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!