Sorry for the pun in the post title. I really couldn't help myself. It's a disease you see, and you could feel compassion for me if only you would...

My mantra for 2009.

This image, made by Dippylulu, comes from Patti Digh's site, 37 days.  Master bloggers Patti, Carl McColman at Anamchara The Website of Unknowing , Dave Pollard from How to Save the World   and Phil Wyman at Square No More have been (often unwittingly) excellent mentors this year.  I am grateful to all four of them for their generosity in helping this barely-more-than-fledgling blogger move forward.   There are many other web-friends that I cherish and have linked to--thank each of you as well.

That gratitude being expressed, this post is Part II of the blogging round-up for 2008 at the Virtual Tea House (VTH).  Part I was excerpts from other bloggers on the Virtual Tea House.  Part II is from the stuff I've posted, and since I'm the host and the most frequent poster, I wanted to put out a nice smorgasbord for youse.

For this post's format, I stole Jena's idea from Bullseye, Baby.  She says she stole it from someone else, who stole it from someone else.  Just goes to show you that there's nothing new under the First Life banner. There may be something new in the Second Life one, but that remains yours to find out.

There's 3 parts to this Part II!  Part One is simply a few lines from each of my first posts of each month for the year (that's what I stole from Jena.) Part Two consists of my favorite posts of the year, and apparently, yours as well.   Part Three is a compilation of the poems I've been posting weekly to One Single Impression.  I'm no poet, but I'm learning a lot from some really fine poets that are part of that community.  And I'm having fun, and it's a discipline to write a poem weekly about a particular word or phrase.  OF COURSE I resist doing it, that's my nature.  But of course, I do it, as that's also part of my nature, and my commitment is strong to become a competent writer, so there you have it.

Andy's three sons and me, Thanksgiving, 2008.
Two of us are having a birthday party, and all of us are smothered in chocolate frosting...

PART ONE

These are the first posts of each month. Several of these posts are links to other people's blog posts--all part of the community building work of the VTH.

January 2008  
In sweet memoriam: John O'Donohue 1954-2008

We raise our heads above the fray of the new year to mourn the loss and toast the life of John O'Donohue who died in his sleep the 9th Holy Night, January 3rd, 2008, at the age of 53.  His life is one that will reverberate like a well-placed pebble in a deep pond for generations to come.  To read the rest of this post, click here.

February 2008 
“I HAVE a little spiel I like to give about thread,” Natalie Chanin said the other day. “The ladies laugh at me and call it my Oprah moment, but here’s how it goes: It’s called loving your thread, and it’s all about talking to the thread, coaxing it to take the path of least resistance. At the crux of it, that’s what Slow Design is all about.”  Read the entire article here: The Slow Life Picks Up Speed - New York Times

March 2008 
Guest Blogger: Helen Mildenhall goes Off the Map

I met Helen in my scouting around for quality blogs for the Engaged Spirituality Carnival.  I found more in Helen than I knew I was searching for...Helen lives in Illinois with her husband and two children. She hosts the blog Conversation at the Edge and is blog manager for Off The Map, an organization promoting  'otherlyness’, the spiritual practice of serving.    --Beth, VTH Host

Helen's quote: 'When I was a Christian, I didn’t think of everyday life as having intrinsic spirituality. Rather the opposite – everyday life was an unspiritual problem I hoped spirituality would resolve for me.

I tried to import spirituality into my everyday life so I could draw on it as a resource. I would get topped up with spirituality at church or Bible study. Or by spending time alone reading the Bible and praying to God. Then I would re-enter everyday life bringing my renewed supply of spirituality. Hoping it would be right there next time I needed it.'  Click here to read the rest of this post.

April 2008 
Guest blogger: Joe Reilly "ML King's Dream Is Still Alive"

Joe Reilly is a wonderfully kind and spirited human being who also happens to be a talented musician and lives in Michigan.  This email came from Joe yesterday about how he's living the message of Dr. King's life: show up, be counted. Know that the good we do may not bear fruit for generations to come.  Be steadfast. Walk on.  --Thank you, Joe for carrying the Dream

Joe's website is: Spirit Boy--The Music of Joe Reilly

Joe Reilly's My Space

NOTE: Joe comes through Bend, Oregon every year on his West Coast Tour...can't wait to have you here in February 2009 again, Joe!

May 2008  
2nd carnival on Engaged Spirituality: Engaging Resistance

[Postcard image of water flowing around a huge boulder. words: 'Obstacles add interest to the flow']

This postcard was copied from StarLightWalker's post: Obstacles. While StarLightWalker received permission from Steve Sorensen, the  artist of the beautiful website Nana Gaia to use this photograph, I did not ask.  I trust it is acceptable to use for this purpose.

I had all good intentions of writing a passable post about resistance on the Virtual Tea House for this carnival, but I didn't do it.  I'm trying not to complain these days, but I've been really busy.  Who isn't?  No excuses...but there are some reasons, mediocre in quality.  Call it resistance if you must.  I resemble that!  

June  2008 
On a Wing and the Whatever Prayer

"Whatever I have to see

Whatever I have to feel

Whatever I have to remember

Whatever I have to go through...

If it is for my healing

and the highest good of all beings

I agree to it."

I had the honor this past weekend of joining a group of about 20 people, mostly from Central Oregon, for a workshop led by Jonathan Goldman.  It was supposedly about 'Living from the Heart: Embodying Calmness'...and of course, it was about that.  But those who have gone to more than one of Jonathan's trainings say that that they are all about the same thing: living lives of surrender, compassion, faith....and of course, calmness comes naturally--almost as a default!  The work is about learning how to be what we really are: a bridge between spirit and matter, heaven and earth. The work is about how to compassionately remove the layers of fear, doubt, unforgiveness and anxiety that obscure the light that we embody.

July  2008 
A July Morning Iditerod

While I'm working on unveiling the 'Where's Home?' loveliness--here's some pics taken with my trusty T-Mobile Dash phone on an early morning walk with Geronimo.  He continues to get us up at ridiculously early hours (like 4am), and I've decided, NOT true to form, to not resist and to make the best of  this irritation. Actually think he might be my new guru--trying to really 'wake me up'.  Click here to read the rest of this post.

August 2008   
Photo journal of extra/ordinary love

Days with my Father

or cut/paste this URL: http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/

Someone just sent me this link--it's an amazing photo-journal of the on-going journey of Phillip Toledano with his 98 year old father through the end of his days.   There is some remarkable vulnerability from the author--about himself, as well as his father's life.   This is an amazing photo-montage--well worth dealing with the funky formatting...

September 2008  
My best day so far: absolutely nothing happened

'Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but rather a manner of traveling'--Samuel Johnson

This post is an attempt to write with my left brain about a right brained experience.  It happened over 10 years ago now, so I have the right to call it 'my best day' as it's not the only day I can recall with my middle-aged memory--I have days to compare it to!

This day was nothing spectacular. In fact, nothing happened. If you're reading this thinking that you're going to hear about an event or something exciting, you better move on down your blog post reading list...but if you want to hear about a day that is my best one so far because of a lack of expectations and judgments, here's my journal entry.  My most sincere desire is to have more and more of these days until they end up blurring together like cities on the east coast of Florida...impossible to tell one from the other!   Click here to read the rest of the story...

October 2008 
It's Thursday night in our one short week of life

Thanks to Maria Hodkins for sending this poem. It is a call  that is echoing in my heart-mind.

Call & Answer

Tell me why we don't lift our voices these days
and cry over what is happening.  Have you noticed
the plans are made for Iraq and the ice cap is melting?

I say to myself: "Go on, cry. What's the sense
of being an adult and having no voice? Cry out!
See who will answer! This is Call and Answer!"

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

NOTE:  As of January 2009, we're pleased that Maria is a blogger on the Virtual Tea House. 
 

November 2008  
Ways to connect with the ancestors

"Our destiny is found on the path we take to avoid it."--none other than that ancestral mentor to many, Carl Jung

Hallowed E'en, All Saints Day and All Souls Day, October 31 - November 2, are Christian holy days devoted to our relationship with ancestors.  During this time of the year the veil between worlds is thin and we can seek to understand and evolve our relationship with those who have brought us to existence and have now have passed from our sight.

For the purpose of the post, we are referring to our human ancestors, although we have many other kinds, including animals who have formed us (they could be attached through generations before we were born), trees, mountains, etc.   Click here to read the rest of this post.

December 2008 
What might the Buddha, via The Eagles, say about the trampling of the Wal-Mart worker?

The atrocity at Wal-Mart this weekend left most of us stunned and somehow defensive.  'I wouldn't have pushed by the man...or his co-workers who were trying to help.....' It reminds me how upon hearing the story of St. Peter betraying Jesus with a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane as a child I thought, 'I would never deny Jesus like Peter did'.   Ironic, that even in my childish thinking I had a dark inkling that I had no idea what I would do/have done in those circumstances.   Click here to read the rest of this post.

PART TWO--your favorites and mine, too!  My favorite favorites are in bold!

Jacks' failed (im) mortality plan 
Waiting in the garden: stories of hula hoops, humus and holy crappola 
The dog's in heaven and the cat's in jail 
Guest post from Susan Dearborn Jackson: Tales of the wandering boob   
How to be a woman 
Stepping into a violent wind 
Katrina remembered 
Learners inheriting the earth 
We live because we live 
Please, go ahead and mix us up 
Death by angel food cake 
Out of the frying pan... 
The future is ours to see 
On being a potential water witch 
Who needs pockets? 
Resources for human hibernation 
 

AND OF COURSE, the 'where's home?' writing contest was such a lovely thing. Thanks again to all who participated.

The set up   
The question is unanswerable 
Home is a place 
Home is searching for us 
We carry home with us like a turtle 
The finalists, who all received wildflower seeds for their locale!

PART THREE:  The One Single Impression (OSI) weekly poetry posts to prompts. Started  submitting September 1.  Even those these poems are often visited by other poets from the OSI community, they are open to all who come by the site, and I welcome feedback or criticism from all!  Personal favorites are in red!

Nothing spectacular

Ready for the low down

Raven+Plum Pit = High Drama 

a remedy for what ails the world

On not making a travesty of tapestry

A sterling question

no good answer

Riddle: Why does Sally sell seashells by the sea-shore?*

a puzzlement

the fly-by

The courage to see clearly

memories of a third kind

Come, sit by the fire a spell

doodling all the way home

the opposite of distraction is joy

Winter's Day Confessions

prima materia

Thanks again to all who have read, commented, posted stories and brought others to this site.  We're going to just keep growing and exploring together! Happy new year to each of you--

Beth and all the Bloggin' Bloggers at the VTH