2008-11-29

It was a cloudy and rather forbidding day, chilly and lowering, which matched my sentiments at having to trek cross-country to spend money and time in Nebraska when my idea of holidays includes things like sunshine and the ocean! Or mountains and a lake! Anything but time in a small, unhappy town which smells of the meat-packing plant that dominates the economy and brings in the Hispanic people. Unfortunately the city fathers and mothers have no intention of welcoming diversity, so the Hispanic population has formed its own community and the atmosphere is uneasy.

Of course there is the honor/duty of spending time with McMom, Mick’s mother, whose 91st birthday we will celebrate with her. We are blessed to be able to pamper her. She is the last of our parents, my parents having died in 1988 and 1991, and Jim’s dad having died seven years ago now. So we will soldier on!

And the trip itself will be a delight! It’s a true treat to spend all day with Mick instead of just the evening hours. And we’ll have two days of driving to get there; two days of companionship and that sense of euphoria we always have when we are together.

After Morning Offering, I came upstairs to finish the last transcript of recent channeling sessions which was in my Inbox, wishing to close out my more urgent duties before leaving. It was an interesting special session requested by a guy who is working with technology to create machines that help people achieve a good state of meditation.

I had lunch at the Cheddar Box Restaurant, a sandwich shop in Middletown, with a friend from St. Luke's, Laurinda S. This kind and generous lady found out that I was stuck with a knitting project. In the middle of knitting a baby blanket for Kori D's infant last year, my shoulders gave out. Laurinda finished the knitting for me! Fortunately the blanket came out large enough to cover a toddler!

I wanted to do something nice to thank her, and her favorite restaurant is the Cheddar Box. Voila! We enjoyed each other thoroughly and had a good meal. Their tomato-artichoke soup and pimiento cheese sandwich were gourmet quality, with warm, soft, toasted bread and home-made mayonnaise for the sandwich and lots of lovely herbs in the soup. I have not eaten there before, but I will do so again!

Then I went to Absolutely Salon for a manicure, wanting to be groomed for the trip. The nail color, of course, was lavender - with sparkles! I have difficulty with ingrown fingernails and Bethany was a wonder at relieving the soreness and getting me all shipshape.

I think I shall have to start getting manicures every two weeks instead of every four weeks, as this problem has gotten a lot worse as I get older. They talk of older people as being ‘long in the tooth’, but in my case it’s ‘round in the fingernails’!

The bulk of my time today was spent packing. I did watch some football with Mick, especially the Oklahoma – Oklahoma State game, which was a terrific and sometimes even elegant game, in between periods of clothes gathering, putting together my bath kit and so forth.

I can only work for a short time before having to rest, so the progress was slow, but by bedtime I was all packed except for my office things –the computer and its accessories, my letter box and other work I am taking with me, and the printer. I will pack these things after I write my journal entries tomorrow early. We should have an easy time of it, getting away on time tomorrow in late morning.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2008-11-28

After Morning Offering, at which Phell and Mel joined Mick and me, Mick set out on his somewhat abbreviated Friday rounds – abbreviated both because he has put some Friday customers’ yards to bed already and because a couple of customers had company and wished him to wait until after our return from Nebraska to touch up their yards.

When he came home around 2:00 p.m., he embarked on a marvelous clean-up of our gutters. Then he blew all the leaves where he could mulch them, and cleaned up the Camelot acre so that it looks splendid. And for a finale, he planted the porch flower boxes with pansies, with lots of purple in them in honor of my Purple Winter – I get my hair colored purple on December 23rd!

While Mel played hostess for Phell and Eric, a role at which she excels, I got the Bacon and Egg Casserole with Gruyere and Parmesan Cheeses through its final bake and reheated the biscuits from last night by sprinkling them with water in a paper bag and refreshing them in the microwave. The casserole was a huge success!

We continued conversing until after 11:00 a.m., at which time Eric and his Mom set out on a round of shopping, looking for cheap bulk foods. They are somewhat alarmed about the economy and want to have 3 months of food laid away Just In Case! I admit that I prefer to be more optimistic about how things will pan out. They drove back to Marion County directly after that, so we said good-bye before they shopped. They are wonderful guests, old, old friends with lots to say and always full of fun.

I came upstairs after they left to have my chapel time and write my Holly Journal entry for today, then corrected the recipes we had cooked for Thanksgiving to reflect our additions and changes.

Then I got out my Christmas Gift List and massaged it, putting the giftees into five groups – two girl friends get their own bags, as I will see them in person. The third group is Christmas Day people. The fourth group is Rueckert Christmas people. And the fifth group is those to whom we will mail the presents.

I also printed out my travel sheets, which guide me in getting all my gear ready to pack. I prepared these lists some years ago to avoid forgetting to pack necessities. I will work on crossing items off those lists tomorrow.

While we are gone, Mel, bless her heart, will wrap the presents and place them in their groups for Mick’s ease in handling them when we come home on December 9th.

Mick spent the rest of his afternoon watching his favorite game of the year, the Nebraska game. This year it was versus Colorado and to Mick’s delight, Bo Pelini’s team fought back a marvelously resilient Colorado team to win 40-31! The highlight of the game was an improbable 57-yard field goal swacked in by Alex Henery. Then Husker end Ndamukong Suh intercepted a Buffalo pass and ran it back 30 yards for the game-cinching touchdown. Mick was in alt!

Meanwhile I fiddled with the Christmas letter which we like to enclose in our cards until it fit on the page, and printed them out on the Christmas computer stationary Mick found. Now we’re all set for Mick to put the cards together in Nebraska.

Mick and I bathed at half-time and said good-bye to Mel after the game – she helped Mick cheer the Huskers on – and then came upstairs for a lovely date, after which I went sound asleep. Mick roused me for supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which he offered the closing prayer.

2008-11-27

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a lovely day of it here and I hope you did as well. The weather cooperated, warming up into the 50s F and beaming with sunshine.

Mick worked a full day, setting out after Morning Offering just as Mel was coming in, having driven down from Avalon to spend a couple of days at Camelot. She was still unnerved after her visitation by stewed coon hunters last night, but a bit of conversation with me, a shower and a cup of coffee brought her into the present moment and she and I had a good morning, baking the Cream Cheese Brownie Pies and getting the Artichoke Spinach Pinwheels to the rolled-up-and-in-the-fridge stage before lunch.

After our lunch break we went back and put the Bacon and Egg Casserole with Gruyere Cheese together and gave it its first baking. It is a two-stage recipe, designed so that you can make it the day before you use it and just pop it in the oven for 10 minutes when morning comes. We organized the biscuits, put the turkey in the oven, made the gravy and then welcomed our guests.

The first to arrive was Romi, bearing a couple of bottles of wine, Pinot Grigio for me and Merlot for him. After Thanksgiving hugs he was off to do some computer maintenance. Mick blew in at that point, smelling like evergreens, as he had been trimming them for a customer. Mick and I had a quick bath together just as Eric and his Mom, Phellis, arrived, making our company complete.

The turkey came out right on schedule, and we popped the appetizers in the oven and then heated up Gary’s and Jim’s dishes – Sweet Potatoes and Apples in a Maple Glaze, Sweet Peas and Portabella Mushrooms in Alfredo Sauce and Enhanced Stove-Top Stuffing. And we found a pretty serving spoon for the Cranberry Orange Relish.

We enjoyed the pinwheels and some wine as we talked about everything under the sun, from Obama and the economy to health problems and doctors to Avalon and its doings. At 7:30 we heated the biscuits and declared that Thanksgiving Dinner was ready.

There ensued an hour-long, fairly silent pause while we just enjoyed the feast! I do think that this occasion is at least partially about the food! There is a celebration of the senses in the wonderful tastes and odors of good food, laden with spices and herbs and lovingly prepared, that is a wonderful ritual.

Eventually we had to give it up – we were too full to eat another bite! Mel got out the Trivial Pursuit game and we had a spirited match which I won – for the first time in years! Mick is usually the winner, with his incredible memory for details. But I got lucky tonight!

The conversation continued, flowing gently around the group as we cut the pies and had tea, coffee or Bailey’s, which Eric and Phell had brought. At 9:00 we paused for a brief Gaia Meditation. I offered the closing prayer tonight.

I gazed around the room as it glowed in the lamplight. Our beloved friends had come to make this day the wonderful time of thanks-giving that the title of the day promises, and I felt so very blessed! Each person is so special – Eric the eternal rebel and information junkie, Phell the C-Span watcher and lover of the outdoors, Romi the sophisticated world traveler who retains a touching and perhaps permanent naiveté and innocence of spirit, Melissa the beautiful, delicate sprite whose every dream and vision is of a far better world and whose pioneer hands are busy in the earth, on the chain-saw and driving the huge old Massey-Ferguson tractor.

And of course my most beloved St. James, my rock and fortress on this earth, whose soul and body dances all the day, whether with the devas and nature spirits or with his imagination, as he lives his rhythmic, priestly life. How I adore that man! He brings me infinite beauty and shows me the Christed Creator.

Thank you, Lord, for all!

2008-11-26

The sun came back today to make it feel psychologically warmer, if not actually so. After Morning Offering Mick set out on a full round of work, turning a good many leaves into mulch by the end of the day, and bagging many more for those customers who prefer their leaf removal done that way. As well, he finally was able to finish the window-covering for a customer with many, many windows in her huge old farmhouse.

I covered myself with glory by falling asleep in my chair not once but twice! However, I did manage to have my precious chapel time, write my journals and collect a good-looking recipe from the newspaper for Cranberry Bread Pudding with Butter Rum Sauce. That sounds like a natural for Christmas!

And I wrote the annual Christmas letter, which we like to enclose with our Christmas cards. In the evening, Mick OK’d it. Gary printed out our address labels before he departed to enjoy Thanksgiving Day with his Dad and his Dad’s family down south. On Saturday, Mick will find some nice computer-type Christmas paper and we’ll print out the letter.

Mick likes to get the cards processed and mailed while we are visiting in Nebraska each year. He likes to be busy, and his Mom’s sedentary lifestyle gets to him after a few dozen naps! So he relishes setting up the somewhat rickety card table and folding, licking and stamping to his heart’s content!

I composed short explanations for the cover design, not just for 101 but also for 102 and 103 and sent them on to Ian. How’s that for looking ahead? While he was finalizing the cover for 101, he creatively wished to unify the designs for the other two covers in this Living the Law of One series. When I eventually write the other books – and that’s planned – we’ll have our cover art already waiting! I loved doing this little task, and felt that it was a magical envisioning of a positive future!

Our quiet evening was torn by difficulties on Avalon. It is hunting season, and Kentucky is replete with “good old boys” whose idea of hunting is to shine their flock of flashlights on raccoons and such and drink themselves silly while potting at the critters with rifles and handguns. They used bad judgment in trespassing on our land, not just at the borders but coming close enough to the cabin to scare Mel silly.

So with her can of mace in one hand and her phone in the other, she called the police and they came quickly, assessed the situation and with a bull horn, asked the roisterers to come forward. The hapless yokels faded from sight and hearing, until the police left, and then started all over again.

It is fortunate that drinking spirits to excess puts a natural limit on how long the imbibers can stay awake, so all the brouhaha stopped about a half hour later. Mel said she felt as though she were in a sitcom, but was too frightened to laugh!

We talked by telephone a couple of times during the incident. She is OK, just shaken. Melissa is far too sensitive to shrug something like this off easily, and I am just glad that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and she will be here with us, enjoying a quiet and restorative visit in our loving, peaceful nest.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-11-25

While the sky lowered and the temperature hovered around freezing, after Morning Offering Mick set out on his full day of gutter-cleaning and leaf-crunching, returning home at dusk pleased with his accomplishments. He is making room for Thanksgiving by mowing ahead, and I am most grateful.

I had a pleasant and quiet day. In the morning I created an outline for my UPI article on angels and in the afternoon I wrote it and posted it to the www.religionandspirituality.com site. It was fun to write it, as I shared memories of the angels in my life.

After our bath we enjoyed Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now, as she filled us in on the background of the banking crisis and the auto company crisis. The consensus of the three guests was that Obama will need to be far more radical in his changes, or nothing will be altered economically.

I hope he thinks of FDR and takes the bull **** by the horns. It does not make sense to me to give money to the same incompetent and greedy people who upscrod so royally that their companies are failing. New people need to take over these companies before money is given.

Romi joined us for dinner and the Gaia Meditation, at which he offered the closing prayer.

2008-11-24

The Ohio River Valley area around Louisville has a largely moderate and pleasant climate, but it can produce some bad old days, and today was one of them. It was the classic Louisville winter day, misting and mizzling and about 40 F. After Morning Offering, Mick went out into it and climbed on four different roofs, cleaning gutters as he went, and changing clothes a couple of times when he eventually got soaked through. He was thrilled with the day, though, for he cleaned seven yards today and is two jobs up on the week. This bodes well for our Thanksgiving Day!

I focused all day on doing the research for the article on angels with which I shall close out this four-part series on the Confederation of Angels and Planets in the Service of the Infinite Creator and its interactions with humankind. It's the response to the second of JoyousChee's excellent questions. He has been publishing my articles in his e-zine, www.cosmiclighthouse.com, for two years now, and I have wanted to show my thankfulness by taking up his questions.

By bath time I had gone through the archives and had ten solid pages of quotes. I should be able to write my article tomorrow in good style. I was tickled to get the searches done!

Elihu E sent me a very good article by Michael Ventura which he had written for the Austin Chronicle on November 21st on Paradox Obama. The address is http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid%3A704745. It was the best look at the campaign I have seen.

Mick and I got together in the evening for a good soaking bath and then a date. We played with the energy as we exchanged it, starting slowly, like a good jazz riff, and gradually heating up the tempo and rhythm until we were scintillating with light. What a blessing to be in this world! And with this good, good man. After a peaceful snuggle and a nap for me, we came downstairs to share dinner and the Gaia Meditation. Mick offered the closing prayer tonight.

2008-11-23

There was a skiff of snow on roofs and car tops when Mick took me to church today, but it warmed up into the 40s F, although it remained cloudy all day. Only the wild honeysuckle and the willows still have green leaves now, and the sparse dry, dead leaves skitter across the cold streets in the wind. It begins to feel like winter at last!

We sang a jazzy arrangement of the old spiritual, “Are You Anchored in the Lord?” today, which was great fun. I love our parish so much! When I went to my previous church, I was left to work out how to move my music stand and chair when the choir moved, and often I simply did not sing when they moved, since I could not figure out any logistics that worked in the time allotted. At St. Luke’s today, Monica L got my stand, Lisa, the choirmistress, had set a chair for me before the service and Doug M offered an arm and elegantly ushered me down the chancel steps. I am bathed in love there! Thank you, Lord!

And I remember when an L/L friend came from up east to help me set up my office in the winter of 2006. He is a fine singer, and the choir took him in with hugs of welcome when he practiced with us that week. Fun is always had in our choir, as well as the creation of hopefully beautiful and sacramental music.

We began our first film for today, Eastern Promises, with lunch, after seemingly endless dickering with our increasingly cranky DVD player. It was a grimy, gritty, atmospheric story of immigrants from Russia who come to London hoping for a new life, only to become swallowed up by the Russian mafia. The movie portrayed brutish acts by people of limited intelligence and lean hope and its ironic ending put the stamp on its bleak premise, that the promises of new life in a new land were almost all false.

It reminded me somewhat of The Seventh Seal, an Ingmar Bergman film decades old, which portrayed the same feeling of hopelessness, with the figure of the child, or the family with the child, as the only beacon of hopeful possibility.

Viggo Martensen offered a lovingly detailed portrayal of his seedy and unsympathetic character and I salute him for a superb acting job. As well, the music and production values were sensitive to the aura the director, David Cronenberg, was seeking. The pace, however, was sometimes halting and the plot confused before it edified at times. It is a film worth seeing, but it never quite came into the focus I believe was intended.

We watched the second film immediately afterwards. It was eerie how thematically similar the two films were! And Mick had selected them from shelves on opposite sides of the video store.

Transsiberian was set in Russia, where a company of Americans are concluding a tour of that country with the long train ride from Vladivostok on Russia’s eastern coast to Moscow, where they shall depart for home. And what a clever, nicely detailed and skillfully paced and directed mystery story it was!

Woody Harrelson offered a nuanced and finely tuned portrayal of the innocent American who responds in unexpected ways to the challenges offered, becoming an unlikely hero when his wife’s life is threatened. Ben Kingsley stole the show as the seemingly affable Russian detective who is more, and other, than he appears to be.

The ensemble surrounding these two players was thoroughly professional and the direction, by writer Brad Anderson, was masterful. The production values, especially the music, were excellent as well. For those who love a mystery, this is a good movie to see.

I was feeling poorly and came upstairs to rest for a while after our double feature. Mick, however, was industrious, getting lots of chores knocked out with his typical grace and style. He even managed to help me with my collection of nail polishes. It is kept in a large plastic container, so when I want to select a polish, all I can see easily are the tops of the bottles of polish. I wanted to put a daub of the color from each bottle on its applicator top. Mick got that all done, and with a technique far swifter than the one I had envisioned. Thank you, St. James!

We came together when I awoke from my nap. Mick was just finishing his weekly call to Mom McCarty. We came upstairs and planned the Thanksgiving meal together before descending for supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer.

2008-11-22

This was the coldest morning of the season, down in the teens! Fortunately for the Mick-Man, it is Saturday, and his work after Morning Offering on Saturdays is to scrub the kitchen after the week’s cooking has been accomplished. It is warm inside!

Then he went on his rounds of errands, coming back at lunchtime with a meal for me designed to ease my tummy woes – White Castle burgers. Others may swear by this or that brand of laxative, but give me White Castles any day for efficient easing of the bound belly. And unlike laxatives, the White Castles leave one with no side effects except, of course, the slatherings of cholesterol involved!

My morning was spent most delightfully on working with the 101 book cover again with Ian. I am so impressed that in designing the cover, he has gone into my intentions for the whole series of three books I plan to write – 102: The Outer Work and 103: The Inner Work. By the end of the day we were close to cinching a plan for the cover series. I still need to write just a sentence or two of text to explain why the chakras on the book cover are glowing unevenly. I will tackle that Monday morning, when I can approach the task with a fresh and clear mind.

It’s a nifty idea. On the 101 cover, all the chakras will glow equally except that the green ray will glow more brightly. That is the unifying element to the three covers. The green ray is always the brightest, as it is the true heart of our energy body, whether you’re looking at the lower chakras, the upper chakras or the whole energy body. On the 102 cover, which is about working with the lower chakras, they will glow more brightly than the blue-indigo-violet chakras. On the 103 cover, the opposite will be true, as the inner work is all about the upper array of chakras. As Gary would say, “How cool is that?”

I also was tickled several shades of pink to receive from Mary, my beloved sister-in-law, the news that my suggested plans for our Christmas together - over New Year's, probably - were accepted as read by Bro Tommy. I can now contemplate the Rueckert Christmas get-together here without clenching. This is good!

It is a sad but true thing that families can give us the toughest catalyst of all, and usually completely without trying to do so. Such was certainly the case during our last and rather difficult get-together two Christmases ago. I think the changes we have made will make it a real pleasure this time!

I am blessed by having an in-house Christmas celebration that will be absolutely beautiful and stress-free. Melissa will be here, and she and I will craft some good things to eat. Gary and Mick will make the Christmas meal. We’ll have the Christmas Eve service together, then a nice long sleep and a leisurely and luxurious day on the 25th. I hope that Eric and his Mom, Phellis, can be with us then also. We may even have the pleasure of Romi’s company. This little band of lovely souls seems close to catalyst-free, except for the positive catalyst of being mutually supported and encouraged. How blessed I am to dwell in the midst of such love!

I suspect that it is because we all – Mel, Gary, Romi, Mick and I – hear the beat of one drummer, that Love that is far greater than we ourselves. When all are focused on something beyond themselves and united in that service, whatever comes up is so much more easily handled.

After lunch, Mick settled in for some college football. I watched with him for a while, enjoying the sight of a U of L man gracefully hurling himself high in the air over at least a half a dozen men to land in the end zone. Touchdown! That was sweet! After a while I went back to the office and worked on Lana’s chapters 4 and 5, paying forward all the devoted and helpful work Steve M did, reading through my work on 101, chapter by chapter, as I was writing it.

Last week we sent out our snail-mail letters asking for donations for 2009 and today I signed 18 thank-you-plus-tax-receipt letters as Gary prepared them for me! Halleluiah!

Gary and I also chewed through Terry H’s latest round of half a dozen questions as he finishes translating TLOO, Book Five, into Chinese.

Mick and I cuddled for a while after our whirlpool, and then went downstairs to catch some supper and enjoy the Oklahoma – Texas Tech game. To be more accurate, Mick enjoyed the game while I read and enjoyed the instant replays of outstanding plays! It works for us!

Then suddenly it was time for the L/L Research Public Meeting. There were only three present tonight, Gary, Mick and me. But what a great group! Gary had questions about the difference between channeling light energy and becoming light energy and also about the nature of beauty – excellent questions. I look forward to editing the transcript and finding out what the Q’uo group said.

2008-11-21

As the temperatures weakly struggled to surpass 20 degrees F, Mick and Gary suited up in every warm dud they owned and set out after Morning Offering to crunch leaves and trim up lawns for JLS. They arrived back home at 1:00, triumphant and hungry! We had lunch together and then Mick spent the afternoon clearing leaves from our very own yard while Gary cooked our feast for next week. We’ll need to cook again mid-week for Thanksgiving, so Gary fixed half-recipes of everything.

Meanwhile I expected to spend the day editing Lana’s chapters and then getting started on a backlog of transcripts from our own channeling sessions which need editing. However some days do not go as planned!

I received a good and thoughtful letter back from my sister-in-law, Mary concerning Christmas plans. My previous letter to her was a request for deeper communication, as it had been my perception that she had not enjoyed her last visit here, and if she were to come, I dearly wanted her to have a better time. On my part, I had also had difficulties during our last visit.

She responded very substantively and lovingly and asked for my best shot at a good schedule for the upcoming visit. I spent a good two hours on coming up with one which took all our issues into consideration. Now she can tweak it and perhaps between us, we can fashion a far better-fitting Rueckert Christmas this year.

Two parts of our clan will not be here this Christmas – Carlos, our cousin on Dad’s side, the son of his brother, David, and a wonderful guy, and Jim, our brother, will not be coming with their wives and children. So the crowd will be Jim and me, Mary and Tommy, and their children, Ted, Rosie and E. J. (short for Emily Jean). We have yet to set the date, but it will likely be around New Years Day.

Then Ian began working on the back cover of 101, sending requests for details as to the contents of the back cover. Over the course of the day we agreed to have an author photo page inside the book and use the back cover for blurbs only. Then I set about editing the blurbs down, as we have too much copy for the space.

We also worked on how the title should read, and played with different versions of the three parts of it, “Living the Law of One”, “101”, and “The Choice”. By bath time I’d gone through two generations of edits on text, and I suspect there is more to come!

Then I took up the question of what new names I wished to add to our Christmas Card List. I went through the St. Luke’s address book and my e-mail folders and added about two dozen new names and sent them to Gary to add to our Christmas Card database. That felt good!

While I had the St. Luke’s directory handy, I got Mason R’s e-mail address – she and her husband had hosted the choir after church a couple of Sundays ago for a rehearsal. She fixed a pasta dish with peanut butter in it, and Gary loves peanut butter. So I asked her for the recipe. In return I traded her the recipes for the Benedictine and Worcestershire Cheddar sandwich spreads I took to the rehearsal – the choir members all brought pot-luck dishes to go with Mason’s pasta.

Back to working on Christmas! I sent an e-mail to Mick with Mel’s ladder information and asked him to select the ladder he likes the best, which he did. I was able to send that info on to Mel, who will order it on my behalf. It’s Mick’s big Christmas present.

I will get to the editing tomorrow! It was far more important to my peace of mind to spend my time today working to make the Christmas season a lovely, quiet and peaceful one for our little family. And I think Mary and I came a long way towards that today.

After Mick and I bathed, we had a lovely date and danced in the light together with wonderfully exciting energy shared between us. We came down to find Gary already gone to Valerie’s, and so enjoyed a late supper alone. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-11-20

I got a slow start to my day because of blissfully oversleeping this morning, only awakening in time to greet Mick and have Morning Offering. Then I fell asleep in my office recliner! So I only got the basics done: the Camelot Journal entry, my precious chapel time and the Holly Journal entry.

I had time before lunch to write a thoughtful letter to my sister-in-law about the upcoming Christmas festivities, which will be held here around New Year’s Day.

After lunch I enjoyed the luxury of a massage and having my toes and fingers groomed at Absolutely Salon. I drove home in the first snow flurries of this season, noticing how many trees are completely bare now. And the honeysuckle berries are almost gone. We shall have to remember to keep our bird feeder filled now. ‘Tis the season for our winged friends to need some help with chow.

We’re having generous response to our fund drive, Gary reports, but are nowhere near our goal yet. I suggested putting a notice up on our web site after Thanksgiving with an indicator of how far we’ve come towards our target and extending the drive.

Another sign of the time of year: Gary accumulated all snail mail addresses of the new attendees to L/L Research events and all Jim’s new customers at Jim’s Lawn Service for our Christmas Card List and had me go over the list with him before bath time. I still need to send him my new additions, mostly from St. Luke’s, where I have made new friends in Christ.

At bath time, Mick held a ceremony for saying good-bye to two of his most-patched work pants. They have torn through at the knees yet again, and he now is willing not to patch them again. Finally, finally, he is letting them go! He has one week to go in the mowing season - Week 39 - and three pairs of very patched work pants left to see him through, and then he promises to start on a new batch of four work jeans which he has had hanging in his closet since last summer.

I should be having fun, enjoying the quirky patched pants, but I have an obscure concern that people will see the patches and think that I don't take care of my husband! Kinda silly, eh?

Gary, Mick and I enjoyed a quiet dinner and the Gaia Meditation, at which Gary offered the closing prayer.

2008-11-18

As the thermometer continued to give us chilly news, after Morning Offering Mick donned his many layers of warm clothing and set out to crunch a zillion leaves! During Morning Offering we looked out the living room windows which let on to the back yard and beheld the awesome sight of our row of gingko trees at the back property line, which were all dropping ALL of their leaves at once. It was a golden, heavy rain! And the Thanksgiving cactus is in bloom just inside that window, which gave the spectacle a beautiful frame.

Mick crunched and bagged leaves all day, and injured himself slightly when he took a heavy fall on gravel, coming home with torn-up knees. He said if it was not for the long johns and the sturdy patches on his knees, the damage would have been a good deal worse.

His patches! They’re a sight! Mick has been patching his work jeans, even though there are four new pairs of work jeans in his closet. He is a creature of ritual, and until the 39-week mowing season is over – which is at the end of next week – he wants to wear this season’s pants. He’s a sight! I have started calling him “Patches”. One of his four pairs has nine patches, while the others have at least half a dozen apiece. He is wabi-sabi picturesque!

I spent the day writing my UPI column on the war in heaven spoken of in the Book of Revelations in the Bible and in the Ra Material as well. This is the third part of my series on the interactions of the Confederation of Angels and Planets with the Earth world. Next week: angels, according to the Confederation, to finish up the series. It has been a fun series to do. I’ve been answering JoyousChee’s questions, of which this is the second. I look forward to seeing what question number three is!

I worked for a while on my Gift List for Christmas late in the afternoon, and set up a time log for working on Buke Tolga’s questions. I hope to take Buke's queries up tomorrow, after I read through two of Lana’s chapters for her.

Mel struggled mightily all day with the book-keeping computer, which Romi had just tweaked by installing QuickBooks 2008 and adding memory. The Ro Man had forgotten to dot an I or cross a T somewhere, because the internet access was trammeled. Ro came over after work, had a bite of supper with us and then worked with Mel on the computer troubles, on some questions she had about the solar batteries – Romi is an engineer – and then on the page of drawings for Dana’s book which she is re-creating so they are legible.

Mel distinguished herself in thoughtfulness by adding a backstop to the keyboard tray of my office desk today. There was no backstop there previously and the keyboard tended to fall out the back and hit the floor with a big bang when the office chair caught the cord just right. This situation has stood since February of 2006, when I set up this office. Less than a week after she discovered it, it is fixed! I am dazzled!

We had a most enjoyable evening with Gary, fresh from conquering the L/L Research Inbox, Mel, Romi, Mick and I to share conversation. Romi offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation.

2008-11-17

The temperature kept dropping all day as a dry cold front gusted through Kentucky today. Mick had his long johns to keep him warm as he chewed up the leaves with his mower’s gator blades and mulch plates. He worked this afternoon for a new customer who has some odd jobs for him, always a welcome thing in Mick’s off-season. The grass may not be growing, but our bills still need to be paid, so we are glad for the odd jobs, outside, inside and just plain screwy! And Mick does enounter ODD odd jobs sometimes! His favorite so far is teaching a customer how to pump her own gas.

I had a disturbed night and was thrilled that I only had one nap today! It felt good to have most of the day to work! I went through the archives to secure quotes for this week’s UPI article, part three of the series on the Confederation of Angels and Planets in the Service of the Infinite Creator and their relationship to Earth. This one will be on the war in “heaven”, so called in the Bible. By bath time I had my research done and felt that I was all ready to write tomorrow.

It is getting light later, again – I recall this happening every winter. We switch to standard time and gain an hour of daylight in the mornings, only to discover that Mr. Sun is fleeing faster than ever. When I finish my journals in the early morning, I put my mouse on its stand, and as I do, the red lights at the bottom of the mouse track across the darkened windows like a car passing. That little moment of lights passing epitomizes winter for me! Tender is the night - and long!

After our bath and whirlpool, Mick and I enjoyed a beautiful and enlivening energy exchange and a good snuggle before coming down for supper and the Gaia Meditation, at which Mick offered the closing prayer.

2008-11-16

Happy Sabbath! Mick and I spent our mornings as we so often do on Sundays, with me singing a service at St. Luke’s and Mick cleaning house. As it happened, there was only one tenor in the choir this morning, so I sang tenor today! Admittedly I do not sound my best on those low notes, but it made the choir’s sound balance.

We shared lunch with Tiffani and Gary, who then took off for Bernheim Forest in the chill and gray afternoon for a hike while Mick and I watched The Stone Angel. This film has a classic flashback premise, as Ellen Burstyn, playing an old woman near death from cancer, deals with the issues of old age while remembering younger days, all the way from childhood through marriage, her children and even their adulthood. The movie might have worked better if the heroine had experienced a life with more notes of whimsy and humor. As it was, we dragged from one sad tale to the next.

Burstyn was excellent in the role, summoning a sharpness of tone as she delivered some very good sarcastic one-liners that balanced well the usual soft-spoken humility of other aspects of her character’s voice. The music was edgy and folksy, a Celtic-feeling source of comment and the expresser of unsaid things throughout the piece.

The film took us until late because we inserted a nap in the middle of the running, so we took a bath and had a break before we saw the second film, Deception. This movie gave us a delicious, dark journey. Hugh Jackson made an excellent villain and Ewan McGregor was equally good as his puzzled, then deeply threatened pawn.

The sensibility of the film was pure “art film”. Every shot was carefully assembled, with the color scheme of blues, browns and blacks with many small spots of light creating a sober palette which painted the intricacies of the urban world of high finance and high rises. When you saw red, orange or yellow touches in the shot, look out! Here came trouble! The pivotal scene held all the colors of the rainbow! It was a marvelously well integrated artistic statement.

I lapped this film up with a big spoon. I love a mystery, and this eerie string of events which kept tightening like a noose around our poor pawn's neck was as unpredictable as it was inevitable. I understand that this film got mostly bad reviews. I can only assume that many reviewers these days do not speak “art film” or grasp the nuances of them. That’s too bad for us all!

We said good night to Tiffani and Gary after the Gaia Meditation, knowing that she would leave tomorrow morning before we will rise. It was lots of fun being with Tiff! Mick offered the closing prayer tonight.

2008-11-15

It was a most enjoyable Saturday, a real day off. Mick and I had just finished Morning Offering when Gary and Tiffani came in. They had spent the night at Valerie’s. Tiffani took a shower and I worked on my journals, and then she took me to lunch at Selena’s Restaurant, a new eatery right here in Anchorage. I had wondered how it was, and it was a real treat to find out. Yum! Everything was delicious! We chatted and lingered over coffee before heading to the psychic, Leigh Ann L’s, so that I could drop Tiff off for her appointment.

I drove home just ahead of Fox and Smut, a wonderful couple who have built their own farm, their house, pond, gardens and outbuildings, all from scratch. Fox is a weaver and does beautiful work, while Smut still counsels three days a week, continuously adding to the farm’s riches on his “off” days. Melissa shortly joined us. We had lunch together and enjoyed a spirited conversation until sundown. About halfway through the afternoon, Mel left to attend a farm expo at the State Fair and Exposition Center. She wanted to see the llamas and alpacas. She arrived back at the house after they left, disappointed to have missed them.

Romi had spent some time solving my computer’s anti-virus glitch in the morning while I was gone, and he returned in time to take some supper with us and then enjoy a round-robin talk around the circle and then a silent meditation. Afterwards, we shared tea and Mel, Ro and I discussed the progress of the Alphabet Mosaics project. It is moving slowly, but we are pressing on. Mel and Romi made a date to work together next Tuesday evening on some aspects of the page which Mel is reworking for one of the AM’s appendices.

2008-11-14

Mick and Gary left after Morning Offering to tackle their Friday mowing, returning at the noon hour. They were a couple of hours earlier than usual in finishing because one customer with a good deal of acreage was having her lawn treated. It takes 24 hours for that chemical soup to sink into the ground. So they could not mow today.

Gary was glad of the extra free time because Tiffani, an L/L Board member and his good friend, was coming in later today and he had wanted to finish the cooking early anyway. He did so, and was off to pick her up in late afternoon.

Mick was also prompt to take advantage of the extra time and worked in our yard, blowing all the leaves out of the hedges and plantings and mowing them, then trimming up everything. Since the leaves are literally raining down, and since harsh weather is due in here overnight, it will be hard for him to see where he’s been tomorrow, but we won’t be knee-deep in leaves, just in cold rain.

I wrote in my journals and cleaned up a bunch of personal e-mail, writing my brothers, sending forwards of various things to those with interests in those areas and in general keeping up with the onslaught. I have some substantial letters to reply to, but I was eager to get to Buke T’s further questions first. She is paying me by the hour as though I were counseling her as I work on her questions by e-mail. I put in a half-hour of work before lunch. I also created my 2008 Christmas Gift List.

Mel spent the morning doing research at the computer on various Avalon-related subjects like truck parts for the Avalon Farm truck, solar batteries and ladders.

After lunch Mel and I came up to the office and chose a Roasted Garlic Hummus recipe to make for tomorrow’s guests – Tiffani will be here and Fox and Smut as well, in addition to Melissa, so we wanted to have something for noshes. Mel brought garlic harvested from the garden at Avalon recently, so we'll have that Avalon touch in the hummus!

Then we took my Gift List down to the basement, where I have been stashing presents for the last 10 months – I begin buying Christmas presents in January, when the Church Publishing Company has its excellent sale. I watch for deep sales all year.

We found that I had already gotten Mom McCarty a good birthday present – we are headed to Nebraska for her 91st birthday after thanksgiving – and had over half of the Christmas presents already in hand. I will gift as many people as possible with my new book, 101! And the rest, hopefully, will be folks to whom it is appropriate to give L/L Research T-shirts and mugs.

All of this took the afternoon, but it was well worth the time to have a handle on the gifts situation. Mel volunteered to wrap presents for me after Thanksgiving’s cooking is done. Bless her heart! She is incredibly generous with her time when it comes to helping me out.

After Mick’s and my bath, we had a lovely date and cuddled in the afterglow until about 8:00 p.m. We joined Melissa for supper and conversation. Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

2008-11-13

It warmed up today, which made the work more pleasant for Mick. He expected to have rain early in the day, but it did not transpire, so after Morning Offering he took on the big job at the B’s. On good days this large acreage takes three hours to get looking pretty. Today it took Mick five solid hours! Bless those leaves!

He finished out his day with smaller jobs and came home very happy, having gotten a leg up on tomorrow. We are also expecting rain tomorrow. This has been a rainy week altogether, and Mick is incredibly good at finding a way to stay on schedule anyway!

My morning was one of excitement and enjoyment – excitement because 101’s back-cover material is now collected and in Ian’s hands, and enjoyment because of the way spirit works.

Phyllis Schlemmer, whose book, The Only Planet of Choice, has been a best-seller for years, sent in her blurb early this morning. This gave me three blurbs, with Steve Tyman's and Rob Schwartz's. I still had heard nothing from Jean-Claude, after giving him lots of notice, so I released him from being responsible for sending in a blurb. I figured that three blurbs, plus Jim’s summary of contents, plus my author photo, would make a good back cover.

I sent all of the blurbs, the summary and the bar code from blitzprint.com, the printer, in to Ian, who is collaborating with Michele Matossian, who is doing the cover art, to finalize the cover. I told Ian that I would send in Jean-Claude’s blurb if it came in today. Otherwise, he could assume that “what he had was what we got”.

I hit the “send” button, and Jean-Claude’s blurb came in! Of course! He could not send it in until I released my expectations. So I happily sent in Jean-Claude’s beautiful recommendation too. All the blurbs are quite complimentary and I think I am most fortunate and blessed to have these very successful authors to recommend 101. I wrote Jean-Claude and Phyllis to thank them, and I shared with Jean-Claude my little story of how spirit works. I know he enjoyed that!

Ian replied that he was now all set to do the final production on the cover. He and Michele are creating two “looks” for the cover, one with the design offset to the left and the text offset to the right, and one with the design centered and the title above the design and the author, publication text and logo beneath it. He expects to show me the choices sometime this weekend! We are getting so close to printing now! Whee! I’m giddy with joy!

In the afternoon I finally got back to writing the UPI article for this week, part two of my “Confederation of Angels and Planets” series, and completed it by bath time. That felt good too! I only had one inadvertent nap today, after sleeping last night until a bit past 8:00 a.m. That is the latest I have slept in a decade! It felt grand!

We watched Amy Goodman doing the Fund Drive for Link TV – she is a wonderful saleswoman – and then an episode of House before coming downstairs for Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and dinner. I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

Gary was at the admin helm all day and reported at dinnertime that he had almost caught up on the burgeoning L/L Research Inbox e-mail! I do not know how he does it! He works very quickly indeed. I think back to the days when I was responsible for that Inbox and thank the good Lord that donations have made it possible for Gary to man that! He is the right man for the job!

Gary and I conferred briefly and he will take the many questions which Terry H has sent in as he translates TLOO Book 5 into Chinese, and compile them into a single document. Then Gary will talk with me and take notes, and write to Terry. Bless him for that! It will save me a lot of time.

Tiffani, a member of our Board and an old friend of L/L’s and especially of Gary’s, will come in for an over-the-weekend visit tomorrow. And Melissa is due to come down from Avalon for an overnight visit tomorrow too. We’ll have a wonderful group of loving people here at Camelot over this weekend! What a treat!

2008-11-12

I awoke in the pre-dawn feeling as though I had a sharp stick in my right eye. For a while after I got up to tend to it, I could not see. After some washing and repeated clearings by hand of the gummy material the eye had put out to protect itself, I could see again, but the eye was almost closed and extremely sore. This has occurred repeatedly, to one eye and then the other, with this mystery illness that has offered me such unusual gifts lately, along with inadvertent and constant napping, shortness of breath and other symptoms that preclude physical activity.

As soon as I came up from Morning Offering to my office and sat down in my recliner, I fell fast asleep. I kept rousing only to fall asleep again. I persevered through writing the Camelot Journal for yesterday and into my chapel time, and told Holly, “I am dragging this morning and have fallen asleep three times. Are you sure the angels are behind this? I feel as though I am playing hooky!”

She said, “Yes, my child, the angels are attempting to give you the rest your body needs. Please do not begrudge the need for extra sleep. The doctors cannot help you, for they cannot untangle the causes of your current challenges. Let the angels help you.”

I said, “Holly, my problem with this is that I have precious work which I dearly want to do. I want to write an article today and I am all ready to start. But I keep falling asleep and when I awaken I cannot focus.”

And Holly replied, “Carla, the average soul would already have put himself to bed, feeling the discomfort you feel and identifying it as an illness. It is courageous of you to wish to ignore your discomfort, and to refuse to identify yourself as ill. And in a way you are right. There is a substantial psychic greeting involved in intensifying your uncomfortable and limiting symptoms.

"Nevertheless, you need to cooperate with your struggling body in order to allow your blood pressure to normalize. Let yourself sleep and do not concern yourself with the concept of deadlines. Whenever you are able to finish your article, it will be gladly received. Relax and collaborate with spirit. Do not judge yourself as lazy when your every fiber wishes to work!”

As you can imagine, I was not thrilled with this reading! I said, “Holly, this is hard advice for me to take. I want so badly to work! I love my work! I am here on Earth to serve by doing this work, work that no one else can do. Can I not rise above this?”

And she replied, “Yes, you can, but first let your body nap until it wakes up naturally. Then move into your creative work in love and rejoicing.”

Unfortunately for my plans to write the article today, when I at last awoke, the sun was going down and bath time was near. I went back to the office and found, to my great happiness, that I had received Steve Tyman’s blurb for 101. I also heard from Phyllis Schlemmer that her blurb would be here tomorrow! Mick had sent me his summary of the book for the back cover and Gary had sent me the bar code, so I have only to hear from Jean-Claude Koven, who had promised to write a blurb for 101 back in September but has since gone silent, and I will have all the back-cover material ready to send to Ian for the final production of the book. This is marvelous news!

Melissa wrote from Avalon to report that she was a close witness to a bad wreck on Highway 421. It shook her up badly, so I wrote her a note of comfort. I tried to call her as well, but she was out working, as she almost always is when the weather is fair. And she has the power off in order to get the solar batteries worked on, so I could not leave a message, as her telephone answering device requires juice.

Mel is a sensitive plant, psychically speaking, and I regret that she had to go through this. She also said she would be coming down to Louisville soon, which I am glad to hear!

I wrote thank-you notes to Rob Schwartz and Steve Tyman for the blurbs they sent in, and thanked Phyllis for her kind words in the e-mail in which she said she’d have the blurb to me by tomorrow. Then I sent Jean-Claude a “Last Call” e-mail. If his blurb is not here when Phyllis’s comes in, I will go ahead and finalize the back cover copy without his blurb.

I got some sad news today! Mick and I love to go to the International UFO Congress when I get invited to speak there, as it is a lovely spot, our room is paid for, there’s lots happening and it functions as a real vacation for us. However I did not make the cut this year. Nicole B-I wrote to say that they loved my work and thought I gave great presentations, but there were 210 people ready to speak and they had only 30 spots. And I spoke there last year. So they decided to give a new person a chance instead. Sigh! I wrote her back to say that if they had a late cancellation, I would be glad to fill in!

Mick had been working like a beaver all day, trying to get ahead of the rain that is predicted for tomorrow afternoon and the next three days. He came home exultant. He has only one job to do tomorrow – his largest acreage; it takes him at least three hours and sometimes as much as five if there are problems. and the leaves constitute a problem! But he has cleared the day, and he should be able to accomplish that before the rain sets in tomorrow. So he was a cat with cream on his whiskers!

After our bath and a snuggle, I went to choir practice at St. Luke’s. We are practicing Advent and Christmas music now, one beautiful piece after another. Mick picked me up afterwards and we came home to a late supper and the Gaia Meditation with Gary. Mick offered the closing prayer tonight.

2008-11-11

While the skies gently wept and the thermometer barely exceeded forty degrees, Dianne and I went to Images Salon for facials and haircuts. It is lovely to have a non-itchy face for a while, and sport a cropped pixie instead of the shaggy one with which I came in! We topped off the occasion by dining at The Cheesecake Factory, where Dianne adores the turkey burgers.

She was concerned that she should give me money for gas, as I always drive when we go out, and so I said, “Treat me for lunch today and we’re good through 2009!” She did so, and I ordered Steak Diane in her honor. We laughed and talked and I came home wrapped in the glow of togetherness and belonging that a girlfriend gives you, feeling loved and cherished. We’ve been friends since 1975! Dianne is a deep, very penetrating thinker and I value her greatly.

On December 23rd, at our next visit to Images,I will become purple-haired – a nice deep purple that only shimmers a bit off black except where I have gray hairs. The gray will function as my natural highlights, since the purple color will come out vividly where there is gray. It has worked well for my last two Christmas forays into hair color – green and then ruby red – and I so look forward to being a Purple Lady! I would have colored my hair this time around, except I wanted to spare Jim’s Mom. She has a hard time with my antic taste in do’s! She’ll have to put up with me in early spring, but for the upcoming visit to Nebraska after Thanksgiving, I’ll still be brown-haired and normal looking for her 91st birthday.

I wrote Mel a thank-you note for all the hard work she has done lately, for the Channeling Intensive cooking and on behalf of my seasonal clothes-changing. In my present state of breathlessness and lack of mobility, such perfectly ordinary tasks are a bit beyond my reach, and Mel has become my arms and legs and loving hands in so many ways! Thank you, Melissa of Avalon!

I also filled her in on our Thanksgiving plans and asked for her help in cooking the appetizer, the dessert and the morning-after breakfast. Fortunately I have just finished reworking the Breakfast Foods folder in my recipes database – as of today, Ta Da! - so we have any number of fun casseroles from which to choose for making Friday morning’s breakfast a good one for our guests, Eric and Phellis. I have also reworked the Appetizers folder, and we’ve got lots of good choices there. I’ll start on the Desserts folder tomorrow and maybe by the time Melissa and I reach that festive day, we’ll have some good choices there too.

Gary always sees to the vegetables and starches for such occasions, and Mick always cooks the turkey. However Gary is visiting his Dad for the big day, so he’ll help cook our feast, but he won’t get to enjoy eating it until it’s leftovers.

After I rolled back in from that delicious lunch, shook the rain out of my jacket and headed upstairs to my office, I found myself in a state of almost instant sleep, and though I roused several times and wrote some e-mails, I never could focus well enough to write my UPI article. I’ll tackle that again tomorrow morning, the Lord willing!

I am thrilled to say that Robert Schwartz and Stephen Tyman, whose books in the field are well respected, have both written me blurbs for the back cover of 101 as of today! Mick sent in a summary of the text and Gary sent in the bar code. So I am all set for the back cover material except for Phyllis Schlemmer’s blurb and Jean-Claude Koven’s. They also are noted authors in my fringe area of research, especially Phyllis, whom I first met in 1974 at Andrija Puharich’s house in Ossining. She is a seasoned veteran, serving as a channel for ET sources and traveling the world meditating for peace. Phyllis wrote to say she’d send me the blurb by tomorrow. Thank you, Phyllis!

Jean-Claude has gone silent. He is probably traveling and speaking as he so often does, but if I do not hear from him by tomorrow, I’ll move on without his blurb. I think I’ll have enough copy for the back cover without it.

I felt increasingly unwell as the evening wore on, my right eye starting to swell up and my tummy troubling me, so Mick and I kept the evening very quiet and focused on how wonderful it was to be together! We had a late supper, joined by Gary, and it was Gary who offered the last prayer at tonight’s Gaia Meditation.

2008-11-10

The temperature keeps plummeting! We were close to a frost last night, and this morning Mick set out in his winter “long johns” to do his mowing. He is crunching leaves by the gazillion!

I worked on my UPI article for this week, which is Part Two of a four-part series on the Confederation and their interactions with us humans. After getting two pages into the writing I found that I wanted to do a bit more research before finishing the writing, as there were quotations I had not yet captured that I recalled and wanted to include. So I spent the rest of the day doing the searches necessary to find all the quotes from TLOO. I’ll have a running start on finishing the article tomorrow afternoon.

I wrote to Eric and Phellis S, son and mother, inviting them to Thanksgiving dinner. Eric is Mick’s age and they were neighbors and close friends when he lived on his homestead in Marion County, Kentucky. Several years ago now, Eric discovered that his sisters had placed his Mom in a nursing home, which she absolutely hated, being of sound mind and active. He went back to New England and checked her out, brought her to Kentucky and together they found a modest home. They have lived there ever since. Eric’s kind and loving heart really shines as he shares his life as companion and sometimes caregiver to his Mom. We love them both dearly and hope they can join us! Melissa also will treat us to her company. Gary and Romi are both visiting their people elsewhere for Thanksgiving.

I also wrote the three people from whom I requested blurbs for the back cover of 101 last month, goosing them with a plea for ASAP blurbs. We are ALL ready to go now except for those blurbs. I also wrote Mick to ask him for a back-cover summary of the book, and Gary to ask him to secure the bar code from blitzprint. That’s all we’re waiting on before printing 101! I am excited!

After a good whirlpool and bath, Mick and I had a date, sharing an amazing amount of energy and feeling as though we had moved through the gateway to intelligent infinity and into the light! When I look in the mirror and my 65-year-old self, I find it difficult to believe that rumpled and well-used bodies such as mine could encompass such beauty. Yet it is true. Thank heavens!

We eventually descended to enjoy supper and Gary joined us for the Gaia Meditation. I offered the closing prayer tonight.

2008-11-09

Sunday was a bit different this week, since I did not have to go to choir practice before church, but instead went to a special practice afterwards. It was colder today, and leaves were falling like rain. Father Joe gave a hilarious sermon today on the subject of the wise and foolish maidens. In Jesus’ parable, the wise virgins have oil for their lamps, while the foolish ones do not. When the bridegroom is late, they all fall asleep. When he comes, in the middle of the night, only the wise maidens can light their lamps and go to the wedding feast.

Father Joe had all the kids in the congregation come to the chancel steps. There he showed them an oil lamp. None of the children had seen one before. He tried to light it, but he had no oil in it. “Who has some oil?” From the rear of the church came, “I have some in my purse.” Little James was sent for the oil but came back empty-handed. “She wants money for the oil.” A volunteer was found who paid two dollars for the oil. James gave the lady her money and brought the oil to the chancel, where Father Joe eventually lit the lamp.

I thought it was a uniquely clever and painless way to use the Gospel lesson of the day for the fund-raising sermon. It’s pledge time at St. Luke’s. I had already sent in my pledge card, which made the sermon much more enjoyable!

Mick came to drive me to the R’s, who were hosting the practice. The practice itself was preceded by a pot-luck luncheon, and for my offering, Mick brought along the last of Mel’s Benedictine Sandwiches from our Channeling Intensive 3 Gathering, plus the sandwiches which Gary had made from the last of Mel’s Worcestershire Cheese Ball, all nicely cut into quarters. It was a great way to use up our delicious leftovers! We spent about two hours eating and then practicing Christmas music.

Then Mick and I sat down for our one film of the day, Death-Defying Acts. It was an interesting piece starring Guy Pearce as an entrancing Harry Houdini and Catherine Zeta-Jones as an equaly appealing stage psychic who hopes to win a prize for telling Harry what his mother’s last words were. Saiorse Ronan, playing Zeta-Jones’ daughter beautifully, surprises everyone, herself most of all, by falling into a fugue state near the film's end and coming up with the answer. Timothy Spall was particularly effective, poignantly protective and ever upset, as Houdini’s harassed manager.

Set in 1926, when Houdini was touring the British Isles, the film was chock full of excellent production values. The costumes were absolutely stunning. Director Gillian Armstrong created a nuanced, subtly chiaroscuro atmosphere where lights glowed and shadows abounded, no matter what the setting. I greatly enjoyed this movie. She even brought the film in at 97 minutes – short and sweet by today’s standards. It was a fine story, very well told.

We took a break, and I went straight to bed for a delicious nap. Mick roused me for supper and then the Gaia Meditation, at which he offered the closing prayer.

Gary breeezed in for a short visit after his sweat lodge, which he thought was just great. He suggested we include one at our next Homecoming. It's a good idea!

2008-11-08

What a difference a day and a storm make! Driving out with Mick this morning to restock my herbal remedies at Rainbow Blossom, I saw more trees empty of leaves by far than there had been a couple of days ago. Autumn’s glory is fading fast here in Kentucky. Every outdoor surface is awash in leaves. Mick drove by yards he had gotten completely clean of leaves only yesterday, shaking his head. “You can’t tell I’ve even been there!” he said. It will only be a couple of weeks now until the leaves are all down and Jim’s Lawn Service can put the mowers to sleep for their winter's hibernation.

I spent my working time on the Feet to the Fire interview with James Jancik, finally finishing the 33-page transcript at bath time. I continued to deal with inadvertent naps all day but managed to finish the job at last, which felt very good!

Mick took an afternoon of rest, having mowed our yard yesterday. In the morning, he cleaned the kitchen and baked a turkey, then went with me to do errands. But his afternoon was full of football. He so deserves this! No one works harder than Mick does all week. It was great to see him happily ensconced in his papa-chair flipping around from game to game, awash in his favorite sport. Mick was both captain and quarterback on his high school football team. He is too short and the town was too small for him to dwell on his clichéd past glories as do some older jocks, but he loves the game. He was cheering for his teams and I was cheering for him!

After a good bath, we had supper and welcomed Romi and Gary for our weekly L/L Research public meditation. We talked around the circle and then had a channeling meditation dealing with Gary’s question about what an entity, as the word is used by Ra, is, and how much of an entity is the conscious, waking mind. It was an intriguing question which I do not think has been asked before. I look forward to editing the transcript.

After the meditation, we passed the peace to each other and I sang “Shalom” for our Gaia Meditation. Then Romi and I shared glasses of wine and conversation while Gary took off for Valerie’s and Mick immersed himself in more football. We all said goodnight a bit after 11:00 p.m.

2008-11-07

The anniversary of Don’s death dawned rainy and cool, winds tugging the leaves into a rain of their own. Mick and I paused several times today to remember our beloved companion, his great soul and his loving and wise teachings. Even after 24 years, his presence in our lives is such that we think of him at least once every day. Don, we love you so much!

And we’re still working on the projects we shared with you, BC! I know you enjoy the distance we have come. You asked us for two things: to make the Confederation philosophy available world-wide and to live in spiritual community according to the Law of One. Our web sites fulfill the first request, and we’re living the Law of One with Gary, Melissa and Romi - and with all of our extended family of volunteers, readers and supporters - every day, fulfilling the second request as we go!

I almost lost the day completely to sleeping, still almost overwhelmed by exhaustion. After Morning Offering I came up to my office and fell asleep in my chair immediately. I roused and worked for a few minutes only to nod off again. This happened four times. Finally I said, “Look, angels, I’d really like to get just a modest amount of work done today. May I please stay awake?” After that, I was able to finish my chapel time and write my journals.

In the afternoon, I edited in the Feet to the Fire interview, coming to page 20 of 32 by bath time. It is slow going because Mr. Jancik does not speak in recognizable sentences and much editing time goes into my creating good sentences for him which are easy to read while retaining his intended meaning.

I also ordered some Double-Crostics and Quote-Acrostics puzzle books, as I have come to the end of my current supply. I am very fond of these little puzzles, because when you solve the puzzle, it yields a quote, sort of like finding a prize in the bottom of the cereal box.

Mick and Gary powered through a very full day of crunching leaves for Jim’s Lawn Service. In some of the JLS customer’s yards, almost all the leaves have now fallen, so they had lots to do for all of their seven Friday customers. They completed their tasks in mid-afternoon. Mick spent the rest of the daylight doing weekly equipment maintenance while Gary outdid himself in the kitchen, creating Boursin Mashed Potatoes and Asparagus Pie. Mick will bake a turkey tomorrow morning while he cleans the kitchen and voila! We shall have next week’s feast completed.

After Mick and I bathed, we shared a lovely date, the energy gentle and sweet this time. After we dozed and cuddled in the afterglow, we came down to supper and the Gaia Meditation. I offered the closing prayer tonight.

2008-11-06

Sometimes the day goes better if you acknowledge at its beginning that your goals will be modest. Such was the case for me today. I have been very slow to recover from the weekend gathering last weekend, and while it is tempting to become aggravated, such emotion serves no positive purpose. My goal for today was to remain in my integrity as a child of God and a servant of Jesus the Christ and rejoice in the day.

I enjoyed spontaneous naps in both morning and afternoon. Other than reading a ton of forwards and cleaning up my Inbox of extraneous mail – and sending forwards on to friends when their interests were targeted by them – I only did my journal writing and caught up on some needed ordering of underwear and Dr. Hauschka products for myself. That’s it! A lazy R&R day for me. As Bobby McFerrin said it so well, “Don’t worry – be happy!”

In the morning I was on telephone duty for Melissa, as she was taking the solar batteries apart and readying them for a check-up in Madison, Indiana. Over three hours she called five times, each time after completing a step in the process which involved the battery acid. I was tickled indeed that she accomplished it all without incident! Whew!

And in the afternoon I went back to LabCorp and successfully gave a blood sample for a test which Dr. A. ordered to check my thyroid levels.

Mick went up to Avalon twice this morning with big trailer-loads of tree debris. Mel identified a couple of places along the access road where we needed the organic matter dumped to shore up the ravine-side, and so the old and rotted tree which Mick took down yesterday for a customer was trucked up to Avalon and dumped where it was needed. In the afternoon, he crunched leaves for several customers. We rendezvoused at bath time for a deliciously refreshing rest together, then enjoyed supper with Gary and the Gaia Meditation. Mick offered the closing prayer tonight.

2008-11-05

As a gentle harvest sun beamed warm temperatures our way, Mick and I made our Morning Offering before Mick headed out into the sunshine for his day of mowing and gardening. For the first time this fall, he began to bag leaves for a customer whose crop last year was 239 bags! He now has collected his first 26 bags for 2008-9!

Meanwhile I continued to rest. I am surprised at how much my body is crying out for sleep. This is my third day of recovering from the Channeling Intensive 3. I still think it’s worth every effort I can offer, in order to continue our Great Experiment in ET channeling begun in 1962.

I did rework a few recipes, and I answered more questions from Terry H on TLOO, Book 5, which he is translating into Chinese.

I collaborated with Mick on getting the correct CD titles, artists’ names and song names for the tuning songs we played at CI-3, and sent them to Mike T, who had requested “a sound track of the weekend”.

And I made a lunch date with Laurinda S, the lady from St. Luke’s who was so gracious and kind as to knit up the rest of the blanket I was making for Kori C-D’s little one. I got halfway through the knitting last year when my shoulders gave out completely and I had to lay the project aside. Fortunately the finished blanket is big enough for a toddler!

In late afternoon I went to Dr. A for a check-up. She is concerned about my blood pressure and will change the dosage on my medication. I also had a blood test ordered and went to Vickie at LabCorp on the way home, but for the first time ever, skillful Vickie was unable to find blood. After four dry “sticks” she sent me home. She’ll try again tomorrow.

Mel spent her day doing research on the computer. She left at bath time. She will call me tomorrow morning to let me know if she wants me to come up to Avalon for back-up while she unhooks all the solar batteries in order to take them in for maintenance and checking. She suspects that one or more of the batteries is malfunctioning, because the system has started collecting much less power. There is a safety risk when working with battery acid, and she is understandably concerned about doing this alone, with not a neighbor for half a mile.

So I may drive up to Avalon tomorrow, which I would count as a treat. In the car today going to see Dr. A, I marveled anew at the glory of the autumn color. The burning bushes are very intense this year and the color in general is far more lively and vivid than in the past few years, which were more deeply droughty than this year has been. The little rain we had during August and September was just enough to give us a wonderful autumn.

Mel has found me the ladder I would like to give Mick for his Christmas present. It is called the Little Giant Ladder System M17. It’s a dandy! Mick’s favorite ladder, a hard-working friend on the job since 2001, disappeared from his truck earlier this year. Now Mel will find a ladder of that make to test in person, before I commit the money. Thanks, Mel!

Gary joined us for dinner, the Jon Stewart/Steve Colbert hour of drollery and political savvy and the Gaia Meditation, at which he offered the closing prayer.

2008-11-04

We had a glorious Election Day! Kentucky weather can do this right through the first half of December! It was shirtsleeve weather as Mick and I got up early to vote. What a joy to cast our ballots for Obama! He has earned our respect and admiration.

We came back to Camelot to find that Melissa had arrived, down from Avalon for a couple of days of doing research, helping me and knocking out her town chores as well as having some rest and relaxation.

She and I went up to my bedroom after Morning Offering and switched out my seasonal clothes and shoes as well as rearranging my sweater collection so that all the sweaters that go with shades of purple and lavender are together. I'm thinking ahead to the days of my purple hair! I'll color it before Christmas.

What a delight to have my closet and shoe shelves in fine fettle once again, all set for winter. I could not believe that she got everything done in one morning! Kudos and thanks, Mel!

I was still desperately weary today, so again I gave myself permission to be lazy and snooze at will. I had a good nap during the afternoon, but I also got a few e-mails written. Three of them had to do with Eli’s formatting of my articles on Spiritual Hierarchies for a special issue of Both Sides Now (bothsidesnow@prodigy.net).

I answered two questions from Terry H of Taiwan on TLOO, Book 5. He is translating that final volume into Chinese! We have the handsome combined Chinese translation of TLOO 1-4 in our collection.

And I filled in my connection to LinkedIn for Julian D, who is busily networking, now that he is working for himself. Good Luck, Jules!

Lastly, I answered Halloween cards from Janet I and Dianne S. Dianne’s was a cute “genie.com” card and Janet sent me two photos of her as Spider Woman. She looked extremely fetching! Isn’t it odd that no one sends “Happy All Saint’s Day” cards? If you ask me, that holy day’s a far better cause for celebration than the ghosts and ghoulies of All-Hallow’s Even! But perhaps, not so much fun!

After our bath and some snuggle time, Mick and I joined Mel, Gary and Romi for an Election Results Pizza Party. Fortunately we had all voted for Obama, which made the party more bouncy as the evening wore on and Obama’s lead grew. We were a happy bunch! Romi brought some wine to add to the festivities, and we enjoyed sharing that also.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.

There had been an uproar about faulty electronic voting machines during this last few weeks, and I was very glad we got paper ballots here, but I am thrilled to say that there was no suspicion of foul play on the national scene this time around. After “selection” replaced the popular-vote election in 2000 and 2004, I had been prayerfully hoping that this election would happen honestly, and I believe it did. Thank you, Lord.

2008-11-03

It has been the prettiest autumn day of the season, with southerly winds coaxing the thermometer to the mid-seventies amid glorious sunshine and the maples at their peak of color. It was a lovely day for me to take some rest. It felt so good to have the Channeling Intensive successfully completed! I napped and read, reworked some recipes and in general lazed.

In the early afternoon I took Talitha to the airport. She was our last attendee to depart. And around the edges of this leisurely day, I attended to a couple of critical e-mails.

I wrote Eli concerning the combined, four-part “On Spiritual Hierarchies” piece I had originally written for UPI, answering JoyousChee’s question. Eli wanted to know if I had a blurb on L/L Research with which he could fill in the remaining page, the one with the address label. After thought, I decided that the blurb we had was fine, and told him to write some copy for Both Sides Now in the remaining space.

And I sent Ian’s finished production of 101 to Gary so he would have it for working with blitzprint.

After Morning Offering, Mick departed on his rounds. He mowed two large acreages, and although the grass is no longer growing quickly, with the leaves falling his customers are thrilled that he can disintegrate them with his mowers' mulch plates and gator blades. When he finished those jobs, he gardened for two more customers.

Mick found me curled up in my bedroom when he came home, half-napping and half-reading, and bore me off to bath time, and then to a very jazzy date, after which I fell sound asleep! He shook me awake for supper and the Gaia Meditation, and I covered myself with ignominy by snoozing instead of meditating! One can carry “peace” thoughts too far! I took mine right into dreamland tonight! So Mick offered the closing prayer. I think I will sleep well tonight!

2008-11-02

The last day of Channeling Intensive 3 was as warm as May Day and full of bright red maple leaves and birds at the feeder, Dan D playing on the back porch and sunshine embracing all. In the morning we studied the quotes on channeling, coming most of the way through 1987 – the database is chronologically arranged. In late morning we had Channeling Circle 12, in which the group took up a question about how to cultivate the desire to seek.

Lorena volunteered to be the lead-off channel, and the group again chose not to have the source transfer the contact around the circle, but rather await the group’s intuition on who was the next channel. It all worked very well, and we had a long and productive session. Indeed it only ended when it did, at almost 90 minutes, at my request – my IC symptoms were spiking and I desperately needed the bathroom!

In the afternoon we wound up the weekend’s work with a last hour of studying the channeling quotes database, ending at the beginning of 1988, which is where we will take up our studies at Channeling Intensive 4, early in 2009.

Steve T departed almost immediately thereafter, as did Lorena. Tom got his truck all gassed up and ready to leave. He plans to take Mike T to the airport at 4:00 tomorrow morning and then depart for Texas. I’ll be taking Talitha to the airport tomorrow at lunchtime. Gary and Mike put my Mama chair and laptop back in my upstairs office, which seemed to be the official ending of our very successful weekend gathering.

We ordered some pizza and enjoyed some episodes of House together before sitting for the Gaia Meditation. Talitha offered the closing prayer – I think! I was so weary that I was asleep in my chair for most of the evening! That weariness was a happy "tired", though. I think we were all elated that the weekend's work had gone so well!

2008-11-01

Happy All Saint's Day!

We had another halcyon day for the Channeling Intensive. After Morning Offering, we launched into our study of the channeling database and moved through material from the archives for 1987, which is when Steve T began his studies with us, so he was very interested in spotting himself in the questions and responses quoted. Then we had a Channeling Circle session and broke for lunch. It was an interesting session, with the contact being transferred not around the circle as we usually have done, but randomly. This allowed each member to practice his awareness of the contact and his challenging technique.

During the break after lunch, I responded by e-mail to six questions from Ian, as he is most kindly producing the 101 manuscript for us. I would have sworn that our manuscript was squeaky clean, but Ian’s skilled eye keeps finding little things that need fixing. Praise the Lord for Ian’s eye!

I also took a nap with Mick before coming down for the afternoon sessions – another study period and then another channeling circle. The only member of the circle who had not yet been able to perceive a message was able in this session to do so, and we all cheered! The session took on Lorena’s question about humor and why it is good for people and for channels in particular.

We decided to go for supper to Captain’s Quarters, where we could look out over the Ohio River as the pink and mauve sunset framed a red-balled sun sinking slowly below the horizon. Their food was delicious and the company was wonderful. We got back just in time to offer the Gaia Meditation together. Romi offered the closing prayer.

I am weary, but in better shape than I could have hoped. The naps help! Tomorrow is the final day of Channeling Intensive 3. I will be sorry to see these good people leave. It has been a privilege and pleasure to work with them this weekend. There is an ocean of love in this little group.

2008-10-31

Happy Hallowe'en! We had beautiful autumn weather for the Channeling Intensive's second day! The temperature rose to 70, while the sunshine poured through the house all day.

After Morning Offering, Mick departed for his regular Friday mowing, and Gary accompanied him until late morning, when he retrieved our last Channeling Circle member, Mike T, from the airport.

We in the Circle spent our morning studying quotes on channeling from the database of archive quotes which I had prepared for CI-2. We have read over 40 pages of those quotes now and are in 1987, when Steve T first began studying channeling with us.

Then we broke for tuning. I came up to tune and fell asleep in the middle of tuning, to my embarrassment, and had to be awoken! Lorena, who is hoping to start her own channeling group in Chicago after the first of the year, agreed to inaugurate the channeling this time, and Channeling Circle 8 ensued. It told a story of a two seekers finding each other through many hardships.

We broke for lunch and welcomed Mike. I then took an official nap, for there was a long break after lunch, and was a bit perkier for the afternoon. We again studied the quotes for an hour together, reading them aloud and commenting as we went. Then Mick and I took a bath – Mick had finished his mowing day in good style and had done his weekly maintenance on his gardening equipment – and tuned together before joining Channeling Circle 9.

This time Steve T took the lead and began the channeling. The subject of the session was the channeling process itself. Again, the practice went well. Some of the members are very much showing improvement with the repetition of our practice sessions. I am pleased!

We then took off, all except Talitha, who was having respiratory distress after attempting an autumn walk in the ragweed-laden air and coming back with asthma, for Gary’s favorite restaurant, Kashmir. It is an Indian restaurant with delicious tandooris and masalas and all manner of delicious things! We shared a bottle of wine for a good toast and laughed our way through the meal, happy with the moment and ourselves. We had such a good time!

At the end of the meal we offered the Gaia Meditation, holding hands around the table. Lorena offered the closing prayer. We brought take-away food back for Talitha.

Mick and I had a late date after the meal while the rest of the attendees stopped for dessert and coffee at Heine Brothers, a coffeehouse right next door to Kashmir. With perfect timing, as we roused from our afterglow, they returned and we got the upstairs office set-up of chair and laptop moved into my bedroom and a mattress set up in the office for Mike. We all said good-night around midnight.