reflections november 2000

Remembering a time this innocent….., January 27, 1999
Reviewer: riverfalls@webtv.net from Massachusetts

While the 60’s are often represented as a time of turbulence and decadence, there are glimmerings of peaceful co-habitation that rise to the surface like cream on an old fashioned bottle of milk. "Living on the Earth" is one of the positive representations. This book is FULL of information; from ways of worship to dealing with your fellow man – and in an era when politics and religion are taboo subjects! I am deeply reminded of Henry David Thoreau’s "Walden", with one exception. Philoshophy aside, Alicia Bay Laurel"s book puts it all into practice! For God’s sake: somebody reprint this book! –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Anyway, the good news is that Alicia Bay Laurel did indeed stop in Thoreau and Bluewater & see us, hiked up the canyon with me & stayed the night.  She has one of the loveliest singing voices i’ve ever heard.  Reminds me of water over moss falling into a deep pool.  I mean it paints pictures, dig?  She’s DEFINITELY a member of our tribe – doesn’t come on like some illustrious personage (even tho she is pretty damned illustrious in her own right). 

Anyway, this visit was most enjoyable & threw me into ponder mode again – pondering the fact that we old hippies actually did something NEW under the sun – we picked our own families.  There are two main families in our lives (one that lived at M* & one at New Buffalo) where our kids grew up together & there are pictures of them in all our albums & when they come to visit – it’s a FAMILY thing.  I just don’t have ANY blood relatives or ANY family that’s as much of a family as a whole BUNCH of you guys are – some more than others but that’s just a matter of proximity & whether our kids grew up together, etc.  Losing track of some of you would be like losing track of family.  Guess i made my point.  Anyway – i think it’s pretty cool.

Badaba & love to all,

Pam

Had to check in and see how excited you are about Alicia coming. I love her site.  You can just get lost there. Haven’t been able to listen to the music yet, though.  My computer hasn’t been able to make the right server connection. Did you notice that she is headed to Bisbee after Phoenix?  Wish Jon and I were going to be there….but we have a class and a book signing at the store that weekend.  Please pass along to her that I highly recommend the breakfast burritos at the Hot Spot.  No one make green chili sauce like they do! Again, thanks for the recommendation.  I’ve had a lot of fun looking at her site.

This is Bertha writing to you. I was the woman with the almost 30 year old copy of "Living on the Earth" at Antigone’s Friday night.  What a wonderful, surprising and enriching experience!  I treasure your personal note in my dear old friend of a book, which has had many travels itself.  Somehow this book has touched me and molded me in ways no other book has done.  To meet you was an inspiration to continue down the road of following the adventure of life through our hearts.

Thank you again.  My whole family is enjoying your CD.  We sat cuddled up together yesterday during a rare rainy spell, listening and feeling really cozy and happy.  What a delight your songs are!  I’m really interested in your Hawaii CD.  I fulfilled a life’s dream this year, my 50th as of May 18th, by visting Kaui.  I can’t describe how wonderful and thrilling it was.  To find out you have such a connection to Hawaii is just too much of a coincidence.

I’ll keep in touch through your website.  Happy and wonderful travels.

Love, Bertha

Great to meet you and to hear your stories and music at the Atalanta. Here is the web address to Bisbee’s repertory theatre: http://bisbeenet.com/therep Hope you can stop by and visit us on your tour. By the way, I remember you said to be on the lookout for the evil book cover. Well, I looked up your book on Barnes and Noble’s online bookstore and there it was! Here is their address:

http://www.barn
esandnoble.com/ Peace and love,

Dave Day

We had such a lovely time with you. Cheryl, Sarah and I are all so delighted that you came by and visited. You are such an inspiration. I am recharged and getting ready for my next artshow next Saturday. What wonderful energy you have!!

Cheryl said that she is practicing being a "ghostie". She has only been able to disappear for short periods of time!! She’ll get the hang of it, I’m sure! Enjoy the rest of your beautiful journey!! May you feel the magic everywhere you go!! Love is all around you. Love,love,love,

Tracy

thank you, dear woman, susan ariel rainbow kennedy

for Marty Jezer at 60

1. Today

in the ex-woodshed

I found the milk pail,

our sturdiest purchase

after the acreage-

(the hardtop we called soil

could kill a Ford),

and that silver souvenir

of our kick-the-bucket

commune hadn’t aged

a day since Agway,

unlike

the flock of cows,

the wide mouth cat

and Thou

in the wilderness

of Now, and us.

2.  Kitchen riff

I remember: your breakfast,

drawn and quartered from dinner-

a wedge of spaghetti,

limp stir fry,

a pork chop with a name,

and two or three free-range

born-again eggs.

Fuel for thought

between chapters

of hoed corn.

3. At the top of our hill,

at the height of stupidity,

we drew a four hand,

two-man saw through

winter wood. At twenty below

our jokes cracked overhead.

The ha ha’s

ricocheted, and night

was a carbon copy

perforated with our mirth.

Verandah Porche

Guilford, Vermont

i grew up in a small town

along the apalachian blue ridge mountains

my Grandfather was a minister

in one of the town’s churches

i grew up with the impression

in the innocence of my childhood

that because he was a minister in the church,.

somehow he was able to talk to God

i smile upon remembering times

had as a young boy with my Grandfather

which seemed to be not so much

about his ability to talk to God

but his ability to talk to me

and to the day he died when i was thirteen,

he only ever talked to me

and somehow God was never a part of the picture

through many years to this day

(thirty years later)

i have met complete strangers

who have told me stories

of how my Grandfather

visited them or someone they knew

in the hospital

and sat and talked with them

as it seems it was my Grandfather’s

favorite thing to do

to walk hospital halls

and visit the sick

and the hospitalized

and whether he knew them or not,

just simply talk and chat

and told of how

this brought them comfort

and dissolved the pain

and even doing this

long into retirement

later on i learned the truth as an adult

that one merely can declare oneself

a minister of God

and it does not necessarily mean

you can talk to God

because you are a minister or a priest

but now,

with each person i meet to this day

who tells me of how my Grandfather

brought comfort in his visits

and how he was

a wonderful and loving and kind person,

i know my Grandfather was talking to God

Chief Shoveler of the Cowpies

Mount Shasta, California

Tracy

  Yes the rest may be fun. I have been given permission and sounds like you have too. I am at Hookena these days pretending to be homeless and living in a tent and enjoying the view. I have been studying the new translation of the I ching that was put together by a Taoist master living in Maui. Im sooo glad you fell in love with Bisbee. It IS a special place! I will try to getr to see you the next time you are ’round these parts. I have no idea when or where I will be except most likely somewhere on the big Island….Heading up to Kapuna and Kohala next to have a look see and have a feeling that therre is a little somewhere up there for me to rest the bones… For now I rest the bones with in the flesh and call that home! May your water catchment always be full!love C the Dingo….XO

how are you doing!?

the weather has beeen sooo beautiful lately here [especially compared to the freezingness we’ve been experiencing before that…]

> I bought a copy of the Communities Directory, and, next tour, maybe I’ll > visit some more of them!

yeah, that sounds like a great idea… and who would better appreciate yr work than those in community… right?

  > Is the Green Guide a publication that might review or list the book?

i think there might be a listing of resources that will be in it somewhere…. shall i make sure to suggest to my sister that she list it?

hope you had a great thankxgiving, wherever you happened to be!  i don’t eat meat, and there was pig and deer served at the thxgvng celebration here [which was actually at sandhill], so i chose to stay here and gather some thoughts and spend the whole day fasting.  it was pretty nice.

hope yr doing well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 love, firewood, and revolutioN!

laurie.

(from Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village)

Best wishes to you and your loved ones on this joyous day, Alicia. I hope this reaches you among friends and lots of love. It seems appropriate to say thank you today for all you have shone me. Good luck on the rest of the book tour!

Peace, 

Erin Happy Mountain

PS Send some of that beautiful Hawaii sunshine over our way!