OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Ninety Eight VACATION!

Visiting sisters and nieces and nephews...driving over bridges back into my childhood

...Jamestown...Newport Harbor...Aquidneck Island....Flo's Calm shack by the water in Island Park, then on towards Fall River, Horseneck Beach, 195N to New Bedford, Rt 25 to the Bourne Bridge and over the canal and I'm on the Cape....Rt 6 all the way - backed up at Harwich and finally to the Orleans Rotary...around one, two, three....off at Bridge Street below the bike path...onto Herring Brook, then Samoset and a right turn into Sunset Village and I'm free........

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Ninety Seven LEAVING HOME

Leaving home is never easy.   Even if you are up at 5:00 am to put the coffee on and make sure the trash is in the closed barrel so the raccoons don't spread it all over the yard.  Even if you have made up the bed and put flowers in the room of the person who is house sitting and checked all the fuses and the water level of the plants and the fish tank.   Leaving is never easy.  There is the New York Times to read with all its excitement and fuss and nonsense and tragedy - Anthony Scara-who?  There are the piles of magazines in the bathroom to read with articles about dim-sum in Queens and music in Prospect Park and intersex children in the Dominican Republic.   I could stay in my downstairs bathroom for days and days, but there is always so much to pack.  Do I bring a one piece or a two piece or both? What about sheets and towels and extra bug spray?  Then there are the projects: computer, beach reading, academic reading, writing project binder which weighs 5 lbs, fiddle, weaving project, felting project, knitting - check!   Because of course I'm going to have time to do them all in between strolls on the beach.   Did I water the tomatoes?  Better transplant that rose clipping today.   Sort through the plastic bag collection in the pantry.  Fold all the piled up laundry.   Where is my bike helmet anyway?

Packing the car leaves me little room for my legs let alone a view out the back window.   Why do I always need so much?  Maybe I should just go back in and get one more sweatshirt.   Okay I'll just back out...and set the GPS for Rhode Island...Aaah only 3 1/2 hours....the sun is shining...95 stretches outward 120 miles to go...the radio's on....playing that forgotten song...fried clams ahead.....

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Ninety Six WARRIORS

My new yoga teacher Hasita Nadai, who is in her eighties, had us do the warrior pose this morning because she says, "We do not know our own power and what we are capable of.   Today especially with all that is going on in the world, we need to b strong.  We need to be warriors.  The warriors weapons are insight and compassion.   If we have those inside nothing can defeat us."

John McCain is an old warrior from way back.   The Viet Cong tried to break him and nearly did, but he is made of pretty tough and independent stuff.   Say what you will about his hawkish stance about the Gulf wars over the last twenty years, or the cheapening of presidential campaigns by inviting Sarah Palin along for the ride, but I admire the guy.   He may have met his worst foe in the form of brain cancer, but McCain goes down swinging.   It's a relief to see a man freed from the constraints of politics because he just doesn't have that much time left in this life.   It takes a warrior to stand up for compassion in the face of a political Healthcare agenda and it takes insight to know this is the just action to take. Those few moments when John McCain gave a thumbs down to the leadership of his own party and to the vote to repeal healthcare will save millions of lives.   Now that's compassion.

McCain returns from Vietnam after being tortured as a prisoner of war.  

John McCain after brain surgery - July 28th, 2017

It's a moment that will go down in history books.

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Ninety Five COLOR

Sometimes there is nothing like immersing yourself in the painting process with color.  All the other drama just disappears.

This is a sneak preview of my show in October:

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Ninety Four SLIME

A day late and a dollar short!   Just under the wire here, but I had a good excuse.  At  town meeting till 10 and then dinner with my son.  Very good excuses indeed.

So slime is a favorite topic of any middle schooler you meet these days.   Especially those who have no interest in fidget spinners and prefer to make their own fun.   There is an entire culture built around DIY slime and I know from an expert: a bonafide 13 year old middle schooler.

A little clear school glue, a little liquid starch and then just about anything else you could image putting in it - food coloring, glitter, paint, kinetic sand, Model Magic, beads, googely eyes, scented hand lotion.  The possibilities are endless.  I'm going to make a container for each member of my Adolescent Development class in Sept.

The other surprising news today comes from another form of slime, the kind that comes from common garden slugs.   Apparently when they're hreatened they exude a slime glue so strong it keeps them attached to leaves like "gum on the bottom of shoe" even if the leaves are wet.   This is according to Jianyu Li a scientist at the Harvard Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.  This ability makes them very valuable in the medical field of surgery where slime has successfully repaired damaged organs in pigs and other animals.   While yet to be tested in humans this slime glue could prove less invasive than staples or stitching in repairing wound tissue around a surgery site.
Typically strong glues like Super Glue dry rigid and are toxic to humans, but slug slime glue remains flexible while being super sticky.   This could be the future for repair of heart surgery.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/27/539473673/slug-slime-inspires-scientists-to-invent-sticky-surgical-glue

In these days of really slimey politics, remember the lowly slug and the power of positive slime!

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Ninety Three WILDNESS

Lloyd Irland, an economist and environmental conservationist, who once ran the Maine Bureau of Land Management, has written an article called Singing Waters (Appalachia, Summer/Fall 2017, AMC) outlining the complex and often ad hoc conservation processes protecting Maine's most remote and wild rivers: the Allagash, the St. John and the east and west branches of the Penobscot.   Only the Allagash has received the national designation as a Wild and Scenic River.  This designation provides federal protection of the river to preserve its natural state for future generations.   The fact of the other two not being protected in this way speaks of Maine's suspicion of federal involvement in their lands. Mainers stubbornly hue to their own brand of "wildness"as is appropriate for a state, which still holds vast areas that could be considered pristine and remote.

The 100 mile Wilderness on the Appalachian Mountain Trail, is according to section hiker Phillip Werner: ... "a bucket list hike if there ever was one. The route is arduous but extremely beautiful, running over mountain ranges and past beautiful Maine lakes along the northern most section of the Appalachian Trail. However, it’s quite a remote and unforgiving hike if you haven’t trained and prepared for it in advance."  https://sectionhiker.com/how-to-hike-the-100-mile-wilderness/

I've experienced some of my most wild and abandoned memories while exploring wilderness in Maine; along the coast in Acadia and Casco Bay and in the lakes region around Sebago.   It's this access to wildness which I tap into when I find myself in the studio.   Returning to wildness occasionally, refuels this raw source of creative energy and makes me feel truly alive.

https://lauriesadventures.wordpress.com/tag/allagash-river/

LL Bean Blog 

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Ninety Two COMPASSION AGAIN

Compassion for myself at a time when I'm starting to feel a tsunami of work coming over me and like I'm going to drown.  I just found out that the book chapter I'm writing for a compilation about resiliency and art therapy is not due in 6 months.   It's due the same time that my solo art exhibit needs to go up - Oct 1.  Yikes.   I've been anxious and distracted for the past two days.

So this morning I meditated and did Qi Gong exercises.   Even with my mind racing and bouncing around like a grasshopper, the focused breathing of the Four Golden Wheels helped me calm down.  It became a little clearer and I was able to just do one thing at a time when I felt a compulsion to do everything at once and myself spinning out of control - coming undone.   Whatever I am able to do will be enough and I am grateful to have such problems!  I have opened myself up to possibilities and they are arriving all at once.   I must pull myself together to greet my guests.

A lovely example of compassion in art is the new film by my friend Lourival Chiarentin which I saw premiered at the New Hope, PA Film Festival tonight.  It's called Benjy Lucas and is about a man who forgets the purpose of compassion in life until he remembers a favorite pet pig from his childhood and how that helped him transcend poverty, adversity and the throes of early adolescence in a rural Brazilian town.   The film is a wonderful mix of real world stories told of life under a dictatorship yet with comedic lightness and charm.  It is both Fellini and Disneyesque with a complex and brilliant cast, particularly the ensemble of child actors none of whom have ever acted before. The Abbott and Costello tag team of the two lead child actors playing Benjy and best friend Alex are just naturals.

Louis Chiarentin and his cinematographer

These two companions will do anything to spare the life of Benjy's pet spotted pig Jeffery whom the local villagers would like to turn into bacon.   Kindness and gentleness win out over brutality and cruelty.  A refreshing sight for sore eyes.  

www.facebook.com/Benjy-Lucas-869184266467807/?pnref=story

The child stars of Benjy Lucas

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Ninety One COMPASSION

I know I have written under this topic before.  It would have been impossible not to.  It's just too important in my life.

Even before I listened to On Being tonight with Krista Tippett talking to contemplative Matthieu Ricard, I decided it was the topic for the day.   Maybe this is a reaction the the subject of disgust from yesterday.   I've decided my life is too precious to waste on feelings of anger and disgust.   I used to allow myself to wallow in them, but now I feel emotions such as disgust, hatred, fear, jealousy and rage need to counteracted with compassion otherwise I feel poisoned.  

Matthieu Ricard was born in France to prominent parents who introduced him to an elite intellectual world; meeting the likes of Stravinsky and Henri Cartier-Bresson as a child, but found peace and happiness in life as a Buddhist monk acting as the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama.   Ricard has been called the Happiest Man on Earth and has the scans of his brain to prove it.   He began his professional career as a cellular biologist, but switched to a contemplative life when he realized science could not really answer his quest for a deeper meaning in life.  However he has continued his interest in science and has helped bridge the gap between spiritual practice and scientific inquiry by helping research by Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin of the neurological changes that can occur in the brain as a result of meditative practice.  

Ricard says,"We do exercise every morning 20 minutes to be fit. We don’t sit for 20 minutes to cultivate compassion. If we want to do so, our mind will change, our brain will change. What we are will change....Do you learn to piano by playing 20 seconds every two weeks? It doesn’t work."   

And suggests that compassion like any other skill must be practiced.  If it is it can change our lives.   I have been thinking of Charlie Gard today - the 11 month old British child born with a mitochondrial disorder which has left him brain damaged and unable to breath on his own.   His parents have decided to allow him to die compassionately instead of trying to extend his life with experimental treatments.   I work with the families of infants born with similar rare and fatal disorders.  The only way to approach such infants and their families is with love and compassion.   So I'm sending compassion to his parents and to little Charlie.

A hopeful story in the news today was from a University of Chicago economist, James Heckman, who describes the longterm benefits of The Nurse- Family Partnership a home visit study where nurses would make periodic visits to the homes of young children and encourage the mothers to take an interest in their child's mind and curiosity about the world.   They followed children into their early teens finding dramatic results.  Even kids from poor urban neighborhoods with numerous risks have thrived and become successful functioning members of society.   Indications are that results are most dramatic for poor urban boys who appear to retain cognitive gains and self esteem which make them resilient to stressors of poverty like gang violence, drugs and unemployment well into their teens.   Heckman puts it in such a lovely way saying: "It's really simple.  We just need some one to love us and take notice of us."   No truer words.  That is compassion at working.

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Ninety DISGUST

So we've reached a certain point of saturation I think.  At least I have.  The idiocracy is near endless.   A constant daily barrage of pure lies, falsehoods, braggadocio, threats, and vengeful attempts to upend legislation and social goods that help people.   The end goal of the current administration appears to be personal profit and power grabbing with only the thinnest veneer of pro-America rhetoric.   This near unbelievable sliming of of basic values seems beyond anyone's ability to tolerate. At this point disgust is warranted and probably protective as a way to fend off despair.   I'm just plain sick and tired.  We only have one life.  Why should we waste any time tolerating an utter fool as a leader?   Why can't we just make him and his corrupt family go away and allow us to sort out our differences on health care and economy etc... without his angry Twitter feed?  Then I am reminded by a more level headed person that he was elected by our Democratic process and we must be patient with the Democratic process in order to weed him out.  Patience and disgust.  Oil and water.  Not the best combinations.


Brook Gladstone  of On the Media interviewed her fellow host Bob Garfield this morning on how to survive this era when there seems to be an assault on the media, the First Amendment and the truth.
He made a statement that made a lot of sense and takes maturity and insight to realize.  He is tired of hearing his own righteous indignation and believes it is necessary to really listen to the voices of those with whom we disagree.   Hard to do, but the truth.   There are those in power who would love to see this country torn apart by discord.   Better Angels is an organization that seeks to create dialogue between polarized segments of our society: Trump supporters and Non-Trump supporters; the NRA crowd and the Gun Regulation lobby; Black Lives matter and the Law & Order supporters, etc...

https://better-angels.org/post-election-healing/

Steven Pinker, a Harvard based psychologist, has published a book titled Better Angels of our Nature which describes our century as actually being the most peaceful in the history of mankind.  His premise is that our increased ability to reason as civilized cultures has decreased the incidence of murder, cruelty and violation of the basic rights of others.   So there are reasons to be hopeful when we look at the broader picture.  I am reminded that the 18-24 year olds in this country voted overwhelmingly Democratic in the November election despite the loss of Bernie Sanders as a candidate.  So despite current unprecedented levels of bile rising in the average American's gut there is still plenty to look forward to.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/books/review/the-better-angels-of-our-nature-by-steven-pinker-book-review.html

Tonight on Selected Shorts Cynthia Nixon hosted a replay of the 150th celebration of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.   Various passages were read and I believe the one between Alice and Humpty Dumpty seems quite apt for the absurdity and unbelievable dialogue we hear coming out of Washington these days.

Humpty Dumpty was sitting with his legs crossed, like a Turk, on the top of a high wall — such a narrow one that Alice quite wondered how he could keep his balance — and, as his eyes were steadily fixed in the opposite direction, and he didn’t take the least notice of her, she thought he must be a stuffed figure after all.

‘And how exactly like an egg he is!’ she said aloud, standing with her hands ready to catch him, for she was every moment expecting him to fall.

‘It’s very provoking,’ Humpty Dumpty said after a long silence, looking away from Alice as he spoke, ‘to be called an egg — very!’

‘I said you looked like an egg, Sir,’ Alice gently explained. ‘And some eggs are very pretty, you know’ she added, hoping to turn her remark into a sort of a compliment.

‘Some people,’ said Humpty Dumpty, looking away from her as usual, ‘have no more sense than a baby!’

Alice didn’t know what to say to this: it wasn’t at all like conversation, she thought, as he never said anything to her; in fact, his last remark was evidently addressed to a tree — so she stood and softly repeated to herself:—

‘Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall:

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty in his place again.’

‘That last line is much too long for the poetry,’ she added, almost out loud, forgetting that Humpty Dumpty would hear her.

‘Don’t stand there chattering to yourself like that,’ Humpty Dumpty said, looking at her for the first time, ‘but tell me your name and your business.’

‘My name is Alice, but —’

‘It’s a stupid enough name!’ Humpty Dumpty interrupted impatiently. ‘What does it mean?’

‘must a name mean something?’ Alice asked doubtfully.

‘Of course it must,’ Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh: ‘my name means the shape I am — and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost.’

‘Why do you sit out here all alone?’ said Alice, not wishing to begin an argument.

‘Why, because there’s nobody with me!’ cried Humpty Dumpty. ‘Did you think I didn’t know the answer to that? Ask another.’

‘Don’t you think you’d be safer down on the ground?’ Alice went on, not with any idea of making another riddle, but simply in her good-natured anxiety for the queer creature. ‘That wall is so very narrow!’

‘What tremendously easy riddles you ask!’ Humpty Dumpty growled out. ‘Of course I don’t think so! Why, if ever I did fall off — which there’s no chance of — but If I did —’ Here he pursed his lips and looked so solemn and grand that Alice could hardly help laughing. ‘If I did fall,’ he went on, ‘the King has promised me — with his very own mouth — to — to —’

‘To send all his horses and all his men,’ Alice interrupted, rather unwisely.

‘Now I declare that’s too bad!’ Humpty Dumpty cried, breaking into a sudden passion. ‘You’ve been listening at doors — and behind trees — and down chimneys — or you couldn’t have known it!’

‘I haven’t, indeed!’ Alice said very gently. ‘It’s in a book.’

‘Ah, well! They may write such things in a book,’ Humpty Dumpty said in a calmer tone. ‘That’s what you call a History of England, that is. Now, take a good look at me! I’m one that has spoken to a King, I am: mayhap you’ll never see such another: and to show you I’m not proud, you may shake hands with me!’ And he grinned almost from ear to ear, as he leant forwards (and as nearly as possible fell of the wall in doing so) and offered Alice his hand. She watched him a little anxiously as she took it. ‘If he smiled much more, the ends of his mouth might meet behind,’ she thought: ‘and then I don’t know what would happen to his head! I’m afraid it would come off!’

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Eighty Nine PLACEMENT

A day of hiking on a trail rated 9 out of 10 trail in Lake Minnewaska State Park in Shawanagunk Mts. in Upstate NY.   Mountain goat-like youngsters whizzing by in their sneakers with no poles while Dean and me and our friends Jenni and Jim lowered our creaky knees down stone steps and sandstone boulders with the respectful care of those who have experienced a few falls in life and lost a bit of elasticity in the joints.   Still we all did remarkably well and had near perfect weather give forecasts of 90 degree temperatures and possible rain.

Gertrudes's Head, Lake Minnewaska State Park, NY

It occurred to me while hiking - as things often do - that careful placement of my feet was now an essential component of survival on this trail which was hazardous in places.  By this I do not even mean the numerous crevasses, which appear along crest of the ridged white Shawanagunk cliffs.   We were taking the Gertrude's Nose trail to a point where vistas of the Hudson Valley open up before you turn back to walk over layered slabs of the conglomerate sandstone which make up their beautiful yet terrifying structure.  Terrifying because between slabs there might be a crevice a foot wide which then drops 100 feet into darkness or jagged rocks or equally jagged trees.

 Careful footing, thoughtful placement of boots became the name of the game.  I began this exercise early on while we were still in the forest.   It has been a while since I've walked a difficult trail in heavy boots, with a pack on my back.   All of this takes adjusting to a new sense of balance.   Like skiing down a hill I became aware of anticipating my next pole placement and then gauged where to put my boot.  This sense of caution became more urgent when we came across a gorgeous, but lethal young copperhead sunny itself right in our path.

Copperhead in the sun

At first my progress was slow, but I was acutely aware that to do otherwise could mean twisted ankles, ruptures knees, torn ligaments, snake bites, pain, hospital bills and worse....  But to not go out on this beautiful day and face this challenge and see these wonderful yet terrifying heights with excellent companions would have meant missing one of the greatest hiking days I've experienced.   So we all paced ourselves; waiting when one of us dropped behind, engaging in leisurely conversation and picking wild blueberries as we wended our way through and over boulders - avoiding the dangerous drops and leading each other along when the trail took a turn.

My hiking companions: Dean, Jenni, and Jim

As I've often done in this blog I'll recommend this exercise from walking practice for everyday life. Mindful placement of one's footfall can be related to so many aspects of life.   What words do we speak which could cause us to fall off a cliff in a relationship?   What other actions do we take each day which are not done with out our full focus and attention?  We must function on auto pilot much of the time whether it be driving or answering e-mails, etc.... But on the trail or rock climbing on a rock wall every action we make can determine whether we live or die.   Bringing that level of mindful focus to our daily lives could enhance a sense of discovery and importance to our actions, whether making pancakes or transacting business.   What greater risks can we take, and growth can we achieve, by moving forward with mindful, focussed intention?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

OGT DAY Day One Hundred and Eighty Eight CONNECTIONS

Quindar Tone 

One of the great benefits of last night's workshop at Materials for the Arts was the number of personal connections that were made.  Dianne Smith encouraged us to play with knotting and materials to see where it would take us but she also encouraged everyone to speak to their neighbor and to make connections with perfect strangers.  I did just that and met an older man who's a weaver.   I also met two women who live in Co-op City in the Bronx and organize craft workshops for the community there.   Then I sat next to a crochet fiber artist from the Philippines who is in NYC on an arts grant.  She does installation sculptures by weaving wire into her crochet so that it becomes rigid.   She was accompanied by another Filippino fabric artist.

http://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/12835-aze-ong-crocheting-and-life

Aze Ong wearing her own creations

The nature of fiber arts: weaving, crocheting, knotting is about connections.  Physical connections within the fibers and communal connections made in the activity of working together to create rugs, fabric, felt etc...

I told the group I had just learned how to felt and they were all so excited about this that we agreed to meet at my house in a month to have a felting party.   I was also invited to Aze's fall exhibit and to Gail and Denise's craft workshop in the Bronx.  More connections with people who love to do what I love.

Today on Science Friday they were talking about quindar tones with two composers of a new album called Hip Mobility - James Merle Thomas and Mikael Jorgesen.

www.space.com/37548-quindar-record-spaceflight-comm-artist-interview.html

What are quindar tones?   They are the beeps and tones heard in the background of spacecrafts which indicate the radio connection between Mission Control and the spaceship - communications and connection.   James and Mikael (who also plays with the band Wilco) were inspired by the everyday mundane sounds with the spacecraft that were less dramatic than blast off, touchdown and emergencies.  Their album is composed entirely around this NASA archive of the history of space travel through sound.

https://freesound.org/people/jotliner/sounds/200813/

Apollo 9 - July 20, 1969 on the moon - when Quindar tones were used to connect with the earth.

These tones were used essentially to communicate between the astronauts on the moon and the NASA scientists.  A way to say, "Are you there?"   - "Yes I am here!"    A reassuring connection with home far far away.

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Eighty Seven UNCERTAINTY

To continue on the them of "Information Technology" and it's primary theorist Claude Shannon, I'd like to extoll the praises of uncertainty in life.   While the Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that matter tends toward decay and chaos - the theory of entropy - we as humans do all tat we can to minimize uncertainty in life.   The child who is secure and sure of their environment feels comfortable enough to learn and explore, while the child who is uncertain is not secure and needs to spend all of their energy and intelligence guarding against danger and uncontrolled environment.   We like security and certainty.   Feeling certain helps our hearts and lungs beat and breath at an even steady rate and allows us to rest and recharge our bodies.

However without some uncertainty and unknown we are not lead to explore, discover, change and grow.   Shannon who coined the term "byte" as a unit of measure for information saw all messages as essentially the same if you did not consider the content.  He considered information and its delivery as measurable.  I wonder if there are studies that have measured the level of risk-taking behavior (which could involve high levels of uncertainty) in relation to feelings of growth and emotional gain.

Tonight I attended a free workshop at Materials for the Arts in Long Island City, Queens.   This city agency collects seconds and cast off material form many industries from textiles to woodwork.
Dianne Smith is the current "Artist in Residence with her show: Twisted Woven Tyed."

We toured her exhibit before being let loose to make something of our own out of the many materials.  Dianne was a painter who came to the work of fiber arts intuitively.  She subsequently learned she is form a long line of basket weavers.  Dianne encouraged us to just knot the various strings, ropes and yarns we found on the tables and to "Not" worry about the "knots" and where they took us.  We  had to give into a fair amount of uncertainty in this act.   To create a piece of art is to enter the realm of mystery and uncertainty where intuition rules.  Dianne speaks of the "familiarity of the unfamiliar" and describes the process of feeling an affinity for knot making before discovering a family legacy of basket making.

She felt a physical reaction to knot making and knitting which helped her to create a body of work which celebrates the organic flow of unknown and organic object.

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Eighty Six INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information is the amount of uncertainty which can be resolved by reading a message - a concept developed by Claude Shannon, mathematician, engineer and father of the field of information technology, which has made communication via everything from phones to computers possible.

Information in Shannon's lexicon has not so much to do with the content of information as it does to do with the degree to which it creates order and reduces randomness.   Because of his work, information came to be seen as being measurable, like mass and density, and having mathematical properties.  Shannon is the one who gave us the concept of "bytes" of information or memory.

://www.amazon.com/Mind-Play-Shannon-Invented-Information/dp/1476766681

Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman have just published a new biography A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age. This little known genius was modest about his accomplishments, which have affected just about every aspect of our lives today.

Given the glut of ridiculous information coming out of the White House and manipulation of information, this seems at the moment a curse.   Yet the power of information will out and the truth of the history unfolding before us will out, thanks in part to our ability to access information with such ease.

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Eighty Five JANE AUSTEN

Today marks her 200th birthday.  In 11th grade I was required to read Emma for English and was struck by how contemporary her social commentary was in its reflection of the ornate and painful relationships which permeated the private girls boarding school I attended.  It was a very wise English teacher who encouraged me in my writing despite pervasive adolescent self-doubt and shyness.   Austen is an early feminist hero for her representation of a strong female voice at a time when women were not supposed to read let alone write.   Austen had to publish anonymously under the byline- "by a Lady" and many of her books were published after her death. She herself never married though she played with notions of marriage and love defining and defying social codes of the 19th century with characters like Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice and Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility.   

Many of her books have been adapted for film and most people now know the stories from Hollywood - even updated versions such ad Clueless starring Reese Witherspoon as a Valley Girl Emma.   This is a shame since you are robbed of the richness of her social satire and acute observations of life without reading her words.

The Bank of England issued a new ten pound note today bearing her image in honor of her birthday.

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Eighty Four CLASSICAL

Today was a busy day.  Non stop.  I painted with a two year old client at 9 am.  Attended to business at Hospice.   Gessoed several yards of cotton muslin for painting.  Attended group therapy.  Had a phone conference for NYU and then went to Reiki circle until 9 pm.   A blur.

What a relief to come home and be able to listen to a little classical music.
Rafe Vaughn Williams' fantasy for violin and piano Lark Ascending was the piece played at my friend Claudia's memorial service.   At this time last year she was still alive and I visited with her in her garden where I planted larkspur and lilies and foxglove to give her a little hope for the future.

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Eighty Three EARTHEN WEAR

The one good thing today is not earthen pottery, but clothing that is good for the earth and reminds me of my connection to the earth.  On Friday the Eileen Fisher Company had their warehouse sale for what they call "Fisher Found" or clothing that is gently used and being given a new life on a new body.

https://www.fisherfound.com/

For the past several years I simply haven't been as interested in shopping for clothing as I was as a young person, but I so enjoy the warehouse sale.  People ripping through bins and racks of clothing and practically undressing in the aisles.   It reminded me of the Clothing Exchange in Wellesley, MA, where I grew up.  It was where my mother tried to pick up used Catholic school uniforms fro her many children and where eventually I might find and Izod shirt I could afford when I transferred to a prep school on scholarship in junior high.   Everything was under $50 at Fisher Found for clothing that usually sells for between $100 and $300.   Sweaters were $15!   And I found an entire collection of things all in wool and linen and in colors that could all be described as mushroom.   So earthy, which suits me right after my sojourn in Maine where I felt connected the woods and nature.

I love that they are all things previously own by another - just as my vintage rings were once worn by women in other decades and even centuries with their own history.

In addition to earthen clothing another good thing about the weekend was felting with friends.  I bought lots of raw wool and we spent Saturday up to our elbows in olive oil soap rolling wet wool to make felt.  So satisfying.   Some of my pieces were a little loose and delicate so I took to needle felting them.  This is the process of using a needled with tiny barbs on it to marry layers of wool together to make felt.  Because of its scaly fibers wool accommodates this type of binding without need for sewing or even a glue.  It's my new favorite activity, both destructive and creative.  Stabbing the felt is quite aggressive and yet terribly satisfying.  I could write an entire thesis on this one subject.

Needle felted mice

By the way - I am now officially half way to my goal of 365 days!  

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Eighty Two DISCOVERIES

This summer the spiders seem to be vying for top locations in my yard.   With all the rain their webs are easy to spot all jeweled up like great diamond necklaces.

Outside my kitchen door

“When Indra fashioned the world, he made it as a web, and at every knot in the web is tied a pearl. Everything that exists, or has ever existed, every idea that can be thought about, every datum that is true—every dharma, in the language of Indian philosophy—is a pearl in Indra's net. Not only is every pearl tied to every other pearl by virtue of the web on which they hang, but on the surface of every pearl is reflected every other jewel on the net.  Everything that exists in Indra's web implies all else that exists” (Brook, 2009).

They are often the first discovering of the morning.  Today when I got back to walking again the other discoveries were sticks (which I am collecting to create an homage to fiber artist Sheila Hicks). I will wrap them and knot them with colorful yarns.   

Perpetual Migration - Sheila Hicks 2014-15 

My morning walk

The other discovery was Untermeyer Park in the morning and its gorgeous vista over the Hudson.

            

OGT DAILY Day One Hundred and Eighty One REMINDERS

Gray day.  Rain in the morning.  Aching back again and legs.  Stiffness.   Harmony, happiness and pain relief are not guaranteed.   They all seemed very far and distant this morning when just yesterday I felt blissfully fine  I am reminded that it is Bastille Day and the poor excuse we have for a president is over in Paris being feted by their new president with all the pomp and pageantry he can muster. Very clever strategy to get Trump to fold on the Paris Climate Accord even if its a sickening site.   Bastille Day commemorates no great joys, but painful and bloody battles of the common man against the powerful.   There are no great joys without also great pains.   So I stretched and tried to remember that this too would pass.    Giving in to pain, fear and depression just perpetuates it.  

Bastille Day

Modern mystic and philosopher Ken Carey says:  'Those who are motivated by fear, no matter how they justify such motivation to themselves, are working to keep the world in darkness."
http://www.mysticmamma.com/tag/ken-carey/

I'm reminded of 45 and the fear mongering and hatred he stirred up in order to become elected.

Franklin Roosevelt in his now famous first inaugural address in 1933 said, "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself," and encouraged the entire nation to come together and work against the common ills of poverty and unemployment during the great depression.  He is was largely responsible for the social safety net (social security etc..) which we now take for granted and which Republican conservatives have been itching to dismantle.   

It can be difficult when faced with darkness or pain to succumb, but I've learned in my almost 60 years ways to quell both fear and pain.  One of the few side benefits of age is wisdom.   My favorite new technique, which helped me out of my creaky funk this morning is a breathing and energy technique called Cohesive or Focused Breathing (Dr. Robert Brown, Steven Elliot).  Many of the components are based on mindfulness and breath technique, but also QiGong which is a Chinese method for working with the bodies inherent energetic system (Robert Peng, QiGong Master).

Robert Peng, QiGong Master Teacher

My friend Ron taught this technique a few weeks ago at a retreat.  What I used this morning was the QiGong technique of The Four Golden Wheels.   These activate the body, clear our blocks of energetic flow and help to balance breathing and heart rate as well as the nervous system. 

Marvelous.  Like a miracle.  I was fine the rest of the day.

http://podtail.com/podcast/sounds-true-insights-at-the-edge/the-master-key-awakening-the-four-golden-whee/