Author: Lisa Weikel

New Moon in Aries – ND #114

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Graceful and Glorious Landing – Photo: L. Weikel

New Moon in Aries

In only a couple hours, we will experience a New Moon in Aries. As we know, a moon is considered new when it is conjunct, or exactly lined up with, the sun. And the sun just entered Aries last weekend.

A new moon in Aries is considered especially auspicious and powerful as far as initiating new endeavors and becoming aware of (and seizing) new opportunities. Beyond noticing what short term goals we might want to set and implement, this particular new moon, being in the initiating sign of Aries, may be especially powerful in marking the beginning of a new two and a half year project.

It’s intriguing to ponder what seeds we might plant today (Friday, April 1, 2022) that may either run their course or only come into their fullest expression by June 2024. It just feels like there’s so much volatility and potential for change all around us.

Will we manifest the change so many of us yearn for deep in our hearts?

Blue Heron & Goose – Photo: L. Weikel

Creek Visit

All of which reminds me that I only managed a ‘drive-by’ of the Tohickon today, which is where I go when contemplating time – past, present, and future. When I turned onto the road that passes within feet of the creek I immediately noticed two Great Blue Herons having a chat on a boulder amidst the flowing waters. Of course, as soon as I pulled up to the side of the road (albeit as slowly and unobtrusively as I could – in a car), they took their leave. One seemed less irritated with me, though, and seemingly teased me by only moving a dozen or so yards upstream.

It hung out with a couple Canada Geese and I wondered if it was going to try spearfishing one of those ginormous carp that – surprisingly – were still hanging out in that same spot I saw them last week. (I saw much less evidence of the snakes, though. Or maybe I didn’t linger there long enough for them to surface.)

Yes, we had a chat – Photo: L. Weikel

 

Instead of pondering my intentions for this new moon, I had a silent chat with this Great Blue Heron. It was obviously aware of me as I playfully stalked it with my iPhone. I love the shot I got of it landing on a rock a bit downstream, its wings outstretched and magnificent.

I’m thinking the message of this new moon may be honoring the need for self-reflection, which is the key concept attributed to the Blue Heron in the Medicine Cards. There are so many ways we can honor Blue Heron’s nudge to engage in this activity. I think it may be time for me to cultivate and offer new opportunities to myself and others who may want to join me to do just that over the next couple of years.

Set those intentions! And maybe even, perhaps, join me in embracing Blue Heron’s urge to know ourselves even better?

Great Blue Heron taking flight – Photo: L. Weikel

(T+114)

Hairless Dog – ND #113

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Handsome Hairless Pup – Photo: L. Weikel

Hairless Dog

The other day, I was scrolling through old photos and came upon this one of a hairless dog I encountered in an open-air market in Iquitos, Peru, in 2012. Iquitos is located on the banks of the Amazon River.

One of the things I noticed about Iquitos was the abundance of ownerless dogs running free. Since one rarely encounters them (at least in the numbers I found in many areas of Peru, but especially in Iquitos), I was surprised to find them ubiquitous yet surprisingly unassuming. Apparently they’ve honed their survival skills to sheer perfection, knowing precisely how close to stay to humans to survive (and most, apparently, to be happy), but also how to remain free from ownership.

I found this one to be simply amazing looking.

Another Creature

I should mention, I encountered this creature early in the day, as my friends and I made our way to a dock, where a relatively small craft awaited us to shuttle us up the Amazon to a nature preserve. That visit ended up yielding a rather unexpected encounter with yet another creature, one I’d never heard of before.

It wasn’t my intention to write about that visit tonight. Maybe I’ll save it for another time.

Erp! That sort of violates a tenet I’ve expressed other times discouraging the tendency I sometimes have of hoarding my thoughts and ideas. But you know what? I’m tired and I need to hunt for a photo of that other creature in order to illustrate my post appropriately.

In the meantime, I don’t want to detract from my hairless hound’s moment in the sun. It seems to me, this canine deserves its moment in the sun all by itself. It really was an amazing looking creature – and not the only one that sported this hairless look. I’ll admit I was shocked when I saw my first hairless pup, but this one was by far the most handsome. Or pretty.

I guess it’s all in the eyes of the beholder.

(T+113)

1st Day of April is Approaching – ND #112

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Potato Dragon – Photo: L. Weikel

1st Day of April is Approaching

Here are a couple of bibs and bobs that are floating around in my head and need to be written down so, collectively, we can remember them. Importantly, the 1st day of April is approaching and – if you choose to participate – we should all be making sure we’re ready for the Perelandra EoP (Essence of Perelandra) Biodiversity Process. For me that mostly means making sure I remind myself of what day it is! I also keep my EoP drops out on my porch, along with a spoon, so I can pop out there in the spur of the moment (in other words – when it pops into my head on the 1st!) and take the two minutes required of me to engage in the process.

It really is quite simple. And yet when I engage in this process, the most profound feeling I get is one of gratitude from the Beings with whom I share our property (both seen and unseen). If I accomplish nothing else through participation in this process than connecting with the Nature Beings and letting them know I’m part of a network of humans who care about the Earth and all who live upon her, then I feel my time and energy is well spent. They notice; and that matters.

That’s why I invite all of you to participate as well. Sometimes we look around and see all the…stuff…going on in the world and we don’t have a single clue as to what we can do about it. This is but one teeny tiny drop in a bucket of maelstroms, but it works on a myriad of levels.

Whimsy

And the other thing I wanted to write about was to remind you to pay attention to your whimsy. Indeed, the name of my Potato Dragon, featured as the lead photo of this post, is Whimsy.

And you have to admit, she is a pretty photogenic little dragon. It felt like a harbinger of great new experiences, opportunities, and people entering my life when I encountered this creature springing forth from a potato this afternoon. And if you look closer, it almost looks like she has a little friend hitching a ride on her back.

Hmm. Maybe I should interpret that as the entrance of Whimsy2 in my life?

Sounds good to me.

It’s spring. Let’s play a little. Talk to the trees. Laugh with the bees. Make friends with potato sprouts.

(T+112)

Scrumptious – ND #111

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“Sue Lesh’s Coconut Cake” – Photo: L.Weikel

Scrumptious

Last week, a friend of mine from high school posted a photo of a two-layer coconut cake her husband had baked for her birthday. It looked scrumptious, and when I commented about it, she told me where to look to find the recipe.

Those of you who’ve read my posts since the beginning of my 1111 Devotion (there’s a walk down memory lane again, eh?) may recall that I have two favorite ‘go-to’ birthday cakes. Carol’s Chocolate Cake and Aunt Grace’s Cake. These two cakes have been staples in my life for as long as I can remember.

Well, believe it or not, I actually think a third has now won a coveted spot in the birthday confection rotation. Yes! And even though this is a recipe that can be found online under the auspices of The Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten), this cake (and the small tweak to the icing that I added) will forever be known in my household as ‘Sue Lesh’s Coconut Cake.’

It’s That Good

I assure you, this cake is really and truly that good. The consistency of the cake itself is reminiscent of the old fashioned kind – both wonderfully moist and dense, but not as heavy as a pound cake. And the icing? Oh my goodness, it’s a cream cheese confection that has the potential to make a person swoon.

My variation, which you can readily observe from the photographs, was to add fresh raspberries to the bowl when mixing the icing. I’m delighted with the beautiful color the raspberries added and even more pleased with the tart twist the berries added to the sweet icing.

I’d originally toyed with just adding the raspberries to the icing I put between the layers of cake. So that’s what I did at first. I only added raspberries to a couple-three huge dollops of the white stuff. Once I put the layers together, I started covering the cake with the remaining white icing called for in the recipe. But as I did, I again tasted the leftovers of the vibrant pink icing (OK, I scraped the bowl out with my finger) and decided that was the taste that needed to be slathered over the rest of the cake as well.

Yum.

Karl has already put in his order. (But that’s not ‘til August.) Maybe I’ll have to practice a couple more times to make sure I have it just right? I think it’s my duty, don’t you?

Couldn’t eat a bite – Photo: L. Weikel

(T+111)

Academy Awards – ND #110

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A Heart (of a Sort) – Or is this pepper just acting? – Photo: L. Weikel

Academy Awards

I wrote back in February (here and here) about a few of the films we’d watched that were nominated for Best Picture in the Academy Awards. The last time I gave an opinion, I was still rooting for Dune. I was surprised to discover when I checked a few minutes ago that I never ended up writing about Coda. We really liked it, but even if I’d written about it, I probably would’ve still had Dune as my preferred front-runner.

Over this weekend, we tried to stuff in a couple more nominees, if only because it makes watching the Academy Awards more interesting. (Yes, I know, many people no longer even bother to watch them. But we do.)

Licorice Pizza and Belfast

The last two we managed to see before the Oscars were Licorice Pizza and Belfast. To put it succinctly, perhaps my taste is too pedestrian (harkening back to my reaction to The Power of the Dog), but Licorice Pizza was…odd. I tried to like it, but none of the characters spoke to me. I didn’t even actually like the characters, which is crucial, at least for me. And I don’t mean that I have to ‘like’ the characters in the sense that I would want to be their friend or family. I just like to find someone in a movie who intrigues me, makes me want to understand or protect them, or is even such a ‘bad guy’ that they capture my imagination.

For whatever reason, I just couldn’t make heads or tails out of the main characters of Licorice Pizza. In fact, I don’t even understand the title. The best I could guess is that the two flavors just don’t go together. (I won’t explain any further, since I don’t want to spoil it for you if you want to see it and still haven’t.)

I’m so glad we watched Belfast today, though. It gave me a much greater appreciation for the competition and I have to say, it really touched my heart. I know a few of you had recommended Belfast a while back, and now I understand why. When I wrote about wanting to see it (back in February) it was available on Amazon but it was $19.99 and you had to buy it. It’s now rentable on Amazon for $5.99. I guarantee, it is money well spent.

Bizarre Behavior

Finally, we did end up watching the Oscars tonight. We re-watched the utterly bizarre assault by Will Smith on Chris Rock several times. That whole interchange was so bizarre, we kept trying to discern if it was staged.

It was quite obvious that Chris Rock had no idea he was going to get clocked by Smith. And that’s understandable, since Will Smith did not have even the slightest look of disapproval on his face when he heard the joke. (Jada Pinkett Smith had a cloudy expression cross her face, but ?) And quite honestly? I had to think a minute before I even got the joke. Heck – GI Jane was from back in 1997! And when I got it, it didn’t even seem mean – dumb, maybe, but it was simply an allusion to her shaved head.

The Reactions

I’ve been watching the reactions of people online and on Twitter and I find it astonishing that so many people assume that Chris Rock ‘should have known’ that Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, a condition that involves hair loss, and that’s why she shaves her head.

Why on earth would Chris Rock be presumed to know that? Do people really think everyone follows every utterance of every so-called ‘famous’ person? She’s a stunning woman – and to me (I didn’t know she had alopecia until tonight either) her shaved head just seemed like a bold fashion statement that could only be carried off by someone both beautiful and confident.

I find it much more deeply disturbing that people are rallying around Smith for his utterly inexcusable and unprovoked assault on live tv, and then vulgar shouted threats at Rock when he returned to his seat. It was a joke. It probably went over the heads of half the people there because they weren’t even born when GI Jane was released. And anyone could see from the delivery that it wasn’t intended as a real cut to Pinkett Smith.

Worst of All

The worst reaction though, in my opinion, was Smith’s truly bizarre tearful ‘acceptance’ speech when he later won for Best Actor. Ew. He didn’t even have the grace to apologize to Chris Rock – which at least would’ve been a step in the right direction. Instead, he tried to justify his behavior as an act of love.

Sorry, but that’s an excuse used all too often in abusive situations. As are the tears. (Let’s remember – he just won for Best Actor, too!) And then capping it off with some baloney about thinking his supposed great talent as an actor makes him a vessel of LOVE?

Please.

The fact that he received a standing ovation after that garbage was appalling. What in the world are we modeling to our children? He is no better than TFG, who infamously said, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

A little self-restraint, followed up with some humility, would have served him – and the world he thinks he’s here to inspire as a ‘vessel of love’ – far better.

(T+110)

Quintessential Spring Day – Day #109

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After the sleet – Photo: L. Weikel

Quintessential Spring Day

Today was a quintessential Spring day. When I first awoke, there was a weather warning on my phone letting me know that storms were expected and winds and precipitation could whip up unexpectedly. The possibility of this haphazard weather was expected to last until 9:00 p.m. So when I couldn’t fit a walk in before heading out to do some errands, I thought I’d missed the window of walking possibilities.

When I opened my eyes this morning, sunshine was shining in our bedroom windows. But as I permitted myself a languid start to my day, by the time I had dressed both myself and our bed, the sky was decidedly overcast. This day was dreary.

True to predictions, however, I drove north for about 25 minutes and suddenly saw blue sky open up before me, while massive – truly gargantuan – Cloud Beings meandered across the sky like Macy’s Day Parade balloons on steroids.

It was nevertheless a surprise to me when, heading south again, the slate gray clouds on the southern horizon suddenly started spitting countless slush balls at me. The slushy-sleet was coming down so fast and furious at one point that, had I pulled over, I probably could’ve made a snowman.

Spring Magic – Photo: L. Weikel

Two Hours Later

Two hours later, I arrived back home. The sleet had subsided for the moment and sunshine actually started beaming out from behind another set of impressive clouds traveling east. The wind was still whipping and the temperature was on the cold side, but the call was for even colder temperatures later. So we put the pups’ coats on and set out.

We rounded the first corner and didn’t it start to sleet again? This time it wasn’t slush-sleet; it was tiny pricks of ice sleet and buffeting winds. We hesitated. The pups shivered. Since we weren’t getting soaked, we kept on. Massive clouds pushed through and within just a few minutes we were glad we’d persisted and resisted the temptation to turn back.

About two thirds of the way around our circuit, we suddenly realized how utterly delightful it was out. Sunlight brilliantly glittered off pop-up roadside streams. We loosened our jackets and reveled in what I mentioned earlier was a quintessential Spring day. Mother Nature’s moods were mercurial and each facet held an element of wildness and passion.

Finally, an hour or so after our walk, I had to run another errand. What a gift it was to be out again, because otherwise I would’ve missed a spectacular sunset. Rays, reflections, and indescribably vibrant colors bombarded my senses one after another.

This day turned out wildly different than I expected in a myriad of ways – and I feel incredibly lucky to have witnessed so much of it.

Striated Sunset – Photo: L. Weikel

(T+109)

Life is Unfolding – ND #108

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Brutus’s new jacket – 17 Oct 2021 – Photo: L. Weikel

Life is Unfolding

Whoa, it’s later than I realized. I lost track of time as I started going through all the photos in my phone of all four of my puppies over the years since about 2012. Wow, did it make me sad to see and hear Sheila and Spartacus again. Of course it was wonderful to see these memories of them again, too. But the photos I want to share with you tonight are just a device to make us all realize how quickly life is unfolding.

When I put Brutus’s jacket on today, Karl and I both had stifle our laughter. Oh my goodness. Brutie has grown so incredibly much over the past five months (as has Pacha too, of course). But it’s hard to fully appreciate just how much and how quickly your four legged babies are growing without establishing some sort of measuring stick.

Inadvertently, that’s what’s become of our fur-babies’ plaid jackets! And the incredibly snug (ahem) fit of Brutus’s jacket makes it clear that he’s enjoyed significant growth over the past five months.

Stifling Laughter

When viewing these two photos, I’m sure you can see why we had to stifle a laugh when looking at Brutus this afternoon. His ‘bare-midriff’ ensemble was almost too risky for walking in the daytime. But of course the most amazing thing is the exponential growth of this hound. He’s huge!

Pacha has grown a lot too, but somehow her growth feels less drastic; more controlled.

It’s hard to believe it’s only been five months since I first put their jackets on their little bodies. What a tremendous gift they’ve been in our life. And as much as we believe we’ll always remember just how cute and cuddly and sleepy they were when they first come into our lives – photos like these show us the truth.

Such cuteness.

Yet even this photo doesn’t capture the snug, short, sassiness of the jacket now that it no longer fits him. He’s such a big boy now.

(T+108)

Memory Lane – ND #107

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A Carp in the Tohickon – Photo: L. Weikel

Memory Lane

I took an unexpected trip down memory lane this afternoon.

In spite of the overcast gloom and intermittent drizzle, I managed to stop for about half an hour at ‘my spot’ along the Tohickon Creek. When I got out of my car to pay my respects to this beloved body of water, I was surprised to see two significantly large carp treading water in the center of the stream.

As I do occasionally, I’d brought with me a rice cake or two that I crumbled and then blew into it my whispered gratitude and love to the Spirit of the Tohickon. Then I offered the crumbles to the creatures (and the water itself) in appreciation.

When I did this, I noticed that several concentric circles kept rippling the surface of the creek all around the two carps. Only once did I see something black briefly break the surface. Yet clearly there were creatures all around these two carps, which mostly just seemed to face into the headwaters, barely moving.

Two Carp – and Notice the Concentric Circles… – Photo: L. Weikel

A Memory Triggered

All of a sudden I remember visiting the creek about half a mile downstream (as the creek flows), where there used to be a low dam. That’s where I used to take all three of our sons to play. My youngest son and I went there a lot after I picked him up from pre-school.

The memory that was triggered was of one afternoon (almost certainly in late March!) when Sage and I were at ‘the dam.’ He was playing along the concrete wall, in the center of which there was a gap through which water rushed to the next level of the creek, where it splashed along a myriad assortment of rocks making up the creek bed. I was sitting on the concrete wall myself, writing in my journal.

This particular day, Sage and I were delighted to see dozens and dozens of huge (to us) fish swimming upstream! For all the times we’d spent at the Tohickon, we’d never experienced such a sight before. Golden orange fish whose scales reflected the sun and were simply magical to behold! It took us only a moment, though, for our eyes to adjust to what we were really seeing.

That’s when we realized that, in addition to scores of carp swimming up the Tohickon, we also were witnessing scores of snakes feasting upon these fish!

The realization was at once astonishing, horrifying, and fascinating.

And that’s what I believe I was witnessing today – only the flow of the Tohickon, at least at the spot I was at today – was allowing all those snakes to remain under the ‘radar.’

What a memory.

Try as I might, I failed to snag a photo of those dark sea serpents lurking beneath the surface. But I knew they were there.

(T+107)

Allergy Season – ND #106

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Budding Weeping Willow (yesterday – when the sky was blue!) – Photo: L. Weikel

Allergy Season

Well, tonight’s post is going to be short. I have a headache behind my eyes that only seems to be getting worse as the night goes on. I’m pretty sure it’s because, like it or not, allergy season has arrived. I can tell it’s allergies because my feather-light wire-framed glasses are leaving indentations on the bridge of my nose. Ugh.

Not only are a plethora of flowers joyfully springing forth, the culprits of my misery are the trees that are blooming. It seems early to me to see the buds bursting out in all their chartreuse and burgundy splendor. (Different trees, different colors, just to be clear.)

Add to That

As we walked earlier this evening, Karl and I thought we’d heeded the weather forecast. But alas, it started raining when we were just a little past halfway around our walk-around. (Of course!) The gloomy, low ceiling of rippling charcoal colored clouds were depressing as it is. But then the wind picked up and started whipping around us, making the raindrops feel especially aggressive.

Even Princess, Middle, and Liddle had taken cover, snuggling into their warm and dry beds of hay. Meanwhile, the four of us plugged along as quickly as we could, not only getting wet and cold but also feeling the stuff from the trees being blown right into our faces. The only up-side to walking during allergy season is the pure and unadulterated joy I experience when I wash my face with a steaming hot washcloth when I walk in the door. Aaaaah.

I’d like to think that if allergy season is arriving early, it’ll also abate earlier as well. Shh. Let me live with my delusions a little bit longer.

Tonight

As I’m sitting here now, I can hear the wind again picking up and pelting our windows with raindrops. There will probably be a lot of buds littering the lawn tomorrow morning, too.

Oooh, I just checked my Weather Channel app – it’s 38 degrees out but feels like 31. Yep. It’s raw out there. Stay warm – and try not to let the outside world bring you down.

(T+106)

Mockery – ND #105

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Twisting the Process and Making a Mockery – Photo: L. Weikel

Mockery

I’m trying really hard to stay away from commenting on the confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The mockery that’s being made of this process, our judiciary, our Senate, and our country as a whole is at once infuriating and devastatingly sad. It’s also just plain wrong.

It is maddening to witness the histrionics and pearl clutching these Republican Senators are engaging in, when the entire time, they are brazenly accusing Democrats of doing precisely what Republicans did. Over and over again, too. While their whataboutisms are astoundingly off-base and hypocritical, they engage in them nevertheless.

It’s exhausting.

They Count On That

And the depressing thing is, they count on regular people becoming exhausted by their endless switching things around, denying things, and harping on snippets of information they very cynically mischaracterize and then propagandize until the cows come home.

Is this any way to run a country? Is this any way to rule the world? (Apparently some think it is: the Putins, Xes, Trumps, and Kim Jong Uns of the world, to name a few.) It’s not the way our country is supposed to operate, but when civility and the ability to agree upon fundamental tenets of reality and facts disappear, we end up with performative government. And that’s where we are today.

It’s never a good sign when I yell at the tv. And, to be fair, I engage in that extreme behavior far less often than I used to, when we were subjected to TFG’s relentless lying on a regular basis (i.e., whenever we turned the tv on and news came on). But it’s extremely difficult to refrain from berating the garbage being broadcast when I see white men with pedigreed educations acting as if they can’t read or have lost all ability to hold a reasonable thought in their heads. Or whining and grandstanding about how other candidates were treated. (Less qualified and credibly accused of awful behavior that should have been investigated, too.)

As if any of that has an iota of relevance to, or can be opined on, by the current nominee.  And Marsha Blackburn trying to ‘trap’ the judge by asking her to define ‘woman.’ Good grief. I just can’t.

Performative Ignorance

It enrages me to hear Ted Cruz or anyone else bring up Critical Race Theory and act as if they don’t understand what it is or that it is taught in graduate school (not grade or high school). And even if it were taught in high school, for instance, it is telling the truth about racism in our country. And it describes how racism has been perpetuated and built into the fabric of our country to such an extent that we don’t even realize its profound implications or insidious effects.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I do not know how Black women (especially) maintain such an overall calm and patience with the state of life in the United States. Their husbands and sons are at risk when they walk out the door. Hell – let’s face it. Black people and people of color aren’t safe in their own houses. And yes, I know they’re not monolithic. But it’s also true that there is a ton of shared trauma and outrage amongst them.

How do they abide this, day in and day out?

And now, to watch the utterly disgusting double standard being heaped upon this Supreme Court nominee simply because she is a black woman?

I’m ashamed of the level to which our country has sunk. I would pity the obvious insecurities of Republican party members if I weren’t so incensed that they’ve sold our country out on so many levels.

Oops

I guess the rant escaped anyway.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson needs to be confirmed. She deserves a unanimous consent. Anyone voting against this eminently qualified individual is afraid she will treat them the way she has been treated. Luckily for them, she has integrity.

We need to pay attention. The fringe is getting perilously close to seizing the reins of power.

(T+105)