It's the Most wonderful Time of Year

It's the holiday season, Christmas time once again, and we are right in the thick of it! How is it going for you? Is all your Christmas shopping done? I'm still actively gift searching and loving every minute of it. I enjoy walking around the malls and shopping centers looking at the displays and observing the hustle and bustle of the people going by. I must admit, I do alot more looking than actual buying but I enjoy it all. Christmas music on the radio since Thanksgiving weekend, shopping and looking since Black Friday, all's right with the world...
Every Christmas season brings memories of Christmas Past, my past, growing up on Staten Island, NY. I recall tree shopping with my Dad. It always snowed when we were out picking a tree from one of the corner lots. The Christmas lights were strung across Victory Blvd. and Manor Rd. from light pole to light pole. Ribbon candy and maple sugar Santas. Ice skating at Silver Lake. It was usually so freakin' cold my ears felt like they would fall off if I didn't cover them! I remember visiting the big tree at Rockefeller Center and walking down 5th Ave. looking at each store's Christmas window decorations. Wonderful memories!
What kind of memories are you making this year that you will look back on in the years to come? Make them happy ones.

Everything Old is New Again

I reached that age where I am recognizing the repeating cycles, cycles of fashion, cycles of politics, cycles of learning, cycles of fads, cycles of everything. I suspected it a while ago when I started to see high school kids wearing bell bottoms, ugh. If bell bottoms can come back, what could be next? I wore bell bottoms in high school, along with other highly questionable fashions. There were the bell bottoms with all the patches, the Danskin body suits, orange construction boots, overalls, all those gauzy woven shirts made in India, headbands, puka beads, platform shoes and carpet bags. Blast from the past, right? But seriously, what else can one do with jeans? Bell them out, peg leg them in, make them tight as can be, make them elephant legged, low rise, high waisted, zipper fly, button fly, stone washed, acid washed, but that's about it. The cycle continues and round and round we go...
Same is true with those other things I mentioned. Just watch.

Everything That's Old, is New Again

Things run in cycles...
We plant seeds, we see the sprouts spring up from the ground, they grow into full bloom, we harvest, we turn the soil under and see the ground as barren, fallow earth, then begin to plant again.
And the cycle repeats itself...
What would you plant this time? We have the power to set our intentions, to make manifest what we would experience for ourselves, so again, what would you plant this time around?
I know for me, I would have Peace of Mind, I pray into Joy, and I affirm Abundance for all. I know God's gifts come to all alike and I pray rain for the parched, Wisdom for the ignorant, Unity for the separate, Balance for the tipped, Freedom for the bound, Love for the despised, Order for the confused, Power for the weak, Wholeness for the fractured.
I know the gifts of Spirit come to all alike and as we affirm the gifts are ours already, I know we experience them. Blessed be.

YoufromNY?Nokidding!ImfromNYtoo!

So, I'm reading the book, "Revolutionaries" by Jack Rakove, which is a wonderfully insightful look at the a 20 year span before, during and just after the American Revolutionary War. It provides great detail about the lives of our Founding Fathers and the events surrounding the birth of this great country.
The part that made me laugh out loud, however, was in the telling of the journey some of the delegates made from Boston to Philadelphia to attend the first Continental Congress. As the men made their way south, they stopped in various cities, New York being one of them. They loved the city, thought their accomodations were first rate, but John Adams had this to say about their New York hosts, "They talk very loud, very fast, and alltogether. If they ask you a question, before you can utter three words of your answer, they will break out upon you again-and talk away."
It just made me howl! The country wasn't even a country yet, and already NYers had a reputation! It took only 100 years for a colony of European settlers to acquire "the New York state of mind." Hilarious! Some things never change. I know, being born and raised in NY, it is still the same! And so am I. I really have to practice speaking slower, lower and not interrupting. It's a spiritual practice really, breathe & listen, breathe & listen...

Where Does the Time Go?

This grand experiment called my blog is being neglected by me. I don't know what is blog worthy and what isn't. I find that the sharing down to one's toenail clippings is way too much information and yet I can't decide what is appropriate to share. I guess the bottom line for me is to make a decision regarding what I want to share and stick to that. I still wonder why on earth someone would want to know what I'm thinking about.
So, we just celebrated Independence Day yesterday and it got me thinking about the Founding Fathers and their contribution to the endeavor. I'm reading the book, "Revolutionaries" by Jack Rakove and it's a facinating look at the men who were in the forefront of the fight for independence.
I don't know about you but I was taught that the founding fathers were this group of cohesive men, icons really, all together on the same page, good Christian, God fearing men, united in the cause. What hooey! Politics is politics and these guys were no different than the ones we have in government today. Well, except for the powdered wigs. They were all over the place regarding the fight for independence, some moderates, others wanting to stay loyal to the crown and still others were radical firebrands. These were men, products of the European Age of Enlightenment, who fought against each other almost as much as they fought against the British.
And, most of these men were not the "good Christians" that the right wing conservatives would have us believe they were. But more on that later...

On Being Invisible

I suspected it in my 40's and now that I've spent several years in my 50's I'm convinced of it. I've become invisible. Really. I am not the target audience for new movies. Clothes are not designed with me in mind. The only thing on TV that market to me are the commercials for high cholesterol medicine and that yogurt that Jamie Lee Curtis is hawking. It is an interesting time in my life. I've never been invisible before. It takes a little getting used to.
I have to tell you, though, that being invisible has its advantages. I don't feel the need to fix my hair and put on makeup to go to the grocery store anymore. Think about all the time that saves! I don't change my clothes before going to the mall. Whatever I'm wearing at the house will just have to do at the mall. Sometimes my purse does not match my shoes and I don't feel self conscious about it. I will even wear white after Labor Day and not care! That's an east coast thing.
Being invisible frees me up to enjoy things that maybe I would not have done when I could be seen. I might even wear crocs!

Buzz off!

I have a hummingbird feeder outside my family room door and I can see it when I'm at the computer. I try to make sure there is food in it all the time so the lovely hummingbird family, male and female, get used to it being there and will hang out in the area. The interesting thing about the male is how super protective he is about the food! Here is this large feeder with more juice in it than he could ever possibly drink in a lifetime and all he does every day is hang on a neighboring branch and dive bomb any other hummingbirds that might happen upon the feeder. Scarcity mentality! Really, there is enough to go around...
The other day, he was double teamed by two males. One flew in to distract him and when he flew off to drive the guy away, the second bird flew in and got his fill. They then reversed the dodge and the first fellow got to drink. Very clever. "They're organized, I know it." (Chicken Run, the movie)

What Do We Think?

I was thinking about thinking today and I wonder why I do so much of it. There is just no down time when it comes to consciousness. Even when I meditate, random thoughts pop in just to make me aware that I need to dust the mantel or that dogs bark for no apparent reason. I suppose its no different than, say, my kidneys or my lungs, which do what they do all the time whether or not I give them any attention. It's a good thing that I don't have to remember to circulate my blood or digest my food, because I don't think I'd remember in a timely fashion...I'm too busy thinking about that damn barking dog when I'm trying to meditate!

My First Time

So, how's it going? I've entered the blogosphere, myself. It seems quite pointless right now but perhaps I'll get the gist of it soon. I named the blog, What's Up, Rev? because I am a fan of Bugs Bunny from way back. He was my very favorite cartoon character when I was a child. Smart, funny and always on his way to Pismo Beach or some other destination point west. That's probably why I wound up in San Diego! I was following my inner Bugs.
It truly is a strange journey we are all on, isn't it? Regardless of where you are in life now, do you occasionally look back over your life and think about the twists and turns, the side roads and the curvy paths that you took along your way? I know it's just a mental exercise but sometimes I think about the long, strange trip it's been up to now and I wonder, a)how the hell did I get here? and b)what's next?
Sure, I make plans, we all make plans, and in the words of that guy on the TV, "So, how's that working out for you?" I make plans, I have goals, I set intentions and life keeps unfolding around me. Next step on the path, next step on the path. I'm just not in any hurry.
There are different kinds of people in the world, thank God, and I'm one of those "long runway" kind of people. A dear friend from many years ago coined that descriptive phrase about me, and I do resonate with it. I take as much time as I want, to meditate, think about, weigh, contrast, compare, and generally muddle over things before I decide to go one way or another. Then, I take off. Takes all kinds, doesn't it?