Storm und Drang

It was not a peaceful night in the house on Tennessee Avenue last night. Oh no. Nature and man worked together to create noise and mayhem throughout the night.

The Capitol Hill House Tour is this weekend. Our house is on the tour. That means that my roommates have been going crazy with tasks they believe are necessary to get the house up to snuff. Every room has been repainted, including the ceilings. The grout has been replaced in the kitchen, the deck has been scrubbed clean and repainted. John has been working late into the night in the shop, constructing who-knows-what, repairing pieces of furniture and so forth.

After John finally stopped working late last night, the skies opened up and let us have it in a big way - rain, thunder, lightning. It was a spectacular storm that unfortunately woke up the dogs. They whined and panted and shivered. The sound of footsteps up and down the stairs went on for quite awhile, probably Manuel trying to console his dog who is especially terrified of thunder.

Finally the storm settled itself down and it seemed that peace had returned to our corner of Tennessee Avenue. But, no. The saws and other loud shop machinery started up again first thing this morning. Last minute projects. Oh yeah. But it's all for the greater good. And - it'll all be over soon. So. be. it.

After at least a thousand people walk through the house this weekend, well, maybe then things really will settle down. Do you think? I can hope, can't I? Well, can't I?

Clean

Looks like an owl face to me.

Tuesday I spent three hours cleaning my room. Last week was so overfull of transformation, activities and fun, I abandoned my usual habits which meant that my usually neat and clean room went to the dogs (no offense, Jake).

Yesterday my body got into the spirit, cleaned itself out completely. Some people call this experience "stomach flu" - and though I understand that a virus may have been involved, according to my world view, a bodily purge was a necessary (though unpleasant) part of the feng shui of this moment in my history. Out with the old, in with the new, macro and microcosmically. So be it.

I don't love being sick, but I always benefit from the changes in my perspective, the altered consciousness, weird dreams, etc. And, too, when you have good friends who are willing to bring ginger ale and bananas to aid in recovery, a day on the couch can actually be a very good thing.

Sometimes I berate myself for being so, uh ... what's the word? Extreme. Recently I've decided it's not compassionate for me to insult myself with labels like "drama queen." There's nothing wrong with being a strongly emotional person. It's who I am.

That said I'm glad to be on the rebound from last week's festivities and activities. Glad to be so damn clean, inside and out. Extremely clean, in fact. Oh yeah.


If you look very closely, you'll see Letty in this pic. Jake, too. They are well hidden in secret places of their own, but they are there.

Attention all Aquarians

Borrowing Rob Breszny's horoscope for this week.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When the spell is broken, Aquarius, you will be able to tap into resources that you've been cut off from. When the spell is broken, you will finally notice three big, beautiful secrets that have been staring you in the face. When the spell is broken, you will slip down off a clean, lofty perch where it has been hard to relax and arrive at a low, funky spot where you'll be free to feel things you haven't felt in a long time. When the spell is broken, it will be because you have decided to break it.

Thanks, Rob. I broke the spell last weekend. Onwards & upwards. Yeah!

A New Point of View

Sometimes a waning moon brings a lot of change and transformation - even though in my opinion waning moons should be quiet times of introspection minus all the external action. But - do you think the moon listens to me? Uh - never!

As proof that my ideas about an orderly progression of lunar phases are nothing more than my fantasies, this last moon (just turned today) unfolded herself not so much as a wise old crone, but more like a hulkin' dude of transformation, change, connections, and celebrations. The last quarter of the last moon was the Shiva Nataraj of moons. Whew!

So much happened last week, I still feel turned inside out by it all - though in a good way. Sometimes it's A Very Good Thing to have the rug pulled out from under foot. Still, adjusting to a new state of being, a new state of mind, can be a bit harrowing.

According to Chinese medicine, change is so intrinsic to life that when things don't change, dis-ease is inevitable. Amazing idea, isn't it? Certainly after the end of the moon just past, I don't have to worry about disease, do I? No way! No way. Yeah.

Close Encounters

What constitutes family? You tell me. As far as I can figure, whenever people come into contact with other folks on a common ground, we automatically adopt each other. By common ground I mean when people share DNA, a workplace, neighborhood, hobbies, philosophies, or talents like writing, photography, music ... anything, really.

As in all families, there are easy connections and those that are fraught with challenges. That always happens in families. The bottom note energy in groups sharing common ground over time is a feeling of relatedness that seems (at least to me) to transcend whatever it is we share.

Yesterday a bunch of people came together from a variety of cities to quaff, talk, listen to music, feast, and dance the maypole. It was a fabulous gathering in which we developed, over the afternoon, a lovely connection in spite of the fact that we're all very different from each other. There was great good will among us, and too it was a perfect May afternoon out on the deck, overlooking the green lawn, under the tall trees. On a day like yesterday, it's fairly easy to avoid the possibility of contention.

The maypole ribbons fluttered and danced in the breeze long before we took hold of them, as if to encourage us that the dance of spring is ongoing. All we had to do was grab a ribbon and move. At least that's what I thought the ribbons were saying.

The dance was a bit clumsy at first, as it should be, probably. But we figured out how to weave the pole within two minutes. The rest of the dance was a goofy, gorgeous ballet. There's just no way to dance a maypole without laughing. It's so silly! I love it!! Afterwards we stood back and admired our work. A fully woven maypole is always beautiful.

Honestly we humans are SO adorable. I bow low to my cohorts from yesterday, and salute all the rest of us. BRAVO!! And happy May, ya'll.

Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life...

They're HERE!! Roses! This is yet another one of my favorite seasonal moments, the time when roses come into bloom. These early season roses are tender and fragile looking, so fresh, fragrant and wild. I love roses.

Also arriving for the weekend are bloggers from far-flung locales. My blog kin aren't nearly so tender and fragile as the roses, though every bit as gorgeous, fragrant and WILD, oh yeah! Bloggers are also every bit as welcome as the roses. I love bloggers.

I walked out the door of Healing Arts for the last time yesterday, without a look back or a second thought, relieved and happy that saga is over. Now on to the weekend. It's supposed to be very nice, warm but not too warm, not too rainy.

My first weekend free from Healing Arts, attended by soft air, roses and bloggers? It feels like roses are blooming inside my heart, it really does. What's not to love??

Helicoptor Seeds

Astonishing to realize how many trees could dig in and start growing each spring, if the city wasn't so paved over. Because there's no ground for the seeds to root into, they stick to windshields, clog the gutters, gather in between the bricks on the pavements.

Soft rains and breezes during the last few days have set loose at least a zillion helicoptor tree seeds. When they fall, it's always a bunch of them all at once. They fall in a flurry, as if someone in the tree had released a huge fistful of confetti. Who doesn't love watching them descend, each seed spinning around and around? The descent of the helicoptor seeds is as dazzling as the fluttering cherry blossoms, though not nearly as delicate.

Can you imagine how many times I've tried to capture this magical phenomenon with the vid camera? My timing is always off, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Yesterday I decided that it's silly to try. Better to stand still, open my eyes and enjoy the moment instead.

I wonder what is the botanical name of these seeds? Are they elm, maple? Could they be oak seeds? Wait, oaks release acorns, so it couldn't be the oaks. Though I'm not sure which tree produces the clouds of helicoptor blades, I do connect deeply with the energy of this phenomenon. L'chaim, ya'all. Oh yeah!