2008-04-29

After Morning Offering, Jim went out into the blustery morning wearing his field jacket, as the chilly weather continues and the clouds lower here in Kentucky. Misty, soft rains came and went. I worked on e-mail and reworked recipes, finishing off the old e-mail at last and working in the skillet-cooked chicken, potato casserole and corn sections of the recipe database.

I went to Images for a mini-facial and a haircut. What a luxury that facial is! My allergic skin is always vastly itchy until Lee Ann gets her hands and her potions on it. I also acquired normal-looking eyebrows thanks to her tinting. And Jazz’s haircuts make me look my best.

I came back intending to start work on the writing of the next Gatherings Newsletter, but instead had a drop-in visit from Tom F, who has been meditating with our group since 1974. However in the past year he has been inundated with duties having to do with his ward, his grandson by marriage, whose swimming competition and training have taken up Tom’s weekend nights as well as his early mornings and late afternoons, as he gives Daniel rides to his various practices. It was good to see Tom and catch up with what is going on in his life. He’s truly the salt of the earth, a good person through and through.

I sent along some information of interest to Carol C which I found in an article about Derby doings. Carol has attended our Gatherings and would like to help us acquire grants and donations. She had mentioned that if she could recall the names of the owners of the 21c Hotel here in Louisville, whom she met during a workshop there, she would give them a sales talk about our organization. Apparently the owners wish to donate to local metaphysical causes. Good luck with that, Carol!

Gary was at the admin helm today and kindly came up to my office while I was gone and rearranged things so that I no longer have wires stretched across where I might trip over them. Jim had taken my office telephone, the house’s only land line, outside during the weekend to test a problem and when he went to put it back together, it would not go for him. Mick and I are similarly unhandy at such things. Gary got the wires tucked back out of sight.

Jim came home quite late because a customer called with a plea for help for her mother’s yard just as he finished his regular work for the day. So Mick kindly drove over to Rose Island Road and cut her very large yard. It had not previously been cut this year and Mick said he was very impressed with Fielder, Jim’s biggest mower, a recent acquisition. It chewed smoothly through the tall, heavy growth as well as a brush mower.

Gary stayed after his work was over to converse and share our supper, and he offered the prayer at the close of the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-28

The weather today was chilly enough that after Morning Offering, Mick took off in his field jacket. It stayed brisk all day and lowered to small rains by nightfall. I stayed warm and dry working on my to-do list. While I am waiting for the comments on Chapters 9-12 of 101: The Choice, I am catching up with my other chores. Today it was e-mail and recipes.

I am beginning to see progress with the recipe database. All the baked chicken breast recipes are now reworked, as well as all the stewed chicken recipes. I’ve worked my way through all the au gratin potato recipes and the asparagus and cabbage recipes. Now I am working on the skillet-made chicken breast recipes and carrots and corn. It is good to see the project coming along.

Since I wrote e-mails all day, I shall not bore you with every letter! A highlight was a conversation which is ongoing between Ian and me. It began with our exchanging stories of how we spent our Lights Out evening. We are now examining the basic principles of conservation. Ian’s point is that rather than focusing on conserving energy, we should have the wit to realize that there is an infinite amount of energy out there – witness the splitting of the atom – and it is our task to develop new technologies for sustainable energy.

He is so right! We have accepted the small-minded, fear-based “not enough” attitude which is driving oil prices up and causing us to engage is a seemingly endless war in the Middle East. How I wish we could coax our governmental leaders into pouring real money into solar, water, air and earth power research. Nicola Tesla, I found when I was doing research for Andrija Puharich back in the late ‘70s, had found a way to tap the energy of the earth itself. When he died, all his work was confiscated and this technology was never mentioned again.

I also wrote several letters to people close to Dana Redfield. As soon as I am able to wind up the 101 project I want to edit her Alphabet Mosaics. So I am beginning to amass a mailing list of those who would be interested in contributing to a collection of remembrances of her, as well as contributing money for their own copies of her printed book.

It was a most pleasant day for me, made even better by Mick’s return. He had had a busy day, working his way through his schedule for Monday and then doing an extra job for a customer. We enjoyed a bath together and then a lovely date.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-27

Mick had to awaken me this morning! I was very glad to be awakened as I was having a dream in which things were not going my way. The scene seemed to be post-disaster. I found myself in a ghost town, alone and with no resources. Meeting up with another person, a man who was Mick although he looked entirely different, I agreed with him to form a partnership for survival.

A the same time, I was taking a class in a technical subject. I could not make any sense of the teacher’s comments. And I had no time to study, for my off-hours were taken up in finding canned food to eat and in creating a snug shelter against the weather in one of the derelict buildings. Coming into class, I discovered that there was a test. I was totally unprepared.

Crikey!

My schoolgirl heart was delighted to awaken from that dismal situation!

Mick took me over to St. Luke’s and wheeled me into the nave so I could sing in the choir. He came back to Camelot and polished her up for the week. He picked me up after the service and we settled down to our lunch and our first film.

Charlie Wilson’s War was an interesting movie, telling the semi-true story of how a congressman was able to secure funding for Afghanistan’s army as they fought off a Soviet invasion in the early ‘80s. Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman constituted a seamless ensemble. The screenplay was also excellent. All the production values were good. What the film lacked was depth. It told the story on the surface. But it was a good story nevertheless.

Our second film was Lions for Lambs, directed by and starring Robert Redford as well as Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. It was a theme day for us. The subject matter concerned Afghanistan twenty years later. I thought the screenplay a bit muddled. However the actors pumped nuance and interest into the somewhat flat action.

Over dinner we tried once again to watch Reservation Road. However for the second time, our copy was bad and it would not play. So we turned on the television and found that The Constant Gardener was just starting. This was the pick of the day by far. Go see this film! The villain is big-business pharmaceuticals and the callous use of African villagers in testing a new drug. The screenplay was excellent, as were the direction, by Fernando Meirelles, and the cinematography, done by Cesar Challone. The music, by Alberto Iglesias, was superb. And the African scenery was breathtaking. And Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz were beautifully cast and incandescent in their roles. I loved this movie!

Mick offered the prayer at the close of the Gaia Meditation.

2008-04-26

This was a low-energy putter-day for me. I played with the recipe database a good bit, sorting the chaos of recipes for white potatoes into categories so that Jim can more easily find what he wants when he is selecting the menu for the week to come. And I batted away at the ever-burgeoning e-mail in-box.

Melissa was in town doing her laundry and replacing our bar sink faucets. She thought she was going to work on the big kitchen sink’s faucets as well, but the little bar sink started leaking as soon as she had finished with the faucets. Upon investigation she discovered that the leak was coming not from the faucets but from the drain. It was as if the drain were saying, “Hey, as long as you are in the neighborhood, fix me too!” So she got a replacement drain and we now have a beautiful, new-looking bar sink! Thank you, Melissa!

Gary sent me a video of a speech by Martin Luther King on the Viet Nam War which was truly worth watching. If you would like to listen, that address is http://youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U. It made me proud to be part of the generation which expressed enough activism to halt that war. I remember seeing Dr. King speak in Frankfort, Kentucky in 1963 when I was part of a march there for fairer wages.

We enjoyed a supper with Tommy around 6 p.m., cheering him because he came in second in his age group and 49th overall in the 26-mile race. He greatly enjoyed the long, hard run, part of which took the runners around the infield at Churchill Downs.

Allen F drove down from Ohio for the meditation and Romi came to join us also. Allen had brought with him a series of questions on the spiritual nature of the artistic impulse. It will be interesting to read it when I edit the transcription.

I prayed at the end of our meditation, including prayers for Gaia.

2008-04-25

Our Edenic weather continued today as Mick and Gary went forth after Morning Offering to blitz the hood with beauty. I spent my work day editing another session of the first Channeling Intensive. It took me all day. So far I’ve edited the introductory talk, the session on psychic greeting, both of the tuning practice sessions, the Q and A session, the two channeling practice circles and the final channeling which was by me alone. I have four sessions left to edit, on preparing to channel, challenging spirits, making a workroom and visualizing your guidance. They have not yet come back from the transcribers.

And there is a thirteenth session on tuning one’s instrument which did not fully record, as we had a glitch and after the first hour, the recorder began to re-record over the first part of the session. So we only have the ending Q and A from that session. I hope to recover the Q and A from that recording and also to give the speech on tuning again during our make-up session next weekend. That way we will have complete audio and text versions of my teaching at this CI-1.

I think it will constitute a good resource for our web site. Jim was talking last night about making the sessions into a printed book. We’ll see. I doubt it. It makes an excellent e-book, though.

It will be a good group! Jim, Gary and Romi will attend just to help. The three people reviewing the material which was studied at Channeling Intensive I, Talitha, Maria and John, will round out the group. What an unusual way for us to spend Derby weekend! Hopefully the three will be fully prepared to join CI-2 in June after this workshop. They have studied for this make-up session by listening to all my talks from CI-1 and taking notes. We’ll review the notes together.

In the evening Mick and I enjoyed a date and shared energy as bright and playful as a sunbeam. We came downstairs just as my brother Tommy arrived from the airport. He is staying here while he runs in the Derby Marathon. It's great to see him!

Mick offered the prayer at the close of the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-24

My office windows look out on the upper branches of the redbud and dogwood trees in Camelot’s front yard, and I spent the day watching the dogwoods finish opening their blossoms to the coaxing sun. This has been an exquisitely beautiful day!

After Morning Offering, Mick set out on his daily round of mowing and gardening. I spent my day editing a speech which Mick and I gave together at the International UFO Congress in 1994. It was tough to edit, as speeches generally are, littered as they are by useless phrases. Jim and I both have chief culprits. In my part of the speech, the most frequent offender was, “Well, you know,” which seems to be a favorite way for me to start a sentence. Mick’s favorite was “So that,” at the beginning of a sentence.

By bath time, I had conquered the editing and found some time for reworking recipes. Jim also had a terrific day, enjoying the warmth and sunnyness and getting his work done “quick and easy as pork chops is greasy,” as he is wont to say.

I heard good news from my brother, Jim Rueckert. At 26 weeks, their new baby is growing well and ultrasound shows that their child will be a boy. Kai is somewhat disappointed, as she wants a daughter. Jim, on the other hand, is thrilled to have a male heir. Both Mom and Baby are exceptionally healthy and that’s the main thing. I am so happy for them!

This was a day for girlfriends for me! In the morning Melissa and I talked for almost an hour and at lunch time, Aubine called from Igny and we also talked almost an hour. I am so lucky to have such supportive and loving friends. They were both a bit blue today, and I was glad to cheer them up

Mick and I took Gary to Volare’s Restaurant as a way to thank him for all he does as administrative assistant at the L/L Research helm. He really is the best! Live jazz enhanced the evening and my sea bass was simply superb! Yum! I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation while we came back via Shelbyville Road, touring the burb in the evening glow.

2008-04-23

The breathtaking splendor of spring continues! Now the dogwoods are rising to half-bloom! Dandelions are everywhere in our yard. I love the dandelions and wildflowers in general as opposed to grass only in a yard. We do not cut our yard until the spring wildflowers have seeded themselves. Jim trims around the plantings and walkways and the look is magical and fabulous!

After Morning Offering Mick tried to power-wash a house for a JLS customer, his first job of the day. However his power washer would not run. So he had to drive 20 miles, to LaGrange, to rent one. He could not find one to rent any closer. However, even with the windshield time, he got all his work finished and even did one extra job today.

Meanwhile I worked more with the revision of Chapter 12, writing the rest of the “bullets” and then incorporating them into the text of the chapter. I like the addition. I think the bullet points make the ending stronger. This process took me into the afternoon. The rest of my work time was spent editing a channeling session from April 12th. And around the edges I continued to rework recipes.

The temperature had reached 80 F, so I did not need a jacket to go to choir practice. We are rehearsing for a big gathering at our diocesan retreat center on May 17th. The Presiding Bishop for the Episcopal Church in the USA, the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, is visiting and there will be a slew of confirmations and baptisms during the service. Our bishop has asked our little choir to provide the music. It’s an amazing honor, given our choir’s small size. We generally make up about a dozen people for Sunday services. It will be fun to caravan down to Litchfield and enjoy the crowd.

Romi came to visit and, bless him, aided me greatly. I was reworking a recipe for crab cakes earlier today and accidentally deleted it. It’s a great recipe, tested many times. I was simply adding spices to the list of ingredients. And I accidentally hit the delete button. Groan! The Ro Man fished it out of Jenny Traveller's recycle bin, where I had been unable to find it.

We three enjoyed conversation, dinner and the Gaia Meditation together, with Mick offering the closing prayer.

2008-04-22

These days are very precious, as each morning unfolds new glory in the yard. Today the dogwoods opened past the tiny buds of yesterday and are half-unfurled. And the peonies’ red stems are jumping up along the back deck. The lilacs are now in their heavily scented splendor and their sweetness permeates the area along the south side of the house and in the back yard where we have a couple of small lilac trees, one lavender and one yellow. And the tulips are spectacular! Gary took our digital camera and shot many photos of the scenery around Camelot for possible use on our B4 site as well as perhaps making a slide show to put on line with our other photo collections from various events.

Mick had a long, long day, not arriving home until after 6:30. But he came back in a triumphant mood, having accomplished the various extras which his customers asked of him today, along with his usual work. He enjoys doing these extra chores, knowing that the worthy widows for whom he does them need these things done and cannot do them themselves. There is a reason his nicknames around here are St. Mick and St. James – depending on the season!

I was joyful to find that Steve M had sent me back the reworked chapters of 101: The Choice which I had sent him. I carefully saved them into a folder marked Final Version and renamed the files to append “final” to the file names. Then I renamed all the file names to one format so that the chapters would line up correctly.

I had to figure out which of my versions was the final copy for the three chapters for which Steve had not been able to find my send. It was not hard to do, thank heavens. The other day, when I had three versions of Chapter 8, none of them had my changes. Today I found the reworked versions easily by comparing paragraphs and reading any dissimilar ones. I could recall the changes I had made and knew the final copy.

It is sad but in two cases, the final copy was the one without Steve’s initials and in the third case, the final was the one WITH his initials. For writing my next book, I will follow Steve’s suggestion and make folders for each rewrite stage and for the final copy.

I worked with Yelena’s questions for quite a while this afternoon. She is preparing for a private channeling session with Q’uo. She has written far too many questions to answer in one session. I had asked her to prioritize them, which she did. Mostly, I edited the copy, working with the questions in order to make them flow better. I hope she likes my work. However I am willing to go through as many versions as we need in order to make us both happy before we have the session.

I tried to write the “bullets” for the end of Chapter 12, using my chart, but the creativity just was not there. So I collected recipes for the last half hour of my work day. Both Gary and Mick are enjoying having the reworked recipes come in. The recipes have sparked their interest in trying new things. I’m working my way through the fish folders now, since that is our least prolific section. The guys tend to rotate between chicken and turkey, leaving out fish. Now they have more choices. Fish is a very good type of food, full of healthy oils and considered brain food. So I’d like to see us choose more fish recipes.

I have never previously concentrated on collecting recipes for fresh fish because it cannot be kept safely more than a day. And our lifestyle is to cook all we need for each week, store it in the refrigerator and heat our food in the microwave for each meal all week. I’m working around that now by rewriting the recipes for individual portions that can be frozen and pulled out one at a time for use.

I came downstairs to wait for Mick and found that Gary needed to discuss the plans for the upcoming Channelers Make-Up Session which occurs Derby weekend. We hashed out the curriculum, meal times, the restaurant to reserve for our night out – we chose Ruby Tuesday’s this time – and pick-up times for those flying in. it is good to have that well in hand. Mick came in just as we finished.

Mick offered a beautiful closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-21

We awoke to a magical, mysterious and profound fog which lay over the whole area as far east as West Virginia, and I reveled in it! By noon it had burned off and by nightfall we had warmed up to the 70s F! Ah, spring! We also had an aftershock of the earthquake we experienced a couple of mornings ago, but it was too faint for Louisvillians to feel, for the most part. Certainly it was not the attention-getter the first one was!

After Morning Offering Mick went to dance with the devas on his trusty mowers while I determined to make a chart of my chapters’ subject headings for the 101 book. That twelfth chapter is the end of the book, and I have decided that it needs a bit of tweaking. So I am creating this chart detailing the chapters' content, and then I will write a short bullet point for each chapter, using those topic headings as guides to be sure that I have the heart of each chapter in “bullet” form. Previously I ended Chapter 12 by saying that this book is the bullet for humans on Planet Earth at Harvest. Later it struck me that I should enumerate the bullets and “tell ‘em what I told ‘em!”

Things went smoothly until I was working with Chapter 7, at which point I discovered that my reworking of the chapter was missing. I shook my head, for I know that I did that work! But I gave up at length and did it again. Then I tried to move on.

But no. Hold the phone! Chapter 8’s reworked version was also missing! I spent over an hour fruitlessly trying to figure out if I did indeed have the final re-write. I apparently do not.

So I wrote Steve M, whose comments have provided the basis for my reworking of each chapter, and asked him to send me the reworked chapters I sent to him after I finished absorbing his comments on each chapter. When he sends them I will save each of them VERY carefully with a special title – “final version”. As I wrote Steve, sometimes I am a bear, or rather an wol, of very little brain!

I will rest easy only when I have those rewrites safely stored away. And I will make hard copies of them as well. This is two years' work, and more, for I have spent three months now reworking the chapters and getting them ready for the final read-through. This work is precious to me!

I also had fun making a new Daily Report Form for Jim’s Lawn Service. As he has gotten ever more proficient, he has been able to add more customers, and the previous form did not have enough spaces for him to note all his daily work. It’s so neat when I can actually help Mick. For the most part, physically speaking, he helps me! And I love these rare occasions when I can physically help him.

I continue to collect recipes while I recover from climbing the stairs or otherwise moving around during the workday. So far I have completed the salmon, broccoli and dip sections and am aimed at tomatoes and tuna! With about 3,000 recipes collected over the years, and the vast majority of them not yet worked up into my style of cooking, this form of relaxation will last me a long time. And at the end of it we should have the basis for a good cookbook. Usually people love my recipes, because I enjoy adding just the right herbs and spices to the list of ingredients and getting more complex flavors. As well, we keep homemade broth on hand and use that, which makes a healthy difference.

After our bath, Mick and I had an amazing romp in the fields of the Lord, making me aware that we help each other in this energy exchange enormously. Mick always says his frontal lobes stream with pulses of inspiration and spiritual energy for hours after we make love. And I emerge from lovemaking free of pain and infinitely refreshed. I usually drop off to a lovely nap afterwards while Mick rides his waves of inspiration beside me. What a blessing to any mated pair to share in this sacred play together.

I offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation this evening.

2008-04-20

Happy Sabbath! Jim cleaned house after wheeling me to church. We had a lovely service and Mick picked me up afterwards to take me to a wonderfully clean home. It was chilly and blustery outside, although the weather promises to sweeten again tomorrow.

Our first film, Reservation Road, failed to play. We could see the previews, but no movie! So we dropped back and punted with Mick’s second choice this week, Sleuth. This could loosely be called a remake of the Christopher Reeve – Laurence Olivier film of the same name in that there were only two main characters, both sleeping with the same woman. In the remake, Michael Caine is the husband and Jude Law is the lover. As in the former movie of that title, the film is a conversation, back and forth, both men playing games for all they are worth. It put me to sleep within fifteen minutes.

What I saw during those minutes, aside from skillful acting by the stars, was that the cinematography was all about the house in which the husband resides and in which the play takes place. The house is imposing, large and ostentatious, dwarfing the humans within it. Its appointments are very high-tech. Walls keep rising to reveal hidden rooms. Spare, pretentious arrangements of furniture and art objects fill the screen, with perhaps a minor portion of the protagonists’ anatomy showing as a small detail, while the disembodied voices echo in the large space. I cannot judge the whole, but it would be my guess that the Reeve/Olivier play was more interesting, although not less surprising in the end.

We decided to take a break before seeing our third film, and I wrote an Avalon Journal entry and reworked some recipes while Mick got all ready for his mowing week and puttered around on the computer. Growler’s Word software is again working well, thank the heavens! Mick is very easily discouraged from working on his computer because at heart he is anti-computer, and he was ready never to use it again last week, it was so endlessly frustrating to work with the Word program. All is well now. Thank you, Romi!

Our third film was Juno, a sweet, vastly entertaining, deft, sure treatment of the difficult subject of teen pregnancy. The production values of this project were very good. The Oscar-winning screenplay by Diablo Cody is realized beautifully by a terrific ensemble of players. Ellen Page is fresh and quirky as the heroine, offering a performance of vulnerability and strength. Jennifer Garner is wonderful as the hopeful adopter. Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney and especially J. K. Simmons as Juno’s dad are all excellent as well. And the sound track is fine!

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-19

Saturday dawned drizzly and gray, a sober background to the lushness of the peak of spring. Jim cleaned the kitchen and did weekly errands in the morning while I wrote my journals and reworked some recipes. I succeeded in getting an entire category – salmon – reworked. Now if the guys want to eat salmon, all their recipe choices are good ones, as far as their being massaged by me to be workable. Onward to tuna!

After lunch Mick loaded his trailer with a gigantic load of limbs. He would load a layer on and then walk on it to pack it down, and then repeat until his trailer could hold no more. We drove upriver to Avalon with it and Melissa helped him unload the limbs, which are being used for erosion control along the ravine side of our access road. Then she took us to spend a little time with the chickens, and we conversed about Avalon Farm business while we gave some green treats to Russell Crow, Dusty Rose and the Golden Comets.

Mel and Mick worked to load creek rock which Melissa had collected for him into the trailer while I sang to Avalon, who loves my singing and always asks for more! And then off we went, to return home by bath time. I was so impressed with all Mel has done there. She has made a huge difference on the property, improving it in so many ways. Kudos, Mel!

After our whirlpool, Mick and I welcomed Romi, who came early to the meditation meeting in order to deal with the disastrously slow and sometimes non-working Word software on Growler. The technical fix was Greek to me, but it worked! Thank you, Ro!

We had a most pleasant silent meditation tonight. At the end of it, before we sang our circle song to end the meeting, I prayed for the peace of the world, combining the Gaia Meditation with our weekly meditation.

2008-04-18

After Morning Offering, I stayed downstairs and did some office work before going with Melissa in search of a baby gift for Fassely. We found a lovely receiving blanket at Dolfinger’s. I was so glad that I did not, after all, have to go mall crawling. We had the wheelchair on board and Mel was ready to push, but it was so much nicer to find what was needed at a store so accessible to the parking area. I only needed to walk a few steps.

Then we went to Louisville Tractor, where we ordered a chain saw for Avalon. I believe it is a Shindaiwa 488. Jim loves his, calling it Butter Cutter, and Mel says it is just right for her as well. So now L/L Research adds a chain saw to its implements, which also include a mower and a tractor. Mel will be using the saw to cut wood, some for farm use and some for sale.

We lunched while we were out and then came home, Mel to do town chores and work at the computer here and I, to edit. I edited another session of the Channeling Intensive I, the second tuning practice, and then started on the transcript of Jim’s and my 1994 speech at the International UFO Congress.

I continued my reworking of the recipes in our database, focusing today on recipes using salmon. Because our lifestyle and budget call for canned salmon rather than fillets, I am reworking fillet recipes into canned salmon recipes. The canned salmon is treated to be safely eaten over several days’ time. Fresh fish only has about a 24-hour window of shelf life after it is cooked. I was especially pleased to create a recipe for salmon and vegetable pie, using a spaghetti crust.

Before I quit for the day I wrote our faithful computer technician, Romi, with a plea to doctor Growler, whose version of Word is very ill, nigh unto dying. He wrote right back and said he would come early for meditation tomorrow and see the patient. Bless you, Ro Man!

After a restorative whirlpool, Mick and I shared a date and snuggled in the afterglow for a while. He woke me to descend to the downstairs, where we supped and enjoyed science fiction on the TV. Mick offered the prayer to close the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-17

While the weather continued to be Edenic and the dogwoods gently unfolded the first hint of their bloom, Mick and I had a most enjoyable day. After Morning Offering he was off for the day’s mowing and gardening. I spent my day editing two more sessions of the first Channeling Intensive, the second practice channeling session, which was Session 12, and the first tuning practice, which was Session 8. That is coming along! We now have 7 of the 13 Sessions edited, and I have two more transcripts to edit in my Inbox. All but four transcribers for this project have sent in their work. It will be great to have the entire text version of this material up on site.

I heard from Melissa and she will be able to take me to get the baby gift I need to acquire for Aubine’s grandson, Fassely, tomorrow. What good news! The baby was born in January, so I am very late responding to the announcement!

Gary was at the L/L Research helm today and stayed afterwards for dinner and the Gaia Meditation. I offered the closing prayer tonight.

2008-04-16

Ah! Some days are perfect, and this has been one of them! The temperature floated to the mid-seventies F while the redbuds came into the first blush of purple-red bloom. The tulips continue to come up and the daffodils are not yet spent, so the color in the yard is spectacular.

After Morning Offering, Jim and Gary did a very full day of mowing, including going down to Steve F’s place in Shelby County and mowing his acreage. Meanwhile I edited two sessions of the Channeling Intensive I, a Question and Answer session labeled Session 11 and the first practice channeling the group did, labeled Session 10. I have only one more transcript, the second channeling practice session, from that bunch which has come back from the transcribers, to edit, so hopefully after tomorrow I can move on to other things for a while. I want to write my first article/blog for UPI since October and also I would like to begin editing Dana Redfield’s Alphabet Mosaics.

It is good to move through the process of editing these sessions for the first Channeling Intensive, as I believe they will constitute a good primer for those who want to study the subject of channeling when all the sessions are edited.

The first channeling practice session was a good one! I enjoyed hearing the story the Confederation told once again as I edited it.

Reckoning with my expanded girth, I ordered a new supply of underwear today. I think my emotions surrounding weight gain are probably worthy of an article! Our culture is geared to valuing slenderness, and for most of my life I have been slender. Now I am not. The change in self-image is immense. I find it humorous and sad that, faced with a wide array of discomforts and illness which have immobilized me and made it hard not to gain weight, my attention is caught the most by the weight gain and not by either the illness which currently has my doctors mystified or the deeper issues surrounding illness and healing.

I find that fascinating. Why the focus on such a shallow issue? Yes, there is an article, or should I say, a blog entry, now, in that. However my first UPI article will be about the experience of becoming immobilized and how it brought me to deeper prayer and a far more active conversation with Holly, my flame of the Holy Spirit.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-15

It’s tax day! The news before bedtime was full of videos of long lines of people rushing to the post office at the last minute to get their forms postmarked on time. I was very grateful that Doris saw to our taxes for the household and for Jim’s Lawn Service yesterday. Our L/L Research tax report is not due for another month, and as a non-profit company we never owe taxes on that, so although we have another round to go before we can fuggedabowdit for another year, the anxious, money-owing part of tax time is done. Praise the Lord!

After Morning Offering, Mick was off until bath time on his round of lawns to make beautiful, while I spent my time editing two recent channeling sessions that had come in from Gary’s Inbox. It feels so good to send those sessions on to the web site for inclusion in our library on-line! It takes a substantial amount of my time to get a transcript edited, but it is very much worth it.

I heard from Ian, our webmaster for llresearch.org, that he is recoding the entire site! What an amazing task to undertake! He says that the old coding, which uses frames, no longer works nearly as well as other options with which he has now experimented on two other web sites, Joshia’s and his wife’s. He likes it a lot. He says that it is superior, among other reasons, because people can bookmark specific things within the site, which many want to do.

I have cut down on my solitaire, which I often play after moving around while I collect myself and stop panting, and also when I am having trouble focusing, in favor of working with my recipe database. It does the same thing as solitaire in that it relaxes me without troubling my brain much and it is just as enjoyable to me. It feels like a very productive change of habit!

Romi visited tonight and Gary stayed after he finished working at the L/L Research helm to join the conversation. It was most enjoyable. Gary offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

I saw that Gary got all the hard-copy Light/Line newsletters ready to mail out to the prisoners and other people on our list who do not like or have access to computers. For the most part, people like to get them on-line, and we send the issues out digitally to our ever-growing send list.

2008-04-14

It was sheer pleasure to wake up to this day as our area trembles on the brink of full spring. Driving to my appointment with Doris S, my trust officer at Glenview, the light green haze on the trees was breathtaking. The wildflowers are still seeding, while the naked magnolia suddenly has shed its gorgeous bloom, making a lovely carpet of pink in our neighbor’s yard. I took our taxes, all signed and ready for their checks to be added, along with me, as it is our practice to let the trust pay our taxes. Usually if we owe the IRS it is because of capital gains, so it makes sense for the trust to bear the tax burden.

We have a lot of capital gains this year as Doris is slowly selling off the Exxon stock we inherited from my great aunts. We disapprove deeply of Exxon’s corporate practices, so Doris is reinvesting the money from the sale of Exxon stock in a diversified selection of stocks. The market is undervalued right now, so it makes sense to purchase stocks.

Doris does a wonderful job. She tells me that she expects the market to take a dip for the year, probably, as corporations report lower profits than expected. She foresees the cycle bottoming out next year and beginning to get healthy again then. So we’re in for a ride. It helps to remember that the value of stocks, until you cash them in by selling them, is completely theoretical.

After Morning Offering I opened Steve M’s comments on Chapter 8, which had come in over the weekend, and finished them just in time to head out to Glenview. After that meeting, I came home and edited the channeling session we had at our March 29th meeting and sent that on to Ian.

I also did some e-mail around the edges. I thanked Eccles P for finding me “Love Will Come Set Me Free” on Google. I fished around, now that I know that Brett Dennen wrote and sings the song, for a CD to buy, but was unable to find it. So I wrote Dennen’s web site and asked how I could buy the CD on which that song is recorded.

And I wrote Melissa asking her for the favor of taking me shopping soon. I need to buy a baby gift for Aubine’s infant grandson, Fassely, and that probably means a mall visit, since baby shops are not common in the hinterlands. Hopefully she can find some time soon for wheelchair pushing. Our malls have a whole lot of acreage under roof!

Mick arrived home at bath time flush with success, having done all he intended for the day, plus extras which his customers asked him to do while he was there. We had a good talk about my visit with Doris while we had a soak and a whirlpool. Then we came upstairs for a date and enjoyed the pleasure and sacred power of making love.

Mick offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-13

Mick and I had a most pleasant Sunday despite chilly mists and light rain most of the day and a high temperature in the forties F. After wheeling me to church for pre-service choir practice Mick came home and cleaned house, retrieving me after the service for lunch and our first of three films at our home theater.

Our first adventure was There Will Be Blood. The movie lasts two and a half hours, but we only lasted through about half of the running time. Daniel Day Lewis plays a thoroughly ungrateful character who puts his son on the train and abandons him after the son tries to burn down their house and shoots a man in the head when he finds that the man has lied to him. We could not find it in ourselves to care what happened next. And for me, the music track was the absolute worst I have ever heard. A small child making tone clusters on a piano would have been more musical than this score. And this film won two Academy Awards! Pfui!

We tried again for fun with a film titled When a Man Falls. A lot of good people worked on this film and supported its making, and Sharon Stone and Timothy Hutton were competent in the roles of the leading characters, a couple whose marriage and lives are a wreck. We watched this one all the way through, but were not the better for it. Dylan Baker was very good playing a nearly dysfunctional janitor living next door to an abusive couple. It was an earnest film, and the points made were clear enough, succinctly stated in the film’s title, which was originally When a Man Falls in the Forest. No, no one hears! No one cares. At least, not in this film; not with these characters.

We had been disappointed twice, so when we put Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street in the DVD player, we expected little better, since Mick almost never enjoys musicals. But Johnny Depp seems to give life to anything! And to give the film credit, Tim Burton’s London was convincingly Dickensian, gray, dirty and dark. Stephen Sondheim’s music was absorbing, quirky and likeable and Helena Bonham Carter gave a wonderfully grimy performance as Depp’s sometime wife. It was very bloody, as the title indicates, and the motto under the title, “Never Forgive; Never Forget”, summed up the mood of the film. In fact, There Will Be Blood ran along the same emotional lines. However the genius of Sondheim, Burton and the players lifted this film into the realm of true art. We surprised ourselves by enjoying it thoroughly.

We took a break in late afternoon and I worked with nine of Gary’s e-mails on various subjects, generated by his first day home from vacation. One of our discussions revolved around L/L Research’s on-line store at www.bring4th.org. We do not have our tee shirts and cups offered for sale, nor do we have other things on site yet. Webmaster Steve E is handling other things right now and cannot work on the site.

About the cups: we ordered 16-ounce and 20-ounce cups made with our logo and they came out well. But how to ship them? It is a moot question if we cannot get them listed in our store, but given that this eventually happens, how do we ship them! They do not fit in our existing boxes. Gary is exploring this.

Gary also sent me a new transcript to edit, from our last channeling Saturday. That’s fast! I will edit that tomorrow, after I work with Steve M’s comments on Chapter 8 of 101, which arrived in the e-mail today.

We finished the evening with another episode of Star Wars on television. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-12

Saturday dawned cold, damp and drizzly, an inauspicious day for Thunder Over Louisville! I felt sympathy for the event’s promoters and the vendors at the riverfront plaza, as many fewer people viewed the event than usual. I was tickled that this was one day Mick did not have to be out in the wet, but in the afternoon he went to St. Luke’s just to touch up around the church.

After Morning Offering I whittled the list of snail mail letters I owe to zero! What a good feeling. I wrote to Leo S, who had suggested a health substance new to me, something called EpiCor. The web site selling that is www.vrp.com, if you’d like to check it out. Leo introduced me when I spoke at the International UFO Congress in February and he had been most eager for me to try this. It is supposed to boost auto-immune activity. I thanked him for being so kind as to introduce me at the convention and told him I’d sent away for some tablets to try.

Susie S, who for over a decade distributed a fanzine for The Law of One called the LOON – Law of One Newsletter – sent a delightful collection of Christmas greetings she received from nine of the original subscribers. She retired from sending these out quite a few years ago, but the little family that traded news for all those years in the eighties and nineties still keeps in touch with her to an extent. It was splendid to hear how those good people were doing. I wrote Susie to thank her for the long and newsy update on our Loonie family.

I took the afternoon to write to Talitha L, a gifted, loving healer who is also one of the three attending the make-up session for those who were not able to come to our first Channeling Intensive but who wished very much to catch up and be a part of the circle for the second Intensive, planned for June. She had a reading for me which was quite detailed and multifaceted and I thanked her for all of the effort and love that went into it. I look forward greatly to seeing her again in May when the make-up session is scheduled.

By the time I got my envelopes addressed, Michael Shane had arrived and it was getting dark! We greeted him and conversed for a while before Mick and I excused ourselves to bathe before the weekly meeting. Shane had brought the mushroom plugs for us to pass on to Melissa. I know she will be thrilled to have them!

Gary arrived back from his vacation in the Rockies full of joy at the wonderful time he’d had and worked at the L/L Research helm all afternoon, then joined us for supper and meditation. Allen F also drove down from the Cincinnati area to join us for the meeting. Our faithful Romi was out of town visiting his brother and so could not come, but although we missed him, we had a good group. Gary had a question about how people who have worldly responsibilities can become spiritually advanced. And Allen had many questions as well, at the end of the meeting. I look forward to editing the transcript.

2008-04-11

The rains came, but in fits and starts, driving poor Mick past good humor as he repeatedly tried to work, only to be forced into his truck for cover.

After Morning Offering I wrote my journals and then started a long letter to Aubine, a friend since the early 1980s, when she lived in Kentucky. She moved back to her native France in 1992 but we have remained in touch, and I visited her in 2004 at her home in Igny. She is a wonderful woman, creative, quirky, fun and with a depth of heart not often found on Planet Earth. Currently she is trying to help her daughter, Ariane, with her new baby, Fassely – named after the African musician – and also trying to reopen creative outlets that have been shut down for years as she brought up her children.

This was a day for my girlfriends near and far! At lunchtime I drove to Indiana, rejoicing in the first hints of green on the trees along the expressway and overlooking the preparations on the Second Street Bridge for Thunder Over Louisville, an amazingly full-blown, day-long event with air shows, lots of vendors and entertainment and after full nightfall, a thirty-minute blast of fireworks which is North America’s largest and longest fireworks event. Technicians take over the entire bridge for days to prepare the concussive entertainment and it is spectacular. We always watch it on the telly and avoid the massive traffic after the event is over and 300,000 people try to leave the waterfront at once.

With rain spattering the windshield and lots of traffic, I was cautious but got to Clarksville safely and met Connie at Ruby Tuesday’s, our favorite place. It is handy to her work and just as easy for me to drive to as any downtown Louisville spot. We had a wonderful and very extended lunch, talking about her work and mine.

Connie is a licensed psychologist and works at a halfway house for criminals returning to society. She is wonderful at her job and although at first her clients were deeply suspicious and continued to behave as they had always known to behave, according to their subculture, within the past year she has turned it around completely.

And she loves her job! She has become a workaholic because she sees so much that she can do to help these men – it is a facility for men only. And her clients have come to appreciate her and are increasingly able to learn new ways, the ways of middle class America, which they never got a chance to learn before. That "straight" lifestyle which most of us enjoy is certainly not ideal, but knowing how to live in that society means freedom and family life, so it is worth learning.

It was a most absorbing visit and I was sorry that our time was eventually up! I drove back home through the raindrops and the glorious spring. While I was gone, I promise you, two dozen tulips bloomed in our yard! The glory of spring is truly upon us! I used the last half-hour of my working time to finish Aubine’s letter and called it a day.

Mick and I watched Star Wars IV, the first of that series made by George Lucas, during the evening, pausing for the Gaia Meditation at 9 p.m. Mick offered the closing prayer.

2008-04-10

It had been predicted as a rainy day, but we got lucky. Rain fell all around us, but not much here, so after Morning Offering Jim got in a full day’s work, much to his delight and surprise. He had prudently gotten all the mowing for the week done early, so he could take this day to clean up the substantial property of a customer’s brother, who also lives in Anchorage. Then he was able to fit in some gardening for another customer, doing preparatory weeding, planting lots of annuals and then spreading mulch for her. He said she really went wild with the flowers this year! He planted flat after flat, making her property really pop!

Meanwhile I made some telephone calls, confirming an appointment next week, giving information for a hospital procedure May 7th and responding to a call from Subaru. It turns out that my salesman thought I might be ready for another car!

Fat chance! Mick and I both judge the time for selling our vehicles to be minutes before they completely die! Jim’s still driving his 1990 Dakota. I traded in my previous car, a 1992 Cougar, in 2005 when bad gas got into the engine and I overheard a mechanic telling the secretary at the dealership that all the cylinders would probably go within six months. So I fixed the cylinder that had deteriorated and went to the Subaru dealership with it that very day!

I got a $400 trade-in allowance for the car. I ordered my new car with a trailer hitch installed. That bill came to $400. It blew my little mind at the time that an entire car was worth one trailer hitch!

The rest of my day was spent on my to-do list. I am thrilled to say I finished all the personal e-mails! Of course, I already have two dozen letters in my Inbox, but they are new ones. I wrote to:

• Melissa, thanking her for scoring some used romance novels for me very cheaply and welcoming her and Michael Shane to tomorrow night’s meditation and study meeting. Michael Shane is visiting from Canada to give L/L Research’s Avalon Farm a large supply of mushroom starts for Melissa’s carefully prepared logs.
• MJA, responding to her questions about my speech in Laughlin and giving her the heads-up that I will soon be working on The Alphabet Mosaics, Dana Redfield’s last book project. I asked her to share other addresses with me to whom I might write and ask for donations for this printing, and also asked her for an article for the e-book version.
• Mary Rodwell, a gifted and hard-working therapist in Australia who has studied UFO contactees and their drawings and art. She will be speaking in Toronto this summer. I let her know the two DVDs we had from her and also told her that we were soon to start on The Alphabet Mosaics, asking her for contacts and also for material for the e-book version.
• Morris H, responding to a thoughtful letter on healing and wellness
• Paul C, thanking him for his excellent transcription of one of the sessions from our first Channeling Intensive
• Judy S-C, a MacDuffie classmate, thanking her for her newsy update on career and family happenings
• Roman V, discussing the Billy Meier case with him after looking at Meier’s web site, www.figu.org
• Talitha L, thanking her for her two excellent letters and promising her a snail-mail letter from me answering them both (This sounds odd, but she sends her letters both by e-mail and snail-mail and I respond by snail-mail.)
• WFPK, who cannot find who sings the song, “Love Will Come Set Me Free”. I heard it on that station but did not catch who wrote it or performed it, or the title of the CD from which it comes. I would like to get a copy. Does anybody who reads this know that song? Let me know!
• Pupak H-B, thanking her for her donation and asking after her. My little hoopoe-bird and her husband, Peter B, have flown to India and I have not heard from them since – perhaps four months ago now. Give me a shout, Pu!

I am happy to say that I stayed awake tonight and offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation!

2008-04-09

After Morning Offering I began my day by collecting three good-looking recipes from today’s newspaper, one for mushroom rice stroganoff, one for sausage-ham balls, and a cheddar-pecan spread. I also reworked a green bean recipe for Mick to use for this upcoming week’s cooking. He was looking for something simple, and I created a one-step, vegetarian recipe which uses homemade broth, onion, herbs and crushed tomatoes for flavoring.

Then I worked with the e-mail backlog from my to-do list for the rest of the day. By the day’s end I had written to:

• Ian, sharing memories of Lights Out, which we greatly enjoyed here at Camelot
• Lana L-B, who is endeavoring to write a book for beginners about America, its history and heritage of ideals and what we need to do now to recapture those ideals, encouraging her to give it her best shot
• John P, in Britain, responding to a long and thoughtful letter about being a Wanderer and volunteering for this tough duty on Earth
• Sharon D, responding to her questions about her son, a Wanderer who is struggling and has been for most of his life
• Linda P-S, responding to her questions about the speech in Laughlin and letting her know she can find the text and the audio versions in Carla’s Page now on the llresearch.org site
• Gary, asking him about Lindy’s suggestion that we post our readings on You-Tube
• Eli Edelson, responding to his query about my weekly UPI columns. I let him know that until I finish my attempts to get relief for my condition, which comes about in May, I will hold off making a decision about returning to them. It is a question of how much energy I will have, so I must wait until I’ve exhausted the medical options before knowing my true situation.
• Lindy T, thanking her for the photos of her family and wishing her well on her daughter’s upcoming wedding. Lindy and I were at the Mind Link in 1977 together.
• Monica L, working with her on her issues regarding her son
• Terry H, thanking him for his New Year’s greetings (I am SOOOO late in responding to some of these letters!) and agreeing that a photo archive on line for L/L Research would be great, and we should open the job up to volunteers
• Dr. John E from the Isle of Man, wishing him well on his family’s move from Ireland
• Marcelo G, responding to his inquiries about my health and my writing
• Marcia M, thanking her for kind words and asking for her transcript of a recent channeling she has done on DNA

Once again I fell asleep during the Gaia Meditation, and Mick offered the closing prayer. Perhaps I should stop visualizing the blue planet and then surrounding it with violet light! It has put me to sleep two days in a row!

I am happy to say that I’ve gotten over half of my back e-mails answered. Hopefully tomorrow will see the end of that backlog and the beginning of my assault on my backed-up snail-mail correspondence. My hope is to get all caught up on the to-do list by the time I receive more chapter comments from Steve M.

2008-04-08

After Morning Offering Jim used Stanley Outback for his truck, as Sybil Dakota was in the shop, and headed out for a long mowing day, determined to get all of his customers for this whole week mowed before the rains descend tomorrow. I came upstairs and fell asleep over my work, but managed to awaken and write my journals before lunchtime.

Melissa used the morning to complete some town chores and headed back to Avalon after lunch. We enjoyed a good talk before she left. Mick peeked in a couple of times on his rounds and said that even with two days of drying-out sunshine, the ground around here is still saturated. There were places he could not mow, because it was just too wet. In one of his yards that has never had a water problem a pond had formed! If we get all the rain predicted, by Friday we will be awash again.

I managed to stay awake all afternoon and got some e-mail notes written and three snail mail letters as well, so now the Laughlin part of my to-to list is completed and I am back to a one-page list. That feels good!

At the end of the work day, I took Mick in to St. Matthews, dealing with heavy traffic all the way, so he could collect Sybil, whose “codes have been reset”. I remember when mechanics worked on the engines. Times have changed. At least the scenery was gorgeous. We’re at that breathless moment before the leaves bud out on most trees. Every fruit tree in the area is in bloom. Our lilac bushes are in bud and our first tulip is up in the front yard. And you should see our daffodils and jonquils! They are simply lovely, especially in the cross-shaped patio in the back, where all four quarters are solid with bloom.

Romi came to visit and also to back up the vacationing Gary by checking for book orders. He found some, both by telephone message and from our on-line store, and spent some time fulfilling them. It is truly most kind of him to see to our customers in Gary’s absence. We had a good evening together and Ro offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2008-04-07

It was delightful weather, in the 70s F and sunny. After Morning Offering Jim set out on a busy round of cleaning, gardening and mowing for his customers that lasted till bath time. Melissa did town chores and worked at the computer while I read Barbara Brodsky’s excellent Brazil Journal and wrote her in response. The material was very synchronistic and I forwarded excerpts from various entries to several people who are working on similar issues. This took me the morning and part of the afternoon but it was worth the time to catch up with my old, old friend and co-channel, whose work continues to be superb.

For lunch, Mel and I went to Cheddar’s Restaurant for an Avalon Planning Session. She filled me in on the situation there. Due to her hard, hard work, using only a hand saw, she has felled trees for the mushroom project and limbed them as well. This weekend, Michael from the Law of One Community will visit Avalon, bringing with him 10,000 mushroom plugs with which to inoculate the trunks which Melissa has so lovingly prepared.

We have had a chain saw on our wish list for Avalon for some time, and Melissa even knows the model she wants, a “488”! But she feels that she wants to do the work on the mushroom logs by hand, so that she can invest them with the maximum amount of love and light. It makes far more work for her, but she feels strongly about it. She says when this mushroom project is up and running, she will go ahead and acquire the chain saw, as she wishes to cut wood for sale this summer. For that use, she will accept the less personal machine to help her cut.

She took the chickens into the outer room of the cabin during our recent storms. The water rose almost to the coop, but spared it by inches. However more storms are expected for three days straight, later this week, and so it is good to know that this technique works for the birds. She has just treated them all for lice, a springtime necessity. They continue to produce lots of eggs.

Tractor repair continues. Now that the battery is replaced, she has found that a solenoid is damaged beyond repair and also needs replacement. She will replace that. A tire specialist came out for a visit and repaired the tractor tire which had gone flat. He suggested that she either get a new rim or have him do a soft weld for a temporary repair, and she had him do the weld. It is frustrating her that before she can use the tractor she must keep repairing it, but such is life sometimes.

Now that all the culverts are extended out over the ravine so that the rain water run-off from them does not wash out our ravine’s bank on the access road approach, she has dug the areas that needed cleaning and says she’s ready for the next storm. We still are losing gravel, but she has dug a rain bar at the top of the steep slope where our access road begins and that is working.

She will have to wait until after this next round of rain to work on leveling the road more, since the tractor is too heavy for her to work on the road without the tractor making ruts. We have not had a chance to dry out much lately! I think we are 12” over the average yearly rainfall so far this year. I also think our average is changing. For the last few years we have seen repeated extremes like this. Hello, global warming!

Melissa's hope is to build a shelter for the mower before Mick brings it up to Avalon. She does not want any more equipment left out in the weather. She showed Mick and me plans to build a four-bay shelter, a pole barn at first. It looks well-planned and we gave her the go-ahead to acquire the materials.

We need to replace the exterior cabin doors. The present doors are made for interior use only and the weather has warped them, cracked them and finally split them. I suggested that she go to Joe Ley’s Salvage, which has a rich supply of good salvaged doors. We have only to find exterior doors of the measurements we want. We’ll do that next time.

Melissa also has plans to replace our two sets of kitchen faucets here at Camelot, which are failing slowly. We approved those plans as well, with many thanks. She will include a filtered water addition. We had a good water filter for several years, but it failed and it seems that any replacement like it would also fail, due to the way our piping system is set up under-sink. So this is a good substitute.

When we returned, Mel went back to her paperwork and research and I returned to Barbara’s journal and also wrote a few other e-mails, pecking away at the to-do list. I also spent some time adding to it, since I found a forgotten stash of old and unanswered letters lurking in the correspondence box I had taken to Nebraska early in March. Now the to-do list runs to two pages, even though I’ve been working on the list bit by bit.

I notified Ian of the change in my suggested donations for counseling and channeling, and he made the changes before the end of the day! He also has the announcement up that I will not be doing any counseling or private channeling sessions in June, July and August. Hopefully this will help me recover a better energy level. My physical energy has really dropped lately.

Rho M sent me a beautiful set of National geographic photos which included a spectacular close-up of a cheetah with its pride. It reminded me of Vara L-R, to whom I owe a letter, so I wrote her and sent her the photos.

At 5:00 I went outside and gardened for the first time in many months; perhaps more than a year. Interstitial cystitis defeated me when I last tried to garden. Every time I bent over to get a weed, I had to run to the bathroom. Medicine has gradually eased those symptoms and I was able to do a modest amount of work, taking excess ivy off Jim's beautiful waterfall by the front-yard fish pond.

After our bath, Mick and I had a lovely date and then came downstairs for dinner, conversation with Melissa and the Gaia Meditation. It was my turn to offer the closing prayer, but I distinguished myself by falling asleep and so Mick offered it instead.

2008-04-06

This was my first Sunday back at St. Luke’s. It went very smoothly. I donned my robes here at home and Jim wheeled me into the church from the rear, which has a nice ramp. The doors all have stops which can be let down so that getting in is no hassle. Father Art showed Mick where to stow the chair during the service, and Mick got me settled with my stand, seat cushions and music.

I was just in time to see Gerry B get wheeled into the nave as well. She has had an operation on her ankle which has had her in a wheelchair for three months so far. The MDs upscrod in putting a pin in her ankle and it became infected, necessitating a long period of further doctoring and casting. Fr. Art asked us if we would have a wheelchair race after the service. I asked if we could have designated pushers!

It was a blessing to be back in the choir and in the service. I am currently singing alto again, as all the alti except one are away on spring break with kids or grandkids. I am probably stronger as an alto in terms of range, being able to sing the full range expected of alti, whereas the top of my soprano range is thin to none, depending on the day. However I probably make more of a contribution singing soprano in this particular choir because all of the soprani are of the British Bird variety. They tend to twitter. When I add my straight tone the sound unifies and strengthens.

Mick came to get me right on time and wheeled me to the car, thus completing what I can see will be a very pleasant Sunday ritual for us. I changed into my caftan and we had lunch while we watched the first of our three films, Becoming Jane. Anne Hathaway stars in this sweet, slight film about the young Jane Austin. James McAvoy was her true love with whom she almost eloped. The relationships were somewhat muddy. The screenplay was responsible for that, I think. But the cinematography caught a glimpse of Britain that was clear and lucid, pastoral and peaceful. The music was outstanding throughout.

Mick made some popcorn and we went right into our second feature, I Am Legend. Will Smith has the screen almost entirely to himself in this story of a man whose world has descended into the dark ages suddenly because of a virus that kills almost everyone on earth. He does extremely well with this, dominating the screen, staying interesting, moving through a wide range of emotions and expressions. The role reminded me a bit of Tom Hanks’ star turn in Castaway.

However Will’s palette is a far darker one, as he deals with mutant savages and wild animals escaped from the zoo while trying to find an antidote for the virus. The ending is good, and a surprise. And the landscape is entirely original. I have not seen another film with this “feel” to the environment. I thought this a brilliant film and very topical, since the virus that slaughters humanity is a man-made one, designed to cure cancer using manipulated genetic material. I especially enjoyed Bob Marley’s music throughout the film.

Our third film was one by Dana Aronofsky, The Fountain. It was a beautiful film, although so non-linear that I kept getting lost. What century? What persona? Who’s on first? Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz were excellent as the researcher and his wife/the conquistador and his queen/the archetypal man and spirit. The film was luscious to look at, almost bewildering in the richness of its imagery. I found it much easier to enjoy after I consciously disengaged my logical mind and let the images flow past my consciousness without attempting to interpret or understand them.

Jim’s work schedule got a blow when he received a telephone call from a customer for whom he has gardened but never mowed. She is in her eighties and her husband has just died. She asked him to mow her lawn from now on. Poor Mick! His schedule is full already, and with the need to drive to Shelbyville and cut Steve F’s grass until his house sells, it is overflowing. However he could not say no.

I feel so proud of him for his compassion, while I know full well that this is a sacrificial addition to his schedule. We talked about it and decided that we would start getting up a half hour earlier each weekday. Mick thinks that will take care of the time crunch. And I can certainly use the extra working time.

We spent the rest of the evening happily watching Star Wars III again on the tube. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2008-04-05

What a perfectly delightful Saturday! The sun shone and a pleasantly brisk breeze began drying out our soggy ground and inviting the streams and river to come back to their banks. The temperature rose close to 60 F! Ah! Wonderful!

Before we enjoyed our breakfast, Mick and I took his truck, Sybil Dakota, in for a check-up. Yesterday, she started acting oddly, with her windshield wipers refusing to work, suddenly, and idiot lights coming on, on the dashboard. I followed Jim in and then drove us both home for breakfast. It was grand to see more and more green – today the willow tree on Hazelwood and all the wild honeysuckle are in leaf, and a near-by “naked magnolia” is suddenly in bloom. It is an unusual tree in that it offers its blossoms before its leaves bud; hence the name. And the vinca minor is in its purple majesty now in our yard.

Mick did some chores and cleaned the kitchen while I came upstairs and finished the editing on the talk on psychic greeting I had given for the first channeling intensive in February.

Then we went out again for an extended run of errands which involved getting a replacement tail light for his trailer, going by the bank, filling the car with gas and getting me a wheelchair so that Mick can push me up the ramp into church for services on Sundays and avoid the problem of stairs, which has kept me from church since last October. It is a nice wheelchair, provided by Medicare thanks to Dr. June’s prescription. It has raise-able leg supports, which will enable me to sit for longer than half an hour without my feet and legs beginning to swell. It will do very well.

I was amazed at Medicare’s discount. The price quoted to us for such a chair was $400.00. They charged Medicare less than $60.00. Wow! Things like this make me wonder what items would cost if companies simply charged what they needed in order to pay their suppliers.

I fell asleep at the computer when I came upstairs after we got home, and barely woke in time for our bath. Jim and I enjoyed the whirlpool and then we stayed downstairs to say good-bye to Lorena, who was heading home with Reiko. She has gotten her newsletter done, with all the copies ready to mail out, and all her letters to prisoners ready to mail out as well. She said it was a great visit! She certainly provides a most loving service for L/L Research on behalf of incarcerated souls who love the Law of One.

She crossed paths with Romi, who was coming in for our regular meditation meeting as she and Reiko were leaving. It was our first silent meditation in four weeks, as I have been making up for losing a session in February due to illness with three public channeling sessions in a row. And what a joy it was! My only problem was staying awake. I was, for some reason, amazingly weary all day today.

The rest of the evening was spent in conversation and Romi’s Love Tea. I offered the Gaia Meditation as we came out of silent meditation.

2008-04-04

It rained and poured all night, continuing through the day before finally tapering off this evening. We got six new inches of rain! It's a record setter. Mick and I were therefore on a later schedule, since it was far too wet for him to work in the morning. So he did his Saturday errands a day early in the morning, after Morning Offering, while I did almost nothing! I had a fit of the blahs and played hooky with solitaire and some new e-mail.

What turned the day around for me were a couple of the new e-mails. One was from Lisa L, my choirmistress, letting me know that she could hear the difference I made in the choir at choir practice and was excited to have me back, which touched me.

The other was from Steve M. He sent me photos of his aura and his chakras which he had had recently taken. His aura was just beautiful, blue, indigo and violet throughout. He also said kind words that touched my heart. And he said he’d be working on his comments for the remaining chapters of 101 over the weekend. My fit of the dismals flew away!

After lunch I finally had my daily chapel time and wrote my journals. Then I edited some more on the speech on psychic greeting, getting to within five pages of the end. I had forgotten how interesting some of the questions and observations were, especially from Gerry G.

I wound up the day working with several questions to me which Lorena had collected from the prisoners with whom she corresponds on behalf of L/L Research. The most interesting of the questions had to do with a passage from a reading in A Book of Days. The question was concerning the statement that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was a messenger of love. He wondered how that could be true. My answer, in part, was this:

“The way the serpent was a mythical messenger of love was that, in the story or myth, the serpent brought the burden and gift of self-awareness. Before the coming of the serpent, Adam and Eve were second-density creatures, basically. Their minds were unawakened. The subtleties of this can be argued, but in general this is true.

Then came eating the apple and the dawning of self-awareness. This was highly upsetting and inconvenient, of course, but it was still a gift. Adam and Eve were ashamed, discovering that they were unclothed. So they had to stir around and make some clothes. You just KNOW that the fig leaf was not enough for long! And they began having to deal with their sexuality. This in turn caused them to begin dealing with relationships with each other and, soon, their children. And so the story of humanity begins, in all of its confusion and glory. All of this is very aggravating compared to doing a spot of gardening and enjoying the whole of each day just being there.

And yet this event marks the beginning of our third-density story. Everything stems from our becoming self-aware beings; beings with consciences and consciousness: souls. So we need to thank the snake for humans like us being who and where we are today!”

Mick called bath time as I finished this. Then we came upstairs for an hour of rest and conversation before it was time for Romi to pick up Lorena, Reiko and me and take us to dinner, his treat. Just as we were going out the door, Valerie arrived with Ocean to pick up Gary and take off for their holiday!

Romi took us to the Napa River Grill, and we feasted wonderfully! It was a delightful night out – good company, good conversation and loving feelings all around. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation we had at the table.

Mick stayed home for some alone time and napped gloriously!

2008-04-03

Rain was slated to arrive by noon today, so Mick and I arose early and he was working by 8 a.m. After our Morning Offering I came upstairs and played with recipes for a while, as I knew that Mick and I would be eating alone next week, with Gary on vacation, and this is a great chance for him to eat some pork chops. I found a nifty new recipe for pork chops with fruited dressing. While I was at it I reworked a couple of recipes we already had, one for Hash Brown Casserole and one for a broccoli cauliflower stir-fry with oriental flavorings. That's our menu for next week.

Then I turned to Steve M’s comments on Chapter 7, which is about the green-ray chakra, the heart center. As usual they were grand. I especially enjoyed a comment he made about our arms. He said that when the fetus develops its arms, they grow out right from the heart. So when we hug people, we are literally surrounding them with our heart’s vibrations.

I did some e-mail then, letting my neighbor, Calvin, know that she is welcome to come with me to church on Sundays. She had told me that she likes the idea of not climbing steps, as she also has beaucoup troubles with stairs.

Ian had asked about the two versions of my Laughlin speech, one audio and one text, and I suggested to him that he divide the speeches and interviews on site into audio versions and text versions. I also suggested that he give that job the lowest possible priority!

I edited more on the speech on psychic greeting from the First Channeling Intensive, getting to page 14 of 21. It remains slow going and since I am now editing in the question-and-answer section, it will continue to be slow. People tend to have a tough time finding just the right words, so there is almost always some stumbling. But I’ll find a way to make it flow yet keep the sense.

Then it was time to go for my monthly manicure-pedicure, a luxury I began allowing myself the third time in a row that I drew blood while trying to cut my own toenails. My weak fingers and failed joints do not tend to succeed at fine work. I thoroughly enjoy the grooming time. It is great for my morale. Melissa gifted me with some lavender-red sparkles which are designed to be painted on top of the solid color already painted on the nails. The carrier is clear, so all one sees is the sparklies. I chose a toning-in lavender for the base color and loved the result. My Nana would say it has zwoomph. I like zwoomph! (If you think my nails are loud, you should see my socks!)

Mick and I came upstairs for a while and enjoyed an intimate conversation and even smooched a bit before descending to dinner and the evening, which we spent with Gary and Lorena. Mick offered the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-04-01

Happy April Fool’s Day! Jim dodged raindrops again after Morning Offering, but was able to accomplish all he hoped to do for his customers today, focusing on work at a customer’s farm and gardening for another customer.

I spent my morning working my way through Steve M’s comments on Chapter 5 of 101. His pages were rich in comments and I enjoyed his suggestions. It took me until 1:00 p.m. to winnow through everything, but what a good feeling to have another chapter reworked a la Steve! He really helps me talk simply.

In the afternoon I started to edit the fifth teaching session of the First Channeling Intensive. The subject was psychic greeting. It was slow going, and I stopped working on it at 4:00 in order to turn to my office clean-up list. I continued working through the Laughlin contacts, writing Rosemary Guiley of FATE Magazine and author of well received books on angels and other paranormal creatures. Her web site is http://www.visionaryliving.com/, if you would like to surf over and check her out. She had interviewed me for the magazine while we were both at the International UFO Congress. It was a delightful conversation and I wrote to thank her.

I tended to practical matters by replenishing our household bank account and making an appointment with my trust officer, Doris S, for a review later this month. She has always taken care of the inheritance which I received when Don Elkins passed through the gates to larger life in 1984. Under her guidance, our trust supported Jim and me completely until 2001 and still provides relief funds when Jim’s Lawn Service coffers are low. In addition, the trust has grown to almost double the original size of the inheritance. Jim and I are most grateful for her aid. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about all the amazing things occurring in American finance recently!

Howard B, one of our best transcribers, asked some editing questions to which I responded. It is splendid to have transcribers who are so motivated to get it right! It is surprising what issues arise. One of his questions was about the spelling of the word, magic. He had rendered it as magick. That spelling has been around for a while, but I do not use it because it has too many associations with types of magic that are service-to-self in nature.

Ian sent me back the Introduction I had written to the 25-year collection of Light/Lines newsletters with a request to eliminate three lines. He wanted to get the complete text to lie all on one page. I found some details to omit concerning the early meditation group which became L/L Research and shot it back to him. That volume should be ready to offer soon. We will print it on demand as orders arrive. It contains every newsletter from 1982 through 2007! For those who love our newsletter, it is a very handy volume to have. You can see how our channeling has developed over a long period of time. I imagine researchers and collectors will love this book!

After our bath, Mick and I ate early, since we had a channeling session for Lynne R at 8:00 p.m. We enjoyed a Star Gate episode and then turned off the television and conversed until it was time for me to tune for the session. I think it was a good session, although it was shorter than our usual sessions, only a bit over 40 minutes. Lynne asked a question concerning free will within families and also asked how she was doing in this incarnation. Was she on track? I thought the responses were interesting, and look forward to reading the session when I edit the transcription.

Romi visited in order to take part in the session and Gary also joined us for the Gaia Meditation tonight. The Ro Man offered the closing prayer. Tea and good conversation concluded our evening.

2008-03-31

After Morning Offering, I vowed to get a handle on my office work. In focusing on the book project, I have let other things go by the board. So I gathered all my papers and bits and squared off to make a complete to-do list, not for editing and writing but for the maintaining of my relationships.

I had a doctor’s appointment right after lunch, but came back to the job when that was finished and completed my inventory. I found that I owe 22 e-mails to L/L Research-related friends and three personal snail-mail letters. Responding to people I met at the International UFO Congress I’ve got four e-mails to compose and three snail mail letters. And I need to write a class letter for my MacDuffie class and generate a Gatherings Newsletter.

What a relief to know the size of the job awaiting me! Now to peck away at it!

With the remainder of my work day, I continued going through Steve M’s comments on the 101 chapters. I had gotten Chapters 1 through 3 done, so I took up his comments on Chapter 4, which deals with the red ray. As always, I enjoyed the work. Steve’s suggestions are constantly good; he is a master of simplifying a sentence, and this is wonderful for aiming my book at its target audience, the beginning metaphysician - Joe Sixpack and Molly Soccermom. But more than that, Steve offers thoughts which reading my work has brought to his mind, and the discussion is so interesting. I feel as though we are having a conversation, and a most absorbing one.

I had just a bit of time left in the workday after finishing the work on Chapter 4, and decided to use it to write a thank-you note to Phyllis Schlemmer, who had given L/L Research a handsome donation in Laughlin, in addition to trading books with us. She also spoke at Laughlin, and distinguished her presentation by holding a five-minute meditation at the end which was focused on world peace, which she, Andrija Puharich and Sir John Whitmore worked so hard to encourage for so many years. She spoke of bringing me to Florida, where she and her husband now reside, for a gathering there, and I encouraged her to find a donor who can pay my travel expenses. She is such a fine person, positive, loving and dedicated. i would greatly enjoy working with her.

The doctor had not given me any reason to feel that I had a hope of finding a cause for my symptoms. She sent me on to a pulmonary specialist. However in spite of my shortness of breath, my lungs are clear. I doubt I will find relief there. And the appointment is a month away.

So with Jim's help, which he gladly gave, I have decided to start going to choir again. I e-mailed my Choirmistress asking if I can come, on Sunday mornings, straight into the church already robed. This will eliminate the stair climbing which has kept me away. However I will miss the pre-service warm-ups, which is unfortunate. She accepted immediately, so I’ll start back to choir practice on Wednesday evening. I have missed being at church and singing a good deal!

Jim and I shared some beautiful sexual energy after our bath. What an irresistible, powerful and sacred thing it is to be alive and in this body! What an incredible way to share in the godhead principle! What fun! Thank you, Lord.

Later in the evening, he and I talked over my fees. They have been $150 for a channeling and $75 per hour for counseling for a decade now. We decided to raise them to $200 for a channeling and $100 per hour for counseling. It is probably past time for doing this.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.