Bewildering Balderdash

daecabhir and I have a house guest for a few days. Her name is Catherine and is from the Shambhala community. She's an equine physiotherapist that travels the country treating horses. After noticing that i was limping a bit (my left foot is really hurting again) she offered to use her theraputic laser on me. We did a session this morning on my foot and my lower back. The heat of the laser feels wonderful and my foot hurt less for a good part of the day; my back didn't bother me until I sat at the sewing machine for two hours. Hopefully we'll have time tomorrow to do another treatment before she leaves for the horse show.

Speaking of sitting at the sewing machine, I tried out my idea for speeding up the production of the fan pouches and it was a success! I was able to produce a dozen pouches much faster than the previously.  I also spent some time repairing a few garments and working on a navy garb skirt for dreamtigress.

The weekend has been a bit of a blur with all the activity that has happened since Friday evening. Even with things being so hectic, there are so many wonderful events that happen throughout each day; I'm very grateful for each of them.

Friday the 13th: By the time I dropped dreamtigress and Corva dog off at their home, I had just enough time to unpack the Endeavor and be waiting at the door for my daecabhir to arrive at city home. Of course, there was much shiny.

As a side note, the Endeavor is liking its new tires. The ride is very solid, traction seems wonderful and the road noise is a non-issue.

By the way, Friday the 13th is always one of my favorite days of the year!

Saturday the 14th: daecabhir had a lot of coordinating work to do with the events of the weekend as well as Balticon stuff to attend to, so I set about doing laundry and what-not. To save my honey a trip, I took the Prius to get washed and detailed so that it would be presentable transportation for the weekend. I also hit the grocery store for a few things and the liquor store for sake. While at the liquor store, I found (quite by chance) Berentzen Apple Liquor which I have been searching for. Yay for chance discoveries like that!

Saturday evening found us at dinner with folks from the meditation center, including the new director as well as the President of Shambhala International. The venue was (and I kid you not) Mr. Rain's Fun House at the American Visionary Arts Museum. The meal and company were delightful; daecabhir and I both thoroughly enjoyed the cheddar soup (magnificent), my dinner was ruby trout, served with arugula and tempura zucchini while he had the black bean cakes with swiss chard and plantain patty. The only disappointment came in the form of dessert - we shared a tempura-coated bread pudding. Sadly it was very tough and had sadly suffered a severe overdose of nutmeg. My simply stellar cup of cappuccino went a long way in making up for it though.

Fun bit of the evening was watching my honey's reaction when he was asked would there be a Shambhala wedding in near future.

His answer?

"I can neither confirm nor deny."    ...with a blush and a huge grin to boot.

Sunday the 15th: Had a bit of a wardrobe panic since I had only brought one nice blouse (Saturday's dinner date was a surprise). Lucky for me, dreamtigress came to my rescue and let me borrow something to wear. Also lucky for me was daecabhir approving said borrowed garments.

Once I got to the center, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the member's mother, Mary. Mary is an elderly woman who was in a wheelchair. She was at first distressed over having to have to move in with her daughter and being trouble but as we talked, the conversation turned to brighter things. Mary left her first touching impression on me when she asked to see my pentagram pendant up close. As she fingered the silver star, she looked up into my eyes and said simply, "This is a star of the world."

Wow. I clasped both of her hands, smiled and said, "Merry meet, Mary, merry meet."

The festivities (which is why I was at the center in the first place) were well-steeped in Shambhala ceremony. The main focus was the changing of the director, but there were several new posts appointed - and most important to me was the retirement of daecabhir from his post. He's served the center well in capacity and I would amiss if I did not admit my pride for him here.

After all of the oaths were taken there was a light reception with lots of small talk and congratulations going around. Several people introduced themselves to me since I am the one "stealing" daecabhir away from Baltimore. I thanked gentleman who had teased about a Shambhala wedding the night before, only to have the tables (and questioning) turned on me. Of course, my reply was that I could neither confirm nor deny!

Of all the people there though, the one person that I really wanted to talk with before I left the center was Mary. Her daughter asked me for help getting Mary to the car and I happily volunteered. While the trip to the was uneventful, once we had gotten Mary into the vehicle, she re-opened her door and called to me. She told that she had seen me kissing my "husband" and that she could tell that we were happy and very much in love. With my eyes welling up, I told that I love daecabhir with all of my heart and that, indeed, I have never been happier. We hugged and with a twinkle in her blue eyes, she told me to give him a big kiss from her ... and make sure it was a real good one too!

You can bet your hat that I gave him a _real_ kiss the first chance I got!

Thank you, Mary. Meeting you was a treasure.

My introduction to contemplation meditation came this past Sunday as part of my Shambhala level 1 training. To help us choose our contemplation, the instructor read us the following poem by Mary Oliver and had us choose the one line or phrase that called out to us.

"Wild Geese"

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

The line that I chose was "You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." Of course, those who know me well may find it hard to believe that I did not select the part about not being good.

Once the phrase is selected, the next step is find the actual thought/emotion that it evokes. That is what the contemplation centers around.

The "soft animal of your body" made me think of one's heart, even more so the black heart, and this led me to unconditional love; specifically that I have the basic goodness in me to both give and receive unconditional love.

Very powerful.