At the Unitarian Universalist service in Santa Fe this morning, the last Sunday in 2018, the Rev. Gail Lindsay Marriner lead congregants and guests in a change-of-year exercise inspired by her interpretation of the book The Everything Seed, by Carol Martignacco. She spoke of constant change and development in the cosmos, in the world, in society, and in humans.
As part of change and development, we were urged to contemplate and choose a behavior, a pattern, a situation, an action, or an attitude from this concluding year that we are ready to give up. By relinquishing one thing, we can then release energy to choose a new intent for the coming year.
We each wrote on tissue-thin pieces of paper the things we want to release, and we wrote on sturdier slips of paper the things to intend to do. Then we walked outside and burned the flimsy papers, releasing the old behaviors to the wind. And we pocketed the strips of sturdy paper to use as bookmarks or tuck into a wallet or notebook, that we may come upon them in the new year and check to see how we are doing.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Snowy Santa Fe
This Sunday I am not in Cincinnati, but in Santa Fe, New Mexico, about 7200 feet above sea level. We flew from Cincinnati to Albuquerque yesterday, starting the day at 2:30 in the morning to get to CVG for a 5:30 flight to Dallas and then on to Albuquerque. We were lucky with the weather if not the early-morning schedule. I had read in the Santa Fe newspaper that they had gotten 3 1/2 inches of snow on Wednesday and that they were due for an additional 5 inches on Friday. They got it, and there were no arriving flights on Friday.
When we arrived at 10:30 in the morning Saturday and picked up our rental car, we upgraded to a more weather-worthy SUV with all-wheel drive from our usual basic compact. At first we were not sure that we had made a good choice, as I-25 in Albuquerque had perfectly dry pavement. But north of the city there were patches of snow on the pavement, and 20 or so temporarily abandoned cars along the interstate from the blizzard the day before. Still it was not as bad as some of the driving I had to do years ago between New Hampshire and Connecticut, but that may also be because a glorious sun was shining and the tall mountains were covered with a white dusting.
The streets in Santa Fe seem not to have been cleared completely, and the sidewalks hardly at all. Presumably Santa Fe subscribes to the snow removal theory that someone told me Cambridge, Massachusetts did years ago: God put it there and God will take it away. God hasn’t completed the job yet, but there are lots of visitors in Santa Fe, this last weekend of the year, and they have tramped the streets to view the art galleries and clothing shops and partake of the tempting restaurants, so much of the snow is beaten down. I have my least fashionable, warmest boots with me, and they are keeping me warm and dry, and also upright.
We’ve already done some good viewing and good eating, though the only non-edible I have purchased so far is a Desigual blouse in the Dallas airport (Terminal A, near Gate 16, and I must remember to plan future DFW trips accordingly). We have four more days in Santa Fe before a leisurely drive back to Albuquerque, we are perfectly situated in the heart of the city, at Otra Vez en Santa Fe, which is a fine locale for mi primera vez en Santa Fe.
When we arrived at 10:30 in the morning Saturday and picked up our rental car, we upgraded to a more weather-worthy SUV with all-wheel drive from our usual basic compact. At first we were not sure that we had made a good choice, as I-25 in Albuquerque had perfectly dry pavement. But north of the city there were patches of snow on the pavement, and 20 or so temporarily abandoned cars along the interstate from the blizzard the day before. Still it was not as bad as some of the driving I had to do years ago between New Hampshire and Connecticut, but that may also be because a glorious sun was shining and the tall mountains were covered with a white dusting.
The streets in Santa Fe seem not to have been cleared completely, and the sidewalks hardly at all. Presumably Santa Fe subscribes to the snow removal theory that someone told me Cambridge, Massachusetts did years ago: God put it there and God will take it away. God hasn’t completed the job yet, but there are lots of visitors in Santa Fe, this last weekend of the year, and they have tramped the streets to view the art galleries and clothing shops and partake of the tempting restaurants, so much of the snow is beaten down. I have my least fashionable, warmest boots with me, and they are keeping me warm and dry, and also upright.
We’ve already done some good viewing and good eating, though the only non-edible I have purchased so far is a Desigual blouse in the Dallas airport (Terminal A, near Gate 16, and I must remember to plan future DFW trips accordingly). We have four more days in Santa Fe before a leisurely drive back to Albuquerque, we are perfectly situated in the heart of the city, at Otra Vez en Santa Fe, which is a fine locale for mi primera vez en Santa Fe.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Sundays in Cincinnati Redux
This Christmas season has sent me back, back in my mind to Christmases past, and then back in fact (to check the facts) to earlier posts in this blog and even to its predecessor, Sundays in Spain. It has been a year and a half since I last posted. Circumstances have changed. First I noticed that I was just too busy to post about my new life in Cincinnati. Then, my new life gradually became less new. For many months it seemed that the need to write was not high enough to take the time. I had also found a specific activity that occupied most of my Sunday afternoons, so the habitual occasion was disrupted. Posts were few and far between, and then they ceased altogether. Some of my family and friends asked about Sundays in Cincinnati, and then they stopped asking.
Today, after re-reading some of my thoughts from years past so as to ascertain dates, and after realizing that my mind was not going to get any better about remembering events, I thought I might reengage and write again, if only for myself. My original reasons for writing were to write "for the discipline of writing, to concentrate on something positive and/or thoughtful, and to keep friends and family up to date with what is happening in my outer and inner lives."
Obviously I have fallen down on the discipline. I wish I could say that I was writing in other venues, but other than a monthly essay for the Scandinavian Scribblers group, I have not done that consistently either. Keeping family up to date on my life is no longer a reason to write a blog--I am in daily touch with my close family by email, and in face-to-face contact with them in our monthly "Sisters Brunches." I have many Cincinnati friends whom I also see face-to-face monthly or weekly and by email and phone (a communication tool that was missing from my life for the dozen years I lived in Spain), so keeping these friends up to date on my life is not a reason to write. Indeed, I run the risk of too much revelation of personal matters if I write about some events and my thoughts about them. But it is becoming evident that--in spite of Facebook--I am falling behind in keeping in touch with friends afar, in Europe, especially, but also friends elsewhere in the U.S. This is a very good reason for writing again.
Sadly one of my faithful former readers is no longer living. Her sudden death has been a shock to me this year, and a very sobering experience. She was a writer friend, too, and I can't help but think that if I write now, I am also writing to her. Totally ridiculous, but you might want to take a look at the book Often I Am Happy (Tit er jeg glad) by Jens Christian Grøndahl, and you will perhaps see that I am not alone.
The other big reason to write again is "to concentrate on something positive and/or thoughtful." Now more than ever, I need to concentrate on something positive. The nightly news report is heartbreaking, and I have reached an age where loss is more prevalent than expanded possibilities. Still, there is continued life, and as a new friend reminds--and demonstrates--frequently, "Attitude is everything." Attitude and reflection, and then, writing. I will try.
Today, after re-reading some of my thoughts from years past so as to ascertain dates, and after realizing that my mind was not going to get any better about remembering events, I thought I might reengage and write again, if only for myself. My original reasons for writing were to write "for the discipline of writing, to concentrate on something positive and/or thoughtful, and to keep friends and family up to date with what is happening in my outer and inner lives."
Obviously I have fallen down on the discipline. I wish I could say that I was writing in other venues, but other than a monthly essay for the Scandinavian Scribblers group, I have not done that consistently either. Keeping family up to date on my life is no longer a reason to write a blog--I am in daily touch with my close family by email, and in face-to-face contact with them in our monthly "Sisters Brunches." I have many Cincinnati friends whom I also see face-to-face monthly or weekly and by email and phone (a communication tool that was missing from my life for the dozen years I lived in Spain), so keeping these friends up to date on my life is not a reason to write. Indeed, I run the risk of too much revelation of personal matters if I write about some events and my thoughts about them. But it is becoming evident that--in spite of Facebook--I am falling behind in keeping in touch with friends afar, in Europe, especially, but also friends elsewhere in the U.S. This is a very good reason for writing again.
Sadly one of my faithful former readers is no longer living. Her sudden death has been a shock to me this year, and a very sobering experience. She was a writer friend, too, and I can't help but think that if I write now, I am also writing to her. Totally ridiculous, but you might want to take a look at the book Often I Am Happy (Tit er jeg glad) by Jens Christian Grøndahl, and you will perhaps see that I am not alone.
The other big reason to write again is "to concentrate on something positive and/or thoughtful." Now more than ever, I need to concentrate on something positive. The nightly news report is heartbreaking, and I have reached an age where loss is more prevalent than expanded possibilities. Still, there is continued life, and as a new friend reminds--and demonstrates--frequently, "Attitude is everything." Attitude and reflection, and then, writing. I will try.
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