Blog ~ Ruffled Feathers

Thoughts, ideas, perspectives, ruminations. If we make it through life without ruffling a few feathers, have we really lived?

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A Wonderful Book – Day 1055

Posted on October 2, 2021October 2, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

The Book I’m Currently Reading – Photo: L. Weikel

A Wonderful Book

A while ago – oh wow, I just realized it’s been two years! – I read a wonderful book called The Overstory*, a novel by Richard Powers. Reading that story was a gift on many levels. I permitted myself to step back from the responsibilities of the outside world and just read for hours on end. The tale not only opened my eyes to the plight of the American Chestnut (as well as other species of trees) – but also gave me perspective on current attempts to bring that tree back in a more resilient form.

I’m currently reading Finding the Mother Tree – Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest* by Suzanne Simard. This book is not a novel. Rather, it’s the autobiography/memoir of a forestry research scientist whose work was the basis of a good chunk of The Overstory.

I happen to love reading memoirs, probably because I am fascinated by how people become who they are. The tales of our becoming are sacred.

Finding the Mother Tree

A funny thing about this particular book, though. I’ve been holding it by my side of the bed for six months. But I was compelled to read a couple other books first. Finally, though, about a month ago I finally found Finding the Mother Tree to be next in line. I’ve been savoring it ever since.

As is my habit, thought, I’ve only been allowing myself to read it after I go to bed, so I’m still only about halfway through. What’s especially cool is that my sister-in-law, Francine, sent me a text last week recommending this podcast. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was an interview with Suzanne Simard, the author of this book.

I love that this is a story about how our forests and trees are related to each other in ways no White people ever believed they could be (but, I hasten to add, indigenous people have always known they are). I’m also enjoying this book because I’m the same age as the author. I remember the attitudes she describes facing in her profession – they sound sadly familiar.

Collaboration

Ultimately, the author ends up discovering that forests thrive as a result of collaboration between species – not competition. Extrapolating her discoveries to more and more aspects of our world, especially those in which humans are interfering (or just being themselves) could change everything profoundly.

I heartily recommend both the On Being podcas interviewt and the book. Allow yourself to be inspired.

*affiliate link

(T-56)

Odd Ducks – Day 1054

Posted on October 1, 2021October 1, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Mergansers? Odd Ducks – Photo: L. Weikel

Odd Ducks

Another month is over. Only three remain in 2021. Campaign signs are sprouting up on lawns and proliferating in the ‘unoccupied territories’ of weeds near stop signs. It seems like nothing changes. And yet, at the same time, we know everything does. We know it and yet a part of us works overtime to remain in denial. We humans are odd ducks indeed.

One thing that’s changed dramatically since last week is the weather. Suddenly it’s fall. There’s an unmistakable shift in the air. It’s crisper. And the light? It’s gone by 7:15 p.m. All of which means it’s time to start thinking about hunkering down.

Photo: L. Weikel

Quick Reminder

Since we’re starting a new month tomorrow (today by the time you read this), it’s incumbent upon me to remind you of your opportunity to enter into active relationship with Nature and the spirits of your land (no matter where you live) to create balance and minimize the effects of climate change.

Yes, I’m reminding you to whip out your Essence of Perelandra bottle and engage in the Essence of Perelandra Biodiversity Project. It literally takes no more than five minutes to employ this process yet the impact is profound. And it has a cumulative effect, so no matter when you start, know that every time you do it, you’re reinforcing your connection with the appropriate nature spirits and making life better for all Beings.

It amazes me to realize I’ve been writing about the EoP Biodiversity Project for over two years. Perhaps it’s because it’s so simple, people are inclined to think it’s not powerful. And yet…

Handsome Young Buck – Photo: L. Weikel

They Need Us to Care

I ran into this guy the other day (luckily not literally). I just love his antlers. They seem so young and tentative, and yet he is the model of virility. I was pleased he allowed me to get so close to him.

It’s time to use our power for good. If we see dithering elsewhere, we need to get to the point. We’re being asked to walk our talk. It’s time.

(T-57)

Unutterable Beauty – Day 1053

Posted on September 30, 2021September 30, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Sunset Filtered Only By Trees – Photo: L. Weikel

Unutterable Beauty

Last night I took a photo of the setting sun as its brilliant deep orange rays filtered through the trees on the edge of Stover State Park. I’m always questing to capture even a fraction of the unutterable beauty we encounter almost every day, especially when we walk. But my photos, although serviceable, only occasionally capture magic. Yesterday evening? I managed to capture a sunset akin to a rainbow, but not one.

My eyes keep calling me to return to this photo. My rational mind tells me I’ve taken a bazillion of these photos before. But for whatever reason, this particular one speaks to me in a way the others didn’t. Perhaps it’s the aubergine hues. They’re not often found spontaneously in sunsets. At least they’re not usually present in my photos of sunsets.

This photo has a magical tinge to it. That’s the only way I can describe it. Or maybe it’s not magical – maybe it’s more of a mystical vibe – almost as if I should almost be able to see into another realm if I look at it ‘just right.’

Road Trip

I had a chance to take a road trip today that took me west along Route I-80. As I passed through some of the mountains that ground and hold space for us here in Pennsylvania, I found my perspective shifting to such an extent that it felt like I was literally in the midst of a multi-dimensional work of art. The color palette selected by Mother Nature, coupled with what felt/looked like a skewed aspect to my depth perception almost made me pull onto the berm.

It didn’t look real. Or maybe it was all so acutely real that it made me ache with a longing I couldn’t identify.

I didn’t pull over. And I had no way of even trying to capture the essence of what I was experiencing in those moments. The best I can do is try to capture it with words, but even then, it just sounds like a paltry description of unutterable beauty as seen in my peripheral vision.

(T-58)

Eerie Synchronicity – Day 1052

Posted on September 29, 2021October 6, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Spartacus & Sheila; Photo: L. Weikel

Eerie Synchronicity

The night we buried Spartacus, I wrote in my post that Cletus behaved exactly the same way at Spartacus’s burial as he had at Sheila’s. And for all his cranky bad-assery, it was poignant and moving to us humans that he so obviously (and identically) paid tribute to both of his canine siblings at their spiritual sendoffs. I mentioned that Tiffany also experienced an eerie synchronicity between the two funerals, but I would share the details in a separate post.

Karl’s Raccoon Card – Photo: L. Weikel

The Backdrop

In case you’re not aware of it, there’s a strong association our whole family shares that connects Karl (our son) and Raccoons. Indeed, Raccoon was definitely one of Karl’s power animals. As a result, after he died, I created ‘memorial’ cards (very similar to the Catholic ‘mass cards’ I grew up with) that feature a raccoon on one side and Karl’s photo and a poem from Medicine Cards on the other.

Never having met Karl in person, Tiffany is especially aware of the Karl-Raccoon connection.

Cute little guy – Photo: L.Weikel

Sheila’s With Me

The evening we had our burial ceremony for our sweet Sheila last year (at the end of September, as a matter of fact), Tiffany and M had attended a previously scheduled tour of Grounds for Sculpture that afternoon. When they arrived here at the house for the ceremony, Tiffany eagerly recounted an extraordinary encounter they’d had only an hour or two earlier.

While meandering through the Grounds for Sculpture, two raccoons walked right up to Tiffany. Literally, as if hailing an old friend. Enchanted, both because they were adorable in their own right but also because she was keenly aware of the Karl/Raccoon connection, she gestured for M to join her. My son, being a tad oblivious, made his way over to Tiffany but failed to notice them before they scampered away.

M and T continued meandering through the park. Tiffany, already feeling something magical was unfolding, soon realized that the raccoons were tracking them. As M and T made their way along the path, the two raccoons followed them in the woods next to the path for several hundred yards along the water. Every once in a while the creatures made themselves noticeably visible to M and T, almost as if to flag them down and say, “Hey! Look at us! Pay attention!”

Finally, M noticed them. It was as if their job was accomplished. Tiffany felt it was an unmistakable message from Karl that he and Sheila were reunited – and all was well. We all definitely concurred. No question about it; Karl and Sheila had enjoyed a special bond.

Spartacus Is Here Too

Following our ceremony for Spartacus last week, I received an excited text from Tiffany. On her way home – you guessed it – two raccoons had crossed in front of her car, stopping to glance pointedly in her direction. Yet again, it was a sign; Karl was assuring us that all was well and our beloved Spartacus had joined him (and Sheila) in the Spirit world.

What a delightful, if slightly eerie, synchronicity. Two raccoons making a point of being SEEN, in two different places (two different states, even!), and both times on the exact evening of us burying our beloved Boston Terriers – one year apart. Thank you, Karl. Thank you, Raccoon. And thank you, Tiffany, for paying attention and appreciating the magic!

As we are fond of saying in our family, YCMTSU.

(T-59)

Momentous Week – Day 1051

Posted on September 28, 2021September 28, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Skyrunner Leaping Over Obstacles – Photo: L. Weikel

Momentous Week

No matter how you look at it, this is going to be a momentous week in the history of our country. I know, I know. It’s as if we live in a land of hyperbole anymore. “The most consequential election.” “ The worst (and most) wildfires ever.” “The scariest pandemic in a century.” We all know I could fill the page with the myriad examples of extremes being exceeded we find ourselves dealing with every day.

All of which is why I don’t toss out that first sentence lightly.

So much has changed in the past five years or so (and that’s only the most accelerated change) that it’s virtually guaranteed that the direction our country takes by the end of this week could easily mark a mass transformation of the trajectory of our country. We will either be poised to meet the future with optimism via a change of perspective and values or we will be hamstrung by the old way of doing everything and subject to oppression by the moneyed few.

Infrastructure Impacts All of Us

If our lawmakers pass both infrastructure bills, we will begin addressing climate change as a priority, thereby enormously benefiting the planet and humanity but also, on a smaller scale, creating a huge new sector of quality jobs that will finally begin re-growing the middle class.

If the entire Biden agenda is not enacted and the more ambitious of the two bills is ‘postponed’ (read: smothered), a startlingly large portion of our country will plunge into even greater despair than many of us imagined possible during the Trump presidency. Those most disappointed and despairing will include vast swaths of precisely those who profess cynicism and mistrust of ‘the government.’ I truly believe most people who hold extreme views of our country are actually people who have lost hope that anyone will actually pass laws that benefit them.

They no longer believe that our country is one where those who commit great crimes are held accountable. How many of us despair of ever seeing justice truly meted out to those most egregiously and blatantly giving the finger to all of us who do actually play by the rules?

Held Hostage

Now? Let’s face it. We are being held hostage by a cynical minority that cares only about its ability to wield power and nothing about the common good. They don’t care about us.

We have to care. It is up to all of us to stop believing the lies and stop cowering in fear of each other. The only cheaters are those accusing everyone else of cheating. The actual liars are those caught lying over and over to all of us – but are never held accountable.

Those who are busy stoking our fears of anyone who doesn’t look like us are the ones who want us to give up on our country (and fellow citizens), baselessly reject our long-standing ability to conduct free and fair elections, and smear our internal and international reputation for being a place where honest work, integrity and innovation are rewarded and celebrated.

The Outlook

I’m sure you haven’t noticed that I’m fired up about both the stakes involved in passage of the infrastructure bills as well as the craven brinksmanship and utter disregard for our country being shown by the Republicans’ refusal to raise the debt ceiling. Their behavior is akin to a fanatic holding a gun to their own head. And the filibuster is a relic that is killing our democracy.

So what is the outlook as this week unfolds? What might be in store for us as the battle for our democracy unfolds before our eyes? I asked Ellen Lorenzi-Prince’s Tarot of the Crone for insight, since a Crone is probably the only one brave enough to look this stuff in the face and call it the way she sees it. This is what she said:

I – Magician – Tarot of the Crone by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

I – Magician

I am the Something

That comes from Nothing

I am the Mistress of Illusion

I am the Mistress of Reality

I am the One

Who Passes between

A mask with living eyes bursts out from the darkness of a cave. The Magician is the force that can manifest itself out of the void and out into the world. She is the ability to appear and act as one wills, the confidence to live one’s own life and no other and the power of originality. But the mask is also illusion. Your very body is the mask your soul wears, how your soul happened into flesh at the time of your birth. The Magician is one who knows both reality and illusion and who crosses between.

The animal of the mask is the Crone manifesting in the form of her familiar, her first companion and her aide in the making of magic. Magic crosses the boundaries between worlds, bringing the energies of spirit into form and dissolving forms back into essences. Magic will do the same for you, if you have the courage and the confidence to take it into your hands and shape it to your will.

The Outcome

Four of Swords – Tarot of the Crone by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

Four of Swords – Reason

Necessity to guide me

Purpose to ground me

Construction begins

Construction to last

Four blades of a windmill stretch in each direction in a gentle sky. Solidity in thinking is represented by Reason. There are no figures in this card, illustrating how reason’s products and effects can appear disassociated from human sensibility. Yet the card also shows how the power of logical thought and planning can benefit humanity, by harnessing natural power and building the structures that define civilization. Clarity of thought, separated from both desire and daily routine, will redefine the problem and provide the steps necessary to resolve it.

The Obvious

My interpretation of the guidance represented by these cards is that if anyone has the ability to be a Magician in the circumstances our country and Congress is facing, it’s Madame Speaker. Love her or hate her, she is a Magician when it comes to doing her job. And unlike another arguable “Master” of the realm, she genuinely has the wellbeing of the populace at heart. She actually cares about regular people and wants all of us to have a better quality of life – and hope for our future.

The Outlook card, the Four of Swords, sure seems to indicate that perhaps – just maybe – our country really may begin the process of rebuilding our infrastructure after this week. We will begin to harness our natural power, which includes our innovation and optimism. Given even half a fighting chance, our country can rebound from the pall that’s come over the majority of our population over the past 40 years. We can begin making things again. We can create a country and a world that’s sustainable and in harmony with Mother Nature. We just have to have the will to do it.

Maybe we can learn something from the Magician in the House.

(I gotta believe.)

(T-60)

Idyllic – Day 1050

Posted on September 27, 2021September 27, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Idyllic September Day – Photo: L. Weikel

Idyllic

Today was one of those days that will go down in the books as idyllic from start to finish. After spending the entire day outside in the autumn air, I can barely keep my eyes open. In fact, tonight is one of those nights when I keep falling asleep at the keyboard.

I wanted to choose a card for us this evening – something for us to keep in the back of our minds as we watch this week unfold. My sleepiness has thwarted my intentions, so I guess I’ll have to do it tomorrow.

In the meantime, if things start getting dicey right out of the gate tomorrow (on any of the myriad fronts our lives could go sideways, personally and/or collectively), I’d like to at least offer you these photos. Drink their loveliness in. Let them remind you of what’s deeply important and without which we will fail to survive.

Feeling Loved Again

As I sit here writing this post, I’m surrounded by our three cats. It’s as if they’re sentinels. Cletus is directly across the room from me on the couch. Tigger is behind me on my left, sleeping on the back of the couch I’m sitting on, and Precious is behind me on my right.

Speaking of Precious, she’s doing great. It is as if, energetically, she’s let out a huge sigh of relief. To me, it feels like she was holding her shoulders up toward her ears for the past, umm, couple years – and all of a sudden someone just touched her to make her relax and she’s looking around, bewildered at how she’s feeling now.

I’m excited for her.

I’m also managing to get at least half of the hyperthyroidism medicine into her every day. Score! I can’t tell at all whether that’s having an impact. But the steroids definitely are. Poor bunny girl. She must’ve been so uncomfortable for so long…

Here’s to a better week than last.

Idyllic (& Starry) September Night – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-61)

Roar – Day 1049

Posted on September 26, 2021January 27, 2022 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Roar of the Whitewater – Photo: L. Weikel

Roar

Once I finally crossed everything off my list today, I finally allowed myself to sit on a massive slab in the middle of the creek. The volume of water coursing downstream was significantly less than yesterday, yet its roar continues to be deafening.

Every once in a while it’s deeply satisfying to find one’s self ensconced in the midst of so much noise. There’s no easy way to discern if anyone is trying to get your attention. In fact, unless movement catches your eye, it’s almost impossible to know whether anyone else is even around you. Instead, there’s this ‘white (water) noise’ pouring into your ears.

Layers of Flow – Photo: L. Weikel

It Takes Me a While

It actually takes me a while before I fully settle down and allow myself to just be with the relentless sound of the creek.

I eventually succeeded, but now I’m finding myself feeling like I left myself at the creek. I’m profoundly tired. Tired right down to my bones. It’s probably all the emotional upheaval of the past week.

It’s hard to believe it was only last week at this time when I heard a noise erupt from Spartacus that I thought was a massive and very peculiar sounding fart – but which I now strongly suspect was something bursting inside him.

It’s thoughts like these that are curiously similar to the swirls and eddies of the creek that I witnessed quite close to where I was sitting. If I let myself dwell too long on that weird sound then my feelings get stuck in a shallow little vortex that is hard to escape.

And that’s when I realize once more how brilliant it is to just succumb to Mother Earth’s healing ministrations.

She makes the creek loud enough to drown out the thoughts on purpose.

And when I re-emerge from my perch on the slab, I feel different.

Swirls and Eddies – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-62)

Early Autumn Perfection – Day 1048

Posted on September 25, 2021September 25, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

A Rainbow at Tohickon Creek – Photo: L. Weikel

Early Autumn Perfection

It sounds like the weather this weekend is going to be classic early autumn perfection. I’m sooo excited. I intend to spend as much of my time outdoors, immersed in Mother Nature’s embrace, as possible.

Sometimes we all need to just unplug from everything. The call to disconnect is strong at the moment. Given that I’m mostly water and electrical impulses myself, perhaps I’m as desperate for a ‘reboot’ as are my iPhone and laptops on occasion.

Where better than my go-to source of replenishment? Ah yes, my Tohickon Creek.

As I approached her today, the roar of her voice drowned out everything else, including my thoughts. I wish you could hear the sound that accompanies the photograph above. The rushing flow coursing down the argillite bed of this ancient waterway is almost intimidating.

Photo: L. Weikel

Not For Some, Though

Multicolored kayakers took advantage of the cascading water whirling and swirling over and around the boulders scattered along the bed of the creek. I’m not the type of person who usually takes vicarious pleasure from watching others do something adventurous or fun. Nah. I’d much rather be doing it myself.

But I have to say, I felt exhausted simply watching these athletes paddle furiously simply to keep themselves from being flipped by the coursing water. And even though I knew (or hoped) they knew what they were doing when their kayaks did flip them upside down, I caught my breath every single time it happened.

Photo: L. Weikel

Balm For My Soul

A hawk screeched relentlessly in the woods just behind me as I took the photo, above, with the rainbow arcing overhead. A few minutes later, I saw it (truth be told I’m not sure it was the same one) circling overhead.

The message I discerned in the cry of that hawk was, “Come home. Sit a piece. Let yourself just be.”

(T-63)

Feeling Very Loved – Day 1047

Posted on September 24, 2021September 24, 2021 by Lisa Weikel 2 Comments

Expressions of Love & Caring – Photo: L.Weikel

Feeling Very Loved

Man oh man, it’s been a week. Wait. What? It’s not over yet, you say? Well, I guess that’s technically true (and not a little scary). All I can say at this moment, though, is that I’m feeling very loved – and I have all of you to thank for that.

When I wrote my post last Sunday night, I was worried. I’d intended to write another anthropomorphized vegetable tale, but obviously that silliness was pre-empted. I may or may not regain the light-hearted silliness required to write about the carrot that arrived from the CSA last weekend.

As most of you know, it doesn’t matter what I may have tucked in the back of my mind as a possible topic on any given evening. Ultimately, I always opt to share my state-of-being in the moment. And I could feel in my bones that, even though he just seemed ‘punk’ throughout the day, Spartacus’s malaise was rapidly degrading into something far more concerning.

Community of Compassion

I want to tell all of you how much your words and gestures of love and compassion have meant to me this week. The first few days of the week were a blur of action and driving and shock. The next few felt like a slow-motion pileup of emotions – as well as that weird unable-to-catch-your-breath feeling of having the wind knocked out of you. That’s the feeling that accompanies sudden, irretrievable loss. It’s like a WOMP right to the solar plexus.

My wish is that none of you ever have to feel it. But of course, I know many of you already have. Whether you have or you haven’t experienced that feeling, reading about it is a gift. Not a gift to you necessarily. But definitely a gift to the writer. It’s a gift that you gut through it long enough to share in the emotions as hard as they may be to read, and then – even more amazingly – take the time to write a comment in response.

Can I tell you how much it meant to me to pull up FB on my phone and just see how many people had reacted? And then the shock of seeing the number of comments? I felt arms around me and a solidarity of shared compassion just in looking at those numbers.

To be honest, I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to read your sweet and loving comments until yesterday. It was a comfort simply to know you cared enough to write to me. I needed to wait a full day to take the time to scroll through them and then truly take in your love.

We Are Kindred Spirits

The level of compassion and understanding with which so very many of you responded was enlightening. The heartfelt responses I received from you were not a reflection of the quality of my writing. No. They were a reflection of the love that each and every one of you has experienced first-hand. Experienced – and then been forced to release into the ethers. Because that’s the nature of our lives.

The array of responses revealed something else, too: You’re all a bunch of lovers. We love and we let go.

The fact that I’m lucky enough to have so many people (from all over the world, I might add) in my life, sharing this journey, holding each other’s hands when any one of us is hurting, is a treasure. It’s not easy to live our lives with awareness. It’s hard to choose to feel – and not run from the hard stuff.

Thank you for being the kind softies you all revealed yourselves to be. I love being part of our community of compassion. I dare say it’s because we have each other that we pick ourselves up every day and refuse to give in to the darkness that threatens all of us every once in a while.

(T-64)

The Burial – Day 1046

Posted on September 23, 2021September 23, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Made me do a double-take* – Photo: L.Weikel

The Burial

We buried Spartacus this evening. Our entire nuclear family was present for the ceremony, although the Boston** contingent had to attend via FaceTime. Amazingly, the weather held. In fact, when Karl and I walked before the burial, we were sure the ominous clouds building and racing through the sky cast some serious doubt on whether we’d even get the job accomplished tonight. Instead of raining on our ceremony, though, the clouds parted and – cross my heart – the stars and planets shone brightly in the sky above us.

Mama Killa (pronounced Mama keeya), Grandmother moon in Quechua, rose in her just-past-full abundance behind our house (from where we were burying Spartacus). Her light framed our house in a golden light. Of course, we buried Spartacus right beside his mother, both of them facing our house so they could always keep an eye on their people and home.

In the Clouds – Photo: L. Weikel

A Little Magic

I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have some sort of magical dust to sprinkle on our experience, right? Well, starting out this evening, as Karl and I walked, the clouds scuttling across the sky revealed a formation that was a pretty obvious reminder of Spartacus, especially his distinctive ears.

It was fleeting, but we both saw it.

During the ceremony, Cletus made a point of being with us, meowing the entire time. Cletus did the exact same thing when we buried Sheila. It’s as if he’s our designated keener. He cried and cried until Sacred Space was opened. He was silent during our heartfelt sendoff, then proceeded to cry and circle between all our legs again as Sacred Space was closed.

And speaking of heartfelt sendoffs, Tiffany sang a Patsy Cline song to Spartacus, honoring his devotion to us and our daily walks. I dare you to listen and not well up. I was blown away.

Keeping an Eye On Us

There was another synchronicity between Sheila’s burial and Spartacus’s (it still pains me to write that) involving Tiffany that I’ll share with you tomorrow.

But I’m going to leave you with the photo at the top of this post and below. What you see is what I saw when I looked up this evening, just as my son was leaving. This is the window that faces where the dogs are buried. But it looks out onto our porch. They are buried at least a hundred yards away.

If I did not know that Spartacus could not be out on the porch somehow managing to look in the window asking to be let in, I would’ve stood up right then and there and gone out to the kitchen to let him in.

It’s a moment of magic. And to be honest, one that made my heart skip a beat. Spartacus was known for his big bat-like ears.

Good grief. As I typed these words, I just turned to see if the shadow was still there. It is – and it moved. Again, my heart leapt into my throat. My mind grasps for a logical explanation and lands on, “This is a trick being played on me by the leaves of our trees.” Oh please. Who am I to explain it away? And why?

Nature conspires for the Magic Win of the evening.