And you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!– Stan Rogers
Today is a good day to recommit to a reviving of the practices of being human with one another.
There is always duplicity, prevarication, conspiracy and outright violence in the world. The way to respond is aikido…taking a dignified stance, finding ground, entering into relationship with it, blending, and co-creating peace.
Time for the wrong headedness of the past to be shed, for the best of who we are to be invited, for ego to experience its painful struggling death, for a meditative period of reflection and preparation so that our brightest and best natures can be renewed.
Generosity, respect, grace, gratitude. Have a good weekend.
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It must be spring. The fiddleheads are ready to pick, salmon berry bushes in full bloom and today Nancy’s Taco shack opened on the pier. I took my lunch there waiting for the noon ferry and contemplating the recent effect that our new Council is having on our community.
The natural world keeps me upbeat, Nancy’s tacos nourish, but there are times when my optimism wanes.
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Watch what happens when a rain delay forces two US college baseball teams to get creative. They improvise.
So much to love in this, including the fact that they created set pieces, scenes and then when they ran out of ideas staged a dance contest together. It would have been interesting to see how the game went after all this play they did together!
Here is another even better video of (almost) grown men having a great time together – moose hunting, curling, pro wrestling, playing football.
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This is me. This is the bay I live by. These mountains are the east wall of the fjord that holds the island that I live on.
Years ago a well known islander gave me the advice about living here that, if I’m in it for the long haul, I would need to develop a practice of witnessing. In the ten+ years I have lived here a lot has changed and I’m finally beginning to realize what that role of witness means.
There is a sharp division here between private and public, growing sharper every year. I believe that the rejection of a national park here was a testament to the strength of the view that public stewardship of public lands is dangerous. I happen to think that view is incorrect but I think that drove the opposition. and I think unchecked, that view will wreak havoc.
We now have here on our island a sharp line. It seems the role of our Council is tilting towards protection of private rights instead of stewardship of the public good. In the paper last week it was revealed that a private developer had cut dozens of trees in a newly established public park on the edge of his development. Not only that but he built a storm water ditch right through the tiny park to deposit rain water and associated detritus right on the public beach.
We have very little public land left that is easily accessible. It’s the height of arrogance to presume that one has the right to encroach on it for private gain.
So to witness and call out acts that violate the community’s assets, our public treasures, our few remaining places to experience wildness on an island that should be rich with wilderness.
I’ll be submitting a document opposing the construction of docks across the public Cape Roger Curtis foreshore. I’ll be opposing a loop road through what is left of Crippen Park. I’ll be asking that the developer responsible for selling the trees compensate us with money at the least, more parkland would be better.
Time to focus on home and powerfully witness what is going on around here.
You with me?
Location:Cardena St,Bowen Island,Canada
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After twelve days on the road followed by a further day of work at home and battling a flu I finally have a day off.
This morning the wind is gusting off the sea and it’s dry. The forest is drying out, kinglets and sparrows flitting around and eagles are being chased by the crows who are trying to nest in peace.
I feel the same way. Letting all that soaked through me just drain out. Watching an afternoon scooter match between Manchester United and Blackburn, drinking tea and smoothies and walking in the woods with my beloved. I’ll have a little ferry ride this afternoon to see a friend and recover a lost laptop bag, and I’m looking forward to the ease and flow of having otherwise nowhere to go and nothing to do for a couple of days.
Drying out.