadly neglected. I found a couple dozen garments which need to be stored until warm weather, which is some months away, and Mick took those down for me and stored them in the basement storage section. I also found quite a few dress blouses which are too small for me now, and which, even when they fit, I seldom wore because they were so warm when worn under a suit jacket. Time to start preparing a donation to Goodwill. It felt good to start getting more organized. I have a ways to go there!

With Gary’s help I got Vara’s wedding present wrapped and a pretty card affixed to the package. Her announcement showed that I am not the only lady favoring red hair these days!

During the afternoon I talked with Dr. Brown’s staff and set up the appointment to put tubes in my ears early in February.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-15

It’s Papa’s birthday, as well as Martin Luther King’s. Two fine men! Happy Birthday, Papa! And bless you in larger life, Martin!

It was cold and fair today, staying in the twenties all day. In the morning, after Morning Offering, and at the end of the work day, I worked on the section on the magical personality in Chapter 11 of 101, finishing it. In between I kept an appointment with a doctor who specializes in cosmetic eye surgery, as I have droopy eyelids that sometimes occlude my reading vision, especially if I am propped up reading at night, in bed. He sees the problem but says it is not bad enough to repair yet.

I figure that while it’s too bad about the droopy eyelids, at least that’s one less surgical procedure with which I have to deal.

I wrote Gary concerning my mug idea. It was engendered by my breaking both of our 20-oz mugs and being unable to find replacements. In noodling around on line I found a company that makes such mugs and sells them with one’s own logo, if desired. So Gary will research all that. Ian says he has the art ready to go on that, and just needs Gary’s info as to the format for the image.

Gary requested a blurb for the BBS Radio site. He says they have a new person who is straightening up and expanding their web information. I dug up the blurb I originally wrote for Romi, beefed it up a bit and sent it on to Gary.

Gary also wrote that Lorena L wishes to offer each participant in the upcoming Channeling Intensive a flower remedy – what a lovely gesture! I suggested to Gary that he note this in the schedule of the weekend.

Mick and I had a lovely bath and then welcomed Romi for a visit. We dined together and watched the sequel to Chinatown, The Two Jakes. What a fine performance by Jack Nicholson! He acts so silly in public appearances that one is liable to forget what a splendid actor he is. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2008-01-14

It snowed this morning, a beautiful snowfall that lasted only an hour or so and brought a skiff of white to the lawn while conveniently leaving the roadways clear. After Morning Offering I worked on the magical personality in Chapter 11 until lunchtime, not finishing the section, but making progress. I ended the morning doing a search for further quotes on this fascinating subject, as I want to get the nuances right.

After lunch I prepared for my counseling session with Mary L. When I felt prepared and tuned, I filled in the time by working on e-mail. I forwarded Barbara’s latest report on her A/Q editing and also her trip to Brazil to Judy R. I remade the lunch date Dianne S and I had cancelled for today, for next week. And I read an article by Elihu E, on politics and foreign affairs, which I thought excellent, so wrote to thank him for sharing it with me.

The counseling session went well, except that Mary had hoped that I could tell her what her soul purpose was, which I could not, as I am not a psychic, except for saying that all of us have one basic purpose in common: to be ourselves, and let the Creator’s love flow through us and out into the world. I need to go to my on-line discussion of how I counsel and strengthen the declaration that I am NOT a psychic.

In truth, I think it is harmful to a person’s progress as a seeker for someone to tell him what his purpose is. That should be part of the individual’s own discoveries as he goes.

However, she asked me about a good many other things she had on her mind, and I think we had a good session, all told.

I did a bit more reading in The Brown Notebook before bath time. and then drove Mick down to Roppel's where his ailing Dakota, Sybil, had been healed of her radiator woes.

During the evening, I finally began on my thank-you notes from Christmas. Mick was kind enough to set me up a little TV-tray table by my Mama chair downstairs so I have easy access to all my materials. I wrote the first six, feeling glad I’d made a dent in the project. People were very generous with me this year and I do have a good many notes to write! It is a blessing to say thank you. It feels so good!

I offered the prayer at the close of the Gaia Meditation. Then Mick and I spent some time shopping on line for needed additions to his wardrobe. With Laughlin coming up, and several parties there, Mick wants to have the appropriate clothing, and we found him three good party shirts, two pairs of pants and a nice pair of shoes which nicely “toe” the line between casual and dressy. That was pure fun! I love the International Male catalog for his wardrobe. It’s very gay, and one needs to avoid the more extreme fashions, but Mick’s gypsy dancer soul deserves a bit of pizzazz! He’ll look great!! His trim, lithe figure wears clothes very well.

2008-01-13

Mick and I had a lovely, restful, heavenly Sabbath. Our morning was spent in relaxing, reading the paper and in Mick’s case, cleaning the house, which he did with the newly repaired vacuum cleaner.

We ate our lunch while watching our first of three films, The Last Time. It was a sly, dark screenplay, well realized by the ensemble cast headed by Michael Keaton, Brendan Fraser and Amber Valletta. I really had a hard time watching this film, as there was not one character in it with any real virtue or niceness of personality. The F-word was probably the most used word in the film other than common articles like “the”. But I’ll give the piece credit for being a fooler, with a beautifully realized surprise ending.

Next came the pick of the day, though continuing the darkness of the first film. Clive Owen was spectacular as the carrot-eating anti-hero of Shoot ‘Em Up, a truly violent film with stunts worthy of Jackie Chan, which used all the props available. It was short and utterly filled with gunshots and curses. Nevertheless it was a very likable film and one which I thoroughly enjoyed. Paul Giamatti and Monica Bellucci offered winning portrayals as well.

Our last film continued the dark, dark motif of our film day. Shattered is a story of a very twisted couple of characters who band together to get vengeance. It has a lot of surprises in it and again, a switcheroo ending.

All in all, I think we’re due for a couple of innocent comedies and romances for our next film choices! This was all pretty heavy stuff! But Mick and I enjoyed the films and the chance to sit and relax, resting and priming ourselves for the week of work to come.

After our bath, Mick and I enjoyed a lovely tryst, offering an amazing amount of energy to the Creator and the world after filling ourselves up with exchanged energy.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-12

I had just gone to sleep last night when I was – I thought – awakened by someone who had come in the front door and was shouting up the stairs to me. It was so real that after I woke up, I still thought someone was in the house. I went downstairs to see who it was, wondering why Mick had not intercepted the person, since he sleeps downstairs. Mick was not even in bed yet, as I had only been asleep for a couple of minutes. No, there was no one there.

The whole night went like that, with one increasingly uncomfortable and scary nightmare after another waking me up constantly. After the third wake-up, I went down and bunked in with Mick, and his presence helped cut down on the discomfort. However, I probably got no more than two or three hours of sleep all night.

In analyzing these dreams, I decided that my subconscious was telling me that I needed to take a close look at diet and eliminate some foods to which I may have grown allergic. I targeted alcohol, carbonated beverages and sugary items. I think I shall, for the most part, avoid these three foods and see if my daily wellness levels improve.

Because of the terrible night I found myself unable to concentrate enough to do creative work, much to my dismay. I dropped back and punted by reading through a large portion of the Brown Notebook material, in preparation for my talk in Laughlin.

In the afternoon I went up to Avalon with Mick, who had some limbs and logs which were too thick to chip-and-shred and were candidates for erosion control on our access road. It was a beautiful drive up and back and I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. It is such a treat to be within Avalon's loving energy!

After Mick and I bathed, we welcomed two new visitors to the meditation group, Allen and Robert. Allen had driven down from Cincinnati while Robert was out of Tucson on his way to Philadelphia. Romi also joined us and we had a good talk around the circle. We settled on a question concerning transformation. I look forward to reading it when I get the transcript to edit.

Romi offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-11

Melissa, having promised to arrive bright and early, was in the basement doing town chores when I came downstairs to awaken Mick this morning. She was bright, but the day was gray and prone to rain, especially in the morning. I made her a pot of coffee and she, Mick and I shared Morning Offering. Then Mick went out to chip and shred the last of his current crop of yard debris from his customers while I came upstairs to work on some urgent e-mail.

Barbara, now on her way to see John of God once more, wrote from the road to say that she seemed to have lost my send of AQ9, part 2. So I re-sent her that, thrilled that, with this editing done, she will be through with all needed reading on the project for a while. This is necessary, for the entities who work through John will operate on her eyes tomorrow, and after that, she will not be able to read for a couple of weeks.

They will also work on her ears, since she is deaf as well as having very poor eyesight as the result of a sea accident where after being tossed off her board and skyward by a big wave, her surfboard came down upon her face hard enough to break her cheekbone. It caused a stroke in one eye and other problems in the other eye. All prayers for Barbara during this precious, sacred time of healing for her.

She accepted my entire plan for arranging the book and moving forward which I had sent her and Judy yesterday, so now the way ahead is clear on the Aaron/Q’uo Dialogues project! It’s wonderful news. I forwarded Judy her response so Judy would know that all was happy between the three of us collaborators.

Then I wrote Gary concerning the matter of people who send in questions for the Q’uo principle to answer at our public meetings. He has to deal with the disappointment of those good souls whose questions we do not ask at the meetings.

I explained to him that, first we have a time crunch. I no longer channel every week at our meetings. For the last few years Mick and I have chosen to have silent meditations half the time. And the local, sitting circle has the first dibs on questions. Lately, the answers to the questions asked have taken by far the majority of the time of working. So our ability to ask any questions that come from outside the sitting circle is quite limited.

Secondly, many of the questions asked by outside people are specific and topical. Does a procedure done during pregnancy cause autism in children? Is a certain channel trustworthy? There are many ways to ask for specific information on spiritual topics, and it is not always easy to see that there is nothing in the question which gives room for our Confederation contact to speak about spiritual principles.

I asked Gary to offer to Terry H, George K and others whose questions we have not asked our apologies, and to assure them of our deep love for them. We are not rejecting them! They are among the planet’s best people! Mick and I, in choosing what questions to consider, are simply protecting the polarity and tuning of our source as well as my own tuning as a channel.

Interestingly enough, just as I wrote this phrase, a hawk cried outside. That’s a good synchronicity indeed. Thank you, Ra!

All too soon, it was time for me to go to yet another doctor’s appointment. Nor is this one by any means the end of the spate! I am ailing in several different and creative ways, and each needs to be investigated. This appointment was with Dr. Johnson, an osteopath who is also trained as a naturopath, a light and color acupuncturist and many other alternative healing modalities. He sees to my hormone replacement, as my hormones have been sadly out of tune since menopause 15 years ago.

This would have been a simple enough visit if he had not decided to check my hormone levels by getting a blood test instead of a saliva test. I warned him just how bad my veins are and he said if, after two tries, the nurse had not collected blood, I could do the saliva test instead, but that the blood test was better at determining testosterone levels than the saliva test.

By golly, the nurse managed to collect just enough blood for one test. I told her, “Make it the test for testosterone.” This lab procedure took a long time! I was done with the visit except for the lab within half an hour, but it was another 45 minutes before I was out of there, due to the nurse’s extreme care, trying to find a vein successfully in only two tries.

To top all this off, the appointment time had somehow been fouled up, and I was there at 11 in the morning for an appointment they had down for 2:30. Melissa and I managed to make lemonade out of the sour fact by going to eat at Ruby Tuesday’s, where we had a delightful luncheon, and then shopping at the Goodwill near there. I needed jeans and she needed work clothes and some things for Avalon. It all worked out perfectly. I found three pairs of good jeans that fit my current girth and she found a good pair of work pants, two pairs of sweat pants and a solid milk crate, all of which she needed badly.

We finished our sweep of errands by depositing some cash which had come in for L/L Research. Then we had only to get Mick a dessert, as I always do when I get to go out to eat and he stays home and works. It seemed to be the day for things going awry: the little dessert shop we usually use was closed for the day due to a death in the family. We drove up and down Shelbyville Road looking for an alternative source of truly nifty desserts for my hero and found a brand new (to me) store with gustatory delights abounding, called The Cheddar Box. We chose the Chocolate Zucchini Cake, which Mick later said was sinfully excellent. Bingo!

We ended the day, after Mick’s and my bath and Melissa’s faithful office work on Avalon’s behalf, by watching again (for Mick) the movie through which I had slept last Sunday, Stardust. What an enchanting film! I am so glad he persisted. I would not have missed Robert DeNiro’s wonderful performance as a whoopsie for anything! And it is a true-ringing, resonant testament to unconditional love.

Mick offered the ending prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2007-01-10

Double digits in the New Year already! Life goes by so very fast! It is still quite warm, almost up to 60 F today, but by afternoon the rain was just pouring and I sloshed my way to the car and back, getting to a nail appointment this afternoon.

My stomach is still in rebellion. I believe I shall return to the one prescription which Jan E of the Hubbard Clinic suggested I might remove and see if it improves things. This has been a sustained bout of GI tract trouble severe enough to keep me from being able to think clearly. However I did get a bit done today anyway – praise the Lord!

After Morning Offering I worked on Chapter 11, developing the discussion on the magical personality. It is not flowing yet but it’s a good start. After lunch I worked further on the channeling from two Saturdays ago, the last one of the old year. This means there’s a channeling meditation coming up tomorrow! Again, time is certainly whistling by! It does not feel at all as though a fortnight had passed.

While I felt quite poorly physically, I was also very lifted up all day, feeling so blessed! I do not dwell in the gloomy precincts which pain offers me. It holds no interest for me when the beauty of my life shines before me. Such wondrous love flows through me! And how surpassingly sweet it is to be with my Mick! I love life so much, and treasure all my relationships with a most thankful heart.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-09

While I continued to feel far less than well, I was much improved from the disastrous levels of yesterday! I was able to work today, much to my delight. After Morning Offering I started on Chapter 11, preparing the reader for a discussion of the more advanced work in consciousness that this chapter will treat – magic, healing, channeling and sacred sexuality.

I began work on both the Introduction for the compilation of our newsletters and my talk in Laughlin by reading the “Brown Notebook”, from whose pages Elk got the idea of starting the Louisville Group so long ago. I wanted to explain just exactly what texts he used to create his idea of beginning this experiment which has gone on, now, since 1962. I found what is likely the seed of it, but will continue to read it through just to be sure there is nothing more pointed.

And I began editing the December 29th channeling, on the advantages of staying in the present moment.

I also indulged my love of cooking by collecting three new dessert recipes, for dark fudge, for lemon chess bars and for chewy chocolate chip cookies. They are all so good-looking, and easy to prepare! I was especially intrigued with the lemon chess bar recipe, which takes the terrific short-cut of using a cake mix. Cake mixes are excellent these days, a far cry from the sadly powdery, dry mixes of my youth.

Dianne wrote to set a date for lunch, and we agreed upon a day next week. Connie also set a date with me, so I am going to have some great girlfriend time soon! Mel got some alpaca information in my Inbox, which I forwarded to her at Avalon, thanking her for calling in so faithfully when she is going to use heavy equipment or power tools on the farm. She lets us know she will use them, and then at eventide she calls to let us know she’s survived! It is most reassuring.

And my brother, Jim, called from Denver to let us know that his wife, Kai, may well be pregnant! She will see the doctor today to confirm the home pregnancy test. Now there’s a dazzling piece of news! My little bro is 60! I hope it’s a girl, because he is definitely past the age of running around shagging balls and teaching a son how to tackle!!! Of course, he married a much younger woman, and I know Kai and he were hoping for a Rueckert baby.

She has one child from a previous marriage, a son named Fluke, pronounced Folk. The child-to-come should be a beautiful baby, whichever sex, with the mixture of our German-French-English blood and Kai’s Thai heritage. I just pray the baby gets Mom's beauty and not the bad eyesight of our family! I hope Jim is ready to keep working well into his eighties! Kids are expensive little fellers and raising one these days is costly. However, my brother is very, very good with kids and I know they are both just ecstatic.

Mick spent the morning doing odd jobs for three of his customers and the afternoon sharpening blades and chipping and shredding branches he has removed from customers’ fallen trees and limbs. He enjoyed the continuing springlike weather! It is our last day for the really warm temperatures, as we expect high winds again overnight and possibly some rain, bringing the weather back to a more seasonable 40 F.

We had a lovely whirlpool and then made love, exchanging energy at an amazingly high rate. I was floating on it all evening. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2008-01-07

Mick and I did our Morning Offering in the car on our way to a test on my ear. After that trip, my day was devoid of usefulness in any outer sense, although of course I continued to offer praise and thanksgiving and keep my energy body clear of blockage, asking the light to flow through me. I felt thoroughly miserable physically, to the point where I simply could not think. It's too bad after such a great day yesterday!

My one accomplishment in the outer world today was to write a letter to Papa to send with his birthday card. He sends me volumes, and I send him a couple of pages! It seems hardly equitable. Yet I wanted to send him my love and best wishes on his Earth Day.

The weather continued to be freakishly warm, setting a record at 70 F today. It was very springlike, and the ride over to the hospital district was most enjoyable. It all falls apart later today, with severe winds predicted overnight and possibly thunderstorms.

Mick offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2008-0-07

Can we say “busy day”? Thank heavens that Mick and I had a very enlivening energy exchange, making love last night! It gave me a lot of good energy today.

After I made my prayer offering and wrote the Holly Journal and then the Camelot Journal, I opened my e-mail and found a query from Judy R about the Aaron/Q’uo Dialogues. I had told her that I would wait until she was almost finished with the final read-through before writing the Intro and other inner pages for the book. She asked what my timing was. I told her that whenever she was about a week away from finishing the read-through, I’d do the other writing.

I also gave her an idea about the Table of Contents. I suggested that, as she reads through each session, she jots down the subject covered. That way, when the reader comes to the TOC, he won’t see just “session 1”. He’ll see “session one, about fear and the spiritual life” or whatever.

After Morning Offering – Job is still wailing in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament we’ve cleared Galatians, a particularly unfortunate letter of Paul’s in which he is justifying and rationalizing to beat the band and we have been delivered to a much more inspiring letter to the Ephesians – I came upstairs for the morning's work. I split the too-long Chapter 9 into two chapters where it makes perfect sense to split it, and then read through both chapters to finalize them! Now that felt good!! I sent both chapters off to Steve M, who is so very good at pointing out ways I can make my language simpler. Now on to Chapter 11, which I swear is the next to last chapter.

I went on an errand run before going to my doctor’s appointment, giving blood for my monthly lab tests, finding a birthday card for Jim’s uncle, who is turning 80 soon, and a birthday card as well for my teacher, Papa. I also had a delicious burger at Frisch's and picked up groceries with which to create a new batch of turkey salad, as we have leftover turkey breast to use up.

The doctor, a specialist in neurology, paid no attention to my protests that I had not had a seizure in three years now, and no longer had the headaches associated with the aneurism she feels caused it, and scheduled me for another MRI in May.

I got home in time for a bath with Mick and then we greeted Romi and Susannah. Susannah had requested a personal channeling. Her main question was about the emotions of unworthiness and anger. It was an interesting session and I look forward to editing it and reading it through. I have the unworthiness myself, persisting even though I have been working with it for a solid four decades very consciously.

Afterwards, Susannah made a delicious pasta dinner the Italian way, and we were treated to Milano shrimp and squash with a cream and cheese sauce. It was absolutely delicious! Gary had come over to say goodbye to Susannah and joined us for the meal, and between us we ate every bit of her offering. Yum! She had cooked the shrimp in lemon, which added a piquant note to the blended tastes.

Jim and I prayed for peace together at the end of our very short Gaia Meditation, done in a brief pause while our guests were in the kitchen preparing the meal.

We have greatly enjoyed Susannah's visit and are as sorry as both Romi anad Susannah are that it now draws to a close. She is a very lovely and serious spiritual seeker and we cannot thank her enough for her tireless efforts to translate the Q'uo channelings into Italian.

2008-01-06

The Sabbath is such a wonderful day of rest for Mick and me, now that we have moved our weekly study and meditation meetings to Saturday nights! This day was no exception – except that for me, the emphasis was more than usually on rest.

I woke fairly early and so decided, after my Holly and Camelot Journal entries were written for the day, to work again on editing the personal session for Gary which we had last summer. It was great to finish that and send it on. There was a good feeling of “no loose ends”.

I am still too puny to go to church, so spent my morning doing puzzles and reading. Meanwhile, Saint James cleaned the house, using more primitive means than usual – a broom – as the vacuum cleaner is still held hostage by the repairman.

At lunch time, we settled down to our first movie of the triple feature, another try at seeing Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Chow Yun-Fat and Geoffrey Rush in the third Pirates movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. What I saw of it was disappointing. The light touch was notably missing. The pace was slow and the sea battles were unending. While I appreciated the production values, the piece was top-heavy and way too long – almost three hours. This may not be a fair evaluation as I kept dozing off, probably missing two-thirds of the film.

We saw The Last Legion next, a remarkably good film aimed at children but interesting to me as well. Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Rai and Thomas Sangster did a fine job of portraying the main characters in this adventure of the last Caesar before the Goths took Rome down. The device of using the sword of Arthur, Ex Caliber, to hold the story together was excellent. What great costumes and what fine ensemble work. I loved this film.

The third film, which we watched over dinner, may well have been good, but I dozed off as soon as my last bite was taken and remained somnolent throughout. Stardust, starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert DeNiro, also had superb production values and fine ensemble –this I gleaned while still awake – but I must trust Mick for an evaluation of the whole. He liked the film, and especially did he like DeNiro’s work.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-05

Generally, I use Saturdays to catch up on non-creative work, but I felt strongly that this was a good day to write. After Morning Offering and over the course of the day I finished the first draft of Chapter 9! It runs 31 pages, so I shall break it up into two chapters before moving on, after one last read-through to be sure I am satisfied with my work. The next chapter will be Chapter 11, which covers the Gateway, its fruits and graduation information. so i am still on the next to last chapter!

I also edited a bit more on Gary’s personal channeling session from last summer, and got about halfway through it.

After Mick and I had a bath and a light supper, we welcomed Susanna and Romi for a silent meditation, which was delightful. Romi made his Love Tea afterwards and we enjoyed conversation until we got sleepy, pausing only for the Gaia Meditation. The prayer tonight at closing was round-robin.

Chloe came back from the animal hospital at dusk, still pretty wiped out but as glad to be home as we were to have her. She was so cute right after she got home! We have a little crafted yardstick holder that hangs at the edge of our kitchen and Chloe will stretch up its length and sharpen her non-existent front claws on it, very slowly, to indicate that she wants to be patted. When she hit the door, she dashed over there and started her sharpening motions in triple-time! We patted her until she was satisfied, then she dashed in to her bowl and ate and then used the litter box, things she had refused to do while away from home.

Welcome home, Inkspot!!!

She will need a nebulizer and they do make kitty nebulizers! I tried to order one from the web, but apparently they do not have an on-line store, so I left a message with the maker, asking them to fill me in on how to order one.

2008-01-04

Our day, though excellent, was pervaded by our kitty, Chloe’s, illness. She had been coughing yesterday and Mick had taken her to the vet. He diagnosed a virus and gave her antibiotics. She seemed better. She and I had a good snuggle this morning. However, later in the morning Gary found her lying on the kitchen rug panting for all she was worth and not very responsive. Mick again took her to Dr. Bishop, our vet, and he diagnosed asthma.

He put her in their oxygen cage for several hours, but she did not get much better and at 5 PM, he suggested that Mick take her to the animal hospital for oxygen overnight and more tests. This, he did. That vet said it was either asthma or congestive heart failure, and only more tests would tell. So our poor little Inkspot is spending her first night away from home, and we are missing her dreadfully. She is the sweetest little kitty in Christendom except when food is involved or when she meets someone she does not like, when she becomes a growler.

I worked on the last of Chapter 9 again, but was unable to finish the section to my own satisfaction. I’ll hit it again tomorrow. Likewise, in the afternoon I worked on editing a channeling from last summer, one which Gary had requested on The Purgative Way, which had been transcribed last week. However I did not get far, for I also had a doctor’s appointment to keep, my visit to Dr. Brown, the otolaryngologist. That’s an ear and throat specialist, in English!

His news was dismal. The fluid is gone from my ears. However, they are swollen shut, not just the right but the left side to an extent now, which is why the symptoms are persisting. He made an appointment next Tuesday for me to have a CT scan of the right ear. Either only the Eustachian tube is involved or the bone behind it is also involved. This test will tell him which situation prevails. No matter which diagnosis is right, the solutions are not simple or sure. Swell! I just have to remember Holly’s advice to me this morning: “Greet each seeming problem and woe with thanksgiving and gratitude and watch challenges turn into gifts.” I'll try, Holly!

Mick and I celebrated the end of his mowing season tonight with a visit to Artemisia, one of our favorite restaurants in town. We had a scrumptious dinner and listened to some pleasant, bluesy live music. I never did find out who the musicians were, as they never got on the mike and introduced themselves. We toasted the amazing year of 2007 – amazing for a lawn man, that is! He was triumphant despite draught and record setting heat that lasted for months. Well done, Saint James!!! You're the best! See my buttons bursting with pride? I adore that man!

We shared the Gaia Meditation’s prayer tonight at the restaurant, praying for the planet and for peace in the world. "Send forth your spirit, and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth."

Which reminds me, AL Gore's acceptance speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony is worth reading. It's easy to find on his site. Just Google his name.

2008-01-03

Things started thawing out today, although our fish ponds are still frozen on top. It was delightful to see the sun shining brightly again. I understand that north and east of here, there is again much extreme cold and snow. Our January has been terribly cold and now will warm up to 60 degrees by the weekend! Ah, living in Kentucky is wonderful! Blackberry winter already! I love the variety.

After Morning Offering I edited the very last session of The Aaron/Q’uo Dialogues! Whee! It was a grand feeling to send it off to Barbara Brodsky for her edit on Aaron’s part. Now Judy R can begin her read-through and when I find out what Romi wants me to edit first, The Alphabet Mosaics or the compilation of our newsletters over the last 25 years, I can begin my next project. Meanwhile I have a couple of recent channeling sessions which have been transcribed and are in my Inbox, so I will not lack for good work to do.

I used up my morning hours working with Gary on a couple of issues having to do with our hopefully soon-to-be second web site, B4, with figuring out the time we should make reservations for our closing supper during the Channeling Intensive and with publishing details for the Light/Lines collection. Renee wrote again saying that they would use my “fire the grid” series as “best of 2007” and I thanked her for using that as it was a heartfelt bit of writing. And I wrote Romi, asking him to make that choice of what project I shall edit next.

In the afternoon I worked on the very last section of Chapter 9 of 101, on increasing faith. I was so thankful for the internet, as I was prompted by spirit to look up Tinkerbell, from the story of Peter Pan, and details of mustard seeds. One can prepare some ahead of time, but when creating, there are always surprises, as the work comes through one, not from one. It was a wonderful, yeasty feeling to be back writing.

At the end of the day, I started on my now orderly piles of things to do, giving a half-hour to ordering myself some underwear. The kind of brassiere I like is hard to find, but I found it at the www.onehanesplace.com site – a simple top which does nothing to lift, separate or otherwise change my shape, but simply covers me and keeps me from bouncing when I go down stairs. Comfort is all!

Connie M wrote that she is booked for the day next week when I will be across the river in her neck of the Hoosier woods and cannot have lunch with me as we had hoped, and I let her know what my open dates were a week down the road.

Gary found a new telephone answering device for our downstairs office, as our old one has begun to fail. The TAD still works but not the telephone itself. This new model comes with three telephone sets and an intercom system, so now I have a telephone in my bedroom and Mick has one in his, so that if I am in trouble at night I can ring him. I can also bring it in here during the day and use it to talk with Gary in the downstairs office. I think it is a dandy find!! The new phone sets are slender to the point of emaciation, barely there at all!

After our bath, Mick and I had a delightful date and then we gradually got moving again, going downstairs to enjoy more football and a good dinner. I was experiencing a bit of discomfort and was most grateful for a good book and a soft chair!

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-02

There was still a skiff of snow on the grass, but things looked fair and bright, albeit vastly chilly, this morning. It is such a rush to see the sunshine! We’ve had a good many gray days recently.

We had a particularly fine Morning Offering today, with each reading, except the Bible, resonating (we’re in Job and Galatians, and neither reading was at all useful to me). I felt much inspired by each thought. These Offerings are a very powerful resource for the seeker.

In the morning I finished catching up the ancient e-mail, writing John P and inviting him to send his manuscript, “The Nature of Being”, to me when it is finished. It is a small book of his conclusions from a lifetime of seeking and I thought it was worthwhile. When it is finalized, I have asked him to send me the hard copy, or let me print it out and put it in the Library in a three-ring binder. And I also wrote Wynn F, wishing him a happy year-to-come and inviting him to visit with Mick and me in Laughlin in February. Wynn has asked me to work with him several times on the radio, but our discussion has gotten bogged down each time.

Renee at UPI wrote that there was still time to run one of my 2007 articles, and I selected the two articles I did on firing the grid as my favorites.

I collected three recipes for our database, a salmon-vegetable stew made with coconut milk, an intriguing veggie fettuccini and chicken Marsala. Mick complained in the evening that there are too many choices when he goes to select the recipes to cook each week. Now there’s a new gripe! An embarrassment of riches! I told him to look for the date on which I collected the recipe, which is part of the file name for each recipe. The newer ones probably reflect more of our gradually evolved habits of cooking than the older ones.

I do hope, one day, when my current three-book project on living the Law of One has been completed, to write a cookbook and then all these recipes will have their turn to shine. I create a recipe each time I collect one, because I change the ingredients and methods to be healthier and to make things easier to complete.

We got a huge slug of mail in today, with a couple dozen more Christmas cards and several presents. Steve M sent us a beautiful multi-CD set of chanting. Pupie sent a lovely little book by Thom Hartmann. And my brother Tommy sent a Fiji cheese and summer sausage pack.

I processed the mail and then came upstairs to assess the condition of my office, as I badly want to get back to editing and writing. Things were still in a mess! So I spent the afternoon working to straighten things out. By the end of the day, snail-mail letters to be answered were in one pile, MacDuffie classmate information in another pile, excellent sale catalogues with which to begin my gift buying for next year in yet another, and a host of small things seen to.

It is nowhere near perfect, in that I haven’t DONE any of these chores, but at least I know what is there. So I think I can get back to work editing and writing tomorrow. Here’s hoping! One personality trait which I do not seem to be able to control is my focus. When my office is in chaos, I just can’t work. I have always had that quirk, and sometimes it does not serve me well. Ah well, we work with what we have got!

Each year, we lose people on our card list, and I was especially sad to see some wonderful old friends of L/L Research fall off the Christmas card wagon. Hopefully they will come back into touch with us on their own. I must have looked at a dozen returned cards from these very much beloved people who have moved one time too many for the mails to find.

Mick decided to give himself a day off, and had naps for morning and afternoon fare. He richly deserves some rest after his marathon lawn care year!! Now he has completed every customer’s yard work until a storm comes through wreaking havoc or spring comes, whichever comes first!

I joined him for an evening of more football, watching the Mountaineers lick the Sooners in good style. I really enjoyed seeing that game, which had a lot of heart. Watching Bill Stewart hug everyone with such obvious, genuine emotion; watching his players dump two loads of Gatorade on him - in football’s peculiar traditions, a sign of enormous love and appreciation – my heart smiled. Stewart is up for the main coaching job there, due to Rich Rodriguez’s pulling an unsportsmanlike job change before the bowl game. I hope "Stew" gets the job! Winning the T-Fiesta Bowl is certainly going to tweak his resume!

Mick offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-01-01

Happy New Year! Melissa was already up and drinking her morning coffee when I came downstairs to awaken Mick at our agreed-upon lazy rising time of 8:30. I am usually an early riser, but not this morning, after staying up last night until 2:30! A day of snow squalls greeted us as the thermometer plunged throughout the day, down almost to zero by nightfall. Strong winds blew the real snow north and east of us, thankfully.

After Morning Offering, I worked on the Holly Journal and the Camelot Journal and then started on e-mail again. I took a long lunch to watch some BCS football with Mick and then hit the Inbox again. By the time the evening had arrived I was almost caught up! I still owe John P a letter. Other than that, all my old letters are answered. It’s a fleeting victory, since a dozen or more people have already responded and the Inbox is getting fat again. But at least the letters in it are new.

Mick got the Minutes of our L/L Research Annual Meeting typed up and I edited them and sent them to Gary to send on to our board members. It was so good of Morris to goose us into getting this meeting done!

L/Letters today went out to:

• Melissa B, more information on raising llamas

• Linda P-S, inviting her and her new husband to visit with Jim and me while we are in Laughlin. They live near Reno, not too far away.

• Talitha L, thanking her for her holiday wishes and continuing our conversation

• Mary R, thanking her for her beautiful e-card

• Scott H, thanking him for sharing articles he is writing for the web and for his “best films of 2007” list

• Steve M, thanking him for a good UPI article subject, Phil Hansen (http://philinthecircle.com/), an artist with a good deal of soul and a fine way with irony as well and also thanking him for a lovely version of the Lord’s Prayer, a new translation from the Aramaic. I will print that below this list and end the journal entry for today with it. it is way too good to keep to myself!

• Judy R, responding to her frightening news that her car tumbled off an icy road near her Virginia home, and exclaiming with joy that she was not hurt at all badly by the roll downhill, just shaken

• Renee C, my UPI editor, giving her an update and asking if she needed my favorite article for 2007, as I had not seen her request when she made it before Christmas.

• Lindy T, thanking her for her good wishes and her photos – Lindy still looks like a kid, at the age of 50! What an enduring and positive light she is!

• Janet I, thanking her for a really cute and very true send-it-on creation talking about true riches

• Julian D, thanking him for his lovely and much appreciated kind words. Jules had sent me a report on an old e-mail which I sent him last summer, letting me know how much it had helped him avoid burn-out. He also quoted back to me some things from recent channelings he loved, which lifted my heart. It is so good to know our work gets out there!

• Dave G, thanking him for his pretty e-card

• Kathy R, thanking her for her Christmas story and sending her a singularly well performed recording of “Bluebird” which I had received from YouTube

• Ian J, talking more about the compilation of Light/Lines newsletters which we intend to make into a limited edition book

Mick and I watched lots of football all evening, stopping only for the Gaia Meditation. I offered the closing prayer tonight.

Gary came home, after his week’s vacation with his family and then a weekend of celebration with his girl, Valerie. He worked at the L/L Research helm until fairly late and promised to be back tomorrow to continue his frontal assault on the bulging Inbox at his desk downstairs. It was super to see him back safe and sound. He let out a howl when he saw that I had sent him over 20 notes while he was gone. I told him it represented the cleaning out of MY Inbox and apologized that so much of it went into HIS!

Here is that beautifully worded prayer:

“O, Birther of the Cosmos, focus your light within us -- make it useful.
Create your reign of unity now.
Your one desire then acts with ours,
As in all light,
So in all forms.
Grant us what we need each day in bread and insight:
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,
As we release the strands we hold of other's guilt.
Don't let surface things delude us,
But free us from what holds us back.
From you is born all ruling will,
The power and the life to do,
The song that beautifies all.
From age to age it renews.
I affirm this with my whole being.”

(The Aramaic Prayer of Jesus as translated from Aramaic by Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz of the Sufi Order of the West. For more from him, go to the site, http://www.abwoon.com/.)

2007-12-31

We began New Year’s Eve day by sleeping late and celebrating Morning Offering at a leisurely pace. Then Mick went on a morning-long tour of delivering a mower to be repaired, a trailer to be repaired and a vacuum cleaner to be repaired. After lunch, he spent his afternoon thoroughly scouring his 5’-cut riding mower, Thetis, using a strong grime remover to take off the accumulated grass stains of the whole season from her wheel wells and other smaller parts; detail work that does not get done in the press of the mowing season. By dusk, she was looking sparkling clean, bright orange and ready to go next spring.

Meanwhile I poured my whole day’s work into attempting to corral my e-mail Inbox. I wrote a total of 32 letters, answering everything from Ian, Gary and Steve E and catching up with a lot of friends. Some of the issues involved were:

• The B4 web site. We are working towards launching it.

• The proposed book made up of a compilation of the first 25 years of Light/Lines Newsletters. I wrote Hana asking her if she would like to tackle the cover art. I wrote Ian concerning the format and I asked Romi whether he would prefer I write the Introduction to that compilation first, or get Dana Redfield’s “Alphabet Mosaics” manuscript in shape to send to the printers first. It’s his call, as I promised him that I would work on the AM’s after finishing the A/Q Dialogues editing.

• The A/Q work – I wrote Barbara letting her know that I planned on laying the rest of the work, the Introduction and so forth, aside while Judy R. takes the time to read through the finished, edited manuscript of all the A/Q sessions. Ba immediately wrote back to let me know that this worked well for her, as she was headed to South America and John of God soon. I wished her well with her continued healing.

• The issue of links – we plan to move all links from our archive site to B4 as soon as it is launched. I asked Ian to create a suggested first draft of a links policy, since he has been dealing with links and quotations requests for 15 years on www.llresearch.org.

• Our price list – I am not sure if we have finalized all our prices for the secure-site, on-line store, and wrote Gary requesting an update on our status there. We want all in order for when Steve is ready to launch B4.

• L/L Research’s prisoner newsletter – Loren L is planning to start a prisoner newsletter, an outgrowth of her volunteer work of corresponding with the prisoners who write in to L/L Research. I suggested a possible title for the newsletter and thanked Lorena for her beautiful ministry.

• The UFO Congress – I assured Nicole B-I that all my paperwork was on its way and that 8:30 in the morning on February 28th was OK for my speech. Naturally, I lied, as I would prefer to speak later in the day, but I am glad to speak there at all, so it was only a white lie.

I wrote personal notes to
• Pupak, who is off to India

• Vara, who just got married to her soldier, Sean

• Melissa, who is collecting information on raising llamas and alpacas

• Denise and Bill H, who had sent me a lovely e-card

• Elihu E, thanking him for Christmas cartoons and a fascinating couple of articles by Sam Smith (The Progressive Review: www.prorev.com) and also for his recommendation that I add the Daily Ray of Hope (subscribe at http://sierra.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=Signup_DailyRayOfHope&JServSessionIdr012=kji3bmlzn2.app23a) to my daily e-worship. I looked it over and it really is a lovely offering by the Sierra Club. They give you a beautiful photo and a very short thought by someone whose words are worth reading. I signed up.

• Rick, commiserating with him regarding the loss of good sacred Christmas programming on television

• Lisa, my Choirmistress at St. Luke’s catching her up on my situation

• Janet M, who was part of the Mackinac Island gathering

• Marcia M, assuring her that she was now on the send list for our newsletters

• Linda P-S, letting her know when my speech would be at Laughlin

• Terry H, thanking him for translating my biography of Don Elkins into Chinese and congratulating him on a beautiful presentation

• Wynn F, thanking him for a link to a band which calls itself “Social Memory Complex” (http://www.myspace.com/socialmemorycomplex) – gotta be a connection there!

• My brothers, Tommy and Jim, offering New Years’ Greetings and apologizing for being out when they called on Christmas day

I also asked Gary to send me a hard copy of our corrected Christmas Card List so I can have that with me on trips to Nebraska, when I may want an address fast.

After Mick called bath time, I checked to see how I was doing with the Inbox and found that I had responded to a little over half my e-mail. So tomorrow I will see if I can get completely caught up. Of course, people have already started writing back, which screws things up!! Ah well, e-mail is like housework: never done.

Mick and I enjoyed a bath together and then a romantic tryst, coming downstairs around 8:00 p.m. to welcome Melissa, who had come down from Avalon for New Year’s Eve. We enjoyed dinner together and the victorious U.K. bowl game. It was fun to see the Wildcats cream Florida State! Then we took in a particularly interesting CSI and ended our festivities with a marathon Trivial Pursuit game which lasted until 2 in the morning! We know how to ring in the New Year!

It was good to see Dick Clark at Times Square for the televised dropping of the ball at midnight. His speech is halting, but his spirit is still that of the perpetual teenager and I am very happy to see that the television suits have kept him on as part of things. So often, the media try to keep us from seeing anyone who is old and disabled, drowning us in youth and glamour as if that were all that there was. Three cheers for them and for Dick Clark, who entertained my teenage years with his “American Bandstand” and courageously sought out black performers for his show in an era when segregation was the norm. God bless the man! He is good, good people and I love him dearly.