American Beautyberry - a glorious gift

Here is one of my favorite plants in my yard.  It is currently covered with these lovely clusters of purple berries.  I am embarrassed to say I cannot recall her name (can see her face) but the plant was a gift from a friend at the Lutheran Church in Greenwood.  It has thrived over the last several years (in spite of, or perhaps because of my ignoring it) and is now a real showpiece!  It has never been pruned, watered or fertilized by me!  If you haven't yet noticed it, take a look when you come out to classes at The Yogatorium.  It is just to the left of the parking lot as you face the building.

American Beautyberry

American Beautyberry

Am I loved? Did I love well?

I am still in "The Five Invitations."  The second invitation is "Welcome Everything, Push Away Nothing."  The section begins with a quote from Mizuta Masahide (never heard of him or her before) -
"Barn's burnt down -
Now
I can see the moon."
This is about the ninth time I have read these wise words.
But, this morning, I have been most struck by my post title "Am I loved?  Did I love well?"  Or more relevant today - Do I love well?"  The author, Frank Ostaseski, is writing that these two questions are what those who are near death ask.  Perhaps I am near death now?  Certainly nearer than yesterday.  Whatever.

Learning to Love Better

Again, from my Five Invitations book - introduction.  I keep coming back to this and as I do, I come closer to an understanding - my understanding of what it means to me.
"The purpose of every life is to grow in wisdom and learn to love better." p. viii
I have often said "I want to be a wise woman."  But, I don't recall ever saying I want to love better.
But I do.  Somehow seeing it in print brought it home to me as perhaps a more important desire than being wise.  Or maybe it is simply the basic characteristic of a wise woman?  

"Don't wait."

I am now studying "The Five Invitations - Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully."  You will see more from this study, but for now:

"Don't wait is an encouragement to step fully into life.  Don't miss this moment waiting for the next one to arrive.  Don't wait to act on what is most important.  Don't get stuck in the hope for a better past or future; be present."

The above all comes from the first invitation - DON'T WAIT.  Perhaps the challenge here is figuring out what is most important!

Day 26 in Vermont - Last full day - Busyness?

The last three days have been full but not too full.  Saturday and Sunday were mostly just being here in our lovely lodge or sitting on the deck listening to the loon calls in the mornings and evenings and simply watching the sugar maples and other trees blowing in the winds.  Monday Breck spent the afternoon here, Tuesday Bob and Ruth, and today we're going to John and Judy's home for lunch.
Tomorrow we begin the three-day trip home.
Friends - from thirty years ago or more - have been so welcoming and charming.  This has given us food for thought that goes very deep inside and gives us a feeling of belonging that is comforting, inspiring, and connection that is quite rare, at least for me.   It makes me eager to work on building closer relationships wherever I am whoever they are.  Each one has added a dimension to my life that is worthy of much more attention on my part.
Just being busy seems so empty and thus unimportant.  What would all the busyness be for?  Why do I find myself used up by being busy with little left over for the truly good.  Some day I need to write about this more - maybe even several days or even weeks?  Our hours of watching the trees, the flowers, picking up apples from under the neighbor's tree across the street, watching the clouds during the day and stars and moon at night, listening intently to friends and actually hearing them, selecting rocks from the pile next door to add to the labyrinth, waving to the walkers and bikers as they go by our front deck.
Enough.

Day 22 in Vermont - Saturday morning

Two of my favorite sites on the way from Elmore to Morrisville  are the little chicken house and the circular red barn three miles down the road (where the internet kicks in).  About there our ears pop - quite an altitude change.  The chickens are fenced in but have the lovely little house to spend the night,  even with a tiny side porch!  By the way, the chickens sell for $5.49 per pound at the Elmore General Store where I buy earrings - and other stuff, of course.
Upper left photo is me during the lomi lomi Hawaiian massage Joni Martin gave me yesterday morning.
Then, the corn roast last evening with about a dozen friends - including four guitarists - Kyle and Tom, plus Frank and Judy.  To get to the site in the woods, we drove a long way through fields of pumpkins, tomatoes, and who knows what else.  I actually led a Nitchi Tai Tai chant around the fire to move the guests from picnic tables to chairs around the fire to the accompaniment of Judy's drum.  (Maybe we need to have another drum circle at The Yogatorium?
Does it sound like we're having fun?  We are!
Not much time for philosophical ponderings except to say Life is good here!  We even wear sweaters morning and evening.

Day 20 - Vermont

The Theater

Sugar Maple

Highest View of Mountains in Distance 180 Degrees

Not a Typical House in Vermont!

A view of the beautiful sights on a road trip on Tuesday.  We spent a delightful time with Breck first having lunch at the 14 million dollar opera house modeled after Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Then to the top of a hill to see the mountains (in the distance above the trees) and simply driving through the beautiful countryside.  The house is the most unusual one we've seen!  And then this morning I spotted the lovely fallen sugar maple leaf in our yard.
Then yesterday, a beautiful rainy day all day long except for the usual sunny break in the afternoon.  A trip to Stowe for guitar picks, a stop at a glass blowing factory, a quick stop at Ben and Jerry's and back to our lovely vacation home.  Once again, hundreds of cars in the parking lot at Ben and Jerry's so we passed on entering the place - for the third time!  It is truly amazing how many crowds of tourists are here!  But, in our little village of Elmore, you would never know it!