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.