Sitting At The Laundromat

Having just returned home from a ten day vacation from Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, it became clear that I would have to do laundry immediately.  I also found that our washer is not properly working and waiting on it to be fixed immediately was only a dream.  The washer was going to need new parts.

So I decided to go to the laundromat.  I haven't been to a laundromat in twenty years and only then because the kids were in 4-H and needed jeans washed and returned to them for the next event or show that called for clean clothes.

Nothing much has changed in those twenty years.  I find myself there with others my age, wearing sweat pants and a baggy sweatshirt because all the clothes needed washed.  Glamor shots at the laundromat are not taken here!

I started my line of washing machines, six washers all together, the tubs aren't as big as my washer at home.  I add the detergent and the quarters and looked for a chair to wait.  There are no chairs, so I go to the car and get my folding chair, left in the car from the last pow wow and bring it inside.

As I sit and wait 25 minutes for the washers to run, I have time to observe my surroundings.  People watching is always a great way to spend time.  These are the things I found amusing............

..... Children find laundry carts on wheels to be the most fun.  No matter how many times their grandma threatens them.

..... Men seem totally out of place in a laundromat.

..... People can't really hear the TV because of all the noise from the washers and dryers and children squabbling.

..... Magazines are tattered and torn, unreadable and outdated.

..... No one seems to be any happier than I am to be there!

..... NO ONE here is interested in the OSU/Michigan game on TV.

..... Wondering if I should be wearing a watch to see if the dryer times are what I'm actually paying for, they seem somewhat off!

..... Kids think the empty laundry baskets turned upside down make great drums!
(my kind of kids, wondering if they are connecting their heartbeat to that of the Mother Earth when they drum........)

..... "MOMMA?"  "WHERE ARE YOU?"  (I pray she didn't leave!!!)

..... It's somewhat embarrassing to fold your unmentionables in front of strangers.

..... Rule #1, Don't drop clean clothes on the laundromat floor.

..... Rule #2,  don't bring your leftover turkey sandwich with you to eat for lunch.   Those of us who are hungry might just throw you in a large dryer and consume your lunch for you!

..... Leaving the laundromat is the best thing in the world!  Ten days of laundry done in 1 1/2 hours!!!!

 

The Talk............

Last weekend I was ask to speak about my tipi experiences.  I agreed to do this a couple weeks prior to the engagement.  As soon as I agreed I became nervous, I really don't like speaking before a group.  I know, I know.......  I would be among friends and like minded people and yet it still causes butterflies in the pit of my stomach.

I was to speak before a group of people that gather for a Mending Medicine Retreat every fall in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  Our teacher is a very special Lakota man, John Two-Hawks.  And I am going to talk about my tipi!!!  Serious reason to have some doubts about my decision to speak, I claim no connection to the indigenous people, at the same time I am VERY drawn to their customs and culture.  However, I know John and he is not a person who judges anothers journey.  I have shared my concerns about doing things that are not from my culture, it makes me uneasy and I tread here lightly.

So the day came and I often thought of backing out and yet I love talking about the tipi and the gifts it has brought my way.  By evening I was sure it would be okay to talk......... until the introduction began.  Fear crept into my very soul!  I was being called to the podium.

The beginning was a little shaky, I was trying to explain my need for a tipi began as an idea that I needed a place away from everyday things.  At that time I was working hard to get my gourd art out into the world, doing two or three fine art shows a month.  I was not taking time for myself, I was loosing my connection to nature and it was beginning to wear on me.   I have always been out in nature, riding horses, camping and often just sitting in a woods.  I was really missing that in my life.

 A tipi would be my vacation at home, it began as such seven years ago.  What causes me to become emotional is the fact it has become so much more.  It has taught me many things about myself and how I want to live my life.  That is what I wanted to translate to my friends sitting before me.  I have written blogs on my tipi lodge in the past, the most important part is what I want to share today. 

The lodge poles of a tipi are it's bones, they sit on our Mother Earth in a circle, the poles reach for the sky.  The door faces east, the place of the rising sun.
The bones of the tipi are covered in canvas (in the old days buffalo skins).
The most important part came to me several years down the road.  A fire inside the tipi is the heart, the center, the very soul of the tipi lodge.  The fire gave my tipi lodge life.

All of these things about the tipi are also us..........  We are a frame of bones, covered with skin.  We walk on this earth and reach for the sky.   The "fire" that lives inside our frame is our heart, our passion and our soul. 

Feed your heart when the fire goes low, fill yourself up, lighten the world around you.  Warmly embrace your friends and loved ones.  Feed your passions.  Listen to what your soul needs.

I wished I'd remembered all those points when I spoke, I write them now while I am alone with my spirit self, I can hear clearly now and I listen.  I comes easily in this quiet place, unlike when I am speaking. 

To finish my talk, I read what was written on the back of the painting I placed in this blog.  The painting is done on the canvas of my first tipi lodge.  After several years of sun, rain and wind it became frayed and worn, Hurricane Ike finished her off four years ago and I couldn't bring myself to throw the canvas away.  And so it was finally revealed to me, I must cut it into circles and paint stories upon the canvas.  And I did. 

The back of the canvas/painting reads;
                      This canvas is filled with dreams, visions and ceremonies
                  from all who came and sat under its lodge poles and canvas
                  of white.  Campfires brought warmth and comfort, the smoke
                  carried prayers to the Creator.
                       The smoke stains are the prayers that yet ripple through
                  eternity.  May you feel the prayers and the great honor I feel
                  when creating a humble painting to share with you.
                                   Many Blessings...............

Reflections

Today is the first day of fall, 2012.  Another season has passed and a new one begins as we move around the circle of seasons.  Even this day is uncertain of what it wants to be.  Clouds come and go, the sun is out from behind those clouds and lights the day with the promise of warmth and a little summer.  And yet, there is a chill in the air at the same time. 

The trees are showing color and I am eager to see more of the patchwork quilt of color when I look towards the wooded forests.  The birds are quieter, days of seeing the hummingbirds from the porch will soon be gone.  The wrens that chattered endlessly this summer are no longer heard.  Large groups of birds are gathering and migration has begin. 

I am often a little melancholy with changes, it can happen with seasons, birthdays, or even a change in what I once perceived about truth, faith, love or friendships.  It happens when I hurt from the loss of a person or animal that shared time in my life. 

My solution is to get back to nature.  Go outside, inhale the fresh crisp air, feel the last rays of sun on my shoulders.  Play my flute with prayers that the next season will be gentle and healing.  And as much as I long for solitude, I must find people to spend time with.  Sharing the energy with others is powerful and good for the soul too.

Being creative during my most melancholy times is often an outlet.  Last year I wrote poems, I have never written poetry before.  From the end of spring into the summer, everything was a poem.  Then I became more content and settled with life and it all stopped.  I have only written on poem this year.  It came during another change in my life.  It woke me up in the middle of sleep and the words came out and had to be recorded. 

      Oh what must he think I am thinking......
          As we travel down this dark country road,
              My eyes are closed, my face to the wind and
                     My arms are outstretched in the darkness.
     Oh what must he think I am thinking......
            I am think I have learned to fly again.

This came one night we were coming home on our Harley Davidson Trike.  This was a change in our lives that no one saw coming.  Not even my wonderful husband or I.  It happened when I rode a Harley with my brother in Texas.  I found that it was like riding horses, something I spent most of my life enjoying.   The horses are gone now, that change that was very difficult for me.  They too were a part of my poetry last year. 

Coming home and talking to my wonderful husband we decided to go on a test drive.  The rest is history.........  We have spent time together, stealing away on a summer afternoon, headed to some wooded forest to feel the cool breeze in our faces.  We have found another tribe of friends that also ride bikes.  It has become a passion.  I find myself a little unsettled if we haven't been out for a few days.  I used to get that same feeling if I hadn't ridden horses for awhile.

Funny, my highs and lows are so extreme, no easy way for me to get through this world, no middle road.  I have felt these extremes all my life, why would it change now?  So here I am, the day of the equinox, reflecting on changes, yet again.

Awake at Dawn

The sun is just breaking the horizon.  I try to remember where I am, my eyes don't want to open.  I can smell the earthy scents of damp ground.  I hear the quiet of a morning when the night insects become silent and the birds tentatively sing a note or two.

I am still struggling to open my eyes, as I snuggle deeper into my sleeping bag, hoping to drift back off into sweet dream land.  The fire still has hot coals from the last logs added hours ago. 

As I squint to look under my tipi lodge of canvas, I wonder if I am still dreaming or perhaps visiting a past life.  I suddenly feel like I am out on the western prairie, two hundred years ago.  The earthy smells fill my nose, the campfire ready for morning cooking and the quiet village not yet awake.   My heart soars as I see the black lumps in the distance.  "What is that?" my mind is asking?  It looks like buffalo grazing with the sunlight barely lighting the grasses on the plain.

local herd of buffalo, 2009

I struggle now, finding my bearings between something from the past and something that is happening in September 2012.  Unfortunately my logical brain has made the adjustment, I have found my glasses and I can see what looked like buffalo are my neighbors black Angus cattle grazing in a fenced field across the road. 

I am reluctant to return, so few glimpses of the past are shown.  I will not forget that moment, the sounds, the lodge, the fire, sleeping on the ground.  Were the long gone ancestors that roam our land giving me a picture of what was two hundred years ago?  I thank them this morning as I awake at dawn.

The Flea Bitten Kitten

Our youngest grandchild, Tatum Mary Adeline, is three years old.  A milestone in her young life.  She will be giving up her pacifier on this day.  It has been her constant companion for three years, giving her comfort in the night when the lights go out.  When injury's occurred and crying couldn't be stopped with hugs and kisses, everyone was running to find the "pacie".

It has healed hurt feelings when her brothers tease her and when her big sister picks on her.  All these are normal sibling things and certainly the pacifier wasn't always there when needed, if it was close it was used.  Giving it up will be a challenge for little Tatum and the rest at the family too!

Tatum and Sally, 2012

For her birthday it was decided to get Tatum a kitten.  The extended family gathered for the Birthday Party and while everyone was distracted, Tatum's mother and aunt left the party to pick up the kitten from a neighbor with barn kittens.  Coming home with the little black and white kitten they realized they were also bringing home a whole lot of fleas!  This poor flea bitten kitten was going to have to have a flea bath before being presented to it's three year old lover and hugger. 

Little Tatum realized her mom, her aunt and grandma were locked in the bathroom and she was locked out.  Tears and loud crying finally opened the door to show Miss Tatum her birthday surprise.  The still flea bitten kitten was being held for 5 minutes to allow the shampoo to work.  It's little head was spiked with wet hair, her little feet were reaching out with claws bared to grab anything close enough to save it from this horrible wet experience.  We were all saying Happy Birthday Tatum and the kitten let out a pitiful yeow.  Tatum took one look and started backing away in fear of that strange wet flea bitten creature.  Tatum was terrified of her special birthday present!

Not the response her mom had hoped and had anyone had dry hands, a camera should have been used to capture the expression of "I don't want anything to do with THAT!" 

We soon finished with bathing the flea bitten kitten.   It soon dried it off and it began to look like a more like a soft and furry little kitten that could be held and loved on.   This photo is of Tatum and new kitten, Sally. 

P. S.  Tatum is doing fine without the pacifier, not so sure about the family.....

 

Summers End

Summers end has come, a bittersweet time........... 

It has been a hard summer, drought has cracked the earth, crops and gardens dry from lack of rain.  Flowers blooms were brief, if at all.  We longed for rain, prayed for rain and listened to weather forecasters predict rain and still it didn't come.

It took Hurricane Issac to change our weather pattern and at last some rain has come to our little place on the map in southwest Ohio.  As I write this the sky is heavy and grey, I hope for more rain because we are so parched.  Although it is fall the trees are still thirsty, the ground stores are in need of filling.  Ponds and streams have shriveled in size.  Wild critters adapt by coming closer to our watered plants or bird baths.

 


Chives in bloom and honey bees are
so happy!

I have hope that the cycle has been broken, rain patterns, cooler temperatures will be more normal.  I hope all people who watch the hummingbird migration will keep their feeders out for an extended period, the flowers they depend on for their energy source may not be blooming this year, you may very well be providing their energy source to make the long trip south. 

I say thanks today for the grey, gloomy and rainy day.  Grateful for summers end and another season coming.  The circle continues and even with the hardships we have been blessed.

Gone to the Birds

Today is one of those days when things happen to get in the way of "the best laid plans".  I am having company, as I type this I know I should be cleaning house.  The story is just begging to come out and so I will share my morning that has gone to the birds!

I went outside to use the leaf blower on the studio porch, leaves are actually falling and blowing onto the porch, I don't know if it is due to the drought or the first sign of fall, however slight it starts with dry falling leaves.

I somehow was "called" into the studio and to a project I'm working on, burning sage and listening to music and organizing my mind about what I should be doing.  I finally got to a point on the project I decide to do what my original plan was and that was to blow off the porch. 

Carolina wren baby
saved from the cat!

Just as I finished and in the nick of time, I hear a distressed bird screaming for help, then I see my studio cat slinking away.  Now I know the habits of cats and birds are often their prey, but something made me go have a look.  The cat ran under the car and dropped her catch.  You'll never guess!!!!  It was a baby wren!!!!  I have been stalking these wrens for weeks!









feeding babies.....

  The stalking began in earnest four days ago when we found them nesting in the padding of an old side saddle hanging from the studio porch ceiling.  What a treat watching the parents come in to feed them on a regular basis.

And now today, the babies are leaving the nest and I have cats ready to capture the yet unskilled little flyers.  I caught the little bird that the cat didn't kill and checked it for injury.  It actually seemed fine, but I couldn't release it until I caught the cat.  The cat knew I was trying to catch her and kept a safe distance. 



saved baby and the adult
on a pine tree branch

Finally the cat went into hiding and I released the little wren on a branch where I'd watched adults land before coming in to feed the babies.  They were so excited to find this little baby, making quite a bit of noise, trying to get him to move from that branch.  Finally the little guy took the plunge into some over grown vegetation and they seemed much happier.  Meanwhile I am taking photos of the entire event, getting great shots to identify the Bewick's wren!  Along with photos of the little baby wren I saved from a sure breakfast this morning.

I have spent hours waiting on the cat to appear so I can put her in the studio for a few days.  While waiting I have been watching the adult wrens trying to coach more baby wrens to leave the nest.  The adults are not feeding them today, the babies are hungry and all but fall from the nest trying to reach the adult that surely has a morsel to eat.   Then the adult fly's away.  I know they are all going to fledge today.  The bird field book I have says there could be five to seven eggs laid.  I've seen two on the verge of falling out, plus the one I saved from the cat.  There could be more, there could be some that left eariler.  I'm so excited to have been in the right place, at the right time.  Isn't it Amazing?

Seriously, I have to clean house or maybe take a shower before company comes!!!!