Happy Holidays 2001
Greetings One and All!
WHAT A YEAR!!
This year I baked the Thanksgiving turkey and served
the cranberries in my new home! Just when you thought--I
thought--I'd never settle down, I became a home owner. (Same
as settling down?) Eight full moons have risen over Glencrest!
However, as the aborigines reminded Marlo Morgan, "Forever is a long time".
The only way I could do it was to remind myself, nothing is forever, even
buying a house, even Idaho.
SHORT FORM 2001 Jan. Breitenbush, LEC for Christmas; taken home Cmas eve! Bellingham. Yoga master ill. Body said dance. Hospice: Lois and Ralph. House
shopping.
Feb. Tucson! House shopping--death and taxes. Taught Char’s com ed class.
Mar. Betty introduces me to Merritt’s Scones and Chef’s Hut! Teachings with Robina. Packing! House!
April Visits with Ina in Lewiston, Anne in Spokane. Easter at Breitenbush and LEC. April 26 homeowner; Geo to rescue.
May May 1, full moon, first night in house! Unpacking. Learning to ask for Help and spend money wildly!! Dalai Lama in SLC. River low. Char back. Folklife.
June Garden, sprinkler system, wasps, birds, HELP! Sue moves. Cool nights; no rain. No camping with Oregon frogs; croaks in backyard. Weiser Fiddle Fest.
July New porches. Rainbow Gathering. Ken in Seattle. Larry Norvell! Anna and the King, West with the Night (BOT). Weeds; rescue by sellers.
Aug. My Grandfather’s Blessing. Huckleberries. Kayak wet. Fav. campsites trashed. Soul Explosion.
Sept. Katydid! Squash bugs. Harikari and laughter. Long time Bellingham mentor Barb dies; Lois recovers.
Oct. Spuds closes. Washer. Praying mantis! Yard rests; elm down. Marcy visits. 3 weeks East Coast visit.
Nov. Mild weather. Documentary films in Boise! Washer that works. Hot tub! Bozeman. Up at dawn, cornbread stuffing in turkey, turkey in gas
oven! Much to be grateful for!
Dec. Snow, rain, sun, sleet, snow, rain, snow!
LONG FORM 2001
(Photos Below)
December/January Enjoyed winter Solstice
at Breitenbush Hot Springs Retreat and Christmas eve at Living Enrichment
Center. Oregon has become the epicenter of my New Thought
spiritual inspiration and relaxation! Like in the Christmas story,
email pal Audrey and Ken took me home Christmas eve! What a blessing!
Further north, good visits with Karen in Seattle, Katy, Carl and Barbara
in Bellingham.
Back in Boise yoga master Char taught only a few
classes before she was too ill. I'd been having my own ego drama
with a fellow student. Now, instead, a big hole in my life--no teacher!
At the end of (one of my) yoga class at the fitness
club my body said: "Dance or else you'll never make it through winter.
It's all you'll ever need." Began staying after class, dancing, free
style. Ahh!
New hospice family, Lois and Ralph, moved
again. They're quite a trip (see Hospice webpage).
Week after week drove around, exploring neighborhoods,
looking at houses; learned about loans, met realtors. Almost
paralyzed and sleepless at thought of buying.
February. Drove down to Tucson to dig
up cousins (and pen pal Jacquie and Kirk) not seen since kidhood.
Good for soul. Didn't exactly bask in sun per fantasy (see photos
below). Read more on Travels webpage.
House shopping and nightmares continued as
I worked through fears into faith. As though I was completing long
overdue values clarification.
From--What area of town do I want to live in? to,
Is this where I want to die? Do I believe I handle stairs in my old
age? How important, really, is my first priority--trees? On
and on. A house is NOT the most important thing in my life, certainly
not 100k worth! Few of those I truly admire worry about mowing lawns
and washing windows! I don't do house cleaning, yards!
(Altho I do kinda like fixing stuff). One of the most compelling
reasons to buy was knowing I needed "to ground"; literally get my
hands in the soil. Time, in this unstable world, to do so.
Once I got myself going, enjoyed networking, meeting great folks.
Referred to loan wizard who gave no flak for being nontraditional/semi-retired/employed,
unmarried etc. Thank you, Kevin.
Char not recovered from heart surgery; filled in
for her winter community ed yoga class. Big challenge, shoes
to fill; low attendance; good support, steep learning curve, as Curt says.
March. Food. Yoga buddy and savvy senior
Betty introduced me to Merritt’s Scones ('round the corner) and Chef’s
Hut ('cross town), classic Boise cafes I hadn't taken time to explore!
Thank you, Betty!
Awesome Buddhist teacher Robina Courtin,
Liberation Prison Project founder, taught in Boise, melted my heart.
As soon as I saw/felt the compassion she feels for humanity, especially
prisoners, decided to attend every minute of her teachings. Never
met anyone who explained Buddhism
so clearly. Still waiting to become correspondent/ support person
through her prison ministry contacts.
Beaucoups homes for sale, "unconscionable" prices,
low interest rates. Universe waiting for me to decide what I want.
Out wandering one morning, turned into a subdivision past SUVs and pickups,
waved to gal from fitness club out with her young kids as I suddenly saw
an especially appealing house for sale by owner! Dashed home;
dialed. Things got scary as they fell into place. Imagine,
sellers who like their neighbors and want someone who'll fit in!
By then, one of the values I'd clarified was how
much I wanted a neighborhood where I'd feel comfortable and how I wanted
to know and like the sellers. Good to end up negotiating with a wonderful
family, equally unsophisticated. (In hindsight I realized Heather
had more than a dash of salesperson in her!). All in all, the purrfect
match. "You'll be sorry you don't use a realtor", we were warned.
Not yet!
April. Coloradoan George Fredericks
made timely visit to Idaho, helping move numerous 2 person items in his
SUV. Bless him. Regretfully Idaho's weather was abysmal; afraid
he'll never return. Took break from packing and schlepping boxes
to storage unit(s). Enjoyed Easter services at Living Enrichment
Center and another visit to Breitenbush. Signed house papers April
26. (More home owning adventures on Glencrest webpage)
Dashed up to Spokane
one weekend to visit Anne, home after several years in Hawaii (blew chance
to visit HI)! She's remarkably the same; that thin line between taking
care of one's self and not being able to, is no clearer to me. The
role of faith in mental health fascinates me. Missed connecting
with Sandy but saw Ina and Bill now in Lewiston. Enjoyed Thai Taste
again, still my favorite Thai restaurant.
May. May 1, first night at the house.
Came in late, frazzled, after cleaning the apartment in dim light.
Instant home. Had never seen/been in the house without 7 people and
4 animals living there! Time to fetch boxes from storage. Biggest,
perhaps most painful lesson-- learning to ask for Help.
Even bigger perhaps than learning to spend money
freely. Help came from unexpected sources, like yoga team, Julie,
Glenn and Sue! (photo below) When I wasn't panicked, I was
overwhelmed with gratefulness. Realized with a start, like it or
not, a house is about Relationship! Issues in my face. Grateful
to have grown up in small town and time when neighbors were important.
Soon mornings started early with wasp hunts. Sellers planted
garden "for me", with the idea that they could use while renting nearby.
Water hemlock and more kept me busy.
Dashed down to Salt Lake one weekend to see the
14th
Dalai Lama; my seat was remote, sound poor. All I can really
say is I've "seen" the incomparable peace maker I so admire through binoculars.
Boise River very low.
Yoga teacher Char back for couple of weeks of classes.
End of May returned to Seattle for Northwest Folklife
after missing 2 years and two terrific T-shirts. Wonderful, especially
the anthropology documentary films, especially "The Laughter Club".
June. Home, home, home, rooting,
weeding, sprinkler heads and pumps; triage--what's first?! Hiring
and fixing; for this I studied meditation/ negotiation. No jaunt
to sleep with the Oregon frogs this year; croaks in the backyard.
Enjoyed cool nights! Still no rain.
Yoga buddy and special friend Sue and family moved
to Las Vegas, leaving big hole in my life. Inherited their extra
gear--bench, porch table and chairs!
Message/call from Michigan History magazine said
grandfather Mann's manuscript (which I'd submitted summer 2000) would be
cover story in June issue, sorry no time for corrections or adding his
photos. Project "began" about 1967 when I gave grandfather's glass
slides about logging in MI(?) to U of Illinois folklorist/ Wobbly/teacher
Archie Green to give to appropriate museum. Suddenly ~1990, in mom's
piles in Colorado, I found the transcript for the slides. Eventually
found Archie in San Francisco. He referred me to his daughter who
had the slides in storage in Iowa! She left them for me at a hotel
in Portland while she was at a conference and I was in the area!!!
After giving copies of the stories to each brother, still felt grandfather's
story was worth telling. Michigan History magazine is it! See
Logger webpage.
July. Wayne and helper Don added backyard
porches, painted house. Enjoyed meeting this fundamentalist (Christian)
whose church meets under a cottonwood and speaks in tongues. We were
mutually puzzled; Wayne, by why I helped my neighbor when there was nothing
in it for me; me, by his big heart and curious Christianity!
Weeds won garden; sellers came to rescue
one weekend. Bless them. First woman I contracted to mow, mowed
a couple of times, cut out with rest of money. Neighbor Kyle took
over--whew!
Over 4th of July, couldn't resist chance to check
out the Rainbow Gathering "in my Idaho backyard". While my
brothers gadded about Europe, I drove miles of dusty roads. In a
nut shell, I'm too old for such scenes; interesting though. The experience
came into focus a few weeks later when I found my favorite campsites around
a meadow south of Cascade trashed beyond use. Charges of damage by
the Rainbow family pale compared to what local horse campers and cows regularly
do. I'll hear no more whining about hippies.
Since I missed seeing qigong master Ken Cohen in
Colorado this spring, dashed to Seattle one weekend for fine recharge.
Returned with "golden golden" bamboo plant--step one towards fantasy
of backyard hot tub ringed with bamboo. Little did I know cultivating
bamboo species has become "in"; I'd be embarrassed to divulge its price.
After buying a house tho...
Late summer, began writing and reading again, on
back burner since house hunt and move. Thanks to Pat Mudgett DeCaro
and email, heard from our kindergarten buddy, Larry Norvell in Memphis,
humor intact after all these years! Hope he and Hattie visit Idaho!
Enjoyed books on tape: Anna and the King; West with the Night
(again).
August.. Book of the year: Rachel Naomi
Remen's My Grandfather’s Blessing. Patty tipped me off to
huckleberries near Cascade Lake. Since favorite campsites now
trashed, literally camped on logging roads several weekends, reading Blessing,
picking berries in clear cuts, making pancakes. Berries not abundant
like Mt Baker's--just as tasty! Kayak got wet a couple times.
Great camp out with Helen's friends, sharing our midwest stories around
campfire.
Jeannie's Ashram (brother Jamie used the
term) opened: Thursday 6pm yoga classes began at Glencrest!
Inspired by speakers at Soul Explosion in Oregon,
especially Brother Tetteh from Ghana. Long, sunny walk on Oregon
beach.
September. Beautiful katydid
by front door! Without resident cats and dogs, perhaps yard is recovering!
Alas, learned what squash bugs do--how would I know! Colorado Evette
helped educate me. Lost quite a few of the delicious, round squash
Heather and Dennis planted. Tomatoes ripened. The only thing
I added to their setup was beets: yum.
The week of the bombings, Thursday evening
yoga class burst out laughing during relaxation, breaking the tension
of the week. (See yoga page)
Visited mom's former Jacksonville neighbor
Lois Hughes, military widow, who summers in Hailey ID, the weekend following
the bombings; surreal visit with tv on, Lois and friend watching.
I'd never known Lois and what a huge role she played in helping mother
through the 1970s, packing her up after dad died. From Lois and her
friend, also learned about toilet bowl pumice (don't know beans about serious
house cleaning).
Katy emailed that our long time birdwatcher friend
Barbara,
after slowing down considerably on morning outings,died in Bellingham hospital.
How I would like to have been to the memorial for this one of a kind, world
class story teller, birdwatcher and friend since 1977! I'll really
miss her. Ironically Lois F., my hospice assignment since December
2000, recovered to the point where I was requested to take another volunteer.
Bizarre as the family is, no can do! Decided to just be hospice in
my own neighborhood.
October.. Favorite Boise drive in,
Spuds, closed; black day for huckleberry shakes. Leaves Arctic
Circle (photo below) my distant (~15 miles) favorite, in Nampa.
Thrilled to find large praying mantis in
yard! Ever since reading Lauren van der Post's Mantis Carol,
I've adopted the Bushman's respect for this wesome critter I loved as a
child.
Marcy visited from Seattle--first to stay in house.
Great to have visitor!
Continuing the search for family and reconnecting,
spent 3 weeks visiting the East Coast. Looked up Hemphill
cousins, enjoyed yoga/qigong workshop, visited high school friend Brenda
Mallicoat, camped with Nancy Wolmuth in ME, hung out with extra special
mediator buddy Curt Brettin in Gloucester MA, and landed on brother Jamie
and family's Columbus doorstep late one dark and stormy night. (See
travels webpage) Photos below.
November. Documentary films in Boise--Les
Blanc's "Always for Pleasure"; "Keep the River on Your Right" about amazing
artist/anthropologist Tobias Schneebaum; and "Go Moan for Man" about Jack
Kerouac! Great!
Five Boise friends-of-Buddha in 4 rigs dashed up
to Bozeman one weekend to hear San Francisco zen priest Reb Anderson teach.
Wonderful. Big Sky country! Perfect for watching the Leonids
meteor shower! Skunked! Valley socked in! Later turned
green with envy at old high school buddy Rick Brune's Denver report.
Thanksgiving at Home! After putting
stuffed turkey in oven, attended lovely 10am Christian Science Thanksgiving
service, per recommendation of (now) Las Vegas friend, Sue. Karen
Richman and her family were perfect guests and wonderful, complementary
cooks. So much to be grateful for!
In spite of my (talk's cheap) resolve to keep down
dependents, continue laundromating, etc. now have washer that works and,
at last, hot tub, my own personal backyard hot springs. Nightly
I soak, blissfully listening to night snorts and quacks (see Glencrest
Home page), pretending they're deer and coyote.
December. Kerouac documentary
(above) inspired listening to On the Road. Thank goodness for editors
and books on tape (bailed out of Visions of Cody). Related to Kerouac's
restlessness, touched by his compassion, intrigued by his wildness; no
wonder he's American legend. High time I checked out the creator
of Dharma Bums, the name adopted for "our" small, twice a month Buddhist
meditation aka coffee klatch where I sip green tea. It's my second
year of enjoying the camaraderie of Saturday morning meditation sits
and chats over muffins, to date, my most comfortable ocial experience in
Boise.
Snow, rain, snow, rain, sun, more rain, snow--real
winter at last! Added more and more blankets, until I tried out the
heavy denim covered feather quilt from Montana Sue and Jeff left.
Ahh, the perfect winter burrow! Its weight reminds me of the unforgettable
experience of sleeping under a real bear skin on a couch at the Johnny
Holzwarth cabin in Rocky Mountain National Park, summer 1974.
How to make sense of a year that began with
home/neighborhood shopping and ended with Trade Center bombings?
I'm drawn deeper and deeper into spiritual teachings to understand life,
people and change; and to yoga, to stay flexible, balanced and breathing
all the while.
Another good year of learning and teaching yoga
at the Mormon fitness club, the only club open to non athletic yoga, thanks
to far seeing, earthy coordinator Mary Kay. (Plus class at home,
and one 'cross town makes about 5/wk.) Wonderful "students" continue
to teach, challenge and support me. Together we learn to listen,
laugh, and let go. What a blessing. My shoulders and hips continue
to slowly let go and feeling return. I'm at last ble to lay comfortably
on stomach a while! As my Boise yoga master Char wrestles with heart
surgery, roles and teachings change.
Another year at the "coffee drinking, come as you
are" Vineyard (church) exploring Christianity (plus visits to a
number of other churches). Many eeks, find me at 2 services.
Still, promise myself holidays at "my true spiritual home" church in Oregon,
Living Enrichment Center, which honors all faiths. (One Vineyard
leader cut off contact after I mentioned seeing the Dalai Lama. New
Vineyard pastor Mike however (only women allowed to pastor!) is unphased
by anything, lets love lead. Yeah!)
Until more tolerance/ diversity and New Thought
come to Boise, Vineyard pastors (and others) have helped me make peace
with mainstream Christianity--which needed doing and feels good.
Vineyard music and singing continue to feed and delight my soul (as do
Hindu chants, Gregorian chants, African drums, Sufi prayers, Taoist poems...).
I remain puzzled by old thought Christianity's relationship between Jesus
and God. Apparently this intellectual mystery fascinates me no end.
So much simpler to just practice love, as Mary Manin Morrissey says.
(Than pick at the Bible, amazing as I'm learning it is). Once one
believes the assignment is: Love Thy Neighbor, what more is there??
Another year of enjoying Boise's Greenbelt--not
as often as when I lived 2 blocks away! (see Greenbelt page)
First layer of Boise friends seem to have
sloughed off. Always starting over, searching... community...
I'm still a world class dreamer and restless mind,
despite hot tub soaks and sleepy time teas. My mantra remains "Peace".
This year home owning/moving is/was my practice path.
Thank you all for another year of love and
friendship!
Love, Peace and Blessings,
Jeannie
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Tucson, AZ. February 2001 |
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Glenwood Farmer's Mkt, fall 2001 |
August 2001 |
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near Lenox, MA |
October 2001, Columbus OH |
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