Empty Wreaths

I bought 3 grapevine wreaths at the last Farmers Market of the summer season. The last Farmers Market i could go to in person. Now, the Farmers Markets around me have switched to order on line with curbside pick-up.

I thought the wreaths would be fun to take to the annual wreath-making party at a friend's house, but, of course, she has cancelled that event for this year. So now i'm home alone with 3 empty wreaths. Sigh.

Empty. Thanksgiving empty of friends to eat with, but not empty of friends to share thanks with. A wreath-making party empty of party, but not empty of wreaths.

Christmas Peace

I went to the garden store looking for an extra-large wreath ring and found one--3 feet in diameter made of 1/4-inch thick metal. The cost was $15. I cut bamboo stakes to fit--one across the diameter, and 2 radii, and duct-taped them all in place. Thus, i had the form of a peace sign. I wrapped Christmas lights all around, and hung it on hemlock.

The peace sign, with which we are familiar, began as a symbol for nuclear disarmament in the 1950s. It gained momentum and broadened its meaning during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, then lapsed into 1960s nostalgia until recently.

The peace sign carries a connotation of protest--it says "anti-war" as much as it says "peace."

The current popular word for protest is "resist."
We know that
Pain x Resistance = Suffering
so how can resistance and peace fit together?

Bernice Reagon Johnson, who participated in the civil rights marches in the 1960s, said, "Sometimes you know what you're supposed to be doing, and when you know what you're supposed to be doing, it's somebody else's job to kill you."

When you know, truly know, what you are supposed to be doing, even if it's called protesting or resistance, you simply do what you have to do. And you feel at peace.

All Lives are Impermanent

Well, spring arrived a week ago, so to celebrate the season, i defrocked the Christmas wreath on the front door and sent the wreath itself to the compost pile. I'll find its "skeleton" in a couple of years--the thin steel metal ring with a slinky spiral of green wire wrapped around and around and around and....

The wreath still looked mostly fir-green, though the yew sprigs were more yellow than green, and the spruce sprigs were turning brown. This is how old age looks on us--a bit paler and frailer than we used to be. Not quite as "much" of us as there used to be.

Friday evening, i attended a Living Memorial service for a friend who is dying. She was the mother of our local Interfaith Initiative, and a representative from each of her favorite traditions spoke, chanted, or danced. A Sufi whirling dervish, the Jewish cantor with a spectacular voice, a pan-eurhythmy dance celebrating sunset, and i offered a Buddhist chant.

All things are impermanent.

They arise, and they pass away.

To live in harmony with this truth

brings great happiness.

The season of my interfaith friend's life is passing away.
And so is mine.

Really Big Pine Cones

When we were traveling in northern, northern California and southern Oregon last summer, i stopped on the roadside and picked up some pine cones. Really big pine cones that were 16 inches long! These are the cones of the sugar pine.

My women's group has an annual wreath making party, so i took my bag of sugar pine cones and big fat Jeffrey pine cones to give to my dear women friends.

One sugar pine cone remained. I brought it home and spray-painted it with silver glitter. Add one bow and some Christmas balls, and voila! A centerpiece, which i gave to my step-daughter's family as a Christmas present, since we've already had our Christmas with them.

The joy of giving. And i especially love giving homemade gifts, made with love.

Christmas Wreath

While i was away from home yesterday, my sweetie took the Christmas wreath off the front door. He very kindly picked off the pine cones and shiny pink balls so that i can re-use them again in December. When i arrived home, the bare wreath was in the compost pile.

I know your eyebrows are raised or you're shaking your head. Well, duh.

But you'd be surprised how long we keep old, unskillful habits of mind (or just plain clutter around the house) with the rationale That's just who i am.

Peek under the corner of such a thought to find resistance to change. We like our particular brand of stress, maybe because it's so familiar--anxiety, complaining, irritation, unfairness, desire for beauty.

So keep your particular brand, even though it's outdated. Just watch the mind go around and around.
Then, one day, when you've had enough, it will just disappear.

About Time

It was about time, i suppose--i finally took the Christmas wreath off the front door. It was looking a little piqued now that warm weather has arrived. The green circle of living balsam lasted 4 months--from Christmas to Easter, from Hanukkah to Passover. There seems a certain poetic justice in that.

Yet it's just a story about time--as if time actually existed.

Time is just a way for the mind to compare past to present, past to future. In fact, past and future are mental constructions, with as much substance as a dream. The body, on the other hand, is always here now.

This gift of the present moment is the only place we can be.