Lend a Hand

An actually existent fly is more important than a possibly existent angel.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you've been reading this blog for a while you know of my high regard for my Asheville friend Patti Digh. Her blog post today tells you everything important that you need to know about Patti. I encourage you to subscribe to her feed so you don't miss a single word.

Sharing

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.- Mark Van Doren


Before my sister reminds me that I haven't updated my blog, here are a few words for Tuesday, May whatever, 2009.

A couple of things have happened, or are scheduled to happen, that are worth mentioning. One is that I've been invited to provide a silent auction item for the National Women's Music Festival, so I'm going giving a gift certificate for a pet portrait. I won't be in Wisconsin in July but thanks to the magic of the internet I can still participate and get some free publicity. Sounds like fun, huh?

I guess the thing I'm most excited about is that I will be a presenter at the 2009 RVing Women Annual Convention in San Antonio. Of course, I didn't do anything spectacular in order to be invited to lead a workshop, like discover a cure for the uncontrollable urge to sit around and watch Turner Classic Movies all day (not something I myself suffer from but maybe you do). The way one is chosen for this great honor is merely to fill out an application. Actually, I'm doing two sessions: Tai Chi for Back & Balance, and Whole-group Book Discussion: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle.

I learned Tai Chi from a wonderful teacher in Asheville, Crayton Bedford. He has spent many years doing Tai Chi and I actually have the audacity to believe I can teach it after taking one course. Well, that's what trainers do, and since I'm a trained trainer (ret.), I feel I can teach what little I know. The few moves I learned from Crayton have certainly helped me, so why not pass it along in a small way?

As for the Eckhart Tolle session, the same applies. I certainly don't claim to be any kind of expert but I thought a book discussion would be a good way to encourage more people to stop thinking and connect with the Universal Consciousness. I'm going to divide the class into small groups so that everyone gets an opportunity to talk about the concepts in the book.

Of course, my ulterior motive in leading workshops is meeting RVing women more easily. There's nothing like being the center of attention for making new friends. I've discovered that being depressed in places where I used to be happy has a lot to do with not being connected with my old friends any more. It's actually easier to be content with the nomad life in places I've never been, where there are no memories of past good times. Making new memories is better than pining away over the old ones.

The best part of being in Minneapolis has been the discovery of Veterans Memorial Park, where I do my daily walk. Last week I met a man on the walking path who was taking photos of birds. He said there was no better place in the entire twin cities metro area for birding. What luck! He had a list of at least 50 species that he had seen that day, and it wasn't even noon yet! Besides the usual suspects (Cardinals, Sparrows, etc.) I've seen Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Great Egret, Red-winged Blackbird, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and several other species.

Enough about birds. Bringing Up Baby is over and The Philadelphia Story just came on so I gotta go. It's a Katharine Hepburn & Cary Grant festival!

Perfect

Some days we feel like strangers. When our hearts open, we will realize that we belong just here.- The Buddha

If you have not subscribed to the Daily Peace Quote, you must do it now. When you do, you will receive a quote by email every day. Some days the quote will not speak to you. Some days you will wonder how in the world those wise people at Living Compassion picked a quote that is so absolutely right for you, right here, today.

The quote above has reminded me that it doesn't matter whether or not I remember what is on the corner of Bloomington Avenue and 34th Street in Minneapolis, that when I visit other places I have lived and don't feel like I fit in anymore, it's okay. I'm not a stranger. I belong just here. And here. And here.

How about another:

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.- Denis Waitley

And this one:

Change always comes bearing gifts. It is our choice whether or not to accept the gifts.- Price Pritchett

Here's what it looks like today in Minneapolis, with the sun out and the temperature hovering around 65 degrees.

There's that green again!

The lilacs are coming! The lilacs are coming! You don't get these in the too-warm southlands, so there.

I love that Rita actually uses this old plow to prepare the soil for her beans. Here's hoping your soil is warm and your heart is full.

Good Days

This is one of those posts that will probably appeal only to family and close friends, and only then because I'm sure they are totally enthralled with everything I do. It also may appeal to people who:

• like Perkins Restaurant but haven't been there in a long time
• are interested in the obscure architecture of Minneapolis
• like to gloat because they are enjoying Spring in its fullest flowering
• have a passion for New York City memorabilia

Okay, I know you must fit into two or three of those categories at least, and can't wait to read on, so here goes.

This is the dessert menu at Perkins. I opted to take home a Cranberry Nut cat-head muffin (I took a picture of the bag I carried it home in, too, but I'll spare you that).

This is the building where I go twice a week to have acupuncture. I must give them a plug, for your benefit as well. A few years ago I discovered acupuncture as a treatment for tendonitis (the link lists many conditions that can be treated with acupuncture), after a friend told me he had only three sessions for his neck pain and was completely cured. So whenever I feel the need to have my Chi jump-started, I go in search of a practitioner I can afford (the going rate is about $60 a session, which is too much for me). My first practitioner, back in Asheville, was a woman just out of training who just wanted to help people while she got her "real" practice going. The second was a student at an Asheville School of Chinese Medicine (who told me to eat more millet--ugh). Now I go to Three Treasures Acupuncture in Minneapolis, just while I'm in town. I got hooked up with these folks through the Community Acupuncture Network. These "clinics" are located all over the country and they charge on a sliding scale (I pay only $15 for each session). Check it out!

Okay, here's your chance to gloat over my having to have hay fever all over again now that I have arrived in the cold northland. You are probably going swimming already! I'm wondering if I will have to do Spring again when I go through the Montana Rockies in June. Sheesh!

This is my present from Rita on her return from The Big Apple, where she went to meet family for a concert by her nephew and the orchestra of The Curtis Institute at Carnegie Hall (not too shabby). She got to go to New York and I stayed here to eat at Perkins, have needles poked into me and sneeze. It's all good.

Good Day, Sunshine

Much better today. It's still a bit nippy but the sun is out and I walked a new route today that took me past one of my favorite places: Perkins Restaurant. It's a great place for cheap breakfast (and a cat-head-sized muffin to go) and it brings back happy memories, too: my daughter Liz is particularly fond of their Eggs Benedict. We have often wondered why, since Perkins is headquartered in Memphis, they haven't opened any restaurants in North Carolina, right next door to Tennessee. It's probably just as well, my willpower being what it is.

Then, while sitting still, next to a window, I spotted a Yellow-rumped Warbler in a bare shrub (if it had been leafed out I might have missed it). Now, if you're a warbler snob I'm sure you've already been out looking for these, and no doubt found them, too. But I was three feet from one, so there.

And that's not all. They don't call Minnesota "The Land of 10,000 Lakes" for nothing. Do you have one in your neighborhood? How about several, within walking distance?

That's Diamond Lake. I can also walk to Lake Nokomis (you know, Hiawatha's mom, who had a wigwam "by the shores of Gitche Gumee") and several others. And the forsythia are still in bloom here, so that's a treat, along with the tulips. What a lot to be thankful for indeed.

And something else has happened to brighten my day. I have been accepted as a presenter for the RVing Women National Rally in San Antonio, in October. I will be leading a discussion of A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle! I'm so excited! This is such a great opportunity to meet other women who are already interested in the work, and to help others to awaken to their primary purpose in life, which is, according to Eckhart, simply to awaken, to become one with the collective consciousness of the Universe, so that together we can help to bring about world peace: a New Earth. Perhaps some day I will learn how to embed a few minutes of Eckhart video in a post. Meantime, if you don't know what he looks and sounds like, but you would like to, click here.