Jeez Louise

Back to my meditation spot. The summer flew by, with walking kyaking rowing and swimming! I feel blessed everyday! & I feel my parents' presence in the midst of this beauty! Butterflies reminding me that mom is with me. And whenever an eagle soars across the water, I know that dad is soaring ina other realm! And I feel: "I'm on top of the world, looking down on creation And the only explanationI can find Is the love that I've found Ever since you've been around. you're what makes me on top of the world!

There is something comforting, peaceful, medatative; about being inthe midst of gisnt cedars. Their sheer size, derp roots, speak to the wisdom in their branches after decades of battling the wind, the rain, the snow...and all the elements that are a part ofour lovely creation!

latest mantra: rest dont rush. Photo taken 2 years ago at the monastery of St Gertrudes in Cottonwood, Id! I attended a week long retreat on the rule of St Benedict! A full moon sunset over the prarie! Learning to adjust as i seek treatment for my lung disease, MAC, mycobacterium avium intracellulare complex. A mouthful in itself! A new normal, as i am more tired and fatigued! But, blessed because i can still do most things, just at a slower pace! Patience, ponderings, peace! Jeez Louise!

Ti Mamaigo Si Yu’os” when translated means “God never sleeps." James Paul Gumataotao This is a mantra often recited when one experiences orcwitnesses an injustice in a Spanish speaking country. While we in the US are faced daily with conflict being played out with hurtful words and acts. There is no question that Trump has intriduced into our society a hateful rhetoric that folks are willing to exercise. I try to be hopeful, and i know Gid never sleeps. I just want him/her to do more in the waking hours. But perhaps it is up to me to do more! But, I feel tired, & helpless to make changes. Even though I know in my heart that every little ripple makes a change! as Ghandi said, "BE THE CHANGE!" Jeeze Louise!

Realizing that life really is not so perfect! But if i use the Greek, then at some point; life will be whole:PERFECT! reading abook about the Salvadorian war! Always the same. Always the poor experiencing the most devastation. As in Gaza, & the never ending wars in Africa. "What You Have Heard is True" by Carolyn Forche. she talks about Praxis, "humanan action to change reality." pg 277. or, established practice or customs. poet Czeslaw Milosz:"If a thing exists in one place, it exists everywhere." and poet, Bertolt Brecht said,"the power of the poor to change the course of history is the world's one hope." jeeze Louise! ."

"Today’s Gospel contains three commands from Jesus: Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Be perfect Loving and praying for such people seems challenging at best. But it’s the third command - “Be perfect” - that might provide the most hope and empower us to love more wholly. The original Greek for perfect can also be translated as whole or complete. Using this translation, the command no longer seems impossible. Be whole." Marissa Flores Madden in today's Refresh lenten prayer regarding Mathew 5:43-48. interesting to use the Greek definition of percect, which is whole.. Jow can i learn to be whole this season? Whole like the fullness of the Moon. which will be full tonight. But, Spokane has been mostly cloudy snd grey, which is matching with my own feelings these days. My lung disease, macrobacteriun avium intracellulare complex, MAC, has returned. So, I am learning a new normal; negotiating doctor appointments, IV treatments, generally learni...

 Dreams:  series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring  in a person's mind during sleep.   So, February 14, Valentine 💘 day,  marks the 110 anniversary of the Slovenian arrival in Homedale.  I was looking up info, so perhaps this not surprising that I have been having dreams of the folks in the settlement.   They settled on land on what is now on Graveyard Point Road.  A cluster of 3 room shacks, their “dream” homes!  Along with 40 acres of sagebrush, which was supposed to already have been planted with alfalfa!   So, 2 nights ago, it was dream about dad walking along Graveyard point road with a long time neighbor. The setting was similar to the road to Emmaus.  “  During the journey to Emmaus, according to Alfred McBride, Jesus patiently guided the two disciples "from hopelessness to celebration".  Much like my dad’s death, not really hopelessness.  But certainly loss to celebration.   And last night, I...

 LOSS There is something wonderful  Almost delightful About snuggling in a cozy flannel bed,  On a cold, drizzly winter morn After the loss  of one you love most                               Jeez Louise! 

 So, my dear dad died on January 16, after nearly 100 years with us!  What a man.  What a life.  Intelligent, curious, always willing to embrace the new technology always trying to solve in a creative way any problem that came before him.  An amazing human being!  Zero zilch memory loss.  In fact, I believe his memory was better than mine!!!!  So, here’s a tribute to him:  https://flahifffuneralchapel.com/tribute/details/327998/Edward-Chadez/obituary.html Dad and I, road trip at age 99!  How blessed am I?       New Years Eve,  end of 2023, end of an era! Eileen flew in from Barcelona to spend some last meaningful days with her grandpa! Dad and mom, photo I took which won 2nd place in photography contest at Washington State, WAZZU! And dad as a young sprout!  Reading a book,”Healing the heart of Democracy” by Parker Palmer.  He talks about his wife editing his work  and she asks 3 questions:  “Is it...

Word for the day: genocide: “the deliberate   killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of   destroying   that nation or group.” I can think of no other word for what is happening in Gaza.  4500 children dead. hospitals being flooded with artillery and bombing, and are no longer functional.  ICU babies being allowed to die.  Who does this?  And the US continues to provide more weapons of mass destruction.  And the propaganda continues so that Israel can justify its continued massacre.  I am heartsick.  The whole world watches!  I feel that all I can do is pray…. And write to my officials.  And cry for lost lives!   I have been touched by a song/prayer we have been singing at church: “Lord, listen to the children praying. Lord, send your Spirit in this place.  Lord, listen to your children praying. Send us love, send us power, send us grace.”   But,I have been substi...

 Word of the day:  Contemplation.  Richard Rohr writes in today’s daily reflections that: “ Contemplation, in non-mystified language, is the ability to meet Reality in its most simple and direct form. When I let go of my judgments, my agenda, my emotive life, my attachment to my positive or negative self-image, I am naked, poor, and ready for The Big Truths. Without some form of contemplative surrender, I see little hope for breakthrough, for new ground, for moving beyond ideologies, the small mind, and the clutching ego.” So, Action requires contemplation in order to do the right thing.  A year ago, I had left my spiritual Camino walk in Spain 🇪🇸 due to a hacking cough and high fever.  It provided me time to contemplate the nature of this spiritual journey.  Eileen and I enjoyed a Sunday afternoon with her friend Andrea and daughter Lola! Family is truly the most important gift we have.  And it extends beyond blood relatives.  But, Eileen had h...

 Word of the day: Birth: the start of life as a physically separate being or form.  And today, I celebrate 69 laps around the sun ☀️.  Can’t say I feel enlightened!  Just weary of our constant wars!  All in the name of some sick form of “JUSTICE”!!!!!!!  But I also feel blessed in my own world.  I am so grateful for my family, living in a lovely spot on this earth, and having all that I need, and most of what I want on this earth 🌎 🌍.  (Notice the different perspectives on the globes 🌏)!   Jeez Louise! A butterfly exhibit we attended on my birthday in 2016 stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

 Word of the day: Chronology: arrangement of dates according to occurrence.  Just read “The Truth at the Heart ❤️ of the Lie.” By James Carroll.  He talks about the corruption of the church!  “The pillars of the Catholic Church are crumbling on every side, shaking the very structure of the faith.”(pg 7).  He talks about the difference between the institutional church vs “living the faith by” what we DO, “more than by which rules or dogma” we hold. (Pg43).  Jesus is with us “in the ‘great and simple image’ of the Mass.” (44). Pope Urban II, was quite the corrupter! In 1089, he ordered the enslavement of women married to priests.  Pope Gregory, who proceeded him; began advancing celibacy in 1073!  He also began the First Crusades in 1095.  By 1123, celibacy was mandatory in the “Roman” Catholic Church.   The beauty of Autumn in Spokane!   So, a piece of church history! And a reminder of the joys of our world!  Jeez Louise!

 Word for the day: GRACE:  simple elegance! At church today, a beautiful refrain: “ lord, listen to your children praying,                           Lord, let your spirit in this place.                                 lord, listen to your children praying;                              give us love give us power give us grace!”    So much do we need Grace today. A new war raging in Israel and Palestine; continued wars throughout Africa and the Ukraine; and just a lack of peace anywhere I hope the Lord is listening to the children praying 🙏 and that somehow we can find grace in our world. The fall here is gorgeous, beautiful colors, blue skies, and a calmness in the air. I am hoping that somehow this piece may permeate throughout Spokane, Washington st...

 Word of the day:  banalities: devoid of qualities that make for spirit and character! In a quote by journalist Maher Mezahi, he made this statement about returning to Algeria from France: “I've realised that on life's journey, if you find happiness in the banalities of day-to-day life, then it's usually a good place to stop and pitch your tent.” Such we have found at our lake place!  But,it really is far from banal!           Painting the outside of the house, 3 stories up!            Tia Leenie and Benny, enjoying the lake!      And always the gorgeous sunsets.  It’s been a great      place to “pitch our tent”, then our trailer, treehouse,   And now our lovely home, Halloween 🎃 is coming           Wishing you a fabulous October and fall!   A year ago today, I had my first electric bike ride in Barcelona.  Home after a vermouth event, where I...

 Word of the day: 46! That’s how many years Dave and I have been married today. But I have been absent for over a month. I really have no excuses I could say I’ve been busy. But, making time for reflection, should be a part of every day life. Somehow, august got away from me. AUGUST: inspiring reverence or admiration!   Perhaps the last month involved so much reverence that I forgot or overlooked meditation. Or perhaps it was the smoke and the fires that rage near me in both Spokane and Diamond Lake.  And the fires have been devastating this year. As I look at it, sunrise over Lake Washington at my friend Christine’s home; I also am reminded of her loss of two homes in Lahaina. Loss, and hopefully rebirth. To start again, rebuilding a rejuvenating, and reminding ourselves of the blessings we have. Blessings of friendship and laughter and love.                Jeez, Louise!

 Word of the day: Helen, which means light! It is associated with the phrase , “The face that launched a thousand ships.”  Helen Louise Schuler Chadez, my dear Mom, would have been 95 today! An incredible woman, who is now performing her magic in heaven.            Sunrise at the farm, Homedale, Idaho                                   Jeez Louise!

 Word of the day: dichotomy: a contrast between 2 things that are opposite.  “Heaven and hell are not so much places we end up in the afterlife or places of reward and punishment, but rather, they are moments in relationship, lived experience here and in the time that follows our sojourn on this earth. On the one hand, the sense of heaven, for me, rests in the connection and interwoven sense of life that is organic to a tribal community. On the other hand, hell might be imagined as those times of severe dislocation, removal, and dis-connection to tribe and family….” These are the words of Carol Gallagher in Richard Rohr’s reflections for today.  I seek positive connections and interactions in my everyday life.   Like this beautiful butterfly alighting its sustenance! Jeez Louise! 

 Word of the day: busyness:  the condition of having a great deal to get done!   So it’s been 6 weeks since my last musing.  Since that time:  * I went to Seattle to pick up Eileen and her friends from Spain. * They explored Seattle, while I enjoyed Lake Washington. *We all went to a Seattle Storm (womenNBA) game. *The homelessness and open drug use was both appalling and incredibly sad.   *We celebrated Eileen’s 39 birthday there. We returned to Spokane for Hoopfest, Spokane’s signature 3 on 3 basketball tournament.  Eileen, with a co-Ed team including her brother, Braden, brother in law Sean, and her friend Andrea from Spain; WON 🏆 their division. But in the process, she ruptured her Achilles tendon.  So, now it’s 6 weeks of no weight bearing; followed by at least 6 weeks of PT.  She plane to return to Spain for the PT; as she can receive it on a daily basis.  Meanwhile, her plans of spending lots of fun time with her nephews and niec...

Word for the day:  rain.  “  moisture  condensed  from the atmosphere that falls  visibly  in separate drops.“ The rains fell last night at the farm, and cleansed the earth. I hope, too, that it will cleanse my soul as we near Pentecost Sunday; the coming of the Holy Spirit!!! Sun trying to shine through the clouds.  Storm still on the horizon.  And the crops begin to grow from the nourishment of water.  I am blessed to have been born on a farm.  Growing up watching plants grow and thrive when well taken care of!  Like all life should be!                       Jeez Louise!